A sticky, squelching sound echoed from all around as brownish heads began to bore out of the corpses of the blue shadow butterflies, mucus dripping slowly from their long, slender antennae.

Li Xiao quickly scanned the surroundings and realized this wasn’t an isolated incident. Suddenly, the lingering sense of dissonance he had felt along the way made perfect sense.

He opened the team channel and spoke to everyone simultaneously: “Leave this place, now!”

Although they had passed the densest area of the colony, the number of worker ants ahead was still considerable. The students hesitated, not quite daring to jump down.

“Should we wait a little longer?”

“Yeah, let the blue shadow butterflies and the worker ants wear each other down some more.”

“If we go down now, we’ll probably be chased by worker ants the whole way. If we get poisoned by the blue shadow butterflies on top of that, we’re done for.”

Li Xiao watched the countless creatures crawling out of the corpses: “There’s no time.”

Jiang Hao, who was operating the excavator, couldn’t observe everything. He asked in the team channel, “Big brother, what’s the situation?”

“Oh no, those blue shadow butterflies have been parasitized!” Qin Le gasped.

Song Jin gripped his military knife, his gaze locked onto a blue shadow butterfly corpse hanging from a branch. At that moment, three fluttery moths, each about the size of a forearm, were crawling out from inside it.

“Mutant tiger-striped moths, Ichneumonidae family parasites.”

Qian Can, sitting inside the excavator, had a front-row seat to the tiger-striped moths breaking from their cocoons, and it nearly made him throw up.

“These things look dopey and not particularly smart. If we’re careful, we should be fine, right?”

“The poisonous powder attached to their wings causes skin redness, swelling, and ulceration. The stinger on their tail can release venom—a single drop is enough to paralyze nerves, and then they’ll lay eggs in your stomach and brain,” Li Xiao said expressionlessly. “Compared to them, the blue shadow butterflies are nothing.”

When tiger-striped moths invade an ant nest to lay eggs, they release pheromones that cause the worker ants to slaughter one another.

With the carrion-eating fungi outside releasing hunting scents and a massive batch of blue shadow butterflies breaking their cocoons internally, all these factors combined had driven a huge number of worker ants into a frenzy.

Imagining himself being eaten hollow by bugs, Qian Can couldn’t help dry-heaving.

“Stop talking, let’s run!”

Li Xiao: “It’s too late.”

The swarm density was too high. With the skill level of these students, running around blindly would be highly dangerous.

Other students gradually noticed the anomaly, and a commotion immediately broke out.

Aside from beast herds, these venomous insects were the most aggressive hazards in the Tier 2 danger zone.

Song Jin slashed three moths that flew toward him with two swift strokes. Exerting his utmost to resist the urge to scratch his face, his patience rapidly ran out: “Can humans really be driven to a dead end by bugs?”

Li Xiao: “What’s your plan?”

The pheromones of the tiger-striped moths confused the worker ants, preventing them from being attacked. Quite a few moths fluttered their wings and took off from among the ant swarm.

Danger was right before their eyes; there was no time to draft a detailed tactical plan.

Monitoring and Command Cabin, Military Warship

Chen Xing and the instructor team were reviewing the constantly popping up surveillance videos, busy grading the performance of each group.

“Oh dear, the ant swarm in Sector D8 has encountered Song Jin’s team.”

“That pass is quite dangerous. If they can’t detect the blue shadow butterflies in time, I’m afraid the entire team will be eliminated.”

“They’ve even noticed the tiger-striped moths!”

“Using Sichuan peppercorns to make the blue shadow butterflies and worker ants fight each other—they really come up with the strangest ideas. But the tiger-striped moths won’t be so easy to deal with.”

At this, a group of instructors, including Chen Xing, hurriedly gathered around to watch.

Chen Xing: “What did I tell you? This kid Li Xiao is still holding back! His strength is probably not inferior to little Qin.”

The Beta instructor next to him nodded: “It’s obvious his combat experience is much richer than the others. He acts seasoned and decisive, and his judgment is precise.”

Chen Xing snorted: “He’s an exchange student from Dance, after all. How could he really just be eye candy?”

The seated Alpha instructor called out: “Here it comes! Song Jin is making a move!”

Chen Xing was both tense and excited: “Dilly-dallying just now wasted time. Retracting is no longer the best option, but holding their ground won’t be easy either.”

Apocalypse Seat, Exam Room Q303

Song Jin had Qin Le pull all nearby students into the public channel. Standing on a tree branch, he looked down over the entire battlefield, casually twirling the handle of his launcher between his fingers.

