Fatal Shot

“Wow, Old Feng. You’re ruthless, man! You’re the only one who broke the 2,000 points wall!”

“But, with this, it looks like you took a loss by participating in this hidden mission. If you’d continued with your previous momentum instead, you’d probably have even more points!” Big Pineapple said to Feng Luo, smiling.

“Why are you looking at my points?… You’re not in the top five right now, aren’t you nervous?”

Feng Luo glanced at Big Pineapple and found that Big Pineapple was oddly very relaxed. And in regards to Big Pineapple’s remark stating that he had taken a loss, Feng Luo didn’t think so.

After all, in this Big Escape mission, apart from killing two competitors and obtaining 400 points, the gains he received from the loot were enough to fill his backpack and even make it “Overweight.” (Backpacks could be overweight; they just couldn’t exceed their available space. Overweight also meant an increased load!)

And before the spacecraft arrived, he also used all his remaining kill points to unlock some of the items in his backpack that could be discarded before taking the most valuable items dropped by September Night Rain, even discarding a few pieces of Rare Grade equipment again.

Right now, he had more than 40 Rare Grade gears in his backpack, and there were even several Excellent and Rare Grade decorative items.

Previously, Nightingale mentioned that the loot from the mission would be at least five million. In truth, this was quite a safe and low estimate.

NPCs did not consider the volatility of the market for gears when they valued the items. If Feng Luo put the items he obtained in an auction, it was absolutely possible for him to net tens of millions!

Moreover, Sister Rui’s company’s auction was going to start up soon!

So although all the core crystals from Ichiro Yamamoto were kaput now, his actual gain wouldn’t be that much worse than the other players’ crystal gain from the distributed kill points.

After all, though the three NPCs were worth a lot of kill points, the players might not obtain a lot of points from them.

However, the computation of the kill points was certainly quite odd. The Big Escape mission had already finished, but their kill points on the game interface were still not yet cleared.

Could it be that these kill points are still useful?

Feng Luo looked at his kill points column that displayed “24/4213” and wondered.

…

“I was initially quite nervous, but now that the results are out, I’m not that nervous anymore. After all, I didn’t really perform all that well in the mission, so if I can’t get into the top five in the exam, I can only accept it.”

“Since the top 15 still have a chance to change profession in the future, I’ll work hard to succeed next time!”

Big Pineapple was very optimistic. Clearly, he knew that in this mission, as well as the previous examinations, his performance wasn’t very impressive.

“The hidden profession change mission was as hard as expected… Good thing I’m still among the top 15, and I still have one more chance!”

“Can any expert who succeeded in changing their profession add me as a friend?”

“F*ck, I’m ranked 16! If the exam didn’t end prematurely, I would definitely have made it into the top 15. I almost completed an intel mission! Damn it to hell!”

For the moment, the players chatted among themselves.

In truth, everyone had already seen the ranking earlier, they just weren’t sure if there would be any last-minute changes. However, now they felt as if the “dust had settled,” so naturally, there were people who were all smiles while others frowned. As for those who were eliminated, naturally, they cursed.

Of course, they cursed and complained in the players’ communications channel. After all, those close to the top 15 were still hoping for something to happen that could change the situation.

Was there any chance to turn things around? Of course there was! The current ranking did not include the NPC instructors’ assessment results.

That was why the NPC major general frowned. He then slammed his hand on the table and barked, “Quiet down! You are prohibited from making a ruckus!”

After he said that, a mute notification appeared in front of every player in the room. At that point, apart from within the players’ comm channel, they could no longer speak.

“This ranking isn’t the final ranking. There are some other changes,” said the Asian NPC major general.

After that, he looked at Haruko seated beside him.

“Sakura. Explain it to them!”

“Yes, sir!” Haruko replied. Then, with a cold expression, she said, “For this examination mission, apart from passing the normal missions announced through the special agent wristwatch and glasses, there was another secret mission.”

Secret mission?

Upon hearing that, since they couldn’t speak, most people looked surprised. Only a few looked like they had suspected it and were now certain it was the case.

