Chapter 23

January 4th, 7 am.

An off-road vehicle with the logo of the West Camp sped past, heading south of Encampment 3.

To the south was an abandoned village that was under the control of the base defense division. It was used as the grounds to hold the rookie trial for every batch of students in the West Camp.

There were no rivers or lakes nearby, and the monsters in the area would be cleared every half a month, so there were not many fiend-level monsters. Most of them were low-level fiend-level monsters.

“Tsk-”

The tires scraped the ground and the off-road vehicles stopped.

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The rookies of batch 101 got off the vehicle one after another. They looked at the huge area surrounded by two-meter-high wooden planks and felt inexplicably flustered.

Through the height of the wooden planks, one could see some high-rise buildings and the undulating mountains in the middle.

The largest mountain was called Bone Burying Mountain. The bones of countless rookies were buried there due to the large number of low-level fiend-level monsters.

…

Everyone assembled. It was a black mass.

Nearly half of the rookies came from the three elite classes.

“The only requirement for the rookie trial is to survive,” Head Instructor Li’s gaze swept across the crowd, “The three major organizations will level you according to your performance in the trial. You will be selected based on your merits. As your rookie benefit, you will receive an additional 100% of the rewards from killing fiend-level monsters.”

“In addition, the top ten and top hundred students will receive additional rewards. The top three will receive special rewards. The first place will receive a set of personal equipment tailored by the laboratory of the gene park. The second place will receive a weapon of choice from the Evolver market that is worth less than a million yuan. The third place will receive 300,000 in cash.”

The rookies were in an uproar. The tense atmosphere was instantly diluted.

Oh?

Wang Ye’s eyes lit up.

What a generous reward!

He especially liked the reward for third place. It was simple and unadorned.

“Batch 101 has 401 rookies,” Head Instructor Li’s voice fell into the ears of every rookie, “I hope to see all of you come back alive after 24 hours.”

“The rookie trial begins!”

With Head Instructor Li’s order, the rookies rushed out.

Among them, a beautiful figure was the most eye-catching. Different from the rookie combat suits worn by ordinary students, she was wearing a sleek and smooth technological suit. Her butt was perky, and a crossbow and dagger were hanging at her small waist. Her hair was tied into a high ponytail.

The only ability user in batch 101, Yu Shuiqin.

“Judging from the curve of her hips and waist, it’s a pity.”

Wang Ye followed at the back of the crowd at a moderate pace.

With his professional judgment, this was a multiple-choice question with an answer that was not C.

“Brother Ye, shall we go together?” Lu Yong came over and whispered.

“You’re so tall, it’s more dangerous to be with you than to be alone…” Wang Ye complained in his heart but said “Sure” immediately.

There were actually only two choices in the rookie trial. One could either form teams with others and aim for survival, or kill monsters to earn points.

The students of the ordinary classes usually chose the first option. It was fine as long as they survived.

As for the ranking and their future positions, that was up to fate.

In contrast, most of the students from the elite classes would take the initiative to attack. They would hunt fiend-level monsters until they were injured.

After all, the rankings were related to the recruitment and rewards of the three major institutions.

Furthermore, the 100% rookie benefits were very practical.

As for trying to get into the top three… That was something that only super geniuses like Huang Zirui and Yu Shuiqin, who were at the top of the elite classes, were qualified to do.

If Wang Ye were to be asked if he had any confidence to enter the top three, he would say yes, although it would be very difficult.

Take Huang Zirui for example. Never mind him being well-equipped with various equipment and potions, but he had obtained a physical fitness score of 161 in the graduation exam alone. On top of that, his publicly announced physical evolution rate was 148%, which meant that his physical fitness had already reached 399 after his genetic evolution.

Plus, he had most probably reached the practiced level for his advanced evolution technique. With the addition of these seven days of training, he was probably just one step away from becoming a level-2 genetic warrior.

On the other hand, Yu Shuiqin was someone who had awakened as an ability user while only a beginner-rank Evolver, which also made her one in ten thousand.

There was indeed a chance for Wang Ye to get third place but now was not the time.

“Let’s go.” Wang Ye noticed Yu Haitao leaving from the corner of his eye.

The reason why he was working with Lu Yong was not because the latter was tall and would attract the attention of fiend-level monsters.

Instead, he wanted to numb Yu Haitao. The latter was very careful. He would surely be suspicious if he acted alone.

