Chapter 13: The Apex Predator – Li Yang’s Brutal Showdown

Li Yang’s words clearly shocked them.

Especially the injured students they were completely terrified.

One of them immediately shouted, “Are you crazy?! That’s a Grade-1 high-tier mutated plant! None of us have integrated star energy into our bodies, we don’t even have the most basic ‘Star Skills’… and you want to kill it?! It could eat us all!”

Li Yang didn’t have much concept of these things.

The mutated plants in the safe zones had been nothing more than easy prey under her axe.

The clover from the Qing District had been troublesome, but she had still taken it down.

This man-eating flower looked dangerous, but it might not be impossible to kill!

Li Yang didn’t waste time and quickly said, “Don’t assume you’re safe just because you’re in a tree.

If we attract a flying-type mutated creature, you’ll be trapped between two enemies, and pressing the emergency beacon will be your only option.”

The student’s face immediately turned pale.

“That’s impossible! We already have one mutated creature attacking us what are the chances of another showing up…?”

Li Yang had no interest in arguing.

She swiftly pulled out the iron axe from her waist and stared at the group in front of her.

“Either you go down on your own, or I’ll kick you all off.”

The tree was huge, its trunk thick enough for four people to wrap their arms around it.

That was the only reason so many people had managed to climb up.

But Li Yang had positioned herself perfectly.

As long as she didn’t move aside, Chen Song’s group wouldn’t be able to climb any higher.

And from her vantage point above them, it would be very easy to kick them down.

Their faces turned even uglier.

A skinny male student protested, “You can’t do that…”

Li Yang already knew what he was going to say.

She immediately retorted, “This isn’t against the rules.

After all, I’m just trying to ‘survive’.”

That one sentence stunned them.

It was true the only objective of this exam was to survive for three days.

Their presence threatened Li Yang’s survival, so her decision was justified.

It sounded cruel, but this was an exam, not a team exercise.

At this moment, they were not classmates they were competitors.

“Three seconds.” Li Yang didn’t want to waste more time.

“Either come down and kill the mutated plant with me, or I’ll kick you off.”

Chen Song had remained silent until now.

He took a deep breath and gritted his teeth.

“I’ll go down with you to kill it.”

As he spoke, he pulled out his long blade.

The others panicked.

They had always followed Chen Song’s lead, and now that he had agreed, they didn’t know what to do.

“Chen-ge…”

Chen Song said firmly, “She’s right.

If we attract a flying-type mutated creature, we’re all out of the game.”

“I can’t afford to be eliminated I have to pass this practical exam.”

Li Yang remained cold as she started counting down.

“Three, two…”

The students swallowed hard and finally relented.

“F-Fine… We’ll go down with you…”

Li Yang didn’t move and simply watched them.

“Let’s go.

Down the tree.”

Chen Song had fully put aside his arrogance now.

He turned to Li Yang and explained, “That man-eating flower has two attack methods.

“First, it shoots seeds.

The seeds don’t deal much damage, but they’re corrosive.

“If you get hit by one, you’ll have no choice but to press the emergency beacon.

“The second attack is biting.

It suddenly charges forward at high speed, and its teeth are incredibly sharp.

“Whatever you do, don’t let it bite you.”

Chen Song’s teammates weren’t weak.

Three of them were from the provincial capital, which meant they came from Star Guardian families.

The fact that they had managed to escape from a Grade-1 high-tier mutated plant was proof of their skill.

Li Yang nodded in acknowledgment and asked, “Who’s the fastest?”

Chen Song immediately said, “Me.”

Li Yang: “Alright, you distract it head-on, and we’ll attack from behind.”

One student still didn’t trust Li Yang and muttered, “Chen-ge, what if you engage the mutated plant and she just runs away…?”

Li Yang bluntly said, “No need to guess. If we can’t beat it, I’ll definitely run.”

She didn’t hide anything.

She openly stated, “This mutated plant wasn’t my problem in the first place.

“I got dragged into this because of you lot.

“Helping you is me being nice.

“Not helping you is my right.

“Don’t get it twisted.”

The student was completely speechless.

Chen Song, on the other hand, suddenly caught on.

“You want performance points?”

He had far more experience in these ranking-based exams than Li Yang.

He quickly realized that killing a mutated plant might earn extra performance points, which could affect the final rankings.

Ironically, his knowledge had actually worked against him.

He had assumed the Entry Guide was testing their psychological resilience and had completely failed the real challenge.

Li Yang took advantage of the situation.

“That’s right. I want performance points.

“Leave the final blow to me.”

Chen Song was relieved.

“Fine.”

The five of them had finally reached a temporary agreement.

At this point, they had no other choice they had to fight.

Li Yang had no reason to deceive them.

If they stalled for too long, a strong flying-type mutated creature might actually appear, and if it was another high-tier monster, they would all be eliminated.

And they couldn’t even split up not until they got rid of the man-eating flower blocking the way.

Chen Song was the first to jump down.

The other three hesitated briefly, then followed.

The moment the man-eating flower sensed human presence, it opened its enormous mouth, revealing rows upon rows of sharp teeth.

The sight was absolutely terrifying.

Li Yang, who had grown up in the 21st century, couldn’t help but shudder.

This thing was at least ten times more ferocious than the ugly shrubs… no, twenty times!

