The Strongest Brain in the Interstellar

“Too bad he got away. Why didn’t you aim better? I clearly paved the way for you.” Jaidy said darkly.

“What do you mean by that?! If you’re so capable, why don’t you do it yourself?” Pavla Lava responded discontentedly.

What was wrong with this guy? She hadn’t seen him do anything impressive—he was just constantly giving orders in other people’s teams. How could their team leader tolerate him? Was Lin Maowu really just throwing him over here to annoy them because of his prickly personality?

“But we agreed earlier, and you all agreed too… The perfect opportunity was right there, yet you still let him run away. That’s your problem. Why can’t I say anything?” Jaidy was a militant type, rarely yielding to others. The only one who could somewhat suppress his temperament was Lin Maowu, with his subtle, gentle demeanor.

Even so, Jaidy would occasionally question Lin Maowu’s command decisions within the team. But most of the time, Lin Maowu could persuade him, leaving him speechless.

So, when Lin Maowu sent someone to the R196 team as a trade, it really couldn’t be said that he didn’t have some ulterior motive. Perhaps just the aspect of “infiltrating to disrupt the morale” had been done quite well.

…Just kidding, Lin Maowu didn’t send someone here with that kind of ulterior motive. Instead, it was a rough countermeasure devised by the three teams—R197, R87, and R117—coming together by chance.

In short, the three teams—R197, R87, and R117—were thrown together in a situation where all parties were not exactly easy opponents. After a chaotic free-for-all, each team lost a member, and they were forced to agree to stop the fighting.

Under normal circumstances, such a situation would require them to be on guard, retreat quickly, and avoid losing a second chance. But, of course, there was one peculiar person among these three teams: Lin Maowu.

He proposed, rather cleverly, that they temporarily cooperate, join forces to fight against the two other stronger teams, and simultaneously hunt down the remaining contestants. This way, they could each score more points.

R197’s leader, Aris Lava, ranked twelfth in individual points, having been pushed out of the top ten for quite a while. His sister followed closely behind in thirteenth place, with the remaining three members all ranking within the top twenty. The entire team was quite stable, with each member capable of holding their own, no major weaknesses, and they understood each other well.

R87’s leader, Lin Maowu, ranked fourth in individual points. Although Huan Xian followed closely behind, with the next person still in fifth, there was a significant gap to those ranked sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth, so it wasn’t easy for them to catch up. Jaidy, although ranked seventeenth and unlucky, was actually a better shooter than his ranking suggested. The other three members of R87 were fairly balanced, all ranked above thirty, with no glaring weaknesses.

R117 was the most recent team to rise unexpectedly. Its leader was a girl named Tader from the Combat Specialist Class 2. Her performance had always been steady, and her style was relatively low-key, currently ranking ninth. One of her teammates, a Command Specialist, ranked tenth, taking the last two spots in the top ten. The remaining three members were all excellent shooters. While their individual results weren’t outstanding, their shooting skills were exceptional. When the entire team worked together, their combat power was almost on par with that of R197 and R87, making them a formidable force.

The three teams were all strong contenders, each with its own ambitions, and working together was akin to “making a deal with the devil.”

Yet, somehow, what seemed impossible became a reality.

They had already clashed once, and neither side managed to gain the upper hand. Both sides knew that continuing to fight would lead to mutual destruction, which was not the outcome they desired.

However, with so few teams remaining on the field, they would inevitably have to confront each other again. Instead of fighting each other and fighting for kills, it made more sense to temporarily join forces to take down the two stronger teams first, then clear out the remaining contestants. After that, they could settle their own scores.

This strategy seemed far better than retreating in disgrace after a failed free-for-all between the three teams.

However, forming an alliance wasn’t without significant obstacles. The three teams didn’t know each other well, and no one trusted anyone else, so how could they cooperate? They were all aware that at any moment, their supposed allies could turn on them and attack.

In fact, this kind of situation was very likely to happen in the end. If they did manage to cooperate and fight together, there was a strong possibility that betrayal would come at the last moment. If the allies they trusted turned on them midway, it would be far more disastrous than just failing.

So, in order to make the alliance work, the three teams first needed to reach a balance.

Exchanging “proxies” was undoubtedly the best solution for the current situation.

There were two options: one was to exchange the leaders of the teams, so each team would be led by another team’s leader, ensuring that no one would make a rash move. The other option was to rotate the “proxies” between the three teams.

Since all three teams had lost one point each, they couldn’t disband their teams, so there were almost no changes during the cooperation. As long as any team made a move, the other two teams wouldn’t hesitate to take out their “proxies.” This way, each team had a handle on the others’ weaknesses, and the three teams gained the confidence to fight together.

In terms of balance, the first method—changing the team leaders—was the best. By swapping leaders and assigning unfamiliar team members, no one could make a rash move.

However, this method was too strict and academic. This was a competition, not a rigid game, and human hearts were difficult to predict. This strategy was hard to implement in practice. Moreover, swapping team leaders could easily shake the morale of the teams. In the end, no one would gain anything, and the enemy might take advantage of the weakness. Therefore, this method was never seriously considered.

So, the only remaining option was to swap hostages. They would exchange them at specific times and locations, as long as they didn’t place the hostages back into their own teams. As for who managed to hunt down prey, that would depend on each team’s abilities; it was merely an opportunity for all to share.

From the perspective of hunting the enemy, this method was barely useful and even diluted their chances. But one advantage was that if they faced R186 or R256, their advantage would become more apparent.

Five people against fifteen, and with the conditions not being vastly different, the latter would naturally have the upper hand.

After all, it was still under this joint assault that Huo Qi’s team lost their second opportunity to stay. However, they were still a bit short and failed to defeat Huo Qi’s team completely, allowing the enemy to escape.

In fact, the leaders of the three teams were quite satisfied with this outcome, but there were still some things to argue about. For example, Jaidy, who was swapped in, was extremely dissatisfied with R197’s team’s lack of efficiency.