Chapter 9

The Interstellar Academy forum was unusually lively.

Every year during the freshmen exams, there were always geniuses, but having two F-class students dominating the leaderboard was unprecedented!

All the Interstellar Academy students who rushed over upon hearing the news were stunned by the wildly fluctuating rankings.

[…If it weren’t for the fact that the school’s scoring system has been used for so many years without any glitches, I would really suspect that there’s a bug.]

[It’s only been an hour and a half since the exam started, and Ji Fu’s score has skyrocketed to 490, while that girl named Jiang Wei has 390, setting the record for the fastest score in history.]

[Wait a minute, isn’t the exam out of 100 points? Where did these 400 to 500 points come from?]

[Well, it does happen, but usually our level doesn’t encounter it. I heard that when scores exceed the maximum, it’s for executing A-level tasks.]

[Wait, does this mean that these two Fs are in the same exam room as the freshmen Special Class A, and their scores are even higher than all the freshmen A?]

[…Absolutely mind-blowing!]

In the Interstellar Academy, the higher the talent level, the more attention it garnered. Those above A-class were almost considered geniuses, and the Special Class A was a bit more special than the regular A.

Most of the students included in the Special Class A were quasi-S class or had A+ level abilities.

And any exam participated in by such students would have significantly increased difficulty.

That’s why after the breakthrough scores of Ji Fu and Jiang Wei appeared, most people could tell that they were in an A-level exam.

[Impossible, right? It’s one thing for Fs and As to be in the same exam room, but for them to take most of the points? What kind of joke is this?]

[Indeed, it’s the same exam room. The scores of the freshmen Special Class A have started to change.]

Under the gaze of countless people, the scores of all Special Class A students, led by Zhou Lu Hai, also began to roll.

[The frequency of score changes is the same, and the multiples are also the same.]

[Special Class A is also skyrocketing.]

[This rapid increase, they truly deserve to be quasi-S class in Special Class A.]

[That’s one way to put it, but looking at this, it seems they won’t be able to catch up.]

For Special Class A to catch up with F Class in points, others would think they were insane.

But today, such a situation really occurred.

Students in the forum couldn’t see the specific scene and could only guess from various aspects.

What was clear was that in the last half-hour, the scores of Special Class A skyrocketed, while the initially surging Fs saw a significant decline in the last twenty minutes.

The reason was simple.

The host controlling the other drones was shot down by Wan Feng.

After the host crashed, the other drones, like headless flies, collided chaotically and were eventually all shot down by Wan Feng.

He and Zhou Lu Hai indeed had quasi-S class abilities, and in the final moments, they almost maxed out their physical fitness and mech control.

In the air, Zhou Luhai’s two flying blades left afterimages.

It was because of this that the two of them managed to turn the tide, pulling back 200 points for the team before the end of the competition.

Adding to the scores accumulated earlier, in this round of freshmen exams, both Zhou Lu Hai and Wan Feng scored 240 points each.

Although they belonged to the same team, the final scores only came from the two of them. According to the scoring rules, after reaching 100 points, other team members couldn’t earn any more points.

So only the two of them appeared at the top of the leaderboard.

But…

“Ji Fu accumulated 570 points, and Jiang Wei… 470,” Liu Can’s expression was particularly grim.

Even though the drones were finally shot down, Ji Fu’s total score still doubled that of their highest-scoring member.

Moreover, according to the exam rules, scoring over 300 points in a single subject meant they had already achieved a perfect score for this exam. Even if they withdrew from the exam now, there would be no problem.

The same went for Jiang Wei, who informed Ji Fu of this.

Unlike what the Special Class A had anticipated, the two of them were still lingering where the starship had landed.

Ji Fu’s face was as pale as paper, her energy almost depleted, relying on the nutrient fluid she brought with her to sustain herself.

“Should we just withdraw?” Jiang Wei supported her, sounding worried.

Ji Fu leaned against a nearby tree, breathing lightly, shaking her head faintly.

Her body couldn’t withstand any more strain in its current state.

Just modifying two drones had almost exhausted her.

The position on her wrist where talents were extracted ached, a sign of overusing her talents.

She was different from normal people; when normal people overused their talents, they might just feel tired and need a good rest. But for her, it could be life-threatening.

But it was precisely because of this that she had participated in this exam.

She didn’t have much time left; she needed to find materials to repair her talents as soon as possible.

With her current physical condition, the best way was to participate in this exam.

The Interstellar Academy had a high score list. As long as she entered the top ranks, she could get any talent material she wanted to help prolong her life.

And the threshold for the high score list was 1039 points.

In other words, she still had a long way to go before surpassing the lowest score.

Jiang Wei stood by her side, finally understanding why Ji Fu always lay in the medical pod.

She didn’t ask much, just quietly stayed by Ji Fu’s side, waiting for her to recover.

But she underestimated the difficulty of the A-level exam.

Before the announcement of the second round of exams, there came a deafening roar from the distant mountains.

Jiang Wei looked up in panic and saw the previously densely packed forest of maple iron trees, the dark mountain, engulfed in dust.

In an instant, the sky collapsed and the earth split.

In the moment Ji Fu turned her head, she saw countless black and gray monsters bursting out of the ground.

