The Worldview Was Different, So Their Values Were Too

The Death Forest had been relatively peaceful, at least in the neither-here-nor-there area between its borders and its center. But with more than a thousand people suddenly pouring in, it erupted into chaos. Countless Exotic Beasts drooled as they prepared to sharpen their claws and set upon...

Exotic Beast meat was pretty tasty, actually. The signature dishes at many fancy restaurants were made with it, and chefs had all sorts of ways to prepare it...

What a bunch of crybabies. Look at the Exotic Beasts—they didn't need all those fancy preparations. Just catch one, drag it back to the nest, and eat it raw. They could keep the bones to chew on afterward.

For the next half month, these students would be walking meals in the eyes of the Exotic Beasts.

A few mournful howls echoed through the forest, filling the new students with unease. This internship wasn't like the ones in elementary or middle school. They said people could die...

An elementary school graduation internship... Tch, was that even an internship? It was just a drill, a bunch of kids fooling around. As long as they did all right, they passed. Middle school wasn't much different, just a little more formal. But by high school, they were going straight into something deadly. Hey, wasn't that a bit too big a jump?

Still, it couldn't be helped. Humanity couldn't afford to let its guard down for even a moment in the fight against the Exotic Beasts. Keeping life peaceful in the cities took considerable strength. With a different worldview, people thought differently too. In the world Jiu Ming had lived in, if high schools dared pull something like this, they'd be flooded with hundreds or thousands of complaint letters every day.

In this world, every family understood. Students could keep studying if they wanted, but otherwise they had three years of service ahead of them. Those with enough ability could earn enough Military Merit to leave early.

After all, if someone accomplished in one year what would take three years, that still counted.

But what the hell did that have to do with anything? If you were capable, you could do three years' worth in a month and leave whenever you wanted. No one would stop you, and it wouldn't be against the law... Those with powerful connections didn't even have to serve.

That was beside the point. This internship was meant to turn a flock of sheep into something else. The students who didn't know what was coming were anxious. Those with well-off families or influential backgrounds knew a little, but they still weren't sure if it was true, so they couldn't relax either. The few who knew the whole story were much calmer. It was a trial, a chance to transform.

Even though they still had university ahead of them, university life wouldn't be as simple as high school.

"Let's see..." Jiu Ming held up his watch and checked it for a moment. Perched in a tree, he picked a suitable direction. The students hadn't spread out much yet, but in a few days, it would be hard to find them one by one. The best approach was to take up a position in the inner region. The deeper into the forest, the more dangerous it was.

The internship wasn't over just because they'd spent enough time here. They also had to meet a certain Hunting Standard. All they needed to do was collect a part from an Exotic Beast they'd killed and have an expert evaluate it. This directly affected their final grades, and cheating was strictly forbidden!

Thunk—!

A brown "stick" had lodged itself in a branch beside Jiu Ming. He reached out and grabbed the straight-looking stick, but it immediately went limp and coiled around his arm. A little snake...

Glancing at the deep hole in the branch, Jiu Ming casually crushed the snake's head. The little snake's attack hadn't been strong enough to affect his Soul Body, so it had hit the tree instead and smashed its own head.

Being a ghost had plenty of perks around here. He didn't have to worry about little animals or insects at all. The students weren't so lucky. Some of them had barely entered the forest before the mosquitoes had bitten them several times. Luckily, those were ordinary mosquitoes and not much of a threat. Jiu Ming had once run into a Blood Mosquito the size of a basketball.

That thing didn't just suck blood—it ate flesh too. When it ran into Jiu Ming, he broke two of its legs and half its proboscis before it fled. Its body was incredibly tough; otherwise, Jiu Ming would have smashed its head in during their first exchange.

Then again, a mosquito that could appear on its own couldn't possibly be ordinary.

Hopefully, some lucky soul wouldn't run into that badly injured giant mosquito.

Two Red Dots...

Jiu Ming looked up and spotted a ten-person team. There was someone he knew among them: Du Fei. A girl who seemed quite close to him was walking by his side. He looked positively radiant. Things must have been going pretty well for him lately.

The kid was sniffing the air as if trying to catch a scent. He was positioned closer to the middle of the group, which suggested the team had a clear division of responsibilities. If Du Fei had been at the front, Jiu Ming would have stayed put and watched them for a while.

With the combat ability of a sheep, as far as Jiu Ming was concerned, Du Fei would be the first to go down if anything unusual happened. If they were putting an "auxiliary" at the front, those teammates probably weren't much more reliable.

The team looked pretty steady for now. Jiu Ming nodded, then turned and headed elsewhere. He needed to make himself familiar with everyone before all the Red Dots scattered. There was no way he could remember hundreds of faces, but a general impression would do.

