Chapter 17: Chapter Sixteen; Snatch

Time's up, all preparatory warriors, immediately head to the town exit.

As the broadcast echoed across the entire monster town, the warriors' practical combat assessment also drew to a close.

The preparatory warriors gathered from all sides, most of them showing fatigue.

The preparatory warriors were soaked in blood—monster blood, their own, or that of their nearby comrades.

The assessment lasted one night; for most warriors it wasn't easy. Many warriors had to exert their full effort to deal with one or two monsters, but afterward they still had to guard against monster attacks. In the monster town, novice warriors were both hunters and prey.

Toot—toot—toot—

Not far off, several large trucks were driving out from the center of the monster town, loaded with corpses—monsters and also warriors who had taken the assessment.

Of course, the human corpses were hauled away in a separate truck.

Only a group of people in plain clothes could be seen walking up to one of the trucks.

Well, these are yours to handle.

Well, thanks for the trouble.

No, no, no—it's actually trouble for you.

Many with sharp ears could overhear the two's conversation.

See? Those over there are probably from the World Tree.

I heard that in earlier years, such corpses pulled out were just dumped from the truck bed, then friends would claim them and that was it… precisely because of the World Tree, many now have a chance at survival.

No way……isn't that a bit…?

Come on, being a warrior means preparing to die in battle; this is also advocated by some groups, but only the World Tree truly values the lives of low-ranking warriors.

Besides that, if you get wounded in future wilderness combat, you'll inevitably have to deal with the World Tree……

It would be nice to join the World Tree.

In a bit we can go take the World Tree's assessment, right? They say even if you fail the practical combat assessment you can still take the World Tree's assessment; if luck is good and you pass, hehe.

Of course, rescuing these warriors basically judged as dead is only part; many injured warriors can also immediately rush to the World Tree's garrison for treatment.

In the past, many people's scores barely passed the assessment, but due to disability, it actually ended their warrior careers; since the World Tree joined, such occurrences have clearly decreased a lot—this is also why the World Tree can spark such widespread discussion after the war.

Of course, warriors with minor injuries still need to finish registering their assessment results before proceeding.

Three monster ears, light left-leg injury, not bad—next.

Wang Hu, four monster ears, not bad—next.

Near the town entrance there are over ten registration points; each exiting preparatory warrior must turn in the left ears of monsters they've slain to prove their kill count.

Whether it's team assistance or secretly having some 'py', for the reviewers it doesn't matter; as long as you can produce spoils, they can serve as proof of passing the assessment.

However, under covert surveillance, the military will still crack down on blatant 'trade' cheating.

Hehe, gotta say my buddy's luck was good; last night he ran into a big shot who killed who-knows-how-many monsters alone, and I waited until the big shot finished packing up and left……

Such scavenging behavior is also not within the scope of regulation.

After all, for the vast majority of warriors, it's impossible to abandon their spoils.

Look, Luofeng has come out.

He's Luofeng, pre-recruited by the Extreme Martial Academy.

I don't know how many monsters he's slain.

Strong physique doesn't necessarily mean he's good at slaying monsters.

For a moment, the gazes of all the preparatory warriors who had already come out focused on Luofeng, who had just walked out from the entrance.

Luofeng, Wan Dong, and Ma Xiao are three of this batch of preparatory warriors who were pre-recruited; word spread tenfold, hundredfold, and nearly everyone in this batch knows those three.

The big shot you mentioned is probably one of these three.

No, no, no, certainly not; I could still recognize those three, but the big shot I met wielded a long spear, incredibly fierce.

At the registration desk, Luofeng had already shaken out a pile of monster left ears from his backpack, completely filling the metal pot used for registration.

Soon after, Luofeng's results were tallied.

One hundred twenty-one—truly impressive." Even the officer doing the tally couldn't help but exclaim.

The warriors who had been watching Luofeng's side were also in an uproar; they hadn't expected Luofeng to be so fierce, dispatching over a hundred monsters in just one short night.

Compared to that, Wan Dong, who arrived a bit later, although confident, upon hearing that Luofeng had turned in over a hundred monster ears, could only slink back to the Thunder Martial Academy's garrison.

But as a 'genius', Wan Dong also felt a bit proud in his heart, having fallen behind by only a few dozen……

In his heart he actually cursed Luofeng as sly, saying he wouldn't accept his challenge in front of those big shots, letting his guard down; otherwise……

What he didn't know was that Luofeng actually had the ability to kill even more monsters; those over a hundred were merely the result of Luofeng spending time familiarizing himself with combat, honing his blade technique and body technique.

