Chapter 15: Seeking to Pretend Amid Stability

"Brother Yang, are you going to charge into this monster town alone?"

Chén Chén, Luofeng, and four people stood by the wall of a dilapidated small supermarket, Yang Wu nodded solemnly and said:

"Crazy one, this warrior's practical combat assessment is not just an assessment; more importantly, it is a tempering of courage! When you truly enter dangerous zones alone in the future, the dangers you encounter will be ten to a hundred times greater. If even this monster town requires your help, Crazy one, what will happen later?"

Luofeng nodded: "That's right, Brother Yang, be careful."

"Well, Crazy one, Chenzi, and Jiang Mei-mei, you also seize the opportunity." Yang Wu reminded, "All the monsters in this town are the weakest h‑level monsters; in the future there won't be such a good opportunity—all are the weakest monsters for us to practice our blades."

"I understand, this is a rare opportunity to practice blades." Luofeng nodded with a smile.

Yang Wu stepped ahead first, and Luofeng also intended to train alone:

"Then I'll go ahead as well."

"See you tomorrow morning." Chén Chén also waved goodbye; Luofeng responded with a smile, then left cautiously.

Finally, only Jiāng Jiāng and Chén Chén remained.

There was a pause.

"What are you looking at me for? I'm definitely going with you! I've only heard of these monsters; who knows if something might go wrong, what then, and what if a monster goes berserk, or if a monster is hiding its strength…"

"Alright, alright, let's go together (T_T)."

……

The sun set behind the mountains, night fell; although the surroundings of the town provided lighting, many shadows and darkness still lent cover for monsters to hide.

Of course, it can also lend cover for martial artists to hide.

Not all beasts are adept at nighttime action, and martial artists may not lack advantage in shadows, especially for the perceptive Chén Chén and Jiāng Jiāng, who has activated mental psychic power.

"According to the data I looked up at the martial hall, monster ranks correspond to the three levels of human soldiers, war generals, and war gods: they are beast soldiers, beast commanders, and lord‑level."

"I now have a physique close to that of an advanced soldier, but beasts rely on their claws and fangs, giving newcomer martial artists a step‑up effect, so even facing beast‑soldier‑level monsters we cannot be careless."

Jiāng Jiāng thus positioned herself in her mind.

The two hid in the shadows and quickly spotted prey.

They were three canines moving in a pack; Jiāng Jiāng instantly recognized them as Tiger Mastiffs.

"In terms of overall strength, Tiger Mastiffs are definitely the hardest of the three monster types to deal with in this assessment; moreover, with three of them together, ninety‑nine percent of the participants in this assessment could not handle them."

Choosing this prey is obviously extremely unwise, but…… Chén Chén's strength should be able to handle it easily, right?

Comrade Jiāng Jiāng gazed wistfully at Chén Chén.

"Chén Chén, go!"

"I'll support you from behind!"

Chén Chén rolled his eyes and thought to himself: "No wonder it's you."

"Watch closely, I'll only perform this once."

Jiāng Jiāng's eyes shone brightly as she looked at Chén Chén and the three monsters.

This is a once‑in‑a‑lifetime learning opportunity!

"The Tiger Mastiff's size is one to two times larger than that of a lion before the Great Nirvana; standing up, its height slightly exceeds Chén Chén's, and its body length is far greater than the length of the spear Chén Chén holds."

Moreover, with three Tiger Mastiffs arrayed before Chén Chén, the size difference is like that between a big grey wolf and a little rabbit.

In a daze, it seemed as if time had returned to that day several years ago, when everyone around him died and everything was destroyed.

After that day, Jiāng Jiāng's world had only one person left: the boy who brought her to survive, the boy who almost sacrificed himself to save her, seemingly just like now……

Jiāng Jiāng instinctively felt fear, fear so intense she wanted to rush forward……

"Such a thing must never happen again."

……

However, just as Jiāng Jiāng was thinking that, Chén Chén had already made his move.

Chén Chén is about 1.8 meters tall, while the Heavenly Halberd is two to three meters long.

The Heavenly Halberd, in the realm of weapons, is actually not a very reasonable existence; among similar polearms, its thrusting and hooking power cannot match that of a spear, and its slashing, deflecting, and cutting power and adaptability cannot match that of a longsword.

Lacking agility, any extended attack range is illusory.

In fact, when the spear was first created, it was not positioned as an individual weapon; rather, it was mainly used as decoration or in military formations.

And in the ensuing ages of history, only a few legendary warlords ever used such a weapon.

And in the history known to Chén Chén, those legends were just legends.

There are many reasons why such a weapon was relegated to high storage, the most fundamental being strength.

But with the emergence of martial artists, human physical strength gradually reached levels previously unattainable, and polearms like this also saw the light of day.

But even so, in the era of martial artists, those who truly use the spear as a weapon remain few and far between.

Not far away.

Three Tiger Mastiffs charged at Chén Chén from different directions, surrounding him.

