Time quietly entered the deep night.
However, the area around this military island was not quiet at all, but rather bustling with activity.
Military yachts sped through the surrounding waters, beams of searchlights swept back and forth across the sea, and shouts and cries rose and fell.
Breaking through the first patrol circle was not difficult.
Most of the candidates participating in the Hunter Exam could successfully pass through this circle.
This was because this stage primarily tested swimming speed and basic observation skills.
As long as they seized the opportunity and increased their speed, they could easily pass.
Between the first circle of sea patrol areas and the second circle of defense on the landing shore, there was a narrow "rest zone".
Although called a "rest zone", it was still occasionally swept by searchlights, and only a very few places allowed candidates to quietly observe the situation.
Some candidates, while resting and observing, were accidentally caught by a sudden searchlight, which immediately attracted the patrol yachts from the first circle.
This not only put themselves in a difficult situation but also implicated other candidates in the second circle's "rest zone", causing a chorus of curses.
As a result, the outermost patrol circle became chaotic and messy, with more and more loopholes appearing, but also becoming harder to grasp.
Kevin and the others slightly exposed their heads above the water, quickly approaching the shore ahead.
In terms of speed, they were among the fastest group of candidates.
However, candidates from various places gathered here, and there were not a few people with unique skills.
For example, some candidates from coastal areas were excellent swimmers, quickly swimming towards the shore like fish.
Kevin watched one of them get directly onto the shore and even follow behind a patrolling soldier.
That soldier seemed blind, completely unaware of the person clinging closely behind him, and that person moved like a shadow, following the soldier's actions.
"This is too weird," Kevin couldn't help but complain.
After all, if this scene appeared in reality, it would be unbelievably preposterous.
"That's'Shadow Stomp'. To be able to do it to that extent means their strength is quite formidable," Kate, who was also swimming, noticed this scene and couldn't help but praise.
To perform "Shadow Stomp", one needs to observe the target extensively and precisely mimic their movements, making oneself like the target's shadow, perfectly following behind them.
For the performer, the timing, their own ability, and decisiveness must all reach an extremely high standard to be so effortless.
Just as Kevin and the others were submerging into the water, waiting for an opportunity to break through the shore defense line, the candidate performing "Shadow Stomp" had already reached the wall, flipped over, and gone over.
"Could it be that a spy came to participate in the Hunter Exam?" Kevin thought to himself.
Kevin and the others slowly submerged, using the sea trench flowing towards the shore.
Because of the large rocks obstructing them, their movements were intermittent.
Every time the patrolling personnel above walked past, they had to quickly rush out and enter the nearby water cave to continue lurking.
Although this took more time, it ensured they wouldn't be discovered.
"Beep beep beep!"
Suddenly, a sharp beeping sound came from a distance.
In an instant, a large number of searchlight beams shot towards the source of the sound.
"Hurry over! Someone is being attacked!"
This is a great opportunity!
Kevin and the others made a decision instantly.
Taking advantage of the gap when the patrolling personnel crossed the water surface above their heads, they decisively emerged from the water and quickly ran towards the outer wall.
It turned out that a candidate couldn't hold back and resorted to violent means, but as soon as they subdued the opponent, the alarm connected to the body feature monitoring on the opponent's body sounded.
This was indeed a rare opportunity.
The patrol order of the second circle was instantly disrupted, and those candidates who were preparing to cross the shore patrol area immediately realized this was an opportunity and surged out of the water.
However, there were too many candidates surging out at once, and many were discovered again, causing the scene to instantly fall into chaos.
Of course, there were also strong candidates who took the opportunity to fish in troubled waters.
However, none of this mattered to Kevin and the others; they had successfully climbed over the city wall and entered the military base.
They found a place easy to hide and observe.
They saw many reserve personnel running out due to the commotion outside.
"As expected, it's not that simple. Those guys who are still waiting outside are in trouble now," Bajiao looked at this scene and laughed gleefully.
After all, this was just an exam. If it were a real military base, the difficulty would be far greater, and it would certainly not be as "safe" as it is now.
In a real military base, once discovered, they wouldn't just be caught with nets; they would probably be met with a hail of bullets.
"This military base is too large, and we know nothing about the terrain here.
Blindly rushing in will easily lead us into traps.
We need to first determine our destination and then formulate an action plan," Kate looked into the distance and suggested.
Kevin and the other two naturally had no objections and nodded in agreement.
"The target must be a conspicuous place, a place where we can clearly identify it as the destination once we reach it," Goreinu said after thinking for a moment.
