Part 3
With that in mind, Yun Yingzhi used the last of his time to rush to the material vending machine.
In one hour and forty minutes, he successfully manufactured a Grade Six space-restricted source weapon.
There was one hour and twenty minutes left.
Yun Yingzhi was self-aware; he didn’t think he could make a Grade Five weapon in that short amount of time. But was he just going to waste the last hour?
At that moment, the livestream drone fluttered its wings and gave Yun Yingzhi a massive close-up.
What the audience saw was Yun Yingzhi, using the final minutes and exerting his speed as a military student, rushing to the vending machine and picking up…
…Grade Four materials.
The chat was scrolling wildly.
[I’m especially curious about who A13167 is now. To pull wool, he even triggered his potential as a combat student. That speed is incredible!]
[I’m a combat student from one of the Ten Great Military Academies. From his top speed and obstacle avoidance just now, I can see that his speed in this area directly exceeds my fastest speed. Truly impressive.]
[Good heavens. Am I the only one who noticed that to pull the last bit of wool, the materials he took this time are all Grade Four?]
[I noticed! I noticed!]
Meanwhile.
Far away at the front lines, Yun Yinghui received private messages from a group of friends.
[How do you know this ‘Didi’? What a unique younger brother.]
[Wow, your ‘Peony Didi’ is so fast at making source weapons. To pull wool, the speed he ran at toward the material vending machine in the final minutes was fast enough to leave an afterimage. I think your Didi is actually very suited for the combat department rather than the manufacturing department.]
[Yinghui, your Didi is hilarious! Hahahaha!]
Yun Yinghui: “…”
His eyelids twitched. He had told his friends he hoped they would help his younger brother, but he hadn’t specified that the brother was Yun Yingzhi.
Now, he subtly realized he didn’t know how to tell them that this brother who needed their help…
…was the “frail little cub” they had liked most in the past.
Yes.
During his student days, Yun Yinghui often took a young Yun Yingzhi to see several friends, and their relationship was quite good.
Even later, when Yun Yinghui had to go away for work, these friends would occasionally visit the Admiral’s Manor to see Yun Yingzhi, bringing him small gifts and snacks.
As far as Yun Yinghui knew, Yun Yingzhi’s image in their hearts had always been that of a beautiful, slender, and frail little angel.
Yun Yinghui felt…
If he told them Participant A13167 was Yun Yingzhi, then his image in their hearts…
…well, it would probably be gone.
Forget it. Although they would find out sooner or later…
He wouldn’t say for now.
However, curiosity arose in him—what exactly did Yun Yingzhi do during the competition to prompt his friends to send such messages?
Regrettably, because he was too busy, he hadn’t been able to watch the full livestream of the competition. But it didn’t matter; he could just watch the replay later.
Star Brilliance Competition, Preliminary Venue.
Under the awe-struck gazes of others, Yun Yingzhi successfully manufactured a Grade Four source weapon at 8:50 PM.
Looking at the remaining ten minutes, he felt it was a real waste.
He lifted his eyes. Everywhere were students in uniforms, mostly from the Ten Great Military Academies.
His eyelids jumped. He was a bit nervous, especially worried they would recognize him.
To his relief, as the competition neared its end, those people returned to their positions one by one.
Yun Yingzhi glanced around and saw that other participants generally had only one source weapon. Then he looked at himself…
Six Grade Sixes, three Grade Fives, and one Grade Four. Exactly ten.
At 9:00 PM sharp, the notification sounded.
[The competition has ended. Will all participants please stop manufacturing. Staff members will now collect the source weapons.]
With the notification, many uniformed staff members began to move, collecting the weapons.
During this process, some participants who were still trying to manufacture were disqualified on the spot.
Furthermore, the staff would record and calculate the loss rate while collecting the weapons. If the rate exceeded a certain proportion, the participant would be charged accordingly.
Yun Yingzhi had known this rule from the start.
Because he wanted to go all the way on the path of pulling wool, his state today while manufacturing was exceptionally good. From beginning to end, he had zero mistakes; all materials were used.
This was also the first time he realized just how capable he could be.
As the staff collected the weapons, some manufacturers had to pay extra because of high material loss, and Yun Yingzhi felt sorry for them.
Finally, a staff member arrived in front of him.
Most participants had watched Yun Yingzhi frantically hauling materials, so the issue of material loss was a concern here.
Everyone was curious: were the ten source weapons Yun Yingzhi made all finished products? And what was the loss rate?
The crowd pricked up their ears to eavesdrop.
Yun Yingzhi spoke with the staff member.
The staff member performed a preliminary check on the ten weapons and said, “All ten source weapons are finished products.”
Yun Yingzhi nodded.
The staff member added, “…And there is zero loss.”
Hearing this, gasps of indrawn breath rose from all around.
Yun Yingzhi said, “According to the rules, I don’t need to pay extra, right?” Happy little bubbles began to float around him.
The staff member nodded and said, “You have manufactured ten source weapons in total. You need to submit one of them for our appraisal.”
At that moment, the “Demon” livestream drone flapped its wings and flew over, pointing its lens at the area where Yun Yingzhi was.
Yun Yingzhi looked down at the ten finished weapons.
Nine of them were source weapons with space-restricted abilities.
He didn’t want to send those nine for appraisal.
Yun Yinghui would arrive in mid-December, which was exactly when the appraisal would take place.
He wanted to give those nine weapons to his brother as soon as possible, so…
The only one left was the Grade Four weapon.
To save time, he had made this Grade Four weapon with singular attributes—no defense, no buffs. All skills were attack-type skills.
His state had been very good today. Although it was just a Grade Four weapon and one made without any pre-designed blueprints, the quality was quite decent—it was a “fighter jet” among source weapons.
He felt this weapon would easily carry him through the preliminaries.
With that in mind, the “Stingy” Yun Yingzhi took out the only weapon with the lowest grade and handed it to the staff member.
The staff member paused and asked, “…Grade Four?”
Yun Yingzhi nodded. “Mhm, just this one. I can’t bear to give you the oth—”
Suddenly realizing he had misspoken, his exposed skin turned beet red. Having fleeced the organizers for a pile of wool and then being unwilling to submit the best nine weapons was a bit unprincipled. He tactfully corrected himself, “I… I think this weapon is the best one I made.”
Staff: “…”
Crowd: “…”
Everyone’s gaze toward Yun Yingzhi was suddenly very subtle.
How could a Grade Four weapon be compared to Grade Five and Six? “Can’t bear to give” meant he was afraid the organizers wouldn’t return the weapon on time, right?
Yun Yingzhi pushed the Grade Four weapon toward the staff member again.
The staff member’s lip twitched as he took the weapon and began asking the routine questions.
“Some weapons in the preliminaries require practical appraisal. Do you have an ability warrior bound to you?”
Yun Yingzhi opened his lips to say “no,” but he suddenly thought of his brother’s powerful friends.
After a pause, he said, “I do.”
“Alright, we will contact you when the time comes.”
Yun Yingzhi nodded.
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