12. Chapter 12
Xu Wenpei quickly asked, “Student Li, haven’t you encountered any mutated creatures?”
Li Yang had come across quite a few, but those little things weren’t mentioned in the “Entry Guidelines,” so they probably didn’t count as dangerous species. At least, she could handle them with ease.
However, instead of answering, Li Yang asked them in return, “Why are you all moving in a group?”
The three were momentarily stunned by her question. The only boy among them replied, “This is a dangerous two-star quarantine zone. It’s definitely safer to move as a team.”
Li Yang blinked and said, “Rule 19 in the ‘Entry Guidelines’ states that quarantine zones are highly sensitive to large amounts of foreign aura. If you encounter danger, press the rescue device immediately.”
Xu Wenpei’s heart tightened.
The boy frowned and said, “So what? Every quarantine zone is sensitive to foreign aura.” He muttered, “Isn’t that common sense?”
He clearly remembered what Chen Song had said and looked down on Li Yang as an unrefined countryside bumpkin with no background or insight—even though she currently seemed to be doing better than them, it might just be dumb luck.
Li Yang smiled and said, “Indeed, it’s common sense. Well then, I’ll be off. Good luck to you.”
Xu Wenpei quickly asked, “Student Li, you mean to say we shouldn’t team up, right?”
Xu Wenpei had always been polite to Li Yang and was quick-witted. Although Li Yang’s answer essentially informed the boy, she didn’t hide it but nodded in agreement.
After saying that, Li Yang didn’t continue but quickly put distance between herself and them, rushing toward the next safe point.
Three people moving together was already dangerous; four would be even more so.
She just wanted to quietly harvest the mutant plants and survive these three days without unnecessary trouble.
Xu Wenpei lingered behind, deep in thought.
The boy said again, “Don’t listen to her. We’re in survival mode, so teaming up is necessary. Unity and mutual assistance are important qualities for soldiers!”
He refused to believe Li Yang’s words, thinking she was deliberately sowing discord. This quarantine zone was too dangerous; if it weren’t for Xu Wenpei’s alertness, he would have pressed the rescue device by now.
Though Xu Wenpei hadn’t memorized the “Entry Guidelines,” she had carefully reviewed them several times. They were indeed common knowledge, but should common knowledge be ignored?
Another girl in the group whispered, “Sister Xu, we’ve actually encountered mutated creatures quite a few times.”
The boy stubbornly replied, “This is a two-star quarantine zone! Mutated creatures are bound to appear!”
Xu Wenpei said, “I was thinking earlier that this practical test is just too difficult…”
Another girl added, “Yeah, previous years’ admission rates were at least 60%.”
After all, these were all outstanding students with physical strength values above 83. Although some would be filtered out, it wouldn’t be too many—around thirty or forty percent.
But the difficulty of this practical test meant that around seventy percent of the candidates might be eliminated.
Xu Wenpei decisively said, “Let’s split up.”
Though the girls were uneasy, they nodded in agreement.
The boy became anxious, “It’s already so dangerous with three of us together, and now splitting up…”
But no one listened to him; the two girls ran off in different directions, quickly putting space between them and the boy.
Li Yang didn’t pay much attention to this little episode. She reached the next safe point and began her diligent afternoon work.
She just wanted to harvest quickly and happily. All her life, she only wanted to be a joyful little farmer.
The boost in her mental energy made Li Yang feel refreshed again. She could sense the presence of the star radiance from farther away—at least let’s assume that. She was also better at focusing, and even her precision with the axe improved.
Crack!
This time, the ugly shrub was cut down before it could even react.
[Life span +1 month]
Li Yang’s ears twitched as she suddenly turned to the side and saw a small creature about three meters away.
It was a mutated wild grass hidden beneath the bushes, clearly startled by Li Yang and trying to flee.
Li Yang raised her hand and threw the axe directly at the mutant grass, hitting it precisely and successfully harvesting it.
