The second stage went just as many people had expected. After Ding Meng defeated Jiang Haiyi, there were no more obstacles in his way. With ten consecutive victories, he quickly obtained 100 bonus points. Finally, with a full score of 236 points, he was at the top of the list. There was no doubt that he would take first place. His popularity had also risen to third place, right behind Liang Yiran and Jiang Haiyi.
At that moment, the system's voice sounded again. "Students, the second stage of the test has ended. The final stage of the test will officially begin in an hour. Now, please accept a new scan. If you lack any equipment or supplies, please follow the rules and choose from the inventory provided by Starlight University. You have 45 minutes to choose. Please prepare as soon as possible."
The system's voice: "Student number 43, your results in the second stage of the test were excellent. Your overall score is 236 points. You are currently in first place. Your popularity score is 263,333 points. Your overall score is: Beginner Origin Energy Battle Master.
Please continue to work hard. I wish you good results in the final stage. "
At the end of the day, the final stage of the test was the most important. Could you hold on?
Could you make a comeback?
It was all in the final round. There were only two requirements. One was that your performance in the final round would determine your score. The other was very simple. You would be able to obtain a large number of points if you survived to the end.
Also, in the final stage, there were no restrictions on the students. You could bring your own equipment in. If you did not have any equipment, you could choose from the inventory.
This rule was a little unfair to Ding Meng. He did not need to think about the other 42 students. Students like Jiang Haiyi and Mu Hua, who came from large family clans, would have plenty of cultivation resources. They would definitely have their own high-grade equipment. In comparison, Ding Meng's equipment was very simple: a T-shaped claw blade and Catoptric Deflection.
He had a lot of dazzling gold items in his backpack, but most of them were useless.
However, Ding Meng did not mind. Fairness was something that one had to fight for. In a real battle to the death or on the battlefield, there would never be a situation where both sides had the same equipment, were of the same level, and were equally strong.
Starlight's big exam was the last lesson of these students' lives. What it taught them was the cruel law of the jungle in outer space. They had to adapt to it as soon as possible, so there was no such thing as fairness.
However, it was necessary to be prepared in advance. Think about it, Ding Meng, Sun Shiling, and the others would definitely have high-level battle armors. It was not as if Ding Meng had never fought armors with his bare hands before, but the risk was really high. To be on the safe side, it was better to go to the warehouse and pick one.
The armors provided to the students were all sixth-generation products: Tyrael, Challenger, Aurora Fiendish Blade, Nemesis, Star Dream Armor, Hercules Predator, Avril Predator …
These were all mainstream warframes that had received unanimous praise from the industry. This was especially true for the Tyrael warframe, which was practically the universal warframe of the Federation. Its overall performance was perfect, and it was the most popular and easiest to get started with.
However, Ding Meng did not choose it. Instead, he chose a warframe called "Divine Wind".
This "Divine Wind" was actually a brand promoted by the Starlight Group. It included aircraft, shuttle cars, spaceships, armor, battle armors, and so on. The Divine Wind warframe was a small warframe, and it was smaller than Nemesis. It was made of high-grade liquid metal and special fibers. This warframe's characteristics were very extreme. First of all, its shortcomings were too obvious. Its defensive capabilities were very weak, and even electric-type weapons could cause high damage to it. Its attack system was all based on long-range technology. For a battle supreme-level origin ability user, this attack system could be ignored.
Other than that, the Divine Wind warframe was only equipped with an alloy stiletto. This could also be ignored, because Ding Meng did not need it at all.
While its shortcomings were obvious, its advantages were also obvious. Again, because of its material, its overall weight was very light. Equipping it was like wearing an extra layer of light clothing, and it was very convenient to move quickly.
The silver core stone and source core used to operate it were decomposed by the Starlight Group's exclusive technology. The silver core stone's consumption was low, and the source core's conversion rate was high. This made it very durable. In addition, its support system was excellent, and it had a variety of camouflage, stealth, interference, interception, scanning, and so on.
Those in the know should know that this Divine Wind warframe was more suitable for reconnaissance troops on the front lines of a war zone. It was not suitable for frontal attack and was suitable for stealth and reconnaissance.
Ding Meng's choice was not without reason. The final stage of the map was randomly generated by the system, and no one knew the specific details. After entering, survival was the most important thing.
The map quickly appeared in the field of view of the audience. Under the dark night, there was a vast expanse of ruins. The ruins stretched as far as the eye could see. The ground was covered with molten yellow rocks that resembled volcanoes. The temperature was very high, and from time to time, many cracks in the rocks would shoot out streams of lava like fireworks.
Only the center of the map had a strangely shaped fort. It looked like a tortoise shell embedded in the ground. The name of the map was already displayed: Dark Night Abyss.
