Life and Death

The perspective shifts to the testing area Yu Jing was currently in—the slaughterhouse.

"How could this happen? He's not dead even with a pierced head? The only remaining method is to throw the Butcher into the meat grinder."

Yu Jing, having leaped backward to dodge the Butcher's attack, stumbled and fell to the ground, unable to move for a moment.

Having broken free from its restraints, the Butcher was now in a state of enraged berserk. It held a cleaver in one hand and a hand axe in the other, intending to dismember Yu Jing.

"Boom!"

At this critical juncture, a violent tremor struck again. The intense shaking within the slaughterhouse made it difficult for the Butcher to stand.

Seizing this opportunity, Yu Jing regained his balance and tried to create some distance from the Butcher.

Yu Jing's attention was entirely focused on the Butcher, to prevent it from throwing its cleaver, so he didn't notice his immediate surroundings.

Unbeknownst to him, in the testing room constructed with high-density materials, a certain green plant was infiltrating the ground.

Yu Jing, scrambling to his feet, accidentally placed his palm on a spot where the green plant was emerging. A sharp pain shot up his hand.

"Ow!"

In the midst of being chased by the Butcher, Yu Jing merely thought he had pricked his hand on something sharp on the ground and didn't pay it much mind.

Unbeknownst to him, the roots of the green plant were moving within his flesh, quickly spreading throughout his arm. However, for some reason, the green plant didn't drain Yu Jing's life force as it did with others. It simply lay dormant in his arm, and no more plant matter seeped from the cracks in the ground.

Yu Jing felt no change in his body. The sudden earthquake had bought him time. Before the Butcher could stabilize itself, Yu Jing immediately circled around towards the meat grinder.

"Running away aimlessly will only lead to death. The meat grinder placed here is the only chance..."

Yu Jing circled to the side of the meat grinder and looked at Jiang Tian, who was hiding in the central ventilation duct. This woman had already done enough. If Jiang Tian hadn't risked her life to save him earlier, Yu Jing would have already died from blood loss.

"Come on!"

The Butcher seemed to hear the prey's cry. The earthquake had stopped, and the Butcher stomped its massive feet towards Yu Jing, its ruptured abdomen extending a hand, flailing wildly as if to pull Yu Jing into itself.

"Calm down!" Yu Jing stood motionless before the opening of the meat grinder.

The Butcher's increasing speed was seen as an opportunity by Yu Jing. The key to this test lay in exploiting the Butcher's weakness. Victory would require absolute calmness and a certain level of physical fitness.

As the charging Butcher swung its cleaver down at Yu Jing.

In that instant, whether due to adrenaline or some other reason, Yu Jing's eyes could clearly perceive the Butcher's movements, and his body reacted to dodge immediately.

He half-crouched, narrowly avoiding the cleaver's diagonal swing.

Due to its rapid charge and missed swing, the Butcher stumbled forward from the momentum.

"Use their momentum."

Yu Jing seized this chance to push the Butcher's body towards the meat grinder.

The massive body, weighing over 500 pounds, had its legs uprooted at that moment. The huge body toppled into the opening of the meat grinder.

"Success..."

Yu Jing watched as half of the Butcher's body was already stuck inside. Just as he was preparing to retreat, a bloody hand at the very bottom of the Butcher's abdomen writhed and, at this critical moment, grabbed Yu Jing's arm with surprising strength, dragging him into the meat grinder along with it.

Yu Jing tried to break free but was powerless.

Jiang Tian leaped from the ventilation duct with all her might, running towards the meat grinder, trying to pull Yu Jing back. But her outstretched fingers narrowly missed Yu Jing's, failing to grab him.

Yu Jing's eyes widened in shock. The humming of the machine grew louder in his ears, and his gaze suddenly became serene...

After that, all that remained in his ears was the humming and crushing sounds of the machine.

The incident with the plant in the desert was completely resolved. A small number of plant branches that had extended into the underground secret testing area outside the A-Class City of District 19 were dealt with and cleaned up by the supervisor in charge of the project. No breaches were reported along the desert perimeter, and the alien life forms were eliminated.

The extraterrestrial plant invasion was completely covered up by the state, as if it had never happened. Ordinary people simply believed the military was conducting explosive weapon tests in the desert. They were unaware of the immeasurable human casualties that would have occurred if the threat hadn't been neutralized.

Some plant samples collected by ability users were taken back to the national central laboratory for research. However, they died during transport, seemingly because the core of the plant's main body was destroyed or removed. These severed branches could not survive independently for long.

"What were the test results? The guaranteed spot for the little girl is a given, but did anyone else score 80 or above?"

When the supervisor returned to the research institute, the four-hour test had concluded. The supervisor had actually favored Yu Jing, but the current surveillance footage of Yu Jing showed him facing a rotating meat grinder.

"A pity. The rampaging Butcher's rank is considered a dangerous object that can threaten ordinary combat personnel. This person, in the end, calmly sent the Butcher into the meat grinder, but with a moment of carelessness, sent himself to his death. His final score was 92.3..."

The staff member monitoring Yu Jing did their best to explain the situation, but the supervisor immediately waved their hand, signaling that there was no need to dwell on such meaningless topics.

"True powerhouses cannot afford any mistakes. A single error leads to death. We do not offer unnecessary evaluations for deceased test subjects... What about the other test subjects?"

"There were no test subjects who scored over 90 overall," the staff member replied.

"With the start of the school year approaching, if District 19 cannot submit enough 'disciple' quotas, those spots will be taken by other districts. All unqualified individuals will be eliminated. We have one week to organize the testing areas and recruit new test subjects."

The supervisor's eyes showed no pity. Apart from Yu Xiaoxiao, who passed with a score of 97.8, all test subjects in all testing areas who did not reach a score of ninety were to be purged.