The Strongest Brain in the Interstellar

Jiang Hui wanted to refuse, but Zhou Xiuwen’s attitude was very firm. He directly said, “Whatever resources you gathered earlier on the road, whether I helped or not, you still need to share a bit with me. Didn’t we do that before, without being so precise? Why does it have to be so clear now? Are you not treating me as a teammate anymore, huh?”

This left Jiang Hui speechless, not knowing how to explain the difference. Zhou Xiuwen seized the moment and continued, “Anyway, I don’t need that many. Just like before, it’s fine. If it’s really not enough, I’ll just ask you for more.”

Since the person involved had said so, Jiang Hui had no choice but to take it, forcing a smile as she accepted it. She silently thought to herself that she would find a way to help him earn more points on the road later.

As for Zhou Xiuwen’s distribution, Huan Xian naturally had no objections. In fact, Jiang Hui felt there was a momentary pause from him, as if he had been slightly stunned, not expecting there to be any other complicated thoughts hidden behind this action.

Jiang Hui couldn’t quite interpret it and didn’t want to keep observing his expressions for too long, but it didn’t stop her from sensing that his guard was slowly starting to fade.

Yes, ‘guard’. Jiang Hui had sensed this from the moment they first teamed up.

Although Huan Xian appeared easygoing and smiled casually, giving off a vibe of familiarity, there was still a lot of wariness and caution. Despite him not showing much outward distrust towards Jiang Hui due to some unspoken sense of trust, his combat skills displayed during their battles were certainly not to be underestimated.

This guy kept his cards close to his chest. There was no malice, but he was still holding back, not fully opening up to Jiang Hui. This was a stark contrast to his initial invitation to join her.

It wasn’t until they had both completed their cooperation and exchanged introductions that they felt a little more connected, and their rapport improved. However, Zhou Xiuwen’s appearance seemed to slightly disrupt that balance. Huan Xian’s demeanor seemed to retreat just a little.

This showed that Huan Xian was extremely cautious about the external environment and was not one to trust others easily.

This was also why Jiang Hui was concerned about Huan Xian’s thoughts when Zhou Xiuwen distributed the resources—because Huan Xian was clearly the type of person who would overthink things.

So, was it because they all shared the resources that they developed a sense of mutual interest and loosened up?

Jiang Hui couldn’t quite make sense of it, so she decided to stop thinking about it. After all, they were teammates now. Unless something unexpected happened, they would have to stick together for the rest of the journey. In order to last as long as possible in the competition, cooperation was key, and it would be better if they were more in sync.

As for resources during the competition, they could always negotiate. If someone wasn’t satisfied, they could redistribute internally. As long as they remained united when facing outsiders, that was what mattered.

After collecting their resources, they put away the extra tools and ropes. The group, aside from resting, started to seriously worry about what to do next.

They didn’t have the benefit of an omniscient perspective, so they didn’t know that over half of the participants had already been swept out of the supply point by the flood.

After some effort, they finally managed to gather a little bit of resources at the supply point, but it still wasn’t enough.

Since they had managed to find a box of bullets in the water, there must be other resources hidden in different ways. What they needed to do was find them. They couldn’t be satisfied with just these few hundred rounds of ammunition.

The group had come to truly appreciate the importance of all sorts of tools at the supply point. Without these miscellaneous tools, they probably wouldn’t have lasted this long.

The last issue was the charging problem with the simulated vest. This was something they really had no clue about.

“Sigh, if only we could find a place to recharge this simulated vest,” Zhou Xiuwen sighed, looking at the dwindling energy reserves.

He was already the one with the least energy remaining among the three of them, and after being submerged in the water for a while, his energy had taken quite a hit. Now, it was close to reaching a single digit. With the current rate of energy consumption, he wasn’t sure if they’d even make it out of the supply point. Another major hit, and he’d definitely be out of the game.

He started to wonder if he had kept too many bullets. Maybe it would have been better to leave all of them with Jiang Hui now. In fact, he was even thinking that maybe he should let Jiang Hui gently and kindly send him out of the game later, to avoid taking another beating from the others.

“There will definitely be a place,” Jiang Hui said, wringing out the water from her sleeves and pants. She had gone into the water earlier to look for more resources, but didn’t find anything.

“I don’t have much left either,” Huan Xian didn’t respond to Jiang Hui but instead echoed Zhou Xiuwen’s words.

‘Wait, I’m trying to comfort both of you, do you get that? Why are you acting like you’re sabotaging me… If I say ‘let’s just leave it to fate,’ would that make you happy?’

Jiang Hui couldn’t help but complain inwardly but also knew that what they were saying was true, and this issue was indeed urgent.

The situation was unclear, and they would encounter more dangers ahead. Both of their simulated vests had little energy left, and they couldn’t withstand much damage. If something went wrong, Jiang Hui would be left to fend for herself, and all the effort the group had made so far would go to waste.

Moreover, for Jiang Hui herself, even her remaining energy was risky. What if she was tossed out of the supply point in the next moment? Could the simulated vest with only half the energy support her through the next checkpoint? The situation was just as dire for her.

They needed to find another energy point, preferably one with a large energy block that could recharge all their remaining energy at once.

But where could they find something like that? They had already spent a long time wandering through the tunnels, and had only found two small ones. Could the other possible chamber they had found before the flood hit be the place they were looking for?

However, with the tunnels now flooded and resembling sewers, it was even harder to search. What were they supposed to do?

Jiang Hui glanced at Huan Xian and Zhou Xiuwen with a bit of exhaustion. One seemed like he hadn’t shaken off the lingering effects of the water, while the other, to avoid touching the water, had simply curled up into a ball, hugging his knees.

With two people acting like they’d rather die than swim again, how were they going to get anywhere?

If only the school had included a raft in the supplies, or something that could float. She really couldn’t bring herself to drag these two through a waterlogged tunnel.

Just as Jiang Hui was feeling helpless, something suddenly appeared in the water, floating on the now sluggish current, drifting toward them.

Not only did it catch Jiang Hui’s attention, but the two disheartened guys also looked up at it.

Clearly, with the box Zhou Xiuwen had retrieved earlier as a reference, they naturally wondered if this was another resource.

The three exchanged glances, and in the end, it was of course Jiang Hui, who was good with water, who went to retrieve it.

However, a few moments later, the three of them fell into silence as they looked at the large sheet of material in front of them, which seemed to have been used as packaging for some large piece of equipment.

This was probably what they called “luck.”