[Life span +1 month]
Li Yang was quite satisfied.
With her physical value increased, her strength and stamina had greatly improved. And with her mental energy boost, not only had her sleep quality improved, but her “combat skills” were indirectly enhanced.
Yesterday, she wouldn’t have had the ability to throw an axe like this.
By five in the afternoon, Li Yang’s joyful spree came to an end.
She had actually circled back!
She had cleared all the safe points in Group 8!
Looking at Safe Point No. 1 before her, she sighed, “So small…”
Coincidentally, the examiners in the control room were watching Li Yang and overheard her muttering.
The examiners were speechless—she was actually dissatisfied with the place!
In this vast special quarantine zone, nearly 200 candidates were all walking on eggshells, desperate to survive the three days as soon as possible.
Only Li Yang, who had explored all the safe points in two days, cleared all the worthless plants, and scored a high 180 points… thought it was too small.
Not to mention other groups, even Chen Song from her own group, with a physical value of 88, was half dead.
Li Yang had to find a place to spend the night. She prepared some food—one benefit of high physical value was not feeling hungry easily.
Before entering the quarantine zone, everyone brought basic rations. After two days, Li Yang had only eaten about a third.
Li Yang gained an additional three years of life and continued to spend them to raise her mental energy.
[You have been reading continuously for one year. Having realized that “fools have their own learning methods,” your mental energy has increased to 80 points.]
Li Yang ignored the foolish system!
[You have been focused on reading for one year. Although the efficiency is low and progress slow, you have experienced a flow state. Mental energy increased to 90 points.]
[Congratulations, host. Both your physical and mental energy have reached 90 points. Your maximum life span has broken through to 50 years.]
Li Yang: “!”
What a pleasant surprise. It turned out that raising mental energy to 90 points was required to break through the life span limit.
A 10-year limit was simply too short. After breaking through to 50 years, she could finally save more life!
“Not bad, not bad,” Li Yang said, deciding to stop while ahead.
Ninety in both stats was enough. She did not want to accidentally push it any higher.
Li Yang had modest goals; being a low-key little farmer was just fine!
Night gradually fell, and Li Yang prepared to rest. She wouldn’t exert herself tomorrow, just stay put until the assessment ended.
Military academy was secured, gains were plentiful, and later she could receive 500,000… Li Yang was happily calculating, but suddenly remembered something.
“Wait, the first batch of practical tests includes both Zhongdu Military Academy and Star-Slaying Military Academy. How will the students who pass be assigned?”
Li Yang gasped. She didn’t want to be transferred; she only wanted to go to Zhongdu Military Academy’s Department of Agriculture!
Could it be that priority was based on cultural exam scores?
No!
Li Yang recalled the materials she had read and realized that the practical tests always ranked students, with those ranked higher having priority in school choice.
But how did one rank in survival mode? The only criterion for this practical test was to survive three days.
An answer gradually formed in Li Yang’s mind: “You have to kill mutated creatures!”
This wasn’t mentioned in the “Entry Guidelines,” and the proctors had given no hints, so Li Yang wasn’t sure if her guess was right.
But what else could there be for ranking?
They couldn’t possibly rank by who lived more comfortably these three days.
Well, she had been quite comfortable, but such an intangible criterion would be unfair.
By contrast, counting mutated kills was easy to calculate.
Li Yang had killed quite a few mutated creatures, but would those tiny “snufflers” that weren’t even in the guidelines count?
If they didn’t, wouldn’t she lose the priority to choose her school?
Li Yang couldn’t sleep and sat up to ponder carefully.
First, she had to pass the practical test; second, she had to secure a good ranking. Of course, the premise was to ensure her own safety.
It seemed she couldn’t just hide tomorrow; she had to explore and improve her ranking.
If she was eliminated, she wouldn’t panic. She still had two years of life and could always “repeat a year.”
Anyway, she wanted to go to Zhongdu Military Academy’s Department of Agriculture!
