About two hours later.

The bus carrying Lin Zichen finally arrived at the forest that served as the exam site.

Shen Qinghan, who had been watching news videos with earphones on earlier, was now fast asleep with her head sweetly resting on Lin Zichen’s shoulder.

She slept so soundly that drool was running out.

‘If she wasn’t wetting her pants, she was drooling—ever since she was little, she’s always had too much water…’

Lin Zichen shook his head helplessly, pulled a tissue from his backpack and wiped the corner of her mouth.

Then he poked her cheek with a finger and called softly, “Hanhan, we’re at the site, wake up.”

“We’re here...”

Shen Qinghan woke up groggily, her eyes still heavy with sleep.

Soon everyone got off the bus and they immediately heard someone shouting through a loudspeaker.

“Entrance No. 29 over here!

Entrance No. 3 this way!

Entrance No. 18 gather here!

“Entrance No. 78 is here...”

There were nearly a hundred thousand candidates taking part in the combat assessment.

Obviously, a single entrance wouldn’t do.

To disperse candidates and achieve a better testing effect, the education department had set up one hundred entrances for the forest.

Before long, the candidates all found their groups according to the calls from the loudspeakers.

They then left the transfer station in batches by car, heading to their respective entrance points.

Lin Zichen and Shen Qinghan were assigned to the same entrance.

Both were at Entrance No. 9 and after finding their group they rode out from the transfer station.

In barely ten minutes, the vehicle reached its destination and stopped.

As soon as Lin Zichen got off, he saw that Entrance No. 9 was already a sea of people.

At a glance, there were at least several hundred candidates.

In addition to candidates, there were more than a dozen food vendors with stalls.

“In this wilderness, there are actually people selling food?”

Shen Qinghan was surprised.

“It’s normal,” Lin Zichen explained, “With nearly a thousand candidates per entrance, a few hours here could mean a few thousand in earnings.”

Shen Qinghan looked puzzled, “But by rights the education department shouldn’t allow these vendors in.”

Lin Zichen smiled, “Who knows.”

“Also, lots of people are buying from them,” Shen Qinghan added, “This is the college entrance exam. Aren’t they afraid of getting sick?”

“The hygiene will be fine,” Lin Zichen said, “Otherwise the relevant staff wouldn’t dare let them in to sell. Come on, let’s find a quiet spot and eat something too,” he added.

“Okay.”

Soon the two sat under a big tree, using two stones as seats, eating the food they brought from home and chatting idly.

When he was bored, Lin Zichen used his keen senses to listen in on nearby conversations.

Some candidates were nervous.

Some were excited.

Some were happy to find acquaintances at the same entrance—once in the forest they’d have company and wouldn’t feel lonely.

Others had noticed Lin Zichen and Shen Qinghan—their good looks drew whispers of how handsome and how pretty they were.

After about ten minutes, the person in charge at the entrance stepped onto a platform and emphasized the rules of the combat assessment.

He spoke for a full half hour.

Lin Zichen summarized the content into eight points.

There are many score cards placed throughout the forest, each marked with a number, which is the number of points it is worth.
These score cards are placed in extremely tricky spots—on treetops, on sheer cliffs, on the bodies of beasts like black bears, tigers, rhinos, crocodiles and pythons and also on the bodies of several aberrant beasts deep in the forest.
Around every beast and every aberrant beast there are dedicated safety officers standing by, so that if a candidate gets into danger while attempting them, the officer can perform a timely rescue.
The aberrant beasts deep in the forest are there for geniuses to score on—ordinary candidates are advised not to join the fun to avoid accidents. They are too weak to contend with aberrant beasts and may die before a safety officer can reach them.
Your result depends on your personal points. In addition, cameras will be used to observe other abilities shown over the seven days, such as leadership.
Nearly a hundred thousand candidates will take part, but the total value of all score cards is only fifty thousand. This means more than half the candidates will end up with zero points.
Cooperation and competition are both encouraged. You can cooperate to earn points and distribute score cards to teammates by contribution or you can simply rob others of their score cards.
The forest is full of cameras and safety officers. You can call for help if you’re in danger, but the price is immediate disqualification.

