On April 15th, the 375th year of the Quantum Era, at 2:30 PM, nearly two thousand students were ready to go on the field at Red City No. 12 Middle School.
Around the arena, rows of the City Guard Army, armed and clad in armor, stood in orderly formation, protecting the students.
Today is the annual college entrance examination day in the Ancient Country Blue Star. Nearly 1.5 million students from 73 high schools in 12 cities across the entire Ancient Country are taking the exam on the same day.
The written exams in the morning have already concluded; the martial arts exams will follow next.
As in previous years, the martial arts exam lasted two days and three nights.
All students will leave the city today for their first field trip.
Each student wears a monitoring bracelet.
All student scores are determined and tallied through the student monitoring bracelet until the college entrance examination is completely over. Finally, all student data is compiled and sent to the relevant departments to calculate the final scores.
On the third day after the National College Entrance Examination (Gaokao), the score reports will be distributed to all schools, announcing the scores of all students and the admission scores of each university.
Students apply to the appropriate universities based on their grades.
Then came the waiting period for the acceptance letter, and nearly three months of vacation.
The monitoring bracelet has three buttons: a green cesium activation button, a red cesium distress button, and a blue cesium submission button.
Ling Yi, however, was very curious about the bracelet.
The manufacturing principle is unknown; it is said to be a product of combining magic runes and Formation formations.
It feels quite magical.
Just then, a black dot appeared in the distant sky.
The black dot Rapid Speed approached, growing larger and larger until it was over the school in the blink of an eye.
This was actually an absurdly large, ship-shaped flying machine.
This is one of the world's unique modes of transportation: the airship.
The airship is over two thousand meters long, six hundred meters wide, and over one hundred meters high.
The colors of the cesium are mainly white and blue, but it's unclear what materials were used.
There are six square hatches on each side of the airship, which should be the landing ports.
"Damn, that's huge!" Gao Yuntian, standing next to Ling Yi, couldn't help but exclaim.
"I heard this thing is really expensive, not only in terms of manufacturing but also in terms of operating costs. If you put it in Little Qian, it's said to cost tens of thousands of yuan per kilometer."
Ling Yi had read about flying boats in the library.
This thing is created by Fusion various Forging systems.
Although the technological rules of this world are suppressed, it has also Fusion the power systems and Rule Body of many other worlds.
For this reason, the energy source for this flying boat can be the Inner Core of Demonic Beast, the magic core of Magical Beast, the crystal core of a zombie, and Spirit Stone, etc.
Inner Core, magic cores, and crystal cores can all be obtained by hunting various invading monsters.
As for Spirit Stone, they are produced from Spirit Stone mines.
Spirit Stone Spirit Stone mines didn't exist before, but starting fifty years ago, they began to be discovered around the world.
However, Spirit Stone mines are generally small in scale and have a very low output rate, so the price of Spirit Stone is extremely high.
Take the Ancient Country as an example. More than 30 Spirit Stone mines have been discovered so far, but the total amount of Spirit Stone produced in a year is less than 20,000.
Until the production of this stuff increases, it's basically meaningless.
The airship hovered above the arena, casting a shadow over everyone and creating a sense of immense oppression.
"What if this thing falls down?" Liu Hang suddenly asked.
"Shut up, is it appropriate to say this at a time like this?" Gao Yuntian rolled his eyes at him and said.
Just then, all the cabin doors on both sides of the airship opened, and stepped ladders extended downwards.
"All students, please board the airship in order. Loud noises and any fighting are strictly prohibited; otherwise, you will be disqualified from the college entrance examination."
A majestic voice from a middle-aged man rang out from the airship; the voice was amplified and became extremely loud.
Then, under the guidance of the teachers and City Guard Army, the students, one by one, followed the steps and entered the flying boat according to their class.
Ling Yi and the others remained curious throughout, finding everything new and exciting.
The space inside the airship was enormous; it didn't feel like boarding a flying ship, but rather like entering a huge city.
Led by their teachers, the students separated and entered their respective rooms in an orderly manner.
These rooms are quite large, resembling indoor basketball courts.
After the last group of the City Guard Army boarded the airship, the airship slowly rose into the air, then accelerated and flew out of the city.
On the airship were not only students from No. 12 Middle School, but also students from No. 11 and No. 10 Middle Schools.
This is the only flying boat in Red City, and it appears once a year at this time.
At other times, the flying Shadow is rarely seen.
Ling Yi and his group were the last group; students from other schools had already arrived at their destination.
"This year's assessment location is the Neiping Wasteland, 2,000 kilometers away from Red City, which contains two Second Tier Red Cesium Black Holes, mainly inhabited by Demonic Beast and Magical Beast."
Teacher Wu Hong began to explain to the students the relevant information about the location of this assessment.
"Teacher, why not hold the assessment in the Wangchuan Forest? We're not familiar with the Neiping Wasteland," Liu Hang asked, puzzled.
"A suspected Fifth Tier Cesium Black Hole spawned in the Wangchuan Forest three days ago, so it's no longer a suitable place for assessments," Wu Hong sighed.
"The frequency of new black hole appearances is increasing, especially the frequency of red cesium black holes, which has increased tenfold compared to last year."
"The invading monsters are increasing in number and becoming more powerful; the situation for humanity is dire."
After a pause, Wu Hong stopped talking about the topic.
