Hopeless, Completely Hopeless

Ye Buyu lowered her white-feather lashes and silently turned to walk away. After a few steps, she heard a dry branch snap behind her, and every muscle in her body tensed.

She walked faster and faster, then broke into a desperate sprint.

"Holy crap, are we starting on hard mode already?!"

The University Alliance staff were secretly monitoring the area. Countless numbers filled a massive screen, each representing an examinee.

At the first sign of trouble, the staff stationed here would intervene to keep the examinees safe.

Every teacher could use their own terminal to check on any student who interested them. The main screen only displayed emergencies.

"Principal Lan, shall we watch Mu's performance together?" a tall man in casual clothes called out.

"No, thank you, Mr. Zhao Zhe. I'm planning to watch another student." Lan Huaiyu politely declined. With Mu Bingge's third-tier strength, handling a level-four Calamity would be no problem.

She was more concerned about Ye Buyu, who might well be the weakest of all the examinees.

"Another student?"

The other teachers grew interested too. What sort of student could make Lan Huaiyu pass over Mu Bingge to watch them instead?

Lan Huaiyu made no attempt to hide it and brought up Ye Buyu herself.

"A new special-admission student at the Four Symbols Academy. She only awakened recently."

"Could she be an even greater genius than Mu Bingge?"

Before the words had finished, a red light flashed. Everyone immediately turned, and a grim tension swept through the room.

On the main screen, a white-haired, red-eyed girl was running in a wild scramble, pursued by a Calamity wreathed in lightning and radiating danger.

Through the savage lightning, they could only glimpse its gaze steeped in cold killing intent, its strange, grinding joints, and its highly dangerous weapon.

"A level-four Thunder Monster? How did this student run into something so troublesome right at the start?"

Lan Huaiyu frowned. It looked as though she would have to get Ye Buyu to safety first.

Just as Lan Huaiyu was about to intervene, however, Ye Buyu stopped on the screen.

She crouched behind a massive tree and peeked out at the robot clanking forward. It seemed she was not its target.

Only up close did she notice that the robot was covered in rust. Almost all its outer casing had peeled away, and its tangled cables dangled to the ground, yet it still doggedly trudged deeper into the forest.

Was there something deep in the forest?

Flying, scythe-shaped gusts slashed at the robot, refusing to let it advance another inch. Locked in a stalemate, the robot raised its damaged gun and fired lightning-wrapped bullets into the wind.

A blinding storm erupted, mercilessly destroying the surrounding trees. As lightning exploded and more gusts joined the fray, the storm grew larger and fiercer. Ye Buyu immediately gave it a wide berth and quietly slipped away.

The watching teachers took in the entire scene.

"Aren't the Thunder Monster and Wind Scythe a single entity? Why are they fighting? This student... if I'm seeing this correctly, she's only first tier, isn't she?"

"Are there any first-tier students taking this year's Gaokao?"

Lan Huaiyu cleared her throat. "She's a special-admission student at the Four Symbols Academy. She only awakened recently. Her name is Ye Buyu."

The teachers: ...

How ruthless! Sending a first-tier student in there for field training!

The male teacher named Zhao Zhe, however, noticed something. "Mu Bingge was the only one to receive a special-admission spot at the Four Symbols Academy this year. Now they've given Ye Buyu one too. It seems there's something special about her."

Lan Huaiyu raised an eyebrow. "Which Awakened isn't special? What do you all make of what just happened?"

Zhao Zhe considered it. "There should be something in the forest, something the Thunder Monster and Wind Scythe are fighting over. When the previous team explored the area, both were obstacles. They probably missed that detail."

The people from the Social Security Bureau had killed everything too quickly while preparing this area as a Gaokao testing site. They might have overlooked some information.

Lan Huaiyu, however, did not think the Social Security Bureau would miss something so obvious. Unless... some unexpected change had occurred in this area since then.

"To be safe, flag this area. Everyone, pay particular attention to any students who enter it."

"Understood."

They continued watching the screen. After some time, the examinees scattered across the area had begun moving, methodically dealing with the Calamities they encountered and recording everything they found.

Ye Buyu had intended to find somewhere relatively safe, but one problem came right on the heels of another. No sooner had she escaped the terrifying robot and Wind Scythe than she ran into mutated plants and animals.

"Unbelievable. At this rate, I'm going to die the second I land."

No more running. Eat a healing bullet!

Just as Ye Buyu drew her gun to shoot the wild rabbit doggedly pursuing her, a golden flame descended from above. It swept past the densely leafed treetops and struck the rabbit, instantly burning it to ashes.

"An examinee getting chased by a level-two Calamity? Now I really have seen everything."

A bright, cheerful voice came from above. Ye Buyu looked up to see a boy sitting sideways on a treetop, refinement evident in every detail of his appearance, flashing a radiant smile.

"Hi, I'm Su Wuwei. What's your name?"

"Thanks. I'm Ye Buyu." Putting away Floral Edict, Ye Buyu tilted her head up toward him. "Aren't you coming down?"

Su Wuwei blinked, then flipped off the branch and jumped down. His amber eyes swept over Ye Buyu as he said cheerfully, "Ye, unless I'm mistaken, you're only first tier."

"I don't remember there being any first-tier students in this year's Gaokao."

Ye Buyu sighed. "Special circumstances."

Walking half a step behind Ye Buyu, Su Wuwei wore a sunny smile and asked with easy familiarity, "Have you discovered anything? I've only run into a few level-two Calamities around here. Unfortunately, I haven't found any useful clues."

Ye Buyu gave him a puzzled look and pointed with her chin at the distinctly unusual mountain. "If you want clues, go over there. It's obvious."

Judging by the metal protruding from its surface, there had to be something wrong with that mountain.

A question mark practically appeared above Su Wuwei's head, and a trace of wariness flashed in his eyes. "Mountain? You mean the sleeping magical-beast-type Calamity beside us?"

Ye Buyu faltered slightly, then lifted her red eyes speechlessly toward that mountain, its green so dark it was almost black.

A magical beast... what the fuck!

Hopeless. Completely hopeless. With eyesight this bad, I could get eaten by a Calamity without even realizing it. I'd still think it was something perfectly normal.

"Heh, so it's a magical-beast-type Calamity. I thought it was a mountain with some weird metal object stuck in it."

Su Wuwei's hand froze behind his back, and the flame gathering in his palm nearly went out.

"You really know how to joke, Ye."

Ye Buyu gave him a weary look. "Just pretend it was a joke."