Plan

On the first floor of Silver Tower, Sasaki was talking with another Wa person in the lobby.

Behind him, more than a dozen newcomers had already gathered.

Sasaki scolded them with a dark expression. "A bunch of useless trash. Even if you survive, all you'll do is freeload."

The other Wa person added, "The quality of the newcomers these past few months has really been terrible."

"It's all that Adams's fault. Ever since he took office, nothing good has happened to us."

Sasaki nodded and continued checking the other newcomers' statuses according to the list.

If they wanted to know who had not come down yet, they only had to see whether the person was marked as dead and removed from the records. Naturally, there was no need to wait for the dead.

"Another batch has died. Could there really be only these thirteen left in the end?" Sasaki frowned.

Just then, Luo Yan emerged from the elevator with four people.

Sasaki glanced over and waved him over. "You survived? With that flower-queen potential of yours, it would've been a shame if you died."

Luo Yan had lost an arm yet still managed to survive, which delighted Sasaki.

But Luo Yan's expression darkened when he heard that. He immediately said, "Not only did I survive, I also got a reward."

"Oh?" Sasaki immediately had him announce his balance. Sure enough, he had one hundred points.

"Yoshi, one hundred points on your first game."

He was very satisfied. After having one of his subordinates give Luo Yan a casual search, he let him rejoin the group.

The others were treated the same way in turn. Astonishingly, every member of this batch had obtained a reward. They had genuinely survived through their own abilities.

"You were all in the same game?" Sasaki confiscated five hundred points.

Luo Yan nodded gloomily. "Yes. We worked together and locked the Radiation User in a secret room at the last moment, then took the opportunity to escape..."

Sasaki received the Redemption Vouchers and did not care about the details. Instead, he praised them. "Someone finally managed to bring out Redemption Vouchers. Not bad. As expected of a technical-school graduate."

Luo Yan rejoined the group and looked around. When he failed to spot Gaoxin, he could not help feeling worried.

After waiting for more than ten minutes, an elevator door opened with a clatter.

Gaoxin, Sule, Liu Xu, and five others, eight people in total, walked out of the elevator.

Sasaki glanced over, then froze in astonishment.

Gaoxin led the way, holding a giant axe as he strode over. Dressed casually, he looked just like a free player.

Seven players followed closely behind him. Their clothes were all tattered, and Sule was carrying a large bag in one hand, packed with food and alcohol.

"Huh?" Sasaki was surprised. He had not held out much hope for this batch of newcomers. He had never expected Gaoxin to walk out carrying a Mechanical Battle Axe.

Judging by the look of things, they had gained quite a haul?

He walked straight over, snatched the axe, knocked on it several times, then felt the blade.

A Wa person beside him said, "I've seen this kind of battle axe before. One thousand points."

"How many Redemption Vouchers do you have? Go announce them." Sasaki lifted his chin.

Gaoxin went up to announce his balance without hesitation and held out his arms to be searched.

Sule and Meimei did the same, but Liu Xu and the others did not. She was not a newcomer.

"Lord Beast Fang, these people are from our team." The muscular man came over and bowed.

"Get lost." Sasaki waved his hand.

The muscular man answered and led Liu Xu and the four other Redemption Squad members away. Gaoxin guessed that the muscular man was the so-called Brother Qiao.

After they had gone some distance, Liu Xu leaned close to Brother Qiao and whispered something to him.

Brother Qiao turned around and met Gaoxin's eyes.

Gaoxin did not react. He simply watched them leave.

Before coming down, they had enjoyed a rare period of freedom. He had asked everything he needed to ask and made all the arrangements he needed to make.

Next, he only needed to strive to become a member of the Redemption Squad. With his current abilities, that should be easy.

"You don't have even one Redemption Voucher?" Sasaki asked unhappily after searching him.

Gaoxin wore a helpless expression. "We survived by begging the Radiation User for mercy. After he came out, he took all the survival rewards."

"We only managed to pick up this axe after Old Cat left. It belonged to a Big Beard who died in a hidden area."

Sasaki frowned. "What Old Cat?"

The group stammered through an account of the game. They had long since coordinated their story.

Gaoxin easily invented a tale about them contending with the Radiation User in the underground hidden area. In the end, Big Beard died in a trap, and Old Cat knew nothing about it, allowing them to take advantage of the situation and pick up an axe.