“Anyone who wants to run can get lost right now.”

Most of the students’ hearts were pounding wildly from the sequence of events. Running was an instinct, but since the big shots of Song Jin’s team were all here, they felt staying put offered a greater sense of security than fleeing.

The flying speed of the tiger-striped moths was very fast, and there was an ant swarm on the ground; if they got pincered, escaping would be difficult.

Meng Tao and Zheng Lin exchanged glances. After weighing their options, they turned and ran, with several other exchange students following their lead upon seeing this.

Meng Tao said pointedly, “Showing off depends on the situation. Without area-of-effect weapons, how do you deal with so many bugs?”

Zheng Lin: “If we waste more time, it’ll be dark.”

In the public channel, quite a few students began to waver again.

“Who said we don’t have area-of-effect weapons?” Song Jin surveyed the surrounding trees, his voice sounding somewhat aloof. “Those who don’t want to be eliminated, follow my command now.”

Students: “Understood!”

Observing Song Jin’s actions, Li Xiao faintly formed a guess.

As expected, the little golden lion wanted to make a grand move the moment he acted.

Song Jin determined the orientation, and the nano-rope in his hand flew out, binding around a distant tree trunk: “Use this rope as the central axis to deploy a net.”

Under Song Jin’s instructions, the other students moved swiftly, micro-adjusting their hiding positions and launching their ropes toward the tree trunks in the designated directions.

With highly efficient execution, a massive net quickly formed above the insect swarm.

Song Jin: “Electrify it.”

Everyone simultaneously fixed the tail end of their launchers to the tree trunks and pressed the electrification button.

A large number of tiger-striped moths flew through the net and were instantly brought down by the high-voltage electricity, sparks flying everywhere.

The voices of cheering and leaping students echoed over the public channel.

“We succeeded!”

“Thrilling!”

“Be careful not to touch the ropes!”

A pungent burning smell and foul odor drifted through the air, mixing with the mucus of the blue shadow butterflies, making Song Jin’s head swim.

On the ground, Qian Can clung to the vehicle window. Seeing the smoking moths raining down, he was thoroughly disgusted.

“Little Jiang, hurry up and go! We’re about to be buried by bugs!”

Jiang Hao’s attention, however, was entirely focused on the sky.

Watching the sparks constantly flashing on the electric net, he lamented, “Launchers can actually be used this way?”

Seeing the plan succeed, Qin Le let out a sigh of relief: “Without some guts, no one would dare use them like this.”

How much utility a tool could provide depended entirely on how a person used it.

The most risky part of Song Jin’s move lay in the cooperation and execution of the others, but he didn’t seem worried about this at all.

An Alpha was a natural ruler, unrelated to status or position—this trait was vividly demonstrated in Song Jin.

Li Xiao thought to himself, As expected.

The electric net could block the majority of the moths. The greater the density of the swarm, the stronger the effect of the net. Even if a few lucky moths managed to penetrate it, dealing with them would be much easier.

Suddenly, an extremely thin rope shot out from a gap in the opposite leaves, flying straight toward Song Jin.

Song Jin leaned sideways to avoid it, hearing a sharp clang as the rope coiled around Li Xiao’s military knife, which had been thrust in front of him.

Li Xiao snapped his gaze toward the direction the rope was launched from. That position was obscured by dense foliage; he only managed to catch a glimpse of a black military boot retreating behind a tree trunk.

The rope was electrified; if it wrapped around a person, even if it didn’t cause severe injury, it would instantly paralyze them, causing them to fall into the insect swarm.

Out of the corner of his eye, seeing another rope coming toward him from the lower right, Li Xiao swung his military knife to intercept it. After binding the two ropes tightly, he pulled back violently.

The other ends of the ropes slipped out of their grasp entirely, and the handles of two launchers tumbled out.

Li Xiao hurled the ropes far into the insect swarm and scanned the nearby surveillance cameras; those two positions happened to be blind spots.

Targeting him made sense, but why target Song Jin?

Song Jin covertly observed Li Xiao, thinking to himself, Here it goes again. This kid was looking at strange places again.

Li Xiao: “Looks like someone is quite dissatisfied with you.”

Song Jin: “Likewise.”

After the electric net blocked several waves of moths, the remaining moths fluttered behind, not daring to fly upward anymore. They fought with the blue shadow butterflies, and both plunged into the ant swarm.

The three sides engaged in a fierce brawl, and the number of insects plummeted sharply. However, the sky was about to turn dark, and they couldn’t wait much longer.

Li Xiao and Song Jin observed the situation, preparing to find a suitable moment to retract the net and make a run for it.

