Indoor training ground.
Nearly all the recruits had awakened from their stupor. They stood together in confusion, discussing noisily.
"What exactly is going on? Why are the instructors all still here? Weren't they supposed to have died?"
"Yeah! We saw their bodies with our own eyes!"
"Did any of you see that battle atop the Steel Firmament? It was so cool! So incredible!"
"I saw it. That fake Nightfall Squad captain was ridiculously strong. Can humans really reach that level?"
"No way? You don't still think the Nightfall Squad captain was fake, do you?"
"What do you mean?"
"This was obviously a trial arranged by the instructors! They pretended that the Training Camp had been occupied by members of the Ancient God Church, then created a high-pressure, terrifying atmosphere to force us to use everything we had..."
"It was all fake? But I thought Brother Ding and Brother Shen's analysis made sense. It was so natural that it didn't seem fake at all."
"Wait, has anyone seen Brother Shen?"
"..."
Amid the crowd, Ding Chongfeng was surrounded by a group of puzzled recruits. No matter how they pressed him, he merely kept a grim expression and remained silent.
His gaze stayed fixed on the second-floor platform, as though searching for something.
"Qiye's back." Cao Yuan, leaning against the railing, saw Lin Qiye return from outside with the empty hilt of his Zhanbai blade in hand and turned to Yuan Gang.
"Mm. We'll leave the rest to you." Yuan Gang glanced at the clamorous recruits below.
Lin Qiye smiled and swept his gaze across the other members of the Nightfall Squad. "Let's go... Let's properly introduce ourselves to our recruits."
On the second floor of the indoor training ground, seven figures in dark crimson slowly emerged.
At the sight of