192 Elimination

"Whaaaaaat?!"

Many who just stepped down from the challenge called out dumbfounded, not really believing that Ash ended the challenge just like that. Not only them, those who stayed behind and decided to risk their points couldn't believe it either.

Ash only smirked and assured, "I know it might be confusing but I can promise you that I'm not joking. You can look at the notification on your cards."

_____________________

Congratulations, you won the Advance Challenge!

Please claim your reward from your instructor.

_____________________

Everyone who stayed received the same message, including Wuxing and the rest.

Naturally, after everyone confirmed the truth behind Ash's words, they cheered, walking forward excitedly to claim their reward while the rest could only stare at the bitterly.

Were they mad, wanting to complain and curse? Absolutely yes.

Would they actually do it? Probably not.

The selection was not a joke. If you complain, you might not live till tomorrow, getting kicked out of the base. Living together with beasts wasn't easy.

"The point of this challenge was to show you that you should never give up, always pushing to complete your mission, no matter the price you have to pay. Completing the mission is more important than getting injured, especially if your mission requires you to protect someone important. Would you rather get shot or lose your client? The success of the mission is the most important, even more than your life," General Clark spoke up first before passing the megaphone to Ash.

"According to our current company policy, we guarantee the success of any mission. If you fail, contribution points will be deducted from your account to pay for someone else who can repeat the mission. Because of that, we don't tolerate failures. We are Seven Stars Special Forces, the best mercenary organization in the world," Ash explained further. "Also…"

She paused, pointing at the ten wounded participants. At her call, they stopped being dressed up by the medics and walked forward as if nothing happened.

Where they even shot? The question everyone asked themselves in their mind.

Ash seemed to enjoy the confusion on everyone's faces but she grabbed one of the bandaged hands and unwrapped the bandage.

To everyone's surprise, there was no hole. Nothing. The hand looked like it wasn't even cut by anything.

"No one got wounded in the process of the challenge. All ten members that got "shot" were our undercover staff members with small explosives attached to their hands. All guns had blank cartridges with no sharp ammunition. In short, everything was planned from the very beginning."

Chatter…

Many had something to say about it but obviously, they kept it to themselves and at most, shared it with their friends. It was obviously a scam to trick them which made many participants feel dumb.

"Big bro, did you know?" Scarlet looked at Wuxing with shinning eyes but he had to shake his head this time.

"Even I didn't figure their plans beforehand but I knew something was up. They wouldn't shoot half of their candidates on the first day so it was a safe bet to make," Wuxing said confidently. "It would eliminate a lot of people and create many problems for them as well."

"Mhmm, true!" Scarlet nodded happily and then they moved with the queue, getting their points recorded.

Ash only smiled when it was their turn, staying professional before announcing, "All points from the challenge have been distributed. Please wait till we finish assigning all the points before we start allocating you to your barracks. Your luggage will be brought over to your barrack once the allocation is done."

As she finished, she muttered something through her ear-piece and suddenly multiple staff members entered the plaza, all carrying assault-rifles and protective gear. They quickly closed all the exits while the snipers on the towers aimed at the candidates.

"It's finally happening…" Wuxing muttered and immediately grabbed Dongmei's and Scarlet's hand, pulling them behind the line of the instructors, standing behind Ash.

"What is happening…?" Scarlet asked confused and Dongmei hugged her, explaining vaguely, "They need to carry out those who scored the lowest in the ranking."

Beep, beep.

They heard the sound of a notification from their cards and everyone's cards around them turned green, displaying one word, "Pass."

Ash activated the megaphone once again and explained, "Those whose cards turned green, it means you are safe for today. Congratulations, you survive the first day of our selection. On the other hand, those whose cards turned red, you, unfortunately, scored the lowest and got eliminated."

As if all the red card holders caught a virus, everyone else started distancing themselves from them. It didn't matter if you were friends, once you got eliminated, everyone would leave you, knowing your chances of survival were very slim.

Ash pulled out a gun herself and ordered, "Please, if you got eliminated, lay on the ground with your hands behind your back. Don't worry, this is not the end for you. Once everyone surrender, I will explain the new rules of the elimination. We decided to implement an easier way for anyone eliminated to come back to the base. Naturally, if you don't cooperate, you will be eliminated forever."

"Fuck!"

Many with the red cards cursed but they didn't immediately surrender, looking around as if in search for support yet all green cards were already distanced, walking towards the instructors just in case. No one wanted to stand in the line of bullets once the situation gets critical.

"You have ten seconds to drop on the ground. Ten! Nine!" Ash began counting down and all of them complied immediately, knowing they will be shot without hesitation if they delay.

Unfortunately, there were some who were not even within that group.

"Three red cards are hiding within other green cards. Their cards are hidden in their pants," Dongmei whispered to him as she scanned the area and quickly passed their location as well as their looks.

Wuxing raised his eyebrows, admitting they had balls and walked up to Ash, deciding to help her a bit. He whispered the information into her ear right after she finished counting down and she frowned.

"Are you sure?" Ash asked seriously and he nodded, "Hundred percent."

She didn't question him anymore, trusting him fully and ordered after passing the information, "Shoot them."

Bang! Bang!

Two sniper shots resounded throughout the plaza as two men dropped dead. The rest quickly distanced themselves from the bodies, scared they will get shot but Ash quickly assured them, "Please, don't worry. Those two individuals decided to choose the second option and were eliminated forever."

A staff member walked up to the bodies and searched them, pulling out their cards. The red color was clearly visible to everyone.

With two rebels dead, there were no more delays or complaints. The rest red cards would rather wait to hear about the change of rules instead of straight-up dying.

Only when everyone eliminated got handcuffed did Ash announce the new rules.

"Earlier one could only return to the selection if they survived a certain amount of days in the wild but we will add another possibility. Because you all like to kill each other so much, we decided to allow it. If those eliminated can kill the participants during daily hunting, they can take their place and return to the base."