Chapter 784: Quitting the Trial

Lin An stood on the edge of the deep pit, letting the howling wind blow his disheveled forehead hair.

The wind howled fiercely.

Behind him, a huge mushroom cloud slowly rose.

His jet-black full-body armor draped completely over him, clean as new.

The metal battle armor, in the brief bright light, reflected a hint of orange-red.

As if he had not been attacked at all.

Beneath the mask, Lin An's gaze was calm, his heart without any ripple.

"Another... nuclear blast...?"

This is the second time.

He slightly turned his body, the sand scraping under his feet making a faint sound.

Looking at that giant cloud symbolizing death, he merely shook his head slightly.

The distance was far, the yield small.

It also gave him ample reaction time.

The damage from this nuclear blast was far less than what he encountered in the Fushan war zone.

After using Blink to open distance, the No-Gap state avoided the first wave's strongest damage, then without pause he activated Demonic Form, additionally frantically replenishing his vitality.

This nuclear blast, aside from consuming a large amount of his vitality and spiritual power, had no further effect.

Just...

If someone were to witness the entire process on site, they would likely be shocked speechless.

Even though Lin An was not at the explosion's center.

But facing this most extreme weapon of nuclear blast, no one could imagine someone could treat it so lightly.

He slowly raised his right hand; the black dragon was still snoring loudly.

He opened his palm; Lin An inevitably felt a bit of regret, complex.

"I now... can be considered to have a little bit of self-defense ability..."

"Also, are five people still alive?"

He suppressed his emotions.

The aftermath of this attack was long, as if the subsequent radiation damage also counted as part of the trial.

The prompt for the next round of the trial had not yet sounded.

Looking at the numbers, Lin An couldn't help but feel doubtful and curious.

Zhang Tie was alive, he knew.

That guy had just been cursing and venting at the system for half a day, then suddenly fell silent, as if he had gained something, and began to study earnestly.

But the others...

They actually survived too?

Who could it be?

Thinking quickly, Lin An continuously compared the list in his memory with this trial's participants.

After two seconds, he could only barely confirm Lihao as one.

This Awakened One, hailed as the War God of Huaxia, capable of making the military collectively worship, he believed should be able to survive.

In his memory, Lin An recalled that this soldier, in his final battle before death, had indeed performed bravely and powerfully.

Many people said so.

If Lihao had remained alive, he would have survived into the third year of the Apocalypse.

Actually, he was no inferior to the Six Kings, and perhaps even slightly stronger.

I, Zhang Tie, Lihao...

Who are the remaining two?

Although this nuclear blast was weak, it was not something a Second-Level Awakened One could withstand.

After thinking it over, Lin An could only judge the remaining two as Special Talent Ones, or at least S-rank Awakened Ones.

Somewhat interesting.

He just didn't know whether, among those two remaining, there was an existence from his past life memories.

Just.

What Lin An did not know was.

At this moment, the remaining few survivors also all stared, shocked, at the survival numbers given by the system.

"There are actually still people alive!!"

"How... how is this possible!!"

Having just half-extracted himself from the corpse's mouth under the pillow, Jiang Haochen looked at those glaring numbers and instantly felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.

From the despair before encountering the nuclear bomb, to the relief of surviving aftermath, to now.

He only felt that the heavens seemed to have played a huge joke on him.

I've held on until now, yet I'm not even first!?

His whole body was sticky, his skin like that of a newborn baby.

After straining to pull himself out of the Meme's mouth, he stared fixedly at the ranking information full of question marks.

Damn it, these people are playing mind games with him.

For now, no ranking has been decided.

This means that, for now, no one has chosen to withdraw.

What a joke! How could anyone survive!

His fists clenched like a baby's, Jiang Haochen slowly closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

The nuclear attack—his reason for surviving... was purely relying on the meme rules.

Even so, his true form was instantly destroyed, and he could only use the meme-split rebirth with a cooldown of up to 3200 hours.

His heart was dripping blood.

This heaven-defying skill was practically his second life.

Moreover, using it came with an exceptionally painful cost: all attributes dropped by 2 points, and the chance of meme loss of control increased.

Thinking of the meme loss of control scene, he couldn't help but shudder.

Once it loses control, it wouldn't be him crawling out from a corpse's mouth.

But the meme would burst out from within his body.

Who is it?

Who could have withstood that attack just now? How did they manage it?

In a daze, a name flashed through his mind.

Could it be Lin An?

No... it should be impossible...

Back when I had just entered the Second Level, I only then truly felt Lin An's strength and wanted to... 'learn' from him...

But after accidentally merging with a meme on the way to Long An, he actually no longer regarded Lin An highly.

He even often treated the message he had sent back then as a source of shame.

My past self was so foolish... my vision was too narrow!

"Lin An, maybe he's already dead..."

Obsession.

Jiang Haochen comforted himself, struggling to look at the option to withdraw from the trial.

Should he withdraw?

He had no confidence, nor any trump cards left to face the next round of the trial.

Who knows what the next wave of attack will be?

His indecision eventually turned into a long sigh...

Let's start the final countdown...

Maybe someone won't be able to withstand the pressure and will drop out early.

My ranking could still move up a bit...

West Asia War Zone.

A man with dark skin, unremarkable appearance, and naked from head to toe stood silently in the deep pit.

He blankly looked at the trial rankings, and blankly at everything.

He didn't understand the trial, nor the many rules familiar to Awakened Ones.

He was born in a war-torn land, in a small village that couldn't be found on any map.

He had no exposure to games, nor to film and television works.

Like a mountain child, or a tribesman from the mountains.

He would even take an occasional airplane passing overhead for an iron bird.

System, rules, war zone... he didn't understand any of them.

"Mom..."

"I'm so scared..."

He stood 2.3 meters tall, stout like a buffalo, and muttered to himself like a child.

Since the apocalypse broke out, a man-eating monster appeared in the village.

During the escape, he awakened his power and wandered alone.

When he encountered a fleeing group, the leader Awakened realized what kind of power lay beneath his simple, stone-like body.

Therefore, they sent him to this trial.

"It hurts so much..."

"Akya, I want to go home..."

Completely clueless, he stared blankly at the system's notification, at a loss.