After the four squads were all shuffled and recombined, Instructor Lu Tianrong led everyone to a building of regular shape and stopped in front of it.

It was called “regular” because the building was a perfect cube—its length, width and height were the same.

“This building has three floors and each floor has stages to clear. If you clear all stages and reach the rooftop within three hours, you pass the assessment. Right now it’s 7:23 a.m. The entry assessment will begin in seven minutes. On the first floor, each of the four walls has a door in the middle. Once the assessment starts, the doors will open automatically. Then, move in by squad. Each team will enter through a different door to take the assessment. That’s all I have to say. I hope all four squads clear smoothly.”

With that said, Lu Tianrong leapt up to the rooftop and vanished from sight.

After he left, a young soldier from the military district said to members of the other three squads, “Our squad will take Door A. You all use the other doors.”

He spoke as if it were only natural, with the air of someone above the rest.

People from the other squads immediately bristled.

One youth from the Machine God Group spoke up, “You tell us to go, so we go? Why aren’t you taking another door?”

“Why?”

The young soldier smirked, eyes full of contempt, “Because I’m the strongest. A bigger fist is the rule. Don’t like it? We can settle it right now.”

“Who’s afraid of who, come on!”

“Me too—whoever’s stronger chooses first!”

“I, Mo Yanwei, have never been afraid of anyone!”

“….”

Everyone except Lin Zichen’s squad started arguing.

They were all competitive, none willing to give way.

““Let’s go to Door D.””

In Lin Zichen’s squad, Zhao Yuanzhong and Zhang Kai said it almost in unison.

Of the two, one ranked at the bottom of the five from the military district and the other at the bottom of the Machine God Group’s five; both had the sense not to butt heads with the other squads.

Besides being comparatively weaker, they also had two girls on their team, which would seriously hold them back in a scramble—they definitely wouldn’t win against the other squads.

Lin Zichen had no objection, “Then let’s go, Door D.”

The two girls had no objection either, following the three men toward Door D.

At Door D, Zhao Yuanzhong turned to face the four and said, “We’re a squad now and a squad needs a backbone to coordinate if we’re going to perform at our best. So I think we should pick a captain. What do you think?”

“I think that’s good.”

Zhang Kai voiced his support, then asked, “The question is, how do we choose the captain?”

Zhao Yuanzhong volunteered himself, “I’ve served several years as a squad captain and my Biological Level has reached Ordinary Tier 8. How about I serve as captain?”

“No objection,” Lin Zichen said evenly.

Seeing that, Shen Qinghan and Shangguan Yueying said in turn, “No objection from me.”

“Same here.”

Both girls were only at Ordinary Tier 6; seeing someone at Ordinary Tier 8 step up to lead, there was no reason not to support it.

Shen Qinghan had wanted to support Lin Zichen, but he had no intention of being captain.

“I object!”

Right after the three agreed, Zhang Kai jumped in with an objection.

He looked at Zhao Yuanzhong, “At the Machine God Group I lead a hundred‑man team. My leadership is excellent. Plus my strength is excellent. Two weeks ago I solo‑killed an Ordinary Tier 8 Aberrant Beast. So, I think I’m more suited to be captain.”

For a moment, things grew awkward.

No one had expected anyone to contest the captaincy.

“Then fight for it,” Zhao Yuanzhong said, “Whoever’s stronger is captain.”

“Come on!”

Zhang Kai accepted at once.

“That’s not a good idea,” Shangguan Yueying quickly interjected, “If either of you gets hurt, it’ll affect the assessment.”

She then suggested, “Let’s vote instead. Lin Zichen, Shen Qinghan and I will vote. Whoever gets more votes between you two is captain.”

“Fine.”

“No objection.”

They agreed one after another.

Zhang Kai immediately turned to Lin Zichen and Shen Qinghan to canvas, “Zichen, Xiao Shen, we’ve known each other for a long time—vote for me!”

“That won’t do,” Zhao Yuanzhong protested, "That's unfair. He’s got two friends on the team. I’ll lose for sure.”

“To be fair, let’s race. Speed. From here to that old banyan a few hundred meters away—whoever gets there first is captain.”