Of course, that's just because Wan Dong left early; otherwise he would have been hit even harder later.

Chén Chén, four hundred thirty-two…… temporarily in first place.

Jiāng Jiāng…… two hundred four, temporarily in second place.

……

Two major bombshell news stirred heated discussion among the warriors; fellow warrior Yang Wu was even more shocked, his jaw nearly dropping to the ground.

I originally thought that among our group, Luofeng's strength should be the strongest, after all he had been pre-recruited by the martial academy……

Although Chén Chén usually has a strong presence, people feel he's the type whose words you can hardly take seriously.

After all, saying he wanted to kill a thousand…… Yang Wu always thought Chén Chén was just a social terror.

And Jiāng Jiāng……

Yang Wu glanced at Luofeng; Luofeng actually showed some surprise at Jiāng Jiāng's results, but only that—it wasn't too unexpected either.

Holy shit, am I surrounded by people like this!

Yang Wu sank into deep self-doubt.

Of course, Luofeng's heart was also greatly surprised.

Regarding Jiang Jiang and Chén Chén, Luofeng naturally understands them better than Yang Wu and the others do.

Like Chén Chén bragging yesterday about wanting to kill a thousand, Luofeng knew Chén Chén might not be joking.

And as for the goal of a thousand, if Luofeng revealed his ability as a spiritual Nian master, he would also have a chance to achieve it, after all, in Monster Town, due to the assessment, the branches are relatively concentrated, and the monsters' strength is also relatively weak.

But Luofeng is an introverted person after all; competitive matters mean little to him, so when facing Wan Dong's two-person provocation, Luofeng also calmly refused.

However, for Chén Chén, Luofeng still unconsciously felt a hint of unwillingness to lose, so that night Luofeng, besides training his techniques, did not neglect his kill count.

And Jiāng Jiāng… actually has this kind of ability? Really impressive.

Of course, Luofeng also felt happy from the bottom of his heart, after all this meant that his future martial life would be much less lonely.

"How's it going, lunatic, Brother Yang? Are you used to your first slaughter yet?" Chén Chén quickly spotted Luofeng in the crowd and asked with a smile.

"Not bad." Luofeng replied casually.

"It's okay, it's okay, just still far behind you guys who are such monsters."

Yáng Wǔ wasn't exactly unpleasant either, though his embarrassed expression couldn't be hidden, especially when he caught a glimpse of Jiāng Jiāng out of the corner of his eye.

"Hey hey hey! Why aren't you asking me?"

Comrade Jiāng Jiāng was very dissatisfied with Chén Chén's attitude!

Come to think of it, Chén Chén's attitude toward Luofeng seems off; Jiāng Jiāng gave Luofeng a strange look—could it be… that Chén Chén actually likes men?

"Hahaha, Brother Yang, you don't need to feel down, after all the three most dazzling geniuses of this era are standing before you hahaha…" Chén Chén said while patting Yáng Wǔ's shoulder, spoiling the surprise.

Yáng Wǔ let out an irritated sigh, then relaxed and smiled.

Chén Chén's personality is just like that— a bit careless, his words sometimes unintentionally hurtful, yet he's completely impossible to dislike.

Seeing Chén Chén's sunny smile, the trace of jealousy or inferiority in Yáng Wǔ's heart vanished instantly, turning into a kind of anticipation.

Who knows how far these guys can fly.

"Luofeng, Chén Chén, and Jiāng Jiāng."

A voice came over; in the blink of an eye it was none other than the deputy hall master of Yangzhou City's Extreme Martial Hall whom they knew—Wū Tōng.

"Come with me for a moment, Supervisor Zhūgě wants to see you."

Wū Tōng said while glancing at Chén Chén.

This guy had said before entering that he wanted to kill a thousand… Wū Tōng had thought he was just bragging, but he actually pulled it off.

Ever since Chén Chén entered the backstage monitoring view, various big shots naturally kept an eye on him.

That night, the number of monsters Chén Chén slayed definitely exceeded a thousand, but he didn't waste that much time collecting all the monster ears from his kills, so his final score was only over four hundred.

This series of events fell to Supervisor Zhūgě, and Wū Tōng's original performance instantly turned into an oversight.

Thinking of this, Wū Tōng looked at Chén Chén and the other's faces, inexplicably gaining a hint of grievance.