One, two… they converged into a massive tide of beasts, capable of engulfing them in an instant.

“Hey, the content of the second round of exam for K437 is now announced. Candidates are required to traverse through a swarm of C-level Bone-Eating Beasts within one hour and reach the coast where the third round of the exam is located.”

“Arriving at the designated location will be considered a pass, with a score of 80. Killing 10 Bone-Eating Beasts will yield a score of 100. For every additional 20 beasts killed, there will be an additional score of 20.”

“Special reminder: there is a B-level Bone-Eating Beast King within the swarm. Only by killing the King can candidates obtain the key to start the third round of the exam.”

“The exam begins.”

The Bone-Eating Beasts surged out overwhelmingly, accompanied by the continuous roar of the monsters echoing in their ears.

Jiang Wei’s expression changed drastically. With Ji Fu’s current physical condition, encountering an exam to kill monsters was beyond her capability.

In the first round of the exam, they were dealing with relatively low-level alien plants, so they could come up with some tricks to achieve results.

But facing so many alien monsters…

“C-level Bone-Eating Beasts are the most ferocious among C-level beasts. They resemble apes, but are twice the size of ordinary apes, with sharp claws and fangs that can easily penetrate the body of a normal combat mech.”

On the side of the Special Class A, Liu Can quickly recited all the information about the Bone-Eating Beasts.

The sudden appearance of so many alien beasts startled them as well.

But dealing with alien beasts was a compulsory course for all mech soldiers, and just now, when Zhou Lu Hai and others turned the tide, he led several mech soldiers to gather a lot of ammunition.

“The Bone-Eating Beasts are too brutal. Only mechs can kill them.” Sun Yiming had also recovered by now, speaking coldly. “F-class can’t drive mechs.”

“The power of her potions might blow up maple iron trees, but it’s not enough to deal with Bone-Eating Beasts.” Liu Can said solemnly. “We don’t need to pay attention to them in the upcoming exams. They should withdraw from the exam voluntarily.”

If it were the usual, they wouldn’t pay attention to the movements of two F-class students. But after experiencing what had just happened… for some reason, everyone present couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

When Wan Feng heard this, he glanced at them and said, “In this situation, do you still have the energy to care about others? C-level mechs can handle a few beasts of the same level, but here there are at least hundreds of Bone-Eating Beasts.”

The people on this side fell silent instantly.

Another mech soldier, Wang Su, also had a grim expression. “I’m not proficient in controlling mechs, and I might not even benefit from facing C-level beasts.”

Apart from the two of them and Zhou Luhai, the other mech soldiers here, like Sun Yiming, hadn’t even been able to control C-level mechs.

Zhou Lu Hai said expressionlessly, “Gravity Silver Fish Bullets.”

“What?” Sun Yiming looked at him puzzled.

“Before today’s exam started, the school distributed rifles equipped with Gravity Silver Fish Bullets. These bullets are the nemesis of Bone-Eating Beasts.”

“Hitting them in the head can kill Bone-Eating Beasts.” He stood up and looked coldly at everyone present. “Mechs clear the way. Other than mech pilots, please use Gravity Silver Fish Rifles to protect yourselves.”

“Once you fall behind or encounter an accident, you’ll be in the same situation,” he said expressionlessly. “Withdraw from the exam voluntarily.”

Sun Yiming’s expression changed drastically, and he was about to speak when Zhou Luhai had already entered the mech cockpit.

He turned to Wan Feng, only to see Wan Feng leading Wan Die into the mech cockpit.

Wan Die was his younger sister and also a mech pilot. With him taking Wan Die along, no one could say anything against it.

The atmosphere was tense, and everyone present was on edge.

The firearm that had been forgotten by everyone after entering the exam room was now firmly gripped in their hands.

This firearm came with a total of five bullets, which meant that each of them had only five chances to save themselves.

Sun Yiming gripped the gun, and at this point, he was still thinking that since Ji Fu had used this gun to kill the mimetic alien plants in the morning, it meant that the total ammunition they had between the two of them was only nine bullets.

With this in mind, he realized that there was no way she could pass this exam.

Just as this thought crossed his mind, there was a loud noise.

The people sitting in the mech cockpit also received the prompt about the unusual sound at the same time.

Wan Feng pressed the communication key and exclaimed, “It’s Gravity Silver Fish Cannon.”

The school had issued Gravity Silver Guns, so where did the cannon come from?

As soon as he finished speaking, he looked up and saw a figure appearing in the distance.

Yes, among the countless Bone-Eating Beasts surging and roaring, someone was actually moving through them.

But they weren’t running on foot.

Instead…

“It’s Yan Yan!” Wan Die saw the familiar mechanical dog and was filled with joy.

In the distance, under the undulating mountains, there was a slender figure. Their dazzling white hair fluttered in the wind.

She was riding on a pitch-black mechanical dog.

The dog had red eyes, and it moved swiftly through the swarm of beasts.

And on its back was Ji Fu, holding a black cannon.

“Target calibrated, target captured,” the mechanical dog announced.

Ji Fu inserted a silver potion into the cannon.

She raised her hand and aimed.

Boom!

With a deafening roar, accompanied by the unique silvery cold light of the Gravity Silver Bullets, she blasted three Bone-Eating Beasts into debris as she moved forward.