Chapter 7: Ruins Town, Wu Ke Gaokao Rules

The Gaokao is a grand event in the Great Xia Nation.

To ensure students get adequate rest, one month before the Gaokao, every province and city begins enforcing nighttime noise control.

Even upscale residential compounds hire specialized sonic-type adepts.

At exactly nine p.m., they unleash their abilities to block all external sounds outside the compound.

On the day of the Gaokao itself, protections for examinees reach an extreme level.

Not only are roads under traffic control, but armed soldiers and adept squads patrol key intersections to prevent emergencies.

Because of this, the forty-plus buses carrying Wu Ke examinees traveled unimpeded through the city and soon entered the military zone on the outskirts.

The buses then pulled over to an open field, and students disembarked one after another.

Around the field, every three meters stood a soldier, weapon in hand, posture rigid.

The severity on their faces left no doubt: anyone daring to charge the formation would face a hail of bullets!

At the very front of the field stood a temporary podium.

Behind the podium was a region enclosed by barbed wire.

Inside lay the ruins of a small town—vast, stretching beyond sight.

Between the ruins, dark shadows of ferocious beasts flickered, accompanied by their growls and roars.

“Phew, that’s our exam site.”

“Holy shit, I just saw a unicorn rhino!”

“Unicorn rhino? No way—this year’s exam can’t be that brutal?”

“......”

The ruined town within the military zone was originally called Weiyuan Town, a small village under Jiangcheng.

Decades ago, it was overrun by a beast tide and reduced to ruins.

Though later reclaimed by the military, since it was already in ruins, rebuilding held little value, so it became a training ground for troops.

But every June 7th, it is used as a Wu Ke Gaokao site.

Of course,

the types of ferocious beasts placed inside are not chosen casually as during regular troop drills—they are determined by Jiangnan Province’s Wu Ke Gaokao examiners.

All Wu Ke Gaokao sites under Jiangnan Province use identical beast combinations to ensure absolute fairness.

The species and strength of the beasts determine the difficulty of the Wu Ke Gaokao.

Generally, no powerful beasts appear in the outer zones of the ruined town.

Only common beasts like Shadow Cats and Iron-Haired Pigs are found there.

Yet in past Gaokaos, rare and formidable beasts such as Unicorn Rhinos and Arm-Knife Tigers have appeared in the outer zones.

But this also meant that year’s Wu Ke Gaokao was harder, with greater risk of death.

Thus, when many students saw the Unicorn Rhino inside the ruined town through the barbed wire, their faces turned pale and they panicked.

“So what if it’s a Unicorn Rhino? If you can’t even handle a beast like this, even if you barely get into an Adept University, you’ll never amount to anything!”

A loud voice suddenly rose above the students’ murmurs.

It was a young man dressed in pale green combat gear, resembling an ancient swordsman, holding a long sword in hand.

His demeanor matched that of a knight—open, sharp, his eyes like an eagle’s, radiating intense pressure.

Many students turned angrily to argue.

But upon seeing him, they fell silent, embarrassed and dared not make a sound.

This scene puzzled Xu Jingming, who turned curiously to a tall boy beside him, carrying a sword and shield.

“Who is that guy? So full of himself?”

The tall boy’s name was Liu Jie; his awakened ability was a C-grade Enhancement ability: Gigantification.

When activated, his body swells over twice its size, and his strength increases accordingly.

In Class 5, besides his best friend Zhang Hao, Xu Jingming was closest to him.

“Who else? Zhou Mingyang from No. 1 High School, the Light Wind Sword.”

Liu Jie nodded toward him.

“So it’s him.”

Xu Jingming instantly understood.

No. 1 High School of Jiangcheng was the high school with the deepest educational roots in the entire city.

It offered genuine adept instruction and occasionally arranged live combat drills with ferocious beasts.

Its graduates were all fierce—nearly all of Jiangcheng’s top ten Wu Ke Gaokao candidates came from No. 1 High School.

