Something was wrong.
Realizing something, Xu Jintang quickly called for help in her sea of consciousness through her thoughts. "Brother Long, is this aircraft not actually flying?"
The Ice Soul Dragon, who had been asleep all this time, was awakened. After silently sensing their surroundings for a while, he replied, "Yes. The galactic scenery you see outside the window is all a simulated illusion. You should already be inside a simulated battlefield. It's just that this simulation pod is more advanced than the ones your academy uses. It can pull thousands of people into combat at once without them noticing."
Xu Jintang quickly realized something, and her expression grew serious. "In other words, the joint examination has already begun."
She really had not expected the joint examination to begin under these circumstances.
And she had just happened to stumble upon a bug in the simulated battlefield's settings.
Back at the academy, the teachers had explained that every sensation inside a simulated battlefield matched reality. Hunger, smell, pain, and so on would all be fully simulated.
But airsickness was relatively uncommon.
So it was very possible that the simulated battlefield's settings did not actually account for ability users getting airsick.
Xu Jintang pressed her lips together and looked around hesitantly. "But there are no rules or objectives. What exactly is this joint examination testing?"
Besides, the candidates were not limited to students from their star region. Had the same thing happened to the aircraft picking up students from other star regions?
Interstellar space was currently divided into thirty-four star regions, ranked as lower star regions, intermediate star regions, and the Federation Star Region.
The aircraft she was on was only responsible for transporting candidates from the FM795 Lower Star Region, so she could only determine that the candidates from their star region had already been pulled into the simulated battlefield.
As for what was happening aboard the aircraft transporting candidates from other star regions, that was all unknown.
The Ice Soul Dragon offered his analysis. "This might not be the official joint examination yet. It's probably a little assessment, something like a bonus question."
Xu Jintang nodded. "That's possible."
The Ice Soul Dragon added, "I don't understand how your human assessments work. You'll have to rely on yourself for the joint examination ahead."
Xu Jintang let out a long sigh.
Her communicator had stopped working after she boarded the aircraft.
She could not contact Duoduo at all. If Duoduo were here, at least she would have someone to discuss a plan with instead of making wild guesses alone.
After taking a moment to calm down, Xu Jintang drew a deep breath, pulled herself together, and got up to head outside and investigate.
When she had boarded, the corridors had been full of staff receiving them. Now, however, the corridor was deserted, without even a single footstep to be heard.
Xu Jintang frowned, sensing that something was wrong.
"Hello, have you seen any of the staff on board?" a timid, cautious voice asked from behind her.
Xu Jintang turned around. A delicate-featured boy in a white shirt stood across from her.
Wei Zixuan pressed his lips tightly together, his hands clasped and his expression tense. He looked very nervous.
"No." Xu Jintang shook her head.
Wei Zixuan swallowed, looking even more uneasy. "I went out to look for the staff ten minutes ago, but there wasn't a soul around. I thought they were all resting, so I went to the cockpit to find someone. But there wasn't even anyone on duty there. Our aircraft is on autopilot right now, and there's no telling where it's headed."
Xu Jintang froze for a moment.
This joint examination was pretty creepy.
They had woken up to find that all the staff had vanished into thin air, like something out of a horror movie.
Wei Zixuan continued with a stammer, "And there's something strange. I... I always feel sick and want to throw up whenever I take an aircraft. I don't know why, but it hasn't happened this time."
Xu Jintang looked Wei Zixuan over in mild surprise.
So she was not the only person in the interstellar era who got airsick.
"Have you heard of advanced simulated battlefields?" Xu Jintang asked him.
Wei Zixuan nodded hesitantly. "Yes. The illusions created by advanced simulation pods are more realistic and larger in scale. They can pull thousands upon thousands of ability users inside to fight at the same time."
Xu Jintang added, "Most importantly, advanced simulation pods can pull ability users into a simulated battlefield without them noticing."
Wei Zixuan's expression froze before he finally caught on. "You mean we're inside a simulated battlefield?"
"That's right. My guess is that the joint examination began the moment we boarded the aircraft," Xu Jintang said evenly.
Inside the advanced simulated battlefield's operations room.
Shi Lekang and the other three military academy teachers were all startled.
One of the military academy teachers could not hold back his curiosity. "That girl can actually tell this is a simulated battlefield?"
Shi Lekang found it strange too.
He had expected the candidates to realize that this incident might be an assessment only after the aircraft reached its destination.
Zhuang Silin said nothing. She merely watched Xu Jintang, a little more interest in her eyes.
