Chapter 138: Athletes' March

Two days of the college entrance examination passed in the blink of an eye, every moment as precious as jade.

Yet time flies like an arrow, fleeting as a passing white horse, gone in a mere snap of the fingers.

Gathering their remaining energy, the two hundred thousand residents and two hundred thousand spirit beasts of Jiangcheng watched the final performances of a bunch of brilliant supporting players, and finally ushered in the last and most grandiose subject of the college entrance exam—Mixed Martial Arts.

June 20th.

Early in the morning, the three-tiered circular plaza of Jiangcheng was already bustling shoulder to shoulder...

To be precise, fights had broken out since midnight as people scrambled for seats.

In truth, there were plenty of seats. The plaza exam venue, which had spanned eleven days, had already been dismantled, and the running tracks were entirely converted into seating—the combat exam venue was not located here.

The viewing area, nearly half a million square meters in size, could easily accommodate Jiangcheng's population of two hundred thousand humans and beasts alike. After all, many came with their entire families—a child in the left hand, a child in the right hand, and a chubby little dog ridden between their legs, which was remarkably space-efficient.

Yet even with ample space, first-class and second-class seats were entirely different. How could standing room compare to VIP boxes?

To secure a clear and thrilling view, acts of violence occurred repeatedly.

As a result, police officers, doctors, and soldiers all had to work overnight shifts, leaving the virtual reality space completely empty for the very first time, practically devoid of a single soul.

If this were truly a game, it would give off the unmistakable sensation of crashing instantly.

However, the seven or eight hundred helmets did not go to waste; all of them were converted into projectors. Working in tandem with oversized plaza LED screens arrayed in rings along the inner wall of the circular plaza, the technological aura was off the charts, surpassing even the era before the cataclysm.

At exactly seven in the morning, precisely one hour before the start of the competition.

The three-tiered plaza of Jiangcheng was already a sea of humanity, densely packed shoulder to shoulder—resembling the frosting on a multi-layered cake, the hair on a rugged young man's forehead, or the densely forested mountain peaks of Earth at this moment...

Those who needed to take their seats had already done so, leaving not a single vacant spot.

This was driven by eagerness, and also because the examinees were beginning to enter!

Since the final mixed martial arts event required all examinees to participate together, along with the announcement of rules and the guidance of the entry procession, it was quite time-consuming, hence the one-hour early entrance.

Coincidentally, the college entrance examination sports meeting lacked opening and closing ceremonies, so this one-hour entrance procession served precisely that purpose.

The examinees entered.

Accompanied by the host's impassioned commentary and stirring music, a melodious song drifted through the air—

"A laugh across the vast sea,
Billows rolling on both shores,
Drifting with the waves, recording today.
A laugh to the azure heavens,
A flurry of worldly tides,
Who wins and who loses, only the heavens know..."

"Pfft!" Alpha Ji nearly choked herself to death on a mouthful of salted soda.

For a sports meeting... shouldn't they usually play the "Athlete's March"? What on earth was *Swordsman*? Even accounting for the turbulent times of the cataclysm and the changing eras, wasn't this transformation a bit too extreme?

While she was silently complaining, the audience in the stands had already started singing along with the lyrics—

"A laugh across rivers and mountains,
Misty rain afar,
Billows washing away how much of the dusty mortal world.
A breeze laughs,
Fostering only loneliness,
Heroic passion leaves behind a lapel of evening glow..."

Even the pets in the stands hummed and hawed along with the tune.

A chorus of over two hundred thousand people shook the earth, capturing everyone's attention right from the start!

Moreover, having moved past the initial absurdity, upon closer savoring, in this turbulent, stormy, precarious era of cataclysm where one's life hung by a thread day and night, singing such a song brimming with heroic passion and boundless spirit...

It carried the supreme heroism of a wandering hero crying out that even if millions stand against me, I shall go;
It held the grand boldness of crossing mountains of tribulations with brothers still by our side, meeting once more with a smile that wipes away all past grievances;
Faintly, there was also the sudden enlightenment of a pot of warmed wine and a joyous reunion, with all the affairs of ancient and modern times reduced to mere topics of casual laughter;
Indeed... nothing could possibly be more fitting!

