The perception Lin Zichen sent out instantly filled the entire corridor.

Augmented by Danger Perception, it rapidly spread across the whole third floor, probing in 360 degrees with no blind spots.

There were four rooms on the third floor.

In the center of each room stood a fully armed robot.

On three of the robots, the bodies were covered with traces of attacks—bullet holes, fist dents, blade marks… all over them.

But none of the damage was fatal—only superficial wounds, shallower than the surface.

Letting his gaze fall to the floor, he saw still-unclotted blood, broken teeth and shattered mechanical limbs.

Most likely, someone from the three squads that had just failed had been injured by the robots.

Judging from the marks left at the scene, the injuries looked serious.

It could be seen from this that the robots in the rooms possessed not only extremely strong defense, but extremely strong offense as well.

“Is everyone done resting?”

Zhao Yuanzhong looked at the others, “If you’re ready, we’ll go in and see what’s what.”

Shangguan Yueying said, “My body still feels numb and I can’t exert strength. How about we rest a little longer?”

Zhang Kai pushed himself up from the floor, lowering his head to repair his arm and said breezily, “The stronger ABC squads were all wiped. We’ll definitely be wiped too. No need to rest—let’s just go in and get it over with.”

Zhao looked to Lin Zichen and Shen Qinghan, “What about you two?”

Lin Zichen agreed, “Let’s go in now.”

Shen Qinghan nodded along, “I agree—go in now.”

“Minority obeys majority—then we go in now.”

With the decision made, all five got to their feet, mustered every ounce of focus and prepared to enter a third‑floor room.

“I’m opening the door.”

Zhao walked up to the door, set his hand on it and pushed.

Creak—

Zhao pushed open the door before him.

What met their eyes was a metal room strewn with cover—and a robot standing motionless in the center.

The robot was a size larger than an average adult male.

By eye, it was about 2.5 meters tall.

Its body was built of solid alloy.

Machine guns were mounted on both arms;thrusters were mounted on both legs and a great cleaver was slung across its back.

It looked like it packed serious combat power.

Seeing such a robot, Zhang Kai blurted out at once, “Holy crap, that’s insanely cool!”

Zhao however, took it as a dire threat, “So this robot is our opponent for Stage Three?”

“Do you think there’s a pilot inside?”

Shangguan Yueying looked to Shen Qinghan beside her and asked.

Shen Qinghan shook her head, “Not sure.”

Lin Zichen didn’t speak. He silently scrutinized the robot ahead and sent his perception probing into its interior.

All mechanical parts and electronic parts.

There was no pilot inside the robot.

Click! Click! Click…

Suddenly, crisp sounds came from within the robot.

The instant the sounds rang out, the robot’s dull eyes lit with an eerie red glow.

Next, it jerked its machine‑gun‑laden arms up—and raked the five with a sweeping burst.

Da‑da‑da…

The sweep happened in a flash.

Fortunately, the five were on high alert. The moment the robot lifted its arms, they all dove for cover.

Bang! Bang! Bang…

Bullets hammered the metal cover, setting off a piercing din.

In an instant, the supposedly indestructible metal cover was pitted and cratered, riddled with shocking bullet scars.

“Armor‑piercing rounds!”

Zhao shouted a warning, “Everyone be careful not to get hit, or it’ll punch right through bone!”

They didn’t need the reminder—they knew.

They huddled tight behind cover, waiting for the robot to run out of AP rounds.

However, the robot’s ammunition was ample.

After nearly half a minute of sustained fire, its output showed no sign of slackening—if anything, it was growing fiercer.

The metal cover, less than twenty centimeters thick, couldn’t withstand so long a sweep of armor‑piercing rounds. It was starting to look like it might be shot through.

“That robot’s ammo is way too plentiful! This won’t work! We need to take the initiative before the cover is destroyed—attack under its protection!”

Zhao shouted to the others at the top of his lungs.

He was practically screaming—the racket of AP rounds slamming into metal was so loud that if he didn’t shout, no one could hear him.