After recovering from their surprise, the four military academy teachers immediately began looking up Xu Jintang's candidate profile.
"This candidate has excellent powers of observation. She's definitely a talent. Our military academy values outstanding students like her most."
"What do you mean by that? The joint examination hasn't even officially started, and you're already trying to snatch her from us?"
Shi Lekang promptly joined the battle to recruit her. He wore a broad smile, but his hands were anything but slow as he grabbed for Xu Jintang's profile.
"Actually, I had my eye on this candidate from the start. I think she's better suited to our Clifford."
All four military academy teachers guessed that Xu Jintang must possess an extraordinary special ability to have noticed the problem so quickly.
An ability that could see through even the scenes created by an advanced simulation pod was definitely no ordinary ability.
So all four began preparing to compete for her.
But when they saw that her profile listed her ability as the support-type Domain Slow, all four fell silent at once.
"Why is it a support ability?" one of the military academy teachers asked in puzzlement.
Shi Lekang lowered his head and rubbed his nose, then quickly said with a smile, "Since the three of you appreciate this candidate so much, I won't compete. I'm withdrawing."
The other two military academy teachers also smiled awkwardly, setting Xu Jintang's profile aside without another word.
If they encountered a promising genius, they would certainly cast aside all dignity and actively fight to recruit them.
But a mere support ability was not enough to make the four of them lower themselves to compete.
"But if this student only has a support ability, how did she notice something was wrong?" the remaining military academy teacher asked.
Shi Lekang rubbed his stubble thoughtfully. "Maybe she had some other way. Once the supplementary assessment is over, we can call her over and ask."
Inside the cabin, a bang rang out, and the entire aircraft shuddered violently.
Xu Jintang lost her footing and was thrown against the cabin wall by inertia. She braced one hand against it to keep her balance, using her physical strength to force herself to remain in place.
Across from her, Wei Zixuan hurriedly grabbed the door handle of the opposite room, barely keeping himself from being flung away.
"What's happening now? Did we hit a meteorite?"
The tremors spread throughout the cabin.
Many closed doors opened, and people rushed out in panic one after another. "What's going on? Why is it shaking so badly?"
Amid the violent shaking, some of those who had just rushed out slammed straight into the cabin walls, while others tripped and fell to the floor.
The scene descended into utter chaos.
Such violent shaking was clearly abnormal. Everyone realized something had happened.
The violent shaking lasted a full minute before it stopped. Xu Jintang kept her hand braced against the cabin wall, her expression even calmer.
"We're doomed. We're really doomed! Someone just went to the cockpit to find the captain, but there wasn't anyone inside. The door was locked, so they couldn't get in. And our aircraft is on autopilot right now. There's no telling where it's headed. Are we... going to die here?"
"How could this happen? Where did all the staff who received us go? And why is the captain missing too? If no one's controlling the aircraft and something goes wrong, won't we all die?"
The atmosphere grew increasingly panicked. Some students even broke down crying and screaming in fear.
After all, they were only a group of teenagers with pitifully little actual combat experience. Faced with such a sudden incident, they simply could not work out what to do.
As the panicked cries grew louder,
Xu Jintang rubbed her brow and finally spoke. "We won't die, and there won't be any accidents. Because this isn't reality. It's an illusion created by a simulated battlefield."
Her words drew everyone's attention.
In an instant, every gaze turned toward Xu Jintang.
"A simulated battlefield? How is that possible?"
"Aren't we being taken to the joint examination? How did this turn into a simulated battlefield?"
Xu Jintang continued explaining, "The All-Star-Region Joint Examination is organized by the five major military academies. Transporting the candidates is important, so the proctors sent by the five major military academies would certainly be extremely careful. There's even less chance of the aircraft going out of control and all the staff disappearing midway through the trip."
"So the joint examination has already begun. This is our first test."
Beside her, Wei Zixuan calmed down and mustered his courage, nodding in agreement. "Yes, she's right. The joint examination is a major event. The teachers from the five major military academies couldn't possibly make such a serious oversight, so this incident is very likely the military academies' first test for us."
The candidates who had been panicking fell silent one after another.
Everyone was considering whether Xu Jintang's words were credible.
A few seconds later, someone regained their composure and looked up at Xu Jintang. "Then if it really is as you say, and we've only been pulled into a simulated battlefield, what's our objective? What do we have to do to pass this test?"
"First, everyone needs to calm down and stop throwing ourselves into disarray. As for what they're testing us on, we'll find out once the aircraft reaches its destination on autopilot," Xu Jintang continued.