Xie Ming: "..."
Seeing Xie Ming completely turn gray, Dean Bai, feeling a pang of conscience, comforted him, "Oh, it's not a mistake to not be good at combat. Your talent isn't in combat anyway. Don't forget, you're also a certified genius of the Wilderness Weapon!"
"Indeed." Xie Ming's expression returned. "She can beat me, but she's not just someone who can defeat a D-rank opponent, is she? She can actually hurt you!"
"Hmm, actually, most C-rank enemies can handle it." Dean Bai nodded. "However, many C-rank enemies have special abilities, and combat strength and rank are not the same thing. If I say that, it might make her less wary of the enemy, which wouldn't be good."
"Indeed," Xie Ming exclaimed. "You're the best example."
"That's why I'm curious about how far she can go in the future..." Dean Bai said with a smile.
*
After the compatibility rate exceeded 60%, Wen Jing found that the frequency of his visits to the Ancient Wilderness had decreased again, to once every 10 hours.
In other words, she no longer needs to enter the Ancient Wilderness every other day, but can enter it once a day.
As a result, Wen Jing was able to explore the Ancient Wilderness lands more frequently.
The underground world is enormous, with not only vast horizontal spaces but also unexplored vertical spaces. Currently, Wen Jing is still exploring between the hollow layer and the spider's burrow, and he doesn't know what kind of space the giant insect has penetrated deep beneath the burrow.
During this time, she also witnessed a giant insect, exuding a chilling aura, rushing towards the Earth's surface to absorb the energy of a star.
Of course, knowing that going to the surface would waste a lot of time on the journey, Wen Jing naturally didn't 'get on the bus'.
[You have purchased the combat skill ' Level Three Energy Shield ']
While exploring the gaps in the return to the material universe once again, she saw that the Integral for the insect Wilderness Body research project for this month had been credited to her account. On a whim, she purchased the course that was in her shopping cart.
Just then, Wen Jing saw a red notification from the Mission Department on his smart terminal.
[ Genetic Collapse event has occurred in **City (displayed after accepting the quest). Current assessment level: F. Limited to students in second year or above with a compatibility rate of 40% or higher.]
"We've encountered a containment mission..."
Wen Jing's eyes flickered.
Genetic Collapse is the second leading cause of death among Awakened, and its frequency is naturally determined by the distribution of Awakened.
Low-level Awakened are the most numerous among Awakened, and the highest number of Low-level Awakened active on the Red Earth Star, so naturally such events occur more frequently than in Azure Jade and Mystic Radiance.
Federation regulations stipulate that each academy is obligated to complete the recovery of the Superpower Core on its respective planet.
After the Genetic Collapse, the high-dimensional energy of the Awakened beings' Wilderness Body will affect the area, giving it the same world depth as the Ancient Wilderness. Ordinary people will not be affected if they do not approach that area, and even objects and non-human creatures will not be affected if they approach it.
However, anyone in the area will be involuntarily drawn into it.
For ordinary people facing the perilous environment of the Ancient Wilderness, the chances of survival are naturally slim.
The occurrence of Genetic Collapse would be a supernatural disaster for that region.
Therefore, all students from the second year onwards at the Red Earth Academy have an obligation to participate in containment missions, unlike the Ancient Wilderness Exploration missions where failing to meet the required number would result in expulsion.
However, if no one accepts the task in an emergency, a person will be forcibly assigned a task as long as their abilities meet the requirements.
If you are forced to accept the assignment or refuse it, you will lose credits.
Of course, the containment mission will only be seen by students who meet the requirements. If Wen Jing is a freshman or his compatibility is not high enough, he will not be able to see the mission message.
After thinking for a moment, Wen Jing chose to accept the task before the system assigned him to one.
As for the reason...
The C-grade Empowerment Stone, which had no special abilities, that Wen Jing received as a reward from the Freshman League made her realize that there was more to it than met the eye. As the source of the incident, the containment of the Superpower Core naturally piqued her curiosity.
In addition to wanting to see it for myself, I also wanted to know that the academy's stock of F-grade Empowerment Stone had been insufficient for some time.
Wen Jing certainly didn't want to exchange it for Integral. If the containment was completed, she could freely choose whether she wanted to save up enough points to exchange for E-grade Empowerment Stone three times or temporarily exchange them for F-grade Empowerment Stone.
Chapter 123
"Damn it!"
"Why was I assigned a containment mission...?"
Containment missions were issued, and as usual, five-person teams were assigned. Some volunteered to accept the missions, while others were forcibly assigned by the system.
Those who are passively assigned to these positions are mostly those who participate in on-campus activities and do not have scheduled classes.
To ensure fairness, priority will be given to students who have not performed containment missions.
Although completing containment missions also rewards Integral, there are many ways for Awakened to earn Integral, and containment missions are strenuous and carry the risk of injury.
This results in most students who are passively assigned tasks being unwilling, but simply accepting their bad luck to avoid losing credits.
