“Wouldn’t it have been simpler if you’d done this from the start? In a time of crisis, we should help one another.”
He took the lead. Yang Xiaobing, clutching a handful of defensive talismans, walked in the middle with Zhao Afei, while Jiang Xueyao brought up the rear.
—At this moment, even Jiang Xueyao had drawn her longsword, ready to defend at any time.
The four of them slowly walked into the fortifications.
“Bring the civilians in too, so they don’t get hurt outside,” Xu Yuan said.
“You’ve got to be kidding! This place isn’t big to begin with. The more people there are, the more chaotic it’ll get. In the end, it’ll affect us,” the tall boy said irritably, stomping his foot hard.
“This is a moment to contribute to the city and its people. You can’t be so calculative,” Xu Yuan said.
—He stressed the word “contribute.”
If the other party observed calmly, he should have been able to notice—
“Contribution” was the key to obtaining an identity.
Only with contribution would one have an identity; only with an identity would one receive assistance during the exam.
This was the underlying logic revealed by the exam.
In fact, it was easy enough to figure out—
When a civilization faced a great catastrophe, it had to advocate and guide values like these.
“Contribution?”
The tall boy sneered.
“All we need to do is hold this fortification and hide until the entire exam is over. Naturally, we’ll surpass countless dead examinees. Our results definitely won’t be bad.”
Xu Yuan nodded slightly.
—That was indeed one way to think about it.
In large-scale disaster games, the better someone was at lying low, the less risk they encountered, and the higher their chances of survival.
But—
The rougher the waves, the pricier the fish!
Besides, this was an exam.
What decent person, during the college entrance exam, would write an essay titled “You Go Die, I’ll Count the Money,” “Long Live Selfishness,” or “I’m Surviving Alone”?
This was an exam!
Do you know the examiners were all cosplaying inside the exam venue?
For all they knew, among those civilians outside, there might be one or two hidden examiners!
Xu Yuan straightened his chest, raised his head, furrowed his brows, and declared in a ringing voice,
“I absolutely cannot stand by and watch those people die here. We have to help them!”
Damn it, even Homelander cared about maintaining a positive public image!
Wait, why am I thinking of Homelander?
Forget it, doesn’t matter.
The tall boy looked at him like he was staring at an idiot. Pointing at his own head, he said,
“Is there something wrong with your brain? This is just an exam—an assessment of our standards in nine subjects. And you want to do things that have nothing to do with the exam?”
They couldn’t reach an agreement.
Their ideals differed.
That made things troublesome.
Xu Yuan’s gaze swept over them briefly.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven—a total of seven people.
Four ordinary students.
Three Qi Refiners who had awakened a sense of qi.
—There were quite a few of them.
No wonder they spoke so loudly.
Xu Yuan suddenly turned to look at his three teammates and said,
“Do it.”
As he spoke, he raised both hands, a pistol in each, and immediately opened fire at the opposite side.
Bang, bang, bang—
Four ordinary students.
Two were shot on the spot, and two were stabbed by Jiang Xueyao’s longsword.
They vanished directly from the examination venue.
One girl used a talisman to turn into a spiritual shield and blocked a few strikes, but Yang Xiaobing pulled out a “Wind Blade” talisman and flung it over. After seven or eight dense slashes, she too disappeared.
Only the tall boy and the friend beside him remained.
The two drew their longswords and shouted furiously,
“Die!”
“Despicable bastard, meet your death!”
“You guys are way too hot-tempered,” Xu Yuan complained.
He raised his pistol again.
Bang, bang, bang—
The two were so frightened they jumped backward, hurriedly brandishing their longswords and using spiritual power to execute techniques to block the bullets.
After all five bullets were fired, it still wasn’t enough. Xu Yuan drew the pistol from Yang Xiaobing’s waist and fired five shots in succession, emptying the magazine.
Still not enough!
He also pulled the pistol from Zhao Afei’s waist and fired five more shots in a row, once again emptying the magazine.
One person was hit and disappeared.
Only the tall boy remained.
