Gaju - One

Chapter 30 - End of Book 1

"Why are you doing this?" shouted a boy with wounds all over his body.

The body of a young girl lay beside him. Some arrows stuck in the body of the stiffened corpse.

A pair of boys and girls stood in front of them. The Girl held an arrow in her hand while the boy held a tapered log.

The boy who held the wood was named Three One and called himself Gasa, while the Girl who held the bamboo bow was named Three Two.

If Tian was here, he would instantly recognize the Three Two, as he was Tian's best friend who had Tia's calling.

Gasa and Tia are not a pair of monsters, but they both have felt that the genetic serum helped their body's evolutionary process.

Tia made it into the top three for the Intelligence category 4 times, while Gasa never entered the top three for the Strength category 2 times.

Of course, it was Tia who played the role of a Strategist in their team. Although he was not yet worthy of being considered a 'real' Strategist like Tian with an Intelligence Capability score exceeding 5 points, but Tia's IC score had passed the score of 3.3 points. He has 3 times higher intelligence than a normal adult.

Tia was also the one who decided to make an attack on the candidate pair that was now in front of them. Just as Gaju and Tian were aware of the ruthless rules of the Elimination Trials created by the Island, Tia also understood them.

The island gave a quota of 10 couples to qualify for Stage Three. The easiest way is to let nature do the selection according to the luck of each candidate. But there are faster and more effective ways to pass these exams, by killing other weaker candidates and speeding up the natural selection process that takes place.

The strong will survive, the weak will be eliminated.

The law of the jungle and the most basic law that binds all living things that exist on earth, including humans.

That is the basic rule that the Island is instilling to the Candidates.

"Don't blame us. This is what the island wants. And we just follow what they want" Tia replied coldly.

"Shy!" tia continued towards her soulmate.

Gasa knew what Tia meant. He ran with a wooden spear in his hand towards the Boy who was seen standing resignedly in his place. He had already lost his soulmate, the only person who cared about him and acknowledged his existence. Without his soulmate, the Boy simply did not have enough motivation to continue his life.

The boy closed his eyes as Gasa stood in front of him. Shortly after, he felt an excruciating pain in his chest. The pain he knew came from the wooden spear that stuck in his chest.

The liquid that gave off a salty and fishy taste was felt in his mouth cavity, but the boy did not care. He knew that death was picking him up.

"I hope you can survive in this crazy place" whispered the boy softly.

He coughed and vomited blood from his mouth before finally falling to the side, next to his soulmate, the most important person in his short age.

Suddenly, an unmanned helicopter descended from the top and landed near Gasa and Tia. A hollogram was projected from the front end of the helicopter, a hollogram of the Professor not wearing his mask.

"Congratulations, you meet the criteria to meet the requirements to qualify for Stage Three. This transport plane will take you to the Complex while waiting for other candidates to complete this Elimination Exam" said the Professor.

Tia was surprised, she knew that taking the life of another Candidate would speed up the process of elimination, but she did not expect that the Island would give her and Gasa a direct ticket.

"Then, Gama, Koma, and Koga?" Tia smiled bitterly, she realized now that the Candidates were more terrifying than the threat of the beasts in the Forest.

\=\=\=\=\=

Somewhere else.

A boy was holding a girl on his back. The girl looked like she was holding back pain but there were no obvious wounds visible on her body.

"Leave me, you can run faster without me" whispered the Woman softly.

"No. I will always accompany you. Life or death" replied the man who looked stingy.

Not far behind them, a swarm of spiders the size of an adult's fist moved swiftly after the two of them. Occasionally they will jump away from tree branches and shrubs that block their pace.

They are a bunch of Fire Spiders.

Unlike its name, the Fire Spiders do not live near 'fiery' areas or areas with extreme heat. They actually live in moist areas, such as caves, ravines or rock crevices near rivers.

The two boys had accidentally met this bunch of Fire Spiders while they were fetching water in the river to quench their thirst.

At that time, the woman who was fetching water with a bag of homemade water was bitten by one of the Fire Spiders who jumped out from the sidelines of a nearby rock.

The little girl knew that the animal that bit her was a deadly Fire Spider. It was easy to recognize the Fire Spiders because their red colored bodies lit up brightly like fire. Very contrasted with the surrounding environment.

Women know that one of the most important rules for survival in the wild is to never look for problems with creatures that have striking colors because that means the animal has enough deadly threats without afraid to hide himself.

Unfortunately unavoidable, he had already been bitten by the Fire Spider and he also felt the effects of the poison starting to work in his body. He trudged towards his soulmate to tell her to run.

But, his soulmate reaction was just beyond his expectations, without a doubt the boy immediately carried the girl and ran towards the compound with a single goal.

Obtained antidotes for the Fire Spider's poison from the Manager at the Complex.

Naively.

But that was all he had in mind. The boy was a strategist. He knew that the Elimination Exam would only end when the remaining candidates were only 10 couples. He was only trying to do what he could because that was the only way out he thought.

