Chapter 11: Bad News
After an unknown amount of time.
Everything was pitch black before his eyes, and a dull ache at the back of his head signaled Su Xiao's return to consciousness.
Opening his eyes, Su Xiao didn't get up immediately. The Dragon-Slaying Flash appeared in his hand as he began to survey his surroundings.
The area around him was empty. This was a stretch of ruins, which originally seemed to have been a small town, now inexplicably razed to the ground.
Scattered across the ground were several skeletons. From their shapes, these were upright creatures, but they lacked human characteristics.
Elongated, flat skulls, sharp front claws, spines covered in barbs, and more importantly, the remains had long, slender tails.
Su Xiao stood up, widening his field of vision. The ruins weren't large, about half a kilometer across horizontally, and surrounded by an ocean.
This was a lone island. Could this be the Devouring Island?
Su Xiao found it unlikely. There were too many contractors around; five hundred had gathered here, making him the five hundred and first.
"Damn, bad luck. It's the most dangerous Devouring Island."
"Didn't the boss say it was Terror Island? How did it become Devouring Island? What do we do now?"
"Be careful. Maybe this batch of contractors is all very strong, raising the difficulty of the survival trial."
The contractors murmured among themselves. Five hundred contractors gathered together without any conflict breaking out.
Su Xiao found a rock to sit on. This was a peace zone; Reincarnation Paradise prohibited combat between contractors.
Bubu Wang came trotting over from a distance, looking dejected as he reached Su Xiao. He lowered his head, exposing the back of his skull.
"Don't worry. This kind of annoyance will disappear soon."
Bubu Wang looked up, as if asking Su Xiao.
"Before long, you'll get used to it."
Bubu Wang was in despair.
Su Xiao had already grown accustomed to this feeling of being teleported.
[The Hunter has arrived at Planet T12K. The survival trial is about to begin.]
Planet Difficulty: LV.14. Nightmare (Difficulty levels: Easy, Hard, Nightmare, Hell, Asura.)
World Source: 0%
World Introduction: To be freely explored by the Hunter.
Tip: Hunters must not enter the Red Earth Zone. The Red Earth Zone's difficulty exceeds Lv.17.
Tip: Hunters must not enter the depths of the Black Forest. The depths of the Black Forest exceed Lv.20.
Trial Mission: Survive for ten days.
Hunting Mission: None.
Warning: Do not communicate with any Void Creatures that may appear. Void Creatures are mostly unstable structures and possess unknown dangers.
Trial, Begin!
...
Su Xiao immediately checked the details of the trial mission.
[Survival]
Difficulty Level: Lv.16
Mission Brief: Use every means to survive.
Mission Info: Survive for ten days. During these ten days, obtaining food, fresh water, etc., will be a massive challenge.
Mission Duration: 10 days
Mission Reward: Promotion to Second-Rank Hunter
Mission Penalty: No penalty.
...
A mission difficulty of Lv.16 showed just how difficult a survival mission could be.
Not only that, but Su Xiao was deeply surprised by the mission info. What was the deal with food and drinking water? His storage space was packed with supplies.
As for the lack of a penalty for failure, Su Xiao thought it was completely redundant. Failing a survival mission meant death; what more penalty was needed?
While Su Xiao was pondering the situation with food and water, he noticed several contractors behaving strangely.
These contractors were taking weapons out of their exclusive rooms. Not only that, but they were also pulling out backpacks, trying to pack in as much food as possible.
Su Xiao's storage space contained a large amount of food and fresh water. Given his current attributes, the amount of food he needed to consume per meal was astonishing. To unleash powerful combat strength, he needed sufficient energy.
It wasn't just Su Xiao; Bubu Wang was also a foodie.
"The situation isn't good."
Su Xiao's expression wasn't pleasant. He sheathed the Dragon-Slaying Flash at his waist, then took out the Black and White dual pistols, inserting them into the holsters on his thighs.
