But the orders of the War Camp are absolute.
Three years of life in the War Camp had engraved this into their very bones.
No matter how unwilling they felt, they still packed their bags, waiting to set out to complete their own assessments.
However, this time, for reasons unknown, the War Camp unusually took their feelings into account.
It was stated that after they collected the Star Core, all the indigenous inhabitants on the planet would be relocated to a habitable planet under the jurisdiction of the Saint Hand Society, making them one of the countless citizens of the Saint Hand Society.
For the trainees, this was at least some comfort.
Although in the vast and boundless universe, every planet where the miracle of life exists is a rare and precious thing.
But at the very least, they only needed to kill a single planet.
“Big sister, this assessment is a team format. Brother A Zhen called us to the Training Room to discuss things.”
Outside Yun Ruoxi’s dormitory, Aili’s voice rang out.
“I’m in the restroom, I’ll be right out!”
The blue-haired girl in the restroom dropped the bloodstained long knife in her hand, her little face flushed as she wiped the blood off her right hand and covered the freshly cut wound with bionic skin.
Now, she no longer needed self-harm to suppress her destructive urges.
But the act itself had, along with her descent, become a habit—or perhaps, a hobby.
It gave her an unprecedented sense of spiritual satisfaction—a feeling of still being able to control her own body.
After masking the bloody scent on her body with a delicate perfume, Yun Ruoxi waited for the blush on her face to fade before pushing open the door and stepping out, naturally taking Aili’s arm in her own.
[Change-flower knife on this one]
[Lao Xi really is a total masochist]
[I bet Lao Xi has already been brainwashed by the Doctor again, otherwise this change in behavior is just too much]
[Now Lao Lin and the rest really have no hope of escaping, there’s a Doctor’s spy among them]
“Let’s go, Little Ai.” Yun Ruoxi smiled.
“Let’s go, big sister! Once we pass the final assessment, we’ll be able to go see other places!” Aili said excitedly.
As the final assessment approached, the instructors liked to paint rosy pictures for them more and more often.
Things like how, once you become a member of the Saint Hand Society, your treatment would double, and you’d be able to leave here and live outside.
Even enjoying real vacation time, traveling across the universe.
Quite a few trainees believed it and worked like mad, just to pass the assessment and become full members.
Of course, Yun Ruoxi knew—it was all a lie.
Though trainees nurtured by the War Camp were the direct line of the Saint Hand Society, the Society had invested considerable resources in them, so naturally, it needed to recoup its investment.
So after becoming a full member, what awaited them was only endless missions and exploitation.
Only when they became stronger and achieved a higher status could they barely gain a sliver of power to control their own lives.
Behemoth, Heishan, Xia Guang…
These War Camp instructors had all come up the same way.
So Yun Ruoxi was quite curious if, when they painted those rosy pictures, they did so out of a sense of “since I suffered in the rain, you have to get soaked too,” drawing pies while secretly mocking the trainees’ naïveté in their hearts.
“But compared to these instructors, that perverted Doctor is even more despicable, always secretly monitoring me… making me have to self-harm every few days. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have given myself so many dramatic scenes.”
“And that guy, does he really have so much free time now, just squatting at the base all day? In the original plot, wasn’t he supposed to be really busy somewhere else?”
Yun Ruoxi casually touched her right hand, which had been marked by the change-flower knife, secretly gritting her teeth as she complained inwardly.
She’d wanted to create a “death flag” for her own exit.
So recently, whether or not she had any scenes, she’d been going all out with her acting, sometimes even getting high on her own performance and piling on the drama.
Like banging her head against the wall, or using the change-flower knife, and so on.
At first, she thought those scenes were good, reflecting her character.
But now that the excitement had worn off, she realized she was just asking for trouble.
Her good arm was now covered in bloody scabs, ugly as can be.
If it weren’t for the advanced biotechnology these days, so that these minor wounds wouldn’t leave scars, she would really have been left with tears and regret.
The main thing was that self-harm actually hurt—a lot. Now she had to spend huge chunks of time every day maintaining [Pain Suppression] mode.
It felt like she was living with a thin layer of film separating her from reality.
There was no sense of authenticity at all, and it was incredibly uncomfortable.
“Thankfully, once the first season is over, I won’t need to keep self-harming… Otherwise, I’d really have to figure out a way to get rid of that perverted Doctor.”
Thinking these thoughts, Yun Ruoxi walked with Aili, quickly arriving at the small room at the back of the Training Room.
They nodded to Lin Zhen and the others, then naturally sat down in the two empty seats.
Seeing this, Lin Zhen coughed twice and began:
“Everyone’s here, so I’ll start.”
“Mm.” The group nodded in response.
“For this assessment, the instructors said it would be a team battle. But until now, no roster has been issued, which means they’re probably letting us form our own teams. That’s actually good news for us.”
After Lin Zhen finished speaking, he glanced around at everyone, and they all exchanged smiles.
Few in the War Camp were like them—forming a close-knit group from the very first year, and staying that way ever since.
So, when it came to team battles, their group had a clear advantage.
Whether in the tacit understanding built up from sparring, or their knowledge of each other’s abilities, they far surpassed other teams.
Not to mention, currently in the War Camp, except for Aili, everyone in their group had personal strength that ranked among the best.
Of the five perfect Awakened in the entire War Camp, two—Yun Ruoxi and Lin Zhen—were in their team.
The reason there were five
Was because, in the recent period, with the frequency and intensity of real combat training, two more trainees had entered the perfect Awakening state one after another.
One was the current sixth-ranked, Mo Yuan’s roommate, the white-haired youth Bai Lu whose ability was [Flesh Resizing].
The other was now third-ranked, ability [Stage Moment]—Gao Guang.
Yun Ruoxi and Lin Zhen weren’t surprised that Gao Guang had achieved perfect Awakening.
After all, no matter how you put it, he’d always been third only to Yun Mo and could be called a super genius among normal people.
But the surprising part was that Bai Lu also achieved perfect Awakening.
That was a bit odd.
Ever since his ability awakened, he’d always been just average, with his rank dropping lower and lower.
His ability itself wasn’t very promising either.
Unlike Lin Zhen—while his potential was lacking, he still achieved perfect Awakening with the Doctor’s help.
So Yun Ruoxi suspected that Bai Lu’s perfect Awakening was probably due to Mo Yuan secretly helping him.
Mo Yuan had analyzed her own perfect Awakening during battle and understood its essence. Maybe, after years of being together, he could help others achieve perfect Awakening by analyzing their abilities.
If that was really the case, Mo Yuan’s value would have to rise again in Yun Ruoxi’s mind.