The instant Li Qingcheng opened the cage, the Stinky Little Demon Bats that rushed out locked onto their first target.
Li Qingcheng herself!
The Stinky Little Demon Bats had an order of priority when choosing targets for their urine attacks.
The greater the threat an existence posed, the more likely it was to become their target.
Their attacks were meant to "hurt" threatening beings with the stench, making them no longer dare to harm the bats and securing safe conditions for their survival.
These little creatures also had extremely powerful abilities to sense life.
They locked onto Li Qingcheng immediately because they determined that this female human was the greatest threat nearby and needed to have that "threat" eliminated at once!
Everyone in the special class saw this. Some foolishly wanted to stay where they were and watch their demon of a teacher make a fool of herself.
The smarter ones fled immediately, running into the surrounding forest to find somewhere to hide and evade the Stinky Little Demon Bats' search and attacks.
They fled into the forest, but a few did not run around blindly.
Jiang Ziliu was one of them.
He was already absolutely certain that this lesson was a show of force, a special training session destined to make the students suffer terribly!
Having this stench cling to them for a week, impossible to remove, would certainly be etched into their bones and hearts.
It would also make the students of the special class remember this day deeply and take the initiative to learn how to protect themselves in the future.
Right now, no matter how unlucky they were, they would merely end up covered in a stench, suffer for a while, and experience social death.
That was better than losing their lives later through carelessness in the wilderness or a Dungeon Space because they had not properly learned to protect themselves!
Though the school's and Teacher Li's methods were "terrifying," they were well-intentioned, solid, and effective.
Jiang Ziliu understood that since this training was meant to give everyone a "lasting memory," their chances of escaping the Stinky Little Demon Bats by fleeing into the forest were slim.
The school and Teacher Li must have made preparations beforehand!
But there was still a thread of hope.
Jiang Ziliu saw where that thread of hope lay, and he also guessed that this was the only chance Li Qingcheng had left them to avoid failure.
But seizing this chance required tremendous courage!
Jiang Ziliu did not care about saving face at all. He quickly ran to the edge of the level ground, snapped off a hollow plant stem, held it in his mouth, then hurried to an equally foul-smelling mud pond at the edge of the clearing!
He submerged his entire body.
He breathed outside only through the hollow stem held in his mouth.
Yes, this foul-smelling mud pond was what Jiang Ziliu guessed to be the only "chance of survival" Li Qingcheng had left the special class!
Stinking for a little while was better than stinking for a week.
Hadn't the training clothes the school prepared for them today all been old stock slated to be discarded?
That showed that the school had long since made thorough preparations.
Jiang Ziliu moved swiftly, leaving Tang Yunu, who had been watching him, somewhat dumbfounded.
The moment she saw the Stinky Little Demon Bats, she understood that their entire class was in trouble. Training at schools in higher-level bases was not this "terrifying," but it was far crueler, even allowing a quota of deaths!
So she had been very flustered then too.
But she soon thought of her unusual deskmate.
Perhaps she could follow his example.
Yet when she actually saw Jiang Ziliu act decisively and sink into the foul-smelling mud pond, she was dumbfounded.
This seemed only a tiny bit better than being hit by the Stinky Little Demon Bats.
But Tang Yunu was clever too, and she quickly understood that this lesson was meant to get everyone-a complete, uncompromising show of force.
The only "chance of survival" was indeed the choice Jiang Ziliu had made!
Tang Yunu hesitated, but she soon had no time left to think.
The Stinky Little Demon Bats attacking Teacher Li Qingcheng could not get anywhere near her. Her telekinesis had actually formed a shield two meters in diameter.
The Stinky Little Demon Bats could do absolutely nothing to Teacher Li Qingcheng.
Then, under Li Qingcheng's amused gaze, they swiftly switched targets and charged toward the group still standing there in a daze, watching the show.
Tang Yunu steeled herself too. Fighting the urge to vomit, she took a hollow plant stem and, with tears of grievance in her eyes, sank into the mud pond as well!
At that moment, her heart was filled with indescribable "misery."
A pure, spotless little girl like me actually buried herself in stinking mud of her own accord.
It was all Jiang Ziliu's fault!
A girl's thoughts could sometimes be just that unreasonable.
Tang Yunu also understood that today's situation counted as mild. If she truly faced mortal danger, she would probably have to do things even more terrifying and harder to accept.
There were things every beast tamer had to learn.
It was just like medical students having to learn to dissect "terrifying" corpses!
But Jiang Ziliu and Tang Yunu were not the only clever people in the class. The other quick thinkers swiftly followed their example.