Anyway, they all felt that this year's first exam was much more difficult than last year.
The Examiner did not explicitly state where the final destination they needed to infiltrate was, only that such a place existed, and everything depended on them to find it themselves.
The few people agreed to meet up in an hour, then dispersed and infiltrated the base.
Kevin immediately targeted an office where an officer seemed to be working.
He peered through a corner of the window and found that this looked like a clerical area, with many files and documents visible, as well as several whiteboards.
There were even base defense maps drawn on the whiteboards, along with various explanations and a simplified map of the entire military base.
After observing for a while, Kevin realized that he didn't need to enter the room; as long as his eyesight was good enough, he could see the simplified defense map on the whiteboard through the window.
Not long after, it seemed to be the end of the workday, and the clerks working inside left one after another, leaving only the soldiers standing guard at the door.
After confirming that no one was inside, Kevin extended his finger and gently cut a line on the glass, and half of the entire pane was smoothly cut off.
He quietly infiltrated the room, using the blind spots between the cameras on both sides, cautiously moved around, and took the opportunity to check the files.
There were many files, and Kevin quickly found a clue among them, identifying the file he was looking for.
After carefully examining it, he determined that this was their target, and then quietly left.
It seemed like not much time had passed, but when Kevin looked up at the clock, it had already been more than half an hour.
Kevin took the file and returned to the designated location, finding that Bajiao had returned before him.
At this moment, Bajiao was drenched in sweat and panting.
"What happened to you?" Kevin asked.
"I almost got discovered; I accidentally stepped on a trap," Bajiao said with a frustrated look.
However, he still obtained useful information.
"Going this way is their shipyard, and there's a small cruise ship docked inside, clearly different from the other warships.
It looks dilapidated."
Kevin nodded.
Not long after, Kate and Goreinu also returned one after another, and they seemed to be in good condition.
The few people combined the clues they had each found.
Indeed, although the destination was not explicitly marked, various signs indicated that the target was very obvious; they had found relevant clues from different directions.
"We can confirm that the cruise ship that just docked a few days ago should be our destination.
Judging from the files found, this cruise ship is out of place, has many problems, is almost abandoned, and should have been towed to a ship graveyard, not docked here."
Everyone agreed with this.
After all, this was only the first round of the assessment and would not include overly complex deceptive elements.
Just the series of tasks involving infiltrating the military base, finding the target, and reaching the destination was far more difficult than in the past.
Clearly, this was a unique assessment designed by the First Round Examiner himself.
"We have already obtained the base's structural plan, and even the defense and patrol map.
We basically have all the conditions needed to reach the destination.
Let's go and complete the first assessment," Kate said, preparing to get up and leave, but was stopped by Kevin.
"Wait, look at this information.
This is an old cruise ship that is about to be scrapped.
There must be a reason for setting it as the destination," Kevin said, looking at the other three.
"What did you find?" Goreinu asked.
Kevin nodded.
The reason he noticed this wasn't because of his keen observation, but because he thought of Neon's prophecy poem from before.
There was a line: [The iron ship that will eventually sink to the bottom of the sea]
At the time, Kevin felt this was related to the Hunter Exam, but he couldn't fully understand its specific meaning, as the exam venue was by the sea.
But now, he seemed to have the answer.
Setting this ship as the target alone must have a deeper meaning.
Combining the file in his hand, Kevin found that this was indeed a ship on the verge of being scrapped.
If used as one of the trials for the Hunter Exam, it would be perfect.
"This is a ship that is about to be scrapped, and we are currently in a military base.
Our destination is this ship.
Based on your past experience, could the second exam be related to this ship?" Kevin asked everyone.
Hearing Kevin's question, Bajiao frowned and thought for a moment, then offered his opinion: "Maybe it's just being used to take us to the next exam venue?"
Kate, however, shook his head: "No, if it were just to transport us to the exam venue, a warship or a regular cruise ship would be enough.
The Hunter Association specifically chose a cruise ship that is about to be scrapped and made it the destination; there must be another purpose."
"Since it might be related to the second exam, let's complete the first exam first, reach there, observe the situation, and make further preparations," Goreinu's words made everyone fall into thought.
"You're right."
The few people reached a consensus and immediately got up and left.
Using the combined information they had, they quickly infiltrated the shipyard and quietly boarded the dilapidated-looking cruise ship.
However, not everyone could see the unusual nature of this ship.
After all, in this world, there are still teams traveling on galleons, so dilapidated ships are not uncommon.
"Oh! Congratulations on reaching your destination so quickly!"
Wa Hachi was cheering and gesticulating in front of them, seemingly switching back to her initial lively personality.
