Chapter Nineteen: Different Worldviews, Different Concepts

The area on the border of the Death Forest, neither truly inside nor outside, which had been relatively peaceful, instantly erupted into chaos with the sudden influx of over a thousand people. A large number of Exotic Beasts, drooling, sharpened their blades and prepared to strike at...

The meat of Exotic Beasts tastes quite good. Many high-end restaurants feature Exotic Beast meat as their signature dishes, prepared by chefs employing all sorts of techniques...

Such a fuss over nothing. Look at those Exotic Beasts; they don't need all those fancy methods. Just grab one, drag it back to the nest, and eat it raw. The bones can even be used for gnawing.

Now, for the next half a month, these students will serve as mobile delicacies in the eyes of these Exotic Beasts.

Several mournful howls echoed, instilling considerable unease in these freshmen. This internship isn't like the ones in elementary or middle school; it's said people can die...

An internship after graduating elementary school... tsk, is that even an internship? It's practically a drill. A bunch of unruly kids playing around, and they pass if they perform decently. Middle school was similar to a drill, just a bit more formal. But high school directly escalates to a life-or-death level. Whoa, the jump is too big!

However, there's no other way. Humanity's struggle against Exotic Beasts cannot afford a moment's relaxation. The peaceful life in the cities requires considerable combat power to maintain. The Worldview is different, and so are human approaches. In Jiu Ming's previous life, if high schools dared to do something like this, they'd be flooded with hundreds or thousands of complaints daily.

In this world, every household understands. Fighting Exotic Beasts is necessary, and if one wishes to pursue further studies, that's fine too. Beyond that, there's a three-year mandatory service period. If one proves capable and accumulates enough Military Merit during this time, they can still choose to leave early.

After all, if one person accomplishes in a year what normally takes three, it counts.

But does having connections matter? If you can do three years' worth of work in one month, you can leave whenever you want. No one will stop you, and it's not illegal... Those with deep connections don't even need to participate in the mandatory service.

Getting off track here. This internship is the time for a flock of sheep to transform. Those who are unaware are anxious. Students from privileged backgrounds or with connections know something, but they haven't confirmed the facts and are still unsure. Those who know some of the inside story are much calmer; it's a trial for transformation.

Even if they have university life ahead of them, university won't be as simple as high school.

"Let me see~" Jiu Ming, holding his Wristwatch and looking around, chose a suitable direction while standing on a tree. Currently, these students haven't spread out too much. It will be difficult to find them one by one in the coming days. The best approach is to occupy a position in the inner area. The deeper into the forest, the more dangerous it is.

This internship isn't about just spending enough time here to leave. You also need to meet a certain Hunting Standard, which involves collecting parts from killed Exotic Beasts. Experts will appraise them, and this directly affects their Final Exam scores. Cheating is strictly prohibited!

Bang--!

A brown "stick" was embedded into a tree branch next to Jiu Ming. He reached out and grabbed the straight-looking stick. The stick immediately softened and coiled around Jiu Ming's arm – a Small Snake...

Glancing at the deep hole in the tree branch, Jiu Ming casually crushed the Small Snake's head. The attack power of this Small Snake was far from enough to affect Jiu Ming's Soul Body, so it hit the tree and its head shattered!

Being a Ghost has many advantages here. Small animals and insects are not a concern at all. It's unlike those students; some were bitten by mosquitoes as soon as they entered. Fortunately, those were ordinary mosquitoes with no significant harm. Jiu Ming has encountered a Blood Mosquito the size of a basketball here before.

That thing didn't just suck blood; it didn't spare flesh and blood either. It fled after Jiu Ming broke two of its legs and half of its Stinger. The mosquito's body was incredibly tough; otherwise, it would have been smashed to pieces by Jiu Ming in the initial exchange.

It makes sense. How could a Giant Mosquito that can appear alone not be special?

Let's hope some lucky fellow doesn't run into that heavily injured Giant Mosquito.

Two Red Dots...

Looking up, Jiu Ming saw a small team of ten people. There was an acquaintance among them, Du Fei. A girl he seemed close to was beside him. He looked so pleased with himself, as if he'd been doing very well lately.

Now, this kid was twitching his nose, seemingly sniffing for something. His position was in one of the more inner areas of the ten. It seemed this team had a very clear division of labor. If this kid were at the very front, Jiu Ming estimated he'd be waiting here for a while to observe the situation.

With his combat power, which Jiu Ming considered like a sheep's, he'd be the first to fall if anything unusual happened. Placing a "Support" member at the front suggests his teammates might not be very reliable either.

The team currently looks very stable. Nodding, Jiu Ming turned and rushed to another place. He had to get acquainted with all the red dots before they completely separated. It was impossible to remember hundreds of faces, so remembering a general idea was enough.