If the other party realized that he had the intention of chasing after him, he would probably run far away, or even form an alliance with the other students to be safe.

The best way to deal with the other party was to invite him into the trap.

High-end hunters often disguised themselves as prey.

…

“Moving out with Lu Yong, huh? Quite clever,” Yu Haitao sneered and let go of his worries.

He had been worried that Wang Ye had some trump card up his sleeve and would backstab him, but it seemed that the latter’s evolution had indeed failed.

If Wang Ye had the strength of a level 1 genetic warrior, he wouldn’t have to ally with trash like Lu Yong and drag down his ranking.

Did he just want to live?

“Stop dreaming.”

*

*

On a small path in the fields, Lu Yong looked around nervously, seeming like a tall frightened rabbit.

“Brother Ye, why don’t we find a place to hide?” Lu Yong suggested.

“Where?” Wang Ye asked.

“A bigger house?” Lu Yong looked around.

“So that it will be easier for us to be ambushed?” Wang Ye said, “If you want to hide, the best way is to lean against a wooden wall. That way, you can see your surroundings and it won’t be easy to be ambushed. Also, there are base defense personnel outside, so it’s easy to ask for help.”

“That’s right! Why didn’t I think of that!” Lu Yong exclaimed.

Wang Ye glanced at him, “You’ll probably end up in a civilian position.”

“This…” Lu Yong was troubled.

“Let’s go. We’ll take a walk around first. If it really doesn’t work out, we can still hide.”

Wang Ye’s gaze landed in the distance.

There were already figures and sounds of battle on a few small mountains.

The students who were aiming for higher rankings had a clear goal: Go up the mountains!

The mountains were definitely the places with the most fiend-level monsters but now was definitely the most dangerous time.

…

24 hours was a long time.

How many students could battle for 24 hours straight?

During the day and night, the degree of danger was completely different.

In the second half of the rookie trial, when night fell and the students were exhausted with weakened combat strength, that would be the time for the true test and when the final ranking would be determined.

Chi! Chi!

Wang Ye killed mutated monsters with a single slash each in the yard of a farmhouse.

Behind him, Lu Yong was dumbfounded.

Was this the Wang Ye he knew?

“Very dense.”

Wang Ye saw that his potential points had increased by 0.25 points. He went straight to the balcony on the second floor and killed another monster on the stone stairs.

The interval between each batch of the West Camp was half a month, so this area had not been cleared for half a month. Naturally, there were many mutated monsters.

After killing all monsters in the large farmhouse, his potential points increased by 0.45, equivalent to half a fiend-level monster.

Wang Ye didn’t stop and headed to the second abandoned farmhouse. Behind him, Lu Yong was nervous and flustered.

An hour later, Wang Ye’s potential points had increased from 2.3 to 5.3.

This was a figure he would usually obtain from hunting in the wild for half a day.

“I’m going to take off!”

Wang Ye was ecstatic.

Although killing mutated monsters would not increase his ranking, there were many of them and no one would fight with him.

After going from house to house for two and a half hours, his potential points broke through 10 points.

In the afternoon, the rookie trial had now been ongoing for 6 hours and 45 minutes.

[Potential points: 19.95→20.]

Wang Ye stood in an empty courtyard. Beside him was a rusty three-wheeled electric bike and several ugly mutated monsters lying in a pool of blood.

He opened his interface.

Whoosh!

Wang Ye’s consciousness landed on the “+”.

In the space of consciousness, he practiced the Red Sun Evolution Technique over and over again.

From the proficient level, he started comprehending the technique, cultivating at a speed that was thousands of times faster than normal in an instant.

Then, Wang Ye opened his eyes and his body trembled.

The cells in his body underwent rapid changes, his essence skyrocketed, and his muscles became more refined and powerful.

At the same time, his six senses had also improved. His vision had become clearer and his sense of smell more sensitive.

The chaos in the space of consciousness seemed to have opened up a little.

[Basic Red Sun Evolution Technique, proficient → mastery]

Wang Ye looked at the interface.

His progress of becoming a level 2 genetic warrior had jumped from 28% to 56%.

It had increased by a full 28%, which was about 70 points of physical strength.

With this, his physical fitness score was close to 400!

In terms of physical fitness alone, he could be considered the best among the 401 rookies, and this was just the beginning!