"This ship will only set sail when the sun rises tomorrow.
As a reward for arriving early, you can move freely on the ship for a period before that.
Prepare yourselves well, because once the ship starts moving, the next exam will begin."
A bearded old man wearing a Captain's hat walked out and said to Kevin and the others.
"Don't steal my lines! It's still the first exam right now, and I'm their Examiner!" Wa Hachi grumbled unhappily, her tone exactly like a child throwing a tantrum.
The bearded old man wearing the Captain's hat rolled his eyes helplessly and responded perfunctorily: "Yes, yes, I'll go take a nap then."
After the old man left, Wa Hachi looked at Kevin and the others, cleared her throat, and repeated what the old man had just said.
Soon, more new candidate teams arrived one after another, and Wa Hachi hurriedly ran over to greet them.
At this moment, Kevin and the others exchanged glances, tacitly dispersed, and began exploring the entire cruise ship.
An hour later, they met again.
At this time, each of the four had different items in their hands or on their backs.
"You guessed it right, Kevin," Bajiao said, looking at Kevin.
"There are very few crew members on the ship.
I observed that they are operating with the minimum personnel configuration, just enough to ensure the ship can sail.
Moreover, once the ship starts moving, we will likely not be allowed to enter the crew's work and rest areas," Kate shared his findings.
Kevin nodded, because inspired by the prophecy, he had always suspected that this ship might sink during the voyage.
Following this line of thinking to search for clues, he indeed found something.
"I found signs of deliberate damage in some structural areas at the bottom of the ship's hull.
In other words, this ship won't sail for long before it sinks into the water."
Goreinu shook the fishing rod in his hand and said: "After I took this, I was warned when I tried to take other things.
Each person can only take one item."
Kate added: "Items in the crew's rooms and work areas are not allowed for us to take."
"I went to the kitchen, and the food reserves are very scarce, only enough self-heating boxed meals for a few hundred people to eat one meal."
Bajiao also shared his findings.
Combining this information, the few people roughly deduced the possible task for the second exam.
"The Examiner's words just now also hinted that the supplies on the ship are limited.
There's only enough food for one meal.
Based on the quantity, each passing candidate will likely be given one box, just enough for one meal.
After that, we might have to figure out how to get food ourselves.
The number of tools like these is also limited.
If we arrive early and understand the Examiner's hint, we can choose the items we need in advance."
Kevin nodded in agreement and added: "From the current situation, this ship should sail on the sea for a period of time, and this period might be the duration of the second exam.
Finally, there's a high probability that this ship will sink to the bottom of the sea.
Our task might be to survive during the sinking process or complete the goal specified by the exam."
This was just their initial conclusion based on the limited information available.
The exact content of the exam could only be known later.
But this did not affect their clarity on two crucial things: food would be scarce, and they needed to prepare sea escape tools.
At this moment, Kevin was carrying a large white cylindrical container on his back.
"This is an automatic inflatable life raft, enough for the four of us to ride in."
"I took a set of five life jackets," Kate said.
"I brought a spear gun," Bajiao patted the box on his back.
Goreinu simply shook the fishing rod in his hand.
Bajiao looked at Kate: "Life jackets and a life raft are a bit redundant in function.
Do you want to exchange for something else?"
Unexpectedly, Goreinu shook his head and said from the side: "No, I tried it.
Once you take an item, you can't exchange it anymore."
Kevin smiled and said: "But maybe you can exchange with other candidates?
We're definitely not the only smart ones; there must be others who have found the same clues.
After all, no one will think they have too many life-saving items, and there are five life jackets here."
The few people thought for a moment and felt that Kevin's words made sense.
So, they just found a room, lay down, and started resting.
At least until the sun rose, this was the rest time they gained by arriving early.
They planned to rest well and face the next assessment tomorrow with full energy.
At the entrance of the cruise ship, more and more candidates completed the assessment and arrived on the ship one after another.
Wa Hachi was chattering non-stop at the entrance, looking to be in a great mood, happily chatting with the candidates.
Having learned from the beginning, no one dared to interrupt her now, they could only listen to her talk, occasionally interjecting a few words.
Some candidates also noticed the unusual atmosphere on the ship and began to move around.
When some people started moving, they were naturally discovered by others, and soon, more and more people were moving, and even instances of scrambling for items began to occur.
However, none of this concerned Kevin and the others.
At this moment, they were resting comfortably in the interconnected suites, quietly waiting for the signal to set sail.
Until the announcement of setting sail was broadcast throughout the entire ship.