Chapter 27

The exam begins.

Ji Fu lay down in the simulation cabin, and when she opened her eyes again, the scenery in front of her had undergone a drastic change.

In the distance, the mountains stretched endlessly, with towering green peaks and a gentle breeze brushing against her face.

Although it was only a simulation, the sensation felt exceptionally real.

Especially her body.

Abundant physical strength, innate talents that she could harness.

This was an experience she had never had before she was captured and sent to the highest prison.

Although she was still only a C-class at the moment, unaffected by physical exertion and not restricted by her damaged talents, she could recover as a normal C-class even if she was drained.

It was already the best state she had experienced so far.

Zhou Lu Hai stood beside her, and the simulation cabin refreshed the location based on their teaming.

Ji Fu looked up and immediately saw Tan Xi and Li Yunyi standing not far away.

Since they were all here, they might as well enjoy themselves to the fullest.

She chuckled lightly and whispered to Zhou Lu Hai, “One person each?”

Zhou Lu Hai hesitated for a moment, then looked up at her.

Meanwhile, Tan Xi and Li Yunyi also entered the examination room at the same time.

The S-class mech provided by the school was on Tan Xi. As soon as he opened his eyes, Tan Xi began to operate the mech.

Both of them were taking this promotion exam seriously and didn’t take it lightly just because one faced an S-class and the other a C-class.

Li Yunyi looked around and saw that Tan Xi had already adjusted the mech and was ready to enter the cockpit.

Seeing this, he reminded, “After entering, scan first. That girl is an alchemist and always has some tricks up her sleeve.”

Before coming here, he had inquired about Ji Fu from the original Special Class A students.

Alchemists were rarely used in mech combat, so he specifically reminded Tan Xi.

Tan Xi acknowledged with a word, and the mech was already adjusted.

He was about to step into the cockpit when he suddenly realized something and exclaimed, “Be careful!”

The positions of the two teams were different, and after he entered, he also noticed Zhou Lu Hai and Ji Fu, but because they were standing on a small hill, their team was below.

Normally, there was no need to pay special attention before activating the mech.

After all… no one should directly engage in combat without using a mech in such an important exam.

How was that any different from casual brawling?

But just because of this thought, when Ji Fu’s attack came crashing over.

Tan Xi was fine since he had already entered the cockpit in the instant he reacted.

But Li Yunyi was in trouble.

As the sound of the blast rang out, he instinctively dodged.

But it turned out that the blast wasn’t aimed at him at all!

The target… was beneath his feet!

Snap!

A blast erupted, kicking up a cloud of dust, and the ground beneath his feet cracked.

He slid along the fractured yellow soil and slipped down in one go.

With that slide, he was far from Tan Xi’s position.

Tan Xi reacted swiftly, already inside the cockpit, he only pressed the call button to notify him: “Be careful, hide.”

He manipulated the mecha, intending to catch Li Yunyi who slipped.

But as soon as he moved, he heard the rustling of leaves nearby.

[Buzzing—]

[An organic mecha is approaching! An organic mecha is approaching!]

Tan Xi looked up and saw the deep blue mecha rising in the sky, already locking onto him at the first opportunity, sliding towards him at maximum speed.

Boom!

The mecha passed over the treetops, emitting a tremendous roar.

Accompanying it were two tracking missiles launched by the deep sea.

The speed, strength, and adaptability of the opponent’s mecha were all top-notch among the S-class mecha soldiers Tan Xi had encountered in recent years.

It forced him to allocate most of his focus to deal with Zhou Lu Hai.

The two S-class mechas collided, and Li Yunyi felt like the whole world was collapsing.

With Tan Xi intercepted by Zhou Lu Hai like this, he couldn’t get into the mecha in time and had already put on the mecha suit.

This time, only one of them could pilot the mecha, but Li Yunyi didn’t act recklessly. To avoid accidents, he carried a convenient mecha suit and weapons with him.

After putting on the full-view goggles, his vision was bombarded with alerts.

[Unknown machinery approaching rapidly!]

