Ruined Town, College Entrance Examination Rules

The college entrance examination was a major event in Great Xia Country.

To ensure students got adequate rest, provinces and cities began enforcing nighttime noise controls a month before the examination.

Some more upscale residential complexes even hired special sound-wave-type metahumans.

At nine every evening, they would use their abilities to block all outside noise from entering the complex.

And on the day of the college entrance examination, protections for the candidates reached an even more stringent level.

Not only were traffic controls imposed on the roads, but armed soldiers and teams of metahumans also patrolled key transportation routes to prevent unexpected incidents.

It was precisely because of this that the more than forty buses carrying students taking the Martial Arts College Entrance Examination traveled unobstructed through the city and soon entered the Military Region on the outskirts.

The buses then pulled up in an open area, and the students got off one after another.

Around the open area, a soldier stood every three meters, holding a firearm with an upright posture.

The stern expressions on their faces left no doubt that anyone daring to charge the formation would be met with a hail of bullets!

At the very front of the open area stood a temporarily constructed platform.

Behind the platform was an area enclosed by wire fencing.

Inside lay the ruins of a dilapidated town. The area was vast, stretching as far as the eye could see.

Dark shadows of ferocious beasts occasionally flashed between the ruins, accompanied by their snarls and roars.

"Whew, so that's our examination site."

"Damn, I think I just saw a Unicorn Rhino!"

"A Unicorn Rhino? No way, this year's exam can't be that insanely difficult, can it?"

"..."

The ruined town within the Military Region had originally been called Wei Yuan Town, a small settlement under Jiangcheng.

It had been overrun by a Beast Tide decades ago and reduced to ruins.

Although the military later reclaimed it, there was little value in rebuilding a place that had already become ruins, so it was simply turned into a training ground for the stationed troops.

However, every June 7, it would also serve as the examination site for the Martial Arts College Entrance Examination.

Of course,

the types of ferocious beasts placed inside were not chosen as casually as they were during regular military drills, but were determined by the Jiangnan Province Martial Arts College Entrance Examination exam setters.

All Martial Arts College Entrance Examination sites in the prefecture-level cities under Jiangnan Province used the same combination of ferocious beasts, ensuring absolute fairness.

The species and strength of the ferocious beasts determined the difficulty of the examination.

Generally speaking, no particularly powerful ferocious beasts appeared in the outskirts of the Ruined Town.

There would only be common ferocious beasts such as Shadow Cats and Iron Fur Pigs.

However, in past college entrance examinations, rare and powerful ferocious beasts such as Unicorn Rhinos and Arm Blade Tigers had appeared in the outskirts of the Ruined Town.

But that also meant the Martial Arts College Entrance Examination that year was more difficult than usual, and the risk of death was greater as well.

Thus, after spotting a Unicorn Rhino inside the Ruined Town through the wire fence, quite a few students went pale and practically fell apart.

"So what if it's a Unicorn Rhino? If you can't even handle a ferocious beast at this level, then even if you luckily get into a metahuman university, you'll never amount to anything!"

A loud voice suddenly rose from the crowd of students, drowning out their discussions.

It came from a young man dressed in a pale green combat suit, carrying a longsword like an ancient swordsman.

His temperament resembled that of a wandering hero as well—open and sharp. His eyes, in particular, were like an eagle's, carrying an intense sense of pressure.

Quite a few students turned toward him angrily, intending to argue.

But upon seeing who he was, they immediately fell silent, too embarrassed to make a sound.

Xu Jingming found this strange and curiously asked the tall boy beside him, who carried a sword and shield on his back, "Who is that? He's got a pretty big mouth."

The tall boy was named Liu Jie. He had awakened the Enhancement Type C-Rank Ability, Gigantification.

After using his ability, his body could expand to more than twice its size, and his strength would increase accordingly.

In Class 5, aside from his best friend Zhang Hao, Xu Jingming was closest to him.

"Who else could it be? Light Wind Sword Zhou Mingyang from First High School."

Liu Jie jerked his chin toward him.

"So it's him."

Xu Jingming immediately understood.

Jiangcheng First High School was the high school with the deepest educational foundation in all of Jiangcheng.

Not only did it have genuine metahumans teaching classes, but it also arranged live combat with ferocious beasts from time to time.

The students it trained were all exceptionally formidable. Nearly all of the top ten candidates in Jiangcheng's Martial Arts College Entrance Examination came from First High School.

