19: Section 19

Moreover, it would require waiting until the next mission to The Surface for results.

Jing Yuan stood among the assessment Team Members; although Morgan had personally said he could join the team directly, he still decided to participate in the assessment.

"Jing Yuan, keep it up!"

Erica and others who were relatively familiar with Jing Yuan cheered for him from the side.

Mark sat to the side as the examiner, thinking: That guy participating in the exam is a complete stomp against the others; he doesn't need cheering at all.

Jing Yuan stood at the starting line, surrounded by twenty or thirty fellow reserve members also taking the assessment.

The starting gun fired, and the group set off in a grand procession, running five kilometers from the Maintenance Bay platform to the Outer Ring and back.

Those who failed to meet the standard would be directly eliminated.

The Dust Citizen trio 4068, 4079, and 4277 also came to watch the excitement.

"They're running so fast!" 4277 exclaimed.

4068 said unconvinced, "What's the big deal? It's a pity I'm a Dust Citizen and can't participate, otherwise I'd definitely leave them all far behind."

"Keep dreaming! You?" 4079 didn't believe him at all.

"You've seen my running speed before!"

4277 said, "Give it a rest! Would it kill you not to brag?"

4068 saw they didn't believe him, but he had no way to prove it.

4079 was the first to notice Jing Yuan and quickly told his companions, "Look at that guy, he's not a pipe maintenance worker, he's a Wasteland Hunter."

"Just a reserve Wasteland Hunter!"

4277 hadn't expected Jing Yuan to actually be testing for the Wasteland Hunters.

"Maybe he transferred from the maintenance department to take the Wasteland Hunter exam?" 4277 defended Jing Yuan.

However, regardless of Jing Yuan's status, as Dust Citizens, they had no way to interfere.

Only 4068 was very confused; the other party was clearly a fugitive pursued by the Law Enforcement Office and the City Defense Force, so how could he appear so openly at the Wasteland Hunter assessment site now?

The five-kilometer race ended quickly; Jing Yuan didn't leave everyone in the dust, but stayed with the main group, finishing in second place.

Next, the explosive power test items were the sprint and punching power.

Jing Yuan's performance wasn't flashy at all; it could only be considered excellent.

There were two assessment items for agility and coordination: one was the obstacle course, and the other was shooting.

The obstacle course wasn't difficult; if one could pass the long-distance run, the obstacle course was nothing.

Many more were weeded out during shooting.

Ran Bing supervised as the examiner for the shooting event.

Jing Yuan had been training in the Maintenance Bay for the past few days and was quite familiar with Ran Bing.

While waiting nearby, Jing Yuan waved to Ran Bing in greeting.

This action drew the attention of a big guy nearby.

Jing Yuan also looked at the big guy curiously; he had a sturdy build, even sturdier than Mark's.

There weren't many people this sturdy on the Lighthouse; Sharif was one, and this big guy in front of him was another.

During the assessment, this big guy would occasionally look at Ran Bing with a strange glint in his eyes.

Jing Yuan felt it was a bit strange; could this man be interested in Ran Bing?

Looking again, that sturdy build reminded Jing Yuan of a few things.

"This guy couldn't be the big fellow who entered the Hall of Dawn with Ran Bing, could he?"

Chapter 19: Forging flying daggers

Having lived on the Lighthouse for many years, Jing Yuan hadn't seen many big guys.

Mark was considered a big guy, and there were only a few others sturdier than him.

Maybe it was this guy.

But the way he looked at Ran Bing was not at all innocent.

Could it be that Ran Bing going to the Hall of Dawn in the future wasn't just Charles wanting to mess with Mark?

Jing Yuan didn't think that far ahead for the moment, but silently made a note of this big guy.

After the shooting test, those who qualified had basically entered the Wasteland Hunter roster.

The subsequent gravity body test was not something everyone could pass.

Surprisingly, however, all four people in Jing Yuan's dormitory passed the gravity body test, which was a pleasant surprise.

After eating in the cafeteria, the four returned to their dormitory and gathered to drink and chat.

Mo Dong was very happy because he had always wanted to join the Wasteland Hunters. Chu Feng and Neil were a bit conflicted because in the next stage, they would be going to The Surface. If they encountered Phage Beasts then, it would be a struggle between life and death.

"Don't worry, once we're on The Surface, I'll look out for you!" Jing Yuan made a rare bold statement, but everyone just thought he was drunk... Lower Citizen District, Pigeon Building.

Jing Yuan arrived at 4277's residence and knocked on the door.

4277 came out of the room, saw Jing Yuan, and said with a smile, "It's you!"

"Yes! I've already rented a workshop; I've come to take you to see it."

"Okay."

4277 immediately followed Jing Yuan out of the Lower Citizen District.

"By the way, I saw you participating in the Wasteland Hunter assessment yesterday. Are you a Wasteland Hunter?" 4277 asked as they walked.

"I am now."

"Right, what's your name?"

"I forgot to introduce myself; I'm Jing Yuan!"

4277 chatted casually for a bit and then stopped talking.

Jing Yuan brought her to a workshop located in an area between the Upper Citizen District and the Lower Citizen District.

This place hadn't been used for a long time, so there was no one around; it was very quiet.

Opening the workshop door, the interior was a bit cluttered, but everything was useful.

4277's eyes lit up when she saw the items in the workshop.

High-end machine tools, a spacious manual platform, complete capacitor equipment, a pile of tools, and a pile of raw materials.

"Wow! Setting up all this must have cost quite a few contribution points!"

Jing Yuan nodded; it indeed cost quite a lot. However, these were all given to him by Charles, so he didn't feel any pain using them.

"You bought so much just to forge some blades?"

"Yes. But they're not ordinary blades." Jing Yuan then took out a blueprint, "Take a look and see if you can help me modify the design from your perspective."

4277 took the blueprint, which depicted a blade, but this blade only had an edge and no hilt.

She didn't know how a blade without a hilt was supposed to be used.

4277 asked curiously, "This is a blade?"

"Yes."

"A blade without a hilt? How are you going to use it?"

"Um..." Jing Yuan hesitated for a moment and said, "Just make it; I naturally have my own methods."

4277 sighed and said, "Alright! I'll do whatever you tell me to!"

The two were in an employer-employee relationship, and 4277 didn't want to know too much.

4277 walked to the side to look at the raw materials and then asked, "So I just use these materials to manufacture the blades according to the style on the blueprint, right? Do you have any other requirements?"

Jing Yuan smiled and said, "I need the blades to have enough strength and toughness to withstand powerful impacts. If possible, I also want the blades to be able to be combined with each other."

"Combined together?" 4277 was puzzled again. "Why combine them?"

Jing Yuan looked a bit embarrassed for a moment.

4277 realized and said with a smile, "I just wanted to refer to the intended use to design the plan. Since it's not convenient for you to say, I won't ask."

4277 took the blueprint and said to Jing Yuan, "Based on the materials you provided, I can design blades with sufficient strength and toughness. But to meet your requirement of combining them, I have two tentative plans."

"Tell me."

"One is to add a magnetic coating to the blade body, which allows multiple blades to be combined. However, this connection is weak, and I don't know if it can meet your requirements. The other is to change the structure of the blade body, giving the blades a structure similar to mortise and tenon, relying on the structure to combine."

After listening to 4277's plans, Jing Yuan nodded repeatedly.

"Let's do this: according to your ideas, make two samples of each. I'll compare them and then decide."