Li Yunyi’s face changed slightly; his guess was correct.

The effect of the shot just now was to intercept him outside the mecha cockpit.

As a mecha engineer, his role outside the mecha cockpit was minimal.

And without the protection of a mecha, it was easy to be eliminated without being able to demonstrate anything!

But when he fired that shot just now, it was obvious that the opponent’s mecha wasn’t ready either. It was fired before both sides were ready.

It was unexpected, but it also meant that one person on the other side hadn’t entered the mecha cockpit either.

The appearance of the S-class mecha Deep Sea already indicated that the person left on the ground could only be Ji Fu!

This operation was extremely bold, even with a taste of mutual destruction.

In the simulation classroom, the live scene was projected onto the screen.

The students and teachers below could see the actual situation of the exam.

When they saw Ji Fu forcing Li Yunyi into a mecha-less duel in this way, the students present all exclaimed.

“Oh my, she’s so daring.”

“But don’t you think, this match was already extremely difficult, by doing this, she’s essentially exchanging herself for Li Yunyi’s elimination, which in the end is quite profitable.”

“Are you sure she can eliminate him? If I’m not mistaken, Li Yunyi’s mecha suit is an A-class machinery!”

Because the current screen displayed only Li Yunyi’s side, the people present were not aware of Ji Fu’s situation and could only judge based on speculation.

The camera turned, and they finally saw the protagonist who fired the shot from behind.

The one who fired the shot was the small cannon in her hand.

It was just an ordinary weapon, with average penetration power. It could blast away the small mound, but it definitely couldn’t penetrate Li Yunyi’s mecha suit.

After just one shot, she put the cannon away.

The students watching the exam couldn’t quite understand her actions.

In the blink of an eye, they saw her release the mechanical dog Flame.

After solving the problem of stamina depletion and the difficulty of talent recovery, she finally could utilize some other functions of Flame.

After Flame landed, Ji Fu said softly, “Mechanical Transformation—Advanced Braking.”

[Activate Advanced Braking]

The crimson mechanical eyes of Flame flickered, and its body quickly disassembled. Its limbs were retracted, and the head was pushed forward.

In a brief moment, it automatically disassembled and reassembled, turning into a heavy motorcycle.

Ji Fu straddled the motorcycle with one foot and hung her small backpack on it.

Then, without changing her expression, she pulled out two gravity guns.

“Activate Rampage Mode, pursue target: Li Yunyi.”

[Searching for target, target locked]

[Rampage Mode activated]

Buzz, buzz, buzz!

The motorcycle’s two tires left huge deep marks on the ground.

In the form of a motorcycle, Flame, carrying Ji Fu, shot out like a beam of light, bouncing off the ground in an instant.

Because the ejection speed was too fast, there was even a residual image in the air, disappearing from everyone’s sight before the simulation chamber’s cameras could even lock onto it.

At the same time, Li Yunyi received the message of her rapid approach.

The opponent’s speed was so fast that even his panoramic goggles couldn’t capture it. His expression changed, and he directly turned off the goggles.

Merging his weapons with the mecha suit, he directly activated the mecha suit’s maximum power.

After maxing out the power, he raised his hand and blasted the trees in front of him to pieces.

Buzz!!!

Li Yunyi was a mecha soldier himself, and even without piloting a mecha, his reactions were swift.

The opponent’s speed was unbelievable; he still managed to spot Ji Fu swiftly moving through the forest.

But what he didn’t expect was that after this glance, countless gravity silverfish bullets, like snowflakes falling from the sky, shot towards him from all directions.

In the fleeting image, he could only see the flying white hair of the opponent.

And within these brief moments, bullets were coming from all directions.

The sounds of whizzing and booming kept ringing in his ears.

He had already made a quick response, disassembling the mechanical parts of his legs and quickly assembling them into a shield.

With an S-class talent, whether it was a mecha soldier or a mecha engineer, the speed of mechanical assembly was far beyond ordinary imagination.

He had already raised his shield before the bullets fully approached.