“Those are the rules for this year’s combat assessment. In one hour, you will enter the forest to begin. Prepare yourselves.”

With that, the person in charge left.

As soon as he stepped down, a chubby candidate shouted, “My dad is an executive at the Nanguan Branch of Machine God Group. Any top students willing to carry me when we start? I’ll repay you handsomely afterward!”

“I will! I’m a top student from the gifted class at Changzhou No. 1 High! I’ll carry you to victory!”

A top student answered the chubby candidate.

But before they could connect, staff on site warned them.

They were told not to be so blatant—if they wanted to form teams, do it quietly.

Meanwhile, as Lin Zichen and Shen Qinghan ate and chatted, a few students from their school came over.

They asked if he could take them along once they entered the forest.

Lin Zichen refused without a second thought.

The reason was simple—he wouldn’t be sharing the score cards he picked up along the way.

Hearing that, they gave up on clinging to a thigh.

Lin Zichen didn’t mind them and continued eating and chatting with Shen Qinghan.

After about twenty minutes, a sturdy boy walked up and asked politely, “Hey, I’m feeling a bit hungry and didn’t bring food. Looks like you’ve got plenty. Can I buy some?”

“No need for money. Have some,” Lin Zichen said, tossing him a piece of bread and a pack of biscuits.

There was too much food to finish anyway—giving some away was no big deal.

“I can’t just freeload like that,” the boy said, “How about this—once we’re in the forest, I’ll team up with you two and carry you to points.”

He grinned confidently, “By the way, I’m Hong Junping from the rocket class at Qianzhen No. 1 High. I run 100 meters in 6 seconds and can one-hand lift a 750-kilogram barbell. I can get you at least 5 points.”

“Thanks for the offer, but we’re fine,” Lin Zichen declined.

The boy froze, not expecting to be refused.

After a moment he smiled awkwardly, “Got it. Thanks for the bread and biscuits, guys.”

He turned and left.

Once he was a distance away, Shen Qinghan couldn’t help but complain, “He’s weird. There are so many stalls, but he didn’t buy from them—he came to us instead.”

“The tipsy man’s heart isn’t in the wine—it’s in the great beauty sitting here,” Lin Zichen said with a smile.

He knew perfectly well that the boy was there to strike up a conversation with Shen Qinghan.

Seeing how pretty she was, he wanted to get to know her, so he made up a lame pretext about teaming up.

“Oh? So he was hitting on me? That’s deep...”

Hearing Lin Zichen’s explanation, Shen Qinghan finally realized it.

Just then, a girl nearby smiled and said, “Not necessarily. Maybe he came to hit on the handsome guy.”

“...”

The girl walked over, outgoing and cheerful, “I’m Zou Wenjuan from the gifted class at Changzhou No. 1 High. You’re really handsome. Can we add each other on WeChat?”

“I don’t use WeChat.”

“Then QQ?”

“I don’t use QQ either.”

Lin Zichen declined again—he didn’t want to add a stranger.

The girl got the message and walked away.

* * *

In the time that followed, everyone at the entrance ate.

If they didn’t eat now, there’d be nothing once they entered the forest.

While they could, they stuffed themselves, so even without food the whole rest of the day wouldn’t be a problem.

As they ate, most candidates watched others closely.

They tried to identify which ones were top students and which were dead weight to plan strategies for the assessment.

Avoid the top students so your score cards don’t get robbed.

Seek out the weak ones and rob theirs.

It was all about bullying the soft and fearing the hard.

During this time, the top student from Qianzhen City who’d been refused earlier came back, still unwilling to give up and asked again about teaming up.

This time he didn’t ask Lin Zichen; he went to Shen Qinghan instead.

But Shen Qinghan refused without even being polite, “I only team up with him. I won’t team up with other boys. Go hit on someone else.”

“Don’t get the wrong idea,” the boy said, “I’m not hitting on you. I just don’t like owing people. I took your bread and biscuits for free, so I thought I’d team up and help as payback. If you don’t need me, then forget it.”

With that long explanation, he left, a bit embarrassed.

He hadn’t expected to be rejected again—and so bluntly at that.

He grumbled inwardly that they were fools for not grabbing a thigh when it was offered.