History had proven that hierarchies always emerged without notice.

It could start from a small order or even a trivial implemented policy.

Social hierarchies were born silently, and they were only discovered when the gap had widened.

The fusion of a mark was only a superficial phenomenon.

However, it was a kind of filtering of people that would inevitably divide them into two types.

The first type would be the wasteland humans who had the potential to become stronger and acquire the ability to accommodate authority.

Meanwhile, the other group would be conservatives who had no potential to grow and would be left behind.

The unaware villagers were still giggling and laughing after they had failed the detection process. Those who had not passed the detection process did not show any signs of displeasure.

They congratulated those who had passed and were given a chance to be promoted to a higher position within the basin.

Little did they know that when the time comes that a human with the ability to alter templates would appear in their collective…

The insignificant balance they had maintained for so long would be completely shattered, and the humans who had the power of authority would only get stronger as the days passed.

These people would eventually become…

The exploiting class!

‘It’s almost impossible to create an environment where everyone is equal. It would be impossible to have everyone strive toward the same goal without capital or power.

‘Even with the external pressure, it’s impossible to kill people’s ambitions, especially with the increasing number of people gathering in the basin.

‘I could forcefully prevent this from happening and control the people, but it won’t be possible to rely on the system to maintain the peace of the basin in the future.

‘Otherwise, I’d be too embarrassed to call myself territory lord!’

Among the leadership, only Shen Ke had matched all 13 anchor points.

The others were all wiped out.

This was not something that Su Mo had hoped to see.

In order to change the situation, Su Mo would have to use the system and spend a considerable sum of survival points to forcefully break the restrictions of nature to fuse the templates onto those who did not pass the detection test.

However, this method in modern society would be like pushing the collective development forward and, at the same time, forcibly pushing the children from the mountains out into the outside world.

It would put immense pressure on their finances.

Su Mo was the only person able to produce survival points, and considering the non-renewable nature of survival points, this kind of pressure would be too great on the basin.

‘At this stage, I can only do things one step at a time. I must not let such things happen when I still have the ability to suppress them!

‘I want everyone to understand that there will never be an absolute zero or number one with me in the lead!’

Su Mo calmed himself and walked down the road after watching the last batch of villagers finish their tests and leave with their results.

His stern expression had gradually subsided and was replaced with a gentle face.

He stepped into the already empty garage.

Yan Xiqing, who had been controlling the machine, was sorting out the name list with the assistance of Chen Shen and Pei Shao.

“How did it go? Did the data change after the second testing?”

“No changes. It’s still nine percent, a hundred and nineteen people. Seventy percent of them got stuck at the ninth anchor point, eighteen percent at the eleventh anchor point, and the remaining twelve percent couldn’t even…”

Yan Xiqing had difficulty reporting the results, but Chen Shen, who was beside her, quickly continued her sentence.

“The remaining twelve percent could only pass the fifth anchor point and could not make it past the sixth.”

Chen Shen tried to keep a smile on his face as he spoke, but Su Mo could see a hint of disappointment on through his masked expression.

Especially because he was also one of the 12%.

Su Mo might have been able not to take the results too seriously and be open-minded about the results if he were just a nobody and not the shelter leader.

Knowing the relationship between templates and marks, he knew full well the outcome of not being able to fuse a mark.

“What about Li Hu? How many did he pass?”

“I only passed nine. I felt confused and could feel a tingling sensation when the current passed through me, and I didn’t dare to continue trying,” Li Hu raised his head and replied with a wry smile.

He was filtered out of the potential candidates.

It was not the best feeling in the world.

Su Mo made up his mind for the two, and he stepped forward, placing his hand on their shoulders lightly.

“Take it easy. It was just a primary screening. It doesn’t decide your respective fates!

“Who would’ve thought that an ordinary law student could achieve so much while a retired soldier could find new love in an apocalypse.

“Since I am able to bring a mark back, I’ll definitely have a way to fuse it with both of you!”

Su Mo’s tone was full of determination but it was taken as words of comfort and encouragement by the two listeners.

Nevertheless, his words did comfort them.

He understood what was about to happen next, so he waved his hands and dispersed the remaining people to get over it themselves.

Su Mo’s eyes squinted, and he sat down on the desk where Lu Kuan usually worked.

A candidate that participated in the expedition plan and ran in front of them all.

In terms of character, Lu Kuan did not have the stubbornness of typical scientists that was portrayed in movies.

He had a docile personality and always considered others’ feelings. Except for when it came to scientific research, he would deliberately soften the way he spoke in life.

The initially messy tabletop with rough edges was repaired into a neat work table.

Su Mo was finally able to see what he wanted to see.

Most of the scientific equipment on the table yesterday had been put away after he found out that there was going to be an experiment today.

What was left on the table were some small gadgets that were used frequently as well as some books and manuscripts that Lu Kuan would read every day.

Su Mo picked up the book, and on the first page, which had turned yellow, the words “Nuclear Energy Field” caught his attention almost immediately.

It was evident that Lu Kuan’s interests had changed drastically after discovering the blood soil that could promote nuclear fusion.

