Chapter 14
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Li Yang’s smile grew even brighter. The exotic plants in the danger zone were truly different—chopping down just one was equivalent to all the effort she had put in over the past two days. Judging by this, the four-leaf clovers in the Heqing district must also be top-tier high-grade plants. Li Yang’s smile startled the other candidates present; they were all thinking: she is laughing wildly! Holding an axe over the remnants of a man-eating plant... laughing uncontrollably! The examiners in the control room were speechless. What was she laughing at? Surely she hadn’t gotten addicted and wanted to monopolize all the top-grade exotic plants in the quarantine zone!
Li Yang soon suppressed her laughter and quickly reviewed the situation in her mind. It was still very dangerous. The man-eating plant was ferocious; its sprayed seeds were poisonous, and its wide mouth was lined with steel teeth. If Chen Song hadn’t been pulling it from the front, she couldn’t have harvested it so easily. And this was only a top-grade exotic plant—the lowest grade of exotic plant! Li Yang shuddered internally: exotic plants were indeed fierce. She had to stick to the agriculture department and focus on high-safety species like four-leaf clovers and golden wheat. She harvested exotic plants to extend her life, but she couldn’t lose sight of the main goal!
Li Yang reaffirmed her objectives. The other candidates were still dazed, but after hearing her words, they slowly came back to their senses. What did she say? Who was fierce? These “ferocious” exotic plants had been smashed to bits while she laughed wildly! Who was truly the fiercest, then? Li Yang looked up at them and said, “I’m leaving. Take care, everyone.” They had destroyed her overnight rest spot, but at least helped her harvest ten years of life—so it was even. Without waiting for a response, Li Yang turned and dashed toward the nearest safe zone.
Chen Song was speechless. He opened his mouth, but the words he wanted to say—“It was my fault earlier, I’m sorry”—never came out. The others panicked and called out, “Brother Chen.” Chen Song didn’t hesitate; “I’m leaving too.” Since they couldn’t gather in groups, teaming up was pointless. The student who had been poisoned reluctantly pressed his rescue device. Soon, the proctor appeared and took him away, glancing repeatedly toward the direction where Li Yang had disappeared, then disdainfully looking at the poisoned student, as if to say, “If only you had pressed it sooner, I could have seen the ‘big show’ up close.”
Indeed, without Li Yang knowing, she had already become the most talked-about candidate in the Donghua Province practical test zone. The students couldn’t see the live updates, but the proctors were closely monitoring the score rankings—Li Yang had just gained another 20 points, standing first with a commanding score of 200.
Li Yang quickly found a new place to spend the night. After settling down, she summoned the system panel:
Name: Li Yang
Lifespan: 14 years / 50 years
Physique: 90
Spirit: 90
Note: Lifespan remaining only 14 years, please harvest plants promptly to gain more life.
Li Yang felt very reassured. No need to panic now. Even if she missed the agriculture department entrance exam at Zhongdu Military Academy this year, there would be chances next year and the year after. She no longer rushed to increase her physique and spirit values; both were at 90 points, definitely enough before becoming a Star Executor. Besides, what was 14 years of life? The average life expectancy in this world was around seventy to eighty years, and she hadn’t even earned the average yet!
After a dreamless night, Li Yang didn’t wander around on the third day but stayed honestly in the safe zone, trying to root out any exotic plants she had missed. Effort pays off: with her extraordinary perception at 90 spirit points, she indeed found the small exotic plants missed on the first day. After a busy morning, Li Yang gained another year of life.
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The examiners in the control room were dumbfounded. They had expected Li Yang to sweep through the top-grade exotic plants... but instead, she carpet-bombed the ungraded exotic plants again. To be honest, the examiners began to feel sorry for those ungraded plants; each one was uprooted before they could do any harm.
By the afternoon of the third day, with the practical test nearing its end, the chief examiner’s voice rang through the entire special quarantine zone, transmitted to all candidates via their rescue devices.
“Please check your rescue devices. The current ranking of the examination scores will now be announced.”
Li Yang was startled and quickly retrieved her rescue device. Although called a rescue device, it was essentially a small communication device with a big red button that summoned a proctor for rescue when pressed. In special circumstances, a verbal code could also call for help. Besides the red button, the device had an optical head like a projector. As the chief examiner’s voice fell, a small screen was projected in front of each candidate.
At the top was a bold line of text: “301st Donghua Province First Batch Practical Exam Score Rankings.” Below were names and scores. The screen was small and crowded with text, and before Li Yang could focus, the chief examiner continued:
“The top 20 candidates in the score rankings will have the right to choose their preferred school.”
