59: You can't pass! (Two chapters combined into one, 4000 words)

“You have entered the super-large instance: Ancient Battlefield!”

“Your current identity type is: Battlefield Guardian.”

“You are hostile to all trial participants. Please guard the glory of the Ancient Battlefield!”

With a flash of white light, the scene before Ye Ze's eyes changed abruptly.

He looked up to see a desolate landscape, broken walls, overgrown weeds, and thick layers of blood and dust.

Yellow sand filled the sky, stretching endlessly.

“I am a Battlefield Guardian…”

“So the other Special Training Camp students must be the trial participants.”

As Ye Ze spoke, he opened the map interface of the Ancient Battlefield.

The map was simply too vast!

Ye Ze's character light spot on the map was like a grain of sand in a boundless desert.

He was alone, and all those with the Guardian identity… that is, the Instructors, were randomly distributed in different areas.

Furthermore, only the locations of the Fiend bosses could be seen on the map, not the students' locations.

“Damn it, I didn't expect the difficult part wouldn't be killing people, but finding them!”

But it wouldn't always be like this.

As time passed, or as the remaining number of people decreased…

The Ancient Battlefield would teleport everyone to a smaller battleground.

Ye Ze understood this perfectly, commonly known as “shrinking the circle.”

This was also to prevent some teams from simply hiding in a corner of the map, waiting for other teams to fight it out, and then easily securing a high ranking.

Of course, to prevent this, the headquarters specifically counted killing enemies and killing bosses as ranking points.

With this thought, Ye Ze had an idea:

“Instead of spending a lot of time looking for people, I might as well go find the boss first.”

“Anyway, no one said Guardians can't kill bosses…”

“Bosses also give experience and points, and I might even run into students looking for bosses.”

Although he didn't have the students' locations, he could see the boss's location!

Having made up his mind, Ye Ze first followed his usual routine:

He summoned his Squirrel, dispatched dozens of Shadow Doppelgangers, and used the most straightforward method to scout ahead.

Then, once one of the Shadow Doppelgangers reached the boss, he directly swapped places!

…

A wasteland in the Ancient Battlefield.

A team of four men and one woman was rapidly discussing their tactics.

“Where are we now?”

“In the upper left corner of the map. According to the map data, there's a frontline fortress not far from here.”

“Should we go? It's said that every building in the Ancient Battlefield contains reward treasure chests of varying quality!”

“We're not here to grab treasure chests! Although we are Huabei District Team Four, with our strength, we should at least aim for the top ten!”

“Qian Feng, use your tracking ability to search for nearby Fiend bosses.”

“Before the melee begins, let's kill some bosses first to grab points!”

The one dominating the team's conversation was the sole female member.

Although she wasn't the Captain, nor the strongest member of the team, she was a special recruit specializing in tactics, a future Tactician.

In top-tier teams in the Special Training Camp, Tacticians were often present.

They observed opponents and formulated strategies.

Four professionals and one Tactician could often achieve a higher upper limit of strength than five professionals alone.

For example, like Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, their achievements were quite limited before they met Xu Shu and Zhuge Liang.

The principle was quite similar.

Therefore, in such top-tier teams, the Tactician's influence often rivaled that of the Captain.

Thus, upon hearing her words, the four team members immediately took action.

They headed towards a Fiend boss's location.

Led by their teammate with tracking abilities, the team quickly spotted a Level 30 Fiend boss!

“It's an Infernal Behemoth, rare quality. Its specialties are physique and fire-elemental area-of-effect skills. Spread out quickly!”

The female Tactician reminded them.

After all, it was a Level 30 Fiend boss. Although they were all top performers from various regions, they still had to handle it carefully.

The five to six-meter-tall Infernal Behemoth resembled a fire dragon, covered in blazing magma scales, exuding an extraordinary aura.

“Captain, you use 'Instant Body Slash' first to evade the Infernal Behemoth's first wave of skills, to avoid damage!”

“Qian Feng, take the opportunity to stealth behind it for control and defense-breaking.”

“Then we…”

The girl quickly formulated a plan, speaking at a rapid pace, aiming to minimize losses even against a boss they could handle.

The team members listened quietly, nodding in agreement from time to time.

However, the next second, the Infernal Behemoth in front of them suddenly suffered a violent blow, emitting an earth-shattering sound.

The female Tactician's words stopped.

The other four members of the team instantly widened their eyes, their faces filled with shock, as if facing a formidable enemy.

They saw that the raging Level 30 Infernal Behemoth was instantly shattered by a single punch from a Panda that appeared out of nowhere!

It was pulverized into pieces of corpse, instantly killed on the spot!

Amidst the storm raised by the powerful wind, a valiant young man with a flowing black robe slowly walked out and waved at them:

“What a coincidence!”