This book brought back from the expeditionary base had become his personal possession that he carried everywhere!

Su Mo opened the book out of curiosity.

Apart from the table of contents, almost every page had been covered in Lu Kuan’s handwriting.

Word by word, Lu Kuan had written notes very seriously.

Even if another person were to gain possession of this book, they could quickly understand the content through his notes.

The whole book had 860 pages.

Su Mo turned to the 475th page of the book and saw a light green lotus bookmark along with the notes that Lu Kuan had left in the book the day before.

[Knowledge will not fail the hardworking!]

[Luck will not give up on the hardworking!]

The two sentences on the bookmark were identical to Lu Kuan’s handwriting but seemed much more youthful. They were obviously self-encouraging words left by him when he was younger.

Su Mo turned the bookmark around and a smile formed on his face.

[I hope nuclear fusion can be researched as soon as possible and mass-produced! The days of fighting over the body with these b*sards have been difficult!]

Unlike the slightly poetic encouragement, this new self-encouragement statement was more straightforward. However, the effect it had on him must have been more significant.

Every time he glanced at this sentence, his desire to learn would be aroused, and he would plunge into studying nuclear physics even if he was sleepy.

“He’s such a cutie!”

Su Mo put down the book as emotions welled up in him. He picked up the manuscript that was placed beside him.

Unlike the book, the designs and hypotheses in the manuscript were focused on the research that Su Mo had previously requested.

In these records…

There was research about high-efficiency solar energy conversion technology, high-energy thermal insulation materials, large-scale wind turbine constructions, nanotechnology, water purification systems, underground pipeline layouts, medical equipment reconstruction, and other projects to solve the livelihood issues in the basin.

They were all marked in red on the first few pages by Lu Kuan.

Problems such as carbon monoxide synthesizing protein, carbon dioxide synthesizing starch, catalytic converters, resource exploration, collection, and so on, were placed in the middle pages marked to be resolved.

The following pages included the future development direction of self-propelled artillery, radar satellites, mechanical armor, intelligent farms, modern CNC machining tools, and explosive weapons.

Lu Kuan did not miss out on anything and made titles for each report, even marking down research methods for each project.

It was not until the last two pages that Su Mo saw the nuclear energy that Lu Kuan had been interested in researching, as well as the space elevators, curvature engine propulsion, star trek corridors, planetary warships, and star-class space fortresses that he had been pursuing all his life.

After he made himself part of the community, Lu Kuan prioritized the needs of others while he pushed his personal ambitions to the bottom of the list.

Compared to the others who naturally relied on luck to match the anchor points, people like Lu Kuan were far more deserving of the “opportunities”!

However, fate still played a joke on him!

Once again, the bloody reality refuted the self-encouraging words that he had written when he was young.

In this world, not everything can be obtained through hard work, and not everything can be pushed forward just by mere will.

“Xiaqing, leave it. Let’s have a meeting in the virtual conference room!

“I’ve already used one of the four opportunities, and we have three more marks. I will assign two of the spots.

“I’m not going to even speak about contribution or fairness. Whoever draws the lucky lot will get receive the chance to fuse a mark!”

Currently, four out of the ten consciousness had an opportunity to be resurrected. There were two marks meaning a 50% chance to be resurrected, which was not a low chance.

It was a fair chance for them.

Yan Xiaqing nodded and put down the list in her hand. She controlled the robot and touched the void.

Su Mo refreshed his vision, and an unusually quiet conference room replaced the garage.

Zhuo Junfan, who had always been lively, seemed to be emotional today as he sat in the corner staring blankly at a wall. It was hard to tell what was on his mind.

The happy-go-lucky Ji Yang was also not his usual jokester self and lowered his head to look at a visual book.

Su Deben embraced and comforted Su Wei as they faced a curtain wall in the corner of the room. Su Deben showed an apologetic smile as he noticed Su Mo looking over.

Meanwhile, the Ai brothers who had passed the screening were in good moods, constantly gesturing at thin air, and seemed wildly ambitious and motivated.

As for Lu Kuan, he still maintained his warm and jade-like appearance. He smiled and nodded at Su Mo.

The detection test seemed to have not changed anything, and everything remained the same.

However, these research scholars already knew the consequences long before the selection had happened.

No one could escape fate, just like how no one could escape the game selection.

Everyone could only accept the results of fate since there was no other way.

“Ahem! Everyone pull yourselves together and cheer up!

“We’ve completed the detection screening of everyone’s anchor point. The shelter leader had already used one of the opportunities, and now we’ve three remaining chances for fusion.

“We have to leave one opportunity to a villager to sneak into Freedom City. Therefore, we’ve got two chances for the first batch of fusions!”

Seeing that everyone was silent, Su Mo could not bring himself to speak. Yan Xiaqing took the initiative to speak for him and announced out loud.

“A lottery? It’s fine then! I’ll give up my chance in the first selection! It’d be useless for me to go outside anyway! It would be better for me to stay here and study. I’ll leave the chance to the rest of you!”

After waving his hands, Ou Yangguo stood up and voluntarily gave up his lottery chance.

