Chapter 231 - 147: Benefits of Joining the Team! Benign Competition! The Temptation of Becoming a Transcendent

Chapter 231: Chapter 147: Benefits of Joining the Team! Benign Competition! The Temptation of Becoming a Transcendent

So, establishing a team to maintain order was just a secondary goal. Letting more people survive wasn’t just out of consideration for them as fellow students—it was also because the more people who lived, the better it would be for the final rating.

For those willing to join the team, he would lead them to survival as long as they contributed.

As for those unwilling to join, they either didn’t want to be tied down or held different beliefs. Forcing the issue would only disrupt his team’s internal order and make it harder to manage.

’So, I just need to manage my own team. As for the others, their fate is in their own hands...’

None of the students had expected Chen Chong to be so reasonable.

"For everyone who joins, I can guarantee three things."

"First, you will have a stable source of basic intelligence and information to help you find resources and survive more effectively."

"This is an exclusive benefit for the team. Only members can enjoy it."

"As for more critical information, you’ll need to trade for it at the information exchange station. However, since it’s a team enterprise, members will get better prices than outsiders. We’ll also pay more for the information you bring in..."

The information exchange station wouldn’t become obsolete as the team grew, not even if the entire school’s population joined.

It could operate normally just through internal exchanges, and it could even boost the motivation and rewards for all members.

The crowd erupted upon hearing this.

After all, the three pieces of intelligence Chen Chong had just revealed had completely overturned their worldview.

At first, everyone had been skeptical. But with the back-to-back appearances of the Parasites and the Bloodthirsty Vine, they all had to admit that Chen Chong was telling the truth.

Where he got this information from was no longer important.

What mattered was that its authenticity was beyond doubt.

Anyone who had survived this long wasn’t a fool. They knew better than anyone that in this perilous jungle, information was the key to survival.

Only by possessing enough information could they precisely locate resources, evade dangers, and drastically increase their chances of survival.

After all, this wasn’t an ordinary jungle filled with just venomous snakes and wild beasts. It was an alien world teeming with Extraordinary Creatures.

Even the most basic information would provide a massive advantage here.

And that wasn’t even mentioning the benefits like discounts and higher buy-back prices...

"Second, I can guarantee that you won’t be preyed upon by others when you’re out gathering resources."

"I will not interfere with those who are unwilling to join and insist on surviving in small teams."

"I have no objection to healthy competition with my team members. But if anyone dares to maliciously target them, steal the fruits of their labor, or set traps to cheat and deceive them..."

Chen Chong pointed the tip of his blade at the cold remains of the Bloodthirsty Vine on the ground.

"Their fate... will be the same as this!"

If the first benefit had merely shocked the crowd, this one sent them into an absolute frenzy.

When it came to finding resources and food in this jungle, the biggest challenge at the beginning was simply finding anything to eat.

But by now, the surviving teams had all found their own resource spots. They knew where to find edible food and which areas were richer in supplies.

While it didn’t guarantee they could eat their fill, they at least had a baseline, securing enough resources to avoid starvation.

As time passed, the focus of their survival difficulties gradually shifted from finding food to dealing with the malice of their fellow humans.

Transported to this Primitive Jungle, law and order had long since vanished.

The dark side of human nature was magnified, and morality crumbled with each passing day.

Small teams with few members were often targeted and bullied by larger ones.

For instance, a team of three to five people might endure a full day of hunger and waiting to finally catch a wild pheasant in a trap, only to have it brutally stolen by a team of a dozen or more people in the blink of an eye.

The small team wouldn’t dare resist. They were all just ordinary people. Even with weapons, facing such an overwhelming disparity in numbers, resistance would only earn them a brutal beating.

Even if they were lucky enough to survive, their injuries would be more life-threatening than instant death!

There were no adequate medical supplies here. An injury was often more deadly than starvation.

Rather than lose their food and suffer serious injuries, it was better to swallow their pride and stay alive.

So, most of the time, small teams could only suffer in silence when their supplies were stolen.

Many even had to pay regular "tributes" to the larger teams, just for the privilege of gathering resources in peace within a certain area.

This was why the longer they spent here, the more people banded together.

They were just trying to stick together for safety, to defend against other, more malicious teams.

But even so, the bullying never stopped.

