A practical assessment without any danger

Raging Sand Bear's Earth Shield had already been upgraded to the advanced level, allowing it to cast six Earth Shields in succession.

Gu Xiaoyue stood on an Earth Shield; given the Emperor Scorpion's size, it could not squeeze out through the gaps between the Earth Shields, and its tail stinger could not reach her either.

Seeing that Raging Sand Bear's sandstorm was about to dissipate, Gu Xiaoyue ordered it to use poison mist on the Emperor Scorpion.

She took a gas mask out of her Yu Beast Space and put it on.

The green poison mist did not cause any damage to the Emperor Scorpion, but it could slightly obstruct its vision.

Just as the poison mist was about to dissipate, the Emperor Scorpion realized it was trapped in the middle of several Earth Shields. Enraged, it raised its pincers and smashed them against the Earth Shield Gu Xiaoyue was standing on!

Gu Xiaoyue leaped to another Earth Shield. The one previously struck already had cracks and would collapse if hit again.

Gu Xiaoyue had Raging Sand Bear use the Sand Throw skill again, causing the Emperor Scorpion to become disoriented once more.

However, since scorpions naturally live in the desert, it quickly adapted to this level of Sand Throw.

Raging Sand Bear's Earth Shield skill had recovered, and it erected six more Earth Shields around the Emperor Scorpion.

Taking advantage of the moment while she used her light-body technique to leap to another Earth Shield, Gu Xiaoyue slashed at its tail stinger with her sword.

As expected, the damage was minimal.

The inner layer of Earth Shields was almost completely destroyed by the Emperor Scorpion.

Seeing that only half the time had passed, she couldn't help but feel a bit nervous.

However, after calculating, she figured she should be able to hold out for ten minutes.

With a determined gaze, Gu Xiaoyue took a deep breath, raised her dual swords, and slashed at the Emperor Scorpion's tail stinger once more, hitting the exact same spot.

The cut was slightly deeper than before.

Just like that, Gu Xiaoyue and the Emperor Scorpion began to play a game.

The Emperor Scorpion chased and struck the Earth Shield Gu Xiaoyue was standing on, while she used her light-body technique to dodge, occasionally landing a sword strike on it.

Raging Sand Bear was responsible for casting Earth Shield and Sand Throw.

Until the Earth Shields from Raging Sand Bear's fourth casting were about to be shattered, the ten minutes were up.

Gu Xiaoyue was teleported out.

At the same time, Chu Li also emerged. Seeing Gu Xiaoyue panting, he felt a bit puzzled.

He had almost killed the fierce beast inside, but after reading the rules earlier, he knew it was absolutely forbidden to kill the simulated fierce beast in the assessment.

He didn't know who set such a ridiculous rule!

He had no choice but to use a fire ring to control that early-stage Mature Rank 1 fierce beast and stall until the ten minutes were up.

"Alright, you have both passed the assessment. It was quite simple, wasn't it?"

Wang Jingchuan had already prepared two Junior Beastmaster badges and was ready to hand them over to them.

Everyone else had already left, and now only Gu Xiaoyue, Chu Li, Wang Jingchuan, and Guan Yue remained at the assessment site.

Gu Xiaoyue walked up to Wang Jingchuan but did not take the badges. "Hello, I would like to see the person in charge of the Hechuan City Beast Association."

Neither Chu Li nor Wang Jingchuan understood why Gu Xiaoyue wanted to see the head of the Hechuan City Beast Association; only Guan Yue's expression shifted slightly.

However, she immediately returned to normal.

"My combat pet information and the fierce beast I faced were both tampered with. I hope someone can give me an explanation."

Gu Xiaoyue said this calmly, though she was burning with rage inside.

Upon hearing this, Chu Li rushed over to check on Gu Xiaoyue to see if she was injured.

No wonder she was panting when she was teleported out; could it be that she had been fighting a mid-stage Mature Rank 1 fierce beast?

Wang Jingchuan was unhappy upon hearing Gu Xiaoyue's words. "Are you saying I tampered with your information? Take a look for yourself, didn't you write it yourself?"