The song *Swordsman* quietly came to an end, and while still lingering in the aftertaste, the examinees entered the arena.

They were not arranged by school or class; instead, they were scrambled, dispersed, and formed into small square formations of roughly four by six, marching around the large outer plaza of the first tier in a loop—resembling... mahjong tiles laid out on a table.

Yet they did not walk obediently. One after another, they kicked their legs, threw punches, jumped up, and crouched down... warming up as they walked, looking as casually scattered as an Indian military parade formation.

The twenty-four-person formations appeared to be evenly divided into sixty squads, resembling the minute ticks on a clock face, seamlessly distributed across the circular plaza. Then, one by one, they walked through the openings in the city wall and vanished...

Once all the students had disappeared, the large screens displayed the venue introduction and competition rules for this mixed martial arts event.

Competition Venue—
The downtown area, the central region of the ruins.

This came as no surprise. After all, Jiangcheng was only so large; aside from the abandoned downtown area, there were very few places capable of accommodating so many people to stir up chaos together.

Guided by the proctors, the squads entered the examination zone. Each squad marched in a different direction—some upwards, some downwards, some taking winding paths—but when their journey ended, an open, mottled, and ancient gate stood before each of them, resembling a game's login screen. Pushing it open revealed an entirely new world.

Rules—
"Ahead of you lies Jiangcheng's slum district and the polluted underground jungle zone. Although extremely hazardous, a gang of vicious criminals has fled inside and taken numerous hostages."

"Your primary task is to apprehend the criminals and rescue the hostages."

"Successfully transporting hostages to the exit will earn you point rewards; as for the criminals, you must confiscate their numbered tags and turn them in at the end of the mission to exchange for points."

"Time limit: six hours."

"You must wear a heart-guard mirror on your chest. Having your heart-guard mirror shattered signifies death, and you will need to return to collect another. Each person is allotted three mirrors, meaning three chances."

"Additionally, each squad has its own designated examination zone. Hostages, criminals, and points are not interchangeable between different zones."

"When time expires, elimination will be determined based on the total points accumulated by each individual."

In front of the gates, the proctors read the competition rules to the students.

Simultaneously, the large screens outside displayed the detailed regulations for the first stage of the exam.

"This set of rules is rather interesting!"

As soon as the prompts appeared, the audience instantly broke into heated discussions. Cui Zuoze, in particular, began analyzing them frantically like a post-autumn grasshopper leaping about with all its might—after all... he only had these next two days left to jump around!

"...Transporting hostages safely to the exit—the word 'safely' is the focal point. They might be poisoned, injured, require emergency treatment, or be intercepted halfway... The cost-effectiveness is clearly not high, but it has one distinct advantage: the point rewards are credited immediately."

"In comparison, the criminals' numbered tags can only be turned in at the end of the mission, and they can be plundered! One could even say the rules encourage mutual looting, which is why the system of three chances was established."

"The designation of examination zones is also worth pondering. Although hostages, criminals, and points are not cross-compatible, there are no restrictions against crossing over into other zones. Therefore, if the terrain permits, trading, exchanging, confronting, or teaming up with people from different zones is entirely feasible..."

"Examinees with weaker combat strength must either honestly rescue hostages or huddle together to form teams, but they must strictly guard against infighting during the final stage..."

"Examinees with stronger combat strength can rack up points through capture, but they must also be wary of being jointly targeted..."

"However, the specific outcome will still depend on the exact scores awarded for rescuing hostages and capturing criminals..."

Combat required far more than mere bravery.

Terrain, environment, tactics, and the evaluation of both sides' strengths and weaknesses—all of these factors could influence victory or defeat, and all were subjects of evaluation in the mixed martial arts examination.

Yet as the analysis deepened, both the audience and Cui Zuoze gradually developed headaches, identical thoughts flashing through their minds: Thank goodness we aren't the examinees!

That was simply how the college entrance examination went.

Once it was over, you looked back with nostalgia and a sense of longing, but if you were genuinely asked to go through it all over again, 99.99999...9 percent of people neither wanted nor dared to do it.

And the true battle of the examinees had finally begun!