Chapter 614 - 595: Overt Plot

A week might seem long, but in reality, time is incredibly precious, and other people certainly won’t stop and wait for you.

If the gap widens, it’ll be impossible to catch up later. Besides, who’s to say the others won’t have another burst of progress down the line?

Watching the other students in the class spring into action, Little Fatty seemed a bit anxious. He hurried over to Lin Xinghai and asked, "Boss, what’s the plan? Are we going to accept a mission now? Or head straight to the front lines to hunt Mutated Zombies?"

According to the competition rules, besides earning Points from hunting Zombies, they could also get a substantial amount of Points by accepting temporary missions issued by the military.

Of course, accepting military missions came with risks.

Failing a mission would result in a deduction of the corresponding Points.

It wasn’t just Little Fatty; the other members of the Xinghai Squad also gathered around, waiting for Lin Xinghai to give his orders.

"Don’t rush. Not all the members of our Xinghai Squad are here yet. You can all look around and familiarize yourselves with the situation for now. We’ll move out once everyone has assembled."

After speaking to the others, he turned his gaze to Little Fatty. "How long will it take for the Hongyu Group to deliver the Armored Vehicle and the Mecha I requested?"

Little Fatty thought for a moment before replying, "On the plane earlier, I had some people from the military help send a message. If everything went smoothly, the things we need should already be on one of the Group’s transport planes and heading this way. I estimate it’ll arrive in about half an hour!"

Hearing this, the others couldn’t help but feel the corners of their mouths twitch.

Although they all knew Little Fatty was rich, directly dispatching a transport plane just to deliver equipment was still beyond their imagination.

Even Lin Xinghai showed a hint of surprise. "Your family’s support for you has grown even stronger!"

"Hehe! It’s all thanks to you, Boss! When you hit number one on the Hero Ranking, you blew up way beyond just our circle. And since I’m the vice-captain of your squad, of course I’m getting more support," Little Fatty said, his face beaming with pride.

He was proud of his investment acumen. He had latched onto Lin Xinghai’s coattails right from the start of the entrance exams. In his father’s words, it was a perfect angel round investment. As long as he held on tight, his success was guaranteed to skyrocket.

"Since your equipment will be here soon, let’s wait for half an hour. We’ll move out after it arrives. We might even have time to accept a mission before then. You can all disperse for now. While you’re at it, contact the other squad members and tell them to assemble here in half an hour," Lin Xinghai told the group.

The Xinghai Squad’s members weren’t just from Class One; a small number were from other classes as well.

There were even students from the second year.

Hearing Lin Xinghai’s command, the group had no objections. They immediately dispersed in small groups and began to explore their surroundings.

Lin Xinghai glanced around, then took Liu Miaomiao and started walking toward the Military Department’s main camp.

However, he hadn’t taken more than two steps before Little Fatty came trotting up behind him.

Lin Xinghai shot him a sidelong glance but said nothing.

The three of them walked on, but they soon stopped in their tracks, their eyes drawn to a crowd of people not far away.

To be precise, it was a group of third and fourth-year students.

Many of the third and fourth-year students had already reached the Body Shaping Realm. No matter where they were, they were an absolute core force. As the battle situation grew tense in the early hours of the morning, they had been urgently deployed here.

In a way, the first and second-year students like them were already behind from the start, which was quite unfair.

But then again, in an apocalyptic environment like this, it was difficult for anything to be truly fair.

"Let’s go. We’ll take a look and see what they’re so focused on." Lin Xinghai started walking over.

As for accepting a mission, there was no rush. After all, he still had over half an hour.

The other two had even fewer objections and quickly followed Lin Xinghai, squeezing into the crowd.

As they got closer, they could clearly see a massive LCD screen standing at the front of the crowd. At the very top, printed in huge, red letters, were the two words: "Points Leaderboard."

Below it were rows of constantly refreshing information.

Each entry was simple: first a rank number, followed by a name, the name of their academy, and finally, their total Points.

Lin Xinghai scanned it briefly and quickly discovered that ninety percent of the students on the Points Leaderboard were from just three academies.

They were Capital University, Modu University, and their own East Sea Academy.

Not only did these three academies occupy ninety percent of the spots on the leaderboard, but even if students from other schools managed to get on the list, none of them appeared in the top 100.

’The gap between academies is really huge,’ Lin Xinghai mused.

If he remembered correctly, there were nearly 30 academies in the entire Hua Country right now, but only 20 of them had names on the Points Leaderboard. As for the top ranks, it went without saying—they were completely monopolized by the three major academies.

However, when Lin Xinghai and the others focused their gazes on the top 10, their expressions turned slightly grim.

Because among the top 10, only two were from their East Sea Academy—one at 5th place, and the other at 10th.

Without a doubt, when it came to top-tier power, East Sea Academy was lagging behind the other two elite academies.

Lin Xinghai glanced around. This LCD screen was in the East Sea Academy’s designated area, so the students gathered here were basically all from their school.

Right now, the expressions on the students’ faces were not pleasant.

Just then, a small commotion rippled through the crowd.

"Oh my god, Shi Anzhi, who was in 10th place, just got pushed down to 11th!"

"Damn it, how do those other two academies have so many at the Peak of the Body Shaping Realm?"

"Now, Senior Xiang Tianhua is the only one left in the top 10. We’re completely falling behind in terms of top-tier geniuses. If this continues, the resources allocated by the nation next year will definitely be cut. We can’t just stand around and watch! Everyone should go accept missions or kill Zombies! Let’s try to get more people on the leaderboard!"

For a moment, there were gasps of shock, curses of frustration, and analyses of the situation.

Lin Xinghai listened intently. Clearly, there was information he didn’t know, like the details of the national resource allocation—things Jian Hua had never mentioned to them.

Soon, from the crowd’s conversations, Lin Xinghai gleaned the information he wanted.

With the constant opening of Abyssal Passages, the situation they were about to face would become increasingly dire.

Therefore, the nation had decided to pour more resources into its top geniuses.

This inevitably led to the issue of resource distribution, a matter on which none of the three—Capital University, Modu University, or East Sea Academy—would yield an inch.

The other academies were also unwilling to just stand by and watch their own resources get cut.

Thus, after negotiations between all parties, and with the sudden crisis of the Abyssal Passages, this National Academy League came into being.

Whoever came out on top would have their resource allocation for the next year doubled. Second place would remain unchanged, but third place would have its allocation cut by 50%. The academies that ranked even lower would face even more severe cuts.

If things continued this way and they ended up in third place with a 50% resource cut, the consequences would be predictable. The resources available to them as students would, of course, be reduced accordingly.

One could just imagine it: Special Class Students receiving fewer resources each month, reduced rewards from the Prodigy and Hero Rankings, and cuts to other subsidies and benefits. It wouldn’t even take a year or two before their academy’s top geniuses were left in the dust by the other two schools.

And this gap would only grow wider in the future.

"Ah Xing!" Just then, Lin Xinghai felt Liu Miaomiao, who had been holding his arm, squeeze his hand tightly.

Beside them, Little Fatty also looked at him with an expectant expression.

Lin Xinghai knew exactly what they were thinking. He smiled and slowly spoke three simple words, "Relax. I’m here."