In a frigid apocalypse, I went on a shopping spree with the reborn.

Seeing him staring intently at Yan Bao, Jiang Qingyue assumed it was because the little guy was so adorable with his fluffy fur, and quickly reached out to hug him tightly: "This is my family, I can't give him to you."

Seeing this, the leader of the first district took out a fist-sized piece of ore.

The dark, furry ball in the back was making "quacking" noises to explain.

Long Jiuxing helped translate: "He said this can greatly increase your strength."

"No way." Jiang Qingyue shook her head vigorously, like a rattle-drum.

She was willing to die for the Eighth District, and Yan Bao was also willing to die for the Eighth District.

But it must never be sent out as cargo.

Now, besides the valuable essence of the plant doctor, she has nothing else. Since the other party doesn't care about the essence and insists on having Yan Bao, Jiang Qingyue is powerless to help.

She plans to try other experimental zones. Even if they are not as strong as the first zone, it would be good to win them over. One more ally means one less enemy.

"Longlong, let's go."

Without any hesitation, Long Jiuxing turned around and followed Jiang Qingyue's footsteps.

She even held the baby in her arms tightly, after all, the baby was very cute, what if the other party also took a liking to him?

"Gah gah." The dark-skinned furball asked its master with a puzzled look, "Why did you bring out a useless stone, sir?"

Its owner looked at the leader: "Why are you testing the leader of the Eighth District, sir? If it's for that baby rabbit, we can simply wait. The Eighth District isn't in a good situation. We can just wait until its owner dies before taking it home, right?"

The leader didn't speak; his gaze went over Jiang Qingyue's shoulder, where there were two pink, furry ears.

Perhaps noticing his gaze, the rabbit's head peeked out from under its ears, curiously examining him.

It was only glanced at before its owner pressed it back down.

"What an adorable baby." The dark-skinned furball looked at the rabbit, its cheeks burning.

Its owner immediately smacked it on the head: "Wake up, that's a rabbit with its legs outstretched and eyes glaring."

"He's always causing trouble and is completely lawless. Only the people of Yongxu Xingting treat him like a treasure or an ancestor."

"Giggle?" No, it's very well-behaved and cute.

The owner of the furry ball sighed, "That's all an illusion, an illusion! These rabbits have the worst reputation in our District One."

"But it's strange, though. It's said that the 'Stretching Leg and Staring Eyes Rabbit' has a bad temper and loves to fight. Big rabbits bully medium rabbits, medium rabbits bully small rabbits, and they can even fight their own kind to the point of turning rabbit brains out."

"She only behaves so docilely and obediently in front of the legendary king. Why is she being so well-behaved in front of this leader of the Eighth District?"

"Giggle?" Upon hearing about the history of District One, Furry immediately perked up its ears, which resembled those of a Doritos chip: "What King? Furry has never heard of him!"

"It's ancient history. The founder of the Eternal Order Star Court, the first master of the Star Court, was said to be an extremely mysterious woman."

"These annoying, leg-stretching, glaring rabbits are her pets. It's under her indulgence that these rabbits have become lawless. Regardless of their strength, they're incredibly audacious, daring to kick anyone they see."

Upon hearing this, the black furball kicked its little legs and ran towards Jiang Qingyue.

The owner went on and on, but it didn't listen. All it heard was that the bunny had powerful connections and that its owner was very influential.

If it falls in love with the baby rabbit, will it have a powerful backer?

That so-called Lord of the Star Court sounds much more powerful than my own master.

If it can curry favor with a powerful figure, it can even bring its owner along to seek refuge.

"Hey, Qiuqiu, come back here! You good-for-nothing!"

The others in the first district looked at each other in bewilderment.

Looking at the leader, he asked, "My lord, should we bring them back?"

The leader shook his head, casually tossing aside the stone he'd picked up from the roadside and been playing with to loosen his fingers, and asked casually, "Has Eternal Order Star Court issued a statement saying they've lost one of their rabbits?"

"No, at least not before the All-Heavens Arena Tournament started."

"That's strange. The rabbits in our first district are still cubs; they can't even talk yet. How did they end up in the eighth district?"

"But it seems that the leader of the Eighth District is quite good to this baby rabbit. Right now, what everyone lacks is strength. She would rather give up the opportunity to improve her strength than give the little rabbit to us. She is a good owner."

"It seems the leader of the Eighth District is a man of principle. In this time of crisis, I believe we can cooperate. What do you think, sir?"

The leader remained silent.

After a while, the subordinate who went to chase after the fluffy ball returned, looking disheveled: "Sir, my ball doesn't want me anymore."

"It got kidnapped. This leg-stretching, eye-staring rabbit is no good at all. It's not even mature yet, but it already knows how to act cute. I only met it once, and it kidnapped my Qiuqiu, which I've raised for almost a year."

"Tch!" Someone nearby scoffed, "Your furry friend doesn't need a pickpocket! It's all dark and ugly, who would want it?"