“Blocking bullets used up quite a bit of spiritual power, didn’t it? Low-level cultivators still don’t amount to much in front of hot weapons. What do you say? Keep fighting, or shake hands and make peace?”
Xu Yuan commented as he asked.
“…Shake hands and make peace,” the tall boy said.
“That’s more like it. It’s better to resolve enmity than deepen it. We’re all good brothers here,” Xu Yuan said happily.
Before his voice had even faded,
the tall boy suddenly charged forward with his sword.
The distance between the two sides had already been very close. With this charge, he could immediately strike.
Clang!
The sword was already out of its sheath.
“You vicious bastard—die!”
The tall boy swung his sword straight at Xu Yuan’s face.
Xu Yuan’s sword moved as well.
Jiang Xueyao had originally only been watching indifferently, but the moment Xu Yuan moved his sword, her eyes suddenly widened.
The tall boy’s sword was fast and fierce.
Xu Yuan’s sword, however, was gentle and slow, like spring wind and fine rain. It softly “stuck” to the edge of the opponent’s blade, slowly guided it back, and only after dispersing several tenths of the opponent’s force did it erupt in a flash like sudden thunder.
“That’s my sword strike.”
Jiang Xueyao thought silently.
—Back on the rooftop of the teaching building, she had used precisely such a move to “grind” through his sword.
She had done it unintentionally.
Yet he had learned it, and was now using it to cut through someone else’s sword!
Truly speechless.
However, the Qiongqie Sword was indeed exceptionally sharp.
Any other weapon locked against it had a high chance of being severed.
How should one put it?
This person was too lazy. He didn’t even fight properly with others; he only knew how to bully people with his weapon.
But from another perspective—
It could also be considered making full use of the weapon’s value.
Clang!
Amid a crisp sound,
two figures overlapped, crossed, and separated.
Bzzzz—
The broken sword tip spun rapidly and stabbed deep into the ceiling.
“…Good sword,” the tall boy said in a low voice.
“Your cheapness isn’t bad either,” Xu Yuan said casually, cupping his hands.
The tall boy lowered his head and looked at the longsword in his hand.
The sword had been cut into two pieces.
Not only the sword—there was also a long sword mark on his body, running from his left shoulder to his right leg.
“I still have to say, your strategy is wrong—in troubled times, if you have a woman’s benevolence, you’ll only get yourself and your companions killed,” the tall boy said.
“…” Xu Yuan.
—Big bro, don’t say it out loud. The examiners are watching.
“Nothing to say?” the tall boy sneered.
“Some things are not a woman’s benevolence.”
Xu Yuan said with a resolute expression.
“Naive fool. You just have a powerful sword, that’s all,” the tall boy said, shaking his head. His figure gradually faded and disappeared.
He had been kicked out of the exam.
Xu Yuan sighed desolately.
—Taking these people out actually didn’t give any coins!
He put away his longsword, walked to the opposite wall, and touched the deep sword mark on it with his hand.
Qiongqie Sword, Sharpness +5.
That strike just now had sliced through the tall boy and his sword. The sword qi had burst outward and slashed directly into the wall, unexpectedly leaving such a deep sword mark.
It really was a good sword.
He swung the Qiongqie Sword in his hand several times in succession, familiarizing himself with the agility and strength it brought, and also glanced back at Jiang Xueyao.
She was a bona fide whale.
—Should I cling to her thigh? Or cling to her thigh?
Jiang Xueyao proudly lifted her chin, neither looking at him nor speaking.
She walked to the side and picked up the array disk that the students of Nanshan City First High School had set up from the ground.
Every time this array disk was set up, it took a tremendous amount of effort.
Now it had just been placed and activated, yet it had become spoils for their side.
That felt pretty good.
“Xu Yuan, we just took out other examinees like that. Isn’t that… not too good?”
Zhao Afei asked cautiously.
“What? There were actually students among those criminals?” Xu Yuan asked in shock.
“…” Zhao Afei.
—Big bro, you’re way too deep in character. This brother of yours doesn’t even know what to say.
Yang Xiaobing covered her mouth and laughed from the side.
