Chapter 80

The incident with the Si family happened so suddenly that it directly disrupted the joint exam scene.

Ji Fu walked with her hands in her pockets, listening to the surrounding discussions:

“Was it done by the Slaughterhouse?”

“Yes, and they were particularly ruthless.”

“…It’s said that all the prison management personnel of the Si family were killed.” Ji Fu stopped and looked at the speaker.

Wan Feng glanced at her and said softly, “In the large prison, only the inmates remained unscathed.”

The students of the Interstellar Academy were momentarily shocked by this news.

“We’ve heard of jailbreaks and prison breaks, but never of wiping out all the prison staff while leaving the prisoners untouched. What do you think the Slaughterhouse is after?”

“Not sure,” Tan Xi replied coldly.

Li Yunyi kept fiddling with his light brain for a long time before frowning, “They didn’t even livestream it this time.”

Liu Can from Class A coldly remarked, “That’s why I say, evil people are still evil people. The Slaughterhouse is just better at packaging themselves, but in essence, they are still full of wickedness.”

Tan Xi gave him a rare look and said with a half-smile, “The Slaughterhouse isn’t good people, but is the Si family?”

The surrounding area fell silent.

No matter the current state of the Si family, the family still remained among the top seven aristocratic families.

Tan Xi’s words were indeed blunt.

Liu Can shot him a cold, mocking glance.

Tan Xi always had issues with the aristocratic families, and given his significant authority within the Interstellar Academy, Liu Can didn’t want to argue further.

Everyone was discussing the Si family incident, except Ji Fu, who yawned indifferently and asked, “Why hasn’t it started yet?”

It was already eight o’clock.

From the Si family prison to here, it would take at least 20 minutes by super starship, but Ji Fu hadn’t used a starship.

Wei Lan had driven Infinity, sending her to the examination star system.

Wei Lan, an ultra-star mecha soldier with explosive speed, could drive a mecha at double the speed of a regular super starship.

Racing to the examination star system, through outer space not covered by regional networks, Ji Fu then intercepted a passing academy starship to get there, with five minutes to spare.

She had arrived, but the impact of the Si family prison management being wiped out was significant.

The joint exam was delayed by two hours.

If not for the large number of netizens constantly inquiring and making it a hot topic across multiple platforms, the delay could have been longer.

However, due to the recent chaos caused by the Slaughterhouse, the exam rules had been revised.

At exactly 10 AM, the joint exam livestream started.

The heads of the three major military academies, along with Corps Commander Zhou Xing, announced the exam rules.

In front of everyone, Zhou Xing, with a cold expression, said, “This exam is the final survival battle and the fourth joint exam.”

“Unlike previous exams, this one is a time-based survival battle, lasting one month.”

Zhou Xing paused and continued, “Participants should note that after this exam, there will be no rest period.”

“After the fourth exam, all surviving participants will immediately proceed to the final exam, the individual battle.”

The audience was in an uproar.

The students’ faces changed drastically.

The last two exams were back-to-back!

“…With the fourth and fifth exams being consecutive, the competition for the fourth will be intense,” Li Yunyi said seriously. “It effectively raises the difficulty.”

The survival battle theme involves various special environments. They don’t yet know what to expect in the fourth exam, but the pressure is immense.

A 30-day survival battle might be manageable, but adding the final exam changes everything.

After 30 days of extreme survival, everyone’s physical and mecha conditions would be heavily taxed.

To then start the fifth exam at that point is a massive challenge for all students.

【Not only that, looking at the list, among the 35 participants in the fourth exam, only 15 are mecha pilots. The consecutive exams will heavily emphasize the importance of mecha pilots.】

【…The Empire’s advantage is too great. The only two ultra-star mecha pilots are from the Empire, and they have several star-level mecha pilots. On the interstellar side, it’s just Ji Fu.】

【We can’t say that. With the fourth and fifth exams combined, dividing by academies might not matter. Only one person wins the individual battle. It’s now about what’s beneficial for each person.】

The new exam rules sparked widespread discussion. Amid the buzz, Ji Fu noticed the eyes of those on the high platform subtly focusing on her.

