However, under Sun Tianbo’s expectant gaze, Lin Xinghai slowly shook his head. "For tomorrow’s scramble for the Energy Balls, I have no plans involving you."

"But..." Sun Tianbo was reluctant to give up. He pressed on, "Brother Lin, your squad only has four people. That’s just too small and vulnerable! If we were there, we could at least lend a hand if you run into trouble."

"I don’t think you’d be much help. In fact, when it’s time to scramble for the Energy Balls, I won’t be taking anyone with me. I’ll be acting alone," Lin Xinghai said flatly, leaving Sun Tianbo both embarrassed and stunned.

"Brother Lin, you’re planning to go after the Energy Balls all by yourself? Isn’t that too risky?" Sun Tianbo asked, shocked. The idea was so far beyond his expectations that he could hardly believe it.

Lin Xinghai didn’t answer, instead continuing to lay out the plan. "Tomorrow morning, I’ll lead you to kill Zombies for a few more hours to farm more Points. At 11:00, I’ll take you to the city center. After that, whether or not you can get any Energy Balls will be up to you."

Seeing that Lin Xinghai had made up his mind, Sun Tianbo could only leave, feeling resigned.

As for Lin Xinghai, he began to take stock of the day’s gains.

Their Zombie-hunting pace was faster today. Over the course of the day, they earned a full 80,000 Points. Combined with the 40,000 Points from yesterday, his total on the leaderboard was now a staggering 120,000.

Meanwhile, the second-ranked Yan Feijie only had a little over 8,000 Points.

With such a massive gap, even if Lin Xinghai were to quit the assessment right now, he would almost certainly still take first place.

Of course, Lin Xinghai’s current goal was to secure all top four spots for his team, so the more Points, the better.

According to his plan, the ideal scenario was to get his Points up to 150,000 before noon tomorrow.

Then, during the scramble for the Energy Balls, if he could secure more than half of them, their victory would be assured.

Of course, aside from racking up a considerable number of Points, he had made an even more important gain today: his Control Power over his Superpower had improved once again.

Now, when he unleashed his Superpower, with conscious effort he could draw just 4% of his Energy, shortening the Superpower’s duration to only two minutes.

Of course, as he continued to practice, Lin Xinghai discovered that even as his mastery over the Superpower grew, there was still a limit.

He estimated that the absolute limit of his control when using the Superpower would be drawing 2% of his Energy.

At that point, he could activate his Superpower in one-minute increments, maximizing its efficiency.

Still, that couldn’t compare to Little Fatty, who could activate or deactivate his Superpower at will, never wasting a single second.

But for Lin Xinghai to achieve that, he could only pin his hopes on a major increase in his Perception Power after breaking through to the Blood Qi Realm, or on new changes emerging after the fourth awakening of his Superpower.

Pushing these thoughts aside, Lin Xinghai ate the dry rations Little Fatty had toasted for him and wasted no time getting some rest.

Although his Physique was higher than anyone else’s, he also did the most work, so by the end of the day, he was thoroughly exhausted.

Little Fatty had probably been eager to sleep for a while but insisted on toasting Lin Xinghai’s food before turning in. It had to be said that the gesture definitely earned him some points with Lin Xinghai.

That night, the world outside was even more chaotic than the day before. The roar of gunfire and artillery barrages lasted almost until dawn.

However, their position remained relatively quiet. At least there was no repeat of yesterday’s misfortune.

When they woke up the next day, everyone was refreshed and full of energy.

The first thing everyone did after waking up was, almost in unison, to open their Communication Wristwatches and check the number of people remaining on the Points leaderboard.

They were all stunned to see that only a little over 23,000 people were left on the leaderboard.

In the past day alone, a staggering 5,500 people had withdrawn from the assessment.

Everyone knew that the next day and a half would be when things truly reached a fever pitch, especially once the scramble for the Energy Balls began at noon.

In the time that followed, the number of eliminated candidates would only increase.

It wouldn’t even be surprising if only a little over 10,000 people remained by the end.

After getting up, eating breakfast, and freshening up, everyone began to assemble.

"Move out!" Lin Xinghai said succinctly, before leading the group out of the dilapidated building.

As they stepped out onto the street, another squad suddenly emerged from a building more than a hundred meters behind them.

It was, of course, the Wolf Hunting Squad led by Xie Shanyong. They had spent all of yesterday trailing two to three hundred meters behind Lin Xinghai’s group.

At that distance, they didn’t interfere with Lin Xinghai’s battles while still maintaining a relatively safe proximity.

Of course, Xie Shanyong’s squad wasn’t just sitting idle. After all, once Lin Xinghai’s group finished a slaughter, the corpses were left behind, and the scent of blood would naturally attract other nearby Zombie hordes.

If they spotted a manageable horde, Xie Shanyong would unhesitatingly lead his squad to slaughter them and rack up Points.

If they felt outmatched, they would retreat without hesitation.

Under these circumstances, their small, twenty-person squad was faring much better than the larger squads of seventy or eighty.

After all, they could pick their fights and flee when necessary, a luxury other squads didn’t have.

What’s more, their rate of earning Points wasn’t slow either. Lin Xinghai had checked on Xie Shanyong’s squad and saw that at least five of their members had broken into the top 3,000, meeting the minimum standard for admission.

Of course, all of that was contingent on whether they could last until the very end.

As the sun rose, a new round of slaughtering Zombies began throughout the city.

However, compared to yesterday, the rate at which Zombies were being killed had slowed considerably. Many squads had shifted their focus from killing Zombies to traveling.

Although the military had announced that the Energy Balls would be deployed within the city center, they hadn’t specified the exact method of deployment.

As a result, many were speculating: would the Energy Balls be more densely concentrated the closer one got to the absolute center?

This speculation was well-founded. After all, the military was screening for the most exceptional geniuses, so the contest for the Energy Balls ought to depend on strength, not luck.

With that in mind, it stood to reason that more Energy Balls would be deployed in the most dangerous areas.

Therefore, many squads, especially those with over a hundred members, had already entered the city center early this morning. They were continuously pushing deeper, each one hoping to secure a prime position and get a head start.