"You're the ugliest one! You're the ugliest person in the entire First Experiment Zone!"

"You're the ugliest!"

"You're the ugliest..."

"Come on, let's fight! Whoever loses is the ugliest!"

"Fine, let's fight!"

The two grabbed their weapons, ready to fight, and even drew their knives, when they saw the look their parents were giving them, as if they were idiots. They immediately wilted.

"We'll fight again when we get back." They tacitly put the knife back.

The man would occasionally glance at his balls.

The first thing you see is the little furball jumping around as if trying to get onto the leader of the Eighth District's shoulder, but it gets kicked away by a rabbit leg as soon as it jumps up.

The second time I looked, his ball was following behind the rabbit, singing "quack quack quack" to please it. Unfortunately, the rabbit couldn't understand it and even pulled down its long ears to cover them up because it was too noisy.

With a third glance, the human leader kindly placed it on his other shoulder, and his ball and his beloved rabbit gazed at each other across a head.

Oh well, let's just consider this black fur ball lost.

In fact, Jiang Qingyue, who was facing away from the first district, was grinning from ear to ear.

"Yan Bao is great, she's brought another one back."

This furry ball is no weakling; judging by its energy concentration, it probably has 300,000 combat power. In the upcoming battle, 300,000 combat power won't be of much use, but then again, its owner probably only has around 400,000.

Even though she herself is just average, she was able to raise the furball to 300,000 combat power. This shows that the furball's status in its owner's heart is no lower than that of Yan Bao.

The furball is here. How far is its owner from arriving?

The fact that they let the furball follow her around clearly shows the First District's attitude.

Jiang Qingyue went to two more experimental areas and tried to communicate with them by comparing and guessing, but no one was willing to talk to her.

Seeing that the battle on the arena was nearing its end, and fearing that something might happen to Jiang Qingtian, they could only hurriedly lead Long Jiuxing and the others back to the Eighth Experimental Zone.

"Good heavens!" Liu Yuyao exclaimed in disbelief, "Are you planning to open a pet kindergarten?"

Jiang Qingyue: "Maybe I'm just naturally likable to the little ones. Look at you, you always have a dark face, and the little ones don't like you."

Liu Yuyao disagreed. It wasn't that she couldn't laugh, she just didn't like to.

Besides, don't be fooled by how cute these little guys are; they're all money-devouring beasts. Even if they were to fall for her, she couldn't afford to raise them.

"it's over."

The light curtain fell, revealing a fierce and exhausting battle. Jiang Qingtian had used up all the essence of the Plant Doctors she brought to the field before the fight ended, with all ten of them completely worn out. They tacitly refrained from launching any sneak attacks.

The situation off the field was equally delicate, with everyone keeping a close eye on Jiang Qingyue.

"Why are you looking at me?" Jiang Qingyue touched the tip of her nose. She was too lazy to make a move if no one ambushed Jiang Qingtian and the others. It didn't make it seem like she would kill anyone she saw.

"Why don't you know your own limitations?" Nangong Zhao said. "I've observed several leaders at your level, and none of them are as good as you in ranged attacks. If we don't keep a close eye on you, what if you launch a sneak attack on their people?"

Jiang Qingyue said innocently, "If we kill him now, the quantum computer can't be integrated and upgraded. Why take the risk?"

Nangong Zhao and Liu Yuyao exchanged a glance, and they knew that this guy's refusal to make a move was definitely not because he had changed his ways, but because the benefits were not enough.

"Take it easy, we can't afford to make enemies again," Liu Yuyao couldn't help but remind her.

"I know what I'm doing," Jiang Qingyue said.

"You'd better be," Liu Yuyao said, expressing her doubt about her attitude. She whispered, "Of all the people here, not many will be alive after two rounds. Don't make too many enemies for short-term gains."

"You don't trust me that much? Why don't you become the boss?"

"Do you think I don't want to? They have to be convinced first." Liu Yuyao said, looking around at everyone present.

She discovered that, apart from Chen Sanyang, there was no one who was truly loyal to her.

Even Zhang Yuan and his group, who seem to be the vice-captains of their Overlord Base, have just as much affection for Jiang Qingyue as she does for her.

Even when it comes to who is more capable of leading the Eighth District further, they have more faith in Jiang Qingyue.

When their orders conflict, even for the sake of the overall human race in the Eighth District, Zhang Yuan and the others will choose to support Jiang Qingyue rather than her, the captain.

As for Long Jiuxing and Zhao Mingyue, whose personal feelings outweighed racial interests, there's no need to elaborate further.

The remaining Nangong Zhao, Shen Yi, Wang Defa, and others were mostly allies with her on a temporary basis.

If she were to step forward and declare herself the leader, Nangong Zhao would be the first to object.

"I have accomplished my mission." Jiang Qingtian stepped off the stage and handed the spoils of war to Jiang Qingyue.

Five quantum computers and a bunch of special items that have been smashed to pieces.