A team of a dozen people wasn’t necessarily a match for another team of the same size.

Personalities, physical fitness, and fighting experience varied drastically from person to person.

How could a dozen frail, scholarly students who wouldn’t hurt a fly possibly be a match for a dozen brawny, thuggish students who spent their time off-campus?

Even if their numbers and strength were perfectly matched, a direct conflict would often result in devastating losses for both sides.

This meant that whenever anyone went out to gather resources, they were on constant alert—worried about starving to death if they found no food, and wary of the covetous eyes of their fellow humans...

But now, Chen Chong had publicly promised that joining his team would put a stop to this malicious infighting.

This was exactly what countless students and small teams—those who only wanted to survive through their own hard work and had no ill intentions—had been dreaming of!

At that moment, many were already tempted.

But the faces of those teams who survived by exploitation and robbery were etched with a sense of crisis.

’We haven’t mastered any real survival skills and can’t find much food. If we can’t rob others of their resources, we won’t be able to survive at all...’

A thousand different thoughts ran through the minds of the thousand-plus people in the square.

Just then, Chen Chong announced the third benefit.

"Third, join my team, and you will have the chance to become Transcendents."

Transcendent?

A tremor went through the entire crowd!

They had heard of Extraordinary Creatures before, but this was the first time they had ever heard the term "Transcendent."

Most of them only ever received the lowest-grade D-Class Cards from their daily settlements, so they never had a chance to encounter higher-tier Ability Cards, let alone get any information about Transcendents.

But the crowd wasn’t stupid. It only took a moment of thought for them to grasp what being a Transcendent implied.

Looking at Chen Chong and his companions on the high platform, many people’s eyes gleamed with envy...

"There are two paths to becoming a Transcendent!"

"The first is to obtain an Ability Card to strengthen your body and awaken an Extraordinary Ability. The second is to consume the flesh of Extraordinary Creatures, tempering your physique and growing stronger until you cross the threshold of a Transcendent. As far as I know, these are the only two ways."

The minds of the crowd below were already reeling from the shock.

Every word from Chen Chong felt like a revelation from another world, filling everyone with both curiosity and an intense yearning.

’Who wouldn’t want to possess the kind of power those people just displayed?’

To leap several meters in a single step, to shatter the ground with one punch, to slay a monster like the Bloodthirsty Vine with a single slash of a blade.

Possessing such power wouldn’t just dramatically increase one’s chances of survival; that god-like combat strength alone was enough to make everyone flock to it...

"Ability Cards are rare, but we have a decent supply of meat from Extraordinary Creatures at the moment."

"What’s cooking in these three large cauldrons before you is the meat of a Blood-tooth Python!"

All eyes immediately shot toward the three large cauldrons below the platform, expressions filled with confusion.

Chen Chong suddenly remembered that most of these people didn’t know the creature’s real name; they only knew it as the Blood Python.

So he added, "The Blood-tooth Python. It’s that giant python you’re all familiar with—the one over twenty meters long, covered in dark red patterns, with a pair of fangs."

"The Blood-tooth Python? You mean the Blood Python?"

"What! The meat in that cauldron is from the Blood Python? No way. Did he actually kill the Blood Python?"

"Blood-tooth Python... so that’s its name. Wasn’t it laired over by the Sky Pit? I heard the people from the fitness club and the Fighting Club were all killed by it!"

"My god, does that mean Chen Chong and his group went to the Sky Pit and actually hunted that monster? That’s insane! A giant python that big, like something out of a movie, is actually dead?"

"What’s so impossible about it? You saw how terrifying that Bloodthirsty Vine was. Didn’t he cut it down in just a few swings? For someone like him, hunting the Blood Python is entirely possible!"

"Since he said eating the meat of an Extraordinary Creature can make you a Transcendent, if we eat it, does that mean we can become like him?"

"Probably not. Didn’t you hear him? He said eating the meat of an Extraordinary Creature only strengthens your body and puts you on the path toward becoming a Transcendent."

"That’s true. If eating it instantly made you a Transcendent, then with a Blood-tooth Python that big, everyone in the school could have a bite and become one."

"Still, even if it just makes your body stronger and gets you a little closer to becoming a Transcendent, that’s still incredible. I’d kill for a taste..."

...