"Silly Kiana, I've already repeated it many times. We'll gather at the tarmac behind the base at twelve noon. Everyone participating in the selection competition will take Noah's Ark to the beach in Sapphire City," Bronya sighed, somewhat speechless.
"Oh, I know, I know. I was just confirming, just in case," Kiana waved her hand nonchalantly, without any sign of guilt.
Shu also pricked up his ears in the kitchen. He also knew about taking Noah's Ark to the beach. Otto had already sent him a message.
However, Otto didn't tell him who would be participating. Hearing this, Kiana and the others would also be participating?
Shu had no idea what would greet him next. He was still thinking about whether to avoid Kiana and the others if he met them in advance or to attack directly.
It would be a little troublesome if they could use the Divine Keys. His identity would be at risk of being exposed...
But this was just a competition. If Kiana and the others used the Divine Keys, wouldn't it be too unfair to those who didn't have them? Otto wouldn't arrange such an unfair competition, right?
By the way... Otto said that the format of the competition was similar to a battle royale game. Everyone would enter the field at the same time, and only the last one standing would win. This rule was advantageous to him. He didn't need to care too much, he just needed to kick everyone out equally.
...they wouldn't team up against me, would they?
Shu suddenly felt that this was very likely! Whether it was "Shu" or "Kevin," in the eyes of these people, they were both very threatening. Plus, Bianka had already witnessed "Kevin's" strength. It was really possible for these people to team up against him!
"Hiss..." Shu took a sharp breath. He really had no way to deal with this kind of illegal teaming. What he could do was no different from his previous plan.
Eliminate everyone equally.
Even if Bianka and Kiana, who was using the Key of Genesis, teamed up, Shu still felt that he could win. There was an insurmountable gap between his strength and the others'. He was very clear about this.
The only way he could lose this battle seemed to be if his identity was exposed and he was directly kicked out by the rules.
It was best if this kind of thing didn't happen.
Shu silently said to himself in his heart as he shoveled the last fried egg out of the pan and tore open the bacon package.
...
The fifth underground floor was the residence of all the current staff of Fire Moth. Here, almost all the dormitories were the same. Even the "Former Residence of Shu" was a four-person room.
But there were still a few special dormitories here due to the distribution.
And in a special single dormitory in the corner, a tired figure sat up from the bed as the bell rang.
He raised his hand and rubbed the messy gray hair on his head. After pulling out a few strands of hair that had fallen out due to fatigue, Chen Tianwu sighed and got up, and came to the bathroom with the help of the wall.
He cupped his hands and washed his face with water. Chen Tianwu touched the heavy dark circles under his eyes with his hands.
He tried to rub them, but found that the dark circles didn't fade at all. Chen Tianwu scratched his head in annoyance again, leaving a few more gray hairs.
...would his hair fall out before he turned thirty? Chen Tianwu, who was already close to thirty, couldn't help but click his tongue as he looked at the large patches of hair in his sink.
But soon, Chen Tianwu cheered up, and his half-dead face became... not so half-dead.
Alright, this was his limit, but he still had to be happy today.
The alarm clock automatically turned off at 8:05. Chen Tianwu stretched his body, took the oil-based pen hanging by the calendar, and drew an "X" on yesterday's date.
At a glance, every day in the past was marked with an "X," and only today was heavily marked with a red circle.
Chen Tianwu stared at the bold red circle in a daze. After standing in front of the calendar for a long time, he turned to look at the alarm clock.
"Hmm, there are still two hours," his fingers caressed a silver, half-heart-shaped pendant hanging on his chest. It was inlaid with a light gray-blue gem that seemed to be half a four-leaf clover.
"Two hours... what can I do?" The cold touch of the pendant cleared his somewhat drowsy mind from lack of sleep.
He passed by the corner of the room, where several pieces of familiar equipment were neatly placed—they were by no means standard equipment, but super weapons that he had personally debugged and could deal with almost all situations.
Every part of this set of armor was polished to a shine, a visible sign of the owner's care.
But this time, Chen Tianwu just passed by the armor. He came to the desk. The desktop was a little messy, with a data board spread out with complex formulas and energy circuit diagrams. There was also a photo frame next to it.
In the photo frame was a somewhat old photo. In the photo, a young Chen Tianwu was held in the middle by a man and a woman with gentle smiles. The background was a field of dandelions that no longer existed.
His gaze lingered on the photo for a moment. His fingertips gently brushed the surface of the photo frame glass, and then he moved away.
"I'd better debug the equipment first," Chen Tianwu muttered to himself. And strangely, in the next moment, Chen Tianwu actually responded to his own "proposal" with a normal expression, "Hmm."
For the rest of the time, Chen Tianwu was immersed in the final inspection and debugging of the equipment.
His movements were skilled and precise, with a calmness that did not match his appearance. He carefully scraped off the old energy conduction gel with a special tool, cleaned the circuit, and then evenly applied the new gel to the key nodes, and inserted the energy source for charging tests.
A faint blue light flowed inside the device, reflecting his focused side face and heavy dark circles.
This was not a mandatory job, but more like a habit, or rather... a somewhat strange ritual.
During this period, the communicator flashed a few times, seeming to be some kind of routine confirmation message.
Chen Tianwu just glanced at it and did not reply immediately. It was not until the last spherical device was debugged that he picked up the communicator and replied concisely with two words:
[Received.]
[Heh, good luck.] A message came from the phone, and then there was no more movement.
Chen Tianwu didn't care. By the time he had finished all this, less than forty minutes had passed.
He straightened up and gently moved his slightly stiff neck and shoulders. His joints made a slight cracking sound.
The remaining hour or so became a little long.
He did not choose to rest, although his body was clamoring for sleep. He just sat quietly on the edge of the bed, his gaze sometimes falling on the equipment, sometimes looking out the window.
—It was still the unchanging simulated light of the underground base, but he seemed to be able to see through the layers of obstruction and see the real sky outside, or rather, the beach in Sapphire City where today's selection competition was being held in his imagination.
Nervous? He asked himself.
Perhaps a little, but more of a suppressed, almost numb calmness. He had experienced too much, lost too much, so much so that it was difficult for him to have intense emotional fluctuations anymore.
What supported him was no longer hot blood or impulse, but something deeper and more stubborn.
His hand subconsciously touched the pendant on his chest again.
Just like that, until it was almost time.
He stood up and began to put on his equipment in an orderly manner.
The high-frequency vibration knife was fixed on his waist, and the few spherical devices were cleverly hidden in specific slots in the tactical vest.
And when he finally carefully pinned a badge with the Fire Moth emblem on his chest, the tired, even somewhat decadent man disappeared.
He walked to the door, put his hand on the doorknob, and paused for a second.
Then, he took a deep breath and opened the door.
Outside the door was the corridor leading to the gathering point and also to the unknown battle.
Two hours were up.
He was ready.