He pulled out the form Gu Xiaoyue had filled out earlier. "Look, a Young life stage Rank 10 Raging Sand Bear. What's wrong with that?"

Chu Li grabbed it and took a look. Sure enough, in the combat pet column, there was only the Raging Sand Bear.

"Impossible! I wrote it with Xiao Yue, and she clearly wrote down Azure Phoenix as well!" Chu Li said, feeling angry. "You must give us an explanation!"

"It was clearly just one that you wrote!"

While Wang Jingchuan was still arguing with Chu Li, Gu Xiaoyue stole a glance at Guan Yue, who seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and remained silent on the side.

Gu Xiaoyue added quietly, "The fierce beast I fought was also the wrong rank. Can we check the surveillance footage?"

Many fierce beast simulators do not have surveillance, but the one for the Beastmaster assessment was specifically equipped with it to prevent cheating by Beastmasters.

"How could there possibly be a mistake? Honestly!"

Wang Jingchuan grumbled while going to retrieve the footage. However, as soon as he saw the beginning, his expression became serious.

"Guan Yue! Come here!" Wang Jingchuan shouted at Guan Yue.

Guan Yue glared at Gu Xiaoyue resentfully before walking over to Wang Jingchuan.

"Explain yourself. What's going on?" Wang Jingchuan asked, pointing at the Silver-Striped Emperor Scorpion, a late-stage Mature Rank 1 beast, on the screen.

"Was it set incorrectly? I don't know. I didn't do it on purpose."

Guan Yue began to play dumb, putting on a delicate and weak act.

Wang Jingchuan glared at Guan Yue and then said to Gu Xiaoyue, "This matter was an oversight by our staff. I will report it to my superiors and have her punished. I don't know if you are satisfied with this handling?"

Gu Xiaoyue did not answer him immediately.

She knew that Wang Jingchuan and Guan Yue were not in cahoots; otherwise, he could have just not asked Gu Xiaoyue why she only used one Young life stage Rank 10 pet for the battle.

If Gu Xiaoyue had gone in and released both pets without understanding the situation, she might have been disqualified from this assessment.

Therefore, Wang Jingchuan saying he would report it to his superiors to punish Guan Yue was likely the extent of his authority, not an intentional attempt to cover for her.

Gu Xiaoyue glanced at her brain and then said, "Then what if I have evidence that she did it on purpose?"

Guan Yue's expression changed. "How—how could you possibly have evidence?"

Gu Xiaoyue raised an eyebrow. Guan Yue realized she had misspoke and hurriedly tried to cover it up. "I mean, I didn't do it on purpose, so you can't possibly have evidence to prove that I did!"

Seeing this, Wang Jingchuan had no choice but to contact Guan Yue's direct supervisor—Qin Shao.

Then, the group went to Qin Shao's office.

Wang Jingchuan roughly explained the sequence of events. Qin Shao asked Gu Xiaoyue, "You mentioned that Guan Yue tampered with your information. Has there been any unpleasantness between you two?"

"I don't know if it counts as unpleasantness, but I previously came here to list 10 pieces of lanzhi grass for sale."

Gu Xiaoyue did not continue. Qin Shao understood, as she had already penalized Guan Yue with half a month's performance bonus for that incident.

"I am aware of this matter. Our employee indeed handled it poorly. Could you let me see the evidence you mentioned?"

Gu Xiaoyue did not speak; she directly used her brain to pull up a video and projected it onto the wall.

The video showed the form Gu Xiaoyue had filled out. In the combat pet column, it listed: Azure Phoenix (early-stage Mature Rank 1), Raging Sand Bear (Young life stage Rank 10).

After Guan Yue took the form, it appeared she used something to scratch out information on Gu Xiaoyue's form.

The entire process did not pass through anyone else's hands—except for Guan Yue's!

This was all the evidence recorded by the pinhole camera Gu Xiaoyue had placed in the button on her chest.

Gu Xiaoyue walked up to Guan Yue. "The item you used to tamper with my information must still be on you!"