A video of Bai Yang instantly killing several monsters was playing on the main screen in the monitoring hall.
Countless pairs of eyes watched his every move. A considerate staff member had even switched the footage to slow motion at ten times the speed.
Wang Heng and Iron Monkey furrowed their brows. They replayed it seven or eight times, never once telling the staff member to stop.
Instant kills! No matter how they looked at it, Bai Yang had completely overwhelmed them in strength and speed!
It looked as if Bai Yang hadn't used any footwork at all. But how was that possible!?
If you were surrounded and attacked by seven or eight enormous monsters at once, wouldn't you use footwork to dodge?
Without even that basic combat awareness, how could you call yourself a warrior?
Still unwilling to accept it, Wang Heng said, "Slow it down to one hundred times. I refuse to believe this!"
This time, the footage moved at an absolutely glacial pace.
The scene lasted only three seconds, yet everyone spent several minutes watching it.
"I see it! Look at his eyes! Zoom in and play it again!" At last, one of the staff members spotted what was going on.
Wang Heng and the officer immediately focused on Bai Yang's eyes. In the very first second, his pupils had shifted several times, taking in the positions of all seven monsters at a glance.
Then his gaze began to grow unfocused. Was that expression...?
Boredom?
Next, Bai Yang seemed to casually thrust out his sword. A curved streak of sword light pierced straight through the heads of all seven monsters!
The seven monsters stood in different positions, at various heights and angles.
To accomplish that with a single sword strike, Bai Yang needed not only peerless swordsmanship, but also tremendous strength and speed.
He also had to be in exactly the right position—and clearly, that hadn't been a coincidence!
Without anyone noticing, he had constantly held the best position from which to fight.
He had even guided his opponents into taking the positions he wanted, making them give up their lives to help him!
This footwork was so profound and mysterious that it seemed to surpass even the so-called perfect level!
Iron Monkey's voice trembled slightly. "Is this Conception-level footwork?"
The muscles in Wang Heng's forehead bunched as he pondered deeply. "No! There are fourth- and fifth-year students in War God Camp who have Conception-level footwork!
"I've never fought them, but I've watched them in action! This is different! Completely different!!"
No clearance! Classified!
Wang Heng and Iron Monkey instantly understood the weight of those words.
That was right. They truly weren't qualified to know!
The two exchanged glances, and suddenly, everything seemed pointless. They were still just small fry!
They glanced a few times at Luo Feng on Screen 21. He was fending off several monsters, using the rare opportunity to jump and dodge, honing his footwork.
Wang Heng suddenly sighed. Unwilling to watch any longer, he turned and left for the Thunder Dojo's quarters to sleep.
The officer nicknamed Iron Monkey had a duty to fulfill and couldn't leave.
For him, too, the night was bound to drag on.
No one in the monitoring hall wanted to keep watching Bai Yang. They couldn't understand what he was doing anyway, so watching was pointless.
Bai Yang, of course, knew nothing about this. He had meant to show off his skills, but hadn't expected such an impressive reaction.
At that moment, twenty-seven or twenty-eight monster corpses lay scattered around him.
He had cleared out the entire center of the town.
The monsters nearby had already realized this was "his" territory. They didn't dare come and cause trouble anymore.
He lit a fire and casually turned a makeshift spit.
He was roasting monster meat, looking like he meant to enjoy a good meal.
In truth, the moment his palms touched the fresh meat, he had secretly opened them and absorbed some of it into his body.
The Shadow Cat's speed, the Iron-Haired Wild Boar's defensive strength, and the Tiger Mastiff's senses and explosive power.
His Monster King ability was analyzing and absorbing the excellent genes of these three types of monsters.
On the surface, he looked like he was sitting still and roasting meat. Inside his body, however, a deeper evolution was taking place.
After about ten minutes, Bai Yang stood up and stretched.
"These three monsters are too weak! No wonder they're H-Rank. My base stats are already so high that they barely added anything.
"If I really want to get stronger, I'll have to venture deeper into the Wilderness Zone and find some tougher monsters."
As far as he was concerned, the practical assessment was now completely over.
Once he returned tomorrow during the day, he would get an account and log into the Huaxia Military Network to start buying cultivation manuals—including the most important Guidance Technique.
By then, his practical combat ability would improve by leaps and bounds.
He just hadn't quite decided which techniques to choose.
Whether it was Hong's World Destroyer spear technique or Thor's Nine-Layer Thunder Blade, neither quite felt right. They didn't seem especially suited to him.
Everyone else was fighting desperately—or even running for their lives—out on the outskirts. They were all making the most of this rare opportunity, staying up all night to improve themselves.
He was the only one leisurely cooking in the middle of town, then dozing off.
There was satellite surveillance here, so there was no need to practice the Five Hearts Toward Heaven Cultivation Method. Otherwise, he was afraid he'd frighten everyone.
In truth, everyone was already plenty frightened.
After daybreak, the Quasi-Martial Artists began filing out of the Monster Town entrance.
Nearly all of them were stained with blood, whether it belonged to the monsters or to themselves.
Some Quasi-Martial Artists had to be helped out by their friends.
Luo Feng, Wan Dong, and Ma Xiao had been recruited early from among this batch of Quasi-Martial Artists, and their results drew the most attention.
"Luo Feng, 36! More than Ma Xiao!"
"Wan Dong, 51?"
The results of the two immediately drew gasps.
Yang Wu returned with five ears, his haul complete and excitement written all over his face.
Before he could congratulate Luo Feng, he saw soldiers escorting him away.
Yang Wu could only wait outside, glancing toward the town entrance every so often as he waited for Bai Yang.
A little while later, Bai Yang finally walked out and went to turn in the monsters' left ears.
"Bai Yang, five! Is that all?" After the officer spoke, he gave him a meaningful look.
Bai Yang and Yang Wu, standing nearby, both froze. What did he mean by that?
"You clearly killed so many monsters. Why didn't you cut off more ears?"
Bai Yang had a vague idea what he was getting at and smiled. "More wouldn't make them any more filling. Isn't just passing enough?"
You seemed to enjoy eating them just fine. You even said they were chewy!
The officer grumbled inwardly. He couldn't quite contain his curiosity, so he'd asked a couple of questions. That was the limit; he couldn't press any further.
Luo Feng had come out by then as well, and he directly turned down Wang Heng's offer to recruit him.
Unlike in the original story, Wang Heng had far less interest in recruiting him; it was almost just a formality.
The three naturally came together. Watching them from a distance, Wang Heng sighed again.
Just then, a rumbling sound suddenly came from the sky.
Wang Heng and Iron Monkey both changed expression. It was the sonic boom of flying saucers traveling at tremendous speed!
"Enemy attack!? Everyone, on alert!"
They instantly snapped into action, their bodies brimming with killing intent.
The examinees who hadn't boarded the train also sensed something was wrong and looked up at the sky.
"F-flying saucers! Two of them!?"
"What are they doing?"
"Are they racing? Have the five great nations gone to war?"
"How could that be! What are you even thinking?"
Bai Yang took a curious look as well. Then he noticed that the deep-blue flying saucer looked oddly familiar.
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