However, when the students assigned to this operation arrived at the assembly point on time and saw that familiar figure, all their previous reluctance turned into surprise.
"It's Wen Jing!"
"The containment mission was assigned to Wen Jing? That's great!"
The four of them surrounded Wen Jing, and the scene immediately became lively.
The other four people assigned to the containment mission were all third-year students, none of whom Wen Jing knew. However, everyone on the other side knew Wen Jing —even though her league halo expired in a month, no one in the entire Red Earth Academy was unfamiliar with her.
This means they've managed to curry favor with a powerful figure!
The teammates' excitement was palpable.
With Wen Jing present, isn't this containment mission a piece of cake?
They had completely forgotten that they were the seniors, Wen Jing was a sophomore who had just entered university.
However, at the Red Earth Academy, today's task is handled by senior students, and the situation is not much different.
"Come on up first, then we can talk!"
It was only after the Mission Department officer, who was sitting in the front row of the aircraft, urged them that they reacted and hurriedly boarded the aircraft.
The containment mission was urgent, and the aircraft took off immediately, heading as fast as possible to the location where the loss of control had occurred.
"This is a Level 1 emergency mission. The relevant information on Jiang Qin, the out-of-control individual, has been sent to your terminals."
"The incident occurred between 2 and 3 a. m. Fortunately, the company where the incident took place Energy Gathering Group, is a large corporation that strictly adheres to the 996 work schedule. At a time when the world is undergoing profound changes, only eight employees who volunteered to work overtime were caught in the crossfire."
Hearing this, Wen Jing couldn't help but twitch her lips. That's right, in this era, 996 is a real blessing, just like her previous life where she worked from 9 to 5 with weekends off. It's already considered a conscientious corporate system.
"It's 5:45 now. More than three hours have passed since the disaster broke out. Your mission is to contain the Superpower Core and do your best to rescue the survivors."
When the counselor said this, her gaze was mainly on Wen Jing, directly acknowledging her leadership role in the operation. Although it was also a team of five, unlike when they participated in the Student Council's exploration operation before, which was still somewhat tentative, everyone now took it for granted.
"Clear."
Wen Jing nodded, and then introduced himself to his four teammates on the mission.
The whole scene didn't feel like introductions; it was more like a fan meeting.
"Hello, my name is Han An."
"My name is An Ya, and I'm your biggest fan!"
"I'm Brandon, and I'm a fan of yours too!"
"That's enough, junior. Look, I always use the same packaging box as you. I'm your true fan. My name is Pei Si."
The counselor was not surprised at all by this situation. As a person who made the reputation of Red Earth Star resound Federation, Wen Jing was now a household name on Red Earth Star, not to mention his fellow students. He was a superstar with unprecedented popularity.
If it weren't for the fact that this was during a mission, and that academic affairs staff had to maintain a certain level of reserve when facing students, the counselor would have also wanted to go up and try to get closer to them.
Then, Wen Jing quickly learned that among the four teammates, Han An was E-level and the other three were F-level, but their compatibility was all above 50% and had not yet broken through 60%.
At the Red Earth Academy, third-year students with a compatibility rate exceeding 60% are generally key candidates for development by the Student Council's Operations Department.
This also shows the difference in strength between the Ocher Soil and the other two academies.
During the Freshman League, Mystic Radiance and Azure Jade already had a group of first-year spring semester students with a 59% compatibility rate.
What appears to be a difference in individual roll size is actually a difference in resources.
Without sufficient resources, unless students are forced to frequently explore the Ancient Wilderness, the rate at which compatibility can be increased is simply unmatched, and doing so would greatly increase the mortality rate.
When Wen Jing registered her personal information last time, she noticed that the total number of people in her grade ranking was one less than the previous one.
This indicates that one of her classmates has died during the exploration of the Ancient Wilderness.
If this is the case when students transition from freshman to sophomore year, it goes without saying that it's even more true for junior and senior students, as their compatibility increases and they delve deeper into the world they explore.
The aircraft carrying out the containment mission was faster than intercity planes and had its own temporary flight path. In just ten minutes, it arrived at its mission destination Anning City.
It was dusk according to the planet's natural time, and the setting sun shone on the technologically advanced building of the Energy Gathering Group.
Aside from being unusually quiet, this office building was no different from any other building; the power was still on, and all the access control and monitoring equipment were operating normally.
Centered on the Energy Gathering Group, an area with a diameter of two kilometers was marked with red electronic lines, indicating that this was a danger zone.
"Call..."
The aircraft hatch opened, and a gust of wind from high altitude rushed in.
"Walk."
After observing the situation, Wen Jing gave the order and was the first to jump off the aircraft.
Seeing this, the other four quickly followed without saying a word.
"Thump, thump, thump..."
The five people jumped safely from the sky into the red danger zone.
The world before us has not changed; it remains a normal world.