This was emotion management. Although the team felt a bit depressed, everyone had to respect Achilles' callous attitude.
Clearly, Achilles wasn't totally inhumane and was fine with the group satisfying basic needs like eating and drinking. However, alcohol would definitely not be allowed.
However, humans often yearned what they were deprived of the most. Dong Xiaosa and Pi Xiaoxiu could barely hold back their desire for alcohol, especially when they were facing a group of people who were gobbling down huge chunks of meat and alcohol. It must have felt so good! Dong Xiaosa and Pi Xiaoxiu were salivating. However, they could only drink mineral water, and this was distasteful to them.
Before the deadline of two hours, the Eight Stars gathered after completing replenishing their supplies and were ready to move out. In fact, there was nothing much for them to replenish other than having a good meal and replenishing some military-use rations and water. After all, the mecha did not have the same type of storage capabilities as a refrigerator.
"On your mark, let's move out!" Achilles waved his hands after looking at the night sky.
"If it was me, I would have done a check first." A voice came from the dark.
The excitement of the Eight Stars died down. Achilles turned around and saw a man walking out from the dark.
Taros!
"Atos, Masasi, you guys go take a look," said Achilles calmly.
"What a coincidence, Taros. Looks like we have quite a bit of affinity that we actually met here," laughed Achilles.
"Boss, look, seems like someone wanted to ambush us!"
Achilles found a miniature electromagnetic mine on his mech. As the mech moved, the mine would detonate after accumulating a certain amount of magnetic force. Although the destructive force wasn't big, it would be enough to cause a malfunction of the mech in a long journey. If it really went off, disqualification would be inevitable.
"Thank you!" Achilles looked at Taros and couldn't believe Taros would help him.
Taros shook his head and said, "I'm doing this for myself. At the first stage, we made a bet and I conceded my defeat. I will support your bid to be the leader. Also... I was interested in Lie Xin's group, although she has no interest in me."
Taros was direct. Achilles had a great understanding of Taros' personality. He wouldn't have done this unless there were benefits.
Raston was allied with Lie Xin. Taros would definitely have to make a choice between him or Lear.
At this moment, it would be almost certain that Taros would choose him. The bet was just an excuse. After all, Taros still wanted to save face.
"Welcome! With your help, it will be a great addition to our already strong team!"
Achilles smiled. Although Milo and her group weren't too fond of Taros, his strength was stronger than those in Achilles' group. In addition, the current group wasn't enough to compete for the position of leader.
"What the hell, who's the one who wanted to ambush us? I would definitely kill him if I knew who he was."
"Probably Lear. We are on Earth; I don't believe that he did not know that this would be the training ground and made plans beforehand to ambush us," Atos said angrily. He noticed that Taros did not look friendly and felt that it was Taros who wanted to ambush them.
Taros couldn't care less about it. He was here for the shared benefits and couldn't be bothered with how a small fly looked at him.
Achilles was clear about Taros' personality. This man wasn't dependable. However, if there were benefits, especially shared benefits, he could be the most dependable.
"Damn, Lear has broken the rules. I will go after him after we reach the base!" Dong Xiaosa was fuming.
"How do you see it, Milo?" asked Achilles.
"The electromagnetic mine is a product from Earth and was made by the Chronos family. I did not think that Lear would be childish enough to do so. The way the current situation is developing, it is clear that the position of leader would be given to either Boss or Lie Xin. Lear does not have any supporters, so naturally he can only decide to join someone else's coalition. It's unlikely that he would resort to such a childish method to put us at a disadvantage."
"He could have just ambushed both Lie Xin and us!"
"Then IG will exist in name only this time." Milo's eyes flashed and glanced at Taros. "Taros, did you see anything?"
"All I saw was a figure flashing by. Even if there was no such figure, it is a basic thing to conduct a check on one's mech. Yet you all were foolish enough to not leave behind anyone to keep watch," said Taros with a sarcastic smile creeping from the side of his mouth.
"Don't you need to depend on foolish people like us!?" Atos could not hold back and replied sarcastically.
"Keke, those who can recognize the current situation are considered wise, and I was wise," said Taros nonchalantly.
This was a weakness of the people from the moon. Achilles had never expected to encounter such incidents in a selection test. He took a look at Atos and Atos stopped talking. To become a leader, Achilles would not only need the capacity to accept others but also the ability to control them.
"Welcome!"
Achilles took the initiatives and held out his hand. He would need a "scheming" person by his side, and without a doubt, Taros was the best candidate.
Was it Lear? I'm afraid it's more likely to be Lie Xin!
No one would believe it if someone said that the Lie family had no one on Earth. This woman could be more ruthless than a man, and at this moment, Lie Xin's biggest opponent was him.
As for Lear ... other than that obese guy on his team, no one could be bothered with him. Although he had the ability, he was too arrogant, and even Achilles would not be willing to use him.
"I hope that we will have a joyful alliance!" Taros said with a greedy look.
Although he was one of the five candidates, Taros was similar to Raston with regards to the need to choose the person he wished to follow. This would not only determine the result of the IG Competition this time, it would also affect their future based on their results.
After all, Achilles and Lie Xin were not ordinary humans, and IG was only a spring board.
This was a declaration of war from Lie Xin!
