Chapter 145: The Evaluation

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Night fell.

Two off-road vehicles drove out of Spring City Maximum-Security Prison.

The vehicles were utterly silent.

Xu Han sat by the window, gazing outside.

Hua Piaowu’s face was deathly pale.

Su Li sat beside her, keeping her company.

Wang Yuan, seated in the passenger seat, broke the silence. “How did it feel, killing someone for the first time?”

Hua Piaowu answered slowly, “Even though I knew they were condemned criminals, I still found it difficult to adjust.”

Wang Yuan smiled. “That’s normal.”

“Kill a few more and you’ll get used to it.”

Hua Piaowu and Su Li stared at Wang Yuan in astonishment.

Was this man a demon?

Kill a few more?

These were not mutated beasts.

Wang Yuan turned to Xu Han. “Kid, that wasn’t your first time, was it?”

Xu Han came back to himself and nodded. “When I was in my final year of high school, I killed an escaped criminal.”

Wang Yuan was somewhat surprised.

“I didn’t expect you to have an experience like that.”

“No wonder you had such murderous intent just now.”

Hua Piaowu and Su Li glanced cautiously at Xu Han.

The Xu Han who had acted earlier seemed like a complete stranger.

A stranger frightening enough to make them afraid.

Wang Yuan continued, “All right. Go back tonight and digest what happened.”

“Tomorrow is the final assessment.”

“Once it’s over, you’ll officially enter the secret realm ruins.”

“Inside, if you don’t kill others, others will kill you.”

“So remember this: those who are not of our kind will always have different hearts. Kill when necessary. You must not show the slightest mercy. Understand?”

Xu Han nodded slightly.

…

The night passed without incident.

Early the next morning, everyone gathered beneath the dormitory building and boarded the off-road vehicles.

The two vehicles left the Spring City military headquarters, one in front of the other, and sped toward the outskirts of the city.

Xu Han sat in the back of the first vehicle with Hua Piaowu and Su Li.

Zhu Junjie and Jiang Yuchen were in the vehicle behind them.

Xu Han looked at Wang Yuan, who was resting with his eyes closed in the passenger seat, and asked, “Instructor, where is this assessment taking place?”

“You’ll know when we arrive,” Wang Yuan replied casually.

Hua Piaowu had also recovered from the unease caused by yesterday’s execution.

She kept looking around. “Why haven’t I seen any aerial-rail tracks?”

“Why aren’t we taking the aerial rail?”

Wang Yuan glanced at her. “Spring City doesn’t have aerial rail.”

“At present, only top-tier metropolises like Capital City are equipped with aerial rail.”

“For a small city, vehicles are enough.”

Hua Piaowu gave an awkward smile.

She had lived in Capital City all her life and knew little about other places.

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The off-road vehicles left the city and continued onward.

Trees surrounded them on all sides.

They were tall and extraordinarily lush.

Some weak mutated beasts darted from tree to tree, completely unafraid of the vehicles passing below.

After driving for more than an hour, they finally stopped in a dilapidated little town.

Xu Han swept his gaze across it.

A sign stood at the entrance.

Southern Cloud Town.

The town could only be described as crude.

There were barely more than twenty small wooden houses.

Many of them had signs hanging outside.

Old Liu’s Crossing-the-Bridge Rice Noodles.

Qian Duoduo’s Steam-Pot Chicken.

Nightfall Bar.

…

Most of them were restaurants.

Apart from those, there was a bar and a small shop selling various daily necessities.

Wang Yuan ordered the vehicles to stop there, then got out and led Xu Han and the others into the town.

It was breakfast time.

Rich aromas drifted from every restaurant.

The hungry travelers’ stomachs, already growling, began to protest even more loudly.

Wang Yuan said, “I’ll announce the assessment mission now.”

As he spoke, he took out a map and handed it to Xu Han.

Xu Han glanced at it.

It was a map of the surrounding area.

A circle had been drawn on it.

Wang Yuan explained, “This location is a temporary base belonging to an organ-trafficking organization from the Annan Kingdom.”

“According to the information we received, your mission is to wipe out this temporary base.”

Everyone gathered around to look at the map.

Xu Han studied it and frowned.

The location had been chosen with exceptional cunning.

It was extremely close to the Annan Kingdom’s border.

If anything unexpected happened, the criminals could simply cross into Annan territory.

The army would then be unable to act.

No wonder they had survived until now.

However, their strength was certainly not insignificant. Otherwise, they could never have survived in such a perilous region near the border.

He asked, “How strong are they?”

“One third-tier leader, several second-tier experts, and more than a dozen first-tier members,” Wang Yuan replied.

Xu Han nodded slightly.

Their strength was not particularly impressive.

“But…” Wang Yuan added, “they used a special method to tame the mutated beasts in the surrounding area.”

“Whenever a powerful person approaches, they receive advance warning and flee.”

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Xu Han frowned slightly.

In that case, a frontal assault would not be advisable.

With their team’s strength, they could easily overwhelm the enemy by force, and the enemy would have no way to resist.

“Also, be careful of their reinforcements. That’s all.”

“All right. You may set out.”

“If your lives are in danger, press the communicator and I’ll come running.”

“But if you press it, that means you’ve failed the assessment.”

“As for your scores, I’ll grade you according to your performance.”

Everyone got out of the vehicles. The off-road vehicles then roared away.

Xu Han and the others were left standing at the entrance to the town.

Everyone looked toward Xu Han.

“Captain, what should we do?” Su Li asked quietly.

“What else can we do? We just charge straight in,” Zhu Junjie said disdainfully. “A single second-tier combatant and a group of first-tier combatants? I could deal with them all by myself.”

The only one capable of posing any threat to him was the second-tier combatant.

As for first-tier combatants, the more they came, the more he could kill.

What mages feared least was being outnumbered.

One spell was enough to flatten an entire crowd.

Xu Han shook his head. “No.”

“Instructor Wang just said that they’ve tamed the mutated beasts in the surrounding area. Those beasts are their eyes and ears.”

“If someone too powerful appears, they’ll immediately flee into Annan territory.”

“That would put us at a disadvantage.”

Hua Piaowu pouted. “We can figure out the plan later. Why don’t we eat first?”

“I skipped breakfast. I’m starving to death.”

Everyone nodded and walked together toward a nearby restaurant.

Nearby, a pair of eyes had been watching Xu Han and the others the entire time.

When they entered the restaurant, the watcher immediately took out a phone and dialed a number.

…

Deep in the forest surrounding the border, several dilapidated wooden houses lay concealed among the trees.

A wooden fence encircled them.

Several iron cages had been placed outside.

Inside the cages were a number of young men and women.

Their bodies were covered in wounds, and they sat collapsed inside the cages, their eyes filled with despair.

At that moment, inside the largest wooden house, a burly man held two scantily dressed women in his arms.

His hands roamed over their bodies as an insidious smile spread across his face.

Suddenly, the phone beside him rang.

Irritated, he moved his hand to the phone. After pressing the answer button, he turned on the speaker.

“Hello? What is it?”