Slice!

"Huh?" Jiu Ming stared at the falling leaf that had been sliced apart and widened his eyes slightly. He caught the glint at the corner of his eye and raised his hand.

Bang!!!

"...Don't you know the rules?!"

Watching the tree trunk snap, the attacker's voice went a little shrill. What the hell was wrong with this skinny weakling? That had looked like just a casual swing.

A woman's voice. So the attacker was a woman. But why was she so unreasonable? Judging by how well she'd used Concealment, she was one of the students, no question. But was it really okay to attack someone the moment they met? You didn't own the tree. What was wrong with asking someone to move aside?

"Rules are made by people." Jiu Ming pointed at the spot where the tree had broken. By rights, that strike shouldn't have been enough to snap it...

Bzzz, bzzz, bzzz...

"Oh, Brother Mosquito!"

While the woman stared in confusion, Jiu Ming turned and reached back with two fingers, catching a razor-sharp proboscis between them. "You're using that trick again?"

Jiu Ming bent his fingers to the side. Just before the proboscis snapped, its tip shot forward like a bullet, glowing faintly.

He flicked the other hand at the flying tip. A sharp crack rang out, and the deflected proboscis embedded itself in the tree trunk, leaving a deep, round hole from the force of its impact.

His fingers spread as one, and the instant the giant mosquito pulled back, Jiu Ming charged. He struck the more vulnerable part of its neck with the edge of his hand. There was a sound like cracking bone. The mosquito's rapidly beating wings stopped, and it convulsed briefly.

Jiu Ming shook out his other, numb hand. The giant mosquito had dug a hollow in the tree and hidden inside it. It was pretty unlucky, though.

"Now, can you tell me why you attacked me?" Jiu Ming tossed the mosquito's corpse back into the hollow and turned to the woman... "Hey! You just ran off without saying a word?!"

He twisted his mouth into a grimace and shook his head. After muttering to himself that people weren't what they used to be, he turned and left too. The woman hadn't meant him much harm. After constantly fighting all sorts of enemies simulated by the Mysterious Shop, Jiu Ming had developed a keen sense for danger. He could easily detect murderous intent and other things aimed at him.

"What kind of person is he?" After Jiu Ming left, the woman returned and muttered to herself. She regretted giving in to the urge to test him with a casual attack. She tapped the mosquito's corpse with her dagger, and it rang with a series of crisp metallic clinks, showing just how tough its body was. "He just left a mosquito that's mutated this badly behind?"

Unlike Jiu Ming, who could afford to be so "generous," the woman promptly stowed away the giant mosquito's corpse. She even took the proboscis embedded in the tree trunk. A dense web of fine cracks covered the spot where Jiu Ming had flicked it, which was a little disappointing. It would have been worth even more if it were intact.

After putting everything away, she quickly cleaned up the traces of what had happened and left. It was only the first day. Getting spotted already would have been humiliating.

At the camp stationed outside the Death Forest, Wang Hai looked at the data on his computer and nodded. The communicators the students carried could detect their individual vital signs. If anyone died, the staff would know immediately. The communicators also served as Positioning Devices. The point was to let the students do an internship, not to dump them in a dangerous place and leave them to fend for themselves.

"Hmm, as expected, the top students are the ones who can't stand sitting still." Only half a day had passed, and Jiu Ming could already see the green dots on his watch moving away from the mass of red dots. While the rest of the students were still getting used to their surroundings, the top students had already started heading toward the inner regions.

Jiu Ming put away his watch and headed for the nearest green dot. He hadn't gone far before a deafening roar shook the forest. He quickly took out his watch to check the direction, then scratched his head. Who was that lucky? From that roar alone, he could tell the creature was a difficult Exotic Beast to deal with.

Without hesitation, Jiu Ming changed direction and hurried toward the source. There weren't any green dots where the roar had come from, which meant some Normal Team had hit the jackpot...

A giant Brown Bear, standing over six meters tall...

"Run! Don't look back!!" The unlucky team had seen the vicious beast appear and tried a few simple attacks, but they'd had no effect. They'd made the sensible choice to retreat. They were completely outmatched. There was no way they could fight it!

"They're not working together very well." By the time Jiu Ming reached them, they were in a sorry state. The Brown Bear was already chasing them down, and they were struggling desperately but refused to give up. Jiu Ming couldn't find a reason to step in. They weren't in danger of losing their lives just yet, and if he intervened, it would count as a violation. It was up to them to make their own decision now.

Would they give up their internship and call for help, or refuse to accept defeat and keep struggling, fighting for a chance?