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墨書 Inktalez
Cui Ming bumped shoulders with Li Qing and said, "This magic circle is incredible; the mirage in the desert looks just like reality."
Li Qing played along and asked, "Mirage?"
"Yes," Cui Ming replied, picking up a map. "At coordinates 138, 216, there's a small oasis where you can see the mirage at three o'clock. However, there are many sand worms in that area, all of which are poisonous, making it quite troublesome to deal with."
"The magic circle operates 24 hours a day, but there is no night. It's equivalent to being from ten in the morning to ten at night. After the sun sets, it immediately rises again from the east. Why is it arranged this way?" Li Qing inquired.
Cui Ming spoke as if performing a comedy routine, "Ding Ze said that at coordinate xx you can see the sunset clouds, and then at coordinate xx you can see the sunrise on the horizon. If it's 24 hours and you miss it, time will run out—there are too few opportunities."
Dina's voice came through, "North Moon Group, Yellow Card warning."
Li Qing looked up. "Can’t I chat with my teammates? Damn it, why don’t you just seal our mouths shut?"
Dina remained calm and said, "We have determined that you have a tendency to leak information intentionally."
"You're full of crap," Li Qing stood up and pointed at the sky. "Listen carefully, Cui Ming."
Cui Ming continued, "The real situation is this: the coordinates for the mirage are 216.138, while the locations for the sunset and sunrise are reversed. We intentionally misled you to avoid leaking information so we could chat freely. Yet you’re trying to force us into breaking rules with your Yellow Card warning to provide some group with an opportunity to cheat. You’re framing us and warning us. Where's the fairness in that? Where's justice?"
His last two sentences were shouted defiantly toward the sky. Ding Ze couldn't help but laugh, spraying noodles back into his bowl as he silently lowered his head to shove them back into his mouth. Nana. Don't play with certain people; you can't win against them.
Indeed, Cui Ming's accusations left Dina speechless as she checked the facts. It turned out Cui Ming was telling the truth. Damn it, now it became their fault. The President said, "The Yellow Card is invalid. But don't go too far; this is an assessment. Loyalty and helping each other is a virtue, but sometimes it's not a good thing. The assessment includes many elements: luck, unity, cooperation, trust, etc. Our goal is to encourage practitioners to be self-reliant rather than relying on social connections to pass."
Li Qing dared not act recklessly in front of the President; after all, he was his teacher's teacher and was seventy-nine years old this year—Li Qing was his disciple.
At that moment, Yellen from the Ye Family asked, "Little sister, why is this town called Liuyun Town?"
Ye Shi replied, "Because during noon, a halo appears around the sun."
"Hey, Ding Ze, isn't your fiancée's level too low? No, it's Yellen's level that's too low. What does the cloud and halo have to do with anything? You guys can really come up with nonsense."
Because Ye Shi was nearby, Ding Ze remained silent, and the two of them didn't exchange a single glance.
Yellen stood up and said, "President, I share a common enemy with them. They only have three people now and are in a tough spot. I think it’s unfair to point that out. But if I don’t say anything, I won’t be able to live with myself. Please show some mercy, President."
After a while, Dina said, "Ye Family Group, deduct five points from the base score."
"Thank you." Yellen sat down.
Impressive! Whether Yellen meant it sincerely or was just putting on a show didn’t matter; what mattered was that after Yellen did this, he not only made Raefus grateful towards them but also provided a legitimate reason for everyone to hold the Ye Family in higher regard. At the same time, he voluntarily accepted punishment, which lowered the penalty.
In any case, after breakfast, Raefus Group essentially received four cards for free. This would greatly assist them in completing their mission. After the battle with the Bone Dragon, the three groups looked at each other more favorably and shared a sense of camaraderie. From North Moon Group's perspective, they had received help from Feng for personal reasons when attacking the Bone Dragon. Raefus and Eva were also involved due to their ties with Feng.
As for Yellen? Why did he step in? Because of Ding Ze? Because of morality? It didn’t matter; what mattered was Yellen’s impressive leap and his subsequent actions that showcased the Ye Family's exemplary conduct. Cui Ming concluded that Yellen was quite remarkable—intelligent and strong—and his image was very advantageous. Looking at Ye Wen beside Yellen, the prospective heir of the Ye Family seemed indifferent to these details; his every move exuded dominance—the height of a Giant, a strong physique, an indifferent face, and a massive spear gave an overwhelming presence.
The Ye Family must be blind; how could they choose anyone other than Yellen over Ye Wen?
...
The A+5 group's mission ended successfully; all five groups completed their tasks. Now everyone was concerned about their scores. In the first round, North Moon Group scored sixty points. If they scored eighty in this round, they wouldn’t need to participate in the third round and could enter the second half at a lower difficulty level. If they didn’t score eighty, they would have to compete in the third round; passing that would allow them to enter the second half at medium difficulty. North Moon Group was currently in a good position.
They secured fifty base points without any casualties and completed their mission for another fifty points. Next came impression points and teamwork points—this subjective evaluation totaled fifty points.