"Not bad. You actually managed to use a trap to kill a Radiation User."

"Not bad. Although you didn't get any Redemption Vouchers, managing to obtain loot means you weren't entirely useless."

Sasaki weighed the battle axe in his hand.

This thing was worth one thousand points. Wasn't it worth more than the paltry amounts the newcomers had brought out?

Among those who had survived, Gaoxin was the only one who had not repaired himself. He was still covered in injuries, with various scratches and bruises, even obvious swelling around his ankle. It was clear that he had endured quite a rough ordeal.

Sasaki did not think much of it. Glass Person only needed one Redemption Voucher to repair injuries like these. Since Gaoxin had not repaired himself, that meant he did not even have one point. He must have used all his rewards to buy his life... What else could it be?

"Rejoin the group."

Gaoxin and the others stood beside Luo Yan. Luo Yan said quietly, "You were pretty lucky. As long as you didn't die, that's what matters."

"How much did you hand over?" Gaoxin asked.

Luo Yan said bitterly, "A hundred."

Gaoxin stared at Luo Yan in surprise, his look seeming to say, You were really that honest?

Luo Yan gazed at Gaoxin resentfully, his look seeming to say, I didn't have a choice...

Gaoxin understood. Luo Yan had the potential to become a flower queen. Even if he wanted to hide the reward, he had to consider whether he might be sent to become one...

He had only been allowed to participate in this game because Fúshé had pushed back against everyone's objections. If he failed to show his value, perhaps one word from them would send him back to become a flower queen.

The group waited for a long while. By then, night had fallen.

In the end, only twenty-eight people rejoined the group. Everyone else had died.

"Follow me!" Sasaki looked displeased as he led them away. Clearly, this batch of newcomers had performed terribly.

Soon, they were brought back to the original training ground.

Fúshé and Rou Si were holding a feast there.

Rou Si was eating and drinking heartily. A huge spread of whale meat covered the table before her, and she was eating until her mouth glistened with grease.

"Only these people came back?" Fúshé slightly frowned when he saw that there were only twenty-eight.

Sasaki lowered his head. "The newcomers were of poor quality. The best performer this time was that fellow with flower-queen potential. He led four people and obtained five hundred points in total."

"Next was a murderer skilled in firearms and combat. He also obtained one hundred points in the game."

"Oh, there was also a lucky kid who picked up a C-Class Nano Weapon."

Clearly, he did not think highly of Gaoxin. He considered it nothing more than luck and only mentioned him in passing.

Seeing this, Gaoxin could only smile bitterly. But he had no choice. He had to prioritize protecting the fact that he had obtained more than three thousand Redemption Vouchers.

"All right. Send the newcomers down to rest. Tomorrow morning, we'll begin assigning them to squads," Fúshé said.

Someone immediately led everyone off to eat.

They were herded like a group of beggars into a fenced-off corner of the training ground, with a tall wall behind them.

The newcomers were penned inside like sheep, sitting on the packed earth while being fed dry, unappetizing food.

However, Sule had brought a large bag of food out of the mansion. Sasaki had only inspected it before ignoring it. He was not so shameless as to fight slaves over scraps.

Sule happened to divide the food among everyone.

The newcomers were delighted and began eating ravenously. Whether they would ever get to eat such good food again was uncertain.

"Your game area was pretty nice. You could even bring out so much delicious food?" After eating his fill, Luo Yan pulled Gaoxin to a corner.

Everyone had finished eating. They had scattered in groups of two or three, each finding a place to lie down and rest.

They had experienced too much on the first day, and many people were exhausted. Some lay there unable to sleep, quietly sobbing, while others had already fallen into a deep sleep without a care in the world.

Late at night, Gaoxin sat beside Luo Yan and looked at the stars and moon overhead. He sighed. "We were lucky. We would all have died if things had gone slightly differently."

Luo Yan smiled. "It was all right. The Low-level Game felt pretty simple."

Sule came over with a strange expression. "Simple?"

Meimei also stared at Luo Yan in disbelief. Although everyone had survived this time, they had still experienced the difficulty of the Redemption Game... For Glass People in particular, it was practically as if they had been brought in to serve as game props.