The consecutive fourth and fifth exams were cleverly designed.

They increased the difficulty to conclude the exams quickly.

Too many incidents had happened, and too many people had died during this exam process.

With the Shen family destroyed and the Si family prison management eliminated, the alliance’s high command must be extremely anxious.

Whether anyone suspected her was unclear.

But it was evident they wanted to wrap up the exams swiftly.

The livestream introduced many uncertainties, exposing the cards of various factions to the Slaughterhouse. Yet, this exam had garnered the most attention in years.

The discussions on the interstellar network were so intense that they helped to dilute the influence of the Slaughterhouse. In such a high-profile situation, halting the joint exam would be especially unreasonable.

Stopping the exam now would lead to a negative public opinion, which might even shift in favor of the Slaughterhouse. Therefore, the best course of action was to quickly conclude this joint exam.

They didn’t want to repeat the Shen family’s incident.

… Coincidentally, Ji Fu’s patience was nearly exhausted after seeing the contents of the Si family prison.

“Additionally, the individual rewards from the third exam will be distributed after the joint exam concludes.”

Ji Fu didn’t comment. With such a big incident, the Alliance had its hands full cleaning up its own mess, let alone thinking about awarding honors.

Zhou Xing raised his gaze and looked around:

“The final two exams of this joint exam officially begin now.”

Ji Fu, along with all the other candidates, boarded the exam starship.

Unlike previous exams, this time the starship took a very long time to travel. By the time it stopped and landed at the destination, a day and a half had passed.

All the candidates were randomly dropped into the exam field.

Unlike the previous round, this survival battle had only three exam fields.

Although there were only three fields, each field consisted of a large planet with two smaller planets, making a total of nine planets.

The scope of the exam field was several times larger than the previous round.

As soon as they entered the field, everyone’s expressions changed.

“This is…” Someone looked up, seeing the grayish-brown sky and ground, with large amounts of residue in the air, and said with a grim expression, “a polluted zone!”

The livestream room erupted.

“Damn, I thought this joint exam was already tough, but I didn’t expect them to send us directly into a polluted zone!”

“The designer of this exam is really daring. Aren’t they afraid someone might die directly in the polluted zone?”

Since the appearance of black holes, the term “polluted zone” had represented extreme danger.

Not only did these areas contain severe pollutants, but they also had far more dangerous beasts than normal regions, with incredibly high numbers.

Thus, polluted zones were always managed by the military.

Unexpectedly, the three major military academies set the joint exam directly in a polluted zone.

“No wonder the starship took so long…”

Polluted zones were uninhabited areas, and the entire interstellar establishment was built far from these zones.

Amid the commotion, an announcement sounded in the exam field.

This time, it wasn’t a cold, mechanical voice but a gentle yet powerful female voice:

“The polluted zone is a subject you all must face in the future. As military academy students, you will inevitably bear the heavy responsibility of resisting beast tides and purging polluted zones.”

“Learning how to survive in polluted zones and how to purify pollution will be essential skills for you.”

“This joint exam is a crucial opportunity for your rapid growth, learning, and progress. Of course, to prevent accidents, there is a surrender button for this exam.”

The familiar female voice paused briefly: “The surrender button is on your ID badges. If anyone can’t continue, they can press the button at any time to leave.”

“Finally, I wish all candidates excellent results in this exam.”

After the voice faded, Shi Xueying softly asked Ji Fu, “Is that Colonel Lu?”

Lu Bingyun had been promoted exceptionally after killing many professional assassins during the training camp and was appointed as a commander in the corps.

In a few months, she had risen from commander to colonel.

“Yes,” Zhou Lu Hai said deeply. “She made great achievements recently, killing an ultra-star-level beast during a riot despite being severely injured.”

Lu Bingyun herself only had a star-level talent.

