Chapter Thirty-Four: Six Survivors

Soon, six helicopters appeared in the clear sky, flying toward the airfield in a staggered formation.

“Over two hundred helicopters flew out, but only a handful are returning? What happened?”

“This must be your first time. The helicopters that didn’t come back stayed behind to collect the bodies.”

“So you mean a lot of people died this time?”

“Looks that way. After so many years, this has been the bloodiest selection yet.”

The assembled ability users were all astonished. They knew exactly what these six helicopters signified: of the 220 gene prototype injectees who participated in the selection, only six had survived.

Except for a few like Zhou Ze and Lu Shangbai, most of them had no idea how brutal and bloody this selection process truly was.

Under the approach lights of the control tower, the helicopters descended one after another, slowing, landing, and folding their rotors.

The door of the first helicopter to land swung open, and a man with a weather-beaten face stepped out. His expression still carried a murderous edge, and his expensive combat suit was in tatters, soaked in blood. He was clearly a survivor of fierce battles. Upon disembarking, he strode directly toward the gaunt ability user from the Red Eagle Republic.

From the second helicopter emerged a woman as thin as a reed. There was little blood on her, and her clothes remained relatively tidy, suggesting she had taken time to compose herself. She looked around, her eyes lighting up when she spotted the ability users from Rift Valley City, then approached them.

The third helicopter landed smoothly, and out came a burly middle-aged man with the build of a bear—one arm severed at the shoulder. His mouth was full of protruding fangs, and he looked fierce, utterly unconcerned, heading toward the ability users from Repose City.

The next helicopter opened right behind, and a young man with handsome features but a steely, savage gaze jumped down: Ji Cheng. His mask was long gone, revealing his true face to all.

“Why is he so young?” everyone silently wondered. Typically, only those in their twenties could achieve a 90% prototype assimilation rate.

He had already removed his mask, presenting his real face to everyone.

“Hey, Brother Ji!” Lu Shangbai greeted him with a hearty laugh, grabbing his arm. “This selection was brutal—did you manage to keep all your limbs?”

He exaggerated his expression, but suddenly lowered his voice: “How’d you do? Confident?”

“Not bad. It was really dangerous this time,” Ji Cheng replied as they walked toward the Southport New City ability users. “I almost died. Who the hell came up with such a twisted process?”

He was still simmering with resentment.

Lu Shangbai stiffened at that—he wouldn’t dare badmouth Chairman Zhang in public.

“Ji Cheng.” As the two approached, Zhou Ze couldn’t help but smile. “Well done. It’s good you made it back alive.”

“Good to see you, Councilor Zhou,” Ji Cheng replied politely.

“There’s actually another person from Southport New City,” Zhou Ze’s gaze swept past Ji Cheng to the back.

Ji Cheng and Lu Shangbai turned to look. The last helicopter had just touched down, and the man jumping out was none other than the rough-hewn Liang Wu, whom they’d met before departure.

“Excellent. Southport has done well this time,” Zhou Ze said with satisfaction.

In recent years, as Southport City declined in strength, its resources and population had been continuously absorbed by Southport New City. No one from Southport City itself participated in this ability user selection; the contestants from Southport New City now represented the entire Southport city-state.

“Now that everyone’s off, let’s begin the inspection,” said Xu Mingxiong, the ability user in charge of this selection for Southport New City, taking on the role of host.

He was dressed impeccably in a black trench coat exclusive to Southport New City’s ability users, a ring-blade insignia pinned to his chest, and his beard carefully groomed—projecting an air of authority.

With a wave, about a dozen soldiers pushed over four pod-like apparatuses.

“According to the order in which you disembarked, please return your communicators one by one. The first four will receive the qualification as ability users.”

All eyes instantly focused on the weather-beaten man who had stepped off the first helicopter.

He puffed out his chest, strode forward confidently, produced four communicators, and removed his own earpiece, handing over a total of five.

Xu Mingxiong took the communicators and announced in a deep voice, “Red Eagle Republic, Li Ying, four communicators.”

The gaunt ability user from Red Eagle Republic broke into a satisfied smile.

Next was the reed-like woman from Rift Valley City, who had captured three communicators.