Seeing her sorting through her spoils, Jiang Qingtian hesitated for a moment before revealing her guess: "I've noticed that everyone seems to be intentionally balancing the various factions."

"You noticed?" Jiang Qingyue asked in surprise.

She only realized it in this round, but they were just bystanders in this round, and as the saying goes, bystanders see things more clearly.

It was unexpected that Jiang Qingtian, who was in a life-or-death situation on the stage, could still see it.

"It was just a guess at first," Jiang Qingtian said. "The districts with fewer deaths were targeted the most in this round. Although we were also targeted, it seems we were pushed back in the rankings."

"It wasn't until that cloud from District 93 died that everyone's main attacks fell on us. Looking at the last survivors, I belatedly realized that I had guessed wrong, but I didn't expect you all to think so too."

"Come, come, look at this." Wang Defa handed over a crumpled piece of paper.

A dozen or so heads huddled together to look at the paper, which recorded the number of deaths in all the experimental areas.

"The district with the fewest deaths so far is District 93, with only three deaths."

"Second is District 1, with five deaths."

"Third place is District 5, with eight deaths."

"The three districts with the most deaths are District 40—89th."

"District 95 - Eighty-eight."

"District 8 - Seventy-six."

Each of the three last-place finishers has its own tragic story.

The giant crab in Experiment Zone 40 was originally one of the strongest, but unfortunately it was killed by Jiang Qingyue who stole the crab.

District 95 is a complete noob. They send in players every match, and every player dies. One player dies per match. Currently, there are only twelve players left in District 95.

As for the 8th experimental zone, there was really nothing that could be done in the early stages.

Of those who played, except for a few games where they were forced to play due to a lack of resources, the rest basically survived and came back to life.

Most of the others chose to hand over their quantum computers to the next person before even going on stage.

"Looks like everyone's started to throw caution to the wind, determined to drag a few powerful experimental zones down with them even if it means their own demise," Nangong Zhao said. "Don't be surprised, I would have done the same."

"Otherwise, in the end, wouldn't those powerful regions just steal a huge amount of quantum computers and endless lifespans?"

"Even if we don't come in last, the death of too many strong individuals will cause the entire experimental zone's strength to decline."

"Who knows when this All-Heavens Arena Tournament will reopen? It might even be held once a month. All the strong fighters are dead, what will they use next time?"

"Since that's the case, we might as well join forces. Even if we can't kill the first few, we can at least weaken their strength as much as possible. Otherwise, if we can't defeat them this time, we'll be even less likely to win when the All-Heavens Arena Tournament reopens next time."

"Every time, one experimental zone is eliminated at the bottom; sooner or later, it will be my turn."

"Then our situation is even worse," Jiang Qingyue analyzed. "Originally, we were the weakest, and in everyone's mind, we should have been at the bottom to make things easier for them."

"Now that I've broken the rules and ruined District 40, which was never supposed to be at the bottom, everyone must hate me to death."

Everyone was speechless.

These kinds of things can't be simply categorized as right or wrong, good or bad.

At first, the energy in the eighth zone was scarce, making it the weakest area. Everyone felt no pressure or urgency, thinking that the eighth experimental zone would definitely be at the bottom.

Even if a few people die on the spot, they have absolutely no need to worry about the entire area being wiped out.

As a result of Jiang Qingyue's series of shrewd moves, the Eighth Experimental Zone was no longer at the bottom, and could even compete with the major powerful clans, which naturally made people hate her.

In the eyes of other races, the Eighth District should obediently and peacefully die, and resistance is wrong.

But are you saying Jiang Qingyue is wrong?

That's definitely right. Even ants try to survive, let alone Jiang Qingyue who carries the lives of everyone in the Eighth District on her shoulders. No matter how she plans, it's all correct.

"So what if people hate me? As the saying goes, 'The more debts you have, the less you worry; and the more lions you have, the less you feel itchy.'" Jiang Qingyue shrugged and said to Wang Defa, who was about to take the field, "Except for sections 33 and 34, try to stick close to that blond guy in section 1 when you go on the field."

Wang Defa: "What if he ignores me?"

"Then you should stick to him and follow him around."

Wang Defa glanced furtively towards District 1, only to receive a cold glare in return, making his heart tremble: "He doesn't seem to like us much. Jiang Shen, he's much stronger than me. What if we annoy him and he turns around and kills me?"

Jiang Qingyue: "Then I'll flatten this black fur ball."

Wang Defa's lips twitched: "If this furry ball is flattened, can I be resurrected?"

"cannot."

"Alright." Wang Defa sighed, "I hope this furry ball is as valuable as that peach, otherwise I'm afraid I'll lose my life here today."

"Survival is the priority," Jiang Qingyue said. "If we can't get the quantum computer, that's fine; survival comes first."

Still feeling uneasy, she gave him another handful of Plant Doctor essence.

All told, there are only twenty-four humans still alive.

You know, there were a full hundred of them when they first came in.