The shield blocked most of the bullets, and the flying bullets transformed the trees in the entire forest into unrecognizable shapes.

Li Yunyi looked at the ground covered with bullet heads and the inexplicably paused rain of bullets, teasing Ji Fu: “Junior sister, are you out of bullets?”

Indeed, she was.

The students outside watched as Ji Fu put down two heavy gravity guns and replaced them with two cannons.

Boom!

One cannon blasted half of the forest.

Li Yunyi: …

Damn!

He couldn’t care about anything else at the moment. He pulled the full power to run while removing the quantum cannons hanging on his two arms.

He merged his hands and used them as a bracket for the quantum cannons.

Even within the extreme speed comparable to that of a starship, he still locked onto Ji Fu.

Li Yunyi squinted and pressed the button on the back of his mecha suit. At the moment when the cannon fired, he used the thrust of the cannon to push himself out of Ji Fu’s range.

Boom!

As soon as the quantum cannon appeared, not only Ji Fu but also the two S-class mechas that were fiercely fighting stopped.

Tan Xi pursed his lips, looking complicated.

Ji Fu was indeed extraordinary. Not everyone could cause such a commotion without a mecha.

He avoided a punch thrown by the deep sea and activated the communication key: “Are you okay?”

Li Yunyi on the other side was panting.

He hadn’t finished saying the word “fine” when his voice was interrupted by the two quantum cannons fired back by the other party.

Two, cannons.

Quantum cannons!?

No way, she’s just a C-class, how does she have heavy weapons like that?

Did she borrow them from the school’s arsenal?

Li Yunyi cursed softly and used all his strength to remove the gravity devices on his mecha suit, sliding down the long slope.

With tremendous force, sparks flew under his feet.

Only by exerting all his strength could he barely evade the chase of the two quantum cannons.

He glanced back empty-handed, only to see that the place he had just avoided had turned into ruins.

Li Yunyi: …

“Freak, freak,” he couldn’t help but curse loudly, “You C-class freak!”

Being chased one after another compressed his potential to its peak.

While running frantically, he quickly installed all the gravity devices he carried on his mecha suit.

[Beep beep beep]

With violent installation, the mechanical operation intensified, even emitting an alarm to increase the volume.

He paid no heed.

Under such intense pursuit, his speed of hand, mind, and even disassembly approached its peak.

The students outside exclaimed, “His strength is close to S-class, isn’t it?”

Yes, it’s undoubtedly S-class.

Li Yunyi was even stronger than many people imagined.

The mech skills of this person also reached S-class.

Even under such fierce pursuit, he could maintain his composure and modify the machinery.

When all the machinery on his body was fully loaded and the load was about to reach its peak.

Li Yunyi stopped his frantic running. He crossed his hands and pressed the buttons on both sides of the mecha suit simultaneously.

As soon as the buttons were pressed, his entire mecha suit rapidly contracted.

When the strength reached its peak, he erupted.

Instead of using any weapons, he directly fought back with close-range punches!

Under the strong mechanical force, even through the simulated cockpit lens, everyone present could hear the violent explosion of machinery.

Boom!

Under his heavy blow, Ji Fu, who was speeding, was directly forced to stop.

The roles of attacker and defender almost swapped in an instant.

It was extremely difficult to evade the heavy blows under his violent modification.

With a single forceful blow, Ji Fu leaped off her bike, directly avoiding it.

The system carried by the Flame allowed it to reconfigure the machinery in the fastest time.

The command was issued to the loading in half a second, which was already considered extremely fast.

But the Flame, as it was still a semi-finished product, couldn’t match the speed of the S-class blow.

Before the reconfiguration was complete, Li Yunyi’s second heavy blow had already struck.

Crack.

The reconfigured Flame was forced to interrupt, and the exposed delicate machinery during the reconfiguration process directly ruptured.

The system issued a warning: [Mechanical malfunction]

[Maximum level defense system activated]

The next second after the system made the judgment, Li Yunyi’s third heavy blow fell.

