Chapter 199 Another Teammate
The final bidding price of the condensation device brought smiles to the people in the private room.
"Brother, we're rich!" Max exclaimed excitedly.
Originally, they didn't even have a hundred grams of solar stone.
Who knew that their obsolete condensation device could be worth 21 thousand grams of solar stone?
"Don't be too happy; It's only a few kilograms," Liam shook his head.
The reason they were so short on solar stone is that they didn't deliberately look for them.
The solar stones in their possession were just bits and pieces accidentally found when they were mining.
...
Soon, the auction continued.
Solar stone detection devices, advanced mechanical carriages, powerful weapons, strengthening potions, healing potions, longevity potions, and more were on display.
The array of auction items made them drool, but unfortunately, they couldn't afford any of them.
Now, they really missed their father.
When he was there, they could buy anything they wanted without checking the price.
Or perhaps they should have taken Lux with them.
With their brother's genius business mind, they would probably be rich by now.
Now, they could only gaze enviously at the auction items.
At the same time, they came to realize that they were not at the top of this trial.
Many had more experience and knowledge than they did.
After all, they were not even 20 years old, but most of the examinees were already over 60 years old.
From communication devices, mobile houses, longevity potions, and many other things they don't have enough knowledge about.
Although they couldn't come close to knowledge and experience compared to older examinees.
They were confident in their creativity and execution ability.
Not finding anything they could afford, they were ready to leave.
"For our next auction, we have this blueprint for a top-in-the-line underground paradise shelter!"
"It was created by an architectural master, featuring the most advanced facilities."
"It's designed so that you can live the most comfortable life imaginable even in the harshest conditions."
"Now, the starting bid will be 100 kg of solar stone!"
"What? The price is so expensive?!"
"Is the auctioneer so greedy for money?!"
The people in the stands cursed at the price.
It's not easy to find and mine solar stones, and having hundreds of kilograms of them at this stage is already remarkable.
But a mere blueprint dared to sell for almost all their wealth?
"Guess calmed down; this is the request of the consigner,"
"This blueprint should allow you to live in the underground shelter for thousands of years without any problems."
"If the consigner is not short of money, they would not even be willing to sell it," the auctioneer explained.
"It's expensive, regardless. How about we buy it now and pay later?" One of the guests said.
Truthfully, the blueprint is not that attractive to them, especially to the examinees.
They also have their own architectural array master to create an underground shelter blueprint for them.
Although it's not as sophisticated as the one in front, it's enough for them to pass the trial perfectly.
As for the nobles and merchants, they also have examinees who have partnered with them and can create underground shelter blueprints.
"This—let me ask the consigner..." The auctioneer apologized and went to the back of the stage.
Soon, she returned with a frown. "My apologies to the guests."
"The consigner would rather not sell the architectural blueprint than let someone borrow it."
"Then we don't want it!"
"That's right. Such an extravagant item, who would want it?"
"Furthermore, looking at the glimpse of the blueprint, it would be very expensive to even build it."
Under the clamor of the guests, the architectural blueprint was removed from the auction and sent back to the consigner.
Liam and the others who saw this commotion just shook their heads and left.
If they had money, they would be willing to buy such an exquisite blueprint.
After all, there is no architectural array master within their group.
Unfortunately, they had no money, so they could only think about this problem later.
Coming out, they saw a girl in an autonomous vehicle, lazily leaving the auction building.
The reason they noticed the girl is that, her expression, manners, and the way she moves look very much like their brother, Neo.
"Is my eye playing tricks on me?" Max muttered.
"Perhaps she's the illegitimate daughter of our father?" Sam joked.
If not for their vastly different facial features, they would really think that this girl is their father's illegitimate daughter.
"Hello, why are you looking at me?" the girl said, removing her sunglasses.
"Uh, nothing. You're an examinee, right?" Lily asked.
"That's right, and?"
"Where is your group? Are you alone?" Lily asked, noticing that no one was with her.
"Oh, they dumped me," the girl said casually.
"Then why don't you join us?" Lily suddenly asked.
Just seeing the girl, she felt a closeness, thinking of her as a sister.
Such a cute girl shouldn't be alone in their dangerous world.
"Oh, then I'm welcome," the girl agreed like it was nothing.
"By the way, my name is Aria."
Originally, Aria also had a group, but as she was too lazy and didn't contribute much, that they dumped her immidietly.
Fortunately, with her wits, she survived until now.
"Hello, Aria. Come and meet my brothers and sisters..." Lily said, taking Aria to their base and introducing her to the group.
After the introduction, Aria looked curiously at Neo, who was lounging on the sofa.
"Shouldn't you abandon him? He's too lazy," Aria pointed out.
"Of course not. This is our lovely brother. How can we abandon him?"
"But wouldn't he be a bother?"
"No, Neo is very helpful, right, Neo?" Lily shook Neo.
"Huh? What happened?" Neo looked around, thinking that some problem had occurred.
Suddenly, his eyes locked onto the newcomer.
"Another freeloader?" Neo concluded, based on Aria's features and expression.
"What do you mean, freeloader? You're the freeloader." Aria said with contempt
"I'm the most talented architectural array master you will ever see!" Aria also bragged.
"That's right, another lazy profession..." Neo muttered, returning to his sleep.
"What's wrong with your brother, sister Lily? He's so annoying," Aria said dissatisfiedly.
Seeing that Neo didn't get kicked out even if he was lazy, she was a little envious.
Meanwhile, her previous group kicked her out without a second thought seeing that she was a little lazy.
"Hahaha, you'll manage," Lily didn't explain.
"By the way, you said you're an architectural array master."
"Are you the one selling the exquisite blueprint earlier?"
"That's right! Originally, I planned to amass some money and survive the hundred years by myself." Aria sighted.
After amassing enough solar stones, she can just build an underground hibernation pod and hibernate for a century until the end of the exam.
As for the hidden mission, she already forgot about that.
She can barely survive by herself, so why would she bother saving others?
"Now that I'm with Sister Lily, I can relax," Aria said, hugging her arms.
Living consciously is still good, although she was also lazy she also has some pursuit.
"Anyway, this is the blueprint from earlier. Tell me if you want to modify it." Aria readily took out the blueprint.
"That's great; we just need an architectural array master within our group!"
"Hmm," Aria nodded, finally feeling useful.
...
10 years later, the rivers and waters all over the continent they were in dried up.
All over the world, a massive evacuation began.
However, this time, under the conscious care of the examinees, there were not many casualties.
After a few years of journey, most of the people in the world began to live beside the sea.
Using advanced filtration technology, the supply of water is not a problem.
The coastline became the home of billions of people.
As for the Shadow group and most of the examinees, they split into two groups.
With the booming trade, most of the groups upgraded their mechanical carriages to become self-sufficient.
They had everything prepared, from food and water to mechanical devices like mining bots and weapons.
The split in the group was to mine solar stone and build an underground base at the same time.
At this time, the temperature was already so hot that staying out in the sun for a few seconds could already cause severe sunburn.
Many estimated that the ground would be ablaze in the coming decades.
Thus, setting up an underground base and collecting resources was urgent.
Unfortunately, in this race against time, people are still selfish.
Multiple groups of people formed alliances, ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions, each collecting and building their shelters.
Fortunately, they managed to restrain each other without using violence and instead used various enticements.
After all, for an examinee to finish the exam perfectly, they needed to save at least a million people each.
On their continent, there were only hundreds of millions of people with tens of thousands of examinees.
The competition was so fierce that even the Shadow group, created by Liam and the others, only managed to recruit a few million people.
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