“How about we forfeit? The three squads ahead all failed. We don’t stand a chance.”

Shangguan Yueying suggested.

She didn’t want to get hurt—she just wanted to end this entry assessment quickly.

“No matter how slim the hope, we can’t forfeit. Otherwise the instructor will definitely tear into us afterward.”

Zhang Kai disagreed, “I think we should choose to forfeit.”

He went on, “When we encounter an unbeatable enemy, the first thing we should do is preserve our lives—not knowingly throw them away. That’s what idiots do. Only by living can we continue to contribute. If we die, that’s it. It would only waste the state’s cultivation of us. So, I think forfeiting is the correct choice. Not only will we not be criticized afterward—we might even earn the instructor’s praise.”

Zhang Kai’s reasoning was solid and persuasive.

But he had shifted the premise a bit.

This was an entry assessment, not a real battlefield—there was no justification for forfeiting.

Zhao aware of the changing thoughts of the team, shot back, “This is the entry assessment—at worst we get a little banged up. Forfeit my ass!”

Zhang Kai ignored him and looked to Lin Zichen and Shen Qinghan instead, “Zichen, Xiao Shen—what do you think?”

“I’ll go with Hanhan.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Shen Qinghan said, “Let’s try. Maybe we can clear it.”

They were a hundred percent going to clear it.

With Lin Zichen here, failure wasn’t in the cards.

But she couldn’t say that outright.

She could only feign hesitation and suggest they give it a try.

Hearing Shen say “try,” Zhao’s lip quirked. He looked at Zhang Kai and called out, “I, Shen Qinghan and Lin Zichen all vote try. Three to two—minority follows majority!”

Seeing this, Zhang Kai could only agree.

Zhao began formulating the attack plan, bellowing, “Lin Zichen and I are in the best shape, so we’ll attack the robot. Zhang Kai’s in worse shape, so he and the two girls will provide cover. Does that work for everyone?!”

“No problem!”

“None here!”

“….”

Everyone agreed to the plan of attack.

Once everyone had agreed, Zhao shouted in a booming voice:

“Move out!”

The instant the words left his mouth, he seized his moment and pressed in from the left.

Seeing that, Lin Zichen tacitly flanked from the right.

As a cyborg, Zhang Kai promptly fired special smoke grenades from the rear to cover them.

The purple smoke they billowed out could effectively block the robot’s thermal sensing.

The two girls weren’t idle either.

The former used remote control to manipulate the fluids inside the robot.

The latter worked to make noise and attract as much of the robot’s attention as possible—to draw its fire.

Under the cover of the three, Zhao and Lin Zichen quickly closed in on the robot.

Zhao flashed Lin Zichen a hand sign—go together.

Lin Zichen dipped his head—got it.

Zhao raised three fingers in succession, then made a “go” gesture and burst forward, targeting the robot ahead.

At practically the same instant, Lin Zichen unleashed the speed of an Ordinary Tier 8 and charged the robot.

Bang!

Zhao hammered a fist into the robot’s head, the impact ringing with a crisp crack.

Then came a cry of pain—“Ah!”

Zhao felt his finger bones fracture; the pain made him cry out, his face contorted.

The robot’s head was incredibly hard; the strength of an Ordinary Tier 8 couldn’t deal it effective damage.

Bang!

Another impact sounded quickly.

Lin Zichen swept a kick into the robot’s waist, making it jolt.

But that was all—a jolt. No substantive damage.

The strength of someone who had only just reached Ordinary Tier 8 simply didn’t cut it against the robot—it was no different from a mantis trying to stop a chariot.

“This robot’s sturdiness is at least peak Ordinary Tier 8. As we are now, we can’t even break its defense. We need to recover some stamina first!”

From behind cover, Zhao called out to Lin Zichen.

He’d taken too many shocks in Stage Two; his muscles were damaged and hadn’t fully recovered, so he couldn’t perform at his best.

His idea now was to stall the robot for a while, recover some stamina and then try another attack.