Smack!

This time, everyone heard the sound of mechanical fragmentation.

The strange mechanical dog’s red eyes also went out.

“Damn, the heavy blow of the S-class mech armor is terrifying!”

“Is this a mech armor?”

“Yes, there are only a few advanced mech armor masters in the school.”

The simulated classroom outside was noisy, and no one had expected that a pharmacist and a mech armor master could fight so brilliantly.

“Ji Fu’s mechanical dog is also amazing. What kind of structure does it have to withstand three heavy blows from mech armor?”

“Strictly speaking, it’s two blows, but the last blow from Li Yunyi was full force, almost equivalent to an S-class mech armor heavy blow. If this mechanical dog didn’t instantly turn to dust, its structure is indeed ingenious.”

“But isn’t Ji Fu a pharmacist? Where did she get all these strange mechanical equipment?”

“I don’t know, but this mechanical dog should be her most important mechanical equipment. If it’s damaged like this, she’s probably going to be eliminated.”

After Li Yunyi delivered three consecutive heavy blows, he also reached his limit.

The human body is not a mech. It’s impossible to continuously drive heavy blows like a mech as long as there’s power source.

After the third blow, cracks appeared on his mech suit.

He himself felt fatigued due to excessive use of machinery.

At that moment, he even doubted whether Ji Fu’s mechanical dog was S-class.

Even if not S-class, it seemed to be made of S-class materials.

According to common sense, his first blow should have shattered it.

But this thing could still operate, and even had a system installed inside.

He reluctantly delivered the third blow.

Originally, this blow was meant for Ji Fu.

Before today’s exam, he had intended to show some mercy and not resort to such violent means.

Little did he know, she was much more violent than him.

Li Yunyi took a deep breath, slightly calming down, then pulled out a quantum gun from behind.

Although the quantum gun’s power couldn’t match quantum cannons or beam guns, it was the strongest among handheld portable weapons.

This was his secret weapon.

He released the safety catch, preparing to directly shatter Ji Fu’s simulation device and eliminate her.

As he raised his head, he noticed that the person who had fallen just now had disappeared at some point.

Actually, his third heavy blow was aimed at her, but she skillfully evaded it.

He speculated that she probably had speed-enhancing mechanical devices on her.

But strangely, after dodging, she didn’t intercept his third blow aimed at Flame.

He guessed she couldn’t intercept it, or maybe she didn’t have any interception devices on her.

This realization made his expression change slightly.

Gripping the quantum gun tightly, after hesitating for a moment, he began to retreat towards the area where the two mechs were fighting frantically.

Something was wrong.

Li Yunyi pressed the light brain communication button: “Tan Xi, come pick… “

Before he could finish saying “me,” he suddenly looked up.

In that glance, he saw Ji Fu standing on a tree.

His guess was correct; Ji Fu’s black boots had indeed been modified with mech enhancements.

But that wasn’t the main point now, it was…

His gaze shifted to Ji Fu’s back, where two quantum light knives were inserted.

After the first quantum beam missed him, Ji Fu had removed the quantum devices from Flame as it advanced, and after he pulled out the quantum gun after striking Flame, she quickly and simply modified them into two quantum light knives.

She hadn’t moved all this time because she was C-class.

Since confronting Li Yunyi, Ji Fu had only made three moves.

Pursuit, disarming, modification.

But because she was C-class, each operation depleted her talent.

She couldn’t maintain a continuous stream of talent like Li Yunyi, to drive, modify, and run.

She could only wait for her talent to fully recover.

Just like the cooldown in a game, after her talent was fully recovered, she could proceed to the next action.

After modifying the light knives just now, she hadn’t moved, partly because the knives needed charging, and partly because she was waiting.

Waiting for her talent to recover.

The S-class mech teacher, who had been watching their confrontation quietly, suddenly stood up at this moment.

“How could there be such a person!?” The teacher’s face was full of excitement, even pacing back and forth on the platform, his voice trembling: “Every time she uses her talent, and every modification, the timing is just right.”