He ran around holding his soulmate and hoped that in the heart at the same time there would be other candidates who would fall, in hopes, when they reached the Complex, he said, they were one of the candidates who passed this selection.

But, he had forgotten that he was a strategist. His ability is in the advantages in brain intelligence, not physical ability. After carrying his soulmate and running away from the pursuit of the Fire Spider for 2 km, he began to run out of stamina and fatigue.

And here they are now.

A young boy with a little girl on his back faced off and was surrounded by hundreds of Fire Spiders in a fiery red color.

"Knowing you is the greatest happiness of my life. How could I leave you alone to take your death?" whispered the boy who was greeted with a sweet smile by the girl on his back.

"Thank you, for everything," the little girl replied softly and hugged the boy tightly with both hands.

Fourth day of the Elimination Test.

4 Pairs pass, 10 pairs are eliminated.

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The atmosphere of silence enveloped the training field at the back of the classroom building. The same training field for their Physical test location two years ago and was used for the same test many times during the First Stage first.

Twenty 12-year-olds were seen standing in pairs on the field. They keep their distance from each other's candidate pairs.

The scene was in stark contrast to four days ago when they gathered before the Elimination Trials began. Where the children are still standing in groups according to the group they have been interacting with.

A hollogram appeared in front of them, the Professor's hollogram.

As soon as the hollogram appeared, some of the Candidates immediately showed hostility and hateful eyes. The person in front of them at this moment who had made them experience the worst of their lives for the past four days.

"Congratulations!!!!"

But, none of the Candidates smiled when they saw him.

"Hahahahahaha," Professor laughed out loud at the reaction of the Candidates.

After that, the face of the Professor turned serious. All of his cheerful thoughts had disappeared instantly.

"This is what the island wants."

"You can feel it?"

"Change yourself, four days ago and now. Can you feel the difference?"

"This is the essence of the Elimination Test. Makes you 'adult'. Makes you understand the importance of life. Make you understand the basic rules of the Island."

"Your life is not in the hands of the Society, not in my hands, not in the hands of others."

"His life is in your own hands."

"You all have the right to survive, but you are obliged to defend it."

"You are all competitors."

"You are all competitors."

"That's the essence of the Elimination Test."

Suddenly a candidate throws a stone under his feet at the Professor's hollogram. The hollogram looks 'blink' a little but returns to how it was.

"Ba***at!!!!"

"You think our lives are just toys? Do you know what we're going through in the woods?" yelled the Candidate.

The professor just laughed, "there's a reason why I'm always present in front of you in this form. Because a candidate like you!"

"Why do you think the Management Complex is surrounded by a stronger protective fence and separates it from the Main Complex?"

"Why is it that during the 2-year Second Stage you are left to study independently without a Master?"

"Because we knew that you would vent your anger on us."

"Hahaahahaha."

"You're too naive to think you can retaliate against us or against us."

"We've thought of everything tens or even hundreds of steps away in front of you."

"And I also want to tell you one secret."

"When this program ends, if half of you who are now standing here can survive, then it's a miracle."

The twenty Candidates standing on this field fell silent and most of them showed sad expressions. Their journey is still long.

Tian clasped Gaju's fingers tightly. He now realized, all the Candidates here were his enemies. The only person they could trust was their respective soulmates.

Now they begin to realize how important their soulmate is and why the Manager always emphasizes to work together as well as possible with each soulmate. Because without a soulmate, without someone to be trusted, most Candidates would definitely prefer to end their lives when faced with the conditions created by the Island.

The professor then waved his hand, a row of names then appeared in front of him.

"Not all Candidates who qualify for Stage Three have the courage to be an attacker. You'd rather curl up and give it all up to fate and nature."

"That's your choice."

"But, there are some candidates who choose to be attackers, predators, attackers, or predators. They deserve the award from the Island."

"Because the strongest will survive."

"The Predators, each of them will display 5 genetic serums according to their specialization."

"The other one, won't get anything."

"Congratulations to the Predators. Be strong, stronger and stronger."

"Three Five and Three Six."

"Limit and Empty Six."

"Rose Three and Empty Four."

"Three One and Three Two."

"The Losers who choose to curl up in their cages. He let others decide his fate. Be a stone for the Predators."

"Nine and One Empty."

"One One and One Two."

"One Seven and One Eight."

"One Nine and Two Empty."

"Two Five and Two Six."

"Three Seven and Three Eight."

Professor took a deep breath. He spread his eyes around her.

"Welcome to the Third Stage."

After that Professor smiled a little and the hollogram was a disgrace from the presence of 20 Candidates in the field.

"I will continue to survive. If any of you mess with me, you will end up with those twenty people" Koga said loudly and after that he left the field after issuing his threat.

Tian looked at Gaju and smiled, "Steel, now I'm the only person you can trust. Can we repeat everything from the beginning again?"

Gaju nodded his head without smiling, "let's fight the world together."

Finished