Chu Ge agreed to the three friend requests; the first one to message him was Xiao Panda Nangong.
The chat interface was very similar to a smartphone's messaging app. Whatever he was thinking, he could type out those words in the input box, and he could also freely delete them.
Nangong: Boss Boss, that was awesome! Number one in killing the enemy, even the Pitbulls got slaughtered by you!
Nangong: From now on, I'll cling to your powerful coattails!
Nangong: Boss, what about your Survival Team? Can you pull me in?
Chu Ge Siqi: Haven't set up a Survival Team yet, wanna be one of its founding members?
Nangong: ...
Nangong: Boss, you want to create a Survival Team? I heard from the veterans that it takes ten thousand Survival Points. How long will you have to save?
Chu Ge Siqi: Can you wait that long?
Nangong: I absolutely can wait!
...
This Survival Competition had turned the two into friends through life and death, and Chu Ge couldn't help but laugh at his messages.
Nangong liked to talk a lot. After chatting for quite a while, Chu Ge forcibly ended the conversation with him.
The one named Teddy Xiao Poor Thing also sent him congratulatory messages.
Chu Ge coldly replied with a "Hmm," and then ended the conversation.
He then opened up the chat with Song in the Windy Night.
Song in the Windy Night: Good lad, pretty good at sniping kills, huh.
Chu Ge Siqi: Too kind.
Song in the Windy Night: How about joining my Survival Team? We, the Sacred Majesty of the Firmament, are ranked in the top fifty survival teams.
Chu Ge Siqi: I'll think about it.
Song in the Windy Night: OK.
...
Sacred Majesty of the Firmament?
What's that?
Chu Ge was curious. There were rankings for Survival Teams?
Just as this thought emerged, two leaderboards popped up in the holographic screen.
Enemy Elimination Rankings:
Evil Dragon - Enemy kills: 9981
Wolf Emperor - Enemy kills: 9923
Want to Live - Enemy kills: 9874
Hyena Slayer - Enemy kills: 9845
Ye Yidao - Enemy kills: 9642
King of the Pacific Ocean - Enemy kills: 9641
Fish Swallowing Sea - Enemy kills: 9587
Zeus - Enemy kills: 9466
...
Survival Team Power Rankings:
1st Place - Sky Palace (18 members)
2nd Place - Trio Gods Group (3 members)
3rd Place - Olympus Pantheon (18 members)
4th Place - Atlantis (18 members)
5th Place - Dark Skin Empire (17 members)
6th Place - Wolf Clan (18 members)
7th Place - Heaven's Elephant Tower (18 members)
8th Place - Survival Storm (18 members)
...
The two leaderboards only recorded the top hundred.
Looking at the enemies killed displayed on the leaderboard, Chu Ge's scalp tingled.
Perhaps this was the creator's punishment for humanity.
Humanity had killed countless animals, and now, humanity would turn on itself in the same brutal fashion, with only humans dying.
Chu Ge's focus shifted to the Survival Team Power Rankings.
The Trio Gods Group, ranking second, was quite impressive.
While other teams had seventeen or eighteen members, they only had three, yet managed to rank second, virtually slapping the face of the number one ranked Sky Palace.
Suddenly, Chu Ge was very curious about just how many Survivors there were in the Survival Arena.
Before his rebirth, he had no idea the Survival Arena even existed, given that hundreds of thousands, or even millions of people disappeared mysteriously around the world each year.
But looking at the Enemy Elimination Rankings, he knew the number of Survivors was an unpredictable figure.
Chu Ge couldn't help but speculate if the world he was reborn into was a parallel universe.
In my previous life at this age, I seldom heard of cities where disappearance cases occurred consecutively.
According to the rules of the Survival Arena, basically every day a good number of people would disappear.
Chu Ge left the Survival Arena with confusion.
He had disappeared for another day and just thinking about explaining to his parents and teachers gave him a headache.
Back in reality, he found himself in the men's restroom where he had vanished.
He walked out of the restroom and discovered that classes were still in session.
He hesitated for a moment, then headed towards the nearby stairs, intending to go directly to the teachers' office.
He planned to attend class first and have the teacher call his parents for him.
All the way there, he kept thinking about what Survival Skills to exchange for.
A Growth Accelerator was a must.
His physique was too weak now and it put him at a disadvantage.
The cheapest Growth Accelerator required 1,500 Survival Points.
With the remaining 300 Survival Points, he could only exchange for a Level 1 Survival Skill at most.
Moreover, he had to keep at least 100 Survival Points for emergency purposes.
Otherwise, he would meet the same fate as the Pitbull.
As Chu Ge weighed his options, he reached the teachers' office at the corner of the fourth floor.
Inside, only three teachers were correcting homework; he glanced around, and his homeroom teacher, Xu Xuebing, was not there.
After a moment's hesitation, Chu Ge decided to head straight for the classroom.
After all, he hadn't brought his textbooks with him.
Arriving on the fifth floor, he walked along the corridor and, upon seeing the high school seniors diligently studying in the classrooms, couldn't help but reflect.
This was the life a person should have.
Soon, he arrived at the entrance of Class Seven of the senior year.
An English class was in progress, taught by a middle-aged woman wearing professional attire. She was writing sentences on the blackboard and reciting English aloud.
Students in the front row were taken aback when they saw Chu Ge standing at the doorway.
"Good morning, teacher, I've come for class,"
said Chu Ge, his voice clear but not harsh.
All the students looked up at him, their expressions varying.
The English teacher turned to look at him, her face showing a strange expression as she asked, "Chu Ge, where have you been?"
Chu Ge calmly replied, "I had some trouble and can't say."
He feigned a sigh, sparking curiosity.
"Take a seat for now,"
the English teacher said with a frown before putting down her chalk and adding, "Everyone, review the sentence structures we just covered. I'm going to step out and call your homeroom teacher."
Chu Ge returned to his seat under the odd gazes of his classmates.
As soon as the English teacher left the classroom, the room burst into chatter.
"Chu Ge is back!"
"Did he really disappear for a day?"
"After PE class yesterday, do any of you know where he went?"
"To skip class for a day and still be so calm, amazing!"
"Looking at him, could it be that something happened at home?"
Chu Ge returned to his seat, listening to the others' gossip and couldn't help but feel speechless.
His deskmate, Chen Xunjie, nudged him and asked, "Were you kidnapped or something?"
Chu Ge rolled his eyes at him and said, "I went to save the world."
"Yeah, right—"
Chen Xunjie said, clearly disbelieving.
Tang Xuejia turned her head and asked, "Are you sick with a fever again?"
Chu Ge's changes over the past month had been enormous, and this mysterious disappearance sparked many rumors in the class.
After all, in the pressure-cooker environment of their final school year, an incident like this provided a chance for gossip and some relief for the class.
"No, it's complicated, and I shouldn't talk about it. Don't ask anymore, I still need to figure out how to explain this to my family,"
Chu Ge said with a smile, shaking his head. Just a moment ago, he had been fighting for his life, covered in wounds, and now he was back in the classroom, looking at these youthful faces; his heart was filled with a mixture of emotions.
"Your parents don't know you're back yet?" Chen Xunjie exclaimed with wide eyes, astonished.
The students around followed his gaze, turning their heads, looking at Chu Ge with surprise.
The once somewhat shy Chu Ge had become so bold?
He had disappeared for a day, didn't inform his family, and just showed up for school?
This level of mental fortitude...
Chu Ge glared at Chen Xunjie and said, "Focus on studying, do you still want to get into a university?"
Chen Xunjie chuckled, his gaze still curious.
"I was thinking of going to the zoo this weekend, want to come?" Chu Ge suddenly suggested.