You two, you were hiding things from me before, then dropped the act at the assessment—this is clearly screwing over Old Wū…

They led the three to a side loft.

The three first took off their blood‑stained combat uniforms in their respective resting rooms, then changed into clean casual clothes and came to the hall.

At that time, besides Zhūgě Téng, several people were already seated in the hall.

If possible, Zhūgě Téng would of course want to drive these guys away.

The bad news is, besides Luofeng, the other two promising seedlings hadn't signed contracts with the Extreme Martial Hall beforehand, meaning the other several families coming to compete were completely compliant.

Thinking of this, Zhūgě Téng couldn't help but glare at Wū Tōng beside him—if this guy had handled things more carefully, those two promising seedlings would already be in the Extreme Martial Hall's pocket.

"Please, have a seat."

As a major figure, Zhūgě Téng still had presence.

"Chén Chén, Jiāng Jiāng, you two should know who we are, right? I'm Zhūgě Téng of the Jiangnan branch of the Extreme Martial Hall."

On the previous in‑car TV, these bigwigs had each spoken as representatives; Jiāng Jiāng was also familiar with them.

Seated to Zhūgě Téng's left was the manager of the Thunder Martial Hall branch, to his right the military region commander dispatched by the military this time, and also the representative of the HR Alliance.

"The reason we called you over is simple: because the potential you've shown is extraordinary, we all admire it."

"Of course, Luofeng is already a member of our Extreme Martial Hall, hahaha."

In the end, Zhūgě Téng also didn't forget to emphasize.

Among the three, the most stunning performance was naturally Chén Chén's; next, the one looked upon more favorably was Luofeng, who had spent the whole night honing his skills; last came Jiāng Jiāng, who had kept some abilities hidden.

"All this beating around the bush aside, Luofeng, that contract you signed earlier is actually no problem—we Thunder Martial Hall can cover the penalty, and on the treatment side we can definitely offer terms better than the Extreme Martial Hall's; how about it? Interested in joining our Thunder Martial Hall?"

"And there's our HR Alliance—no need to say more, economically…"

Compared to the Two Great Martial Halls, the HR Alliance's confidence is much lower; in the martial world, strength ultimately speaks, and in this regard the HR Alliance is clearly at a disadvantage.

"Our military's conditions definitely won't be bad either—if you join, you'll directly obtain the rank of major, and…"

The several parties' recruitment efforts were mostly directed at Chén Chén and Jiāng Jiāng, after all these three seedlings essentially came from the Extreme Martial Hall, and everyone also had to consider Zhūgě Téng's dignity.

And Luofeng, being a grateful person, naturally turned down the other factions' overtures outright.

"Sorry, everyone, I've already decided to join the Extreme Martial Hall."

Luofeng replied with a bow.

Luofeng isn't an idiot; no matter how much the major powers try to lure him, it's only superficial gain.

Such a clear refusal counts as giving Zhūgě Téng full face; with him as a backer, Luofeng's treatment in the Extreme Martial Hall will definitely not be poor.

And the other several factions, having prepared themselves, turned their full attention to Chén Chén and Jiāng Jiāng.

"Sorry, are we late? Oh, right, it seems our private gatherings don't even have the concept of being late."

Before seeing the person, we heard the voice.

Everyone turned toward the source of the sound; the comer was none other than the last person who had appeared on the in‑car TV earlier.

【World Tree】's representative—Yún Sháng.

"Ahem."

Zhuge Tao, sitting in the middle, let out an embarrassed cough.

This gathering wasn't originally a public affair; instead, each family had independently come together to vie for people.

The few bigwigs hadn't been notified; they had shamelessly gathered here one after another. Yet, for Yunshang, who arrived late, it only made the atmosphere a bit more wonderful.

"Um, Miss Yunshang, don't misunderstand, we..." Zhuge Tao wanted to explain, but didn't know how to start.

"Hahaha, relax, relax, I know your tempers well; I'm not here to compete with you for people."

Upon hearing this, the few people seated all let out a sigh of relief.

After all, trying to snatch people from the World Tree is no small feat.

"I just came to let you know—Chén Chén is actually one of our World Tree people." Yunshang added with a smile.

Everyone present felt uneasy; this news was worse than coming to snatch people.

Moreover, someone was already gritting their teeth in anger.

(Jiāng Jiāng; that's right, it's me!)

In the biological genetic instinct, there are two great hatreds that cannot be forgiven.

One: stealing food.

Two: stealing mates.