The group used the density of the trees to find a river, because they remembered the previous coordinates, they still knew the general direction, so they followed the river towards the direction of the coordinates. As the planet's mineral reserves were very rich, the Lennon Empire arranged a lot of satellites over it for detection and monitoring. The army was able to observe Zerg movements by satellite at any time and exterminate them.
But this convenience had been blocked by the school, they needed the best students, ones able to survive no matter how bad the environment. Only strict requirements from the beginning could ensure that they could survive and win on the real battlefield.
Now, the candidates' personal terminals only had the contact function, all the other keys were grayed out.
"Wait a minute, three magic flower praying mantises approaching at two o'clock, please prepare." Zhou Yun Sheng took out his particle gun and stood in a ready stance.
The team immediately formed a battle formation, but after waiting for half a minute, they did not see any movement and looked toward Darren. It's common knowledge that the magic flower mantis was very fast, almost comparable to the performance of the best airship, once you detected it by spiritual power, it would appear in front of you the next second.
"My spiritual power doesn't detect any danger. Cecil, are you too nervous?" Darren was about to pat the boy's shoulder when he saw him jump up a nearby tree and aim his particle gun to the front. Soon, Darren sensed three large objects quickly approaching the team, and in the blink of an eye they were in close proximity.
"Crap, there really are magic flower mantises!" Darren's spiritual power could only detect danger, he couldn't clearly detect the species, but the speed should belong to the magic flower mantis, because they were really too fast.
After waiting for half a minute, the team's formation had begun to slack, it was too late to even lift up their particles guns before three six meter long magic flower mantises appeared before them, flapping their wings up in the sky. They wielded huge sickle-shaped forelimbs which could cut down the trees that hindered their progress, and they habitually attacked humans on sight.
They were not poisonous, but their exoskeleton was very tough, they could withstand even the particle cannons, forget about the particle guns. They were so fast that they could harvest your head in the blink of an eye, a very difficult Zerg to deal with.
The team rolled to the rocks by the river bank for coverage and ran, escaping. The place where they had been standing was split into a huge pit by a magic flower mantis' forelimb, the pit was cut very smoothly, the sharpness of its forelimbs on display.
They had strength, speed, lethality, and defense, one could kill a team of seven or eight people, let alone three.
Darren aimed at the magic flower mantises and shot, secretly cursing their bad luck.
The projectile hit the forelimbs of a magic flower mantis and made a burst of noise, but it only took a small step back in reaction. The other two moved left and right to the rocks, outflanking the humans behind it.
Everyone tried to target their most vulnerable part, the head, but they blocked it with their huge forelimbs. They knew where their own weaknesses were, and in the course of reproducing generation after generation, they'd passed on this alertness to the new generation, so no matter when or where they were, they would instinctually use their forelimbs to block their weakness.
Zhou Yun Sheng stood on a treetop branch, wrapping himself in his spiritual power so the magic flower mantises wouldn't detect his presence. He raised his particle gun and aimed at them, but he didn't fire for half a day.
On the Star Network, the people who saw this scene scolded the Omega a scourge, yelling out that he shouldn't have appeared on the battlefield.
"Look, Cecil is scared silly! His team is surrounded by magic mantises yet he's hesitating to shoot the gun he's holding, he doesn't even have the courage to launch a bullet! Darren shouldn't have taken pity on him!"
"I guess he's scared stiff, he's standing motionless on the treetops, not even his eyelashes are trembling. When his team is eaten, the magic flower mantises might think he's a stone and let him go. Omega are very cowardly, but their luck has always been high."
"How can Cecil be the one to survive? Doesn't he see that his team is in life-threatening danger? At this point he should jump down to attract the magic mantises' attention, and give his team a chance to fight back. This is the only value of his existence! Omega really shouldn't appear on the battlefield after all, they will always bring everyone bad luck!"
Various angry or ridiculing remarks scrolled across the Star Network. Everyone wanted to climb into the video and kicked the scared silly Cecil off the tree, letting the magic flower mantises cut him into meat sauce.
In the Lennon Empire Minerals Corporation's headquarters, Osborne and the vice principal were also looking at this scene.
Darren and his team used a dense particle gun barrage to stop the three magic flower mantises from getting too close, but their guns were equipped with only one piece of energy stone, not enough to supply unlimited bullets. When the energy stone was exhausted, they would be killed.
"What happened to Cecil? He should do something, even if it means pressing the helper buzzer for the team." The vice principal sighed. He didn't agree with recruiting an Omega into the school, but Old Bernard had personally come forward to persuade the headmaster, in his opinion, Cecil didn't qualify to stand on CT073 planet. He was too much of a hindrance.
Osborne didn't speak, he was staring unblinkingly at the boy. He knew that he was up to something because his expression was too calm and cool. He gripped the particle gun, but his arms didn't show a trace of trembling, which showed his firm heart. He was aiming at the magic flower mantises' heads, ready to kill.
