Chapter 1

Arc 1: 31 chapters

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“What time is it?”

“13:42, which is also 5:30 in the examination room.”

“Hunger Academy’s exam is about to begin.”

In the capital of the Ninth State, in a secret area protected by layers of high walls, the special black gold material penetrates the sky with the blessing of high-strength reinforced metal structures; it looks like an obsidian black tower from afar.*

*(sorry, I’m not an architect…)

Capsule-shaped elevators go back and forth between the sky and the ground, and the top floor of the tower is lit day and night. Hundreds of staff members sit, stand, and walk, the huge space is filled with the sound of electrical appliances.

There is no load-bearing structure in the thousands of square meters of space except for the black metal structures around it. One side of the building has an inbuilt high-definition screen that displays objects in both 2D and 3D, and a transparent window on the other side.

One side is a simple black magnetic board, covered with various paper materials, and the other side is the strangest. The clocks displaying different times are arranged in a neat team on the wall, supporting the largest clock in the middle like a moon surrounded by stars.

Under these clocks are the names of the capitals of various countries, and the time is the standard time of those countries, but under the clock in the middle, two words are embossed in black: examination room.

“Have the students entered the dungeon? They have 30 minutes to prepare and adapt before the exam officially begins.”

The middle-aged man’s glasses reflected the white of the ceiling, and his eyes could not be seen clearly. Only the calm voice with few emotional fluctuations could be heard: “This is an absolutely safe 30 minutes, and it is also the best time for students to understand the examination room and exam rules.”

He suddenly turned around and asked, “How is student Zhang Ziqing’s condition before entering the examination room?”

“Everything is normal.” The team leader in charge of Zhang Ziqing’s personal status said, “We are already checking another randomly selected student. The name of the live broadcast room is ‘Ji Xinghai’. We don’t have any other information yet.”

“Well,” he nodded, as if talking to himself and as if talking to everyone, “Everything will go well.”

Examination room.

With countless stars falling, a dark corner of the mysterious world was lit up.

The flat world expanded, giving birth to a black and white three-dimensional world, and the rigid three-dimensional picture had color, movement, sound, smell, cold, and warmth…

The stream ran, the birds flapped their wings, and in an instant all the inanimate things came to life, full of vitality and infinite reality.

It was dawn, and a warm light from the sky penetrated the silent forest, falling on the dead leaves and also on the thin and pale fingers among the dead leaves.

The hand opened and closed, and the broken leaves were gathered in the palm of his hand.

Ji Xinghai sat up straight from the ground, covered with pine needles and dead leaves. The grumble from his stomach sent a signal that he needed to eat, and his limbs seemed to finally find its feeling again*. He could not feel the pain of his old injuries; only his head was still a little lightheaded.

His ankles were empty, without positioning rings, and without those twisted scars. He was wearing a pair of black cloth shoes with thousand-layer soles, the soles were clean and not stained with mud.

*(was numb before)

He saw his own hand again. His arm had only a thin layer of muscle. Even if his fingers were clenched, he could not sense any strength. He wore a black electronic watch on his wrist. His nails were clean and healthy pink, and there were no calluses on his fingertips.

Oh, he traveled through time again.

An indescribable feeling of fatigue came from deep within his body. The memories of several lifetimes were as heavy as a mountain. Can this fragile body support an overloaded soul?

How many years can he live this time? Ten years? Five years?

He moved his fingers and arms slowly and stiffly, getting familiar with this strange body.

He was very familiar with this set of movements, and his mentality changed from the initial panic to the current numbness.

Ji Xinghai has traveled through nine worlds. Nine worlds that are similar but not magically parallel time and space.

Is this another parallel world?

In front of him was a mixed coniferous and broad-leaved forest. He could smell the damp and cold air, with the smell of soil at the tip of his nose. He was lying here while his clothes and shoes were clean without any signs of use.

There were no traces of humans around him.

This world is a bit strange. Was he suddenly thrown here?

