I built the Black Tower City in Sumeru.

Chapter 41: The preliminary rounds begin, along with outrageous new missions and a devastated Scott.

Outside the hatch, the planetary supervisor had been waiting with a team of armed security personnel for quite some time.

The handover process for equipment at this level is extremely complicated.

The spaceship shut down, and the air pumps hissed as they exhausted air.

Scott straightened his uniform, strode down the gangway, and extended his hand to the planetary supervisor: "Arrived on time. Check the manifests."

Before signing the order, of course you should inspect the goods.

But when Scott opened the warehouse, he was completely dumbfounded.

The "enterprise-grade 3D printer" that was supposed to occupy two-thirds of the cabin space is gone.

On the shelf next to the rack, one of the ten personal printers that were originally neatly arranged was missing.

"This...this is impossible." Scott rubbed his eyes.

"How could this be? The surveillance footage clearly shows everything is normal."

Scott returned to the cockpit and checked the surveillance footage, finding that the footage still showed the cargo neatly arranged in the cargo hold.

The warehouse was completely empty.

Scott checked the flight log again.

The flight logs show that the spacecraft's payload has remained unchanged since launch.

"It's a ghost...it's a ghost!" Scott slumped onto the deck. "It's on the monitors, the gravity sensor says it's there, am I hallucinating?"

Even if I worked for ten lifetimes, I couldn't afford to pay for this lost item.

The cargo ship showed no signs of damage.

Will the company make me take the blame?

Could I be falsely accused of selling company assets?

I'm going bankrupt!

A man dressed in a high-class executive suit walked in, holding an electronic document in his hand.

"Mr. Scott, the company has reached a conclusion regarding this incident of missing supplies."

Scott: "I didn't steal it, I really didn't steal it... I don't know how it disappeared. You can ask the other crew members. We didn't stop on any planet the whole time."

"We know you don't have that ability." The man sat down and announced the result directly: "After joint analysis by the Risk Management Department and the Technology Department, this incident has been classified as a 'targeted armed hijacking initiated by Star Core Hunters'."

Scott was stunned: "Huh? A Star Core Hunter?"

The man said seriously, "That's right, Star Core Hunter."

"The company's analysis indicates that Silver Wolf stole the data using Ether-edited spatial transfer, and the surveillance and sensors were tampered with by some kind of hacking technique, which was also Silver Wolf's doing."

Scott opened his mouth; he wasn't stupid.

The company is looking for a scapegoat, and the Star Core Hunter is the perfect all-rounder for the job.

Anyway, as long as we push it to them, the insurance company will have to pay out.

"Then... I saw the Star Core Hunter?" Scott asked tentatively.

"Yes, that's the report," the man said. "However, given your 'utter incompetence' during the Star Core Hunter attack, all bonuses, allowances, and promotion opportunities for you and your entire cargo team are cancelled for the next ten years."

Scott: "Huh?!"

……

the other side.

Silver Wolf, who was playing a game, yawned.

Who's talking about me behind my back?

the other side.

The mission is complete.

Then, a new random task was refreshed.

[Random Task: Competition Begins.]

[Introduction: This is your first competition, and it's very important to you. I think it's time for you to wow everyone.]

[Requirement: Win first place in the mechanical combat competition.]

[Rewards: Engineering Experience (100-2000), (100-1000) Points. One chance to draw a prize (10-100% random technology blueprint). Experience value, points, and probability of winning are positively correlated with task completion.]

[Note: Task completion depends on the gap between you and the second-place finisher.]

After reading the mission description, Chen Bo was a little confused.

Does task completion depend on the gap between the second-place finisher and the second-place finisher?

In other words, if you only have a slight lead and win first place...

So the task completion rate is only 10%?

Interesting. Looks like we'll have to go all out tomorrow.

The next morning.

The makeshift camp outside Sumeru City was packed with people.

Many students from other colleges and residents of Sumeru came to watch.

There were no seats for the audience, so many students brought their own small stools.

Who doesn't enjoy watching sports?

Moreover, there is no entrance fee.

"Iced Sumeru Cola! Only 9 Mora! You won't regret it!"

Dolly and her men aggressively promoted Coca-Cola to the audience.

As one of the bookmakers, Dolly didn't forget to make some extra money on the side.

We should make big money, and we should also make small money.

"Boss Dolly, you look great today." A merchant named Hakimi (a name) took his Coke and joked, "I heard you placed a big bet on that newcomer to the Life Theory?"

"This isn't like you at all. Should I bet some money too?"

Dolly paused, a professional smile spreading across her face. "Hehe, he's betting on himself, I'm just helping him place the bet."

"Sigh, students these days are so blindly confident; they're bound to suffer greatly in the future."

Dolly absolutely refused to admit that she had also placed a bet.

What if someone else calls my bet?

She looked towards the center of the field.

At this moment, the contestants are entering the venue one after another.

The host, microphone in hand, ignited the atmosphere.

"First to enter is Jamil, the pride of the Wise Theory school! His mentor is Mr. Kavi, the greatest architect of the Wise Theory school!"

The crowd cheered.

Jamil was followed by a brown robot that was over two meters tall.

The machine has sharp lines, with intricate gears and hydraulic rods exposed at the joints, and a huge toolbox on its back.

"Jamir is the pride of the new generation of the Mysticism School, while his mentor was once the pride of the school. What secret weapon does the mechanical puppet hide in the toolbox behind it, prepared by his mentor, Kavi? Let's wait and see!"

Many spectators cheered.

"Jamie, Jamil, Jamil!"

"Kavi, Kavi, Kavi!"

Immediately afterwards, the ground began to tremble slightly.

The heavy footsteps sounded like drumbeats, thumping loudly.

"Next up is contestant Lyra from the Wise Theory School's family of sages!"

A gasp erupted from the audience.

A five-meter-tall monument guard slowly walked into the preparation area.

Its core emitted a faint red glow, and its outer shell was specially reinforced and repainted white.

Lyra made her entrance sitting on the robot's shoulder, looking down over the entire arena.

This size difference made the other contestants' contraptions look like toys.

"It's such a large ruin guard." Dolly had gathered a lot of information, but she was still a little surprised.

Hopefully, Chen Bo isn't just blindly confident.

If you're blindly confident, you'll end up losing out too.

Although she knew that Leila had a powerful background, she didn't expect that the other party would bring up the ruins guards.

Those long legs take one step, and it's equivalent to someone running ten steps, right?

Dolly also knew the track well; there were no traps that could restrain such a large mechanical puppet.

It's all a conspiracy, so very secretive.

The host continued enthusiastically, "Layla's 'Silver Guardian' perfectly complies with the competition's rules regarding bipedal walking, and all parts were assembled and debugged independently by her. Anyone can watch the entire assembly and debugging process of Layla from the air!"