After waiting fifteen minutes outside the arena, Dina announced through the broadcast: "This round's score: Ye Group seventy points, with five points deducted from the base score. Additionally, for subjective deductions: Ye Family Five-Man Team—Ye Shi's performance was negligible and did not contribute to the team."
The members of Ye Group sighed internally; this was indeed true as the other four had done most of the work. Ye Shi’s role had merely been to find staff for meals. Their total score over two rounds was one hundred thirty-six points—just four short—forcing them into the third round while also preventing them from choosing lower difficulty assessments in the second half; they would face at least medium difficulty.
Cao Liu Group faced a similar situation; Mi Big Head was essentially useless within Cao Liu Group. However, Mi Big Head was a predetermined participant approved unanimously by the committee, receiving full marks for all subjective evaluations. Thus, Cao Liu Group scored ninety points in the second round with a total of one hundred sixty points and smoothly advanced to the second half.
Ding Family encountered trouble as well; these five were from Ding Family Lineage—competent but lacking standout individuals or leadership. They spent too much time deliberating and hesitated before acting; each person feared taking blame, resulting in an incredibly low team score of only sixty-seven points, necessitating participation in the third round.
Next up is the Raefus Group's Criminal Squad. The Criminal Squad has given up hope of passing the third round; they only wish to score higher, aiming to break 140 points in total across the three rounds. This way, they can avoid participating in the high-difficulty assessments in the second half. However, the situation is not optimistic. With two members fallen, they only have a base score of 40 points. Due to internal strife and mutual attacks, their team score is zero. The two involved in the infighting received zero for their subjective impression scores, while one individual scored full marks. His act of killing Wei Wei made him the most flamboyant participant in the second round. Ultimately, the Criminal Squad's total score for the second round was sixty points, bringing their overall score to one hundred. If they do not achieve forty points in the third round, they will face the highest difficulty assessments in the second half.
Finally, we have the Beiyue Team. Dina read out their scores: full marks for base points, twenty points remaining for teamwork, twenty points for individual performance, and subjective impression scores from the judges—essentially, it came down to whether they enjoyed it or not, with no real basis for scoring.
The Beiyue Team was placed last because there was a significant divide among the judges regarding their teamwork score. Thirty percent of the judges awarded full marks, while another thirty percent gave them a low score of one point. Although these were subjective scores, such a large discrepancy was problematic, prompting an emergency meeting led by the President. The key issue was that while all judges agreed that North Moon Group deserved full marks for teamwork, they felt that the captain's role was negligible. Beiyue had hardly issued any commands; most strategies were executed by Cui Ming.
This wasn't a problem until a card incident occurred the next day. Beiyue gave Mi Xiaonan his only command, while Cui Ming directed Li Qing to retrieve the card. Communication issues arose between them. When Mi Xiaonan and Li Qing attempted to execute their plan, they found themselves at odds and hesitated to proceed. Meanwhile, Beiyue and Cui Ming also hesitated over their radios, ultimately missing a crucial opportunity. Fortunately, they managed to retrieve that card on the third day.
The President discovered that those who gave low scores were connected to the Ding Family, while those who awarded full marks were from Eastern Continent's delegation. This flaw within North Moon Group could be viewed positively or negatively—or perhaps not mentioned at all. Why would Ding Family make things difficult for Ding Ze? Was it sheer pettiness? No; Dina understood that this was a deliberate act by some offshoots of Ding Family.
In the end, Wandering stepped forward and suggested averaging the scores.
Ultimately, North Moon Group received ten points for teamwork. Each individual scored four points; specific individual scores were unclear, leading to a final total of sixteen points.
Currently, their total score stands at seventy-six points. As long as they can secure four out of ten subjective impression points from the judges in the final assessment, they will succeed.
The ten judges qualified to score each wrote down their scores and then averaged them for a final score. This scoring was entirely subjective; everyone had their own opinions and perspectives, which inevitably included political factors.
Three judges affiliated with Ding Family gave low scores—one point each. However, due to evident bias against North Moon Group from Ding Family's side branches in teamwork scoring, all six other judges retaliated by awarding high scores of nine points each except for Dina. The final score rounded to 6.2 points became 6 points after rounding up. Their total score reached eighty-two points, exempting them from third-round assessments and allowing them to advance to the second half with adjusted difficulty levels.
Many observers might intuitively feel that Ding Family's reputation has suffered as a result. However, only Dina understands that while Ding Family's offshoots are growing larger, their lineage numbers have not significantly increased. The biggest internal threat facing Ding Family is that these offshoots are uniting to demand reforms and assert their right to compete for leadership positions among all branches. As the foremost family over several centuries, Ding Family possesses many hidden treasures—beyond just Force Stones; they also have inherited weapon crafting blueprints with immense value attached to twelve Hex blueprints. Each blueprint is worth its weight in gold and represents various forms of weapons and treasures. No one knows how Ding Family acquired them; indeed, very few are aware of the true value of these twelve Hex blueprints. (To be continued.)
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