“She saved tens of thousands of lives but was seriously injured and needed several months to recover. This morning, the Alliance promoted her to colonel and appointed her as one of the joint exam overseers.”

Qin Chu Yue, eating chips, sneered, “The Alliance always pulls these stunts. I’m tired of it.”

“Whenever something bad happens, they start promoting heroes. It’s not that promoting isn’t good, but someone like Lu Bingyun should have been promoted long ago. They’ve delayed her for so many years.”

“Whenever they need to clean up a mess, they bring someone out. Even when she’s still recovering, they make her oversee the exam. It’s just a show!”

Ji Fu just smiled.

It was precisely because of people like Lu Bingyun that the Alliance dared to send these outstanding students into the polluted zone.

The three major military academies venturing into the polluted zone was a huge headline, and this joint exam’s popularity was bound to explode.

As expected.

The moment the exam field was revealed, the joint exam topped all platforms on the interstellar network, with unprecedented discussion.

With the main livestream channels reduced to three, the focus was intense.

In this lively atmosphere, Ji Fu was randomly assigned to the second exam field.

Many people watching her livestream breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of her environment.

“Thankfully, this field is better than the first and third. The third field’s major planet has a large black sea, and the first field is even worse, being a heavily polluted zone. Overall, this place is indeed the best.”

Ji Fu’s light brain scanned the area briefly and gave a judgment: “Current pollution level: Intermediate.”

But even intermediate pollution required piloting a mecha and initiating pollution purification.

Direct contact with pollutants in intermediate zones still posed a risk of sudden death.

High pollution zones were even more terrifying, with ultra-star-level mechas having very limited scanning ranges.

Ji Fu released the moonlight and traversed this giant planet.

Her luck seemed to be quite good this time. Ji Fu didn’t walk long before she met examinees from the same examination room.

It was Tan Xi.

Tan Xi quickly joined her and initiated communication through the mecha, asking her, “I just contacted the others. Most of them are in the third examination room. Should we go there?”

The vast black sea was quite troublesome, but besides the black sea, the third examination room only had mild pollution.

With a talent level above S-grade, examinees could breathe freely even without piloting mechas.

There were no restrictions between examination rooms in the fourth round of joint examinations. If examinees wished, they could shuttle freely.

However, they needed to think clearly whether they could survive after changing examination rooms.

Ji Fu said, “…I’m afraid we can’t leave.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Tan Xi also felt the tremors underground.

Boom, coming closer and closer.

Finally, breaking through the soil, it burst out.

Ji Fu looked up, all she could see was the extremely robust body of this thing, and the fiercely mechanical pointed head.

“What the hell is this!?”

The Bright Moon popped up a prompt: “Super Star + Alien Plant, Foxtail grass.”

This was a Foxtail grass with completely mechanized rhizomes, and the tips of its roots had generated mechanical spikes. Under the sunlight, the sharp roots emitted a faint cold light.

At a glance, the spiked roots were highly poisonous, and the rhizomes were tough enough to easily penetrate mechas.

Tan Xi’s expression changed slightly. He turned around and activated the frenzy mode, releasing intense bombardments.

The star-rated heavy artillery exploded on the body of the foxtail grass, but its effectiveness was very limited.

The Foxtail grass was extremely violent, with a giant body tens of meters high and about 10 meters wide, which collapsed with a bang.

Wherever it hit, it melted into a puddle instantly.

Ji Fu and Tan Xi both activated the frenzy mode of their mechas, barely avoiding the fierce bombardment of this thing.

“It doesn’t seem like Super Star +.” Tan Xi furrowed his brows lightly.

He served in the Legion and had fought against top-level alien plants with the Legion. Although this foxtail grass was strong, it didn’t have the suffocating and terrifying crushing feeling of Super Star +.

It seemed more like Super Star level.

While dodging the relentless attacks of this thing, Ji Fu said, “Of course, it’s not.”

Because…

“Do you see the mountain range on the ground?” She drove her mecha quickly into the air.

