52: Chapter 52 Challenge

Dongjiang University Combat Training Hall.

In the center of the spacious and bright venue, there are two expensive simulation terminals, looking like cryo-pods from sci-fi movies.

A huge holographic projection in mid-air is broadcasting the scene inside the simulation battlefield in real-time.

On the messy, grassy battlefield, a team of burly Orcs is roaring at the sky, trampling over the remains of Lizardmen.

This team has a clear division of labor. At the front are a dozen Orc warriors holding thick tower shields, muscles knotted, visually striking. Behind them stands a team of well-equipped Orc Archers.

The Archers are emitting a visible shimmer.

"Even Zhao Xu didn't win!" An exclamation erupted from the students below.

"Chu Yue's development speed is too monstrous. Those six Tier 1 Archers have such high attack power."

"Not only that, look at the positioning of those Orcs; it's a completely systematic defensive formation. How is this even beatable?"

Zhao Xu came out of the simulation pod looking dejected.

Teacher Qin Lin stood by the main console, nodding with satisfaction.

Under her guidance, Chu Yue's team is not only well-balanced in species composition but also fully equipped. Those six Tier 1 believers are the core output of the team, reaching a top-tier level for the entire Dongjiang County.

"Does anyone else want to challenge Chu Yue for the captain's position?" Teacher Qin Lin looked around.

Several boys looked at each other, shrinking their necks and not daring to speak.

The people who went up to challenge just now couldn't even touch the Orcs' shield wall before being shot into sieves by the Archers in the back row.

Just as the venue was so quiet that a pin drop could be heard.

"Bang."

The metal door of the Combat Training Hall was pushed open.

Gu Han rushed in with a bird's nest hairstyle, disheveled clothes, panting heavily.

Several pairs of eyes stared at him in unison.

Teacher Qin Lin's brows knitted together instantly: "Gu Han! You better give me a reason. You arrive just as the combat test is about to end, the captain has already been chosen, and you didn't even reply to messages?"

"Overslept, and my handheld console broke. My apologies, Teacher Qin." Gu Han coughed twice and walked quickly into the team.

"Stop."

A crisp female voice rang out in the venue.

Chu Yue, standing by the simulation pod on the left, pointed directly at him: "Gu Han, since you're here, come up and fight. Otherwise, you might not accept me as captain later."

The classmates cleared a path, leaving Gu Han exposed and alone in the front.

Gu Han scratched his hair. He actually didn't want to expose the Ant-men: "I accept it. You being captain is fine. There's really no need to fight."

"No!" Chu Yue's temper flared up.

She had been suppressed by Gu Han during the last scholarship assessment, and she had been holding her breath, wanting to prove that she could absolutely crush Gu Han.

"If I can't beat you today, I won't feel good even if I become captain. If you're a man, come up and fight!" Chu Yue lifted her chin, refusing to back down.

Gu Han sighed.

Teacher Qin Lin also spoke up from the side: "Don't dawdle!"

She actually wanted to see what species Gu Han had chosen after giving up on the insectoids.

He couldn't hide anymore. Gu Han could only walk to the empty simulation pod on the right, pull open the door, and lie down.

The hatch closed.

With the neural connection, Gu Han's consciousness instantly sank into a vast, white simulation space.

"Connecting to God's Kingdom data..."

"Simulating data..."

The holographic projection in the middle of the venue instantly split into two.

On the left is Chu Yue's battle-ready Orc army, shields banging on the ground, murderous.

The screen on the right is flickering and loading.

The whole class held their breath, stretching their necks and staring fixedly at the screen.

"What kind of species do you think Gu Han got?"

"Fifth in the class, it must be an intelligent species."

"What's there to guess? Chu Yue is sure to win." Zhao Xu stood with his arms crossed, looking unhappy. He had originally wanted to challenge Gu Han, but didn't expect Chu Yue to get there first.

But this was fine, too; let Chu Yue dampen Gu Han's morale first, and he could study his units.

While everyone was discussing, the projection on the right finally settled.

The originally noisy venue fell into dead silence the second the image became clear.

Everyone widened their eyes and opened their mouths.

Even Teacher Qin Lin took a sudden step forward, the expression on her face completely frozen.

