Internship Begins

A lounge... well, a place that could barely be called a lounge. The room was packed full—obviously, with nearly two hundred people and only Jiu Ming, he would never be able to keep watch over them all, even if it killed him.

They could not come into contact with the students. Even after reaching their destination, they had to stay here... well, not entirely. Before long, they would all go their separate ways. Right now, everyone was aboard a small "private" plane.

They carefully scanned their surroundings. Everyone was observing the people around them, checking whether any Pig Teammates had slipped into the group.

"Everyone, I'll be counting on you from here on out." After checking the time, Wang Hai stepped forward. They were almost there. If they flew any farther, they might get shot down by the local anti-aircraft defenses. The rest of the journey, including breaking through the blockade, would have to be handled by these people themselves.

Of course, there were no restrictions on the methods they used. As long as they entered the Training Area at the same time as the students, it would be fine. Everyone here was a veteran with their own methods, so Wang Hai was not worried about that.

"Ha, Captain Wang, you're still leading the way this year? But why did you bring a cat?"

A few people familiar with Wang Hai teased him when they saw the cat he was carrying.

"Hehe, I ran into a stray cat on the road. It didn't bite me, so I brought it along."

—Hehe, just brought it along?

Who would believe that?

Still, the cat in Wang Hai's hands really did look like an ordinary cat rather than some mutated Exotic Beast. After taking a couple more looks, everyone stopped paying attention to it. Just like humans, animals did not mutate one hundred percent of the time. Plenty of humans were still ordinary people, too.

But could you really just pick up a stray cat?

Leaving everything else aside, just the potential danger alone made stray cats and dogs nearly impossible to spot in a city. People regularly culled them. Who could be completely sure that some wild animal was not an Exotic Beast disguised with special abilities?

That alone was enough. There was no need to mention anything else.

Just imagine it: an innocent-looking little stray kitten suddenly rushed into a crowd, transformed, and went on a godlike killing spree... who would take responsibility for that?

These days, even keeping a pet required going through a whole series of procedures.

A stray cat? Of course not. Jiu Ming simply did not want to possess some grown man, especially when the other party had volunteered. Driven by the mindset that some people were just annoyingly fussy, he instead found the idea of two grown men... disgusting.

Perhaps having guessed what Jiu Ming was thinking, Li Rui Ming took civilized revenge. Who said researchers could not hold grudges?

He found Jiu Ming a Female Cat!

He even said that getting a small animal was difficult enough these days, and this was all he could find for now, so Jiu Ming should just make do. As for a woman, he should not even think about it. Jiu Ming might not mind, but the woman probably would.

That was how the cat became the stray cat Wang Hai spoke of. Jiu Ming did not move much. Controlling a cat's body made him extremely uncomfortable. What concerned him more was how such a huge Soul Body had fit inside it in the first place. There had not even been any sense of crowding. The kitten's will had struggled against Jiu Ming's for less than 0.1 seconds before being completely crushed and temporarily suppressed. Even now, he could still sense the kitten's terror.

Of course it was terrified. It could feel its own body, yet it had become a bystander sitting off to the side and "watching TV." How could it not be frightened?

"Everyone, we're here." Once the plane slowed to a certain speed, Wang Hai spoke to the people inside. They all nodded. A door on one side of the "lounge" opened, and those carrying parachutes, familiar with the routine, jumped out. Those without them simply did not need them because of their abilities. There were only a few such people.

No one here was doing this for the first time, and they knew the rules well. They had set out a week early. There was plenty of time; for those who traveled slowly, the journey alone would take most of a day. Staying farther away was simply the safer choice.

"Will carrying this affect you?" After everyone had left, Wang Hai crouched down and held out a highly futuristic-looking Wristwatch to the cat on the floor.

"If I wear that thing, won't I be discovered?"

"Of course not. This thing can only receive signals and has virtually no other functions, so it naturally won't be detected," Wang Hai explained. "The students all carry communicators. This is specifically for picking up their signals."

"Fine, wearing it won't affect me. You aren't taking this thing back later, right?" With no one around, Jiu Ming simply left the cat's body. The instant it regained control, the cat's fur stood on end. It stared at Jiu Ming in terror and turned to run outside.

Jiu Ming caught it in one grab. If it ran out, it would definitely fall to its death. Once he had caught it, the kitten did not dare struggle, and he easily placed it into Wang Hai's hands.

"Why would we take it back? It isn't worth anything. You can keep it if you want."

Wang Hai waved his hand, completely unconcerned. If they really calculated its value, the Wristwatch was not even worth as much as the ordinary cat he was holding. These days, keeping a pet was not something just anyone could afford.