Similarly, Lie Xin had encountered the same situation. The only difference was that it was discovered by Ruofeng. Every team had a conscientious person!
"Has Lear fallen so much that he had to make such a despicable move?" Lie Guang could not hold back his emotions and let out a laugh.
"It doesn't seem to be so. Although Lear isn't very sociable, he is someone with pride. Even if he wanted to do this, he wouldn't have done it on his own territory and made it so obvious," said Raston as he shook his head.
Lie Xin smiled. "It probably wasn't Lear. That man has too much pride and looks down upon everyone. Also, such a trick would not be able to change the current situation. He stands no chance this year."
If we were to look at the teams and reputations, Achilles and Lie Xin would completely dominate Lear. Disregarding them, other ordinary members would probably spend more time finding out about Ares College than about Lear.
"Do you think that this could;ve been done by someone from Achilles' group?" Lin Ruofeng asked. The focus was on someone from Achilles' group and not Achilles specifically.
The Sun God was a man with a high level of pride and confidence and would not have resorted to such tricks. However, the same could not be said about the people under him. Milo, Atos, Masasi, and the rest of the group were fatally loyal to Achilles. It was hard to say if they would have such thoughts after seeing Raston joining the other side.
"You all do not have to look at Achilles with such high regard. That man only looks decent in on the outside. The people from the Moon have been learning from their failures, and people do change. Let's just treat it as the official start of the battle. We have to pick up the pace; I want to be in first place for the remainder of the competition.
Lie Xin was ambitious and spoke with much gusto. The addition of Raston and Lie Guang had bolstered her team. No one could possibly think of stopping her!
Different from the others, Lear had chosen to proceed ahead alone while enjoying the loneliness of the desert. As for Luo Fei, he had decided to mix with the stragglers and tried to get closer with them. After all, he was from Earth and had done strategic assaults, and the rest of the people were willing to bring a guide.
This was especially true as they were unable to enter the strongest teams, meaning their only goal was to achieve a good result. Obviously, if they had more luck and entered the main round, it would be even more amazing.
Results were the most important.
In Gil Base.
"Qiu Si, is this group of little dudes capable enough?"
"General, their ability to adapt is extremely strong. However, they lack vigilance. In a small test, it was shown that Lie Xin and Achilles' reactions would not have passed," said Qiu Si seriously.
"Who had the better performance?"
"General, Lear has had the best performance thus far and has fully fulfilled the goals we set. He is to the point and clear. Lear is in first place currently and has a huge lead over the rest. He is also highly vigilant," said Qiu Si without hiding anything.
"Alright, continue the surveillance, ... how has Wang Zheng performed thus far?"asked Meng Ao suddenly just when he was leaving.
"Wang Zheng... performance was average and is currently in the middle pack of the teams. However, he has not made any mistakes." Qiu Si continued, "General, I suggest letting Meng Tian and Zhang Runan be reclassified to Lear's team. With the strength of the two of them together with Lear and Luo Fei, Earth could expect to achieve a lot!"
Meng Ao did not said a word. "Continue the surveillance."
"Yes, General!"
Qiu Si did not hold back on formalities as the video image of Meng Ao disappeared.
Wang Zheng and the group were also picking up their pace. The aftereffects that he was worried about did not occur. In the process of transforming powerful energy, he was drained of all his strength. However, Wang Zheng's recovery ability was extremely strong and he was recovering gradually. It was just that... he had eaten too much.
There was indeed strength in numbers in the lonely environment of the desert. One would not be able to understand how anyone could get used to being here alone. The eternally similar environment was driving people to insanity, and the level of fatigue was beyond what ordinary people could endure.
On the opposite side, when moving in a group while encouraging one another, the feeling of stress and fatigue would seem much less intense.
To maintain the current pace, the team had employed the strategy of rotating the leading person. The scorching hot environment was a huge headache for everyone. It was especially so for Meng Tian and Zhang Runan. The longer this lasted, the more the disadvantages of being a female would show. Even Zhang Runan had started to feel unbearable. However, the encouragement from the people around her had allowed her to continue to persevere.
At their current pace, it was possible to reach their goal on time.
For five days, they were always with their mecha. The most obvious transformation was that they were completely used to the mecha and were no longer feeling unfamiliar with them. In addition, there could've been some subconscious transformations that even they themselves had not noticed.
On the fifth day, the participants of the current selection test arrived at their destination one after another in their mecha. Lear was the first to arrive.
He had broken the record with respect to the speed he crossed the desert. He had taken the most direct route.
Lie Xin and her group were the second to arrive. Lie Xin had originally thought that she would be the fastest and was surprised to see that Lear had arrived before her.
The third wave included Achilles and his group. When the crowd saw Taros with them, they were clear of what had happened.
The fourth wave to arrive was Wang Zheng and his group. They were originally in the middle of the pack. However, their pace had clearly quickened in the last two days and they had finished strongly.
At this stage, the distribution of power had roughly taken shape. However, not everyone was able to arrive on time.
No one had thought about what would happen if they weren't on time. They thought that it would be a deduction in points in the worst case. However, at the moment the time was up, the gates to the base were slammed shut.
Those who had not arrived were all eliminated.
There would be flying ships that would be sending them out directly, and there wasn't any chance for a conclusion.
No excuses, no explanations.