Test

Early the next morning, the door to the Class Zero classroom was still closed.

The hallway was quiet. The fresh paint on the walls had not fully dried yet, and a faint smell of glue lingered in the air. When Tang Wulin arrived, Xie Xie was already crouching by the door, clutching a watch strap in his hand with his head lowered, as though waiting for something. Hearing footsteps, he looked up and stuffed the strap into his pocket. "Boss, why are you so late today?"

"I'm not late." Tang Wulin stopped beside him. "You just got here too early."

Tang Wulin was happy, because Xie Xie finally had that drive again. It was only a little, but at least it was there.

Xie Xie did not reply. He stood and dusted off his pants. Footsteps came from the end of the hallway, and Gu Yue walked over from around the corner, empty-handed, her pace as unhurried as usual. She stopped two steps away from them without speaking. Tang Wulin did not speak either, and the three of them simply stood in the hallway and waited.

Zhang Yangzi and Wang Jinxi arrived soon after. The two were inseparable wherever they went.

After a while, another set of footsteps sounded from the other end of the hallway, heavier and more steady than the first. Wu Changkong approached with a stack of forms in hand. He stopped at the classroom door, glanced sideways at the five of them, then pushed the door open and went inside.

Long Bing followed a few steps behind him, carrying a flat metal case in her arms. Its surface gleamed with a deep blue luster, like the casing of some kind of instrument.

"No training today. We'll test first." Wu Changkong placed the forms on the lectern. "One per person. Fill in your name and age. Strength first, then speed, and finally spiritual power."

When Xie Xie took a form, he glanced at the fields on it. "...What are we testing this for?"

"To keep on record as a reference for future training." Wu Changkong's voice was even. "Once the tests are done, you'll know where your limits currently lie."

The strength tester in the training hall had already been calibrated. The heavy machine was fixed to the floor, blue points of light flickering across its panel. Beside it stood a sleek spiritual power tester, a crystal embedded at its center and giving off a soft white glow, as if waiting to be awakened. The two machines stood side by side, their shadows almost the same length.

Wu Changkong stood to one side with a record book in hand, while Long Bing stood on the other with a stopwatch. The training hall fell quiet for several breaths, with only the low hum of the ventilation system overhead.

"Strength test first," Wu Changkong said. "In order. One at a time."

Xie Xie was the first to step up. He took his position before the strength tester, rolled his wrist, then clenched his fist and slammed it down. The number on the panel jumped several times before stopping within the range he had expected. Wu Changkong glanced at it, made a note in his record book, and offered no comment.

Gu Yue was next. Her steps were steady as she walked over, without any unnecessary movement. She raised her hand and threw a punch, her force focused and precise. The numbers on the panel flickered through several rounds before finally stopping at a fairly high value. Wu Changkong wrote down another note, still without comment.

Xie Xie let out a breath. "Not bad. Higher than Gu Yue's."

When it was Tang Wulin's turn, he walked up to the strength tester and stood before it. The machine was a head taller than him, its panel giving off a dim glow as dark-blue indicators pulsed slowly, as though awaiting some kind of signal. He did not raise his hand right away. Instead, he looked at the tester first, as if confirming something. A moment later, he raised his right hand.

When his first punch landed, the numbers on the panel began climbing rapidly. They skipped through one sequence after another, then stopped at a value most people had not even had time to calculate.

Xie Xie was still clutching his form as he craned his neck toward the panel. "How much?" No one answered him, but Wang Jinxi quietly added from the side, "...T-two... two tons."

They all knew Tang Wulin possessed tremendous strength, but none of them had expected that power nearing two tons was merely a warm-up.

Wu Changkong made a note in his record book without pausing. "Continue. Use all your strength."

Tang Wulin lowered his right hand, palm facing down, then clenched it again. Golden scale patterns emerged from his knuckles and spread across the back of his hand to his wrist, covering his entire right hand. The patterns were clear and sharply defined.

He threw another punch. The instant his fist struck the instrument's surface, a sonic boom erupted. The resulting smoke obscured Tang Wulin's right hand, while the number on the panel surged sharply upward, more than doubling its previous value. After the number finished rising, it held steady for several breaths, as though it had finally found somewhere to settle. Xie Xie instinctively leaned closer to look. "...Almost eight tons?"

