Chapter 26 – The Challenge Begins

Volume 1: Apocalypse Beginning

Wen Yu tugged at the corner of his mouth, ignored the four people opposite him, and walked straight toward the Stone Pillar in front of the Arena.

Through posture and breathing, Wen Yu could roughly gauge a person’s physical condition.

This was experience from Wen Yu’s previous life. Of course, it was limited to Level 1 Class Holders. After all, Wen Yu was most familiar with this stage.

Among the four people in front of him, the strongest was the big man standing at the very front. His physical attributes were about 4 points; at this stage, he could already be considered an expert.

The twins behind him, holding Crossbows, also had about 3 points in physical attributes.

The other two were Class Holders who hadn’t been strengthened.

A very strong team.

But in Wen Yu’s eyes, they were nothing more than a few small fry.

Wen Yu reached out to touch the Stone Platform, and the rules of the Treasure Land were clearly transmitted into his mind.

“The rules of the Challenge-type Treasure Land are as follows:

No mutual attacks are allowed within the Treasure Land. Anyone who violates this rule will be immediately teleported out of the Treasure Land and stripped of all gains acquired within.

Survivors may enter the Arena via the Stone Pillar. The challenge will increase in difficulty step by step.

Please note: Once the challenge begins, you may only choose to withdraw after each stage ends. Challengers should act within their means; once the challenge starts, it cannot be ended prematurely.

Whoever clears the highest difficulty will obtain the Ultimate Treasure of this Treasure Land, and the Treasure Land will be permanently closed.

Each person only has one chance to challenge.”

This was Wen Yu’s first time encountering a Challenge-type Treasure Land. In his previous life, he hadn’t even qualified to enter a Treasure Land.

“Ultimate Treasure?” Wen Yu couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows at these words.

“Now this is interesting.”

This time, Wen Yu was determined to claim the Ultimate Treasure mentioned in the rules.

He just didn’t know how difficult the so-called highest difficulty would be. But since it was a Level 1 Treasure Land, no matter how hard it was, there would be limits.

Wen Yu glanced at the four people beside him who were sizing him up, and spoke directly.

“Since you arrived first, why don’t you go ahead?”

Seeing Wen Yu make a gesture of invitation, Guan Tao and the others hesitated.

“Wan Ping? What should we do?” Guan Tao knew this wasn’t the time for him to make decisions and decisively asked Wan Ping.

“Wan An, you go.” Wan Ping decisively instructed his younger brother.

Wan Ping had his own plans. First, his side had four people, meaning their team had four chances to attempt the challenge.

Faced with the unknown, letting a teammate go first to scout things out would be very advantageous for the remaining members.

Secondly, Wan Ping couldn’t gauge the difficulty of this Challenge-type Treasure Land. If the highest difficulty was set very low and the Ultimate Treasure could be easily obtained, the Treasure Land would close immediately and their team would profit greatly. Otherwise, they would leave empty-handed.

Moreover, Wan Ping looked at Wen Yu, who was calm-or rather, composed-beside him.

He couldn’t figure out this man’s strength at all. If Wen Yu was very weak, as long as he wasn’t the first to challenge, he wouldn’t affect their team at all.

On the other hand, if Wen Yu was very strong, then it was even less likely they’d let him go first.

Naturally, Wen Yu also intended for Wan Ping’s group to test the waters first.

Simply put, Wen Yu understood the quirks of Treasure Lands: the highest difficulty challenge absolutely required Peak Level 1 strength, or even higher. These people in front of him were simply not up to the task.

Upon hearing his brother’s words, Wan An decisively picked up his Hunting Rifle, took Guan Tao’s Steel Blade, and walked straight to the Stone Pillar to select the challenge.

The Stone Pillar flashed with light, and a beam of white light quickly enveloped Wan An.

Wan An’s figure vanished at an extremely fast speed, and in the next moment, he had already appeared on the Arena.

“Challenge begins. First round: one ordinary Zombie.”

Hearing the booming electronic voice echo throughout the Treasure Land space, the few people present actually breathed a sigh of relief. The difficulty of this challenge was just too simple.

“Tao-Ge, Ping, do you think Xiao An can just take the Ultimate Treasure directly? I mean, the difficulty of this Challenge-type Treasure Land doesn’t seem all that high.” Lin Li looked smug, his face wearing an expression that said, “If it were me, I’d do even better.”

“This is only the first round. Who knows how many rounds are left? Actually, I keep feeling that we activated the Treasure Land too early.” Wan Ping frowned deeply, still feeling that the Treasure Land couldn’t be this easy.

Wen Yu almost laughed out loud when he heard Lin Li’s boastful tone beside him.

Although the Treasure Land was mostly beneficial, it was still very dangerous, and the ones most likely to die were always those who overestimated themselves.

On the Arena, Wan An looked at the Zombie that had appeared out of thin air and found that it showed no signs of evolution at all-it was exactly as the electronic voice had described.

Without further hesitation, he picked up his Steel Blade and walked straight up.

Although Wan An was an Archer, there was no need to waste the limited ammo of his Hunting Rifle on such a low-level Zombie.

With a single slash, the Zombie’s head was cut cleanly in two, yellow and white matter spilling all over the ground.

“Challenge successful. Reward: one F-Rank Steel Blade. Would you like to challenge the next round?”

As soon as the prompt sounded, a beam of white light landed directly in front of Wan An. As the light faded, a Steel Blade lay quietly there.

Turning around, he saw Wan Ping nodding at him. Wan An took a deep breath: “Challenge.”

“Challenge begins. Second round: three ordinary Zombies.”

“Come on, guys, this is just farming rewards! The difficulty is way too low.” Lin Li shouted loudly when he saw the challenge targets.

“It really is simple.” Guan Tao nodded in agreement.

Wen Yu exhaled, already forming his own opinion about the Treasure Land before him.

“Looks like this Treasure Land is completely friendly, not very dangerous. The real difficulty probably only comes in the final round.”

Based on Wen Yu’s experience from his previous life, Treasure Lands had their own tendencies: some were friendly and handed out rewards, some were devious and deadly, and some were obsessed with slaughter. This time, Wen Yu’s luck wasn’t bad. If it had been one of those trap-filled Treasure Lands, he’d have nowhere to cry.

Watching Wan An decapitate the three Zombies, none of the group felt any tension.

“Challenge successful. Reward: one F-Rank Protective Suit. Would you like to challenge the next round?”

This time, Wan An didn’t even turn his head. He casually sorted out his rewards and shouted directly, “Challenge.”

“Challenge begins. Third round: one Level 1 Primary Zombie.”

“Level 1 Primary? What’s its actual strength?” Wan Ping’s brow furrowed instantly, no longer as relaxed as at the start.

“Should be between 2 and 4 points. The exact number depends on luck.” Wen Yu replied calmly.

Guan Tao and the others’ expressions changed. If it was 2 points, Wan An could handle it easily, but if it was 4 points, the outcome would be uncertain.

As Wan An’s challenge target appeared, he looked tense, clearly having heard Wen Yu’s explanation just now.

The Zombie opposite roared and charged forward.

Seeing the Zombie’s movements, Guan Tao and the others relaxed slightly.

“Fortunately, it’s only 3 points.”