Fatal Shot - Chapter 199

Chapter 199: Fierce Competition

The reason Feng Luo felt that the game of War was connected to Earth was that, apart from the familiar equipment and weapon names, the names of people and places also served as proof.

When it came to the names of NPCs, there was great variety. Apart from Chinese names like Jing Xiang or Ah Lan, there were also Western names like Andre and Old John. There were even Russian name endings such as -chev and -sky, and the name “Lin” was definitely a unique name.

Under most circumstances, large cities of the Federation contained a mixture of NPCs with different types of names and skin colors. For citizens of the Federation, it was not unusual at all for their names or skin colors to differ. However, there were also cities where people of certain skin colors and names represented the majority.

Dongsang City was one such city. It was a large, second-tier Federation city (second to main cities) with a population of over five million. The most prominent specialty of the city was that it contained a huge number of people with traditionally Asian features, with Japanese names and characteristics. Feng Luo had once been there for a mission, and when he’d seen those names, he had wondered about the connection.

And from what the white-collar woman said next, he was certain about his guess.

Her expression was cold. Seeing that Feng Luo had chosen his disguise identity, after which the other identity information within the chip self-destructed, she continued to speak.

“Next, we’ll get into details about the examination mission. Dongsang City is situated east of our land. It is a large city beside the ocean. It joined the Federation seven years ago! However, although it is under the jurisdiction of the Federation in name, and the public democratically chooses the government, the person who controls the city is the military chief of the city: Federation Lieutenant General Ichiro Yamamoto!”

The white-collar male NPC’s eyes moved, and information on an individual appeared on the floating screen. This was a yellow-skinned Asian wearing the lieutenant general uniform of the Federation who was not very tall. He looked very cold, but he also had a solemn expression. His gaze seemed to indicate a certain degree of cruelty.

“Apart from being an important port city of the Federation in the eastern seas, all of Dongsang City is also an important military base of the Federation against the rebel army. According to our intel, Ichiro Yamamoto secretly made close contact with the higher-ups of the rebel army a while ago, and he has already promised them that in the next ten days, he will initiate a coup as they break off from the Federal Republic! Almost all of the higher-ups of the military of Dongsang City have agreed to his decision because these people are loyal to him!”

At that moment, the female white-collar NPC finally showed some emotion. Clearly, she was somewhat angered by Ichiro Yamamoto’s betrayal.

“As for your examination mission,” she said, “you are to use the identity of the disguise chip, head to Dongsang City, and complete some tasks according to the requirements. Apart from trying to obtain important information, when necessary, you’ll have to cooperate with our agents to assassinate or even just kill Ichiro Yamamoto!”

The white-collar female NPC sounded as cold as ever, and her gaze while looking at Feng Luo was intense.

Feng Luo looked right in the eye, and he allowed no shock to show on his face, nor did he try to avoid her gaze. “Of course!” he said.

It was just killing an NPC. Even though this character’s identity was that of a lieutenant general, he was still just a bunch of data. Similarly, this woman was also just a bunch of data.

“However,” Feng Luo said, shifting his gaze and scanning the two NPCs, “I have some questions, and I need you to answer them!”

Far from not feeling annoyed by Feng Luo’s choice to take the initiative, the male white-collar NPC displayed respect and smiled before asking, “What’s your question?”

Feng Luo considered for a while, then asked, “The first question. For a mission of such a large scale, it must not be just me taking part, right?”

The male NPC nodded and said, “That is correct; it’s not just you.” He changed the image on the screen again. It was now a full map of the Federation. “For this examination, each of the 33 main cities of the Federation—apart from the main city that Dongsang City belongs to—will send out one adventurer to take part in the qualifier, and every main city region (meaning the area containing a main city) will have 10 candidates, which means…”

320…

Upon hearing the number and the mission description, Feng Luo knew that the difficulty of this mission was far greater than the previous mission in Roguetown. Especially because although he still did not know the conditions for receiving the “qualification to take the examination of the hidden profession change,” he knew that for him to obtain the opportunity to take part in this mission, it had at least something to do with achieving an “S−” assessment in the primary mission of the epic “Resident Evil/Biohazard” mission.

For the rest of the participants, even if they’d obtained their entry ticket via other means, it wouldn’t be a surprise to realize that it wasn’t easy. They were definitely elite players.

Now, the question was, among the 320 competitors, how many would be successful and end up with the hidden profession in the end?

Feng Luo did not hide his thoughts and asked directly, “How many vacancies are there for the Special Agent?”

“Five spots for the first recruitment. The top five candidates of the mission will become a Special Agent straight away. After that, there are 15 backup spots reserved for people to take part in the next exam!”

Feng Luo nodded. “If it’s 60 to one, the difficulty is still acceptable!”

He knew early on, based on the post of Death Roar, that the hidden professions in War weren’t unique to just one, so he didn’t find it odd that they were recruiting more than one agent.

“However, theoretically speaking,” he said, “in any mission, if I were to get first place, there must be advantages, right?”

Given his personality and strength, he naturally had some ideas about being the “Number One Agent.”

The white-collar male NPC admired Feng Luo, and he answered diligently without annoyance. “The higher your ranking, the higher your cumulative points in the mission. The points themselves will be a sort of reward. Of course, the one ranked as number one will receive a special reward at the end. We don’t know what it is right now.”

Feng Luo stared straight into the male white-collar NPC’s eyes. “Last question—which is also the most important question. After becoming a Special Agent, are there any specific benefits? Also, will there be any conflict between my current Sniper profession?”

In truth, this was what he wanted to know most. Because if the Special Agent hidden profession created a conflict with his Sniper profession and made it so that he could not use a sniper rifle, he would definitely choose to give up this opportunity, no matter how difficult it was to get this chance!

“In regard to the specifics of the benefits,” said the NPC, “it’s not convenient for me to reveal them to you here. However, from the equipment that we provide you for this mission, you might be able to notice something… Apart from that, I can tell you that the Special Agent profession and your current profession will not conflict. In fact, the Special Agent profession will not only result in zero conflict with your current profession, but it will even provide you with extra power…”

“All right,” said the male white-collar NPC. “If you don’t have any other questions, then please act according to the mission chip.”

******

After Feng Luo had left, the male white-collar NPC turned around and took off a one-sided transparent screen that he’d pasted on his eyes so that Feng Luo could not detect him. He said to the female NPC, “The overall score of this candidate is probably the highest so far!”

“Yes,” she agreed. “Memory, observational skills, thinking ability… He scored high in every category. Especially the first category, memory. The test system analyzed that according to the reaction measured in his pupils and facial expression, he memorized at least 95 percent of the content. In five minutes, normal people would have probably only been able to speed-read it once.”

“This is currently ranked second among all the candidates. Moreover, it’s 10 minutes faster than the third-ranked person, with 25% more content memorized!”

The female NPC, who had maintained a cold expression, now revealed a look of shock. “If it weren’t for the crazy abilities of that 17-year-old young lady who ranked first in the memory test… he would have definitely been able to be first in this category!”

The male NPC also showed shock that he did not try to hide, then said, “Yeah. He only scanned through it once, and it looked like he permanently memorized them like photographs. He could probably even repeat the content accurately without missing a word—or even draw an image just like the original. If a talent like this wasn’t an adventurer, the higher-ups probably would have hired him immediately on special grounds.”

“Among all the adventurers, there really is quite a lot of talent. There’s a good chance that we, Storm City, will be able to get an official Special Agent spot!”

“The only thing is… I’m a bit worried about that young lady. Her physical traits and combat strength are so low, and it’s highly likely that she will be eliminated…”

“All we can say is that it’ll come down to her luck!”