75: Chapter 75 The Possibility of First Place

The Raven Flock moved very quickly.

Although they were massive and flew clumsily, that only applied to their turning and agility—in terms of straight-line cruising speed, a Bronze Rank beast was still a Bronze Rank beast after all.

In less than two hours, that black "cloud" had already crossed the border of Yuntai Town and continued to advance towards the main city of Fengling City.

As for Qin Ce, he had been tailing them from behind, like a patient hunter, constantly reaping the prey on the edges.

As the Raven Flock gradually moved away, the pressure of the beast tide around Yuntai Town significantly decreased.

Those low-level beasts that had originally been disturbed by the Raven Flock and were running around in chaos began to disperse gradually after losing their "big brother" leader, no longer posing a threat to the base.

On the military base's radar screen, the originally dense red dots began to thin out.

Mike stared at the screen for a moment, then exhaled a long breath.

"Whew..."

He turned his head and instructed his adjutant: "Go notify the safe house, and tell Qin Ce's family that the situation is stable. Tell them to stay put and not run around."

"Yes."

The adjutant turned and left.

Mike looked back at the screen—that cyan figure had already disappeared outside the monitoring range, but he knew that the young man was still there, still behind that black torrent, continuing his crazy hunt.

"Kid," he said in a low voice, "your mom and your sister are safe now. From here on out... it's up to you."

...

In the sky, Qin Ce's squad badge vibrated slightly.

A message from the base popped up:

[Colonel Mike's notification: The beast tide pressure around Yuntai Town has dropped to a safe level. Your family is in good condition, please rest assured.]

Qin Ce stared at that line of text for two seconds, and his shoulders, which had been tense for an entire day, finally slowly relaxed.

From the moment he heard the beast tide alarm, the heavy stone hanging in his heart finally fell to the ground.

Then, he took a deep breath and withdrew his gaze back to his squad badge.

After ensuring safety, it was time to consider another matter—

The competition for first place in the senior Elite Class.

Qin Ce subconsciously looked down—

[Current Military Merit: 977]

977 points.

Qin Ce was stunned for a moment.

He knew he had killed quite a few ravens just now, from grinding them one by one at the beginning to the later Spider-Web Wind Blade crash-landing tactic; all in all, it must have been over a dozen.

But he didn't expect that the accumulated military merit would be this high.

The military merit coefficient for ravens is three times that of ordinary beasts: 60 points for bronze low-grade, 150 points for mid-grade bronze. Most of the ones he killed were bronze low-grade.

A dozen or so, nine hundred plus points of military merit... that's about right.

Qin Ce was just about to close the interface when, suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind like lightning.

He stopped abruptly.

Military merit...

First in graduation...

The bet...

three-star mission...

These keywords spun rapidly in his mind, finally converging into an idea that made his heart race—

What if...

What if he could obtain enough military merit during this beast tide?

Enough that... even if Jiang Ruowei completed all the three-star missions, plus the military merit she gained from killing beasts in the Inner City, it still wouldn't compare to his?

In that case, wouldn't his ranking for first place in graduation be secure?

Qin Ce's eyes grew brighter and brighter.

Because of the sudden appearance of the beast tide, the rules for the Elite Class graduation season had changed, and the total score ranking was now composed of two parts: academy mission points and military merit points.

Previously, he was behind Jiang Ruowei by two missions' worth of points, and he had originally hoped to catch up by taking on missions.

But Jiang Ruowei broke through to Bronze first, gaining the advantage of the exclusive Beast Egg Refining mission.

Coupled with her advantages in terms of team and resources, she could complete three three-star missions much faster than Qin Ce.

Afterwards, even with the change brought by the beast tide.

With the support of the Inner City's defensive weapons, the military merit she gained from killing beasts would also be far more than Qin Ce's, and the gap between their scores would only continue to widen.

Just now, Qin Ce had intentionally checked, and Jiang Ruowei's points had already reached over 5000, entering the top 100 of the leaderboard below Bronze.

He had almost no possibility of winning.

Unless—

Unless he found a new track.

A track that Jiang Ruowei couldn't run on.

Qin Ce looked up, towards the Raven Flock in the northwest that looked like a dark cloud.

They numbered over ten thousand, the lowest being bronze low-grade, with a military merit coefficient of three times.

And he had Spider-Web Wind Blade—specifically designed to counter these kinds of beasts that were thick-skinned and clumsy, good at hunting in packs but unable to withstand the impact of a crash.

This was simply a point-farming battlefield tailor-made for him by the heavens!

Qin Ce took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.

He began to calculate quickly:

One bronze low-grade raven, 68 points of military merit.

If he could kill one hundred... that would be 6800 points of military merit.

This didn't even count the mid-grade bronze ravens, which had higher base points.

Added to his existing 900-plus points, the total would be close to 8000.

Could this number surpass Jiang Ruowei?

Even if she was in the Inner City, with the support of city defense equipment and the cooperation of the Starlight Squad, her killing efficiency couldn't possibly be higher than his.

Moreover, although the beasts in the Inner City had higher military merit, they were harder to kill, and even with defensive weapons, the military merit had to be shared with the City Defense Department. Unlike here, every raven kill was his own solid achievement.

The only variable was time.

The Raven Flock was moving towards Fengling City, and at their current speed, they would arrive over the main city in at most three hours.

By then, the Fengling City anti-aircraft units would intercept them with full force, and those ravens wouldn't be as easy to harvest as they were now.

The time window left for him was at most three hours.

Three hours, how many could he kill?

Qin Ce recalled the harvesting efficiency from just now—after getting the hang of it, he could kill about two per minute on average.

One hundred and twenty per hour.

Three hours... three hundred and sixty.

Three hundred and sixty bronze low-grade ravens, over twenty thousand points of military merit.

Added to his existing ones, it would be close to twenty-five thousand.

Twenty-five thousand points of military merit!

This number, let alone Jiang Ruowei, even if you added up the military merit of all the squads in the entire Elite Class, they might not be able to compare!

Qin Ce's breathing became a bit heavier.

But he quickly calmed down again.

This was only the theoretical maximum.

In actual operation, there would be various variables—energy consumption, the vigilance of the Raven Flock, and it might even attract the attention of higher-level ravens.

But even if he cut it in half, twenty thousand points of military merit would be enough for him to securely surpass Jiang Ruowei.

It was enough.

Qin Ce looked up, his eyes burning with unprecedented fighting spirit.

"A blessing in disguise..."