He pointed to a century‑old banyan a few hundred meters off, sounding confident.

“Deal,” Zhang Kai said, “We’ll do it your way.”

Zhao Yuanzhong looked to Lin Zichen, “Lin Zichen, be our referee, please.”

“Okay,” Lin Zichen nodded.

Once they were set and in starting stance, he called out loud, “Run!”

At the shout, Zhao Yuanzhong and Zhang Kai shot off.

They were both fast—bodies blurring into afterimages, the friction of their passage popping in the ears with a buzzing crackle.

“So fast!”

Shangguan Yueying looked stunned.

Back at Kyoto University she was the fourth‑ranked freshman genius, very strong and in the spotlight.

But seeing the speed of Zhao Yuanzhong and Zhang Kai now, she felt instantly deflated.

Their burst speed was faster than Kyoto’s strongest, Qin Chuan.

Not just faster—faster by a whole grade. The difference was obvious.

“To think I used to believe Kyoto’s students were the strongest. Turns out the real monsters are from the military district and the Machine God Group… I’ve been a frog in a well.”

She shook her head with a wry smile.

Beside her, Shen Qinghan wanted to tell her: Yes, the military district and the Machine God Group are stronger than Kyoto’s students, but the strongest is actually Lin Zichen, standing right next to you.

Soon the sprint ended.

By a narrow margin, Zhao Yuanzhong reached the banyan first and won.

“Don’t think you’re really faster,” Zhang Kai grumbled, “I just reacted slow at the start. Otherwise the winner wouldn’t be certain.”

Zhao Yuanzhong smiled, “Start reaction is part of a race. Part of ability. Losing is losing—why make excuses?”

Zhang Kai fell silent; otherwise he’d look like a sore loser.

Zhao Yuanzhong became captain as he wished.

“Captain, since you’re from the military district, you must be familiar with this building. Tell us about the stages inside.”

Shangguan Yueying asked him.

He shook his head, “You’re overthinking it. I’m taking part in the special training too; of course I don’t know the stages inside. Otherwise the training would be meaningless.”

“I see…” she said, disappointed.

Soon, the time reached 7:30.

The Door D in front of the five of them slowly opened.

“Move. We’re going in.”

Zhao Yuanzhong charged in first.

Lin Zichen wasn’t as hasty, following at an unhurried pace.

Inside, what met his eyes was a room of steel.

Steel floor.

Steel walls.

Everywhere he looked—steel.

Looking more closely, he saw the walls were riddled with uniformly sized holes.

They looked like rows of black muzzles, ready to spit bullets at any time.

The others noticed the holes too.

“Don’t tell me those are all gun barrels?” Shangguan Yueying said.

“Most likely,” Zhang Kai said.

Zhao Yuanzhong said nothing. Instead, he willed his beast genes to activate and a layer of hard scales instantly covered his body.

At the same time, his eyes turned fierce and sharp, as if they could see through all things.

‘A dual gene fuser—he had fused the Armored Earth Dragon Gene and the Violent Eagle Gene…’

Lin Zichen took one look and came to that conclusion.

“I’ll rush first. Follow me!”

With that, Zhao Yuanzhong lunged and sprinted toward the iron door ahead.

As he crossed a beam of infrared, the holes in the surrounding walls instantly spewed a hail of smoke‑trailed bullets, pouring at him in dense waves.

Da‑da‑da…

With the rattle of machine‑gun fire, the scales on Zhao Yuanzhong were easily shattered and pierced.

His body was riddled with bullet holes.

He couldn’t hold out at all.

He didn’t try to tough it out and retreated to safety at once.

“Armor‑breaking rounds. I can’t stop them.”

He checked his bullet wounds, frowning slightly.

He was also grateful that his scales were thick enough; otherwise he’d have been turned into a lotus root full of holes.

“Let me.”

Zhang Kai raised his forearms, revealing a row of black muzzles.

Then he raked the wall holes with wild suppressive fire.

The firepower from his arms was no weaker than that from the walls.

In under half a minute, his rounds blocked most of the holes, jamming the barrels inside the walls.

“That should do it—move!”

He retracted the muzzles in his arms and sprinted for the iron door.

The others followed quickly.

