Chapter 158: Simulated Combat
"You’re just a student, how could you possibly have a Heart Spirit Domain?
Who... Who in the world are you?"
The man stared at Lin Yi, his face filled with terror.
Establishing a Heart Spirit Domain was not something an ordinary person could do.
Only those who had reached a certain realm and possessed an exceptionally strong spiritual talent could create one.
But the person before him was clearly just a student.
How could he possibly possess such a high realm and establish a Heart Spirit Domain?
Lin Yi just smiled, not bothering to speak with him any further.
He turned and patted the white tiger’s head. "Go on, enjoy your delicious meal!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, the white tiger, which had been lying there, slowly stood up.
Its gaze was fixed greedily on the man as it licked its lips.
Under the man’s terrified gaze,
the white tiger lunged at him.
A bloodcurdling scream rang out as the white tiger clamped its jaws around the man.
To the sound of CRUNCHING and chewing,
it didn’t take long for the man’s spirit to be chewed to pieces by the white tiger.
In the blink of an eye, after the white tiger had devoured the man’s spirit,
it turned back to Lin Yi, looking as if it hadn’t had its fill.
Lin Yi chuckled. "You’re lucky you got one to tide you over. The next time I run into one, I’ll send it your way."
At his words, the white tiger became as docile as a kitten.
It rubbed its head against Lin Yi a few times.
Only then did Lin Yi leave the Heart Spirit Domain.
The moment he returned to the real world, he saw the man on the rooftop.
His eyes had become vacant and dull.
His entire demeanor had changed completely.
When a gust of wind blew past, he swayed a few times.
Suddenly, his body tilted backward, and he fell straight off the building.
THUD—
"Ahh..."
A piercing scream.
The street below instantly descended into chaos.
Lin Yi quietly left the rooftop and emerged from the building a short while later.
He saw that the previously chaotic street was now gradually returning to normal.
The students who had been afflicted with the Heart Spirit Curse
were now coming to their senses, looking around in a daze.
"Huh? How did I get here?"
"Wasn’t I eating? Why am I out on the street?"
"What the fuck, who the hell hit me? Why does my body feel like it’s falling apart?"
"What happened? Why is my head bleeding?"
All the students were completely bewildered.
Some were even clutching the places where they’d been hit, their faces twisted in pain.
Even more people were gathered around the demonic beast that had just fallen from the building.
The moment it died,
it had reverted to its true form—a weasel.
The onlooking students were all pointing and murmuring about the weasel.
Soon, people from the police station arrived to examine the body and disperse the students.
...
「Afternoon.」
1:30 PM.
The Martial Arts Examination continued.
All the examinees entered the main hall to wait.
Just like in the morning, they would wait for their numbers to be called to enter the examination area.
"What happened at noon felt like a dream!"
"I’m actually a little envious of them. They don’t know anything, it’s like it was all just a dream to them!"
Wei Nan said, looking at the students around them.
Since the Heart Spirit Curse had been broken, they were completely unaware of what had happened at noon.
Aside from the lingering marks of a beating on some of them,
that particular memory seemed to have been completely erased.
Zhou Qi glanced at him with a smile. "What’s there to be envious of? You want to get beaten up too?"
"Look at their bodies, their faces—every single one of them is bruised up, black and blue. They’re still trying to figure out what happened at noon!"
At that, Sun Tao and the others couldn’t help but laugh.
Ever since they had regained consciousness, they had been hearing hisses and sharp intakes of breath from all around.
The pain they felt was very, very real.
And it wasn’t just one or two of them; it was the majority.
But they couldn’t get an answer as to who had beaten them up like this.
For these students, that was the most agonizing part.
They’d taken a beating but couldn’t find the culprit.
They could only bear it in silence and continue with the afternoon exam.
When the announcement sounded in the hall,
it wasn’t long before Lin Yi, Wei Nan, and their friends were called.
The group exchanged smiles and headed toward the examination area.
...
「Martial Arts Examination Center, inside an office.」
Guo Wu, Tang Zhan, Lan Yang, and Lei Sheng
were all sitting in their chairs, feeling fortunate about what had just transpired.
"That was too close. Just a little longer, and if that Heart Spirit Curse hadn’t been broken in time, I’m afraid those students would have broken through our defenses and escaped!" Tang Zhan said with a hint of relief.
In the situation just moments ago, their Martial Arts Police Station could no longer hold them back.
The main issue was that they couldn’t truly go all out and slaughter the students.
After all, their minds had only been cursed; they weren’t actual demonic beasts or Blood Drop Believers.
If it had been Blood Drop Believers in that situation instead,
the ground would already be a river of blood, with mountains of corpses.
Guo Wu, Lan Yang, and the others nodded, all feeling the same way.
It was precisely because of this that they had been so hesitant and suffered considerable losses.
The old man glanced at them with a smile.
"The Blood Drop’s plan has now been thwarted by us!"
"The afternoon’s Martial Arts Examination can finally proceed smoothly!"
"However, we still cannot let our guard down. We must patrol even more rigorously this afternoon to ensure the exam concludes without a hitch and that those students leave safely!"
As he spoke, everyone stood up.
"Chief, you can rest assured. Leave this afternoon to us. A similar problem won’t happen again!"
Tang Zhan nodded with complete confidence.
Guo Wu and Lei Sheng also exchanged a look.
Their gazes grew even more determined.
The old man chuckled softly and turned to look at the crimson cloud outside the window.
It seemed to have crept a little closer.
His brow furrowed deeply, a faint sense of unease stirring in his heart.
...
"The simulated combat is not real, but you can still get injured, and it will deplete your body’s Qi and Blood!"
"The exam will last for one and a half hours. Do your best to survive in the simulated environment and slay as many demonic beasts as possible!"
"Your survival time and the number of demonic beasts you slay will directly affect your score on the Martial Arts Examination!"
"Does everyone understand?"
They were in a large room.
It was surrounded by rows of machines.
The students who entered for the exam got into the machines and were connected to them by a series of cables.
It was like a VR game, complete with VR headsets.
But the equipment here was far more realistic and technologically advanced than any VR game.
Moreover, the room could accommodate as many as twenty examinees at once.
In other words, twenty examinees would be taking the Simulated Combat exam at the same time.
"Understood!"
The students’ replies echoed around the room.
A staff member glanced at them and nodded with a smile.
"In that case... I wish you good luck. May you achieve an excellent score in the simulated combat!"
After he finished speaking,
all the staff members withdrew from the examination room.
The moment the machines activated,
everyone’s vision went completely black.
The next moment, when a glimmer of light appeared before their eyes again,
it was as if they had been transported to a real world.
For Lin Yi, this sensation was extremely familiar.
It was just like being in the Quenching Room at the Martial Arts Hall.
The spring, summer, autumn, and winter he had experienced there had all felt completely real.
It was impossible to tell whether the climate changes were real or fake.
The environment he was in now was a pitch-black forest.
The surrounding darkness swallowed all light.
He could smell a mixture of fresh grass and damp earth.
But more prominent was the indescribable stench of rotting animals and insects mixed into the soil.
The realism was so intense that Lin Yi couldn’t tell if he had truly been transported here by some kind of Array.
CHITTER CHITTER—
CHIRP CHIRP—
COO COO COO—
The calls of various insects echoed from all around.
There were also some unfamiliar, unidentifiable sounds that sent a chill down his spine.
Most notably, his danger sense had been going off nonstop ever since he arrived.
It constantly indicated to Lin Yi that danger was ever-present.
Killing intent permeated the air.
SHING—
Lin Yi drew a long blade from his Storage Ring.
With a wary gaze, he began to slowly explore the forest...