But before they could run, the insect swarm seemed to take a sudden halftime break, returning to their respective nests at an extremely fast speed.

A thick layer of charred corpses covered the ground, leaving practically nowhere to step.

Jiang Hao drove the excavator, forcefully plowing a path out.

The students orderly retrieved their launchers, jumped down from the trees, and were left thoroughly perplexed.

“What’s the situation? Why did they all leave?”

“Something’s wrong. Maybe a natural predator is nearby.”

“An insect king?! Please don’t let it come!”

Li Xiao sensed a subtle change in the environment and told them, “Leave this place first.”

There was only one path leading out from the valley, and over a hundred students followed behind the excavator.

Song Jin felt his right cheek itching more and more. Checking it with the reflection on his military knife, he found a red patch.

Thinking of the ruined face Li Xiao had mentioned, he put on a sour face and pulled out an antidote, preparing to give himself a shot.

Li Xiao pressed his hand down, taking the medical box from him: “For this level, just applying some topical ointment will do. Save the antidote for later… turn your face a bit this way.”

Song Jin snatched the ointment back from his hand: “I’ll do it myself.”

Li Xiao didn’t insist. He watched him clumsily apply the medicine, his proficiency clearly not matching his skill at killing people.

This inability to take care of himself finally made him look a bit like royalty.

A long leg covered in sharp spikes slowly dropped from high above, right over Song Jin’s head—it turned out to be a Red Widow spider over a meter long.

Li Xiao casually drew the short military knife from his leg pouch and threw it out.

Just as Song Jin prepared to evade, a flash of blade light passed before his eyes. The Red Widow was pinned to a roadside tree trunk, stopping after a bout of violent struggling.

What a fast reaction speed.

Just as he had thought, Li Xiao’s skills were on a completely different level compared to the other exchange students.

Watching Li Xiao jump off the roof of the vehicle to retrieve his knife, Song Jin’s gaze grew deep.

If that knife had been aimed at him just now, would he have a way to dodge it?

“Isn’t that Meng Tao?” Qian Can leaned out from the vehicle window, waving toward the front right with a smile. “Oh my, took you so long just to walk to this point?”

In front of the foot of the mountain was an open space, with a ditch meandering down from the mountain.

Meng Tao and several exchange students were currently bandaging themselves and resting by the ditch.

The few of them were black and blue, looking as if they had been beaten up. Meng Tao’s mouth was swollen wider than a sausage, his appearance taking a direct nosedive.

Seeing water, Li Xiao signaled Jiang Hao to drive over.

The vehicle body was covered in filth—not to mention the stench, if it touched an open wound, there would be a risk of infection.

The students behind also went over to rest.

After a major battle and a whole day of trekking, their physical strength was nearly exhausted.

Some students had come into contact with the fuzz of the blue shadow butterflies, causing their skin to turn somewhat red and swollen. A few individuals had scratches, and they sat down to apply medicine and change bandages.

However, even the most severely injured among them couldn’t compare to Meng Tao’s group.

“Didn’t you guys leave first? How did you end up like this?” Qian Can rested his arm on Jiang Hao’s shoulder, strolling over with a grin to strike up a conversation.

Meng Tao turned his head away, completely ignoring him.

Jiang Hao: “Thank you for bearing so much for us. You really are a good person. No wonder big brother likes you so much.”

Qian Can nearly burst out laughing, secretly giving Jiang Hao a thumbs-up.

As expected of the earring bro’s lackey.

A wave of suppressed laughter echoed around. Meng Tao almost exploded with rage, gritting his teeth as he said word by word, “You’re welcome. It’s only right.”

Jiang Hao: “He often says you have the most potential among the exchange students and have great character, telling me to learn more from you.”

Hearing these words, the looks the surrounding students directed toward Li Xiao changed.

When Meng Tao turned his back on them publicly, Li Xiao actually didn’t get angry. His magnanimity was vast, and his strength was formidable—he was simply too reliable.

Listening to this, Zheng Lin found it left a bad taste in his mouth. He kicked a stone into the ditch and walked away in a huff.

Noticing the ardent gazes from his surroundings, Li Xiao waved Jiang Hao over: “Meng Tao got so heavily injured traveling alone; he must be exhausted right now. Don’t disturb him.”

“Okay.” Jiang Hao calmly turned around to wash the vehicle.

Unable to endure it any longer, Meng Tao left in a huff as well.

Burying his face in Qin Le’s shoulder, Qian Can almost snorted with laughter: “I’m seriously impressed.”

Qin Le suppressed the corners of his mouth: “Stop laughing, don’t drag me down with you.”

