The Strongest Brain in the Interstellar

In the end, Clarens did not leave the team on his own. He wasn’t sure if he had come to his senses or if something else influenced his decision to stay.

Naturally, Huan Xian did not want to keep the tension going over such a small matter and instead started a conversation with Jiang Hui.

The atmosphere within the team quickly returned to normal, which made both Zhou Xiuwen and Xierman, the “peacekeepers,” breathe a sigh of relief.

Although it was clear that Clarens had been persuaded by Jiang Hui, Xierman knew that Clarens seemed to have softened after hearing Zhou Xiuwen’s words. Zhou was truly sincere in his speech, and even Xierman, who was just a bystander, thought it made a lot of sense.

It wasn’t that Zhou’s words were particularly smooth or flattering, but at the end, there was a slight touch of bluntness. Still, the logic was sound and to the point. The other party clearly knew how to speak well. Xierman thought that if he had someone like Zhou as a friend, he wouldn’t be confused during arguments.

He gave Zhou a thumbs-up from behind, walking with his hands behind his back.

Zhou naturally saw this, shrugged with a bit of helplessness, and took a step forward, gently bumping Xierman’s shoulder in response to his teasing.

After some discussion, the group decided to rest at L11 for about 20 star points. The intensity of the competition had been too high. After running nonstop for over 30 stars, even iron men would struggle to keep going. Moreover, the team’s overall training was relatively insufficient.

In fact, if the battle hadn’t been drawn out so long, it would have been nearly impossible for them to implement various tactical strikes from the start. They might have even been caught up in the chaos, wasting most of their energy too early.

They admitted that among all the enemies they encountered, Huo Qi and his team were indeed the ones with the highest overall strength, which had added significant pressure on them. Now that they had been dealt with, the pressure on them had greatly reduced.

However, after such prolonged tension, suddenly relaxing caused their overall condition to become a bit unstable, and various performance metrics showed some decline. Even Huan Xian and Clarens, who usually carried out various physical training, couldn’t escape the deep fatigue they felt from the bottom of their hearts. So, taking a break was necessary.

As for whether to rest for the full 20 star minutes, that would depend on the actions of the others.

Regardless of whether the R87 and R197 teams were still gathered together or not, they likely wouldn’t be as tightly bound and combat-ready as the previous three teams. After all, they each only had one chance left, and there were hostages from each other’s teams in their ranks. In a chaotic battle, a single mistake could lead to self-sabotage. So, as long as they were clear-headed, they would try to separate and avoid reckless movement.

Jiang Hui and her team rested while also keeping an eye on the overall leaderboard and the situation of the other participants. Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be any major changes during this period, and things were relatively quiet.

It seemed that after a peak of chaotic battles, the teams that had managed to survive until now would choose to avoid conflict for a while, much like during the first supply round—resting and recovering, waiting for the final stage to approach.

Of course, teams like R186, with Jiang Hui and others, as well as R87 and R197, who still secretly aimed to fight for the top, were different. They acted as hunters, and while things appeared calm, they were likely counting how many prey were left, wondering how much they could still hunt.

At that moment in the old L11 site, Jiang Hui, holding her gun, was talking with Huan Xian and the others about the previous confrontation with Huo Qi’s team in the high-wooded forest. In hindsight, it had been quite a dangerous situation.

If Huo Qi had noticed or made a different choice at that time, they could very well have been the ones sent out of the competition. Jiang Hui certainly didn’t have the confidence to completely defeat Huo Qi in such close quarters.

Fortunately, her rough “mind game” worked out fairly well. God knows how nervous she had been at the time, with her mind racing, thinking that if the opponent acted recklessly and fired first, she couldn’t let herself be at a disadvantage. Whether or not she was hit, she felt she had to fire at least two shots to make it fair.

Huan Xian and the others had no idea about this. Not sure if he wanted to sigh or something, Huan Xian finally gave a natural smile: “If they were reviewing things outside right now, they’d probably be furious.”

“You guys are so bold…” Zhou Xiuwen disagreed. He thought Jiang Hui and the others must have already run far away. He hadn’t expected them to run into Huo Qi alone halfway. Just imagining the scene made him break into a cold sweat for them.

Clarens gave Jiang Hui a strange look, as if he was deep in thought about something.

“We can’t say it like that… It’s a good thing we didn’t try to run too far, or we might have been caught up by them. We wouldn’t even have had a chance to fight back at that point.” Jiang Hui shook her head. She had changed her mind at the last moment because she sensed it was not going well.

“Speaking of which, you guys don’t know, I only just found out how Hillman managed to avoid those enemies earlier. Let me tell you—”

…

Plans that were made in advance could be easily disrupted by changing circumstances. Enemies who seemed familiar might still have hidden trump cards, and even teammates whom he had judged as mediocre had excellent stealth skills… Everything in the world might not be as he had thought. Clarens realized this with some clarity.

And his teammates weren’t exactly what he’d originally thought either. His pride was so high that he couldn’t see the flat ground beneath his feet, blurring the winding path ahead.

If he hadn’t been awakened by reality, he might have really continued down this muddled path, forever self-righteous, always the little young master of the Clarens family, and never able to see his true self.

Perhaps it was time for him to truly step forward, to find a path in life that belonged to him, just as he once said to his family, not just a spur-of-the-moment rebellious remark.

“Clarens… Clarens?” The boy was snapped out of his long thoughts by someone calling his name. Were they calling him?
Seeing him look over, Jiang Hui helplessly said, “Clarens, come on, we should go.” She wasn’t sure what was going on with him, deep in thought like that. Everyone else had already gotten up, but he was still stuck in the pit. It was only after they had all climbed out that they realized.

Unexpectedly, Clarens didn’t seem displeased by Jiang Hui’s somewhat casual remark. He gave a faint nod, stepped on the dirt block at the bottom of the trench, and was about to climb up by grabbing the edge of the trench.

Suddenly, an arm stretched out towards him, with distinct joints and slender wrists covered by a thin layer of muscle—clearly someone who trained regularly.

Clarens looked up at the hand, paused for a moment, then silently grabbed the wrist, using the strength to pull himself up, jumping out of the trench.