Xu Qianqian was already curious. "I've never heard of this map. I've never even seen it before."
Eirinn nodded. "There's no map with this name in the known maps."
Dai Yi said, "It's very likely that this is a new map."
… …
On the map, every student's mirror image had been synthesized and transmitted to different locations on the ground.
In the final stage of the exam, none of the mirror images were allowed to reveal their real faces. The system had changed the mirror image to the default setting, which meant that everyone's appearance was the same. They all wore the dark green Federation military uniform, and their heads were covered tightly with hats and goggles.
Everyone was assumed to be male. Their height, figure, and attire were all the same. Even their pronunciation was the same electronically synthesized voice. To put it bluntly, this was to prevent students who were on good terms with each other from forming cliques. If they formed small groups of three to five, then the students who were left alone would be in for a bad time.
However, the rules were dead in the end. As the old saying went, no matter how awesome the rules were, with the intelligence and wisdom of the students, they would be broken in a matter of minutes.
A lot of attentive viewers noticed that the director had purposely cut the camera to a stone forest on the northernmost side of the fort. Two identical mirror images met, and these two fellows didn't make a move. Instead, they were talking to each other.
"Do you have a gun?"
"No!"
"What are you doing here if you don't have a gun?"
"I'm here to look for someone!"
"Who are you looking for?"
"Someone with a gun …"
… …
After this conversation, the two of them actually made a "V" sign to each other, and then slowly walked side by side toward the fort.
This wasn't the only similar situation. Soon, a group of sixteen people had gathered on the ground. It was obvious that this group was in cahoots, and they had agreed on a secret signal and hand signal beforehand.
Little Rascal was furious. "This is clearly cheating. If they work together, how can the others survive?
This completely destroys the fairness. "
Xiao Ai was speechless. "I told you a long time ago that this group of people from Center 1 are very cunning. How can they fight alone?"
Ding Meng's Psychokinesis vision had already spread out the micro-dots, and all the information on the ground was gathered into his brain. He didn't need to think to know that this group of people was Jiang Haiyi and the others. However, he was more curious about this map called Dark Night Abyss.
This terrain was obviously advantageous for the Thermodynamics Department, and the fort felt very familiar to him, as if he had been there before. Judging from the name of the map, the inside of the fort was probably the core of deciphering this map.
The people from Center 1 were obviously thinking the same thing as him. The group of people slowly moved toward the center. Along the way, there were a few screams, and some people turned into light and disappeared.
Ding Meng looked at the rankings. As expected, Jiang Haiyi was in first place with three points, and everyone else had zero points.
After thinking about it, Ding Meng decided to tail them quietly. As long as he didn't use his Origin Energy, it would be very difficult for the people who were being followed to discover him. However, he didn't dare to get too close to them. He maintained a safe distance of about two hundred meters.
The interior of the mountain fort was indeed a different world. After entering a small cave on the north side, Ding Meng finally understood why he felt so familiar. This was the second Black Gold Base. In front of him were three passageways, one from the front, one from the left and one from the right. Each passageway was very damp and gloomy. They were clearly the passageways of the underground mining area.
However, the path in front was obviously much wider, and the footprints on the ground were very messy. It made sense that Jiang Haiyi and the others had chosen this path. After all, there were many people. If they encountered each other, it would be easy for them to fight freely.
"Eh?" Little Rascal suddenly said, "That's strange. My detection range is blocked by an unknown energy."
Xiao Ai's tone was very serious. "My detection system is also disturbed. There seems to be a strange substance in the path. I'm trying to analyze its composition."
Ding Meng immediately spread out his Telekinesis vision. After entering from the left path, his Telekinesis was blocked about one hundred and twenty meters away. There seemed to be a layer of invisible energy in the path that prevented his Telekinesis from moving forward. It felt as if his Telekinesis had collided with an invisible mirror. His Telekinesis was reflected back, and he couldn't see what was behind the path at all.
This was the first time that Ding Meng had seen such a phenomenon. He didn't hesitate to enter from the left path.
The path one hundred and twenty meters away was actually nothing special. It was still dark, damp, and muddy. However, the walls seemed to be emitting a very unpleasant smell of decay.
"Harmful substance found!"
Xiao Ai's voice was cold. "It's made of poison, and it's not just any poison. In my database, this poison's composition is exactly the same as Mengyan's Little Red Riding Hood …"
Ding Meng squatted down and used his finger to pull something out of the mud. Little Rascal quickly noticed that Ding Meng's hand was stained with a light green liquid. It looked like liquid, but it was very thick and sticky. It was like a layer of film, and if you pinched it with your fingers, it would turn into silk.
Xiao Ai said, "It's this substance!"
Little Rascal asked curiously, "What is this?"