Will you win?

The camp was filled with recruits training.

Soon, Yan Yan spotted Chixia carrying Ling An.

"Newcomer, want to try your hand?" he greeted her out of habit.

Sure enough, Chixia stopped and stood before him with Ling An in her arms. "Uncle Yan Yan, this is Ling An. He's here for the assessment!"

Yan Yan froze. So here he is.

Patroller affairs should have fallen under the Patroller Administration. He hadn't expected this assignment to land on his shoulders today.

He pointed at Ling An and stared at Chixia in disbelief. "Him?"

Chixia nodded. "That's right!"

"Absurd!" Yan Yan snapped. "A cat? You've got to be kidding!"

His voice drew the attention of quite a few soldiers training in the camp, and they all glanced over.

Ling An gave an annoyed meow.

Who are you looking down on, old man?

It was lucky he couldn't speak right now. Otherwise, he would have jumped up and argued with him.

Meanwhile, Chixia stood there, speechless for a long time.

She also thought the order was ridiculous, but since it was the Magistrate's decision, she could only follow it.

Yan Yan seemed to realize he was putting Chixia in a difficult position.

Muttering, he headed farther into the camp. "I'll ask the higher-ups again what's going on."

Soon, he returned with a calm expression, his voice betraying no emotion:

"Then let's begin the assessment!"

It seemed that even after repeated confirmation, Yan Yan couldn't change the fact-

There was nothing wrong with the order. The candidate really was this cat.

Chixia gently set Ling An on the ground and stepped aside.

Nearby, the recruits who had been watching curiously gathered in a circle.

They had all heard Yan Yan's grumbling in the Training Camp that day.

They also knew a cat would be taking an assessment today.

Now their eyes were filled with curiosity, eager to see it for themselves.

For a moment, whispers filled the Training Camp:

"Whoa, it really is a cat!"

"An assessment for a cat? Never heard of that!"

"Can't you see what a headache it's giving the instructor?"

"A cat... uh, won't he get sent flying with one punch?"

Yan Yan raised a hand to quiet the chatter and surveyed the crowd, showing no intention of driving away the recruits watching the show.

He bent down and looked earnestly at Ling An. "Uh, Comrade Cat, do you know what you're doing here?"

Ling An said, "Meow-"

Yan Yan slapped his forehead helplessly.

Fine. If that's what the orders say, I won't meddle any further.

He had to admit that this was the most surreal moment in his decades of life.

Soon, his gaze settled on one of the recruits watching.

He beckoned. "Jingming, come here."

"Yes, sir!"

The recruit named Jingming immediately stepped up beside Yan Yan, his expression serious.

He wore a uniform that bulged over what looked like a fair amount of muscle.

His rolled-up sleeves exposed sturdy forearms, their defined contours showing the results of his training.

Yan Yan's gaze moved between Ling An and Jingming as he said solemnly:

"Regardless, once an order is issued, our job is to obey! Now, with the Training Camp as your boundaries, the two of you... ahem, one man and one cat will face off. Ling An!"

"Meow!" Ling An lifted his head.

"Jingming!"

"Yes, sir!" Jingming stood ramrod straight.

"If Ling An can defeat Jingming within three minutes, he passes the assessment. Otherwise, he fails."

Then he added, "I don't want to go through this a second time. If you fail, I'll report it to the higher-ups. There won't be another assessment!"

"Begin the assessment!"

He stepped aside, leaving the arena to Ling An and Jingming.

The man and the cat stared at each other across the space between them.

Jingming was quite polite, though he, too, felt utterly helpless about having a cat as his opponent.

Still, he said with quiet dignity, "Brother Cat, how about we just wait here for three minutes? Once it's over, you can go back to sleeping. What do you say?"

As soon as he finished, teasing shouts came from the side, from friends who knew Jingming well.

"Go, Jingming! Don't lose to a cat!"

"Brother Cat, you've got this! We're rooting for you!"

"Yeah! This is hilarious!"

As the atmosphere heated up, Chixia got swept along as well.

She bounced on the sidelines, shouting, "Go, Ling An! Go, Ling An!"

She didn't actually think Ling An could win either. That was simply her personality-the mood made her want to shout a little.

Ling An gave them an almost imperceptible glance, then drew his gaze back.

He understood that his current appearance really did look far too harmless.

So harmless that everyone assumed he had no fighting ability whatsoever.

A little cat-at most, he had sharp claws.

What else did he have beyond that?

The opponent Yan Yan had chosen for him wasn't even a Resonator, just a recruit still in training.

Everyone thought he was a joke.

When in Jinzhou's history had a cat ever become a Patroller?

Ling An gave a faint chuckle.

In that case, he didn't mind breaking the rules and becoming the first.

At the same time, his gaze shifted to Jingming across from him.

His opponent stood motionless, quite understandably not taking him seriously.

Ling An didn't mind leaving him with a little psychological scar, either.

He stretched lazily.

Seeing this, someone immediately called out teasingly, "Kitty, don't fall aslee-"

The voice cut off abruptly.

A wave of pressure suddenly erupted from within Ling An.

His aura surged rapidly!

In an instant, Yan Yan, Chixia, and all the recruits were stunned.

Their mouths hung open, with no time to close.

His aura continued to climb, surpassing Lightwave Class and gradually approaching Overlord Class.

"Ling... An?" Chixia stared at the scene, dumbfounded.

Yan Yan's heart jolted, and he immediately understood that the order hadn't come out of nowhere.

Someone murmured, "Cats... can become Resonators too...?"

Someone else sighed in despair. "I'm not even as good as a cat. I don't want to live anymore!"

But the most shocked of all was Jingming, standing opposite Ling An.

In a daze, he felt Ling An's aura grow stronger and stronger.

Ling An had been crouching on the ground the entire time, yet Jingming felt he had to look ever higher to see him.

That aura had become so powerful that he could only look up to it.

He wasn't a Resonator, just an ordinary person.

Without a Blackstone Weapon, an ordinary person facing Ling An now was no different from a rabbit encountering a tiger.

Ling An tilted his head slightly and looked at his opponent.

Out of courtesy, he hadn't used his full strength.

He had merely let a little of his aura leak out.

Probably just a little above Overlord Class.

But that level of strength was enough to silence everyone who had underestimated him.

Now, the Training Camp was quiet enough to hear a pin drop.

Yan Yan coughed softly twice to hide his embarrassment and shock.

He stood beside Jingming and asked in a low voice, "Will you win?"

Jingming turned his head stiffly, like a robot, his face filled with anguish:

"I'll die."