Chapter 32: This Is What You Call Protecting Me?

All of this was broadcast live by the drones hovering in the sky, and the bullet screen was already exploding with comments.

"Damn! Are all these spirit beasts this freakish?"
"In just this short time, so many people have been eliminated—this is really an eye-opener."
"I thought that rabbit was cute just now and wanted to keep one as a pet, but it suddenly turned into a muscle-bound monster and scared me half to death."
"Am I the only one who thinks the muscle rabbit is even cuter now?"
"Count me in!"
"But it's also because these students lack experience; otherwise, not so many would be eliminated."
"Exactly. There are still quite a few teams performing pretty well."

Just as the viewers said, there were indeed several teams doing well. For instance, the team led by Shen Yao had not gone far before encountering a berserk rabbit. However, unlike Xuanxuan, Shen Yao was not deceived by the rabbit's appearance for even an instant and launched an immediate attack. Her fighting style was simple and direct—one punch, and the berserk rabbit was dispatched. No wonder she was an SS-class strength type.

Ji Boxiao’s team was just as formidable. The moment they spotted a spirit beast, Ji Boxiao ordered an attack. Under their barrage, the spirit beast was swiftly and efficiently dealt with.

As the battles unfolded, nearly every team was scouring the area for traces of spirit beasts. After all, with so many wolves and so little meat, anyone wanting more points had to find spirit beasts quickly.

There was one exception: Lin Xiao and Zhou Zhi.

Lin Xiao was currently strolling leisurely through the secret realm. Quite some time had passed since the start, yet he hadn’t encountered a single spirit beast. Most had already been cleared by the teams ahead. He’d even purposefully followed along the paths other teams had taken and, finding nothing better to do, struck up a conversation with Zhou Zhi.

“Old Zhou, the rewards this time aren’t much for a rich kid like you, so why is Ji Boxiao acting so desperate? He looks like he’s fighting for his life!”

“He has every reason to, of course. He might not care much for the rewards either, but this assessment is being broadcast live. Plenty of Spirit Martial Academies are watching. If you do well, you’ll catch the attention of a top academy. But that’s not the main reason. I’m the only child in my family—nothing to strive for. Ji Boxiao, though, awakened an S-class ability this time and definitely became the family’s pride. The Ji family will be watching this assessment closely. Naturally, he has to perform. I bet his goal is at least to make the top ten.”

Lin Xiao understood now. No wonder Ji Boxiao was so motivated—it all made sense.

After walking a bit further, Lin Xiao came upon the corpse of a berserk rabbit.

There was a hole in the body—clearly, the team that killed it had checked for a spirit pearl. What Lin Xiao couldn’t understand was why, since they’d be stuck here for three days, such a good source of food was left behind.

“These guys are really wasteful, leaving the rabbit’s body here. Rabbits are so cute, you should at least braise them.”

Hearing this, Zhou Zhi looked at Lin Xiao as if he were an idiot. “Brother Xiao, don’t tell me you don’t know? Spirit beast meat isn’t something you can just eat. It’s full of spiritual energy—even a level-one spirit beast requires careful digestion if eaten directly. Who knows what dangers are lurking in the secret realm? No one dares try it lightly. And spirit beasts have a keen sense of smell. If you start cooking, you might attract every spirit beast around.”

Lin Xiao touched his nose. He was well aware of this. Except for strength types like Shen Yao, most students had awakened elemental abilities—in other words, most were like mages and physically frail. Eating spirit beast meat directly would indeed require time to digest.

But for him, there was nothing to worry about. Back at the nursing home, he’d always eaten high-grade spirit beast meat. The energy in a level-one spirit beast was nothing to him.

“If everyone knows not to eat spirit beast meat, why didn’t you bring any food?”

Zhou Zhi rolled his eyes to the sky. “It’s a long story. Usually, the assessments are over in a day. We only found out after coming here that this one lasts three days. There was no way to prepare food in advance. But, Brother Xiao, be honest with me—did you have some inside info? How else did you bring so much food?”

Lin Xiao was speechless. He had just gotten lucky, but who would have thought his preparations would actually come in handy?

“If you all didn’t bring food, and you’re still discarding these spirit beast corpses, are you planning to tough it out for three days?”

“It’s not as bad as you think. There’s plenty of food in the secret realm—wild fruits and the like. The other teams probably just don’t want to risk eating spirit beast meat.”

Lin Xiao understood now. That was fine—lucky for him. When they stopped to rest, he’d have roast rabbit to eat.

Even while chatting with Zhou Zhi, Lin Xiao didn’t let his guard down. He’d already activated his ability and was watching the surroundings closely. His ability was perfect for reconnaissance—nothing in the vicinity could escape his notice. He could even see what other teams were doing in the distance, while they had no idea he was there.

That was the benefit of enhanced vision.

Lin Xiao already knew he didn’t care about getting into some top Spirit Martial Academy. That wasn’t realistic for him—he preferred life at the nursing home. Still, he wanted to give this assessment his best shot—ideally, to win first place. There was no other reason; he just had his eye on the prize money for first.

But now was not the time to go all out. The assessment had only just begun. He’d observe for a while before making a move.

Just then, Lin Xiao noticed movement in a nearby thicket and immediately grew alert. He couldn’t help but complain inwardly—what were the teams ahead doing, leaving survivors behind?

“Zhou, something’s up. Get ready for a fight!”

Zhou Zhi tensed at once.

A rabbit appeared before them. Lin Xiao wasn’t fooled by its appearance—not with a berserk rabbit corpse already dangling from his hand. This particular berserk rabbit, seeing only two people, didn’t bother with any disguise and instantly transformed into its muscle-bound form, charging straight at them.

Lin Xiao glanced at the nervous Zhou Zhi at his side and kicked him.

“What are you standing there for? Get in there!”

Zhou Zhi snapped out of it and shot Lin Xiao a confident smile. “Don’t worry. With me here, nothing can go wrong!”

Hearing this, Lin Xiao prepared to relax. If he could lie down and let someone else do the work, he’d never step up himself—that was his creed.

But what Zhou Zhi did next completely surprised Lin Xiao!

“Watch my level-one spirit skill—Earth Wall x4!”

To be fair, Zhou Zhi was quick—within moments, the two of them were surrounded by four sturdy earth walls.

“Heh, Brother Xiao, pretty good, right? I guarantee that berserk rabbit won’t break through my defenses.”

Lin Xiao’s eyelid twitched violently.

“So, this is what you meant by ‘stand behind me’? This is your idea of protecting me?”

“What else? I’m an earth-type ability user. At level one, all I have is this defensive skill. I haven’t even decided which spirit pearl to absorb, so I can’t attack yet.”

Lin Xiao could only look skyward in silent frustration. So Zhou Zhi’s offensive capability was zero.

Well, thank you so much!