The examinees around them quieted down.
One quick-witted student soon figured it out. "These two are right. In such a short time, every crew member aboard vanished into thin air, but the aircraft has been traveling through the galaxy the whole time. Those people had nowhere to go. The only explanation is that they were all simulated."
"Then let's pass this information to the examinees in the other sections of the cabin first. Once everyone calms down, we can think about what to do."
Meanwhile, the aircraft transporting examinees from the other star regions encountered the same situation.
Some experienced examinees from the middle-tier star regions and the Federation Star Region soon guessed that this was a test shortly after the unexpected incident.
The examinees from the lower-tier star regions reacted a little more slowly.
The vast gap between the three tiers of star regions was mainly due to the differences in their academies' teaching resources.
Most academy teachers in the Federation Star Region had graduated from the five great military academies. With their broader connections, they would ask their former seniors about the possible direction of that year's joint examination before it began.
Most examinees from the Federation Star Region had undergone similar mock training before the exam and could quickly catch on when faced with an incident like this.
By then, the aircraft transporting Xu Jintang and the others had reached its destination and was preparing to land automatically.
"Why are there demonic beasts everywhere outside? I've never seen so many in my life."
Looking at the densely packed hordes outside the cabin, everyone began to shrink back.
Although they knew this was a simulated battlefield, they could hardly avoid feeling afraid when faced with a crisis they had no way of resisting.
The examinees, lacking confidence, turned to look at Xu Jintang.
A boy stepped forward and asked for instructions. "Sister Jintang, there are demonic beasts everywhere outside. We can't possibly kill them all. Going out means death. What do you think we should do?"
Without anyone noticing, Xu Jintang had become the pillar of support for every examinee in the cabin.
Xu Jintang looked up at the densely packed demonic beasts outside.
One ferocious beast after another lunged at the aircraft with its bloody maw wide open. Each impact made the aircraft shake.
She withdrew her gaze, tightened her sleeves, and zipped up her clothes. "Once the aircraft lands successfully, the cabin doors will be forced open automatically. The beasts outside will rush in immediately. There's only one outcome for us."
The examinees around her panicked. "Doesn't that mean we can only wait to die?"
As those words fell, the aircraft completed its landing procedure, and the cabin shook.
Immediately afterward, an announcement sounded in the cabin: [Flight destination: War Zone No. 11. Arrival successful. The cabin doors will open automatically in ten seconds. Passengers, please disembark in an orderly manner.]
Wei Zixuan, who had been pondering with his head lowered, finally understood something and abruptly looked up. "I've got it. The task for this test is actually to hunt demonic beasts. The aircraft's destination was set to War Zone One from the start, which meant we would end up here no matter what. So the military academy teachers want us to face the battlefield head-on."
"And the most straightforward way to judge each examinee's performance in this test is to count how many beasts they kill in the end. The more beasts they kill, the better their performance."
Xu Jintang nodded. "Exactly. That's what I think too."
She stepped forward to stand before everyone. "So, anyone who wants to score more points in this test, get ready. Charge out with me in a moment."
Xu Jintang swept her cold eyes across all the examinees, her gaze seeming to see through everything.
Chapter 24
The examinees fell silent. A few seconds later, they all looked up. "Right! We can't just wait to die. If we're going to die anyway, we might as well charge out and kill a few more!"
Ten seconds later, the cabin doors slowly opened.
The roars of the beasts outside reached their ears. Xu Jintang immediately channeled her mental power and charged out of the cabin.
Her expression cold, she kicked aside a first-tier Cartilage Clear Crystal Beast blocking the doorway, stepped on its head, and launched herself into the air while activating her ability.
The power of her domain descended. The charging beasts all stopped in their tracks, then began moving slowly.
"They're all first-tier beasts out here! We can hold them off!" Xu Jintang shouted over her shoulder.
Inside the cabin, Wei Zixuan and the other examinees snapped out of their daze. They quickly focused, activated their abilities at full strength, and rushed outside.
"Great, they're all first-tier beasts! Let's drive them at least a meter away from the aircraft first. If they surround us, we'll all die!"
Amid excited shouts, every examinee spared no effort as they charged out of the cabin.
For a moment, multicolored lights from their abilities flashed around the examinees.
"Fire Control Technique!"
"Divine Wind Finger First-Tier Form!"
"Limitless Thousand-Blade Slash!"
Under the fierce onslaught of the examinees' abilities, the beasts densely packed around the aircraft steadily lost ground and had to retreat for the moment.
Xu Jintang took advantage of the opening to glance back and survey her surroundings.
Her academy's history classes had covered how War Zone No. 11 came into being.