Tan Xi didn’t see it clearly for a moment, but after rushing back for nearly ten or twenty kilometers, he finally saw a huge rolling thing connected under the foxtail grass.

“That’s the base of the foxtail grass… Well, how should I say it, it’s Super Star + level, which means that inside its base, it can produce at least thousands of Foxtail grasses.”

“How many!?”

Thousands!

A single one of these things had the strength of Super Star level, but thousands???

How was this any different from a locust plague?

“…As expected, I should trust Ji Fu’s physique. With her here, how could this place be just an ordinary area of moderate pollution?” Tan Xi’s face turned ugly, and he said in a deep voice, “How long does it take for this thing to sprout and grow?”

Ji Fu said, “About five minutes?”

Tan Xi: …

Why didn’t she say that earlier!

They had been circling around the pillar just now, just avoiding it for four or five minutes.

As if confirming Ji Fu’s words, the next moment, the originally extremely violent foxtail grass suddenly stopped, and behind it, two similarly gigantic Foxtail grasses burst out of the ground.

“Wait, how come two came out at once?”

Ji Fu said, “It seems like this thing grows at double speed.”

The first time it was one, the second time it was two, and by the third time, four emerged.

Adding the three already present, it reached the limit speed of seven sprouts within fifteen minutes.

This breeding speed was indeed Super Star + level.

Three foxtail grasses, with teeth and claws, pounced towards them.

The huge body stirred up hurricanes as it moved, shredding all the surrounding vegetation into pieces.

The vegetation that could survive in the polluted area was all mutated plants, and their levels were not low.

But under the attack of this thing, they were all mercilessly slaughtered.

The second time the two Foxtail grasses were born, their strength was slightly higher than the first one.

One of them, both its thorns and rhizomes were faintly black, and as it approached them, its roots stood upside down, and countless mechanical spikes surged out in an instant.

Ji Fu looked up and saw the huge spikes pouring down like a mechanical rain.

…The raindrops were more than three meters long.

“Tan Xi, do you have a piece of star-rated alien beast skin on you?” Both mechas instantly accelerated, dodging frantically in the rain of spikes. Ji Fu found a moment to ask Tan Xi.

Tan Xi realized, took out the piece of mechanical iron skin directly, and threw it to Ji Fu.

Ji Fu took it in her hand, rubbed something on it quickly, and then stood the iron skin up.

After the iron skin stood upright, something strange happened. Those mechanical spikes suddenly stopped attacking the two of them and instead madly stabbed the iron skin.

The sound of spikes piercing the iron skin was like millions of horseshoes stomping on the soil, making a heart-shaking boom.

Tan Xi stopped and turned around to see Ji Fu holding the densely pierced iron skin, flying up and down strangely.

He said, “…What are you doing?”

Ji Fu said, “This thing is not disposable. It still wants to retract these spikes.”

Tan Xi looked up and indeed saw the foxtail grass that released the spikes, scratching itself all over, rushing like crazy, using its head to push the soil, constantly bumping into Ji Fu’s body.

“The high-level mechanical mutation spikes are like each one has GPS navigation on them. After one round of attacks, they should return to its body.”

Missing one or two spikes, or even dozens or hundreds, wouldn’t be a problem, but if they were all gone… that would be bad.

If the foxtail of the grass was gone, what’s the point of calling it a foxtail grass?

“Why aren’t these spikes going back?” Tan Xi asked.

Ji Fu sneered, “I smeared giant super glue on it.”

Tan Xi: …

The barrage in the live broadcast room exploded with laughter.

“Although this sawtooth foxtail grass is terrifying, I declare, it’s you, Ji Fu, who is truly wicked.”

“What was she thinking, smearing super glue on that thing?”

And not only that, Ji Fu also placed a giant mechanical magnet behind this iron skin.

The degree of mutation of the Super Star + alien plants was too high, and so were their disadvantages. The spikes formed after mutation were purely mechanical.

…What mechanical could withstand a giant magnet?