“The mission content is considered confidential Federation information. It is not open to the public, so I won’t disclose anything about that.”

“I am only announcing the rewards of the four players who made it through the hidden mission,” said Haruko coldly.

Reward!

Young Master Xiao frowned as he felt a slight irritation.

“Number 105. Instructor assessment: Hunting Tiger (64), Sakura (72), Nightingale (55). Group Battle assessment (70). Rewarded points: 261!”

“Number 205. Instructor assessment: Hunting Tiger (74), Sakura (80), Nightingale (86). Group Battle assessment (80). Rewarded points: 320!”

“Number 9. Instructor assessment: Hunting Tiger (75), Sakura (84), Nightingale (79). Group Battle assessment (92). Rewarded points: 330!”

“Number 99. Instructor assessment: Hunting Tiger (89), Sakura (93), Nightingale (88). Group Battle assessment (90). Rewarded points: 360!”

After Haruko finished reading the first Number 105’s (Big Pineapple) player’s reward, Big Pineapple’s points increased immediately.

He immediately rose to fourth place. At the same time, he also pushed Number 172 (Young Master Gou) out of his original fifth spot!

“F*ck!”

Young Master Gou’s eyes widened. He immediately wanted to stand up and curse.

But he immediately found out that he couldn’t; he couldn’t even get his ass off his chair.

Clearly, this was also due to the system’s limitations!

However, Big Pineapple only sat in the valuable fourth spot for a few seconds. It was because Number 205’s reward quickly pushed him back down again.

Number 205 was the mysterious Scout player!

Next was Number 9, Phoenix. Her more than 300 points pushed Big Pineapple down again.

As for Feng Luo, since he was already in the first spot, his final point increase did not really cause any changes. It only increased his points to 2,700, widening the gap between him and Young Master Xiao by almost one half!

As such, the ranking changed into the following:

First Rank. Feng Luo (2,700)!

Second Rank. Young Master Xiao (1,990)!

Third Rank. Scout (1,860)!

Fourth Rank. Number 187 (1,820)!

Fifth Rank. Phoenix (1,750)!

Sixth Rank. Big Pineapple (1,631)!

Seventh Rank. Young Master Gou (1,520)!

…

The ranking changed substantially in an instant. However, Big Pineapple was still one step away from being directly qualified for the hidden profession change while “Young Master Xiao” still stood firm in his second spot!

As for Young Master Gou, who had been pushed to the seventh spot and had thus lost his chance to change profession, he was already cursing and complaining in the players’ comm channel.

“Damn it, Brother Xiao! After you succeed in changing your profession, you must help me investigate and find out who pushed me out of my spot!”

“Forget the eight million. The thing is, I’ve already boasted to Hu Zi and the others. I said that it’s a given that I’ll be able to change my profession, and now I’m just punching myself in the face!”

“The intel of the Hound Organization can’t be relied on in the f*cking end. Damn f*ck!”

Young Master Xiao checked the ranking and saw that Number 99’s points had leaped forward once again, almost leading him by one half. He looked gloomy and said coldly, “Relax, I’ll definitely investigate.”

However, the next moment, his expression changed drastically.

“Also, I’ll announce another round of punishment.”

“As some people banded together in the examination mission to help a few individuals obtain high points at the end, thus seriously breaching the codes of conduct as well as the rules of the mission, we’ve initially deducted half of their points as a warning. Unfortunately, to our surprise, some people still tried to test our limits!”

“Please don’t think that you can break our world’s rules by using simple tricks. The reason some things were ignored was simply that you’re not qualified to be held accountable!”

“For those who broke the rules twice, they will be prohibited from joining the special agent bureaus. Permanently!”

After that, the NPC major general looked at all the players seated around the table. Then, banged his hand on the table before standing up and saying coldly, “Star Gaming… F*ck…”

Young Master Gou’s face had fallen, and before he could speak, he was kicked out of the virtual space. Disappearing along with him were Young Master Xiao, who was still gloomy, as well as several others.