Carefully, Ji Xinghai took off the electronic watch on his wrist that didn’t match his clothes and checked it. He put it back on after confirming that there was no problem.

“Hmm?” When he stood up, he found an axe* next to him. It was as long as his forearm, with a solid wooden handle and the sharp end made of tempered steel. It was handmade. He weighed it, and it was very smooth.

*()

Why was there an axe? What was he going to do? What should he do? Many questions flashed by and disappeared quickly.

It didn’t matter. Enjoy the present, and don’t worry about the future.

You might not even live to see the future anyways.

Picking up the axe, he stood up from the soft fallen leaves. He can see the distant scenery through the gaps between the trees. It was surrounded by white mist, the shadows of the trees overlapped, and the air was damp and cold in the early morning.

The edge of the woods was a protruding cliff. Standing on it and looking down, the deep green attracted him, making him want to spread his hands and jump down. Ji Xinghai squatted there and blew the wind for a while, and his face was stiff.

“A-choo!” It’s cold…let’s go back.

Where the stars fell, the candidates woke up one by one.

Whether it’s opening the task watch to check the test content or being in a daze, everyone’s state is different.

“How could it have been me? Why is it me?” Some people collapsed on the spot.

“It’s actually this type of exam; it seems that the first test is more challenging.” Some people were prepared.

Not far from Ji Xinghai, on the other side of the same mountain, another student of Asian appearance stood up from the grass. He looked around calmly and then turned on the task watch on his wrist.

The content on it made him frown slightly, but it didn’t last long.

He clicked an unknown key on it, his eyelashes fell, and the shadow fell on his eyes, blocking the light.

“I want to rectify the incorrect information. I request to make amends to my nationality.

“I completed the ceremony of joining the federal citizenship a month ago and officially obtained the federal citizenship. According to the provisions of the Ninth State, anyone holding dual nationality shall be deemed to have automatically renounced Ninth State nationality, so in theory and in practice, I am a federal citizen at this moment.”

The wind rolled up a bunch of fallen leaves in the woods and then collapsed in an instant, sending up countless pieces of smoke and dust.

A cloud of indistinct fog appeared beside him, and a man’s deep and hoarse voice came from the fog: “Although it has never happened before, the rules do not forbid it.”

Before Zhang Ziqing raised his mouth, another voice came from the fog: “It’s just that the basic test rules that cannot be changed are: each country is only allowed to take in a maximum of two students, so a random student from the federation will be randomly eliminated within one minute.”

Zhang Ziqing’s expression changed slightly. He was about to say something when the thick fog dispersed in front of him.

Tick, tick, the one-minute countdown sounded in his mind.

Was he also included in the random eliminations? What would happen if he was randomly eliminated? Would he leave the examination room and return to the real world, or become a part of this examination room like those completely crazy losers?

Cold sweat flowed down Zhang Ziqing’s forehead. His heart was beating in overload. Time seemed to pass quickly, but it also seemed to pass slowly.

As the phantom sound stopped at the last second and the one-minute countdown ended, Zhang Ziqing seemed to be out of breath and took a deep breath. He took some time to calm down, but his heart was still a little unstable, and his body’s base temperature seemed to rise.

He was still there.

He didn’t disappear, nor did he die, so another person was selected.

“Was it a random student or an officially designated student?” Zhang Ziqing’s temples were throbbing, and veins were faintly pulsating. He covered his face with one hand, and his narrow and deep eyes were revealed between his fingers.

He knew that cooperating with the Federation was like seeking the skin of a tiger. Once the losses he brought to them exceeded the gains, he would become an obstacle that should be removed.

If the government-appointed students were eliminated because of his existence…

Examination time: 05:50.

There were still ten minutes before the official start of the exam. All over the world, as long as they had the conditions, they began to try to connect to the most mysterious live broadcast room.

Even the two warring parties quieted down, and under the orange-yellow doomsday-like background, they each opened the brick-sized communicator in their hands and clicked on the small video.