Although dealing with such a 'tiny'‑clothed fellow, the Tiger Mastiffs dare not underestimate this two‑legged wanderer.

Such speed is not fast.

Not far away, Jiāng Jiāng made that judgment.

Facing the three monsters head‑on is not a wise decision; in battle with monsters, protecting oneself comes first.

No matter how much a martial artist's physique improves, suffering an attack still means injury and pain; pitting one's body against a savage beast is an utterly foolish choice.

Having unlocked the body's shackles yet forsaking the wisdom that sustains it is an utterly foolish act.

At this very moment, Jiāng Jiāng's mind had instantly formulated seventeen strategies and selected the most stable one.

If I'm not mistaken, Chén Chén will first retreat left beside the ruined small building.

Jiāng Jiāng shifted her gaze to the ruined building to Chén Chén's left; the small tower left only ten‑plus meters of ruined wall, but as a barrier it was more than sufficient.

Chén Chén's speed is quick, but these few monsters are slower than him; using the small building on the left as cover, in this extremely short time he can turn numerical superiority to his advantage……

Gag—

Roar—

Three nearly overlapping screams denied Jiang Jiang's thought.

The black spear, from in front of Chen Chen, from bottom to top, from left to right, sliced a silver light across the night sky; the light swept into a crescent moon arc in midair, paused for a moment, then finally retracted back to Chen Chen's side.

Bang— bang— bang—

The corpses of three Tiger Mastiffs collapsed to the ground, and at the same time, bursting blood spilled onto the ground, dyeing the surrounding land red.

It's completely impossible to learn, you bastard!

Jiang Jiang said through gritted teeth.

On this road, the two have already encountered every monster that could appear in this exam—whether speed type, strength type, or comprehensive type—whenever Chen Chen strikes, it can be summed up in two words.

——instantly~

The iron-haired wild boar has thick, rough skin and meat? But it was instantly taken down by Chen Chen's single move~

The shadow cat's speed far surpasses that of martial artists of the same level? But it was instantly taken down by Chen Chen's single move~

Tiger Mastiff…… In short, it's awesome!

And Jiang Jiang's mood at this moment is: I don't want to play anymore!

Jiang Jiang's original plan was to take advantage of Chen Chen's limelight, and by cooperating, also display her own talent, thereby attracting the attention of the examiners supervising the exam.

But now this situation…… simply gives no chance for me to show myself, hey!

Moreover, if that's the case, even if the final results are splendid, it's very likely to be seen as just riding on Chen Chen's coattails; if that happens, my plan to join the 'God of War Training Camp' would fail.

If the plan fails, there will be no future husband!

Damn!

——

Do you plan to act on your own?

Exactly.

Jiang Jiang nodded firmly and said.

For her future happiness, Comrade Jiang Jiang has gone all out.

Although Chen Chen currently doesn't want to marry that woman, who knows about the future? As the saying goes, once you have a wife you forget your mother, let alone someone like me, a little rice worm.

To secure Chen Chen's marital rights, I must not slack off; I must strive to become stronger, not only to fulfill Chen Chen's plan, but also to ensure that, should I ever fall out with those big shots in the future, I have enough strength to oppose them.

For example, martial arts duels?

Or perhaps eloping?

Or maybe a worldwide bounty?

In short, all of these are possible!

Staying under Chen Chen's protection won't solve the problem; Jiang Jiang, we need to perk up.

So even if Chen Chen, out of worry, doesn't let me act alone, I still have to……

"Alright, you go." Chen Chen quickly agreed, who knows if Jiang Jiang will suddenly regret it.

Jiang Jiang (T_T).

I always feel that something is different from what I thought.

But thinking about it, it makes sense—if I can't even handle such monsters, how could I become Chen Chen's future wife?

Just like the first generation who rejected those pursuers at the martial hall for Chen Chen, if I were to become Chen Chen's bride in the future, those same standards would apply to me as well.

Jiang Jiang seemed to see an encouraging expression in Chen Chen's gaze, and her face involuntarily flushed with a faint, hardly noticeable blush.

"Mm, I'll do my best!"

Watching Jiang Jiang's retreating figure, Chen Chen couldn't help but rub his head.

This kid…… is becoming more and more unfathomable.

Could this be the legendary 'a girl changes greatly at eighteen'?

Chen Chen shook his head and didn't think further.

To maintain the "Heartnet" world, Chen Chen can spare very little mental energy; this earthling's avatar can only sustain mental activity barely different from that of an ordinary person.

Moreover, Chen Chen also has to divide his attention for the internal operations of the 【World Tree】; the organization has just been established, although many tasks have been delegated, as the behind-the-scenes boss he still needs to personally handle many things.

Now he still has to spare a bit of energy to watch over Jiang Jiang's side; although they are just novice monsters, if she gets hurt it would be bad.

After all, given Jiang Jiang's personality, a minor injury is as good as deadly; if she ever gets bitten by a snake and ends up being chased by a rope, that would be terrible.

"Sigh, it looks like I still need to assign more work to Jian Mu."