Chapter 295: The Test Concludes
Xu Zhi’s school uniform had been completely soaked in blood, utterly unpresentable. Her body was covered in wounds of varying sizes, all still bleeding. Especially the joints of the fingers on her right hand, which held her glasses—there was barely any flesh left, exposing bone. Just looking at it made one’s scalp tingle with pain, yet the owner herself remained calm and composed, asking her teammate for a clean handkerchief and leisurely wiping her glasses.
After the referee announced Xu Zhi’s team as the winner, both sides withdrew their extraordinary abilities. The healing reduction applied to Xu Zhi was naturally lifted. Her own regenerative ability began to take effect, and with the support of her [Heart]-type teammate, her horrifying external injuries were fully healed in less than a minute.
The short-haired senior’s abilities inflicted not only physical damage but also mental fatigue. Most extraordinary users would grow increasingly exhausted and weakened when fighting her.
But Xu Zhi’s mental strength was far too powerful—this effect barely worked on her. In fact, after the fight, she didn’t feel tired at all. On the contrary, she felt energized.
The girl stood upright, her posture straight. After carefully cleaning her glasses and putting them back on, she looked at the two opponents and politely asked, “Senior, are you alright?”
The short-haired senior, still being supported by her teammate, twitched her lips. “…I’m fine.”
Although she had indeed been beaten to the brink earlier, her physique and abilities were special. Pure physical damage, even at a level that would kill ordinary extraordinary users, was something she could endure and recover from.
…Wait.
The short-haired senior looked at Xu Zhi suspiciously.
That junior hadn’t seemed to hold back at all. Her expression and state at the time—she had genuinely been excited.
Could it be… she knew this level of damage wouldn’t kill her, and that’s why she was so excited?
At that thought, the senior suddenly took a step back, as if she had seen something terrifying.
Xu Zhi looked innocent. “Senior, what’s wrong?”
Why did she look like she’d just seen a monster?
Unfortunately, although Xu Zhi’s innocent act was quite convincing, her face was still splattered with both her own and the senior’s blood.
“N-no, nothing. Junior… there’s a shower room and spare uniforms in the preparation area. Maybe you should go clean up.”
You look… kind of frightening like this.
“I see, that works too.” Xu Zhi noticed that the once slightly unhinged senior had become somewhat timid in front of her, so she decided not to scare her further.
In truth, Xu Zhi also knew she had gotten a bit too carried away in that fight. Not just the short-haired senior—both of the other seniors were also looking at her in a rather strange way.
But that was fine.
After washing off the blood in the preparation room and changing into a clean uniform, Xu Zhi returned to the assembly point.
As soon as she arrived, she noticed that many of the seniors’ gazes were landing on her.
It seemed word had already spread—that she had won again, and in a rather brutal fashion.
Xu Zhi’s lips curved upward in a pleased smile. She paid no mind to the scrutinizing and probing looks, instead wondering who her next opponent would be. She was quite looking forward to facing someone who could let her enjoy herself a bit more.
Unfortunately, that wish was destined to fail.
Because at that moment, the analysts were having a headache over her.
“This Xu Zhi… she still didn’t go all out in this match!”
“If we want to test her full strength, we’d have to arrange even more targeted combinations. It’s possible, but then the results would be harder to control.”
If things escalated too far and caused serious injury, that would not be ideal. After all, once the selection ended, they would immediately head to the Lost Lands—there would be no time to recover.
“Based on her current results, it’s already clear that her combat ability surpasses other candidates. For the next two matches, there’s no need to push her to reveal everything. Just…”
“Arrange teams based on whether they can make the main roster.”
The Director of Studies made the decision.
The analysts were slightly startled. “If we don’t test her full strength, wouldn’t that be…”
They had access to detailed combat data, so they could clearly see that Xu Zhi already qualified for the main roster. At least, based on her current performance, she was on par with several students almost guaranteed to be selected.
And she hadn’t even used her “pet” once!
“It doesn’t matter. Aren’t there others we can’t fully assess either?”
The Director looked at a screen.
On it was a room completely frozen over—more precisely, the moment the countdown ended, it had been instantly engulfed by ice and snow.
Only Chu Xiaoyue and her teammate stood within it. Their opponents had already been buried, nowhere to be seen.
Less than three seconds into the match, the outcome was decided.
And she had only used one of her least lethal abilities, mainly for environmental control. If she had used something else, those two opponents would likely already be dead.
“Should we let her face Xu Zhi…?”
Someone asked hesitantly.
The Director shook her head. “No need. Xu Zhi’s personality doesn’t quite match that of a typical [Lamp]. Her fighting style carries a ‘fight to the death’ tendency. If those two fight, it’ll be hard to stop them. Their teammates would likely become irrelevant, and we wouldn’t gather useful data.”
After all, this was just a test.
“Understood. Then we’ll arrange different opponents.”
Thus, in the next three matches, Xu Zhi noticed that the “targeting” against her had eased. None of the matches were particularly interesting. She didn’t win effortlessly—but neither were they difficult.
Disappointing.
In total, Xu Zhi completed five matches. By the time they ended, dawn was breaking.
She herself remained full of energy, but her later opponents and teammates were visibly fatigued.
Clearly, the earlier matches had drained too much of their energy and extraordinary reserves.
Standing at the assembly point, Xu Zhi casually glanced around and noticed that fewer than ten people remained in good condition.
That a freshman like her could maintain such a strong state after continuous battles naturally drew attention.
Moreover, everyone knew—she had achieved a complete winning streak.
It was unbelievable.
Because according to the accounts of her teammates and opponents, she hadn’t relied on luck or being carried—
She had been the carry.
A first-year student, dominating like this in such tests?
Were they just too weak?
Many began to doubt themselves. But that couldn’t be right—when competing against other academies, they were still quite strong.
So the only explanation was—
This freshman was simply a monster.
Almost everyone had already accepted that one of the Lost Lands slots would belong to this astonishing newcomer.
After all, fewer than five people remained undefeated—and she was one of them.
If she didn’t get selected, that would be the real foul play.
No one objected.
Her results were earned through real combat. Even those who had initially looked down on her now had no choice but to admit—
Xu Zhi was strong.
Unreasonably strong.
And undeniably so.