Lin Zichen deliberately stayed a step behind Shen Qinghan, guarding her along the way so she wouldn’t get hit by AP rounds she couldn’t dodge in time.

Da‑da‑da…

A few of the wall holes that hadn’t been jammed yet were still dutifully spitting armor‑piercing rounds, sweeping at the squad.

But there were too few—it wasn’t enough to matter.

They slipped past and soon reached the iron door.

“No handle, no keyhole, no keypad. How do we open it?”

Shangguan Yueying frowned.

“How else—rip it open,” Zhao Yuanzhong said.

He raised a leg and slammed a kick into the door.

Bang.

The iron door didn’t budge—solid as could be.

“I’ll try.”

Zhang Kai charged the hydraulics in his arms and hammered a fist into the door.

Another bang.

This time the door moved.

A clear fist print appeared—proof of real damage.

“It works!” Shangguan Yueying said, delighted.

Zhang Kai charged again and smashed the same spot.

In a flash the fist print became a fist‑sized dent—more damage, one step closer to breaking through.

Bang! Bang! Bang…

He hammered the door over and over.

Ten, twenty, thirty blows…

After thirty‑five punches the door was completely deformed.

By then Zhang Kai couldn’t keep it up—his forearms were warped by the recoil, the hydraulics damaged and unable to start.

Fortunately the door was deformed now and no longer as solid.

Zhao Yuanzhong took over and kicked hard.

When he got tired he rested and someone else took his place.

Lin Zichen could have blown the door off with one kick, but he didn’t.

Instead, he used only the strength of someone who had just reached Ordinary Tier 8, kicking at a measured pace.

He held back because he wanted Shen Qinghan to have a sense of participation.

If he cleared it in one go, the assessment would be meaningless to her—a waste of time.

After less than a minute, he pretended to be tired and stepped aside.

Shen Qinghan understood and immediately took over, kicking with all her strength.

Bang! Bang! Bang…

When her leg went numb, she stepped aside for Shangguan Yueying.

They took turns like that, dividing the work.

After about half an hour—

Boom!

They finally knocked the door down.

It was Zhao Yuanzhong who toppled it.

Rubbing his tingling right leg, he grimaced. “It’s numb. This is only the first stage and it’s already this hard—how are we supposed to handle the next two?”

“Take it one step at a time,” Zhang Kai said.

He stepped over the fallen door and hurried up to the second floor.

The others followed.

Lin Zichen was again at the rear, escorting Shen Qinghan.

On the second floor, as soon as they entered, he saw a display screen on the wall.

It showed the clear‑progress of the four squads.

Looking closer, he saw Squads A, B and C had already reached the third stage.

Only their Squad D had just cleared the first and arrived at the second—their pace was painfully slow.

“Damn it, why are those bastards so fast? We just got to Stage Two and they’re already at Stage Three. Freaks!”

Seeing the progress bars, Zhang Kai felt crushed and full of doubt.

Zhao Yuanzhong was anxious too and urged the four, “Enough staring—move. No dawdling.”

He knew their squad would end up last, but he didn’t want to be dead last by a mile. The sooner they cleared, the better he’d feel.

Soon, they entered Stage Two.

It was another metal room.

But unlike before, there were no bullet holes in the walls. Instead, on the wall at the far end was an iron door with a display screen mounted in it.

Above the door were two characters: “Intellect.”

‘So… this stage tested intellect?’

Thinking that, Lin Zichen walked straight up to the door with the display to test whether he’d be attacked.

Seeing that, Shen Qinghan quickly followed.

“Careful!”

Shangguan Yueying called out when she saw the two heading straight for the door.

But they made it there without any attacks.

As expected, this stage tested intellect and wouldn’t rake you with bullets like the first stage.

Behind them, Zhao Yuanzhong, Zhang Kai and Shangguan Yueying saw it was safe to approach and strode over as well.

Standing before the door, Lin Zichen examined the screen.

On the display, a virtual human was playing rock‑paper‑scissors on loop.

Beside the figure were three lines of text:

[Win once: iron door opens 2 cm.]

[Draw once: iron door opens 1 cm.]

[Lose once: iron door closes 3 cm and will launch an extremely fierce attack.]