The Strongest Brain in the Interstellar

“Incredible. She managed to stay hidden until now,” muttered Aris Lava and his team at L5, observing everything clearly. Three quarters of an hour into the second round of energy replenishment, the mysterious first-ranked participant finally surfaced—alongside her team.

And what an entrance it was—delivering an enormous surprise to everyone.

Truly impressive. She fabricated misleading movements to throw everyone off and then silently led her team to L11, an energy point far removed from others.

This must have been planned from the very beginning. She likely knew that her appearance would immediately draw the attention of every contestant. So, she endured, keeping her location a secret the entire time.

Clarens, it seemed, was her decoy—a smokescreen to confuse others and obscure her actual position.

Then, the moment they reached L11, they brought Clarens into their team, forming an official squad.

It wasn’t an overly sophisticated strategy, but its execution was extraordinarily challenging. The entire plan revolved around the concept of timing.

To succeed, Jiang Hui and her team had to avoid exposing their coordinates from the start. They also needed to persuade and unite with Clarens, a formidable ally, and carefully analyze the overall situation to ensure their chosen route could be executed smoothly.

Any misstep—whether a slight miscalculation, an unforeseen complication, or a failure in negotiations—could have derailed the entire plan.

Yet somehow, they succeeded.

Without anyone noticing, without anyone even realizing what had transpired, they suddenly emerged, as if out of thin air.

For a moment, all the contestants felt an inexplicable sense of absurdity. They’d been outmaneuvered—played effortlessly, as if their every move had been part of Jiang Hui’s grand design.

“Of course, a squad led by the top-ranked player is going to be different. No wonder they’re at the top of the leaderboard,” someone commented.

“They were already tough to deal with when they were just four. Now that they’ve added Clarens… the rest of the competition is going to get interesting.”

“Brother! What are you saying?!” Pavla Lava snapped, irritated by her older brother’s nonchalant, spectator-like tone. “Don’t forget we’re contestants too! What are we supposed to do now? Jiang Hui, Huan Xian, and now Clarens? How are we supposed to survive if we run into them? We’d be doomed!”

She couldn’t stand her brother’s attitude, as if he were simply watching a drama unfold from the sidelines. For goodness’ sake, they were also part of this competition! Which participant could stay calm after seeing such a formidable lineup?

It wasn’t just their team—every contestant in the arena must be feeling the same unease right now.

Aris glanced at his panicking teammates with a helpless shrug. “What do you want me to do? If they want to form a team, that’s their business. We can’t stop them. Besides, you’re all so scared of running into Jiang Hui’s team, but aren’t you just as afraid of running into Huo Qi? Either way, we’re not going to win against them. It’s all the same.”

“That’s… that’s not how it works!” Pavla stammered, momentarily speechless at her brother’s twisted logic. After struggling to find words, she finally blurted, “Stop saying such defeatist things! You’re the captain; how do you think it looks when you talk like this?” Her voice grew more confident as she continued.

Exactly—this was the right attitude.

Who goes around boosting others’ morale while deflating their own in the middle of a competition? Sure, Aris was smart, but his blunt way of talking always made people feel defeated.

No wonder their father always looked so exasperated after trying to have a heart-to-heart with him. He must have heard no shortage of this kind of nonsense.

“This is analysis! Do you know what that means? If we don’t analyze, how can we play better? And besides, what I’m saying is the truth.” Aris sighed, caught between exasperation and amusement. Then, dropping his smile, he pressed his lips together seriously.

“Besides, winning or losing isn’t just about strength.”

“Don’t worry, this is actually very beneficial for us,” they reassured themselves. “We don’t need to rush; there are others who are more anxious than we are, and they’re doing the exploring for us.”

R256 Team

“Damn Clarens, that guy’s working with them! We’ve been tricked,” Xiao Li and the others quickly realized.

Clarens had previously appeared in the L3 area but left soon after. They had assumed he left because the energy capacity in L3 was too low.

Now, seeing that he’s joined forces with Team T186—no, R186—they might have already crossed paths with them.

It was just like that.

Since Jiang Hui and the others hadn’t revealed their coordinates, it meant they could track everyone else’s position, but not their own. This was where Clarens came in.

Clarens’s appearance allowed them to pinpoint their own coordinates and gave them access to the positions of most of the contestants.

With more information than they had, Team T186 could make more strategic moves than they had anticipated—like playing on time differences and reaching the distant L11 energy point, far from the others, without anyone noticing.

Once they understood this, everything clicked. They had been played.

Damn it. Even if the journey to L11 was smooth, it would still take them about forty to fifty star minutes. Clearly, that group had planned it out in advance.

And that Clarens, who had been fighting alone the whole time, suddenly teamed up with others so easily—did he have a good relationship with Jiang Hui from their class?

Xiao Li and the others suddenly felt a sense of urgency they had never experienced before. This was the first time since they had joined forces that they felt this kind of crisis. It wasn’t just because of the so-called number-one team or Clarens, but because of the unconventional methods that team was using.

Xiao Li opened his mouth, ready to call out to the captain as usual, but when his eyes met Huo Qi’s gaze, he was momentarily stunned.

He had never seen such an expression on Alec Huo Qi’s face before.

In his memory, Huo Qi had always been intense, not arrogant, not self-centered—he knew full well that there were many stronger than him in the world, but he never considered falling behind anyone. He was always willing to face any enemy, regardless of their level. Yet, there were very few people who caught his attention.

And they truly had that kind of ability. Since Xiao Li had known Huo Qi, the latter had been rising steadily, crushing one enemy after another beneath his feet. Every time he defeated an opponent, it seemed like he gained part of their strength, growing stronger for the next confrontation.

Alec Huo Qi was that kind of person—a role model whom Xiao Li had always admired and strived to emulate.

But today, Xiao Li realized that even such a fierce person could have something—or someone—to fear.

Perhaps, before this, Huo Qi had never encountered anyone who could make him feel this way.

And indeed, who wouldn’t be wary of someone like that?

R186 and Jiang Hui… they were truly a terrifying team.