Chapter 196: Chapter 131: First Day’s Settlement, How Many Points for 10,000 Bugs?

The Fallen Zone, southern suburbs temporary camp.

Within this safe zone controlled by the Ninghai Military, countless figures in white hurried back and forth.

The atmosphere in the makeshift medical bay was suffocatingly tense.

On the beds lay the candidates who had managed to escape the Linchuan Ruins.

They were the lucky ones; at least they had survived the overwhelming insect swarm.

But each of them was covered in hideous, terrifying bite marks. Large chunks of flesh had been ripped away, revealing stark white bone. The edges of some wounds had turned a strange blackish-purple, a clear sign of poison.

After receiving emergency treatment, the three most critically injured, who had already fallen into deep comas, were carefully loaded onto stretchers. They were being prepared for immediate transport by military helicopter to a major hospital in the rear for life-saving care.

The others with less severe injuries were kept in an observation area. Their eyes were vacant, and their bodies trembled uncontrollably from excruciating pain and terror.

The psychological trauma inflicted by the insect swarm was far more terrifying than the physical wounds.

But at least they weren’t dead.

Because this swarm had claimed real victims. Some candidates, talented youths from other prominent families, had perished within it!

Meanwhile.

In the meeting room of the temporary command post, the atmosphere was grave.

At the head of the long conference table sat Wang Lingchuan, his uniform displaying the insignia of two bars and three stars.

"The scale we initially detected was a Level 2 insect swarm."

"But what actually erupted was a Level 1 swarm. Its scale far surpassed our early warnings, something none of us expected."

Wang Lingchuan’s voice was low and deep, his gaze slowly sweeping over every officer present.

"For the three candidates who died, their death benefits will be paid out at the highest standard. As for their families... find a way to console them."

"For those who are critically injured and in comas, spare no effort to save them. All expenses will be covered by us for now. We’ll figure out how to file for reimbursement later."

Wang Lingchuan’s directives were clear and precise.

His orders were given one after another, and personnel immediately moved to carry them out.

But then, his tone shifted.

"However, the selection trials will continue."

"On the battlefield, the unexpected can happen at any moment. A Level 1 swarm is a low-probability event, but if you run into one and don’t make it out alive, you can only blame bad luck."

The officers present looked grave. No one objected.

They all knew that these trials were, at their core, a brutal process of elimination.

Incidents happened during every trial.

It was just that this time, the incident had come sooner and was far more unexpected than usual.

Wang Lingchuan’s gaze shifted to a major sitting beside him—the very same one who had initially brought Lin Ye to the trials.

"Major Shi, it’s been nearly a full day. Are the point tallies for day one out yet?"

KNOCK KNOCK!

The words had barely left his mouth when there was a sudden knock on the conference room door.

The door opened, and the tall figure of Chan Tianhao appeared in the doorway.

He had come to report the specific extent of the camp’s damages to the military and to request supplies for the upcoming reconstruction efforts.

He hadn’t expected to walk in on a meeting already in progress.

Seeing the room full of officers with stars on their shoulders, and sensing the grim atmosphere, Chan Tianhao’s expression immediately grew awkward.

He stopped in his tracks and gave a somewhat flustered military salute.

"Apologies, sirs. I didn’t realize you were in a meeting..."

Wang Lingchuan merely glanced at him. Without a word of reprimand, he gave a slight nod, gesturing for him to stand aside and wait quietly.

Chan Tianhao breathed a sigh of relief and quickly retreated to the wall. He stood there, staring at the floor, doing his best to become invisible.

Wang Lingchuan’s gaze returned to the major, only to find him sitting bolt upright, a look of conflicted hesitation on his face.

"Spit it out," Wang Lingchuan said bluntly.

The major stood up, took a deep breath, and reported, "Sir! The system has automatically tallied the points for most of the candidates. But... one individual’s score is the subject of a huge controversy and requires manual review. That’s why the final leaderboard has been delayed."

The point-tallying for the military selection trials used a hybrid man-machine review model.

The wrist device worn by each candidate was not only a locator and distress beacon but also a precision instrument for recording vital signs and combat data.

The device monitored the wearer’s heart rate, myoelectric signals, and fluctuations in their Qi and Blood in real time.

When the system determined that a wearer had entered a combat state, it would combine their movement trajectory with environmental data to roughly identify the type of mutated beast and log the encounter.

Then, after the candidate uploaded the biological information of their kill for verification, the system would directly record any kills with clear, undisputed data and award the corresponding points.

However, any kills the wrist device couldn’t confirm with one hundred percent certainty—such as in cases of group hunts or data anomalies—were flagged for a secondary, manual review.

"What controversy?" Wang Lingchuan frowned.

The major’s expression grew even more peculiar. He pulled up a file on the tactical tablet in front of him and said:

"Early this morning, we received a request for a points review from candidate #37, Lin Ye."

"He claims that during the insect swarm at the Linchuan Ruins, he, by himself, killed a total of 10,887 Iron-Eating Beetles."

The moment he finished speaking.

The entire conference room fell into a dead silence.

A few seconds later, someone broke the silence.

"Ridiculous!"

An officer, also a major, had an expression of utter disbelief and scorn.

"Over ten thousand? What does he think Iron-Eating Beetles are? Chickens lining up for the slaughter? Or is he trying to take credit for every beetle that died in the swarm?"