Chapter 170 - Aiming for the Upper Ranks

Following a wave of the general’s hand, the ten-thousand-plus youngsters went off on a hundred-meter stampede towards the hilly area ahead, five of them per group.

This scene reminded Zhang Che of the times in his previous life when the reservoirs discharged water, and the villagers would rush forth with no thought for their personal safety to pick up fish. That violent surge as one…

Ugh, violent surge doesn’t seem to be the right word for this..? Whatever, Zhang Che just felt that the concept was a perfect fit to this scene!

“Come on, charge! If we get to the front, we’ll surely be able to snatch the best exotic beasts!”

“Hurry, you guys! You burdens, we have to obtain enough good beast cards within these five days if you want to get a good placement at the end of this!”

“Hey, hey, who was it that freaking stepped on my shoes, damn it!”

The ten thousand people caused a commotion so loud that the noise reached the heavens.

Luckily the powerful exotic beasts around here were cleaned up by the organizers and the army. Otherwise, a swarm of exotic beasts would immediately discover a huge amount of delicacies had sent themselves right to their doorsteps!

——

“Brother Che, what do we do?” Zheng Hongru scrunched up his delicate little face, like an abandoned young lady, his face filled with bitterness.

Zhang Che’s team was situated at the very end of the horde. It would be extremely difficult to get ahead of the others now.

As for him addressing Zhang Che as “Brother Che”, it was only after Zhang Che’s fervent request that they not call him big bro that they switched it up after a round of discussion.

Of course, Zhang Che didn’t feel any pressure from being addressed as an elder brother figure.

He was a young adult in his late twenties in his previous life. Although his current physique might not necessarily be bigger than the rest of them, his mental age was much older than them. There wasn’t even a hint of pressure weighing on Zhang Che after being called ‘brother’.

The moment Zheng Hongru asked his question, the other three looked towards Zhang Che simultaneously.

Zhang Che rolled his eyes about in thought and asked, “Can your subdued beasts act as mounts?”

The moment he asked this, the four of them quickly reacted and nodded profusely.

However, Li Da, the one with a warring states period-esque appearance, suddenly said with a constipated look, “Well, it can be used as a mount, but it’s really a little too god-damn rocky. Even those chicks with strong reactions are easier to handle.”

After he said that, his surroundings immediately fell silent.

After getting to know each other the night before, everyone learned that although Li Da looked like a firm and mature young man, he had a little too much interest in women, and usually wouldn’t be far from such topics whenever he spoke.

No one had any idea why this guy seemed to speak as if he had vast amounts of experience with the opposite sex, when he was only a young man in his late teens.

Could it be that this kid’s interest in woman started developing since he was still in his mother’s womb… Ugh, that sounded wrong. It shouldn’t be put that way…

If it wasn’t for the organizer’s repeated strict warning not to leave the hotel, perhaps Li Da would have went around the city and found a lonely women to spend the night with.

Of course, as a man of principles, Li Da would surely tip them very generously at the end as a break-up-fee.

Zhang Che sighed, “Bear it for now. If we can charge to the front, even a little, it will all be worth it.”

As he spoke, a dark golden streak of light shot out from his brow. Zhang Che had summoned the Dark-Scaled Lizard Commander.

Just as everyone else was about to summon their respective subdued beasts, Xiao Yi suddenly said, “Hm? I’m thinking if we could all ride on Brother Che’s subdued beast? This dark gold-quality beast is surely much faster than our garbage beasts, isn’t it?”

Zhang Che took a prolonged look at him, “Are you sure your name is Xiao Yi, and not Xiao Yan?”

Ah, how depressed must Xiao Yi be? -Who in the world is this Xiao Yan? To actually cast such a heavy shadow in our Brother Che’s heart. I’ll surely give you a good beating if I ever see you in the future!-

The others’ eyes lit up. Zheng Hongru looked toward Zhang Che and asked, “Brother Che, would that work?”

Zhang Che turned to look at the Dark-Scaled Lizard Commander at the side. Its body was over six meters long, its back wide. After thinking for a short while, he said, “There shouldn’t be a problem. Just hold on tight.”

As such, what followed after was a scene so comical that it would linger in the minds of the surrounding candidates for over a year.

The five youngsters all rode on the huge lizard’s back, holding tightly onto its waist. The five of them sat close together, swaying along to the huge lizard’s rapid motions. It truly was a sight to behold…

Zhang Che’s forehead was covered in black lines, regretting his decision. If he knew this would happen, he’d rather go slow than agree to their request. After this event, who knew how far his cool image would fall… Luckily, he already had Miss Tienan. Otherwise, if this matter spread, perhaps he would never be able to find a girlfriend.

As for those four fellows behind him, they could only pray that this matter wouldn’t spread too far.

————

Naturally, Zhang Che’s group wasn’t the only ones to think of getting ahead by riding on their subdued beasts.

In fact, after a short dash, most of the examinees couldn’t persevere and slowly realized that there was no need to run. Would a human run faster than a subdued beast?

As such, all of the examinees summoned their own subdued beasts and mounted them, marking the start of another race.

As for a tiny fraction of them whose subdued beasts were truly unsuitable for riding, they could only imitate Zhang Che’s group, squeezing onto one or two subdued beasts and going on their way, rubbing against one another.

How vast was an area two hundred kilometers long and over a hundred kilometers wide?

Let alone ten thousand-plus of them, even a million of them wouldn’t cause much of a ripple.

The crowded scenery you could see was only temporary, when the examinees had just entered the area. When everyone dispersed, it would be lucky if you could find one or two teams in your surroundings.

Since it was for an examination, the low-tier exotic beasts were naturally not driven away by the organizer and the army. Perhaps they might even have herded some of them in.

Therefore, the youngsters started encountering all kinds of exotic beasts soon after they entered the hunting zone. They gradually halted in place and started slaying the exotic beasts who were drawn by the noise.

At this time, the efficiency of having a powerful beastmaster among the team was quickly revealed.

—————

Zhang Che’s team encountered a group of two-star bronze-quality exotic beasts.

Zheng Hongru and the others’ eyes shone at the sight of this. -If we manage to slay this group of exotic beasts, each of us could get a beast card at the very least, right?-

However, Zhang Che didn’t even pay any attention to this garbage. He whipped out the Mutated Puffersword and sent a Sonic Wave sweeping through them, incapacitating them. He couldn’t even be bothered to get the Dark-Scaled Lizard Commander to stop and deal the final blow. With another wave of his hand, the Gale Wolf King appeared flashily.

In only one minute later, the Gale Wolf King caught up to the Dark-Scaled Lizard Commander, holding four two-star bronze-quality beast cards in its mouth, and offered them to Zhang Che.