And twice as hideous!

The ugly shrubs had a single row of fangs.

But this man-eating flower?

Its mouth had layer after layer of densely packed teeth.

If someone got bitten, their bones would be crushed instantly.

At that moment, Chen Song truly displayed the power of 88 physique points.

His thin, wiry frame moved with incredible speed.

The instant he jumped down, he dodged the incoming seed attack and countered with a swift slash, successfully drawing the plant’s attention.

The other students also descended.

Although they held weapons, none of them had ever considered fighting a Grade-1 high-tier mutated plant head-on before.

Now that they had no choice, they hesitated, gripping their weapons nervously.

Let the battle begin.

Li Yang had fought countless battles over the past two days.

Although the ugly shrubs were weak, they could still launch surprise attacks.

After killing so many, she had gained plenty of experience.

Her dual 90-point physical and mental attributes weren’t just for show.

She was just as fast as Chen Song.

And with her enhanced star energy perception, Li Yang’s axe strikes were precise, swift, and lethal.

The areas with the weakest star energy were the mutated plants’ weak spots!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three consecutive axe strikes landed.

Chen Song, who was at the front, didn’t see what happened.

But the other three behind him were stunned.

So vicious!

At that moment, they finally remembered Li Yang’s physique value…

She was a 90-point physique prodigy!

What luck?

What fluke?

A 90-point physique was raw, undeniable power.

Even without systematic training, her ferocity was terrifying.

The man-eating flower was completely dazed after being hacked at.

It ignored Chen Song, turned around, and lunged at Li Yang instead.

But Li Yang didn’t panic.

Instead, she threw her iron axe at it.

At the same time, she leaped into the air, dodging the seed projectile the plant had just fired.

One of the students nearby wasn’t as lucky

He failed to dodge and got hit by a seed.

His face turned pale.

“I…”

Chen Song shouted, “Stay and help us kill it first! I’ll compensate you afterward!”

The student swallowed hard.

“O-Okay!”

He was definitely out of the exam.

Once poisoned, three hours was the survival limit.

But if he pressed the emergency beacon now, they would lose another fighter.

So Chen Song convinced him to hold on, promising compensation later.

At that moment

CRACK!

Li Yang’s axe landed perfectly, wedging itself between the plant’s upper and lower jaws.

The man-eating flower’s main attack method was biting.

But with the axe lodged in its mouth, its rows of razor-sharp teeth were completely stuck.

It couldn’t open or close its jaws.

The group froze in disbelief.

Li Yang pulled out another axe and snapped, “What are you waiting for? Cut it down!”

The team snapped back to reality.

Gripping their weapons, they rushed forward to attack.

Inside the Control Room.

The examiners couldn’t take their eyes off Group 8.

They had assumed that after clearing out all the low-tier mutated plants, Li Yang would just go to sleep.

Instead, she was now fighting a Grade-1 high-tier mutated plant head-on.

The examiners had missed the start of the battle.

All they saw was Li Yang hacking away at the man-eating flower with her axe.

No Star Skills.

No Combat Techniques.

No Star-Enhanced Weapons.

Just a regular iron axe.

And she was using pure brute strength to make a Grade-1 high-tier mutated plant scream in agony.

Sure, to the Chief Examiner, a Grade-1 or Grade-2 mutated creature was nothing more than a flick of a finger.

But for these students…

Well, for other students, running away was the only option.

For Li Yang, however, it didn’t seem that difficult.

The Chief Examiner observed carefully.

“Run a check on her mental strength.

This girl has serious potential.”

At his words, the other instructors focused their attention

And that’s when they noticed the details.

Li Yang wasn’t just attacking randomly.

Every single one of her axe strikes landed directly on the plant’s weak points.

With 90 physique points, she was outputting nearly 270 points of damage.

For comparison

A typical Grade-1 Star Guardian had a physique range of 100 to 500.

On average, they could unleash 300 points of attack damage.

But because Li Yang was hitting weak spots, she was getting a triple damage multiplier, allowing her to match a trained Star Guardian.

Being this accurate at finding weak points could only mean one thing

Her mental strength was exceptionally high.

90 physique points were already impressive.

But if she also had 90 mental points…

Then she was definitely the top student in Donghua Province.

And possibly, one of the top-ranked students in the entire nation.

Meanwhile, Chen Song’s group was in complete shock.

Li Yang had insane luck.

How did she manage to throw her axe so perfectly that it jammed the plant’s mouth shut?!

This Grade-1 high-tier mutated plant, which should have been a nightmare to deal with, had just lost more than half of its combat abilities.

Sure, its seed projectiles were still a problem

But they followed a predictable pattern and could be avoided with careful timing.

Chen Song was right next to Li Yang, and for the first time, he realized…

He had been an absolute fool to underestimate her.

90 physique points.

Just two points higher than him.

And yet

Why was her damage output three times higher?!

The man-eating flower was starting to collapse.

Li Yang shouted loudly, “Fall back!”

The team had been so intimidated by her presence that they instantly obeyed.

They stepped back without hesitation.

Li Yang gripped her axe with both hands.

Her dark eyes gleamed with excitement.

And then

BANG! BANG! BANG!

She smashed the axe down repeatedly, crushing the plant’s head into pulp.

Lifespan +10 years