As he was thinking this, the robot lowered its arms and stopped firing. It drew the great cleaver from its back and switched to melee mode.

Voom!

A sharp air‑burst sounded.

The robot fired the two thrusters at its feet; its figure blurred as it flashed to stand before Zhao—and it raised its blade in a savage downward chop.

“Shit!”

Zhao swore and reacting fast, twisted aside to dodge the blow.

The metal cover behind him wasn’t so lucky—it was hewn cleanly in two by a single stroke.

Seeing this, cold sweat burst from Zhao.

Voom!

Another air‑burst.

The robot switched targets and lunged at Lin Zichen, slashing down with a raised blade.

Lin Zichen reacted with extreme speed and slipped aside before the edge fell.

Voom!

The robot flashed again—this time at Shen Qinghan ahead.

Shen wasn’t fast enough—she couldn’t dodge at all.

Seeing that, Lin Zichen flickered to her side and snapped a flying kick into the robot, booting it back two body‑lengths and making its blade fall wide.

Voom!

Recovering, the robot immediately rushed at Shangguan Yueying nearby, choosing her as its next target.

Its attacks were egalitarian—sharing the love—it wouldn’t strike the same person twice in a row.

“Careful!”

Zhao shouted.

At the same time, he exploded off his calf muscles and launched like a cannon shell—Bang—slamming hard into the robot and knocking it flying several body‑lengths, saving Shangguan Yueying.

Once it recovered, the robot targeted Zhang Kai on the other side.

Zhang Kai was smart—he immediately rolled into a nearby cloud of purple smoke, masking the robot’s thermal sensing and making it lose target lock.

“Captain, we can’t clear this. Let’s forfeit!”

Shangguan Yueying didn’t want to play anymore—she wanted to yield.

Remembering how the robot had hewn a cover in two with a single stroke, Zhao felt a shiver of fear himself.

But after thinking about it, he was unwilling to give up. He shouted to Shangguan Yueying, “One last try. If it still doesn’t work, we’ll forfeit!”

“Fine,” she agreed helplessly.

The other three had no objection—they agreed to one last attempt.

Soon, the five were working together again in tacit coordination—launching an attack on the robot.

But before they could even get organized, the robot attacked first.

Its chest suddenly opened a valve, revealing an intake device that instantly sucked in all the surrounding purple smoke.

With the purple smoke gone, the robot’s thermal sensing fully recovered.

Voom!

With that sharp tearing of air, the robot exploded with unprecedented speed—blade raised as it charged the one who posed the greatest threat to it: Shen Qinghan.

It could clearly sense that Shen could manipulate the fluids inside it, causing real trouble for its operation.

“Careful!”

Zhao shouted a warning.

Even as he shouted, he lunged with a bounding stride—rushing the robot at top speed to stop it from striking Shen.

But the robot was too fast—he couldn’t make it in time.

‘It’s over,’ Zhao thought.

Zhang Kai and Shangguan Yueying thought the same.

Just as all three were sure the robot would hack Shen with a mighty chop—Lin Zichen appeared at her side in time, snatched her back with a hand and let her evade the blow by a hair.

Seeing this, the three were all shaken.

‘Lin Zichen was that fast?’

Voom!

That familiar air‑burst again.

This time, the robot switched targets to Lin Zichen—leaping high on the spot and bringing its great cleaver down hard at him in midair.

Faced with the explosive strike, Lin Zichen didn’t even dodge—he simply raised a fist and drove it out.

He felt the time had come.

It was time to clear the stage.

Bang!

With a tremendous crash, Lin Zichen’s fist smashed into the robot’s chest.

The single punch blasted it away—it slammed into the ceiling with a bang, punching a hole through it.

Its head broke through the ceiling; half its body was jammed up there, teetering.

Below the ceiling, Zhao, Zhang Kai and Shangguan Yueying all froze.

Their eyes were wide, faces full of shock.

‘What just happened? A simple punch—and the robot was sent flying? How was that possible?! An illusion—this had to be an illusion!’

None of the three were willing to believe what they had just seen.