“Hurry up, start with S, look for students from our country.”

“Has it started? Our country starts with A.”

“R…”

A luxurious clubhouse that costs a fortune, a slum covered with rags, a country in the dark, a country in the day—a small screen lights up white in the anxious waiting.

The exam has not officially started yet, and all the students’ live broadcast rooms are in a white-screen state, but the audience can already try to fire bullets* at it.

*(comment)

Due to some restrictions, each person can only bind one ID, and a live broadcast room can only speak five times within 24 hours. Everyone cherishes their number of speeches, and there are not many bullets in the live broadcast room.

There are still five minutes before the official opening, and the bullets in the live broadcast room finally increase. Most of them are guessing what the official students will do this time and wishing them good results.

And the randomly selected students, because of too many disappointments in the past, many do not pay attention to them, and there are very few people online, even in a populous country like Ninth State.

“Is the official designated student this time Zhang Ziqing? I’ve heard of him; he’s a child prodigy.”

“Yes, I don’t know what the other Ji Xinghai is like.”

This is the fourth year since it appeared.

The land and ocean of Blue Star have been polluted for nine years, and the Hunger Academy has been in this world for three years.

Every year, the Hunger Academy selects two healthy students aged 18 to 30 from the surviving countries to participate in the dungeon game, also known as the exam.

The students are randomly selected, and a student is designated by the government. If a student ‘dies’ in the copy, a local ‘abnormal natural disaster’ will occur in the country to which he belongs. Normal, everyday objects suddenly become monsters, which makes humans fearful and crazy.

And the students profit from the copy, and the country to which they belong gets corresponding resources. For example, there are treasure chests in each copy world that can be transformed into purified water sources, super seeds, etc.

Of course, the biggest resource still comes from the final score.

Some people jokingly call it a ‘national destiny test’, but more people still call it the ‘hunger games’, a game that determines whether the country will go hungry or strike it rich in the future.

So the government of each country will spend countless efforts and forge the elites of its own country at all costs. Even if they cannot obtain more resources, preserving their own lives is also a victory.

Some small countries are not capable enough to teach their own students, so there are organizations that encourage big countries to help. Behind this is the exchange of emotional and political interests.

Ninth State and the Federation are the countries that receive the most foreign students, and the official students they train are also resident high-scoring players in the Hunger Games.

The exam has various stages which are held once a month, for three to fifteen days each time, and the students will enter a special ‘dormitory’ for the rest of the time. They are given time to rest and relax.

After twelve games, some students returned to reality, however, some students stay in that examination room forever.

Exam time: 05:59.

The blue planet suddenly became quiet, even breathing slowed down and lightened at this time.

Tick.

Exam time: 06:00.

The white screen flashed, and a colorful picture appeared. Students with different appearances appeared on the screen. The picture rotated, and the students seemed to look outside the screen, and the billions of people in front of the screen also looked at them.

The exam officially began.

“No!”

At the Black Tower, the Ninth State Command established for the Hunger Academy, the minister stared at the big screen in front of him.

They found something wrong at the first time—anyone who saw their students suddenly change their nationality after the screen flashed would feel their hearts sink.

“How could he be a Federation student? Check the status of the two Federation students.”

“Yes.”

Soon, they found the live broadcast room of the Federation student, but there was only one, and it was obviously not the official designated student they had heard about before. Whether it was his performance in the dungeon or his identity, it didn’t match.

“How did Zhang Ziqing become a Federation student? What about the Federation’s official student?” Everyone looked at each other, and a terrible idea came to their minds.

He changed his nationality?

“Notify the superior immediately,” the minister’s face was unprecedentedly solemn, “Perhaps, this will be a national public opinion crisis.”

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T/N: I hope you guys will like this. The premise of the story sounds interesting. I have not read it yet so I’m reading it along with you guys as I translate. 😀

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Update: 26 July 2024~

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