Du Ming, who didn’t understand these mechanical principles, asked, “What does that mean?”

Beside him, S-class student Shi Xueying said in a low voice, “It means that every one of her actions is perfectly timed, perfectly aligned with her talent.”

And from beginning to end, there hasn’t been a single deviation.

Shi Xueying was one of the S-class students who competed with Wan Feng and the others in the speed competition this time. Their exam had already ended, so they were watching from the sidelines.

But she didn’t expect to see such a person.

A person whose precision was frighteningly high.

She looked at the excited face of the mech teacher, her emotions complex.

Talent represents the height a mech pilot can reach, and precision affects the refinement of the final product.

This kind of perfect calculation ability.

This C-class was a natural mech pilot.

… And not only that.

In full view of everyone, Ji Fu raised her hand and waved at Li Yunyi, “Hey, friend.” Then she directly launched a fierce attack towards his head.

Because of the modifications to her shoes, her jumping ability had also been greatly enhanced.

In the moment of her leap, she simultaneously drew out the two charged quantum light knives. The silver light emitted from the knives nearly blinded people’s eyes.

Li Yunyi wore protective goggles, barely able to look directly at them.

With his talent now depleted, he couldn’t proceed with any further mechanical modifications, relying only on intuition, he fired a shot into the air.

Bang!

The quantum beam shot out, narrowly grazing past Ji Fu’s ear.

The beam directly cut off a strand of her hair.

In the instant the silver-white hair fell to the ground, she swung the two quantum light knives forcefully—

As the quantum light knives tore through the air, they emitted a loud mechanical roar!

With two swift strikes, Ji Fu directly chopped Li Yunyi into pieces!

In an instant, a loud announcement resounded in the simulation chamber.

“Li Yunyi, eliminated!”

The entire arena fell silent.

Not only the spectators outside, but even inside where they were fiercely battling, Zhou Lu Hai and Tan Xi were both stunned for a moment.

Discuss turned back to look at the first location they entered into the simulation chamber just now, and all that could be captured by the naked eye was a scene of ruins.

He waited in place for a few seconds, but didn’t hear the second prompt tone, and his heart sank instantly.

This meant it wasn’t a mutual destruction; it was only Li Yunyi who got eliminated.

In this exam, they had already lost one point.

On Zhou Lu Hai’s side, before he could even contact Ji Fu, he heard a voice coming over: “Hurry up.”

After these two encounters, all her talents that she could use were emptied.

Flame is damaged.

“No matter what method you use, get me into your mech cabin.” Ji Fu raised her head slightly and looked at Li Yunyi’s fading figure, saying in a low voice:

“Otherwise, this point would be in vain.”

If she were Tan Xi, she would definitely act regardless of everything and use the heaviest hand now.

Because as long as Ji Fu is taken out, the current score would still be 1-1.

As soon as her words fell, she saw the mech named Hongyan controlled by Tan Xi had already begun to break through Zhou Lu Hai’s defense line and was sprinting towards them at a speed difficult to discern with the naked eye.

Ji Fu looked at the rapidly approaching mech and lightly tugged at the corner of her lips.

With all her talents depleted, and because her physical strength was originally low in reality, she couldn’t even run for a few steps.

She decided not to run altogether.

Turning back, she took out a drone from her still-open side bag, which was familiar to many people.

Ji Fu pressed the button, and the drone slowly rose into the air.

As Tan Xi rapidly approached, he almost without hesitation shot down the drone.

And what was different from everyone else was that after shooting down the drone, he immediately activated the defense mechanism and shielding device.

Because he always remembered, Ji Fu was an alchemist.

But no one expected that the moment the drone shattered, countless pink smoke and dust fell, blooming in the air like a huge pink rose.

Tan Xi: …

This person in front of him, at this critical moment, set off fireworks for him.

Everyone, including the teachers and students inside and outside, was dumbfounded.

They only saw the sky filled with scattered pink dust, and a whole screen of pink smoke drifting with the wind.