And Zhou Mingyang was one of its most outstanding students!

He possessed a B-grade Elemental Wind ability: “Lightning Gale.”

When activated, he could condense wind blades and reduce air resistance, greatly increasing his movement and attack speed.

“Lightning Gale” ranked among the top-tier abilities among all awakened powers in Jiangcheng.

Moreover, Zhou Mingyang was one of the very few students in Jiangcheng to have surpassed the Adept stage and reached the Adept Upgrade level before the Gaokao.

Before the exam, he was already a top contender for Jiangcheng’s Wu Ke champion, earning the title “Light Wind Sword.”

Naturally, ordinary examinees dared not provoke such a powerful adept.

“Excellent! Swordsmanship must carry this fearless, forward-moving spirit!”

The principal of No. 1 High School, watching this, nodded approvingly.

Soon, all students from the forty-plus buses entered the field and lined up neatly by school and class.

Each class had its homeroom teacher standing beside them.

At that moment, a middle-aged man in military uniform stepped onto the podium.

He was tall, with a long scar running down his right cheek.

Merely by glancing around, he silenced every whispering student in the field.

If Zhou Mingyang’s gaze brought pressure, this officer’s gaze felt like that of a ferocious beast—instilling dread!

“Definitely a second-rank adept or higher.”

Xu Jingming silently thought in the formation.

“I am Wang Haiyang, overall commander of this year’s Jiangcheng Wu Ke Gaokao. Before the exam begins, I will reiterate the rules.”

“The Wu Ke Gaokao begins precisely at 9 a.m. and ends at 9 p.m., lasting twelve hours total.”

“The exam site is the ruined town behind me—same as previous years, divided into outer, middle, and core zones.”

“The outer zone contains only non-rank beasts; the middle zone holds peak non-rank beasts and first-rank beasts.”

“The core zone contains only beasts above first-rank; the innermost area is dominated by high-tier first-rank beasts and second-rank beasts.”

Commander Wang Haiyang’s voice echoed across the field—he did not use a microphone, yet every student heard him clearly.

“Outer, middle, core, and innermost—these zones are like a math exam: different areas correspond to different difficulty levels.”

“The innermost area, where high-tier first-rank and second-rank beasts dwell, is like the final question on a math exam—designed for top students to conquer.”

A smile touched Xu Jingming’s lips in the formation.

Before, he would have dared only to kill beasts in the outer zone.

Now, he not only had confidence to enter the core zone, but even dared to explore the innermost area!

“Killing different types and ranks of beasts grants different scores.”

“The higher the beast’s rank and strength, the more points you earn upon killing it.”

“But you must act within your limits—choose zones suitable for your strength.”

“Alright, resource distribution begins now.”

On the podium, Wang Haiyang waved his right hand; several squads of soldiers stepped forward, and a large truck rolled in from afar.

The truck’s cargo doors opened, revealing row upon row of black tactical backpacks.

Under the soldiers’ distribution, each examinee received one tactical backpack.

Inside were three items.

One was a smartwatch, used to track the number and type of beasts killed and accumulate scores.

It also contained a map of the ruined town to confirm the examinee’s location.

Another was three energy bars—each consumed rapidly replenished stamina.

The final item was a safety ball—a silvery metallic sphere.

When activated, it generated a high-voltage electric net around the user, impervious to ordinary beasts.

Of course, once activated, the Gaokao ended immediately.

Xu Jingming strapped the smartwatch to his wrist, placed the three energy bars inside the tactical backpack, slung it on his back, and hung the safety ball at his waist.

This way, in case of danger, he could activate the safety ball with maximum speed to preserve his life.

Most other students chose the same setup.

Yet even with the safety ball, absolute safety was not guaranteed.

After all, in the chaos of beast combat, life and death hang by a thread—sometimes you won’t even have time to activate the safety ball...