Cadet NO.3 Jing Liuli

One hundred meters beneath the Ember Organization, at the central arena.

Yun Meng had arrived ahead of everyone else.

Unlike the casual clothes she had worn at the training grounds above, she had now changed into a Combat Suit.

The black skintight Combat Suit gave off a muted sheen beneath the cold lights, and her graceful figure drew furtive glances from quite a few male cadets outside the arena.

Seeing that these little ones still hadn't felt the pressure of the Final Assessment even now, Yun Meng's eyes flashed with amusement.

"Little ones, are you ready to welcome the real hell?"

Yun Meng clapped her hands, and enormous transparent barriers suddenly rose around the central arena, completely sealing off its interior from the outside.

When the barriers fully closed, a gap suddenly split open in the center of the arena floor.

Thud, thud, thud—

Accompanied by a series of heavy, powerful footsteps.

A massive creature nearly twenty meters long slowly emerged from the opening in the arena.

"Are you kidding me? This thing's Star Energy Fluctuation is close to three thousand!"

As Caroline stared at the enormous creature in the arena, her cat ears instantly puffed up into balls of fur.

Her usual composure had vanished, replaced by obvious fear.

Even Caroline, ranked fourth among the cadets, was like this. The others naturally weren't doing much better.

Yun Meng nodded in satisfaction as she watched the terrified expressions of the cadets.

This was how they should look when facing the Final Assessment.

"Rank 2 Star Beast: Earth Dragon Lizard. That's right, this is your Final Assessment for today."

"The assessment itself isn't complicated. Do everything you can to last three minutes against this fellow."

"Of course, considering the vast gap in strength between you and this big guy, as well as the fact that some of you possess non-combat Star Cores."

"This Final Assessment will not be an individual challenge, but a team challenge. You may form teams of up to three people to take on this big guy together."

"Alright, I've finished explaining the Final Assessment."

"Now, go find teammates who suit you."

With that, Yun Meng walked straight over to the Earth Dragon Lizard and affectionately patted its rock-armored head.

This enormous beast, which could easily tear apart a large armored vehicle, seemed as harmless as a tamed puppy in her hands.

But that was only because Yun Meng was its Rank 2 Star Envoy master.

If its target changed to Tiandao and the other Starborn whose Star Energy had yet to reach Rank 1.

Then this Rank 2 Earth Dragon Lizard would show them what true cruelty was.

Even Tiandao, the strongest among the cadets, was no exception.

However, since the organization dared to release this big guy as the examiner for the Final Assessment.

They must have had their reasons.

Thus, after their brief shock, the cadets began moving toward Tiandao in the crowd.

After all, since this was a team challenge, there was no one more suitable as a teammate than Tiandao, the top cadet.

Quite a few people had this thought, including Chen Kong, the protagonist.

"B-Brother Tiandao..."

Chen Kong looked at Tiandao nervously. He wanted to ask to form a team, but was too embarrassed to say it.

Tiandao smiled and patted his shoulder. "Nothing we can do, Little Kong. This assessment's a bit troublesome. Even with you, I can't guarantee I can handle this guy."

"Besides." Tiandao turned to look at Chen Xing in the distance. "Compared to me, isn't there someone over there who's clearly a better partner for you?"

Seeing Tiandao look toward Chen Xing, Chen Kong lowered his head nervously.

He clearly didn't dare ask Chen Xing to team up.

Yet Chen Xing, who constantly mocked Chen Kong but had always cared about him, actually took the initiative to walk over.

"Idiot. Don't hold me back later."

"O-Okay, sis."

As he watched Chen Kong being led away by his sister, Tiandao suddenly teased Caroline, who was beside him with her head lowered in thought. "Hey, Caroline, do you think Chen Xing has some hidden trait or something?"

"Otherwise, why does she obviously care so much about Little Kong, but act like they're enemies whenever they meet, as if she wants Little Kong to disappear from this world on the spot?"