“It seems your opponent will now be me.”

This person was, of course, Ye Ze.

At the same time, after killing the Level 30 Fiend boss, his experience bar increased significantly.

But across from him, the five students had extremely ugly expressions.

“Is it an Instructor? How can an Instructor have such strength?”

“Can you detect his attributes and skills?”

“Can't tell. The opponent seems to have anti-detection measures.”

Their detection ended in failure because Ye Ze's silver medal had an anti-detection function granted by the military.

Unable to detect him, the Captain turned to the female Tactician:

“Can you roughly assess his strength?”

The female Tactician took a deep breath…

“The power fluctuation from that punch just now is enough to kill all five of us together.”

The others gasped, “Damn…”

…

Outside the instance, at the Monitoring Department.

In the bottom left corner of the screen projection, it already showed that a boss had died.

Correspondingly, the footage of the dead boss in the instance was brought up and enlarged.

“Huh? The first to kill a boss is actually an Instructor?”

“Isn't he somewhat violating the rules? An Instructor killing a boss?”

“There's no rule that says he can't kill one!”

The last rough rebuttal came from Wan Feipeng.

And besides him and Wu Ming, in fact, no one recognized Ye Ze, only thinking he was a soldier of the Demon Suppression Army.

Only Wei Zheng found him somewhat familiar.

Wu Ming fiercely pulled Wan Feipeng aside and whispered:

“Arranging Ye Ze as an Instructor? Are you crazy?”

“Do you want to discourage him?!”

Geniuses of the same age and level as Ye Ze were still entering the instance in teams of five.

Making Ye Ze an Instructor, a whetstone for others, wasn't that a blow to his confidence?!

That's what Wu Ming thought.

But Wan Feipeng seemed to know more about Ye Ze's strength:

“Hehe, you just wait and see, it's not certain who will be discouraged!”

Just yesterday, he received news from the front line:

He was among the first to know about Ye Ze slaying a Fiend General and being awarded a silver medal, as an honorary Regimental Commander of the Demon Suppression Army!

Then, he immediately ordered a news blackout!

As for the reason… Wan Feipeng looked at Wu Ming with shifty eyes:

“Want to make a bet?”

“Just a flick on the forehead!”

As he spoke, he flexed his muscular arm, filled with the strength of a Sixth-Order Hunter.

Wu Ming adjusted his golden glasses and silently took half a step back.

…

Inside the instance.

The female Tactician pondered for a moment before making a decision:

“That seems to be a strength-type summoned beast… if we kite it, we might have a chance.”

But seeing Ye Ze standing at the very front, the team Captain steeled his heart, pulled out his short blade, and flashed forward!

The male Captain's figure suddenly vanished from its original spot…

It wasn't truly gone, but rather moved towards Ye Ze at a speed too fast for the naked eye to track.

“Instant Body Slash.”

“Indeed, it's a good beheading skill.”

As the one being beheaded, Ye Ze calmly commented.

Because at this moment, the Mantis appeared out of thin air in front of Ye Ze, effortlessly blocking the opponent's full-power attack with just one of its arm blades.

“Clang!”

Seeing his short blade unable to advance another inch, and the terrifying monster in front of him looking so relaxed.

The Captain decisively turned and roared:

“Run!”

But at this moment, no one ran; instead, they all charged towards Ye Ze.

A concentrated burst of their strongest skills.

The Panda stood beside Ye Ze, activating its Martial Saint Aura.

With a series of skill collision sounds, the Martial Saint Aura effortlessly intercepted all skills, and the concentrated attack was instantly neutralized.

“Good, as a Captain, you are qualified.”

“You immediately sought an opportunity to behead, and when you realized you were outmatched, you covered your teammates' escape…”

“You pass.”

Hearing Ye Ze's words, the Captain was bewildered but also slightly surprised.

“P-pass?”

Indeed!

How could such a powerful Instructor be defeated by them?

He must be here for an assessment!

“Then, what's the reward for passing?”

The Captain put down his short blade and asked with anticipation.

Ye Ze couldn't help but smile:

“There's no reward for passing; you'll still be eliminated if you are supposed to be.”

“But if you don't pass, there will be an extra penalty.”

The next moment, the Mantis's slash cut off the Captain's head, and he was the first to be eliminated from the instance.

“Advanced mission completion status: Warrior 0/1, Assassin 1/1, Mage 0/1, Archer 0/1, Swordsman 0/1.”

This Captain, who could use 'Instant Body Slash', was indeed a rare Assassin-type profession.

At the same time, 1000 experience points were credited.

Ye Ze silently calculated that 400 military merits were now in his possession.

This was his reward for being an Instructor.

“It's a pity these people aren't from East China or Central China, otherwise I could get another 300.”

