Yan You could not believe his eyes. The first thing the calamity formed from level-six liquid shaping metal did was throw away the examinee it should have crushed to death?
Throw her away!
Yan You stamped his foot in fury. Was that how a calamity was supposed to attack?!
Was this newly formed Wind-Thunder Cantor an idiot?
"No, that's not right."
He took a deep breath and calmed down. He had nearly lost his mind from the shock. The Wind-Thunder Cantor's behavior had clearly been abnormal. After thinking it over, the only thing that could have made it act so mindlessly was that bullet.
"Was it a special ability or some new artifact?"
Yan You pondered. Whatever it was, the person who had been thrown out deserved close attention.
Ye Buyu hurtled toward the ground like a cannonball after being flung out of the storm's center. She tried to control her body, only to discover she could not do a thing.
All she could do was cast a few heals on herself and brace for a concussion, her face worn and weary.
I'm tired. As long as I don't die, I can heal everything else once I get back up.
The storm expanded outward, carrying thunder with it. Knowing something was wrong, the main body of examinees had already stopped advancing. They could feel that awakening power from hundreds of meters away.
Before they could discover anything, they saw trees hundreds of meters ahead swept into the sky. An enormous tornado rose from the ground, and the raging winds were already close.
The examinees' expressions turned grave. A conspicuous streak suddenly shot overhead. Someone sharp-eyed realized it was a person and stared in shock.
"Holy shit, is that a fucking person?!"
"Could that be the badass who posted in the public chat?"
"Wait, how did she get out? What the hell threw her out?"
Su Wuwei's pupils contracted as he hurried along. He stepped off a branch and headed in the direction Ye Buyu had been flung.
A student from his temporary team called out, "What are you going to do?"
"Save her!" Su Wuwei shouted without looking back. "She's only first-tier!"
"What?!"
The others exchanged glances. Putting aside their confusion and shock, they quickly followed.
Almost every examinee who had come to the dense forest saw that conspicuous arc. Although they did not know what had happened, they still prayed for their fellow student.
Hitting the ground at that speed would leave even a second-tier Awakened with a whole package of broken bones.
Forced into the role of a projectile, Ye Buyu spotted the examinees below. With no time to think, she shouted:
"Retreat! That thing in there swallowed who knows how many level-four monsters! It's already undergone hyper-evolution!"
After swallowing a pile of level-four monsters, it had now fused with the thunder pool and wind core. It had unquestionably become a super calamity, not to mention the troublemaking extremist from the [Void Order].
His tone alone made it clear that he intended to use that thing to slaughter the examinees here. The situation was far more dangerous than she had imagined. If they did not run now, it would be too late.
They did not need Ye Buyu's reminder. The moment they saw her message, those who considered themselves weak had stayed on the outskirts. Everyone who ventured deep into the forest was second-tier or even third-tier.
Yet even the third-tier examinees now sensed that heart-stopping danger. The wind sliced against their skin like blades, and cracking sounds came from the trees around them.
The gale whipped up the examinees' clothing, making it snap in the wind.
"Let's retreat. With that kind of energy, even Mu Bingge couldn't keep going if she came. Let's go."
"That must have been Ye Buyu flying out just now. Since there aren't any other examinees inside, let's withdraw first."
"This is way harder to deal with than we expected. Guys, I'm out of here."
Once they decided to retreat, they retreated. Not one of them suddenly lost their mind and insisted on charging in to flirt with death.
As Awakened, they had undergone all kinds of school-organized trials during their three years of high school, some real and some simulated. The painful experiences of charging recklessly in a fit of excitement, then getting picked off one after another while trying to rescue each other, remained vivid in their minds.
There had been cases where they dismissed intelligence as too exaggerated and ended up completely wiped out. Their teachers had also thoroughly beaten out of them the notion that sheer numbers could overcome anything.
Great Xia's University Alliance had turned almost all of the Pioneers' exploration experiences into simulated scenarios, then distilled them into lessons, broken down into digestible pieces for the younger generation.
Those countless accumulated scenarios were like working through dozens of sets of "Fifty Years of Gaokao, Three Hundred Years of Practice Exams," giving the examinees a wealth of experience in handling situations.
Thus, their actions were remarkably consistent. They assessed their own strength based on the intelligence, but also retained their own judgment and chose whether to keep exploring. More importantly, they made the right call in a crisis: when it was time to retreat, they retreated.
Just as Ye Buyu was about to crash into the ground, the expected pain never came. A hand pressed firmly against her shoulder, dissipating that violent force.
The familiar dampness in the air around her nose made her look up in delight.
"Mu!"
Those aqua-blue eyes looked at her with a trace of apology. "Sorry I'm late."
Ye Buyu felt as though she had been pardoned. "Not at all! You're right on time."
She had been spared the tragedy of smashing headfirst into the ground. The timing could not have been better.
Su Wuwei, who had caught up from behind, also breathed a sigh of relief. Bewildered, he asked, "Didn't you leave? How did you end up deep in the forest? And why were you thrown out? What exactly happened?"
Su Wuwei's head was full of questions. Not a single thing happening before him made sense.
"None of that matters." Pale-faced, Ye Buyu looked toward the fully formed tornado in the distance. "What matters is that I don't think we can handle whatever's in there."
Mu Bingge's expression also turned grave. "On my way here, I contacted the teachers in the Observation Group. No one has arrived yet. I'm afraid something may have happened on the school's end, too."
Everyone's heart sank at those words.
Su Wuwei forced a smile. "That's hardly good news."
Five minutes earlier...
At the moment Ye Buyu saw the thunder pool and wind core, the teachers in the Observation Room saw them as well.
Lan Huaiyu's expression abruptly hardened. "The thunder pool and wind core are actually remnants of the [Tempest Fiend]'s power. Prepare to intervene in the Assessment. We can't let that power keep growing."
Zhao Zhe remained optimistic, his tone still relaxed. "What a rare situation. No wonder the Thunder Monster and Wind Scythe were locked in combat earlier. It looks like the [Tempest Fiend]'s lingering consciousness is gathering power."
"There's no need to worry too much. Without shaping material, it can't possibly take form in such a short time and evolve into a Wind-Thunder Cantor... right?"
Before he could finish, he saw a black-robed figure appear beside the thunder pool on the monitoring screen. The moment he heard the word "Void," his composure crumbled.
He raised a hand and smacked his own mouth. "Pah, pah, pah! Me and my big mouth! Everyone, move out! How dare they interfere with Great Xia's Gaokao! We've got to kill that [Void Order] bastard!"
A member of the Observation Group reminded him, "Um... Mr. Zhao, the other teachers have already left. I think you're the only one still here."
Zhao Zhe: "..."
He stretched out a pleading hand. "Wait for me!"
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