The Interstellar Queen of Scavengers

Chapter 663: I Hate the Unpredictability of This World

Under the unwavering gaze of thousands of pairs of eyes, the antique mech, battered and covered in grime from the explosions, continued to climb towards the top of the wall, dodging the relentless ’junk’ bombs that kept smashing down, while Ji You also paused very regularly and rhythmically, clearly unpanicked.

This composure was enough to astonish the students, and it caused a slight flash in the indifferent eyes of Mu Jianling.

The surroundings became very quiet again, no one spoke to disturb Ji You, nor did anyone gossip at this moment...

Everyone was intently watching Ji You’s every move, not daring to miss a detail—after all, everything Ji You was doing was worth emulating, very valuable for reference, and perhaps their opportunity to pass the examination lay here.

Silent.

So silent.

The climb was a race against time, not particularly long, yet not short either, until 5 minutes later, Ji You finally reached the top, and the students let out a sigh of relief, exclaiming:

"Damn!"

"She finally climbed up."

"It wasn’t easy, stopping along the way..."

...

The sentiments of the classmates were also what Ji You was thinking. With victory in sight, how could she become arrogant and careless? Ji You might seem reckless and casual when she speaks, but in reality, she is incredibly pragmatic.

Taking advantage of the moment when the blades on the wall’s top disappeared after climbing up, Ji You did not dare to delay, she leapt from the top of the wall—

Swoosh~

The mech glided lightly across the ground—

In view was a track similar to the first obstacle, the entire track was without obstacles, no other dangers, the only difference from the first stage was that this track was somewhat longer, about three times that of the first stage, Ji You glanced at the timer, there were 9 minutes and 20 seconds left until the examination ended.

But—the first stage’s track, where Ji You had used a sledding skating technique, took her 3 minutes and 50 seconds.

Ji You’s face darkened, cursing silently:

I’m screwed, there’s not enough time!

But there was no time left to think, Ji You without a word retrieved her old tools: a stick, a skateboard.

Seeing this familiar set of tools, the watching students began to laugh, saying:

"Do you think, she can make it to the finish on time?"

"It’s doubtful!"

"Hard!"

"Cough... Could you all have a little faith in classmate Ji You? I bet she’ll fall flat on her face immediately!"

"Cough... You are being too harsh, we are all classmates after all, don’t curse her like that. I bet she can only make it halfway."

"Cough... Aren’t we classmates anymore? Can’t you keep your mouth clean? What has classmate Ji You done to you? I guess she’ll definitely make it more than halfway before going down!"

"Cough..."

It wasn’t that the classmates intentionally cursed Ji You, but Ji You had just spent a bit too much energy climbing to the top of the wall, and now her mech’s energy reserve was only at 1.6%.

Sad and desolate~

What can you do with that little energy?

Just maintaining the connection with the mech would consume energy, meaning this 1.6% energy could not be used by Ji You for anything else, only to maintain the mech connection.

Amidst the chorus of pessimism, Ji You had already darted out far using her old set of tools!

Not a millisecond to waste.

Ji You’s eyes were calm, she cleared her mind of all miscellaneous thoughts entirely, she held her breath, pushed with her legs, slid her hands, charging forward courageously—

meters.

meters.

meters.

...

Ji You’s form was light, like a fluttering butterfly, continuously weaving through the track, getting closer and closer to the finish line... and the timer hanging overhead continued to announce the time remaining—

At that moment!

System: [Countdown: 10, 9, 8, 7...]

The audience’s hearts were in their throats!

Ji You was only 500 meters away from the finish line!

meters!

meters!

...

There’s hope!

Everyone’s eyes were wide open, not daring to blink, only 3 seconds left!

seconds to go!

second!!!

Ji You, along with her mech, hurtled forward with a whoosh, reaching the ultimate speed! She was just about to cross the finish line!

At this nail-biting moment, everyone couldn’t help but shout out together:

"Quick!"

"Quick!"

"Quick!"

Then—

Ji You clenched her teeth, decisively used up the last 0.01% of her mech’s energy, and dived forward—

System: [Examination time up!]

The result?

Many closed their eyes, not daring to look.

Then—

When everyone opened their eyes, they saw Ji You sprawling on the ground, furiously pounding the racetrack with both hands, her face smeared with tears and snot, she bellowed: "Arghhh!!! I hate this ever-changing world!"

"I hate this unjust Heavenly Dao!"

"I hate these blind heavens!"

The students: "..."

Just... flat-out fell?

What... what happened?

The scene of Ji You’s final seconds sprinting was playing on loop, and so, when people opened their eyes again, they understood what had happened. Just as the countdown ended, Ji You was about to break through the finish line, just missing by—

meter!

Yes, 1 meter.

A distance that could have been covered by a casual step of the mech, but it just fell short by that little bit.

The entire place fell silent for a moment.

After 1 second.

The place burst into roaring laughter:

"How tragic!"

"Too tragic!"

"But forgive my lack of decorum, why do I feel like laughing?"

"Me too."

"Classmate Ji You, you truly are a tragedy!"

"No! She’s a comedy!"

"Pffft hahaha..."

...

Listening to the laughter from the onlookers, Ji You pounded the ground fiercely, her heart aching as if bleeding. She even considered making a scene right there and then, asking the examination system to give her a break, to let her pass.

Or maybe, to beg for a chance, asking the system to turn a blind eye and change her examination result?

After all, it was just 1 meter short.

Just 1 meter, such a negligible error.

As these thoughts bubbled up in her mind, Ji You blinked and was about to stir—

Suddenly—

The teacher Mu Jianling’s cool voice rang out: "Aren’t you going to scram out of here? Do you plan to monopolize the track and incubate an egg? What egg? With your stupidity, even if you hatch something, it’d still be idiotic, a complete fool!"

Ji You: "..."

Everyone: "..."

For a moment, the waiting room burst into another round of laughter...

Ji You reluctantly got up, hanging her head low, her face filled with dejection as she walked out of the examination room. Just as she stepped out, Mu Jian suddenly added: "Wait!"

Ji You immediately froze, excitedly saying: "Teacher???"

Mu Jianling didn’t even lift her gaze, she flatly said: "Protective Shield, energy box, plus one rope... All in all, the equipment damage totals up to 5250 credit points." After saying that, Mu Jianling raised her hand, pointed to a payment terminal nearby, tapped it lightly as if gesturing: "Hurry up and pay here."

Ji You: "..."

Everyone: "Pfft—"