EM CH28

Chapter 28: Bad Seed

The edge of the damaged elimination pit was illuminated with a blue identification light strip. Ji Nian wiped the machine grease from his face: “It’s fixed.”

Yu An glanced at the time displayed on the Core Storage Analyzer; it had taken only eight minutes. As expected, he had still somewhat underestimated this mechanist.

The unconscious investigator sprawled on the ground had already been stripped clean from head to toe by Yu An, before being tossed headfirst into the elimination pit by the two of them.

The blue light strip around the rim shifted to red, opening the slide chute beneath as the investigator slid down the exit into the subterranean level.

Once they finished all this, a warning klaxon echoed from the sky. Four display screens descended slowly from the center of the overhead steel gantry, facing outward in four directions, broadcasting the real-time scores and rankings of the current interns:

1. Urban Patrol Team, Ni Lan: 17
2. Rapid Response Team, Huo Yangui: 16
3. Emergency Order Team, Yu An: 13
4. Mechanical Logistics Team, Ji Nian: 9
5. Security Technology Team, Yong Zheng: 8
6. Urban Patrol Team, Zeng Rang: 7
7. Medical Emergency Team, Ruan Xiaoli: 7 [Eliminated]
8. Urban Patrol Team, En Zai: 6
9. Rapid Response Team, Wei Chiyue: 6 [Eliminated]
10. Urban Patrol Team, Ai Ke: 3 [Eliminated]

“So that’s how it’s scored.” Yu An stared up at the public scoreboard.

It seemed that eliminating a person not only awarded ten elimination points, but also transferred that person’s existing score onto one’s own tally. Aside from elimination points, each examinee was awarded corresponding performance marks.

Technicians generally possessed nimble minds. Hearing Yu An’s murmur, the other two realized their side stood at a disadvantage as well: the rules were actively driving examinees to slaughter one another. While a technical score path was provided for technicians, what technicians truly needed was simply to survive.

“If that’s the case…” Yu An raised the bat, pointing toward the scoreboard. “It displays real-time scores. How likely do you think it is that the technical team’s backend directly controls it?”

“Virtually impossible…” Squatting on the ground, Yong Zheng stared up at the figures on the screen. “You mean…?”

“Alter the scoring algorithm for technicians.” Yu An tapped the bat lightly. “I want all technicians to share point bonuses.”

Yong Zheng’s eyes widened: “Cheating out in the open?”

“Technicians using technical means to score points in the arena without falsifying the base numbers, does that count as cheating?” Yu An was nonchalant. “Gear that wasn’t allowed was confiscated at exam security. Permitting it inside means it’s allowed for use.”

Yong Zheng hesitated for several seconds before reluctantly nodding: “There’s no control terminal; it’s very tricky. Can you guarantee I won’t get eliminated while doing this?”

“Hopefully.” Yu An used the x-ray core to reassess the positions of the others. “You’ll have to be quick.”

“Underground Railway’s Security Technology Team is formidable; you don’t know what they’re capable of.”

“Now they’re about to learn what you’re capable of.” Yu An rested the bat on his shoulder, striding toward Pit Six.

The mole from the interviewer’s photograph was still roaming the arena: Zeng Rang from the Urban Patrol Team. He had to find a good opening to eliminate him quickly, before the man ran into other powerful opponents.

With three interns rapidly eliminated, the tension in the executive conference hall mounted steadily.

The Security Technology Team Leader stood with arms folded, watching his prized pupil Yong Zheng’s focused expression on the monitor, curling his lips into a crafty smirk: “Interfacing with the network to attempt spoofing… waiting for a score update trigger to initiate traffic manipulation… If this keeps going, he’s really going to alter it. Should we counter it slightly?”

Despite talking about a counter, he didn’t move an inch, clearly backing his own intern to pull off this stunt.

The Mechanical Logistics Team Leader leaned back on the sofa, clutching his belly in roaring laughter: “The kid has a point! Back when we technicians were doing our internship assessments, why didn’t we have the guts to do this? Otherwise, how would the likes of Duan Ke, Zhao Ran, and Yuan Xiaoying have swept the top three?”

Duan Ke snorted coldly: “Is this permitted by the rules?”

“What is this nonsense?” Yuan Xiaoying stood up abruptly, demanding an explanation from the big boss.

Smiling placatingly, the big boss gestured for everyone to settle down: “Well, so long as there is no malicious score falsification, technicians using technical methods to earn points seems beyond reproach. There is no ground to forbid it…”

Zhao Ran cleared his throat: “Speaking from the impartial stance of the Emergency Order Team, technicians don’t have it easy earning points. There’s nothing unfair about this.”

“Fuck, that traitor Zhao.” Duan Ke laughed out of sheer exasperation, while Yuan Xiaoying snorted coldly and sat back into the sofa.