"Then that's fine." Taking the Wristwatch from Wang Hai, Jiu Ming jumped directly out of the cabin door. He had had enough of that cramped cabin. Other than the cockpit, the only place people could stay on this little plane was that "lounge" cabin. That showed just how small it was.

There was no such thing as a ghost falling to death, right? Ghosts were weightless and their feet did not touch the ground, so naturally they would not die from falling... but Jiu Ming had feet!

As he fell freely, he felt his descent accelerating, as if something were pulling him downward. The planet's magnetic field?

Li Rui Ming had mentioned before that some beings could leave their bodies by relying on their spiritual forms. However, once exposed to the air and deprived of physical protection, they would quickly be dissolved by the planet's magnetic field. Jiu Ming was unaffected by that, but the magnetic field could still influence him.

If he kept falling like this, perhaps he would emerge unscathed, or perhaps he would really smash himself half to death. Fall to death?

Judging by the rate at which he was accelerating, Jiu Ming was certain that the fall would not kill him. To reach that point, the height would need to be at least three times greater... if not more!

When he was still fifty meters from the ground, several ripples appeared before Jiu Ming. He vanished briefly, then reappeared in the same spot. This time, he landed easily without stirring up a single grain of dust. Mm, a perfect landing.

Jiu Ming sealed the Wristwatch into a card and could take it out whenever needed. After looking around, he found someone who had landed and was squatting somewhere at random, smoking. Jiu Ming slowly walked over and stayed nearby.

He had a poor sense of direction. In wilderness like this, it was very difficult for him to figure out where he was. Better to let someone else lead the way.

"Ah-ha~" Hidden inside a tree, Jiu Ming watched the camp set up at the edge of the forest and yawned slightly. At the same time, he felt helpless over the past few days. What kind of person was that? How could someone be such an oddball? The person he had followed that day had also been directionally challenged. Jiu Ming had followed him in circles for three days, only reaching their destination after the guy luckily ran into a colleague.

If you do not know the way either, then do not calmly squat down somewhere and smoke, okay?

The reason this student internship was so difficult was that this area had not been cleared beforehand. There were many Exotic Beasts capable of posing lethal threats to students. Jiu Ming had wandered around here for a day, and the varieties of these Exotic Beasts were truly strange.

Take the beast kings of ordinary animals, for example... not zoo directors!

Lions, for one. He had encountered lions of every rank and level. The strong ones even gave Jiu Ming trouble, but he had plenty of experience dealing with lions. That lion was probably hiding somewhere and recovering from its injuries now. As for the weak ones, some were so weak they could not even beat a cat...

Mm, that cat was only a little weaker than the powerful lion Jiu Ming had fought. So that weak lion was instantly killed.

The differences between species had become blurred. As long as something had potential, even a mouse could rise up and overturn its natural enemy.

Of course, if it encountered an opponent of similar strength, it could still be countered to death.

In short, this place had not been cleared in advance. Once the Hidden Support arrived, they began some simple cleanup work. They could not make it too obvious, but they at least had to deal with the especially dangerous threats. It even made Jiu Ming suspect this was some sort of conspiracy...

A money-saving conspiracy, ahem.

"Damn..." After finding a concealed spot, Jiu Ming activated the Wristwatch. The mass of tiny, scattered Red Dots on it was incredibly aggravating. They were spread out so far.

Then again, that made sense. A school had sent nearly two hundred people. Was that a lot? An ordinary academy could not send that many people, but it was not strange for Changhe Academy. It was not famous because it had few students. Besides Changhe Academy, another academy had sent barely thirty people, yet no one dared underestimate them.

That school followed an elite-only path. When teams were formed, those thirty were all targets people eagerly tried to recruit.

Among the hundreds of Red Dots were a few Blue Dots. The Blue Dots needed special attention, and they were spread so far apart...

The Wristwatch only had signal-receiving capabilities. Equipping it with communication functions here would be no different from courting death; they would definitely be discovered immediately. Contacting the other Hidden Support was simply unrealistic. Fortunately, everyone had their own methods, and Changhe Academy had made thorough preparations before coming here.

Each member of the Hidden Support only needed to watch over one section of the area. Several of them monitored every section, so there would not be too much confusion. Jiu Ming was hidden among the hidden, and his role was... roaming.

In other words, wherever there were more Blue Dots, he would head in that direction more often. Losing ordinary students would naturally be bad, but losing elite students would be even more painful.

Was that unfair? If they wanted more attention, they had to show corresponding value and strength.