“Quick! There’s a big tree here! Let’s climb up and hide!” a student screamed in terror.
Li Yang narrowed her eyes and instantly saw the “star radiance” in the distance.
Good heavens!
This wasn’t a stray flicker but genuine “star radiance.”
Under the cover of night, the star radiance gathered like a mass of blue flames. Due to the distance, Li Yang couldn’t clearly see what mutated creature it was, only four people running toward her.
Chen Song’s six-person group was now down to four, and they were facing the greatest crisis they had ever encountered.
This was at least a first-grade, seventh-rank mutant plant!
For students who hadn’t drawn stars into their bodies, this was a death sentence.
Fortunately, they were lucky enough to spot a large tree. If they could climb up quickly, they could temporarily avoid danger.
The mutant plant looked like a gigantic man-eating flower, about a meter tall, with little jumping ability—definitely unable to climb trees.
After two days of hardship, even those who hadn’t read the “Entry Guidelines” much knew that the big trees in the quarantine zone were relatively safe.
That’s because these large trees rarely mutate—due to their size, they require too much star radiance. It would take decades for one to mutate. And if it did, it would be higher than second grade and wouldn’t appear in this two-star quarantine zone.
This particular big tree just happened to be Li Yang’s resting place for the night.
After Chen Song and his three companions hurriedly climbed up, they immediately spotted Li Yang’s makeshift “tent” on the huge branch.
Four pairs of eyes met in stunned silence.
Only this time, Li Yang was no longer surprised; the shock was all on Chen Song and the others.
Chen Song’s condition was far worse than Xu Wenpei’s group. Mud covered him, a thick bandage was wrapped around one arm, and blood flowed from a wound on his leg. He could barely climb the tree thanks to his 88 physical value.
The others also saw Li Yang, their expressions uniformly incredulous.
Chen Song was arrogant but not foolish. He quickly reacted, saying, “‘Entry Guidelines’…”
Li Yang didn’t bother with such formalities and bluntly said, “Someone’s already here.”
Chen Song’s teammates became anxious. “So what if someone’s here? This big tree is big enough for all of us to take refuge!”
Li Yang glanced at the approaching star radiance and said, “The more people there are, the more mutated creatures it attracts.”
The four were stunned.
One asked in surprise, “Have you never encountered mutated creatures when you were alone?”
Actually, it wasn’t necessary to ask—just looking at Li Yang’s state was enough.
After surviving two days, she was unscathed and full of energy, as if she were on a spring outing.
“So that’s why…” Chen Song’s face turned pale as he muttered, “I knew the practical test couldn’t be this hard…”
As a student with 88 physical value, he should have passed this practical test without fail. Yet, several times over two days, he almost pressed the rescue device.
Why was it so difficult?
Because they ignored the “Entry Guidelines!”
Li Yang said, “If you don’t come down soon, you’ll attract more mutated creatures on night patrol.”
One person said, “No! I won’t come down! That man-eating flower will eat us!”
Li Yang couldn’t see clearly what mutated creature was wrapped in that star radiance in the dark. Hearing this, she realized—it was a mutant plant.
Another said, “It’s at least first-grade, seventh-rank! Going down means… means…” They didn’t say death outright but certainly meant pressing the rescue device.
Pressing the rescue device would just bring the proctors to take the person away; they wouldn’t handle the mutant plant. After all, for proctors of third grade, a first-grade mutant plant was insignificant.
Li Yang quickly assessed the situation and decisively said, “We have to take it down. Otherwise, we’ll all have to press the rescue device.”
If they didn’t clear it, they couldn’t get down from the tree.
But if all five stayed together too long, they might attract powerful flying mutated creatures, which would be troublesome.
Of course, Li Yang had a personal interest.
A first-grade, seventh-rank mutant plant…
How many “lives” would that be worth?
She wanted to test her strength. If she couldn’t win, she could escape. Otherwise, if they all stayed trapped in the tree, sooner or later they’d be dragged down with them.