And Zhou Mingyang was one of First High School's most outstanding students!

He possessed the Elemental Type B-Rank Wind-Type Ability, Light Swift Wind.

After activating his ability, he could not only condense wind blades but also reduce air resistance, greatly increasing both his sprinting speed and attack speed.

Light Swift Wind ranked among the First Tier of all awakened abilities in Jiangcheng.

And that was not all. Zhou Mingyang was also one of the few candidates in Jiangcheng who had advanced from an awakened individual to a metahuman.

Even before the college entrance examination, he was already a popular contender for Jiangcheng's top Martial Arts College Entrance Examination scorer, earning himself the title Gale Sword.

Naturally, ordinary candidates did not dare provoke such a powerful metahuman.

"Not bad. A swordsman should have this kind of unstoppable spirit!"

The principal of First High School, standing among the crowd, nodded in satisfaction at the sight.

Soon, all the students from the more than forty buses had gathered in the open area, arranged neatly by school and class.

Each class had its homeroom teacher standing at the front.

At that moment, a middle-aged man in military uniform stepped onto the platform at the front of the open area.

He was tall and broad, with a long scar across his right cheek.

With merely a sweep of his gaze, the students across the open area, who had been whispering among themselves, immediately shut their mouths.

If Zhou Mingyang's gaze only made people feel pressured, then this officer's gaze was like that of a ferocious beast, making their hearts tremble!

He's definitely a metahuman above the second order.

Xu Jingming silently thought from within the crowd.

"I am Wang Haiyang, chief commander of this Jiangcheng Martial Arts College Entrance Examination. Before the exam begins, I will reiterate the points requiring attention."

"This Martial Arts College Entrance Examination will begin promptly at nine in the morning and end at nine in the evening, for a total duration of twelve hours."

"The examination site is the Ruined Town behind me. Like previous examinations, the Ruined Town is divided into the outskirts, the central area, and the Core Area."

"The outskirts contain unranked ferocious beasts. The central area contains peak unranked ferocious beasts and first-order ferocious beasts."

"The Core Area is filled with ferocious beasts above the first order, while the innermost area is occupied by First-Order High-Level Ferocious Beasts and Second-Order Ferocious Beasts."

Chief Commander Wang Haiyang's voice echoed through the open area. He was not using a microphone, yet every student heard him clearly.

"The outskirts, the central area, the core, and the innermost area are like a math exam. Different areas correspond to different levels of difficulty."

"The innermost area, occupied by First-Order High-Level and Second-Order Ferocious Beasts, is like the final question on a math exam. It's specifically meant for top students to tackle."

Xu Jingming smiled faintly within the crowd.

Before this, he would have only dared hunt ferocious beasts in the outskirts.

But now, he was not only confident about entering the Core Area—he could even explore the innermost area!

"Killing ferocious beasts of different species and ranks will earn different scores."

"The higher the rank and the stronger the ferocious beast, the more points you will receive for killing it."

"However, you must all act within your limits and choose an area suited to your own strength when hunting ferocious beasts."

"Alright, resources will now be distributed."

Wang Haiyang waved his right hand from the platform. Several teams of soldiers emerged from the side, while a large truck drove over from the distance.

The truck's cargo doors opened, revealing black Tactical Backpacks.

Under the soldiers' distribution, every candidate received a Tactical Backpack.

There were three items in each backpack.

One was a Smart Watch, used to record the number and types of ferocious beasts killed and accumulate points.

It also contained a map of the Ruined Town to confirm each candidate's location.

Another item was a Compressed Energy Bar. There were three in total, and eating them could quickly replenish stamina.

The final item was a safety ball, a silver-white metal sphere.

Once activated, it could form a High-Voltage Grid around the user that ordinary ferocious beasts could not break through.

Of course, once the safety ball was used, it meant the college entrance examination had ended early.

Xu Jingming put the Smart Watch on his wrist, placed the three Energy Bars inside the Tactical Backpack and slung it over his back, then hung the safety ball from his waist.

That way, if he encountered danger, he could activate the safety ball as quickly as possible and preserve his life.

Most of the other students chose the same arrangement.

However, even with a safety ball, it did not mean absolute safety.

After all, in the midst of fighting ferocious beasts, life and death could be decided in an instant—there might not even be time to use the safety ball...