Chapter 638: Upright and Unyielding Zhao Dezhuz

“Leader, don’t have so much faith in us—it’s way too high! At least eighty percent won’t pass!”

A wail rose from the crowd—it was Wang Zhetao, who had failed the first 200-meter test.

“Yes, Leader, lower the difficulty a bit…”

“Thank you for your trust, but I’m not confident at all!”

“Please, lower the standard!”

The atmosphere was relaxed; once someone took the lead, others would inevitably follow.

“Cough! Cough!”

Zhang Su coughed once, waited for silence, then pointed to the top of the pole: “No matter what, you must hold onto the belief that you will win. Besides, this is a selection—not a game!”

With that, Zhang Su jumped straight up, effortlessly leaping.

“I fucking—!”

“Big brother, have mercy on us!”

“Are you trying to kill us?!”

To everyone’s shock, Zhang Su leaped, touched the top of the pole with his forehead, then landed lightly, as if he hadn’t exerted himself at all.

“See? I did it so easily—you all can too. This is your standard! Ladies, look here—that pole is your target: two point seven meters.”

Zhang Su pointed to the pole held by Ju Wuying.

For the high jump, Zhang Su slightly lowered the standard for women, but even so, it still put pressure on the female members, since the jumping technique differed from sprinting.

During the earlier survival phase, they ran nearly every day, but jumping wasn’t required.

The men had already begged once—useless. The women didn’t bother repeating it, accepting it calmly.

After clarifying the rules, they lined up by gender, and the testing moved quickly—one after another, pass or fail was obvious, and recording was easy.

The women’s test was done in under two minutes; the men took only about ten minutes.

The truth proved some things shouldn’t be assumed: a three-point-two-meter high jump was not hard for men—the pass rate reached eighty percent, leaving many barely able to believe it.

The twenty-five who failed felt discouraged; some had jumped unprepared and wasted their chance, others had twisted their ankles during the first running test…

Some were simply incapable—like Wang Zhetao, who had started the commotion. His father, Wang Guang, passed again—father far stronger than son!

Though the test had no exact measurements, Zhang Su could confidently declare the champion was the limping Xie Guangfa!

He stood barely one point seven meters tall, with an old leg injury making movement difficult, yet he managed to touch the pole’s top with his wrist. About ten others touched it with their wrists too—but they were all tall. The tallest, Knight of Light Fan Dahai, touched the top with the middle of his forearm.

But Fan Dahai was twenty centimeters taller than Xie Guangfa; in absolute jump height, Xie still surpassed him—clear proof of his explosive leg power. The women’s results were dismal: even with Zhang Su’s special consideration for female members, only five passed.

The most outstanding was still Ma Xueyan—she cleared the standard by at least thirty centimeters, light as a swallow, true to her name. The most tragic was Su Xiaoya—she was the type who could’ve succeeded if she’d grown her nails ten more days, or if she’d had a second chance to learn from her mistake—but there was no “what if.”

“Hmm… Women, you need to work much harder on jumping—it’s pathetic!”

Zhang Su delivered his blunt critique, then pointed toward Village Entrance No. 1: “Final test—we’re changing locations. Follow me!”

With that, he walked toward the village.

Two or three hundred meters away, they arrived quickly. The villagers, busy with their work, glanced curiously at the large crowd; some who weren’t occupied put down their tasks and gathered around.

Zhang Su pointed to a massive object lying beside a ruined house at the village’s edge: “This is the final test.”

Everyone followed his finger—and saw a giant tire, estimated at one point five meters in diameter, weight unknown…

This tire came from an excavator, dragged back from Niuziquan Town, already scrapped. Zhang Su kept it, thinking it might be useful—and now it finally was.

Some nodded slowly in understanding—they already guessed what came next. Others remained confused. “First test: running speed. Second: jumping height. Third: overall strength. The method is simple—just flip this tire over!”

After hearing Zhang Su, some visibly relaxed—flipping a tire? Didn’t look hard at all.

The women’s faces turned pale…

Unlike running or jumping, that tire on the ground weighed at least two or three hundred jin. Flipping it was real physical labor—requiring technique, but without strength, technique meant nothing. Everyone had learned their lesson and stopped protesting—it was pointless—but they still needed to ask one thing.

“Brother Zhang, what’s the standard? Just flip it once?”

The speaker was someone Zhang Su knew—Liu Lan, whom Qiu Hui had mentioned.

In recent patrols, Zhang Su had paid special attention to Liu Lan and found nothing unusual. He planned to find a chance to probe her later—without concrete evidence, he couldn’t act on Qiu Hui’s word alone.

Liu Lan’s performance in the first two tests was average: she passed the run, failed the high jump—she’d already secured a spot in the reserve corps. But the final test was crucial if she wanted to advance.

“The standard will be explained later. Zhu De, help move the tire to a clearer spot!”

Zhang Su waved to Zhao Dezhuz, giving him a subtle glance.

“Got it!”

Zhao Dezhuz wasn’t good at decision-making, but he wasn’t stupid—he instantly understood Zhang Su’s meaning.

“This test is obscure—many haven’t encountered it. When lining up, those who know how go first; those who don’t, watch and learn. Come on—let Zhao Dezhuz demonstrate first.”

Zhang Su told the crowd.

The crowd spontaneously burst into applause.

“My apologies, my apologies!”

Zhao Dezhuz waved to the crowd and walked toward the tire.

The boss of the Yanluo Army was demonstrating—everyone focused their eyes on Zhao Dezhuz.

Standing before the tire, Zhao Dezhuz squatted, cleared the dirt from its edge, found his grip, thrust his fingers inward, tightened his shoulders, let out a soft grunt, lifted one side of the tire, then drove his knee upward—using his entire body’s strength in a smooth, fluid motion, he flipped the tire over.

“Huh, puh!” The crowd assumed the tire was rotten and hollow, light as air—until it slammed down with a heavy thud, revealing its true weight. Weight was relative! “Hng, ha, hei…”

If Zhang Su and Ju Wuying’s combat power ranked T0 in the Yanluo Army, Zhao Dezhuz followed closely behind, at the top of the first tier. He had no obvious weaknesses in combat, his physical condition was top-tier, and handling this comprehensive test was effortless.

Zhang Su roughly timed it—Zhao Dezhuz flipped the tire seven times in ten seconds. He didn’t know how good that was, but from Zhao Dezhuz’s expression, he could tell the man still had some energy left—though not much.

Amid flying dust, the massive tire was moved to an open area.

“Bang!” “Huh…”

Through the dust, Zhao Dezhuz turned to Zhang Su: “Brother, is this spot fine?”

Feeling the admiring glances around him, he felt delighted inside.

“OK!”

Zhang Su smiled and gave a thumbs-up.

“Big Brother Zhu, you’re tired, look—you’re sweating! Let me wipe you off, don’t catch a chill.”

A voluptuous woman stepped from the onlookers toward Zhao Dezhuz, gracefully reaching out to wipe his sweat.

To ordinary members, this was completely normal—flattering the powerful, no shame, nothing strange. But to Yanluo Army members, it was startling—even Zhao Dezhuz himself! On Tianma Island, such a culture was still decent; he’d never encountered such temptation. The sweet scent made his heart race—until he saw Zhang Su, Qi Xiaoshuai, Pan Guoliang, and others smirking, and Yu Wen’s cold gaze—he shuddered.

“No, no, get away! I’m done—don’t block the others!”

With that, Zhao Dezhuz firmly pushed away the woman trying to wipe his sweat, his expression unchanged as he walked toward the Yanluo Army group.

(End of Chapter)