This required dynamic vision and the most accurate judgment beyond the limits of average humans, one micron of error would destroy his and his team's lives.
Can he do it? Osborne stood up, prepared to rescue them at any time.
But soon, the boy's arm shifted, he quickly aimed at a magic flower mantis and pulled the trigger, when it fell to the ground, attracting the other two magic flower mantises' attention, he fired two more shots.
He'd stood on the treetops for ten minutes and only fired three shots, but these three shots were extremely accurate, they pierced through the magic flower mantises' brains, sending them directly to hell.
He easily jumped from the ten meter high tree and performed a deft and beautiful somersault in mid-air, quietly landing on the ground like a butterfly. He leisurely walked to the team members and asked, "Are you okay? Are there any injuries?"
"I, we're fine." Darren recovered his stunned expression and came out from behind the rocks.
The others also said they were fine. During the fight against the magic mantises, it would be a lie to say that they hadn't secretly complained about Cecil's hiding, but they knew that he was a delicate Omega, so they didn't ask him for help. If he could escape safely, that was also a good outcome.
They never would've imagined that the 'delicate Omega', the one with the lowest combat effectiveness, would save their lives.
When everyone was still in a state of shock, Zhou Yun Sheng's heartbeat didn't even speed up, he heard a slight beep and looked at the AI on his wrist, then raised an eyebrow, "Ah, the number of Zerg I hunted should have been updated, but why does it say 300? Is there an error?"
Darren gathered his wits and carefully explained, "Not a mistake, hunted Zerg are divided by rank. One magic flower mantis is worth 100 low class beasts, you killed three, so the school awarded you 300 points." When he finished speaking, he couldn't help but glance at the other boy's gorgeous face.
He'd looked so cool when shooting, and his posture when jumping off the tree was so beautiful, in this world, no Omega was more attractive than him. Why did cousin choose Joshua over him? I really don't understand what he's thinking.
While Darren was letting his imagination run wild, the Star Network had exploded. The abusers that had called Cecil a useless leech before felt like they had been severely slapped in the face dozens of times, too embarrassed to even form sentences. Looking back, they realized that he wasn't scared silly, he was just looking for an opportunity to kill.
He was calm, steady, and accurate, he knew what he was doing and how to accomplish it. In only the first half hour of the exam, he was 300 points above all the Alpha, causing everyone to be stunned yet admire him at the same time.
In such a critical situation, no one dared to stand up and claim they could've done better than Cecil.
Old Bernard, who was sitting at home and watching his grandson on a big screen, let out a high spirited laugh, Johnny Bernard's eyes bulged, he couldn't believe that that was his son.
At the Chelman Military Academy, the seniors were watching the candidates' performance at lunch break in the cafeteria.
A Beta sitting next to Joshua sincerely exclaimed, "No wonder Cecil said he had to assume greater social responsibility, he really does have the ability. We still can't tell how high his physical level is, but his spiritual strength should be above S-class. He warned his team half a minute before Darren sensed the danger, but unfortunately no one believed him. In half a minute, a magic flower mantis can travel hundreds of kilometers with its speed, so his spiritual power can spread at least hundreds of kilometers… …"
After this analysis, the man sucked in a breath and didn't dare go on. What kind of terrible spiritual power level can spread hundreds of kilometers? That kind of strength had already broken the limits of 3S. That would make Cecil an automatic detector, able to easily get a clear picture of the situation around him at any time.
He was speechless, he looked at Joshua and said, "Hey, Cecil doesn't seem to be worse than you. Wasn't it General Osborne who said that he was delicate and helpless?"
Joshua smiled awkwardly and bowed his head to fiddle with his plate. By Omega standards, he felt that he was excellent, not even that, he should be the best. No other Omega was born with S-class spiritual power and almost A-level physique, he could boldly say that he was capable of working alongside Alpha.
But now, his pride and self-confidence were suffering an unprecedented blow. Cecil was an Omega just like him, and his spiritual power and physique was not inferior to his, but Cecil also had the courage to break stereotypes. He never concealed his Omega identity, he even removed his glands in order to not be controlled by others.
His actions were so shocking, but he had the ability to charm people into surrender. When he appeared on the screen, everyone's eyes couldn't help but focus on him, he was a natural star.
Joshua had to admit that he couldn't compare with Cecil. He was angry at his fate of being a birthing machine, but he still kept his glands, just to give himself an escape route. But Cecil didn't need an escape route, he never doubted that he would be successful.
When he showed a confident smile, the dazzling glow was blinding.
Joshua was uneasy when he remembered Osborne's refusal words to Cecil. Faced with such an excellent Cecil, can Osborne still keep his heart steady?
Thinking of this, he covered his face, depressed.