The leading ability user from Rift Valley City, also a woman, remained impassive, her gaze wandering as if everything here was of no concern to her.

Next came the one-armed man from Repose City, striding up to Xu Mingxiong with a face full of pride, extracting communicators from his pockets one by one.

One, two, three... He kept producing them until he’d handed over seven, then stopped and looked around, clearly pleased with the astonished looks from the onlookers.

A flash of light gleamed in Xu Mingxiong’s eyes. “Repose City, Lei Junming, seven communicators.”

At that, the audience gasped and erupted in exclamations.

“Incredible—he killed seven contestants! Repose City’s people really are stronger.”

“Looks like we have our first-place winner.”

“Judging by his appearance, he must have injected some kind of pure combat prototype. A finned elephant? Or a saber-toothed lion?”

“Amazing. Once Lei Junming becomes an ability user, he’ll be even more formidable.”

In such a brutal, cutthroat system, to fend off attacks from aberrant creatures while eliminating seven rivals exceeded everyone’s expectations.

Most ability users present thought that taking down four or five would be more reasonable for first place.

The lead ability user from Repose City kept a calm facade, but couldn’t hide a glimmer of delight in his eyes.

Meanwhile, Ding Wei from Sand City couldn’t help glancing uneasily at Lei Junming—he had a wager riding on this.

“This is bad,” Ji Cheng thought, seeing the commotion caused by Lei Junming producing six communicators.

He himself was carrying no less than ten communicators!

After dealing with the bodies, Ji Cheng had taken six communicators from Yao Zhenyuan’s group, leaving the rest with them.

Plus the four he’d taken from the one who ambushed him—the “Black Centipede”—he had ten in total.

By his estimation, with over fifty people landing on the island, producing ten communicators should guarantee him a spot without drawing too much attention. After all, he’d killed Councilor Yao’s son—better to keep a low profile.

But he hadn’t expected that even with ten, he still had the most so far.

Well, a few extra would have been fine, but now, after what happened, being so conspicuous could draw suspicion from that Councilor Yao.

“Brother Lu,” Ji Cheng whispered, “do you think anyone might have more communicators but is deliberately holding some back?”

“No way. First off, no one’s that foolish. And besides, even if they tried, the scanners would catch them,” Lu Shangbai said, gesturing to a brooch-like device on Xu Mingxiong’s chest, giving Ji Cheng a look as if he were silly.

Well, nothing to be done about it now.

Seeing Lei Junming returning to his place, Ji Cheng had no choice but to step forward.

He stood before Xu Mingxiong and, under the man’s expectant gaze, produced three communicators.

“Tch.” The onlookers scoffed in disdain.

Only three? Don’t waste everyone’s time.

Only the reed-thin woman from Rift Valley City looked troubled, glaring at Ji Cheng through gritted teeth. This meant her already slim chances of advancing to ability user qualification had shrunk even further.

Then—

Ji Cheng, after a moment’s hesitation, pulled out another handful of three communicators and tossed them onto the table.

Li Ying of the Red Eagle Republic’s face changed dramatically; the last two contestants waiting to step forward were also visibly shocked.

The crowd erupted.

“No way, he has six!”

“Unbelievable.”

“Looks like Southport finally produced a powerhouse.”

Only Lei Junming remained unruffled, sneering with undisguised disdain. As long as Ji Cheng didn’t produce seven, Lei Junming’s first place was secure; judging by the last two, they wouldn’t be much competition.

In all city-states, the rewards and subsidies for the first-place ability user were exceedingly generous—this prize was his for sure.

“Wait, look, he’s still pulling them out!” someone with sharp eyes cried.

In that instant, the crowd fell silent, and Xu Mingxiong’s eyes glimmered with excitement.

He still had more?

Lei Junming’s eyelids twitched, and he clenched his fist hard—his face calm, but panic had already set in.

Amid the heated discussion, Ji Cheng drew out another three communicators.

At the same time, a final communicator accidentally slipped out of his pocket and fell to the ground.

Snap—

Everyone froze. Xu Mingxiong stood rooted to the spot, face full of disbelief.

Ten.

He had produced ten communicators.

The entire hall fell into utter silence.