"Is it still too late for me to bail now?"
Jiang Wangzhi turned her head stiffly and looked at Tang Li.
Tang Li completely ignored her.
She gripped the notched heavy saber in her hands tightly.
"Shut up."
In the darkness, the mist rolled and surged.
A dozen beasts the size of calves walked out silently.
Rift-toothed Hound.
Soldier-rank Star Beast.
They were gregarious, bloodthirsty, and liked to hunt at night.
Although the combat power of a single one was inferior to the Spike-armored Spider, a dozen combined could instantly tear the two of them into pieces right now.
Tang Li gritted her teeth, her voice squeezed out from her throat: "I have no stamina left."
Killing the spider just now had already overdrawn all her strength.
Right now, even raising her saber took effort.
Jiang Wangzhi was extremely decisive: "Run."
"Where are we running to?"
Jiang Wangzhi fell silent.
She was a tactical analyst who sat in an office every day reviewing match replays.
She was not a wilderness survival expert.
How was she supposed to know where to run in this kind of primeval forest?
"Up a tree?" Jiang Wangzhi probed.
"They can climb trees."
"In the water?"
"You can't hear the sound of water here."
The Rift-toothed Hounds began to narrow their encirclement.
Low growls came from their throats.
Viscous saliva dripped down their jaws into the muddy ground.
Tang Li took a deep breath and reached her hand into her tattered backpack.
With a clatter.
A pile of things poured out.
Worn-out energy batteries, a few crude wires, a scrapped sensor, and a few pieces of rusted scrap iron.
Jiang Wangzhi froze.
Seeing Tang Li carrying such a big bag earlier, she had thought it contained some kind of portable weapon or medical kit.
It turned out to be all picked-up junk!
"Why did you bring these when running for your life?"
"To sell for money!"
Tang Li swiftly pulled out the wires.
"These are all recyclable rare metal parts that can be exchanged for several meals!"
What time was it, and she was still thinking about selling things for money?
Jiang Wangzhi gained a brand-new understanding of the survival logic of slum planets.
But now wasn't the time for complaints.
She glanced at the parts on the ground.
Her mind raced quickly.
"Can you make them blow up?"
Tang Li didn't stop her movements: "Blow them up for what?"
"The louder the sound and the brighter the light, the better." Jiang Wangzhi stared intently at the getting-closer Rift-toothed Hounds, "Nocturnal beasts are all afraid of strong light and loud noises."
Tang Li looked up at her.
"Twenty seconds."
After speaking, she directly bit open the insulation skin of the wire with her teeth.
And forcefully jammed the two wire ends into the energy slot of the worn-out battery.
Sparks instantly sputtered outward with a crackling sound.
Then she forcibly connected the scrapped sensor.
Her technique was crude.
The circuits were all exposed on the outside.
Completely disregarding any safety regulations.
Jiang Wangzhi watched from the side with her heart in her throat.
This girl wasn't fixing things at all.
She was making a bomb with her bare hands!
"All right!"
Tang Li grabbed the lump of iron emitting a dazzling red light.
"Cover your ears!"
Jiang Wangzhi immediately covered her ears tightly with both hands, shrinking her entire body behind a tree root.
Tang Li used all her strength to throw that thing toward the thickest mist on the right.
The metal lump traced a parabola in mid-air.
Landing.
The flashing frequency of the red light suddenly accelerated.
"Boom—!!"
A deafening explosion burst out thunderously in the woods.
A dazzling white light instantly illuminated half of the valley.
The huge shockwave blew away the surrounding leaves.
The compound eyes of the Rift-toothed Hounds were exceptionally sensitive to strong light.
At this, a dozen beasts simultaneously let out painful screams.
They closed their eyes one after another, instinctively barking wildly toward the direction of the explosion.
Their formation was thrown into complete disarray.
"Let's go!"
Tang Li grabbed Jiang Wangzhi's arm.
Taking advantage of this opening, the two of them sprinted in the opposite direction under the cover of tree stumps.
...
Jiang Wangzhi ran until her lungs felt like they were going to burst.
Her throat was filled with the taste of blood.
Her two legs were moving entirely on survival instinct.
She didn't know how far they had run.
Until the sounds behind them could no longer be heard at all.
Tang Li finally stopped.
The two of them leaned behind a huge rock, their legs turning soft and sliding down to sit on the ground.
Panting heavily.
Escaping death by the skin of their teeth.
Jiang Wangzhi took a long time to recover before her heart slowly settled back into her stomach.
Although she was dead tired, she was in a very good mood.
This wave of operation just now, though disheveled, was extremely effective.
Most importantly, she hadn't killed a single monster!
It was all the bomb thrown by Tang Li.
She hadn't dealt any finishing blows and hadn't lifted a finger—a solid zero points!
Jiang Wangzhi happily opened the terminal on her wrist.
Ready to admire her own perfect bottom ranking.
The screen lit up.
【Student: Jiang Wangzhi】
【Current Kills: 0】
【Tactical Guidance Success: +3】
【Effective Team Contribution: +5】
【Current Total Points: 8】
【Real-time Ranking: 1985th】
The smile on Jiang Wangzhi's face instantly froze.
She brought the screen close to her eyes.
And even rubbed the mud on it with her hand.
8 points?
Where did 8 points come from?!
She suddenly turned her head to look at Tang Li: "That bomb just now was thrown by you, right?"
Tang Li was kneading her sore arm and said irritably: "Nonsense, could those slender arms and legs of yours throw it that far?"
"Then why give me points?!"
Jiang Wangzhi's voice even cracked.
She pointed at 【Tactical Guidance Success】 on the screen.
"Is this damn school sick in the head?"
"Giving points for killing monsters is one thing."
"It gives me points even for running away fast?!"
Tang Li looked at her as if she were a lunatic.
"You came up with the idea, I executed it."
"The military academy's miniature surveillance network determined that you provided tactical value, so of course it calculated the team contribution points for you."
Tang Li let out a cold snort, her face full of incomprehension.
"Other people jump up and down with joy when their points increase, what are you crying and mourning here for?"
Jiang Wangzhi slumped.
She leaned against the rock, looking at the sky with a lifeless expression.
You don't understand.
You completely don't understand.
Once I take these 8 points, I'll fly straight from the bottom to the middle tier.
My plan to drop out.
My thirteen resource stars.
They were all ruined by these 8 points!
Jiang Wangzhi took a deep breath.
Calm down.
The assessment is 72 hours long, and this has just begun.
There will definitely be plenty of people fighting for points later.
As long as she absolutely doesn't open her mouth or give ideas from now on, treating herself like a mute.
Her ranking will definitely be able to drop back down.
Right.
As long as I am useless enough, I can be eliminated.