This place had once been a thriving star city, famous for its proximity to the Milky Way. Every night, its starry skies would shine with extraordinary brilliance, hence its name, Lookout City. Many residents and ability users had lived here for generations.
Then one day, rampaging demonic beasts besieged the city. Since Lookout City was too far from the other star regions, powerful fighters elsewhere could not arrive in time to help. In just a day and a night, the beasts breached its defenses and occupied the entire star city.
From then on, this place became War Zone No. 11, and the once-prosperous star city was reduced to battlefield ruins.
Xu Jintang gazed at the abandoned city buildings behind her, then silently withdrew her gaze. Mental power rapidly gathered in her palm, and she thrust it at the beast before her.
The beasts were endless. Each time she killed one, another swarm rushed up.
Before long, a momentary lapse let a beast's claw leave a bloody gash across Xu Jintang's arm. Beads of blood welled from it.
She hissed, her brows drawing together in pain.
Just then, another beast lunged at her.
Xu Jintang's brows tightened slightly. She raised her arm and activated her ruby sleeve crossbow.
A bolt imbued with mental power shot out instantly, piercing straight through the beast's abdomen in a spray of blood.
Xu Jintang refocused, swiftly rose, and charged back into the horde.
On the other side, after dodging several times, Wei Zixuan stopped in a relatively safe spot and began chanting an incantation.
He formed a strange gesture with his hands.
A few seconds later, a stone gate bearing mysterious patterns slowly appeared behind him.
The gate opened, and an enormous creature carrying terrifying power walked out.
Still fighting, Xu Jintang sensed that power and glanced back.
What emerged from the stone gate was a Four-Horned Rhinoceros.
And the fluctuations of its power were at least above the third tier.
"We're finished! Why did a third-tier beast suddenly show up? How are we supposed to fight that?" An examinee noticed the beast and shouted in despair.
Wei Zixuan hurriedly explained, "I summoned this beast! It's here to help us. Don't panic!"
A flicker of surprise crossed Xu Jintang's eyes.
His ability could actually summon third-tier beasts to assist in battle.
This joint examination across all star regions truly had hidden dragons and crouching tigers.
Meanwhile, inside the operations room for the advanced simulated battlefield.
The five chief examiners each watched the surveillance feeds from different war zones with keen interest.
"This year's examinees are much stronger overall than last year's. The huge expense of arranging this additional test for them wasn't wasted."
Zhuang Silin's gaze settled on the battlefield for FM795. "This Wei Zixuan's ability can summon third-tier beasts to fight?"
Shi Lekang answered with a smile, "This student's ability is Random Summoning. Every time he opens the stone gate, he randomly summons a beast to fight for him. But his ability has a slight drawback: the tier of the beast he can summon isn't fixed. When he's lucky, he can even summon fifth-tier beasts. When he's unlucky, he can summon only first-tier beasts at most."
Zhuang Silin looked over curiously. "You know this student well, Mr. Shi?"
Shi Lekang leaned back in his chair and spread his hands. "I'm quite fond of his ability. I even sent him a special admission offer from our military academy, but he turned it down."
The other three military academy teachers also looked over with curiosity. "Why did he turn it down?"
Shi Lekang shook his head. "He said he wanted to get into Leikedasi."
All four military academy teachers turned their eyes toward Zhuang Silin.
Zhuang Silin smiled calmly. "I didn't expect several students from the FM795 Star Region to catch my interest this year."
Leikedasi had always offered special admission only to the most gifted students.
For cases like Xu Jintang and Wei Zixuan, whose abilities were not powerful one hundred percent of the time, Leikedasi could offer only visiting-student places at most.
Yet both of them had rejected the safer option, choosing instead to continue pursuing admission to Leikedasi through the joint examination.
Shi Lekang picked up on the key detail. "Several students caught your interest, Ms. Zhuang? Which ones? Why not share with us?"
Of the five teachers present, Zhuang Silin was the strongest. Any student who could interest even her was certainly no ordinary prospect.
Naturally, the other four also wanted to compete for such talent on behalf of their military academies.
Zhuang Silin merely smiled without answering, clearly having no intention of sharing.
Shi Lekang and the others could only smile and continue watching the examinees' performance on the simulated battlefield.
The prolonged slaughter began to numb Xu Jintang's mind.
She had already lost count of how many wounds the beasts had clawed into her arms.
Her fellow students had begun falling one after another. Some were bitten to death before they could react; others exhausted their mental power and were pounced on after their physical strength gave out...
Xu Jintang gritted her teeth and, hanging on with her last breath, clenched her fist and slammed it at the beast before her. Catching it off guard, she raised her hand and activated her ruby sleeve crossbow.