The travelers mentioned by the girl were probably the new students who arrived each year.
Baiyu thought quietly to himself.
After filling their stomachs, the two took a stroll around the village.
The villagers were not very averse to outsiders, living a primitive farming lifestyle, with hunting and fishing as the main means of livelihood.
The village worshipped the "Winter God".
The villagers had never seen the Winter God. According to them, their ancestry had been passed down here, and there were many similar villages around, but they rarely saw outsiders.
In this ice field, the Winter God was the Divine Spirit worshiped by everyone.
The two walked around the village.
Everyone was very enthusiastic.
The only landmark in the village was the altar in the center, used for worshipping the Winter God.
The two returned to their room.
The girl fed the snow bear and then sharpened a knife in the yard.
Baiyu and Jiang Xi were inside the room.
"Something’s off. The test requires surviving for a period, but staying in the village , it wouldn’t be a problem even if we stayed for months.
Is the flow of time different here from outside?
Is there a danger in the shadows that we are unaware of?"
Deep within Jiang Xi’s eyes, a hint of red light flickered — a sign of her activating her Extraordinary Abilities.
The "Zombie" ability provided her with acute perception, yet she still detected nothing unusual.
Baiyu closed the door and hung a cup from the door bolt, "The school’s test is to survive as long as possible. As long as we don’t encounter danger, all we need to do is maintain ample Blood Qi and stamina.
The temperature outside will double the consumption of our Blood Qi.
Since they didn’t know where the danger was, they naturally chose the environment that was currently better for themselves, rather than acting rashly which might lead to greater risks.
The sky was a cloudless black, devoid of stars and moon.
Baiyu and Jiang Xi did not sleep.
The two lay on the bed pretending to nap.
Suddenly, a crisp sound.
The cup hanging on the door bolt fell to the ground, and the two awoke with a start, looking towards the door.
A short figure stood there.
Even without the moon and stars, the two could still clearly see the figure at the door.
Baiyu squinted his eyes, instinctively tightening his grip on the gun handle. The gunshot echoed in the dark night, a blinding flame burst forth.
The figure at the door wasn’t a human!
This thing was covered entirely in ragged fur, with bones protruding under the skin, and patches of tendon membrane on the face and neck, mixed with the falling fur, in many places the white skeleton was visible.
Judging by its clothing.
It was the girl who brought Baiyu to the village today.
At this moment, the gunshot rang out, the scarlet bullet cutting through the air, piercing the monster’s forehead, the massive impact causing the monster’s head to explode entirely.
Yet the headless body kept advancing.
Baiyu’s expression was grim, Blood Qi surged to his right leg, and he stomped fiercely on the monster’s chest.
The sound of bones shattering.
The white bones were crushed into bits, the monster’s upper body was stomped into pieces, writhing a few times before lying still on the ground.
"This seems to be some sort of mutated form."
Jiang Xi sniffed the corpse on the ground: "It’s that girl from the day, but the reason she suddenly turned into this form..."
"Since it’s an exam, it must be arranged by the school. I suspect there’s more than one monster outside, let’s go out and take a look."
Baiyu pulled a bullet from his pocket and loaded it into the revolver.
Shark Kiss’s power was great,
But it only had six bullets, significantly limiting its efficiency in close combat.
We still need a melee weapon.
The two walked out of the room.
There were many monsters wandering aimlessly on the village roads, in the distance, brilliant and colorful lights like an aurora lit up the horizon.
It’s likely that the appearance of the monsters was connected to these colorful lights.
"Wait, there’s more movement."
Jiang Xi gazed towards the end of the village.
There, a huge monster covered in rotting flesh, with gray wings on its back, was walking step by step towards the village. Along the way, the villagers turned monsters were grabbed by its large hands and shoved into its mouth, chewed to pieces.
This creature obviously had a purpose.
Its path was heading straight for the two of them, obliterating the monsters along the way was just incidental.
"A first group of new students has already been wiped out. Facing a Night Demon without fleeing and instead engaging head-on was a command error."
On the high platform.
The dean of the Mysterious Academy, Gu Peng, had a look of lament on his face.
A squad he particularly favored had been eliminated because of the Night Demon.
The Night Demon was precisely the kind of massive monster Baiyu and Jiang Xi had just encountered.
This entrance exam’s true purpose was to assess the potential of students and determine the suitable direction for them.
Some, for example, were naturally tacticians, suited for leadership.
Some were skilled at interaction and could quickly integrate into a new environment and obtain crucial information.
Some were suited for logistics and care...
Different people required different teaching methods.
This entrance exam aimed to display these people’s characteristics in front of the Masters.
"The Night Demon is a Tier Nine Demon, these freshmen should figure out how to avoid it. For example, Li Mingfeng managed to evade the Night Demon’s pursuit by sacrificing minimally — of the six-person team, four survived."
Su Ruji, the dean of the Research Academy, said in a deep voice.
As night fell, the Night Demons began to move, and the casualties of the freshmen increased at an eye-popping rate.
As for those who died during the day.
They were basically the worst batch this year.
The school encouraged students to form teams.
Because in the Spirit Realm, the survival rate of a squad was significantly higher than that of a lone fighter.
But not everyone realized this.
So, many still acted solo.
At this time, those who perished in the Endless World, after exiting the Illusion Realm, regained their consciousness and Spirit, but everyone hung their heads in dejection, watching those images in midair.
They also knew that their scores were surely at the bottom.
"Not bad, this batch of students is still excellent. Those who survived the Night Demons have generally formed their own teams. Building relationships can benefit their development after enrollment," Lin Qingsong said with a smile: "But it seems some students still don’t know the Night Demon’s power."
The few turned their attention to the scene of Baiyu and Jiang Xi.
"Is this year’s top student? Wanting to face the Night Demon head-on, young people indeed have courage."
"No, not him. It’s the girl beside him."
Ye Sheng, the dean of the Manufacturing Academy, stared intently at the scene: "Besides, that Tier Nine Night Demon isn’t her match!"