81: Chapter 81 The Fifth Trial: A Gift of Fate

In the sallow sky, white numbers flickered continuously.

[10]

[9]

The final ten-second countdown ticked away; at this moment, all of humanity looked up, staring at these final seconds.

[3]

[2]

[1]

[...]

The instant the final second hit zero, it felt as if something was being gently pulled away from the world.

The sallow canopy that had shrouded the world for a full ninety days was instantly wiped away as if by an invisible giant hand, fading completely in the blink of an eye.

The azure sky spread out again without warning, a few wisps of white clouds floating lazily by, as sunlight poured down unhindered, illuminating this ravaged human civilization.

The long-awaited, pure sunlight was somewhat blinding.

Gu Changming squinted his eyes.

Almost simultaneously, a translucent system notification box popped up in the center of his vision:

[The fourth "Civilization Spark" Assessment has ended.]

[Survival Determination: Passed.]

[Base Reward: 100 points.]

With a thought, Gu Changming swiped the notification box aside.

One hundred points—not to mention for him, but for every human who had survived until now—had already severely depreciated in value.

But regarding this final reward, Gu Changming didn't have any complaints.

In this Assessment that lasted three months, the true "reward" was never these small things handed out at the end.

Of course, one couldn't say it was the precious experience humans gained during those ninety days... that would be too disingenuous.

The "rewards" were actually the materials stripped from the bodies of countless inter-dimensional monsters fought, the points obtained, and the special items that occasionally dropped.

Those were the real rewards of this Assessment; how much one could obtain depended on their own personal ability.

For example, Gu Changming.

Over these three months, the monsters he had hunted, if converted solely into points, would likely total tens of thousands.

Only...

He pulled up his personal panel, his gaze falling on the points column.

[points: 3420]

Looking at this number, Gu Changming twitched the corner of his mouth and somewhat helplessly shifted his gaze back to the Giant black cocoon in front of him.

The points he had worked so hard to earn had all been swallowed by this fellow.

Not to mention the boss-level beast kings he killed—he basically hadn't touched them, letting it swallow them all, losing at least seventy percent of the points.

And this fellow didn't just swallow those demonic creatures and monsters; it also demanded various rare monster remains, special energy cores, and even some useless, strange objects for it to devour and evolve.

It had nearly squeezed his points dry, leaving him with only a few thousand points.

Moreover, it was particularly good at picking its timing; in the span of three months, it only completed its preparations for evolution and formed a cocoon in the very last few days.

Gu Changming even felt that the other party did it on purpose, just to squeeze as much out of him as possible.

He continued to stare at that Giant black cocoon, his lip unconsciously twitching a bit.

It swallowed so many of his things and consumed so many points; if it didn't show some decent changes when it broke out of the cocoon, he would definitely turn it into jelly...

As if sensing Gu Changming staring at it, a very faint dark glow suddenly rippled across the surface of the giant cocoon, shimmering slightly as if making a guarantee.

Gu Changming pursed his lips...

Suddenly!

The sky, which had only recently regained its clarity, darkened again without warning.

Light was rapidly stripped away, warmth dissipated, replaced by a familiar, heart-sinking oppression.

Gu Changming looked up, showing no surprise on his face.

Just the Organizer's wicked sense of humor.

Coming to intimidate them right after they passed the Assessment.

Sure enough, a heavy, dark red—as if painted with blood—once again eroded the entire sky.

White characters tore through the clouds, appearing before everyone's eyes:

[The fifth Civilization Advancement Assessment will officially begin in seventy-two hours.]

The blood-red color and the writing hovered high in the sky for about ten seconds.

Then, as abruptly as they had appeared, they quickly faded away.

"Four days..."

Gu Changming murmured to himself, his gaze still fixed on the Giant black cocoon.

He had known about this timing for a long time; the three-month-long fourth Assessment was essentially a rest and adaptation period for them, so it was normal for the interval between these two Assessments to be shortened.

Only...

Gu Changming remembered that this fifth Assessment... was very mentally taxing, and if one's luck was a bit poor, they would be finished.

His brow furrowed imperceptibly as his gaze lingered on the pulsating giant cocoon.

A trace of irritation rose in his heart.

If the Assessment started in four days and the Mimic Beast still hadn't emerged from its cocoon...

That would be bad...

With his current strength, he had no problem dealing with it alone, but dragging along such a giant cocoon...

It was indeed a bit of a headache.

...

Four days flowed by silently.

Gu Changming was still sitting cross-legged on that desolate field, his posture having barely changed.

Before him, that Giant black cocoon still stood.

It had not broken open.

But it wasn't entirely without change. The size of the cocoon had clearly shrunk by a circle, from its original size of about two people tall to just the height of one person.

Its color seemed even more concentrated, pitch black, as if it were sucking in the surrounding light. The writhing inside the cocoon shell had become long and powerful.

Clearly, it was inside absorbing and transforming a massive amount of energy.

Gu Changming's fingers unconsciously rubbed against each other.

He was torn.

Leave, or stay?

Taking the "Mimic Beast" to hide in a deeper, more uninhabited wasteland might maximize the avoidance of known troubles in this Assessment.

But correspondingly, the price would be missing out on the opportunities and rewards that this Assessment itself might bring.

Risks and gains were quickly weighed in his mind.

After a moment, his rubbing fingers stopped.

No rush to make a decision.

Better to see the rules first; in his previous life, he had just scraped through this Assessment and hadn't fully grasped the details.

This time, since he could know the Assessment content in advance, he naturally had to see it before knowing how to respond.

He looked up and squinted at the sky.

The sun was nearing its zenith.

He stopped thinking and waited quietly with lowered eyes.

As time approached noon, the second hand ticked to twelve o'clock.

Without surprise, the viscous blood-red color once again arrogantly coated the entire sky.

Huge white characters tore through the blood-red background, coldly appearing:

[The fifth Civilization Advancement Assessment has now officially begun.]

[Assessment Name: Gift of Fate]

[Rule Summary: In the following time, you will continuously receive gifts from fate.]

[Assessment Time Limit: 48 hours.]

[Failure Penalty: Death.]

[Supplementary Rule 1: After a single participant receives a "favor," they will not be selected again within a short period.]

[Supplementary Rule 2: When participants come into contact with each other, it may cause the gift effects to cross, overlap, cancel out, or produce unknown chain reactions;]

[Supplementary Rule 3: Fate will randomly favor every participant; the more outstanding the performance, the greater the probability of being favored;]

[Hidden Rule...]