Li Yang was stunned. She had guessed correctly. The rankings would not affect passing the exam, but those in the top twenty would have priority in school selection. Twenty out of two hundred candidates... Li Yang began to feel anxious. The only mutated creature she had truly killed was the man-eating plant last night, right? Although it was a high-grade plant, it was only one, and five people had worked together to kill it. If the points were split evenly... she definitely wouldn’t reach the top twenty!
The top three names were hidden. Without hesitation, Li Yang scrolled down quickly to find her own name. At tenth place was a familiar name—Fang Chuyun, the fiercest person in Huang City. At twentieth place was another acquaintance—Chen Song, who had successfully killed several mutated creatures in the past days.
Li Yang kept scrolling down, already certain she wasn’t in the top twenty. She hoped her rank wasn’t too low, so she could still make a push in the afternoon. The chief examiner’s timing suggested they wanted candidates to seize the last chance on the third afternoon to gain more points and improve their rankings.
At sixty-sixth place, Li Yang saw another familiar name—Yu Hongyuan, the drug-addled young master with a perfect, round zero score. Beyond that, there was a long list of zeros until about the hundredth position. After that, the names turned gray, indicating elimination.
Li Yang’s heart sank. “There’s no way I have zero points...” She checked upward from sixty-sixth place, trying to find her name. None. No name. She looked again at the hidden top three names, puzzled. Could she have really broken into the top three? Did those ugly shrubs, broken flowers, and rotten grasses really count for points?
The chief examiner said, “The candidate ranked third is Lin Zhaoqin, who scored 120 points.” The rescue device finally displayed Lin Zhaoqin’s name and score, while the chief examiner announced her achievements: “Lin Zhaoqin killed 20 low-grade mutated creatures in two and a half days, earning 100 points, and killed two mid-grade mutated creatures, earning 20 points.”
All the candidates gasped in admiration. Lin Zhaoqin was truly outstanding—the cream of the crop!
The chief examiner continued: “The candidate ranked second is Zhong Qian, with 140 points.” This caused an uproar; candidates scattered throughout the zone doubted their hearing.
What? Zhong Qian was second?
The chief examiner’s calm voice went on: “Zhong Qian killed 20 low-grade mutated creatures, earning 100 points; two mid-grade mutated creatures for 20 points; and one high-grade mutated creature for 20 points.”
Someone swore loudly from afar: “Damn, that’s Zhong Shen for you—he even killed a high-grade one, amazing!” “He cleared all mutated creatures in three groups? If I were in group three, I’d have won lying down!” “Is this a mistake? He killed so many and is still only second? Who’s first then?”
On the rescue device’s projection, Zhong Qian was only second, which only deepened curiosity about the hidden first place. Among the nearly 100 candidates about to pass, only a few had figured out the truth.
Fang Chuyun from group 1 stared fiercely at the ranking screen, her mind lingering on a name—Li Yang.
Chen Song from group 8 hid in a tree hollow, pursing his lips as he stared at the rankings, the name Li Yang etched in his heart.
Yu Hongyuan from group 20, grimy and hiding in a pile of dry grass, had cursed the practical exam for two days and nights. Now, staring at the rankings in shock, he muttered, “No way, no way... Mom can’t be that sharp!”
Finally, the chief examiner announced the top rank: “Ranked first is Li Yang. She...” After a brief pause, the chief examiner revealed her score: “She earned 220 points.”
All candidates were stunned: “???”
The control room exploded—not with the examiners arguing, but with the candidates’ voices flooding in through the rescue devices. Nearly a hundred people were arguing wildly.
“Who the hell is Li Yang?”
“220 points? How is that possible?”
“Some nobody beating Zhong Qian, Lin Zhaoqin, and Jiang Yuqing?”
“What kind of crazy scoring is this? Are the examiners insane or am I?”
Li Yang herself was stunned. Ah... could it be... those ugly shrubs, broken flowers, and rotten grasses really counted for points?
The chief examiner pinched his brow and reluctantly explained: “Li Yang killed 100 ungraded exotic plants, earning 200 points...”
This announcement only made the uproar worse.
“Ungraded exotic plants count too?!”
“Duo Shao! She killed Duo Shao?”
Ignoring the noise, the chief examiner continued: “Li Yang also killed one high-grade exotic plant, earning 20 points.”
The control room fell silent for two strange seconds, then the noise surged even louder. The monitoring teachers had to ask, “Chief examiner, should we turn off the sound?”
The chief examiner, with a headache, agreed: “Yes, turn it off.”
The control room went quiet, but the quarantine zone erupted. Candidates hiding in the shadows all swore loudly. If this shock could be turned into something tangible, it might blow up the entire quarantine zone.
The rescue device’s projection showed the complete ranking list. Even Li Yang herself was dumbfounded.
The chief examiner continued unemotionally: “There are four hours left before the exam ends. We will remove the isolation walls between groups. Candidates aiming for the top twenty can cross zones to challenge mutated creatures.”
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