Chapter 168 - Entering the Hunting Zone

The next morning, all of the examinees gathered at the Jin City central plaza again. It was finally time to enter the beast world, and start the examination!

Everyone had anticipatory looks on their faces. The youngsters who had already gotten close to their teammates couldn’t help but break into soft whispers.

A stern voice rang out from the stage in the central plaza, “Silence!”.

The plaza immediately fell silent. The ten thousand-plus young men and women looked to the stage simultaneously, and saw a middle-aged general with a shiny golden star on his shoulder standing as straight as a pine tree on the stage. His sharp eyes swept across the plaza. Everyone’s heart tightened, no longer daring to make any sound.

“The examination is about to start. Let me reiterate a few important points.”

The examinees were listening attentively. The middle-aged general continued, “First, for your entry into the beast world, the organization will be providing all of your supplies. No one is allowed to bring in any personal effects other than a single weapon, to prevent any examinee from cheating and bringing any beast cards that weren’t registered with us.”

Zhang Che’s heart thumped. -As expected, the compressed biscuits and other dry rations I prepared in advance will be coming into use. That little bit of food from the organizers wouldn’t be able to fill my stomach at all.-

“Second, in the first five days into the hunting zone, all of you can only use the beast cards you brought in. This restriction will be lifted after that.”

The moment this information was made known, the plaza burst into commotion.

-We can use the beast cards we obtain in five days!-

With that, the first five days became incomparably important. Whether the team could hunt enough exotic beasts and obtain enough good beast cards would greatly affect the team’s final results.

Zheng Hongru and the others were thrilled!

-So what if we’re greenhorns? We have a super powerful big bro looking after us!-

-As long as we managed to get through these five days, it shouldn’t be a problem for each of us to have a silver-quality beast card in hand, right? Perhaps there is even a chance to get our hands on a gold-quality card!-

A silver-quality or higher beast card! This had mostly remained in the dreams of countless youngsters. To have one in reality, it truly wasn’t simple!

“Silence!”

While the plaza fell into a chaotic discussion, the general on the stage yelled out, making the examinees gather themselves, immediately not daring to make any noise again.

“Lastly, let me emphasize this…” The general paused for a moment. The plaza was silent; even the fall of a needle could be heard.

“Although this examination doesn’t forbid benign competition, I hope that everyone will try to avoid conflict with other teams. All of you are hot-blooded youngsters, and you might injure others if you lose control of yourselves. At that time, what you’re facing might be the tragic ending of the disqualification of both teams.

“I’ll reveal a little bit more information for you all. The hunting zone for the examination is extremely huge, enough to throw all ten thousand-plus of you in and not many ripples would form. So, you’d better go hunt more exotic beasts and have less meaningless conflicts with one another. It’s beneficial for you and the others.”

After another short pause, the general waved his large hand, “Alright, we’ll start handing out your necessities now, and confiscate your personal items. Get ready to set off in half an hour!”

A squad of soldiers emitting sharp auras immediately entered the plaza with a strange apparatus in their hand. First they took away all personal effects, with the exception of a weapon, and had the examinees take out the beast cards branded with their spiritual imprints, in addition to the spare one. After making sure there weren’t any discrepancies with the information they had, the soldiers used the strange apparatus to scan the examinees’ bodies.

“Di di di…” A few ear-piercing mechanical beeps rang out immediately among the crowd.

Evidently, there were some who tried to cheat, bringing other beast cards into the exam.

Fortunately for them, the organizers only gave them a warning and confiscated the beast cards, and did not disqualify them. However, they also sternly warned the examinees that if anyone were found to have smuggled any unregistered beast cards into the hunting zone via some unique methods, then sorry for them. They would be immediately disqualified with no further leniency.

Zhang Che immediately grew anxious. -In that case, wouldn’t it be very dangerous if I tried to summon my other subdued beasts to snatch experience from others?

-But, it seems like I can use the Vampiric Demon Carpet?-

-This fellow is great at hiding itself anyway. As long as I’m not discovered when I summoned it, there shouldn’t be much problem, right?

-I don’t need to use it often, too. I’ll send this fellow out to snatch experience only when we notice high level and quality exotic beasts. Who could tell that it’s my subdued beast?

-As for the loophole of not leaving a corpse behind, as long as it’s a small exotic beast, the Vampiric Demon Carpet could directly wrap it up and slip away. Who can tell whether a corpse was left behind?

-Hmm, it’s decided, then. I can totally give this a try if we encounter any powerful exotic beast that we can’t guarantee snatching away with our subdued beasts on hand!-

Zhang Che decided all this inwardly without showing any changes on his face.

At this moment, a soldier came up to Zhang Che’s team with the strange apparatus in hand. First he took away all their personal effects except their weapons, then inspected the beast cards they brought with them, bringing the strange apparatus closer to them.

Of course no strange noise was emitted. Although Zhang Che secretly brought a bunch of beast cards with him, they were all laying silently in his spiritual sea. There was probably no one in this world, and no apparatus that could discover this.

On the other hand, the soldier swept his gaze across the bow container and quiver hanging on Zhang Che’s shoulder with interest. He was probably thinking this examinee’s brain was faulty. -You’re just a teenager, looking rather weak and skinny. How strong of a bow can you draw?-

————

Half an hour later, all the checks were completed. A huge fleet of army transportation vehicles came driving into the wide road to the side of the plaza. All the examinees boarded the vehicles according to their teams. After that, a long chain of vehicles directly drove to the spatial gateway sixty-plus kilometers west of Jin City.

This spatial gateway had been cordoned off by the army two days ago, only allowing exits, but not entries. Therefore, when the examinees arrived in droves, there was basically no traffic hindering them. The examinees lined up in ten rows in front of the dozen-meter-wide spatial gateway, quickly walking into the beast world in an orderly manner.

Zhang Che had originally thought that everyone would need to travel on foot by themselves to the designated hunting zone in the beast world. It was only after he crossed the spatial gateway that he realized how wrong he was.

On the empty space just outside of the safety zone, a fleet of black steel monsters awaited them in a single row, shocking everyone, their eyes wide.

The general leading them this time was also the man responsible for their safety during the examination. He took in the astonished looks on their faces in satisfaction, and shouted, “See those steam-powered vehicles there? These are your transportation tools to the hunting zone. Please follow your guides closely and set off!”

The general waved his hand. The ten thousand-plus examinees split into fifty per group, led by a soldier. All of them ran towards the steel monster they were assigned to…