Once the room settled down to monitor the arena again, the big boss picked up a glass tumbler, walking over near Zhao Ran, focusing intently on Yu An’s performance.

“This boy possesses quite a few tricks. He has management potential.” Using the rim of the glass to nudge his gold-chain spectacles, the big boss shifted his interest from the investigator interns over to Yu An.

Propping his chin in his hand, Zhao Ran watched every move Yu An made since stepping out of the written exam room without blinking. Honestly speaking, he was indeed surprised by Yu An’s performance; he had never imagined Yu An would take the initiative to recruit teammates for the sake of points. Even on the day of the national college entrance exams, the kid had never shown that he cared so much about marks.

Did sharing points among technicians offer Yu An a significant enough advantage? He needed to shield two technicians from harm, which was far more difficult than operating solo; instead, it massively boosted the scoring odds for the other two technicians. This didn’t fit Yu An’s behavioral pattern at all.

Frowning slightly, Zhao Ran murmured, “This brat is scheming something rotten.”

“How about this: I have a splendid method that will satisfy everyone, perfectly fair.” The big boss raised his glass. “Release the wolves.”

…

Ten minutes slipped by silently, and the trial objectives were broadcast on schedule:

[Investigator Objective 1: Rescue Hostage A in the coastal warehouse / Max Score: 20]

[Investigator Objective 2: Transport equipment / Max Score: 20]

[Investigator Objective 3: Destroy machinery / Max Score: 20]

[Technician Objective 1: Assemble radiation detection equipment / Max Score: 20]

Every minute, new objectives were broadcast over the arena, alongside real-time announcements updating each examinee’s score and rank, exerting relentless pressure on the remaining candidates on the field.

“Done.” Yong Zheng altered the technicians’ scoring formula to shared points. This way, when one technician completed an assembly or maintenance objective, the other two responsible for guarding and keeping watch simultaneously received corresponding technical points.

Ji Nian was busy assembling the radiation detection equipment, while Yong Zheng sat cross-legged nearby debugging the firmware. With the two cooperating, assembly progress surged forward at breakneck speed.

Monitoring overall movements across the board, Yu An guided the two technicians to evade investigators, repairing elimination pits and completing objectives as much as possible. His uses of the x-ray core steadily dwindled; with one hour left in the exam, the x-ray core had already been consumed nearly ten times, while Goat Horns had 27 minutes remaining. Neither could be squandered carelessly.

Faint mechanical clanking rustled periodically from the tall grass, sounding like rusted gears releasing a cage gate.

Whipping his head around with vigilance, Yu An fixed his eyes on the rustling thicket. Suddenly, the massive silhouette of a silver beast vaulted overhead. Before Yu An could clearly register its true form, another silver glare lunged head-on, tackling him flat to the ground.

Forged-steel talons gouged into Yu An’s shoulders, razor-sharp fangs snapping closer and closer to his carotid artery. Yu An braced the bat with both hands, holding up the colossal bulk pressing on him: it was a silver mechanical wolf, an Aberrant-powered weapon driven internally by a core, similar to the Eagle Bureau’s mechanical eagles.

Curling his body and planting both bent legs against the silver wolf’s belly, Yu An kicked with explosive force, throwing the wolf off him. Rolling to his feet, he glanced back to see another wolf lunging toward the two technicians.

Panicking, Ji Nian stopped his maintenance work: “Just a tiny bit left… Should… should we run…?”

The silver wolf charged, sharp claws kicking up gravel from the dirt, its oncoming momentum far more terrifying than a real grey wolf.

Every intern had signed a liability waiver before entering the assessment meeting; the strength test carried genuine casualty risks. Although the emergency medical team was on standby outside, facing death and agony was terrifying for youths who had never tasted real combat.

Two silver mechanical wolves charged in tandem. Clutching his laptop tightly to his chest, Yong Zheng pinned Ji Nian down as they covered their heads flat on the ground.

Yet the anticipated claws never landed on them. Ji Nian lifted his head to see a wooden bat whirling from several meters away, smashing hard against the cheek of one silver wolf, indenting a deep groove into the steel jaw.

Intercepting between the silver wolves and the technicians, Yu An pried open the wolf’s steel-fanged maw with both hands, turning back through gritted teeth: “Don’t stop. Keep fixing it.”

His legs trembling violently, Ji Nian scrambled up on all fours, grabbed his tools, and plunged his upper body into the machine.

Sharp teeth punctured Yu An’s palms. Thrashing its head, the silver wolf swept its razor claws downward. A silver arc flashed, and blood sprayed from Yu An’s cheek and chest.

Confronting two mechanical wolves simultaneously, Yu An didn’t let them step half an inch closer to the technicians or the apparatus.