Luo Yan said, "It really was pretty simple. There were many ways to survive in the game. Even if all else failed, we could negotiate."

"The Radiation Users who participate in the games are all there for Redemption Vouchers. As long as you understand their psychology, even the weak have room to maneuver."

Sule and Meimei immediately looked at him resentfully.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Luo Yan asked curiously.

Sule could not help saying, "Ours was much harder than yours."

Luo Yan was puzzled. "Didn't more of you survive? How hard could it have been? Don't tell me you encountered a boss in your first game?"

Sule and Meimei still felt lingering fear whenever they thought of Silver Hand. Wasn't that exactly like encountering a boss?

They looked at Gaoxin, as if asking whether they should tell him.

Gaoxin simply pulled Luo Yan over and quietly told him what had truly happened in the game.

After hearing it, Luo Yan was dumbfounded. "What? You really fought a boss?"

Seeing how shaken they all looked, Luo Yan wiped away his sweat. "SR-Class? Just listening to your description makes it sound insane..."

Then he realized something and looked at Gaoxin. "You enhanced yourself too?"

Gaoxin shot him a sidelong glance. That "too" was quite telling.

"I grew a little smarter. What about you?"

Luo Yan grinned. "I trained some muscles."

As he spoke, he pulled open the collar of his shirt and tensed his entire body. He looked even more explosive than when Gaoxin had first seen him.

"Are those muscles actually useful?" Gaoxin sighed.

Luo Yan straightened his clothes. "What else could I do? I only had a few hundred points altogether. Putting them into strength was the most straightforward enhancement."

Gaoxin nodded. Luo Yan's choice made sense, since he had few Redemption Vouchers.

Putting them anywhere else would not make much of a difference. Strength was the only attribute that would produce the greatest change in ability.

Although he could not deal with Radiation Users, he should be quite strong against other Glass People.

"Sigh, we still don't know what they'll arrange for us tomorrow. Let's get some rest," Luo Yan said.

Gaoxin asked him, "Were there no Redemption Squad members in your game?"

Luo Yan froze. "There were, but they were all ordinary people. They all died."

Gaoxin immediately told him the information he had obtained from Liu Xu.

After hearing it, Luo Yan fell deep into thought.

Sule could not help asking, "Brother, why did you have to bring the axe out? You just gave the Wa people a bargain."

Gaoxin said, "That axe is worth one thousand points. Handing it over gives me one thousand points of performance. Maybe I can earn a chance to stake my life with Black Medicine. It's worth a try."

Everyone was startled. Meimei asked, "You want to stake your life? There's only a one-in-ten chance."

Gaoxin shrugged. "It's not like I'll do it immediately. Besides, no one said I had to use their Black Medicine."

"All I need to do is earn ten thousand points in the games before the deadline for staking my life arrives, then exchange them for a Gene Protectant."

"Then I'll have a hundred percent chance of succeeding when I participate in the Radiation life-or-death gamble."

Everyone thought it over. So that was why—he was aiming for the Radiation Chamber.

Becoming a Radiation User did not only require a Gene Protectant. Although that was the most crucial part, the prerequisite was first to be exposed to massive radiation and suffer Gene Collapse.

Used by a normal person, it was completely useless.

Sule asked, "Can this kind of medicine be brought out? Won't it be confiscated?"

Gaoxin smiled faintly. "Didn't you see Liu Xu get led away directly by her squad leader?"

"The Redemption Squad settled its accounts once a month and operated under collective responsibility. In the end, the entire squad had to hand over ten thousand."

"In other words, before the accounts were settled, the Redemption Vouchers technically remained on our account."

Meimei said, "Liu Xu said they were on the squad leader's account, didn't she? After everyone participates in a game, the squad leader collects the Redemption Vouchers and keeps records."

"When collection day arrives, if they can't hand over ten thousand, the squad leader will definitely die! For every hundred they're short, another life has to fill the gap!"

Gaoxin nodded. "But if the entire squad earns more than ten thousand Redemption Vouchers, they can keep the rest for themselves."

Meimei said, "Is that so? What else did you talk about with Liu Xu afterward?"

She remembered that while everyone was coordinating their stories, Gaoxin had pulled Liu Xu aside and made some arrangements.