His major was molecular chemistry. Without the support of many materials, even if he went to the outside world, he had no place to practice his expertise and would be equal to an ordinary villager.

In addition, people who study chemistry got irritated easily. Ou Yangguo naturally would be very dissatisfied that he would be useless when he went out, and it was reasonable to give up.

“Okay, Ou Yangguo has given up, then we…”

“Stop, Xiaqing. Sit down first. I’ll host the meeting!”

Ten people watching four people draw the lots, with one having given up would be equivalent to seven people watching a three-person show.

Su Mo stood up and interrupted Yan Xiaqing after seeing that the scene had become increasingly awkward and covered with a cold atmosphere.

“Our first batch will only allow two people to have a chance to fuse with a mark. However, this was a chance because of everyone’s hard work!

“Everyone will draw the lottery! Whoever draws the winning lottery will be given a chance to receive the mark! It won’t be limited to your anchor point detection test!

Regardless of everyone’s astonishment, Su Mo waved his hand at the void, and a large box covered with a red cloth appeared out of thin air.

Then, grabbing into the void again, eight black ping-pong balls and two red ping-pong balls appeared in Su Mo’s hands, and he threw them into the box in front of everyone.

“Everyone? Forget it, Su Mo. Our anchor points didn’t match, and we would only be wasting the chance.”

Su Deben understood Su Mo’s good intentions, but he stood up to persuade him after seeing the look of expectation on Su Wei’s face.

As someone who had led hundreds of thousands of people, Su Mo’s actions, in his opinion, attempted to enforce fairness forcibly and gave up interests.

Su Deben chose to be the “wicked” person and called out Su Mo, knowing how well acquainted the people present were with Su Mo.

“No! Everyone will partake in the draw! I’ve made up my mind!”

Su Mo shook his head and removed the large table in the center, replacing it with a small round table. He placed the box on the table and spoke with an authoritative tone.

Everyone in the conference room regarded one another as friends, as intellectuals who were on the same journey to pursue knowledge.

However, Su Mo’s identity had suddenly been reinforced as the territory lord who decided the fate of thousands of lives!

No one could question the lord’s words under such circumstances. Not even…Su Deben!

“Okay! Then I’ll go first!”

Su Deben stepped forward and drew the first ping pong ball in front of everyone.

“Ha! My luck is terrible, I didn’t pass the ninth anchor, and now I didn’t even win the draw!”

Su Deben clenched the black ping pong ball in his hands and stepped back after telling a light joke.

Then, Su Wei approached him.

However, she couldn’t escape the shackles of fate, and she drew another black ball.

Two people came out to demonstrate, and the rest started to draw their balls.

“Goodness! I drew a red ball!”

The first six people had failed to draw the lucky ball, but the first red ball was finally revealed when the seventh person came. Ai Jianfeng, the mechanics major, raised his right hand in the air!

“Very good. The first spot belongs to Jianfeng, there are still three balls left, and the chance is now 33 percent!”

There were three people left who had not drawn their balls. Among them were Yan Xiaqing, Zhuo Junfan, and Lu Kuan.

The three glanced at each other simultaneously as Su Mo stated the odds. Zhuo Junfan was the first to step forward and, unfortunately, drew a black ball, increasing the probability for the last two.

“Lu Kuan, you should go ahead!”

“It’s okay. Xiaqing, you go ahead! It’ll be useless for me to draw it!”

Yan Xiaqing did not continue to refuse, knowing that Lu Kuan had already made up his mind, and she quickly drew a ball from the box.

It was a black ball!

Whoa!

There was only one ball left, the red ball which was rightfully his. The last chance for a fusion was miraculously in his hands without even drawing a ball.

However, everyone knew that as the first person to go through the detection screening, he could not pass the test.

“Su Mo, forget it!Give this ball to Xiaoqing. It’s useless if I take it!”

Lu Kuan reluctantly stepped forward and raised the last red ball from the box with a sense of ceremony.

He approached Yan Xiaqing’s side as he spoke. It was apparent that he had decided in his heart.

“No, Lu Kuan. As I said, whoever draws the red ball today is whoever gets the spot. No one can change my mind.

“Nothing will change my mind. Even… fate won’t be enough!

“Today, I am everyone’s friend, but I am also the territory lord!

“In the past, I’ve taught the villagers in the basin countless lessons on the principles of survival in this apocalypse, and today, I’m going to teach your first lesson!

He stepped forward, put his hand on Lu Kuan’s shoulder, and looked at the latter as if looking at a “stranger”.

Su Mo made an authoritative swipe towards the void and then exited the virtual conference room.

Boom!

The world modifier previously created by the system allowed him to make changes in the virtual reality despite leaving it.

The high-grade wooden floor turned into dust, and the walls were crushed as if a technological world was breaking apart. The conference room had turned into nothingness in just a few seconds.

The entire space was submerged in darkness, and the quiet, pitch-black void surrounded the ten people who were still standing.

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning pierced through the darkness of the space and tore it into pieces.

Three bold words that seemed like a message from God flashed before them and were deeply embedded into everyone’s minds.

[I AM FATE!]