Chapter 763
Take Xiao Ran, for example. If he had accepted a Side Mission to destroy or capture the Minerva, he would definitely have made his move from the very beginning, when he held the advantage, and destroyed it in one stroke before knowing whether the enemy had further reinforcements. He would not have waited until the Earth Force had fallen into a disadvantage, foolishly giving away his advantage before taking over from a losing position to turn the tide. No normal Participant would risk mission failure by doing something like that.
From this, Xiao Ran could conclude that it was highly unlikely the Earth Force Participants who had appeared later had received a mission targeting the Minerva. They had come here either under Earth Force orders or because they had some other mission.
Of course, that was not absolute. After all, they had descended from the sky when they appeared, clearly not arriving together with this Earth Force fleet. Perhaps they had simply failed to arrive in time, and Eshe's group of four had suddenly appeared and disrupted the Earth Force's plans. In that case, they might really have been assigned to destroy the Minerva. And if those Participants' mission deadline was not limited to today, then even if they were now covering the Earth Force fleet's retreat, they would still have opportunities to target the Minerva again in the future.
Xiao Ran even wondered whether these five Earth Force Participants had, to some extent, filled the roles left vacant within the Earth Force after he had taken the Three Strong Ones away.
After those thoughts flashed through his mind, Xiao Ran turned his gaze back toward the distance. The battle at sea had reached the point where its outcome was basically clear. With Eshe's group of four suddenly