Gaoxin said quietly, "I only asked her to scout ahead. According to Liu Xu, Brother Qiao's squad had several hundred Redemption Vouchers left over last month."

"But he didn't keep them for his own use. He kept them as the squad's public funds to help everyone survive."

"After all, they wouldn't be lucky every month. If the squad came up short one month, they could use what they had saved before to cover the deficit."

"Brother Qiao often risked himself in games to make up the shortfall for everyone. He had saved many people's lives, so everyone in the squad respected him."

Sule and the others nodded. Brother Qiao really did seem like a decent person. Thinking back, even people like the bald man had never spoken ill of him. Whenever they mentioned him, it was with admiration. That alone said a lot.

"So the Redemption Squad can keep some for themselves too. It's just that they have to hand over too much, and with collective responsibility, those who earn more have to cover the shortfall of those who earn less. That's why they can't actually keep much," Sule said.

"Maybe it's tacitly permitted. After all, even a horse needs night feed to grow fat..." Meimei stared at Gaoxin. "If that's the case, we have a lot more room to maneuver."

Gaoxin pressed his lips together. "But we may not end up in that squad. Not every squad leader is as good as Brother Qiao."

"I've heard some squads have it very badly. Their squad leaders abuse their little authority and throw their weight around, completely forgetting that everyone is a slave."

Everyone smiled bitterly. That was only natural. There were far too many people like that.

Luo Yan understood everything by now. He said calmly, "If we can't choose our squad, all of this is meaningless."

"So... do you know how we can choose our squad?"

Gaoxin nodded at him. "By becoming one of the best newcomers."

"Brother Qiao was one of the best newcomers in his cohort back then."

"After the Wa people sent him to the Redemption Squad, they let the squad leaders compete for him. Everyone fought to recruit him, and whichever squad he agreed to join was the one he went to."

"The other newcomers weren't so lucky. The Wa people sent them wherever they wanted, basically to whichever squad had the fewest members."

Luo Yan asked, "Then how do they determine who counts as an outstanding newcomer?"

Gaoxin's eyes shone as he said, "The newcomer most suited to the Redemption Game is the best newcomer."

"They make a comprehensive assessment of cultural education, special skills, and physical fitness."

"Of course. And considering my contributions to the first Redemption Game, that's why I chose to bring the great axe out."

Luo Yan scratched his head. So, by that logic, was he already a shoo-in?

After all, when Fúshé heard that he had graduated from a technical school, he had refused to let him become a courtesan and sent him into the Redemption Game instead.

It was hard to say whether he was the best, but it was certain that he would enter the Redemption Squad.

Luo Yan asked, "Hmm, are you confident? What's your educational background?"

Gaoxin smiled faintly. "No educational background, but I do have a special skill..."

He directly took three unopened bottles of purified water from the drinks Sule had brought out and lined them up in a row.

"You pick one, then scramble their order however you like. I'll still be able to find it."

Luo Yan pointed at one of the bottles. Gaoxin stared at it for a while, then turned around.

A commotion came from behind him, and soon Gaoxin turned back.

Gaoxin only glanced at them before pointing at one of the bottles. "This one."

Luo Yan and Sule were stunned. They had even deliberately wiped all the bottles clean, so they had no idea how Gaoxin had guessed correctly.

"Again," Luo Yan said.

Gaoxin turned around once more. Before long, he turned back and quickly pointed out the bottle again.

After repeating this several times, everyone was convinced.

"Wait, how did you know? Are there any differences between these three bottles?" Luo Yan exclaimed.

Gaoxin smiled. "It wouldn't help even if you wiped the bottles perfectly clean, because the water is different."

"Huh?" They examined the bottles carefully, but couldn't see any difference in the water at all. It was just clear water.

"Although it's purified water, it still contains minuscule impurities. They're like the mark of that particular bottle—unique and one of a kind. You don't notice those details, but I can distinguish them." Gaoxin spoke seriously.

Luo Yan stroked his chin. "Enhanced visual discrimination... Is there anything else?"

Gaoxin smiled. "I can distinguish sounds too. In fact, I didn't even need to turn around just now to know where you put the bottle."

"My memory is pretty good as well. If I get the chance, I hope I can learn from you properly in the future."

Luo Yan grinned. "No problem, no problem. I'll teach you everything I know."

P.S. Sorry.