Chapter 24: Maxed-Out Self-Destruct Skills

“Teacher Li, why did you go out there?”
“Were you knocked senseless by a hammer?”
“Haven’t you always claimed you could go toe-to-toe with Xu Tiange?”
The Mirror Forum was abuzz with excitement, though everyone was asking just for fun.
What Li Jiujiu had actually experienced was perfectly clear to everyone in the monitoring group, who watched through the Heart-Guard Mirror.
So, really, what was this teacher here for? As his staggering, drunken-looking figure faded into darkness, Ye Chao and Xu Tiange were equally perplexed.
Xu Tiange’s expression shifted several times before he suddenly turned to the frowning Ye Chao.
He slung an arm over Ye Chao’s shoulder, like a little hoodlum spoiling for trouble: “Ye Chao, do you remember what you just said?” He pressed down with hidden strength.
Ye Chao was instantly bewildered, his chest tight.
Ah, suffocating, constricted, overwhelming… He could barely breathe! Someone, help…
“Xu Tiange, isn’t your roughness right now just proving what was said before?” Ye Chao struggled in vain, resigned.
What was said?
The Great Eagle Girl!
Xu Tiange pondered for a moment, her almond eyes wide, ponytail threatening to stand upright. She switched from arm-lock to neck-hold with one hand: “Ye Chao, are you looking for trouble? Are you? Are you?”
Alpha Princess: ┑(￣Д￣)┍
She could hardly bear to watch anymore. With Ye Chao’s talent for courting disaster, his skills were already maxed out—did she really need to hand him a rope and kick the stool for him? Absolutely unnecessary.
But…
Should her favorability increase now, or decrease?
It was a mix of pain and joy, a paradox in the code—how to resolve it?
==========
The internship exam was truly difficult, really difficult.

The cave was riddled with branching paths and the environment was complex.
This complexity went far beyond the terrain.
Toxic mold colonies were scattered everywhere, filling the air with fungal spores that shimmered in suspicious colors under the light. Without realizing it, one could be poisoned, left weak and limp, running a high fever and vomiting, or suffering hallucinations—any number of ways to lose fighting ability.
Roots and mycelium from various plants wove thickly throughout, alive like predatory pitcher plants from the old world, only far more powerful and aggressive. They were like clusters of living serpents, silently entangling their victims and secreting mucus to digest them.
Other plants, thriving in perpetual darkness, had evolved bizarre abilities: flowers that flashed blinding light, vines that set traps to capture prey, fungi that emitted shrieks to frighten and paralyze enemies.
And that’s not even mentioning the animals that inevitably accompanied the plants.
Ants cultivating fungal strains would use their secretions to reinforce their burrows, making their territory as solid as cast iron. The exit tunnels were narrow and tight—impossible to pry open or squeeze through.
Earthworms, once harmless, had evolved to reach several meters or even tens of meters in length. Still harmless, they munched soil with a “crunch crunch,” freely tunneling through the subterranean earth.
Spiders with faces as wide as dinner plates continued to weave webs, but now their webs stretched between their king-crab-like legs. They lurked atop cave ceilings, dropping onto unsuspecting victims and wrapping them up before disappearing.
…………
Despite all these dangers and trials—
First, environmental adaptation was a core subject. The students had trained for underground combat many times, and learned how to handle all kinds of animals and plants. Dangerous, yes, but familiar.
Second, as previously mentioned, Ye Chao’s commands could be precisely relayed to every team, so no one got lost and everyone coordinated swiftly. What should have been a difficult stage lost its challenge.
And, with Xu Tiange—a monster capable of outclassing some teachers—among them…
The students advanced like a storm, unstoppable and swift.
==========
“Clang, clang!” “Bang, bang, thud!” The sounds of fierce battle approached a cave entrance.
“They’re coming!” The students guarding the entrance hurried, wielding sticks and hammers, blowing with air compressors, launching spring rods. They forced the relentless sky silkworms into the forward cave, then stuffed the entrance with branches and scattered.
The silkworms spun strong silk, but couldn’t dig well, so they were trapped inside.
Trying to emerge only caused their silk and mucus to stick to the branches, fixing them tighter…
“Rumble, rumble…” Moments later, urgent footsteps echoed.

At the very front, dragging a long hammer, was Xu Tiange—hair disheveled, clothes askew, barely composed.
A large horde of club rabbits followed close behind, their long legs bounding like kangaroos. So many jumped at once that the cave trembled and dust billowed.
The foremost rabbits moved even faster, not especially large, but their two white legs were long and thick, with muscle rippling beneath their fur like viral fitness kangaroos, flexing with each movement.
Even their eyes, once set wide apart, were now converging toward the center—a clear sign of evolution.
With club rabbits in such numbers, it was no wonder Xu Tiange struggled to fend them off.
Pursuer and pursued, they reached the cave entrance in a flash. Xu Tiange swung her long hammer, spinning it like a windmill, smashing the branches aside and plunging into the cave.
“Thud! Thud! Thud!” The club rabbits followed without hesitation, one after another, squeezing into the cave in succession.
But after a few joyful hops inside, they realized something was wrong…
A silkworm nest—this was the nest of the sky silkworms!
The relatively spacious cave was nearly covered with fat silkworms on the floor and ceiling. Within silk frameworks, cocoons were forming;
More sky silkworms queued up, dragging silk-covered prey home or preparing to set out again…
Massive-headed soldier silkworms patrolled with swagger.
Though not countless, there were easily a hundred or more, including several evolved variants with rainbow-colored segments.
The club rabbits couldn’t count and had no concept of evolved types, but instinctively sensed danger!
Their momentum vanished in an instant, replaced by panic. The vanguard became the rear guard, and they began retreating obediently.
They were lucky—most sky silkworms focused on Xu Tiange, who had entered first. Silk sprayed out in a torrent, only a few shifting their attention to the rabbits.
But then—
“Screech…” From the freshly broken cave entrance, a sharp, piercing cry rang out.