So once this thing was installed, not only could the sawtooth foxtail grass that released the spikes not bear it, but the other two also suffered greatly from the impact. The spiked heads uncontrollably tried to stab Ji Fu’s iron skin.

Struggling to suppress, their bodies almost twisted into twists, but still, thud thud thud, they kept banging against Ji Fu like they were celebrating the new year.

Ji Fu threw the iron skin to Tan Xi and whispered, “Can you cook?”

Tan Xi: …

Of course not, in the interstellar era, everyone drank nutrient fluid, who still cooked?

“Can you braid hair?”

Three, exactly three braids.

Tan Xi looked at the huge rhizomes in front of him, with terrifying speed and explosiveness.

Mixing these three things together wasn’t easy, but Tan Xi reacted extremely quickly. He said in a deep voice, “I can.”

Then, imitating Ji Fu’s previous actions, with the iron skin in hand, he made the three foxtail grasses crash into each other continuously.

Amidst the violent explosions, the braids were woven into one large braid and twisted together.

As the braid entwined halfway, the raging foxtail grasses reacted unexpectedly. The first one surged up, and its head exploded with a burst of flames.

As the flames erupted, the entire sky was dyed with fire, and everything was melted into a puddle of sewage.

Wherever the flames went, the space became unstable.

In the terrifying intense burning, Tan Xi retreated frantically, but the flames still rushed down towards his head with a whoosh.

Just as his mecha was about to be melted, a red alert popped up on Tan Xi’s control panel, and even the badge he was wearing lit up red.

On the other side, Ji Fu, who had avoided the three giant foxtail grasses, had already reached the root of the grass. She held the Zan Yue in her hand.

Taking out a bottle of potion from her backpack, she poured it onto the Zan Yue, turning the originally snow-white giant axe into a condensed icy blue.

Ji Fu held the Zan Yue with both hands, amidst the suddenly rising temperature, and in a thunderous manner, she descended from above, slashing the three intertwined foxtail grasses in front of her, cutting them off completely!

With a crack!

The explosion that engulfed the entire sky disappeared instantly, and the huge bodies of the three foxtail grasses fell to the ground with a loud crash, creating a huge crater.

Everything returned to calm.

It seemed like everything was back to normal.

But in just a fleeting second, there was a sudden explosion at the mountain range. Countless slender mechanical spikes, highly mechanized and heavily poisonous, surged out of the soil, forming a large net, descending from the sky, intending to envelop Ji Fu and tear her into countless pieces.

The terrifying part of the Super Star + alien plants wasn’t the constantly breeding foxtail grasses, but this root.

A silver giant net fell.

Ji Fu, trapped in the huge net, didn’t evade at all, but transformed the Zan Yue.

The huge axe in her hand split directly, turning into a wide and narrow blade. Ji Fu held the short part, and the long part was pressed down with force.

Her talent value fluctuated wildly, and at one moment, it even reset to zero.

The long knife in her hand followed her movements and, with incredibly powerful mechanical force, plunged deeply into the ground.

After deeply embedded in the ground, the potion splashed on the Zan Yue quickly took effect, and the root of the sawtooth foxtail grass emitted a huge roar.

Just like a cry of pain from a person.

In this moment.

Ji Fu released her flames, pulled the Bright Moon, and the two mechas merged into the Mecha Moon Eater.

Last time she used the Moon Eater, she was only a star level, but now she had reached star +.

The Moon Eater rose into the sky, its giant wings spread out, and Ji Fu activated the instantaneous Meteor Fall.

In an instant, the entire world was ignited by the sparks scraped by the Meteor Fall.

Struggling amidst the rumbling, the sawtooth foxtail grasses were smashed by the Meteor Fall, and in the ice and fire, they rose directly from the soil, revealing a huge spherical body.

Ji Fu lifted the Zan Yue and, in mid-air, slashed out two giant light waves, directly crushing everything, splitting the remaining roots of the sawtooth foxtail grasses into four petals.

Snap!

The Super Star + alien plant resembled a smashed watermelon, snapping and tumbling out the pulp.