Right after Tang Yunu, Li Wanqiu, the class beauty, jumped in without the slightest hesitation too.
For a goddess-level beauty, doing this was no easy feat.
But Li Wanqiu remembered something her father had said: when beast tamers made choices, there was no distinction between men and women, no question of saving face. Staying alive mattered most, and survival was the first choice.
Everything else was a recipe for failure in struggles of blood and fire.
She followed their example also because her father had once said that Jiang Ziliu was no ordinary person.
So she had not thought it through that deeply, but when she saw Jiang Ziliu's deskmate Tang Yunu do it without hesitation, she followed suit.
Because she knew Tang Yunu's background was no ordinary one.
If even Tang Yunu followed his example, that could only mean this was the right choice!
The choices a person made were tremendously important!
Li Wanqiu had always remembered those words.
After Li Wanqiu, a fat student and a tall, very thin student in the class followed close behind her and jumped in.
Both were boys, and both were among the untalented children of the rich and powerful who had paid their way into No. 9 Middle School.
Their perspectives and experiences, unlike those of ordinary people, also allowed them to steel themselves at this moment and make the same "right" choice!
They had understood everything long ago, but had not known what to do.
Now that Jiang Ziliu, Tang Yunu, and Li Wanqiu had set an example, they gritted their teeth and followed.
Stinking for a little while was far better than stinking for a week and being left with a terrible psychological scar.
As their teacher, Li Qingcheng had been watching everyone's reactions all along.
When Jiang Ziliu was the first to jump into the mud pond, her eyes filled with admiration.
Her impression of Jiang Ziliu had been very faint.
It was as though he did not exist in the class, as though he were practically invisible.
This was an unusual peripheral effect of the SSS-rank life-concealment and suppression skill. To a certain extent, it also reduced a living being's sense of presence.
Li Qingcheng's only impression was that Jiang Ziliu loved reading and was the most unsociable "book maniac" in the class!
But now, Jiang Ziliu's immediate response-the only correct course of action-made Li Qingcheng realize she had underestimated him.
If nothing else, that ruthlessness and decisiveness were rare.
And through this incident, she also saw Jiang Ziliu's intelligence and his keen, meticulous judgment.
Clearly, Jiang Ziliu had seen through her plan, which was why he had immediately jumped into the stinking mud pond, the only "chance of survival."
From that moment on, Li Qingcheng remembered Jiang Ziliu deeply.
She also realized that he was someone who disliked the limelight and kept an extremely low profile.
The ruthlessness of Tang Yunu, Li Wanqiu, and the other two male students also pleased her.
The chubby fellow was called Chen Zheng, and he came from the wealthy merchant Chen Family.
The tall, thin one was called Hu Yifeng, and he came from the Hu Family, a military lineage.
Li Qingcheng understood that these five would most likely go the farthest and achieve the most in this class.
For no other reason than that they possessed intelligence, decisiveness, and ruthlessness that other beast tamers lacked!
Beast tamers relied on talent, but other things also affected their growth.
This world was filled with opportunities and wonders. Talent could determine some factors in their growth, but not all.
Some secret, scarce, high-level secret arts, resources, and treasures could also improve talent.
By contrast, this intelligence, decisiveness, and ruthlessness were things that could benefit a beast tamer for life.
Among the five, barring accidents, Li Wanqiu had more than an 80% chance of becoming a Diamond-rank powerhouse or even higher!
That was Li Qingcheng's assessment.
As for Jiang Ziliu's future, honestly, she could not quite see through it!
Because she could not see through the person himself.
But she had no intention of investigating him, because Li Qingcheng understood that rashly probing into someone could easily earn her another enemy.
Other people's secrets were not to be touched lightly.
This world never lacked people who were like miracles, or events that were like miracles!
While Li Qingcheng was thinking, the few who had not managed to run away, along with those who had fled into the forest, were all hit without exception.
A terrible stench soon radiated from their bodies.
The sounds of vomiting suddenly rang out from every direction.
After attacking, the Stinky Little Demon Bats immediately darted nimbly away from the area.
Because they themselves also loathed the stench they produced!
Li Qingcheng paid no heed whatsoever to the stench lingering around her nose. In light of her past experiences, the terror of death far surpassed the wretched scene before her.
She had long since grown accustomed to worse situations and witnessed environments even more terrifying than this.
For the next week, these little fellows would struggle to eat or sleep amid this stench and thoroughly experience the consequences of failing to escape a beast's jaws.
Such an experience was terrifying, but it was still far better than losing their lives in the future.
Good medicine was always bitter: good for the illness, but not for the heart!