After two days of competition, atop the leaderboard, War Dragon leads with 10 points, truly in a league of its own.
Following behind, the second place Dahe Mercenary Team has six points, the third place Korea Mercenary Team has five points... Fierce Tiger Mercenary Group and Persian Gulf Team are tied for fifth place!
You must realize that in this positioning match, only the top four can be positioned as Three-star Mercenary Teams.
The first two events have shown that both Fierce Tiger and Persian Gulf have utterly botched it.
"You two have really disappointed me!"
That night, Lei Zhenhu and Lambosky coincidentally visited Hu Zhengwei’s room, only to be relentlessly scolded by him, as expected.
"Didn’t you two pound your chests and assure me that you would definitely be positioned as Three-star Mercenary Teams? Huh? And this is how you perform? Do you realize what it means not to be positioned as a Three-star team? You are utterly incompetent!"
Hu Zhengwei was trembling with anger.
According to the rules of the World Mercenary Association, a Mercenary Team positioned as a Three-star team becomes a member of the Presidential Committee of their respective Mercenary Association. Four Three-star teams, along with the Five-star teams, form the Presidential Committee of the various Mercenary Association branches, with direct voting rights on major association matters!
In other words, if War Dragon and Dahe get into the committee, then Skull will need War Dragon and Dahe’s votes to push any policy in Asia, such as deciding which countries’ armed forces to cooperate with and which not to cooperate with.
A vote of three out of five is considered a pass.
Originally, Hu Zhengwei had arranged everything flawlessly: as long as Fierce Tiger and Persian Gulf were in the Presidential Committee, plus Skull himself, it wouldn’t matter how the other two teams opposed; they would already have the three votes needed.
But now, after only two days of competition, things had turned out this way; it made Hu Zhengwei feel an urgent need to urinate.
You must know, he had previously pounded his chest and promised the captain of Skull’s Asia branch that he would definitely help Fierce Tiger and Persian Gulf be positioned as Three-star teams.
Only two events into the competition, Hu Zhengwei felt that his mission was completely unachievable. He couldn’t report any gains upon returning.
"Captain Hu, I also didn’t expect this Qin Tian, this War Dragon, to be so formidable. Their sudden rise caught me off guard. However, rest assured, even if War Dragon gets positioned as a Three-star, there are still three spots left, and I am confident that we can secure one of them," Lei Zhenhu said, trying to reassure Hu Zhengwei.
"Hmph, you’ve blown enough hot air," Hu Zhengwei scoffed. "I have yet to see any of the cows you’ve sent flying land back down."
"Cough, cough..." Lei Zhenhu was incredibly embarrassed by the remark.
Lambosky said, "Captain Hu, although we have failed, we can’t just give up on ourselves. At least we are currently ranked fifth. We have three events left: firearms assembly, hacking skills, and intelligence gathering, all of which require brains and smart strategy to win, not brute force."
"That War Dragon’s Qin Tian, I’ve seen him; he’s just a brute. When it comes to competing in the technical skills of Mercenary World, hmph, I may not guarantee a win against other teams, but against this War Dragon, I am completely confident."
After hearing Lambosky’s words, Hu Zhengwei pursed his lips and shook his head with a sigh.
"Now we are at a dead end. If you don’t want to be abandoned by Skull, your best bet is self-redemption."
He frowned and swept his gaze over the two men, saying, "For the remaining three events, I can’t rig the firearms assembly. For the hacking skills... I can tell you in advance that it involves hacking into the military systems of the United States, Russia, and Germany. I’m not clear on the specific systems, and the topic comes from the European Mercenary Association. I don’t have many contacts there; that’s all I’ve been able to find out. You better prepare yourselves."
"The last intelligence theft requires going to Jungle Island to obtain information from an unfamiliar Mercenary Team," said Qin Tian seriously with a frown. "This team, also from Europe, will be lured to the island for a mission oblivious of the real purpose. The competition’s goal is to take something from a member of that team. You may engage physically, but no killing or inflicting of serious injury is allowed."
Hu Zhengwei spoke with sternness, finished speaking, and then stared at Lei Zhenhu and Lambosky, saying, "I’ve told you such detailed information; if you disappoint me again... hmph, in Skull, I will not be able to protect you. You may leave now."
Hearing this, Lei Zhenhu and Lambosky exchanged a glance, bowed respectfully to Hu Zhengwei, and then left the room.
With this information, they could prepare in advance, so after leaving Hu Zhengwei’s room, the two didn’t say much and went straight back to their team’s room to instruct their people to start preparing.
The weapon assembly competition was to be held the next morning.
This contest was simple: all contestants first had to disassemble handguns, rifles, sniper rifles, and three other types of weapons blindfolded. After disassembly, they still blindfolded, had to reassemble them until completely reassembled. The one who took the least amount of time would be the champion.
Many mercenaries had been trained in such a contest and were naturally very familiar with the process, and most could do it.
However, this time the difficulty was significantly increased. All six weapons were placed together in a wooden barrel. Once completely disassembled, it meant that dozens of parts from the six weapons were all mixed together in the barrel.
The biggest challenge during assembly was to clearly distinguish these parts.
Anyone who assembled the parts incorrectly would be directly disqualified without a score.
After hearing this rule, many felt their tongues knot; this was blindfolded, after all. Even with eyes wide open, it’d be hard to discern the parts clearly, let alone with a blindfold making the challenge dauntingly difficult.
Add to that the fact they were competing against more than a dozen people, trying to beat the clock, and under such tense emotions, it was extremely easy to make a mistake.
For this contest, Zhou Yang of War Dragon Mercenary Team had no doubts about stepping up.
Back in his days with Fire Wolf Mercenary Corps, Zhou Yang was famous for assembling firearms; later on, when training mercenaries, he encountered various firearms. His prowess in weapon assembly was so profound he could outperform the vast majority of mercenaries almost instantly.
How skilled was Zhou Yang?
Give Zhou Yang a tree, a bundle of wire, and a knife; he could craft a wooden gun capable of killing, with an accuracy not inferior to that of a rifle!
"Don’t worry, boss, this is what I’m best at. These people, they’re nothing," Zhou Yang whispered to Qin Tian before the competition.
Confident, he walked to the contestant stand, lining up with all other competitors.
Then, someone came up with a thick, black cloth strip to blindfold all the contestants.
Afterwards, wooden barrels filled with the six types of firearms were placed in front of them all.
"You can now place your hands on the edge of the barrels. Remember, do not place parts outside the barrel, do not assemble the wrong parts. Once a mistake is made, the referee will immediately stop that contestant’s competition," the chief judge announced, after which all the referees synchronized their stopwatches.
"The firearm assembly competition, begin!"