Song Jin squatted by the ditch to wash his hands. Seeing Li Xiao sit down to wipe his military knife, he asked in a low voice, “Did you see those two people?”

The ones who had attacked them amid the chaos while dealing with the tiger-striped moths—those two were still in the team.

Li Xiao wiped his knife unhurriedly: “I don’t have X-ray vision.”

Song Jin: “Then what kind of vision do you have?”

Li Xiao tilted his head to look at him: “What kind of vision do you think I have?”

Being so close, Song Jin saw his own reflection in those pitch-black eyes and said softly, “I heard there’s a type of person whose eyes can perceive a wider range of electromagnetic waves and visible light wavelengths than ordinary people, allowing them to see things others can’t.”

Li Xiao: “A race from your Saintia?”

“From Dance.” Song Jin stared straight into his eyes. “This small clan was marginalized as anomalies and is on the verge of extinction.”

Li Xiao asked casually, “You know so much about other countries’ races?”

Song Jin: “Just happened to see it online once. You’ve never heard of it?”

Li Xiao: “Never.”

Just as Song Jin was about to test him further, a giant virtual screen over a hundred meters high suddenly popped up in the open space.

[Congratulations to all examinees for passing the insect swarm assessment. The instructor team is currently evaluating your performances. We will now enter the Q&A rush-answer segment. The first examinee to answer correctly will receive an additional reward.]

The students walked closer one after another.

Song Jin tilted his head, noticing out of the corner of his eye that three exchange students instinctively looked toward the sky, their gazes locked onto an empty spot.

The first question was a military theory question.

An Alpha student raised his hand and successfully rushed to answer.

“I choose the transportation category!”

A clicking sound emerged from an inconspicuous rock by the shallow beach, which quickly transformed into a small robot and flew in front of the student.

The student pressed the lucky draw button, and multicolored lights began to flash.

Qian Can, Jiang Hao, and the others craned their necks to watch.

[Ding~ Congratulations on winning a bicycle~]

Alpha student: “…”

An onlooker consoled: “It’s not bad. A mountain bike is more convenient than walking.”

A crack opened in a boulder covered in green moss, and a battered, old-fashioned bicycle was thrown out from inside. Upon landing, the front wheel rolled quite a distance away.

Everyone: “…”

Can this thing even be ridden?!

Qian Can shrank his neck, retreating behind Qin Le: “Lele, you must hold me back. Absolutely do not let me rush to answer!”

The second question was a practical application question.

A Beta student answered correctly and decisively chose a tool category prize.

[Ding~ Congratulations on winning a ten-kilogram shot put ball~]

The Beta student went ballistic: “Am I supposed to use this as a cannonball?!”

Everyone shrank their necks and took a step back: “…”

This lucky draw is too treacherous.

The third question was a practical application question.

A student, unwilling to accept defeat, rushed to answer and selected the transportation category, obtaining a hand-pulled wheelbarrow. The person felt entirely numb.

The fourth question was a military theory question.

Zheng Lin refused to believe in bad luck, chose the tool category, and received a twenty-kilogram car jack.

Qian Can stared at that jack: “Is the teacher who set up the prizes insane?”

Qin Le: “…Comparing it this way, your luck was actually pretty good.”

At least he didn’t have to carry an excavator on his back while marching.

Following the jack, a fifteen-kilogram sandbag, a thirty-kilogram barbell piece, and an unpowered tricycle were produced…

When a question appeared on the screen again, no one dared to rush anymore.

Qian Can complained: “Why are there so many questions? We don’t want to answer anymore.”

[There are 118 students who successfully cleared the pass. The number of questions is set at a 10% ratio.]

Qian Can counted on his fingers. Damn it, there are still five questions left. Who can endure this?

Seeing that no one answered, a question selection page appeared on the screen, allowing them to freely choose the category of the question to rush-answer.

Everyone: “…”

Is the category even the problem here?!

Li Xiao finished wiping his military knife, sheared it back into its scabbard, and stood up to help Jiang Hao wash the vehicle.

The moment he stood up, the nearby voice-activated system rang out, and a prompt line appeared on the screen.

[Exchange student Li Xiao has obtained the qualification to answer. Please select a question category to answer.]

Li Xiao: “…?”

Everyone else: “…?!”

They’ve already started resorting to unscrupulous means.

Li Xiao: “I abstain.”

[Abstention is invalid. Please select a question category.]

Li Xiao: “…”

Song Jin stood up and said with a straight face, “You only scored three points on the last exam. You can only choose the romance questions.”

Li Xiao: “…”