Caroline was using her cat tail to curl around her Tactical Tablet, continuously analyzing the Earth Dragon Lizard's data.

She couldn't be bothered to respond to Tiandao's boring question, which had nothing to do with the assessment, and simply ignored him.

Seeing Caroline use 'cold violence' on him.

Feeling a little bored, Tiandao immediately turned to look in a certain direction within the crowd.

After all, Yun Meng had said that teams could have up to three people this time.

His team was still missing one person.

But Tiandao had long decided on that final candidate.

Ignoring the group of classmates around him who wanted to come over and cling to him, he walked straight toward a girl hugging a pillow and sleeping on the floor.

Ridiculous as it was, this girl was genuinely asleep during the crucial Final Assessment.

And from the looks of it, she seemed to be sleeping quite soundly.

Looking at Jing Liuli, who looked as though she were about to sink entirely into her pillow, Tiandao crouched down. With a mischievous grin, he picked up a strand of her long purple hair that had fallen beside her and used the tip to tickle her chubby, fair cheek. "Hey, Liuli. The assessment's about to start. Wake up."

Feeling the itch on her cheek, Liuli frowned in her sleep, then forcefully pulled the pillow over the back of her head, revealing several large words written on it.

In battle, do not disturb

Seeing Jing Liuli holding up her "fierce battle" sign, Tiandao burst out laughing.

Seriously, Caroline was always saying he was unreliable. Did she not see that among these thirty-six Starborn, not one of them was reliable? They were all problem children!

Seeing that ordinary methods couldn't wake this girl up.

Tiandao immediately brought out his ultimate weapon.

"Liuli, the cafeteria's serving food."

"Zzz... Food... food?!"

Jing Liuli sprang up from the floor, and the jacket draped over her like a blanket slid off, revealing the teddy bear pajamas underneath.

She looked around excitedly, seemingly searching for the "food."

But no matter where she looked, all she saw were classmates anxiously searching for teammates, along with Tiandao wearing a wicked grin.

At that point, how could she not realize that Tiandao had tricked her?

Puffing out her cheeks, she pulled a marker from her clothes. Then, under Tiandao's baffled gaze, she added several large words to the back of the pillow.

Tiandao the liar and dogs forbidden from approaching

After doing all that, Liuli fell back to the ground with a thud and went right back to sleep.

Seeing his first ultimate weapon fail.

Tiandao immediately pulled out his final trump card.

"Liuli, wake up. The assessment's about to start. If you don't get up, I'm going to tell Chen Xing that you were the one who stole the snacks she hid."

Swish!

Liuli's eyes flew open, and she got up briskly. "Tiandao, I'm awake. Hurry up and tell me what the assessment is about. I'm going to take it seriously."

Seeing Liuli's amusing look of bone-deep fear toward Chen Xing, Tiandao couldn't help laughing.

Thinking about it carefully, it made sense. Jing Liuli was ranked third among the Starborn, second only to Tiandao and Chen Xing.

There weren't many cadets in the entire base who could give her a headache.

Tiandao was one.

Chen Xing was another.

Of the two, Jing Liuli feared Chen Xing the most.

The reason was that Chen Xing, who was extremely competitive, would always go all out whenever she faced Liuli, striking ruthlessly with every move.

It made Jing Liuli miserable, leaving her unable to slack off happily the way she could when fighting Tiandao.

Over time, Liuli, who feared pain, exhaustion, and hardship, gradually developed a fear of Chen Xing and came to regard her as a nightmare.

The moment she heard the name Chen Xing, she would instantly enter a state of alert, her guard raised to the maximum.

She was terrified that Chen Xing might come within five meters of her.

Therefore, as long as one understood this, waking the sleepy Jing Liuli was naturally no difficult task.

Now that Jing Liuli was finally awake, Tiandao knew that the final teammate for his Final Assessment had at last taken her place.

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