Jiang Xueyao, however, said, “What do you think of what that boy said?”
“He didn’t read the question properly,” Xu Yuan said.
The exam was a calamity of city-destruction.
Look carefully. Four words in total: “calamity, of, city, destruction”!
Forget how you usually act.
But in the exam venue, using civilians to block demons and monsters—do you really think the examiners are blind?
Taking it one step further—
Would the human education system train cultivators like that?
“Same thought,”
Yang Xiaobing nodded in agreement.
“That’s what I thought too,” Zhao Afei said, though he didn’t really understand what was going on.
—If we’re brothers, our stance has to be consistent!
From this perspective, my, Zhao Afei’s, answer is also full marks!
“If you read the question properly… what are you going to do now?”
Jiang Xueyao asked again.
Xu Yuan quickly changed magazines, equipped the pistol and submachine gun again, and picked up the walkie-talkie.
“Report. At Xinzhou District Metro Station, the criminals obstructing civilians from taking refuge have been eliminated.”
“We are preparing to guide the civilians into the underground shelter.”
“Over.”
There was a pause of one breath.
A familiar voice sounded from the walkie-talkie:
“Xu Yuan? You were the one who killed that wolf demon on Chaoyang Road too, weren’t you?”
—That was Officer Liu’s voice!
“Hello, Officer Liu. That was our squad working together in unity to kill it,” Xu Yuan explained into the walkie-talkie.
“First you killed the tree demon, then eliminated the wolf demon, and finally established a refuge at the metro station—you’ve done very well!” Officer Liu said.
His voice became solemn:
“Martial law has already begun.”
“If anyone else disrupts public order and endangers the lives and property of the people, you may shoot to kill on the spot!”
“Yes!” Xu Yuan responded loudly.
This was power.
—The other party had given him power, allowing him to use force to kill people depending on the situation.
Because he had made contributions and passed the test!
Xu Yuan paused, then added,
“The situation is very chaotic right now. If there is anything else you need from us, please give us your orders directly!”
“—Very good. I am now officially conscripting the four of you and appointing you members of the Fifth Special Operations Squad until the end of this disaster,” Officer Liu said.
“What do we need to do?” Xu Yuan asked.
“Stand by for now.”
“I’ll prepare the documents, supplies, and equipment required by the Special Operations Squad. Wait a moment,” Officer Liu said.
“Understood, sir!” Xu Yuan replied.
—His form of address had already changed from “Officer Liu” to “sir.”
This represented that he and his team had entered the current system, ready at any moment to make use of the police system’s strength to play their role!
The call ended.
Xu Yuan glanced at Jiang Xueyao.
Jiang Xueyao’s gaze fell briefly on the Qiongqie Sword in his hand, then moved away.
Xu Yuan was puzzled.
—“You are barely worthy of my sword.”
Was that what she meant?
Not saying what she meant was really exhausting.
You couldn’t look for a wife like this. Otherwise, how would you get through every day?
Zhao Afei said quietly,
“I really wish those guys from just now were here, to see who was right.”
“They’ve already been eliminated,” Yang Xiaobing said with a smile.
—And we’ve obtained an official identity!
Becoming members of a Special Operations Squad meant that the four of them had already become law enforcement personnel of this city.
With this identity, they could do many things openly and justifiably.
The police station would even provide supplies and equipment!
Xu Yuan put away the walkie-talkie, kicked aside the iron plate blocking the way, and waved outside.
“Everyone, enter the underground area and take shelter.”
Yang Xiaobing and Zhao Afei reacted as well and hurried to help move various things aside so the crowd could enter the underground station.
Suddenly—
With a clang, a ball of white light burst above Xu Yuan’s head. It shone for quite a while before slowly disappearing.
Tiny glowing words quickly appeared in the void:
“You have received one Lamp Burst (Excellent-grade).”
“Officer Liu Shanxing (played by monthly exam examiner Ding Ling) has expressed approval of your judgment, actions, and character.”
“His evaluation is as follows:”
“—Young man, I have high hopes for you.”
“Thus, you have won a special reward.”