As the conveyor belt came to a halt, Ji You stepped off, expecting to be greeted by a comfortable, soft, clean, and tidy bed, or perhaps a bright, spacious room, or even an impressive dormitory building. Instead, what she faced was—

A stretch of scorched yellow-black earth.

Indeed.

It was scorched yellow, pitted and uneven. At a glance, there wasn’t a single patch of complete earth visible, and the surrounding air was filled with a burnt smell, as if a massive battle had just taken place. The shrubs on the land were also charred in parts and broken in others...

As for a bed?

A room?

Food?

...

There’s none of that.

Ji You found it hard to accept: "This—this is too much, isn’t it? I just came in here to sleep!"

"How am I supposed to sleep under these conditions?"

"It’s impossible to sleep here."

"And—"

"Where is everybody?"

"Where did everyone go?" Ji You looked around and found no one in sight, as if she had suddenly had a dream and traveled to a new world. The feeling was quite peculiar.

Ji You turned back and glanced in the direction from which the conveyor belt had left. The belt had disappeared completely; since it was a floating type, it had hovered above the ground during travel, leaving no trace. It was as if the riding experience she had just had was merely a figment of her imagination.

All of this in front of her, the scorched, desolate, barren land, was real.

Ji You furrowed her brows as a terrible guess formed in her mind:

[The competition has already begun.]

[The places to which the conveyor belts transported the students weren’t dormitory areas at all, but—an actual arena.]

As this thought emerged, Ji You was utterly annoyed!

Just then, she heard a beeping sound from the contestant number wristband on her wrist: [Dear contestant number 4444, please immediately take your weapon and equipment and head to the temporary station. If you don’t arrive on time within 30 minutes, you will lose 1 point.]

"What the hell?" Ji You frowned. It was a prompt from the competition system, so, of course, she had to follow it. She grumbled but didn’t waste any more time. She looked around and, aside from the scorched black earth, charred rocks, and ash, she didn’t find her equipment or weapon. Ji You paused, looking down at her wristband, and asked, "Hey, System, where’s my stuff?"

The wristband remained silent.

Ji You frowned: "Could it be that this thing only transmits messages one way and can’t respond back?"

Even as she muttered, the wristband remained unresponsive.

Ji You started moving, circling a charred stone, but still found nothing. She couldn’t help but complain, "I mean, is this all you have to say? Can’t you give the contestants some hints about the rules?"

The wristband stayed calm.

Ji You said, "Listen, I intend to formally complain to the competition organizers because I came here to sleep. I was told this was a dormitory area, not a warzone. What you’re doing is serious deception."

"And if I remember correctly, I don’t have Alzheimer’s or memory loss. The official start time for the competition is 8 AM tomorrow." Ji You kept provoking the wristband while carefully searching for her equipment and weapon.

The constantly quiet wristband suddenly beeped: [Dear contestant, welcome to the competition field. Please explore the details of the rules on your own. Moreover, contestant number 4444, your permissions are insufficient; you can only receive information one-way and cannot transmit information. Please work hard to unlock permissions early.]

After that message,

the wristband went silent again.

Ji You’s expression turned dark. "Damn! So tricky?"

Just then, Ji You nearly tripped over, quickly regaining her balance with a step back, becoming extremely cautious, and only then did she notice what had tripped her.

It was a black military shovel.

Ji You felt a bad premonition: "Damn it! Is this my weapon?"

With only 10 minutes to waste, Ji You couldn’t afford to delay much longer. In fact, after receiving the prompt, which indicated the temporary station was about 10 kilometers away, Ji You estimated the time needed to reach it and realized that time was of the essence. She didn’t dare waste any time. She immediately scanned the area with her vision and Spiritual Silk, never expecting to find a military shovel as her weapon.

A shovel made of alloy steel, very hard, durable, lightweight, yet undeniably a cold weapon.

Ji You frowned, realizing she might have fallen into a cognitive trap, her equipment and weapon might really just be these mundane items, with no Mecha or energy weapons for her use.

Indeed, once she recognized she was in the wrong mindset, Ji You noticed, wedged in the crevice of stones less than 1 meter from the military shovel, a woven straw coat.

Indeed.

A straw coat made from thatch!

From Ji You’s craftsperson’s perspective, it was crudely made, neither bulletproof nor knife-resistant... only good for slightly shielding from the wind and rain, practically fodder for the fire or pigs, a completely useless straw coat!

Ji You’s face was full of black lines.

She picked up the straw coat, grabbed the military shovel, glanced around at the open surroundings, and then Ji You took off running toward the temporary station!

Whoosh—

Her body moved nimbly and swiftly, creating a slight breeze as she ran across the charred land.

While running, Ji You kept observing the surroundings, noting no change. She had run for quite some time without seeing any green, making her almost doubt if she was going in circles when finally, a crooked tree came into view.

Ahem...

Calling it a crooked tree was generous.

Its trunk leaned at odd angles, with its entire body charred black, leaving just three branches intact, all bending to the left. On one of the branches hung a sign, written with charred coal, displaying large letters:

[Infantry Station]

"???" Ji You was filled with bewilderment. Just as she couldn’t make sense of the situation, a gust of wind blew, causing the sign to sway and then fall to the ground with a thud.

Ji You: "Seriously?"

Just as she was utterly speechless, a head suddenly emerged from behind the crooked tree and shouted, "Hey there, Fool, get over here quick."

Ji You: "..."

Ji You raised her hand, pointing at herself: "Are you calling me a Fool?"

The other person: "..."

Meanwhile, the military shovel in Ji You’s hand was already hidden within the straw coat.