Ye Ze said casually.

But the remaining four members of the opposing team turned pale with shock.

Because when they tried to run, they found they couldn't move at all!

The Squirrel's Shadow Binding had firmly locked them down.

“Your concentrated attack just now wasted your Captain's covering retreat.”

“While your courage is commendable, it lacked any rationality, especially since this isn't a battlefield, but an instance where team rankings are calculated.”

“None of you pass.”

Ye Ze said, finally looking at a trembling male student:

“Also, when you all focused fire, why didn't you attack me?”

The male student's voice trembled: “Because I felt I'd be instantly killed if I went over…”

In fact, it was normal for an ordinary person to feel this way when facing a Void Hunter head-on.

Especially for an Assassin profession, it was an innate sense of oppression.

But Ye Ze asked curiously, “Then why didn't you run?”

The male student honestly replied, “Because I couldn't abandon the team in battle…”

“Genius!”

Ye Ze even applauded him.

…

“Hahahaha! This logic is simply brilliant!”

Wan Feipeng was the first to burst into hearty laughter.

With this line of logic, not fighting, not running, juststunneding in place, could such psychological quality be called talent?

The other supervisors either smiled faintly or looked helpless.

Only the Huabei District supervisor's face was particularly awkward:

“After this child changed professions, he spent most of his time grinding instances and didn't encounter any strong enemies.”

“In instances, he performed quite well, but when he encountered a strong enemy, he easily lost his composure…”

“I will arrange targeted guidance for him in the future.”

The Huabei District supervisor reflected on himself.

In fact, allowing such a person into the training camp was indeed his mistake.

But Wei Zheng didn't bring up that point again; instead, he looked at Ye Ze with admiration:

“This Instructor is quite good.”

“Although it's a confrontational instance, he also makes reasonable judgments on the students' behavior, which aligns with my own judgment!”

“If there's an opportunity in the future, he could be transferred to serve as a long-term Instructor for the Demon Suppression Army.”

A long-term Instructor in the Demon Suppression Army held a rank comparable to a Battalion Commander, which was a promotion for an ordinary Demon Suppression Army soldier.

But upon hearing Wei Zheng's evaluation.

The other supervisors also nodded in agreement, without any objection.

Wan Feipeng, meanwhile, smiled exceptionally happily:

“Old Wei, how about it? This is the Instructor I sent!”

“He's truly inherited my essence!”

Wu Ming silently glanced at him, saying nothing.

Wei Zheng looked at Wan Feipeng in surprise, “You sent him? He really doesn't resemble you at all…”

But at this moment, someone suddenly looked at the projection screen and exclaimed:

“What is he doing?”

“He's taking the students' equipment!!”

On the projection screen, the four team members were full of shock but unable to resist.

And a Squirrel beside Ye Ze was taking equipment from them, one piece per person!

“How is he doing that? He can take equipment without their permission!”

“What an evil skill!”

“Isn't he going too far?! Relying on his strength to steal people's equipment?”

Not only the Huabei District supervisor, but also several headquarters members, spoke up to criticize him.

Wu Ming raised an eyebrow, looking playfully at Wan Feipeng:

“Now I believe he's truly inherited your essence.”

Everyone couldn't help but look at Wan Feipeng.

They all nodded, “He was definitely instigated by you!”

Wan Feipeng immediately glared, his eyes wide.

Why do they not remember me for good things, but specifically dump all the blame on me?!

But he still retorted loudly: “What's wrong with taking some equipment?”

“When I was in Special Training back then, everyone who couldn't beat me had to hand over resources!”

“It's only now that they're so gentle with these students!”

Everyone stared at Wan Feipeng, then nodded solemnly again:

“It was indeed him who instigated it, no doubt about it!”

Wan Feipeng had no words to argue, so he simply stopped talking.

Several supervisors looked at Wei Zheng, awaiting his decision.

However, Wei Zheng merely smiled calmly:

“He's already found a reason, what more can we say?”

“A reason?” The Huabei District supervisor asked in confusion.

“That's right, the Instructor's manual states that Instructors, while on duty, have the right to set punishments for unqualified students. He hasn't violated any regulations.”

“This…”

Everyone looked at each other, completely unprepared for this angle.

Mainly, the students of the Special Training Camp were all wealthy and influential, with impressive backgrounds; which Instructor would dare to punish them?

Someone else tentatively asked:

“What if those families come asking? We can't just ignore them, can we?”

Wei Zheng looked at Ye Ze on the projection, revealing a meaningful smile:

“Then tell those families.”

“Once this Instructor is defeated and eliminated by other teams… then he won't be an Instructor anymore.”

“At that time, the equipment can be legitimately reclaimed!”

Hearing this, everyone nodded in agreement:

“Brother Wei is brilliant!”