The news came two days after Professor Liang's lecture, when Class 1-C had finally settled into life in the dorms and the training pace. Instructor Mei stood in the center of the combat hall, hands at her back, face as pointed as her braid. Behind her, the digital board flashed with the words:
"Field Examination – Jungle Simulation"
The class buzzed with whispers. Chen Hao bent close to Lian.
"Field test already? Barely a week! They're trying to kill us."
"Kill," Mei's voice pierced the chaos. "Pressure. You will not be heroes reclining in padded rooms. Your next test is tomorrow morning at sunrise. You will be flown into a jungle terrain zone. For forty-eight hours, you'll survive, fight, and earn points. Your opponents: mechanical creatures."
The screen flickered and then showed snarling metal wolves with red glowing eyes, winged drones with sharp talon-like claws, and a giant boar with metal tusks ripping through trees.
"You will be divided into five groups of four. Teams score points by killing robot beasts. More powerful units are worth more points. You can also challenge other student teams and steal their points.".
Now the commotion turned into a frenzy. Some clapped, some scrambled around in frantic fashion. Xia Yun held up her hand, her eyes shining.
"So, it's okay to steal points? Doesn't that make this more about survival of the fittest and less about teamwork?"
"Exactly." Mei smiled a thin, sly smile. "Because in the real world, bad guys don't wait their turn.
Lian's stomach roiled. Competition, survival, in the wild—this was not a regular drill. His sense of danger prickled at the thought.
"Teams are already pre-assigned." Mei clicked her tablet, and the holographic names appeared in the air.
Team 1: Lian Feng, Zhang Wei (Qi: stone armor), Mei Ling (Qi: plant control), Daiki Ren (Qi: sonic blast).
Team 2: Chen Hao, Luo Yan (Qi: control of the chains), Han Bo (Qi: smoke screen), Fei Min (Qi: frog-like leaps).
Team 3: Xia Yun, Zhou Ping (Qi: fire jets), Nara Kei (Qi: illusions), Guo Fen (Qi: insect control).
Team 4: Jin Rui, Tao Lin (Qi: shaping the water), Kira Hong (Qi: absorption of heat), Shen Qiu (Qi: speed boost).
Team 5: Other students.
Lian glanced hastily about for Rui. Of course, they were apart. A gentle sigh of relief escaped him, which he immediately regretted. If Rui wasn't on his side, then he was either an enemy or, worse, a threat.
Chen smiled sympathetically at him from across the room. Xia Yun gave Lian a quick smirk, like she was already planning on how to lay an ambush for him in the jungle. Rui didn't even look his way, eyes already narrowed, calculating.
The next morning, five helicopters rumbled over the forest canopy of Mount Qingyun Reserve, a sprawling jungle with mist that clung to the treetops like shrouds. Below, the forest stretched endless—dense bamboo thickets, twisting vines, and a river cutting through like a silver scar.
The helicopters lowered. Students felt the wind roar against their faces as Instructor Mei's voice came over the comms:
"From here, it's simple. Survive. Earn points. Team with the highest score in forty-eight hours passes with honors. Those with too few points…" She let the silence hang, a knife in the air. "…you'll regret it."
The helicopters banked away, leaving them alone. The jungle swallowed the sound.
Lian's team landed on a clearing of uneven earth. Zhang Wei cracked his knuckles, stone plating creeping across his arms like scales.
"Alright, let's do this the easy way. Wipe out everything that moves."
Mei Ling rattled her head, her ponytail bobbing. Vines burst out around her boots and dissolved into the ground. "If we go mad, we'll be killed. Rui's team will chase other people. Xia's lightning will reduce small bots to ash in a second. We need brains."
Daiki Ren, tall and lanky, cupped his ears as a faint hum buzzed from his throat. His Qi vibrated the leaves. "I'll scout with sound waves. Mechanical echoes return different from organic ones."
Lian exhaled, pushing his nerves aside. "Good. Then I'll handle mobility. My webs can slow beasts and help us reposition. We'll need coordination to face Rui or Xia later."
Zhang grumbled but didn't argue.
The first test came sooner than expected. Daiki held up a hand, eyes closing. "There's something moving. North. Big. Four legs."
Bushes burst as a steel wolf burst from them, whirring jaws spinning blades.
"Get out of the way!" Lian's danger instinct shouted just as the wolf pounced. He rolled, webbing exploding from his palm to catch a tree. He pulled with all his might, slingshotting himself into the air. From the air, he flung two webs—one across the wolf's nose, another wrapping its front legs. The creature snarled, pulling the sticky ropes taut but slowing.
"Now!"
Zhang bellowed, fists to stone. He smashed down on the trapped wolf's skull, sparks flying where metal warped. Mei Ling followed, tendrils spearing between the wolf's joints, prying plates of armor apart.
Daiki discharged a sound burst—an ear-piercing boom. Circuits flashed; the wolf convulsed and collapsed.
The team gasped in unison, watching the machine shudder to a stop. Their bracelets rang out—+10 points.
"That's… just one," Zhang said between breaths. "And Rui's probably slaughtering them by the dozens."
Lian felt the weight of those words. His danger sense buzzed faintly—not from the wolf, but from somewhere distant in the jungle. A reminder that they weren't alone.
Elsewhere, chaos unfolded.
Chen Hao's team dropped into a flock of drone hawks, their claws razor-sharp. Luo Yan's whips flailed upwards, scooping up two in mid-air and battering them into trees. Han Bo created smoke, disorienting the flock, while Chen toughened his hide and took the impact as a human shield.
"Stay near! They're fast!" Chen screamed, flinging off sparks as claws scraped against his iron skin. He hit back, sending one drone hurtling into the earth. Their bracelet alerted: +5 points each.
Xia Yun's group fought differently. Sparks lit the jungle like lightning storms as she discharged arcs that fried wolf packs before they could close in. Zhou Ping blasted flames in sweeping arcs, while Guo Fen's swarm of beetles crawled inside a drone's vents and chewed its wiring from within.
Nara Kei's illusions created phantom versions of them, confusing the machines into attacking empty air. Their point count skyrocketed.
Xia wiped sweat from her brow, eyes glinting. "At this rate, Lian won't even be able to keep up.".
Jin Rui was a storm. His compressed wind blades scythed through machines, felling trees with every swing. Tao Lin bent river water into tendrils that crushed enemies, Kira Hong absorbed excess heat from Rui's slashes, and Shen Qiu darted through the field like a blur, finishing survivors with surgical strikes. Their synergy was brutal, efficient, unstoppable.
Rui looked at his wristband: already 60 points in the first hour. His smirk was cold.
"Let them try to keep up."
Back in the clearing, Lian wiped oil from his hands after finishing another drone. His danger sense pulsed again—stronger this time. Something wasn't right.
"Guys," he murmured. "Stay sharp. We're not the only hunters out here."
And from the treeline, shadows shifted.