He also took out the Spider Empress sniper rifle. He couldn't carry this nearly two-meter-long sniper rifle; it would hinder his movement.
Su Xiao couldn't carry it, but Bubu Wang could.
After strapping the Spider Empress to Bubu Wang's back, Su Xiao took out a square backpack and packed a few Alchemy Bombs and five bottles of Alchemy Secret Medicine inside.
After hesitating for a moment, Su Xiao also took out a bag and packed some food inside. This amount of food was enough for him and Bubu Wang for one meal; any more would be impossible to carry.
From the behavior of the other contractors, it was clear that food and fresh water would become scarce resources.
Reincarnation Paradise might temporarily seal the storage space, just like in the real world.
What Su Xiao was more worried about was that if the survival trial was just simple island survival, it couldn't possibly have a difficulty of Lv.16.
A roaring sound came from above. An ultra-large aircraft gradually approached the ruins and finally landed.
This aircraft looked old in design, but its structure was advanced.
None of the contractors moved; their gazes were fixed on the aircraft.
"Gaba kulu tema" (Unknown language).
A 'pilot' jumped down from the aircraft, looked at the many contractors, and said something incomprehensible.
This pilot was short, about 1.2 to 1.3 meters tall. Even stranger, it had a head that looked like a rat's.
Looking closely, the pilot's appearance was a cross between a rat and a human: a rat's head, a human's body, and rat-like limbs and tail.
Su Xiao couldn't understand what the rat pilot was saying, but that didn't stop him from quickly walking towards the aircraft.
[Announcement: All contractors must board the aircraft within 5 minutes.]
A blood-red announcement appeared. It didn't say what the consequence of disobedience would be, but the blood-red font spoke for itself.
"Gugu lu papa ma."
The rat pilot adjusted a wristwatch-like device, seemingly changing the language.
"Can you understand now? This damn translation device. Old White's repair skills are pathetic."
The rat pilot stomped its feet in anger.
The contractors stopped in their tracks, their gazes fixed on the rat-man.
"Hmm? Looks like you can understand now."
The rat-man nodded in satisfaction, looking around at the surrounding contractors.
"Welcome to hell, you trial-takers. Hehehaha."
Hearing this, the contractors all looked at the rat-man with unfriendly eyes. They were all contractors who had passed their promotion missions, high-level First-Rank contractors with some pride.
"Who are you?"
A contractor stared coldly at the rat-man. The other party's attitude clearly showed ill intent.
"Who am I? Good question. I am the trial referee. You can call me Lord Rat, or you can call me the Void Thug."
Lord Rat's eyes flashed red; they were electronic eyes.
"This batch isn't bad. I hope the survival rate can be above 5%. Why would the Paradise send First-Rank contractors to Devouring Island? This isn't right."
Lord Rat seemed very familiar with Reincarnation Paradise, or rather, it was a staff member within Reincarnation Paradise.
"I don't want to waste words. The Paradise has already reminded you of the necessary matters. I only have one sentence: Do not leave Devouring Island during the trial period, or you will be executed on the spot."
None of the contractors spoke, but some indeed had this idea. Reincarnation Paradise hadn't stipulated that they couldn't leave Devouring Island during the trial. Since this so-called Devouring Island was dangerous, wouldn't it be better to leave as soon as they arrived?
"Hey, you in the red clothes over there. You look pretty unhappy, huh?"
Lord Rat looked at a contractor. That contractor's expression was calm.
"None of your business."
With that, the contractor was about to board the plane.
"None of my business? Ridiculous. If I see you're unhappy, I'll make you die!"
Lord Rat drew a laser gun from its waist and aimed it at that contractor.
Wooom~.
The laser gun began to accumulate energy. In an extremely short time, the energy was fully charged. A beam of light shot out, directly piercing into that contractor's body.
Pfft.
That contractor exploded into a mist of blood, not even a trace remaining.
"Let me remind you. There are over a dozen referees like me stationed at the edge of Devouring Island."