Chapter 788: Final Trial 1

Everyone fell silent.

This cruel piece of news instantly pulled everyone back to the reality of the apocalypse.

The announcement of the disaster progression increase didn't feel significant to many people.

Human nature is just like that.

Before disaster strikes, few people take it seriously; moreover, up to now, their war zones have seen nothing special.

But at this moment, everyone realized that the increase in disaster progression is far more terrifying than they imagined.

"Everyone, think it through, have you seen the reality clearly?"

The man standing beside the Awakened One of the No-War Zone, who has been leading this anonymous meeting, chuckled lightly:

"Not only that, I can provide you all with a piece of information for free."

"Not long ago, we used a precious special Prop to predict the specific rewards of the deathmatch battle."

"Among them, the most important is that the first place in the deathmatch can reduce the disaster difficulty by how much!"

After a brief pause, he spoke each word deliberately, his tone somewhat fervent:

"This ratio is... a 100% reduction within a year!!"

"Whoever gets first place can reduce the disaster difficulty by 100% within a certain area of their war zone, which means saving countless hundreds of millions of Survivors!"

"A year's respite!"

"Think about it, everything we do today is not just for ourselves, but concerns countless Survivors!"

"Your children, parents, close relatives, lovers..."

"How can we just watch them die? Let them live in an ever more cruel world?!"

"Every bit of your hesitation today pushes your loved ones toward hell!"

Extremely infectious, the news was shocking.

Before came the news of the strange annihilation of the Arctic Ocean War Zone; after came the specific rewards.

The war zone representatives who had been hesitating whether to truly join forces to encircle and kill now couldn't help but waver.

"But..."

Among the representatives, several Awakened Ones furrowed their brows and instinctively voiced their questions:

"Alright, even if we join forces and snag first place, but... how would we distribute it?"

"The points on Lin An are easy to talk about; worst case, we distribute by headcount."

"But what about the rewards?"

"In the end, it's not just your few major war zones getting the rewards; we'll still have to face high-difficulty disasters!"

Bluntly.

The speaking Awakened One stared fixedly at the anonymous ID.

Saying it nicely is joining forces.

Saying it harshly, it's that several major war zones secretly ally first, then trick them into being cannon fodder.

Everyone present is an elite; not seeing this would be suicidal.

They wanted to encircle and kill the Huaxia War Zone, encircle and kill Lin An, and even deal with the few war zones that had "defected" to Lin An.

Who knows how many would die.

Put bluntly, for these small war zones, what's the difference between this outcome and letting the Huaxia War Zone take first place?

No surprise.

The man being questioned, as if prepared beforehand, slowly spoke:

"That's right, I know you all worry you'll become cannon fodder and miss out on this reward."

"But I can tell you all: first place gets 100%, second 75%, and so on; actually many war zones can obtain mitigation rewards."

"Therefore, the war zones that Lin An has roped in have instead become our options for encirclement."

"Moreover, the difficulty mitigation reward can be self-allocated by the recipient, with no restriction on war zones."

"For example, if the Brahma War Zone takes first place, they can completely first mitigate 50% difficulty for their own zone, then mitigate others."

"You'll know the truth of this information once you enter the deathmatch."

Not giving everyone a chance to question again, the anonymous one spoke again, preemptively shutting down objections:

"There's one more thing."

"I can be very blunt."

"You don't need to fantasize that the Huaxia War Zone taking first place will give you a share of the reward."

"Their war zone area is too huge; they must use the full quota just to barely guarantee their safety."

"Consider it... everyone."

After the final words were spoken, the other war zone representatives collectively fell into thought.

After a brief silence, a chorus of short replies flooded the screen:

"Our side agrees.."

"Agrees.."

"Let's join forces..."

The anonymous meeting ended; some neutral war zone representatives secretly sighed, instinctively glancing toward the Huaxia War Zone and Lin An before the trial tower.

To be frank, many in their war zones survived the agility trial thanks to Lin An's favor.

Although they're unwilling to hand over points, it doesn't mean they want to kill.

It's just... the situation forces them.

To blame... blame Lin An for taking... really too much...

If you want to blame someone, blame the Huaxia war zone; they performed too well in these few rounds of trials.

Huaxia has an ancient saying.

The tree that stands out in the forest will be blown down by the wind.

Now thinking about it, it's remarkably fitting.

"Lin Dui, what reward did you get?"

Xiong Hanzi rubbed his hands, asking Lin An, who was lost in thought, with a curious face.

He was broad‑minded; after trying to recall the memory fragments that flashed through several nuclear blasts, he simply didn't care and threw them to the back of his mind.

"No reward."

"Points plus a single A‑level skill reward, plus constant physique enhancement and full elemental resistance."

Lin An shook his head slightly.

His strength has already reached the limit of the Second Level; further strengthening means little.

The effects of the constant physique enhancement are, respectively, reducing the chance of critical hits and weak point damage.

For ordinary Awakened Ones, this could be called a life‑saving spirit skill, but for him who possesses the Uninterrupted, its effect is small.

As for the skill, he plans to choose it after advancing to the Third Level, targeting his weaknesses at that time.

On the contrary, he was a bit curious; Zhang Tie went into a daze as soon as he came out of the trial, obviously having encountered something.

Before he could ask, Xiong Hanzi, being blunt, immediately started complaining:

"Lin Dui, I saw the memory fragments of the Stitcher at the moment I died."

"Damn it, an arm actually still has memory—how absurd."

"I seemed to see a disheveled woman stumbling out of a green door."

"That image was still skewed, as if it were what the Stitcher saw lying on the ground before death?"

He felt doubtful and confused.

When he and Lin An killed the Stitcher, he didn't recall anyone being in the Shang Cheng...

He couldn't describe that scene clearly, so he started gesturing:

"The place where that woman appeared was probably inside the Wanda Shang Cheng, in the hallway."

"I, uh... no, the Stitcher didn't even get a clear look at her face."

After hearing Xiong Hanzi's description, Lin An's eyes flickered, and he too began to recall quickly.

After a while, that scene never appeared in the fragmented memory images that Zhang Tie mentioned..

It's normal; he was unconscious then, and before losing consciousness the battle was too fierce—who had the energy to constantly watch other floors?

No result.

The two stared at each other for a moment, then had to give up investigating.

After all this time, perhaps they can only investigate further after returning to reality.

A strange woman survived? And the Stitcher firmly remembered her? Perhaps there is a problem.

But there are far more important matters than this.

After suppressing his thoughts, Lin An gazed at an unknown war zone surrounded by a group of Awakened Ones.

"Zhang Yong, go investigate that Awakened One named Akuya and get his information."

"Best to do it before the death match."

"Akuya, a trial participant who could survive a nuclear blast, actually left no trace in his past‑life memories."

This is unreasonable and illogical.

Physique‑type Awakened Ones are existences that are hardest to die.

Intuition tells Lin An that Akua's talent likely has a serious problem.

"Trial Announcement:"

"Will Trial will open in 1 hour."

"After this trial ends, the death battle will begin!"