[Settlement 24]

Upon hearing Han Cheng's words.

Song Xingmian's eyes flickered slightly: "You have no proof that he's dead."

Han Cheng shook his head: "I don't have proof he's dead, but I have common sense."

Seeing Song Xingmian staying put, looking like she intended to keep waiting.

Han Cheng's voice turned cold: "Do you really have to wait for him? He's just an S-Rank Talent of the Enhancement-type! Without that pet, he's a complete burden!"

"Mianmian! Are you gambling our entire team's progress for the survival probability of someone like that?!"

Song Xingmian's expression was poor, but she hadn't said anything yet.

Chen Muqing suddenly shouted: "Lu Heng?!"

Everyone's eyes converged; a figure was walking through the bushes.

Han Cheng turned his head, his tone clearly displeased: "Lu Heng? Why did you only just come out? We've been waiting for you for over ten minutes. If you delayed our progress, can you take responsibility for that?"

He immediately pinned a huge label on him.

Chen Yu smiled faintly: "What, isn't the first stage a competition of who stays the longest?"

Han Cheng was momentarily stifled by these words.

But he sneered: "You're not trying to say you survived for over ten minutes, are you? According to the door opening frequency, did you lead all the monsters behind the ten doors on a chase?"

Ding Shouchang also shook his head and walked over: "Lu Heng, we're all on the same team. There's no need to make up lies that no one will believe just to save face."

Han Cheng added coldly: "After leaving the stage, you didn't proactively come to gather and report the situation, but instead deliberately hid in the jungle. Do you think that will make everyone look up to you?"

"This kind of little trick might fool Mianmian, but it won't fool us!"

"?"

Song Xingmian was stunned, then snapped: "Han Cheng!"

Ding Shouchang quickly tried to smooth things over: "Oh, Miss Song, Captain Han didn't mean it like that!"

Han Cheng took a deep breath: "Mianmian, don't get too close to people like this..."

"Han Cheng!"

Song Xingmian said again: "I have nothing to do with you, and! If you continue to waste time here on useless bickering, then we really won't make it in time!"

Han Cheng ultimately didn't argue further...

Zhang blazing sun stood up from the tree trunk, "Alright, if you're done arguing, let's head out."

After saying that, he was the first to board the boat by the shore.

Han Cheng walked over with a gloomy face, Ding Shouchang followed behind him, and the others also stood up one after another.

Song Xingmian was the last. She didn't stop as she passed by Chen Yu.

She only said in a voice only the two of them could hear: "Be faster next time, don't play little games."

Chen Yu's mouth twitched: "?"

So after all that, not a single person believed he had stayed for ten minutes?

However, Chen Yu was understanding.

If he hadn't experienced it himself, he wouldn't have believed someone could fight a fierce battle there for ten minutes either.

That was practically superhuman.

Helpless, Chen Yu also followed onto the boat.

This was a light gray steel-hulled boat, about eight meters long and a bit over two meters wide.

The space inside the cabin wasn't spacious. Several rows of simple iron handles were welded to the sides, and a layer of non-slip burlap was spread on the bottom, with ropes and empty buckets piled on top.

What drove this boat forward were the long oars on both sides.

And the job of rowing...

Should have been assigned to Chen Yu, but he pushed it off by claiming to be weak and frail.

Han Cheng was also in a hurry and didn't target him further.

Ultimately, the remaining four Military District Awakened did the rowing.

They were:

A pair of twin brothers in their thirties, He Yu and He Xun, both with A-Rank support-buffing Talents.

And a burly man with an S-Rank strength Talent, Xu Yuanzhou.

A girl with an S-Rank combat-type skill Talent, Yang Chen.

These four had had almost no presence, completely following Han Cheng's lead.

After all, they had the lowest-ranked Talents in the team and had to rely heavily on Han Cheng's care.

The space inside the boat was just right for about ten people to sit, relatively roomy.

Water Bubble was curled up on Chen Yu's lap, purring in its sleep, with bubbles coming out of its body.

"What's its name?"

Song Xingmian was naturally sitting beside Chen Yu.

He couldn't even avoid her.

This woman seemed to be pestering him.

Chen Yu didn't really want to chat,

But since she spoke up, it would be strange not to.

"Uh... it's called Water Bubble..."

"Can I touch it?"

"Aren't you already touching it?"

"Pfft, hahaha."

Song Xingmian chuckled softly, gently rubbing the top of Water Bubble's head with her fingertip.

It had to be said, Water Bubble was practically a weapon against girls.

Most girls couldn't resist such cute creatures.

It was the same on the Baby Bus.

Girls like Deng Yuxin, Zhang Wanyue, Wang Mengmeng, and Lu Xiaoyu all scrambled to squeeze and rub Water Bubble.

After Song Xingmian rubbed it for a while, the cotton-stuffed bell slid out of her sleeve.

Water Bubble's eyes immediately followed the bell, like a cat seeing a cat teaser.

Song Xingmian hid the bell back in her sleeve, "Does it eat anything?"

Chen Yu nodded: "It likes to eat building materials, especially Energy Cores."

Actually, it liked to eat everything.

Song Xingmian reached out, and a blue light orb appeared: "These are three low-level ener..."

"Gulu!"

Water Bubble pounce on it！

Hungry tiger pouncing on its prey!

It instantly enveloped Song Xingmian's entire hand!

Lines of frustration appeared on Chen Yu's face!

This guy acted like it had never eaten before, when in reality, it ate all day every day!

Water Bubble's commotion made many people in the front row turn their heads, watching the heartwarming scene of a man, a woman, and a pet...

"Tch!"

Han Cheng stood at the bow, looking a bit disdainful: "Old Ding, between Coal Ball and Jelly, who do you think is stronger?"

Ding Shouchang knew he was referring to the Vehicle pet [Lightning], which just happened to look like a Coal Ball.

"Well..."

"I think Lightning is much stronger..."

Han Cheng snorted: "What on earth was Officer Zhou thinking? I could have brought Lightning on the mission. Wouldn't that be much more reliable than Lu Heng bringing that Jelly?"

"Yes, yes."

Ding Shouchang didn't dare say no.

*Splash splash splash...*

*Splash splash splash...*

The boat was pushed off the beach, sliding forward smoothly and entering the iron-gray sea.

The coastline slowly receded behind them, and the green of the forest was swallowed layer by layer by the mist.

The sea ahead was vast, and the water was deep in color.

The boat rose and fell slightly with the swells, and in the distant sea mist, that lighthouse was still faintly visible.

[Stage One · Settlement]

[Calculating all scores...]

In an instant,

Everyone perked up.

Everyone had thought the settlement would wait until the very end, but they didn't expect a separate settlement for the first stage.

Everyone's eyes were focused on the light screen.

[1st Place — Huaxia · Haicheng · Total Points: 29,847]

[2nd Place — Federation · Houston · Total Points: 3,130]

[3rd Place — British Empire · Manchester · Total Points: 2,763]

[4th Place — Sakura · Yokohama · Total Points: 2,740]

...

[10th Place — East Africa · Mombasa · Total Points: 2,638]

[12th Place — Persia · Isfahan · Total Points: 2,618]

...

[20th Place — Brahma · Bangalore · Total Points: 2,563]

...

[53rd Place — Goryeo · Daegu · Total Points: 2,243]

...

[Rank ... Jiangnan · Total Points: 2,190]