On the screen appeared a group of pitch-black monsters.

They were over a meter tall, covered from head to toe in a layer of pitch-black, shiny carapace.

What made people's jaws drop most was that these monsters were actually walking upright!

Their sturdy lower limbs stepped steadily on the grass, and their upper limbs had evolved into human-like hand structures, retaining only a few sharp claw spikes.

Two antennae were constantly swaying on their heads, and some held roughly polished black spears, or even crude bows.

If you called them humans, they looked like bugs.

"This... what is this?" A boy in the front row pointed at the projection, stammering and breaking the silence.

"Is this f*cking still an ant?! Has the ant become a spirit?!"

The venue exploded.

Teacher Qin Lin felt her head buzzing.

This wasn't some newly bought intelligent species! This was clearly the same group of Black Armored Ants, just... Ant-men!

But how could this happen? How could the insectoids break the genetic lock and evolve into an upright, humanoid form? Is this some new species from another world?

After the shock, Teacher Qin Lin forced down the stormy waves in her heart and carefully observed these strange Ant-men.

Soon, she frowned.

So what if they mutated? Morphological changes couldn't make up for tactical flaws.

In the holographic projection, those hundreds of Black-Armored Ant-men were simply like loose sand, looking around.

After the enlightenment of the 100,000-year spirit-enlightening flower, the intelligence of the Ant-men had indeed made a leap, and they held great curiosity about all unknown things.

Now that they had been dropped into this completely unfamiliar grassy battlefield by the simulation terminal, they had no awareness of fighting at all.

A few Ant-men squatted on the ground, stretching out their claws to paw at the simulated weeds.

There were a few others gathered together, whispering to each other, making strange "hissing" sounds, as if discussing the Orc army confronting them in front.

The team was loose, some squatting, some standing, without even the most basic defensive formation.

"They look like a bunch of hicks." Someone couldn't help but laugh.

"They look intimidating, but they can't even line up. How is this supposed to be a fight?"

Teacher Qin Lin shook her head inwardly.

A team without discipline is a living target on the battlefield. Facing Chu Yue's well-trained Orc elite, this loose formation would likely collapse completely in one charge.

Inside the simulation pod, Chu Yue also saw the lineup opposite her.

Although she was surprised by the change in the ants' form, she didn't have much fear in her heart.

This kind of rabble without even a formation couldn't stop her attack.

Since she was on the battlefield, she would not be soft-hearted.

"All troops, attack! Archers, prepare!" Chu Yue gave the order on the main control interface.

The Orc phalanx on the left immediately marched with neat, heavy steps, like a moving wall, pressing step by step towards the right.

The distance closed rapidly.

Entering range!

Chu Yue did not dare to underestimate Gu Han's strange troops and activated her talent skill without hesitation.

Talent Skill — [Ice Bloodline]!

On the holographic projection, the Orc Archers roared at the sky, and the shimmer on their bodies instantly transformed into a piercing ice-blue.

Drawing bows, nocking arrows.

On the bowstrings, frost condensed rapidly, and even the surrounding air was frozen into wisps of white mist.

"Fire!"

The humming sound of vibrating bowstrings connected into one, tearing through the air.

Dozens of arrows mixed with frost power shot into the sky.

Drawing deadly parabolas in mid-air, like a sudden blizzard, they poured down towards the Ant-men position who were still looking around.

Before the arrows even landed, the biting cold had already arrived first.

The turf on the ground was instantly covered with a thick layer of white frost.

This was a complete, indiscriminate, area-of-effect attack. For an opponent with a scattered formation, this blow was absolutely devastating.

"It's over." The students in the venue shook their heads in unison.

"Gu Han is too arrogant this time. He didn't even give an order at the start; he's just coming up to get beaten."

Chu Yue watched the ice arrows falling from the sky and let out a sigh of relief.

Won.

The next second.

The ice arrows howled and fell, directly drowning those hundreds of pitch-black Ant-men.

The violent explosion mixed with the harsh sound of ice shattering reverberated through the venue.

The rich ice-blue mist exploded instantly, like a huge ice-fog cage, completely shrouding the entire right battlefield, making it impossible to see anything inside.

Teacher Qin Lin sighed, placed her hand on the main console, and prepared to press the button to end the test.