Monsters Are Terrifying, but People Are Even More Terrifying

After selecting their equipment, everyone gathered in the parking lot.

A Martial Warrior Alliance staff member loudly announced the rules of the practical examination.

"The objective of this practical assessment is simple: obtain at least three left ears from Elementary Monsters."

"You may set traps, hunt in groups, venture out alone... whatever tactics you use are acceptable. As long as you obtain monster ears, you pass—even if you merely pick them off a corpse."

"Otherwise, you fail the assessment."

The rules sounded simple enough.

Kill three Elementary Monsters with ears within three days. The difficulty was neither too high nor too low.

After announcing the rules, the staff member continued, "All martial warriors, please board the vehicles. Each vehicle can carry thirty people. Your combat backpacks, along with rations and medicine for the next three days, have already been prepared."

The Wilderness Battle Vehicles used for the examination resembled buses, but their outer shells were far sturdier than those of ordinary buses. Even Monsters could not smash through them.

Two 23mm autocannons were also mounted on each roof. In the event of danger, they could be activated to spray the Monsters with fire.

Qin Heng and the others boarded one after another. The 174 Quasi-Martial Warriors took six vehicles, and with one Supervisory Examination Vehicle, there were seven in total.

Once everyone was in position, the vehicles immediately started up, left the parking lot, sped onto Central Avenue, and headed for the Border Wall.

Inside the vehicle, Qin Heng and the others each received a large backpack.

When they opened them, they found iron boxes inside—military ration sets. There were quite a few flavors, and each box counted as one meal.

According to the labels, besides food, the boxes also contained matches, cotton swabs, insect-repelling powder, disposable soap, and other supplies. The provisions were remarkably comprehensive.

"I feel like we're going on a trip," Zhao Dongxing said with a smile.

Huang Jiancheng chuckled. "Once you get to the Wilderness Area and see the Monsters, you won't think that anymore."

Qin Heng asked, "Brother Huang, have you been to the Wilderness Area before?"

Huang Jiancheng shook his head. "Our strength ratings aren't high enough, so we're not qualified to enter the wilderness yet. We're only responsible for receiving martial warriors at the factory and processing Monster materials."

"The Monsters in the wilderness... must be terrifying, right?"

Everyone felt both anticipation and unease.

From childhood to adulthood, television had told people countless times that the wilderness was dangerous and Monsters were savage.

During training, their coaches had also told them to strive to become martial warriors, kill Monsters, and defend their homes.

Now, that day had finally arrived, and everyone's emotions surged.

Jin Wenxin glanced at the military rations in his backpack and suddenly muttered, "Monsters are terrifying, but what's even more terrifying is your own kind."

Zhao Dongxing asked, "What do you mean by that?"

Jin Wenxin said, "Didn't you hear what the examiner said just now? No matter what method you use, you pass as long as you get a Monster's left ear. With no rules set in stone, some of us may end up robbing each other—or even fighting to the death."

"This..."

The several students from Heavenly Dao Martial Hall all fell silent.

The wilderness was a lawless land.

There were no surveillance cameras, no police. Crime went unchecked, and the darkness in people's hearts could easily be exposed.

Especially when the martial warrior assessment concerned a transformation in status and standing, as well as one's future income. For the sake of profit, many people would likely cast aside moral restraints, attack other examinees, and steal their Monster ears.

"Don't worry. We'll move as a team. There are seven of us together. As long as we don't turn on each other, no one else will dare set their sights on us," Huang Jiancheng said.

"Right. We have seven people. If we join forces, even an Intermediate Martial Warrior would be no easy opponent. When others see us, they'll be too scared to bother us, let alone attack," Zhao Dongxing agreed.

The larger a team was, the more Beast Ears it needed.

A team would encounter roughly the same number of Monsters as a lone person would. If time ran out before they gathered enough Beast Ears, internal conflict could easily erupt.

That was why people only formed groups of three to five. No one would put together a team of more than ten.

Of course, the number of people was not the only factor that determined whether conflict would arise.

Differences in strength and personal grudges were also major triggers!

For example, Qin Heng...

At that moment, Qin Heng was quietly calculating his odds of winning if he clashed with Wang Peng's team.

With his current strength, Wang Peng was certainly no longer his match. He could take him down with ease.

The only one he was somewhat wary of was Qian Feilong, whose punching force had reached 1,400 kilograms.

Around noon, the battle vehicles arrived at the Border Wall.

After traveling a short distance atop the broad fortress wall, they reached a checkpoint guarded by heavily armed troops and artillery.

Qin Heng and the others looked out the windows and watched as the vehicles passed through the checkpoint, went down a slope, and entered the Wilderness Area.

Ahead lay a vast wilderness stretching for a thousand miles, with deep forests and treacherous roads. No one knew what opportunities awaited them.

The driver was also a martial warrior. He said to everyone in the vehicle, "We expect to reach our destination at four in the afternoon—Wuping Mountain Range, 220 kilometers from Nansha Base City. The terrain there is complex, and there are many Monsters and Demon Plants. If you encounter danger you cannot handle, you can use the signal flare in your backpack to call for help. But I suggest you avoid using that thing if possible. It can summon help, but it can also attract powerful Monsters. You might end up dying even faster."

"Wuping Mountain Range..."

A passage from one of his textbooks immediately flashed through Qin Heng's mind.

During cultural studies, his teacher had said that Wuping Mountain Range had once been the largest natural Medicinal Herbs base in southern China. It stretched for hundreds of kilometers and contained many rare Medicinal Herbs and wild animals.

But with the descent of the Martial Dao Heavenly Bridge and the arrival of the New Era, those mountains had become an extremely dangerous place.

Medicinal Herbs absorbed Cosmic Energy and transformed into bloodthirsty Demon Plants, while wild beasts gained extraordinary intelligence through cultivation...

After decades of evolution, the present-day Wuping Mountain Range could almost be called a "kingdom of demons and beasts."

It was not far from Nansha Base City and had always been a major defensive priority for the city. The military's satellites and radar, along with the Martial Warrior Alliance's experts, kept close watch at all times on the movements of the Monster kings within the mountain range.

Of course, Monster kings were few in number.

The outer regions of Wuping Mountain Range had relatively less cultivation energy, so one would generally not encounter overly powerful Monsters.

Thus, it had also become a training ground for novice martial warriors.

Whether they wanted to temper themselves or hunt Monsters and sell their materials, they could come here.

The area selected for this assessment lay on the western side of Wuping Mountain Range. There were relatively few Monsters there, and martial warriors rarely came to this place.

As the vehicles continued onward, the outline of Wuping Mountain Range gradually became clearer.

Qin Heng and the others admired the scenery of the wilderness from inside the vehicle. Birds or beasts occasionally passed by in the distance.

"Look, is that yellow Monster a Blade Tooth Hound?"

Zhao Dongxing spotted a Monster in the distance and spoke excitedly.

None of them had interacted much with real Monsters before. Seeing one with their own eyes in the Wilderness Area for the first time filled them with novelty.

Huang Jiancheng was more experienced. After glancing into the distance, he nodded. "It's a Blade Tooth Hound that has just reached adulthood. Its shoulder height is around 105 centimeters, its canine teeth are probably already seven or eight centimeters long, and its bite force exceeds 600 kilograms."

Jin Wenxin added, "This beast's pair of canine teeth is quite valuable. Ground into powder and mixed with tungsten, iron, copper, and other materials in a fixed ratio before being smelted and cast, they can produce A2-grade alloy with exceptional hardness. They're worth roughly 4,000 yuan."