“Careful…” Experiencing a real, bloody battlefield for the first time, cold sweat dripped from Yong Zheng’s fingertips as a profound sense of camaraderie welled up within him.

A bleeding claw mark trailed from Yu An’s cheek down to his chest. Picking up the Arrogant Bat from the ground, Yu An pulled out Monstrosity Core: Goat Horns and swiftly embedded it into his eye socket.

Goat Horns vastly boosted his strength and agility. Curved horns sprouted from Yu An’s head. Timing the moment a silver wolf lunged, he swung the bat with crushing force, striking the wolf’s slender waist with a deafening crack.

The attribute of the Arrogant Bat was that it never broke. Under immense physical force, even when colliding with steel, the only thing snapping was the opposition.

The silver mechanical wolf snapped cleanly at the waist, exposed severed wires crackling with electric sparks. Drawing the military combat knife scavenged from the investigator, Yu An drove it accurately into the wolf’s core controller, cutting the metallic conduits with both hands. The wolf lost all function instantly.

It took a full ten minutes for Yu An to subdue both mechanical wolves. Panting, he wiped the wound on his face, only now feeling the stinging ache settle in.

“Fixed!” Ji Nian lifted his head abruptly.

Technician Objective: Assemble radiation detection equipment [Completed]

Tossing his tools aside, Ji Nian scrambled past the elimination pit, rushing to Yu An’s side: “Are you alright?”

Startled by the long claw marks across Yu An’s chest, he lightly touched near the wound: “Luckily it’s not too deep. I’ll bind it with some fabric to stop the bleeding… Yong Zheng, come give me a hand.”

No answer came.

Puzzled, Ji Nian looked around for the other technician, only to freeze upon glancing at the public scoreboard: the word [Eliminated] was stamped conspicuously right behind Yong Zheng’s name.

“What happened?” Blinking in confusion, Ji Nian looked up to meet Yu An’s gaze, only to feel his chest constrict as his body lost balance, toppling backward into the elimination pit.

Struggling, he hung from the rim of the pit, ten fingers tightly hooked over the edge, his eyes wide with shock. Yu An squatted expressionlessly by the lip, calmly prying Ji Nian’s fingers off one by one.

“Why…?” Ji Nian asked in sheer terror.

Yu An’s tone remained flat, answering this ordinary question: “Because I want to win first place for my interviewer to play with.”

Ji Nian’s frail arms couldn’t hold the rim. With a loud yell, he slipped down, but right before plunging into the abyss, he unbuckled the tool belt embedded with the Aberrant Core and hurled it up from the pit, screaming at the top of his lungs: “Do whatever you want! Technicians can’t lose!”

Ji Nian’s Aberrant gear, the “Precision Belt,” dropped at Yu An’s feet. Yu An stood frozen for a long moment, zoning out in mild bewilderment.

The numbers on the scoreboard ticked upward in an update:

1. Emergency Order Team, Yu An: 107
2. Urban Patrol Team, Ni Lan: 76
3. Rapid Response Team, Huo Yangui: 58
4. Mechanical Logistics Team, Ji Nian: 32 [Eliminated]
5. Security Technology Team, Yong Zheng: 30 [Eliminated]
6. Urban Patrol Team, En Zai: 16 [Eliminated]
7. Urban Patrol Team, Zeng Rang: 10
8. Medical Emergency Team, Ruan Xiaoli: 7 [Eliminated]
9. Rapid Response Team, Wei Chiyue: 6 [Eliminated]
10. Urban Patrol Team, Ai Ke: 3 [Eliminated]

Dead silence fell across the executive conference hall. The Mechanical Logistics Team Leader and the Security Technology Team Leader were utterly dumbfounded, turning in unison to stare at Zhao Ran. Zhao Ran pressed his lips together, cradling his forehead, sweeping back his bangs with a deeply complicated expression.

This kid was indeed a bad seed; what was shown today was merely the tip of the iceberg, something Zhao Ran had known from day one. Back then, simply because he found his college counselor annoying, he had engineered an intricate murder plot; had Zhao Ran not discovered it in time, he would have definitely carried it out.

Born defective, he lacked basic empathy: cold, perverse, and completely unbridled. It seemed the discipline from that day hadn’t been harsh enough to make this body remember the consequences of willful defiance; shedding merely a few crocodile tears had made Zhao Ran release him and coax him instead. Looking back now, who knew if the brat had been secretly laughing at his soft-hearted gullibility back then.

Still, things remained within controllable bounds; proper discipline at the right moment could always correct him somewhat. Propping his head in his hand, Zhao Ran’s gaze coiled like a rope around the young man in black at the center of the screen.

How many steps did it take to tame a vicious hound?