The training hall went silent for a beat, as though anything they said now would be swallowed by the hum of the ventilation system. Tang Wulin withdrew his hand. The scale patterns faded from his fingertips like a receding tide, until only a few faint golden traces remained on the back of his hand, slowly growing dimmer. He did not look at the number on the panel. He merely let his hand fall back to his side.

"Speed test." Wu Changkong closed the record book. "The straight track on the east side of the field. One hundred-meter sprint, three runs, best time counts. Tang Wulin, you're first."

The straight track on the east side of the field had been newly marked. The ground was level, and rows of white flags had been planted along both sides of the track. Wu Changkong stood beside the finish line with a stopwatch in hand, while Long Bing stood by the starting line to give the signal. Tang Wulin took his position behind the line, his toes braced against the white mark, his body leaning forward, his weight pressed onto his left foot.

"Ready." Long Bing's voice came from the side. "Go."

Tang Wulin's foot ground against the ground as he launched himself, his force brief and concentrated. The time he took to go from stillness to full speed was almost negligible. The airflow he created bent the white flags along both sides of the track backward for an instant before they sprang back into place. Wu Changkong stopped his stopwatch as Tang Wulin crossed the finish line. He did not announce the exact result after looking at it, but his pen paused for a moment before continuing as he wrote in the record book.

Xie Xie crouched beside the track and tilted his head toward the record book. "How much?" Wu Changkong closed it. "Next."

When Gu Yue reached the finish line, her time was half a second slower than Tang Wulin's. Xie Xie was another half second slower than her. Wu Changkong did not announce the rankings. After every test had been completed, he recorded all the data in the book, then closed it and turned around.

"The final item: spiritual power testing." He tucked the record book beneath his arm. "Tang Wulin, you're first."

Tang Wulin walked to the instrument and pressed his palm into the groove, his five fingers fitting snugly as his fingertips rested lightly against the crystal's smooth contact surface. The crystal lit up, its light surging upward from the bottom like water gradually filling a cup. The number on the panel rose one mark at a time, passing one hundred without slowing in the slightest.

Xie Xie's brow twitched. He remained silent where he stood, but the fingers clutching the watch strap loosened.

The number finally stopped at two hundred and twenty-four. The crystal's light stabilized and no longer flickered.

Gu Yue stepped forward and pressed her palm against the same spot. The crystal lit up again, its glow rising at an even, steady pace. The number on the panel passed one hundred, then quickly passed two hundred as well, continuing upward before finally stopping at a figure slightly higher than two hundred and twenty-four. She withdrew her hand, and the crystal's glow slowly dimmed. Her expression did not change from beginning to end. Wu Changkong wrote down the last piece of data in his record book, then closed it, fastened the metal clasp, and stood the book upright on the table. "The results of Class Zero's new student tests have all been recorded. Starting tomorrow, training intensity will follow the new standards."

Xie Xie finally fastened his watch strap. He lowered his head to glance at the face of his watch, then looked up at Tang Wulin. After seeming to search for the right words for a while, he said, "Boss, that punch during the strength test just now—"

Tang Wulin did not wait for him to finish. He slung an arm around Xie Xie's shoulders. "There's training tomorrow. Let's go back and rest first."

He turned and headed for the door. As he passed Gu Yue, he tilted his head slightly. Gu Yue had already lowered her hand, letting it hang at her side as usual. She did not say anything, and Tang Wulin did not stop. He continued walking.

Sunlight streamed through the window at the end of the hallway, cutting a narrow, warm strip across the floor, like some passageway that had just been cleaved open.

When Tang Wulin stepped into the band of light, his shadow stretched long behind him across the wall. His pace did not slow because of it. After he passed through, the shadows at the other end of the hallway closed in again, as though they had never been lit by that ray of light.

Inside the classroom behind them, the record book still stood upright on the table. Faint traces showed where it had been opened and closed again. No wind blew in through the window, yet the book seemed to shift lightly on its own.