The Strongest Brain in the Interstellar

Jiang Hui didn’t expect things to develop so quickly.

Just half an hour ago, everyone had been gathered together waiting for the officer to give a speech, and in just twenty to thirty minutes, she found herself in this unfamiliar forest with some random tools she had grabbed.

She stood in the woods for a moment, momentarily stunned and a bit confused; her mind understood what had happened, but her reactions couldn’t keep up.

Suddenly, she heard a rustling sound behind her, as if someone was brushing past the bushes, and the footsteps were not quiet at all. The person approaching clearly lacked vigilance and didn’t bother to conceal themselves at all.

Jiang Hui didn’t know what she was nervous about, but instinctively, she spotted a thick tree trunk near the edge and dashed over. Behind it, she found a large boulder about the height of two people, which effectively wedged her in, providing a decent hiding spot. Although it couldn’t completely cover her, being careful made it relatively concealed.

“This school is way too casual; they didn’t even give us time to team up before tossing us out here. Luckily, we fell close to each other, which saves us the trouble of searching everywhere to form a team.”

“Stop complaining. With that time, we might as well hurry and find the others or head straight for some points. Didn’t the supervising officer say that the final score would be based on the number of shots fired? The more targets you hit, the better. I heard that the top hundred students in the entire grade will receive extremely generous rewards…”

“What are you thinking? Going up against those guys in combat gear, mechs, and command systems? Just not getting shot would be lucky enough. Alright, don’t delay; let’s find some targets quickly.”

“Wait a minute, I want to sort through the resource pack first. There was a large group of people scrambling for things earlier, and I ended up with a bunch of random items, so I’m not really sure what I got.”

“Hey, don’t rummage through here. Let’s wait until we get to a safer place to do that; it feels too exposed here. Plus, we’re newcomers—who knows if there’s someone hiding in the shadows?”

What you said makes a lot of sense…

“Bang!” A gunshot broke through the air, exploding right by their ears, followed by the sound of something heavy hitting the ground.

The group was instantly stunned, seemingly not expecting such an event to occur while they were talking.

They quickly realized they were being targeted. However, the hidden assailant didn’t give them a chance; the second and third shots were fired almost simultaneously with the first, with only a slight adjustment, causing two of the people who had just been standing to fall to the ground moments later.

Watching the three individuals who had completely fallen silent, Jiang Hui, hidden in the shadows, held her breath and observed for several seconds. Once she confirmed there were no other unsuspecting victims nearby, she sprinted to their side.

Ignoring the three pairs of eyes filled with resentment and anger, Jiang Hui felt a twinge of guilt. It did seem a bit ruthless to take them out so early, but they had been too loud, talking at high volume in what had clearly turned into a hunting ground, showing no caution or stealth, which destined them for tragedy.

Even if she hadn’t acted, these people wouldn’t have survived long before being points for someone else. Besides, if she let these few go, there was no guarantee the next group would be this easy to score points off of. It would be foolish to pass up free points.

The supervising officer had mentioned that a rescue team would come to retrieve anyone who fell within about 150 seconds, and attempting to collect supplies at that time would be a violation. So, Jiang Hui had to gather the dropped supplies before that happened.

Time was running out. She needed to quickly grab what she could and find a hiding spot to sort through her supplies.

The three people lying on the ground, their “survival” status restricted by the simulated chest armor, could only watch helplessly as their tormentor—who had caused their forced early exit—swiftly stuffed the supplies they had fought hard to acquire in the square into her own backpack, leaving even their rifles behind.

In the end, they could only watch sideways as she leaped into the tall bushes and disappeared from sight.

A shadow fell over them, and soft light illuminated their faces. They were immobilized, barely hearing the staff members discussing in hushed tones that “they weren’t injured; they just needed to be taken back and have the simulated chest armor removed.”
Of course they weren’t injured!! But they had to be given the chance to be injured! The group felt like they were silently screaming inside. Who could be more unfortunate than the three of them, getting eliminated in under a minute by some unknown person? They were essentially being used as fodder. Even if they had made it through a full round, it wouldn’t have been this humiliating…

But there were no opportunities left. Their game was over; even if they had the chance to see that swift individual who had eliminated them, it could only be on a screen.

—————————————

On the other side.

In just four or five minutes, the scoreboard began to shift. This meant that within this short time, someone had already started scoring points.

However, the most eye-catching name was still the one at the very top. Jiang Hui probably never expected that one day she would find herself in such a “high-profile” position—especially in this manner.

Of course, this wasn’t because Jiang Hui was particularly skilled or scored quickly, but rather because her accumulated personal score was exceptionally high.

Due to the previous two incidents, the school had compensated her with quite a few personal points. This had inevitably shown through, as she was the freshman with the highest personal score in the entire grade, sitting comfortably in first place, more than a hundred points ahead of the second-place student.

Her unusually high score naturally attracted a lot of discussion among the audience present. Most of the students had gone through military training and were familiar with how personal scores were accumulated, which made it difficult for them to understand how this newcomer had managed to earn so many points within just a month of school.

Moreover, they hadn’t really heard of her name before, which added to the strangeness of the situation.

Of course, the class instructors present were fully aware of the situation. This was all known and approved by the school and various faculty members, so there was really nothing to discuss.

“I remember… that top student is from Captain Stark’s class, right? Quite impressive; they’ve already scored points in less than five minutes since the start.”

The speaker was Zap, the instructor of Class Five in the Combat Individual Training Department. Unlike many of the more anxious or arrogant class instructors, he was a rarity with a kind disposition and had decent relationships with everyone in the grade.

Upon hearing this, Stark gave a nearly imperceptible nod, then leisurely used his teacher privileges to access the scoring footage on the workstation as soon as Zap’s attention shifted elsewhere.

While Zap only glanced at the overall scoreboard, Stark intentionally pulled up the footage to see Jiang Hui’s entire scoring process. He raised an eyebrow…

He couldn’t say it was impressive, as the opponents were quite foolish, but it was clear that she had a certain level of daring. While some were still struggling with team formations and hadn’t fully adapted, she quickly understood her position and immediately scored every point she could, which was a passable performance.