Screech!

"Huh?" Looking at the torn fallen leaves in front of him, Jiu Ming's eyes widened slightly. Seeing the cold light flashing in the corner of his eye, he raised his hand.

Bang!!!

"...Do you even know the rules!!"

Looking at the broken tree trunk, the attacker's voice was a bit distorted. This skinny and weak guy was a cheat. It looked like a casual blow.

A female voice, so it was a woman. But why was she so unreasonable? Judging by the degree of concealment, she was a fellow traveler. Was it really okay to fight upon meeting like this? This tree wasn't planted by you. Do you have to draw a knife just to pass by?

"Rules are made by people." Jiu Ming pointed to the broken part of the tree. Logically, his attack shouldn't have broken this tree...

Buzz buzz buzz...

"Oh! Brother Mosquito."

While the woman was confused, Jiu Ming turned and extended two fingers to pinch behind him, catching a very sharp stinger. "Using this move again?"

Jiu Ming forcefully bent his fingers to the side. With a pop, just before the stinger was broken, the tip shot out like a bullet, carrying a faint fluorescence.

He extended his other hand and flicked the shooting stinger. A loud, crisp sound rang out. The flicked stinger pierced the tree trunk, and the powerful kinetic energy left a circular deep hole.

As his fingers parted, Jiu Ming had already rushed forward. The moment the giant mosquito retreated, his palm strike directly hit the giant mosquito's more vulnerable neck. A sound like cracking bone rang out. The giant mosquito's rapidly beating wings stopped, followed by a brief twitch.

He shook his other numb finger. This giant mosquito had actually dug a hole in the tree to hide, but it was quite unlucky.

"Now, can you tell me why you ambushed me?" Throwing the mosquito's corpse back into the tree hole, Jiu Ming turned to ask the woman... "Hey! You just ran off without a word!?"

Curling his lips, Jiu Ming shook his head. Muttering to himself about human nature degenerating, he turned and left. The woman didn't have much malice. Having sparred with various enemies simulated by the Mysterious Shop, Jiu Ming had a very high level of danger perception. He could easily detect killing intent if it was directed at him.

"Who exactly is this person?" After Jiu Ming left, the woman who had returned muttered to herself, regretting that she couldn't help but casually test him just now. She tapped the mosquito's corpse with her dagger. A series of clinking sounds indicated how sturdy the mosquito's body was. "A mosquito mutated to this extent was just thrown away like that?"

Unlike Jiu Ming's 'generosity', this woman concisely put away the giant mosquito's corpse, not even letting go of the stinger stuck in the tree trunk. On the tough stinger, there was a patch of fine cracks where Jiu Ming had flicked it, which made her feel a little regretful. If it were intact, it would be worth more.

After putting things away, she quickly cleaned up the traces here and left quickly. It was only the first day, and being discovered like this was truly embarrassing.

At the camp outside the Death Forest, Wang Hai nodded as he looked at the data displayed on the computer. The communication devices worn by the students could sense their life information. Once a death occurred, they would be discovered immediately. At the same time, the communication device was also a Positioning Device. It wasn't like they just threw the students into a dangerous place and ignored them.

"Hmm, as expected, the top students are the most restless." After only half a day, Jiu Ming saw that the green dots displayed on his wristwatch had begun to separate from the areas where most of the red dots were gathered. Compared to the students who were still familiarizing themselves with their surroundings, they had already chosen to push inward.

Putting away his wristwatch, Jiu Ming rushed towards the nearest green dot. He hadn't gone far when he heard a deafening roar. Jiu Ming quickly took out his wristwatch to confirm the direction and couldn't help but scratch his head. Who was so lucky? Just by hearing this roar, he knew that guy was definitely a troublesome Exotic Beast.

Without hesitation, Jiu Ming quickly changed direction and rushed over. There were no green dots in the direction of the roar, which meant a certain Normal Team had hit the jackpot...

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

"Run! Don't look back!!" As soon as the unlucky team saw such a ferocious creature appear, after a simple probing attack proved ineffective, they decisively chose to retreat. The two sides were not on the same level at all. This was a fight they couldn't win!

"Their coordination isn't very good." By the time Jiu Ming arrived, he saw their rather pathetic scene. They were being chased miserably by this Brown Bear, but seeing them grit their teeth and refuse to give up, Jiu Ming found no reason to intervene. For now, they were not in mortal danger, and Jiu Ming intervening would be against the rules. This was a time for them to make a decision.

Would they give up their qualification for the internship and choose to call for help, or would they be unwilling to accept failure and continue to struggle, even striving for hope?