"There are thirteen types of Magical Beast Demonic Beast and seven types of magical beasts in the Neiping Wasteland. The strongest is the Fourth Tier Demonic Beast, the Blazing Flame Eagle, but the most dangerous is the Third Tier Magical Beast, the Burrowing Demon Worm."
" The Burrowing Demon Worm has neither sight nor hearing; it relies entirely on its skin to Perception vibrations in the outside world to determine the location of its prey."
"They operate underground, making them the most difficult to guard against."
"If you discover a large number of fresh caves nearby, be careful. At this time, do not speak, try not to make any noise, and stay as far away as possible."
"Besides that, the more dangerous ones are the Second Tier Magical Beast beasts, the Gnawing Rat. They are not strong individually, but they often appear in groups."
"If you find a lone Gnawing Rat, you must kill it instantly as quickly as possible. Otherwise, if the Gnawing Rat makes a sound, it may attract a swarm of Gnawing Rat."
"As for the other Demonic Beast and Magical Beast, they pose less of a threat, but life and death are never absolute. Never be careless; prioritize your own life. Only by staying alive can you have everything."
"This is all the information I've gathered about the Neiping Wasteland. Take a close look at it, and try to remember the characteristics of all the monsters. The more you remember, the better your chances of winning."
Ling Yi took the information from Lin Xiaoxiao, glanced at it, and quickly memorized it all thanks to his Photographic Memory memory.
This Neiping Wasteland is at least the size of a large province.
There is a red cesium black hole in the central region and another in the Northern District.
As mentioned earlier, black holes are classified into red cesium, blue cesium, and black cesium based on their different lifespans.
The black hole in the central area has existed for six years, and the monsters that invade it are all Demonic Beast.
In other words, behind the black hole lies a world of Demonic Beast brimming with Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.
The black hole in the Northern District appeared two years ago, and the invading monsters were all Magical Beast.
Although these monsters had been recorded long ago, the details were not detailed.
And are the monsters in the Neiping Wasteland really only those recorded in the book? That seems impossible.
The vast majority of these monsters actually lack detailed data records.
The black holes are appearing far too frequently, and there are just too many types of monsters for the official records to keep track of.
Moreover, the space in the region where red cesium black holes exist is extremely unstable.
It is extremely easy to create new black holes.
A new black hole means a new monster.
The unknown is always the greatest crisis, no matter when.
Over the past few centuries, people have summarized some patterns regarding the appearance of black holes.
The authorities have divided the entire Blue Star into 2,300 danger zones of Xiaoxiao.
Based on their spatial stability, these regions are divided into nine levels, from low to high.
In the First Tier region, space is relatively stable, and red cesium-level black holes are unlikely to appear. Most cities on Blue Star are located in the First Tier region.
Take Red City, for example.
The Ninth Tier region is the most unstable in space and is an extremely dangerous area where black holes frequently occur.
The Neiping Wasteland are Third Tier medium-risk area.
However, this thing is not fixed. Today, area A might be First Tier area, but tomorrow it might become Second Tier area.
The overall danger level of Blue Star is increasing. It is estimated that in about ten years, there will be no safe zones left on Blue Star.
However, what puzzled Ling Yi was that each black hole was connected to a world.
But why are there only monster invasions, and no advanced Wisdom races appearing?
Does this mean there's no advanced Wisdom in the world behind black holes? That's clearly impossible.
Humans have sent people into black holes before.
However, anyone who enters the black hole loses all contact and never returns.
No one knows why this happened.
Ling Yi was now wondering whether the appearance of these black holes was the result of an experiment by that group of idiots back then, or...
Who or what force is behind this, actively orchestrating this outcome?
If, after preparations are complete, there truly is a mastermind behind it all, what is the other side's purpose? Is it simply to invade Blue Star?
Just as Ling Yi was lost in thought, the voice of the middle-aged man from before rang out again.
"The airship is about to arrive at its destination. All City Guard Army, prepare to disembark."
Upon hearing this voice, Ling Yi and the others all stood up.
A few minutes later, the voice rang out again. "All students from No. 12 Middle School, please leave the airship within half an hour, or you will be considered to have forfeited the exam."
Under the teacher's guidance, Ling Yi and the others disembarked from the boat in order.
Standing at the exit of the airship, what comes into view is an endless expanse of green.
It features rolling hills, dense forests, and rivers flowing from east to west.
This place is described as Wasteland, but it doesn't look desolate at all; on the contrary, it appears vibrant and full of life.
In Ling Yi's memory, this place should have originally been a plain, inhabited by many nomadic peoples.
But now, this area has become a low hilly region.
However, Ling Yi knew that this was only the outer edge of the Neiping Wasteland, and it was still far from the central area.
After dropping off all the students from No. 12 Middle School, including Ling Yi, the airship took off again and headed to other areas.
There are a total of twelve middle schools in Red City. They were all assigned to schools in batches. Ling Yi and his school, No. 12 Middle School, were the last to board the ship, so naturally they had to be the first to disembark.
After all, it's impossible for all twelve middle schools, with nearly 30,000 students, to gather together.
Compared to the others, Ling Yi is now more looking forward to it.
After all, he was about to truly start grinding monsters.
After waiting for more than an hour, it was already 6 p. m. before we knew it.
At this moment, the middle-aged man's voice sounded again from everyone's monitoring bracelets, "All candidates, please press the start button. The practical training test officially begins!"