A week passed in a flash.
It was assessment day.
At seven in the morning, Jiang Lan arrived at the Ultimate Dao Martial Academy's plaza.
Quite a crowd had already gathered there.
Besides the Rocket Class, students from the other classes had arrived too. At a glance, there were close to two hundred people.
Chu Yun stood among the crowd. The moment he spotted Jiang Lan, he squeezed his way over.
"Bro, nervous?"
Jiang Lan glanced at him.
"What's there to be nervous about?"
"Fair enough..." Chu Yun smacked his lips. "With your strength, it makes sense that you're not nervous. But I am! I heard there are plenty of second-tier Ferocious Beasts lurking in the western suburbs. If we're unlucky, we might even run into a third-tier one."
"Isn't that perfect?" Jiang Lan smiled. "They're not handing out rewards for nothing. There has to be some difficulty."
Hearing that, Chu Yun grinned.
"True. With you around, what do I have to fear?"
"You're in Group B."
"...Fuck."
Jiang Lan patted his shoulder, struggling to hold back his laughter.
A moment later, Xiao Feng led several Academy instructors onto the raised platform at the front.
The plaza fell silent at once.
Xiao Feng swept his gaze over the crowd and spoke.
"I'll go over the assessment rules one more time."
"You'll operate in squads, with a time limit of four hours."
"Each group will receive one signal flare and one communicator. If you encounter danger you can't handle, fire the flare immediately. An instructor will come to get you."
"Scoring criteria: the number of kills accounts for forty percent, the tiers of the Ferocious Beasts for forty percent, and individual performance for twenty percent."
He paused, his voice growing more solemn.
"One more thing."
"The Western Suburbs Wilderness Zone is far more dangerous than your usual training grounds. Don't try to be heroes. Coming back alive matters more than anything else."
As Xiao Feng finished speaking, whispers rippled through the crowd below.
Jiang Lan's expression remained unchanged.
Just as Chu Yun had said, his strength spoke for itself. Even if he encountered something he couldn't beat, his indestructible diamond body would let him withstand its attacks.
Besides, his strength had risen another notch since then.
Facing a second-tier Ferocious Beast head-on would be no problem.
Once Xiao Feng finished announcing the rules, he began gathering the students into their groups.
Bai Yu was the first to approach Jiang Lan. She gave him a cool glance and said,
"Let's go."
Liu Shiyu jogged over too, a sweet smile on her face, and gave Jiang Lan an encouraging gesture.
"Jiang Lan, you'll have to protect me and Sister Bai Yu once we're in the Wilderness Zone."
Jiang Lan smiled and nodded.
"Of course."
After chatting for a bit, the three lined up to collect their signal flare and communicator, then boarded the bus.
There were three seats on each side of the bus, so the three of them could sit together.
Bai Yu wanted the aisle seat, while Liu Shiyu needed the window seat because she got carsick.
Jiang Lan had no choice but to sit in the middle.
Still, he was happy about it.
After all these years, he finally got to experience what it was like to have a girl on either side.
A moment later, the bus slowly pulled away.
Up front, the instructor repeatedly went over the precautions, telling everyone not to wander off and so on.
The Wilderness Zone was no joke.
People really could die there.
Even on Academy-organized outings, a few unlucky students usually lost their lives to Ferocious Beasts every year.
The bus traveled for nearly an hour before stopping at the edge of the Wilderness Zone.
The instructor said,
"From here on, you're free to move around, but stay within the outskirts of the Wilderness Zone. Return here before five this afternoon. If anything goes wrong, don't hesitate. Fire your signal flare immediately. Is that clear?"
"Yes!"
Everyone answered, then filed off the bus.
Jiang Lan led the two girls off the bus with the others and looked around.
The Western Suburbs Wilderness Zone looked more dilapidated and more untamed than the zones in the other three directions.
Nearly all the buildings had collapsed, replaced by rubble and vines strewn across the ground, along with wildly growing trees.
Jiang Lan took a deep breath.
Now this felt right.
After getting off the bus, the students scattered.
Bai Yu turned to Jiang Lan.
"You're the strongest. You decide our tactics."
Jiang Lan gave it a little thought.
He actually wanted to tell Bai Yu and Liu Shiyu to stay behind him and watch him slaughter everything.
But on second thought, that didn't seem quite appropriate.
The girls had their pride too, after all.
"How about this? I'll scout ahead and clear the way. You two follow behind and support me. If we encounter a Ferocious Beast, I'll engage first. Sound good?"
Bai Yu looked at Jiang Lan and fell silent for a moment.
There wasn't anything wrong with it, exactly. His tactical planning was just a little too slapdash.
Still, she had no intention of correcting him.
He was the strongest, after all.
If he wanted the two of them to follow behind, they would.
"Lead the way, then."
"No problem. Keep up."
Jiang Lan turned and led the two girls deeper into the Wilderness Zone.
Bai Yu followed behind him with light, catlike steps.
Liu Shiyu, meanwhile, kept looking around curiously.
After they had ventured farther in for about twenty minutes, Jiang Lan suddenly stopped and raised his right fist.
Bai Yu and Liu Shiyu immediately halted.
It was a tactical hand signal, and naturally, they understood it.
Jiang Lan looked ahead and lowered his voice.
"There's something behind that rock up ahead."
The two girls followed his gaze.
A short distance ahead stood an enormous gray boulder more than twice a person's height.
Behind it, they could just make out a dark red tail swaying slowly.
Jiang Lan was about to speak again when a low hiss suddenly came from behind the boulder.
"Hiss!"
Immediately afterward, a dark red figure shot out from behind the rock.
Jiang Lan got a clear look at it.
It was an enormous lizard, two meters long. Even from a distance, it looked almost as big as a water buffalo.
Dark red scales covered its body, and four short, thick legs supported its heavy frame.
Jiang Lan quickly recalled the corresponding Ferocious Beast information.
A Red-Scaled Lizard, a second-tier Ferocious Beast.
He raised his eyebrows slightly.
He hadn't expected such a pleasant surprise right after entering the Wilderness Zone.
Then again, this already counted as deep within the Wilderness Zone.
Before bringing the students here, the Academy had cleared out the nearby Ferocious Beasts.
That was why no second-tier Ferocious Beasts would appear on the outskirts.
"Fall back and keep yourselves safe. I'll handle this."
Without the slightest hesitation, the two girls retreated.
A second-tier Ferocious Beast was beyond their ability to handle.
Seeing this, the Red-Scaled Lizard hissed, drove its hind legs against the ground, and charged at Jiang Lan like a heavy truck.
Jiang Lan remained perfectly calm. He lowered his center of gravity and planted both feet firmly on the ground.
As the lizard hurtled toward him, Jiang Lan raised his right fist and threw a crushing punch!
Bam!
His fist struck the Red-Scaled Lizard squarely on the head.
"Aaargh!"
The Red-Scaled Lizard's enormous body flew backward, rolled twice across the ground, and snapped a tree trunk as thick as a bowl before finally stopping.
Its limbs twitched twice, then went completely still.
One hit, one kill!