The AI referee’s voice faded away.
The trainees in the stands looked toward the center of the arena, some curious, some full of admiration.
There, three giant arenas hovered side by side.
The Six Champions, the six strongest trainees out of ten thousand!
After a month of hellish training, the trainees had gradually shed their childish naivety, beginning to view the brutal and twisted rules of this war camp through an adult perspective.
Under the deliberate guidance of the higher-ups, a desire to seek strength quietly began to take root.
Though it was not yet obvious, the trend was becoming clear.
Even the precocious Lin Zhen was no exception.
He stared at the arenas, still worried about Yun Ruoxi, but unable to suppress his curiosity about who would make it into the Six Champions.
Who would enter the Six Champions?
The first figure to flash through his mind was a slender silhouette—0001!
That guy would definitely make it into the Six Champions.
If Yun Ruoxi’s fighting style was fast—extremely fast—then 0001’s was all about ultimate insight.
Combined with his overwhelming physical strength, Lin Zhen truly couldn’t think of any trainee who could stand against this monster.
“0045 should make it too.”
After the classes were divided, trainees normally only interacted with their roommates and classmates.
Aside from 0001 and Yun Ruoxi, the strongest fighter Lin Zhen had seen was the purple-haired girl 0045, who was in the same third class as him and could only be considered an acquaintance at best.
About half a month ago, on an evening when a conflict sparked by bullying broke out, he had briefly fought alongside this cold-eyed purple-haired girl.
He had witnessed firsthand her sharp and fierce skills.
Swish!
A dazzling spotlight suddenly lit up, abruptly interrupting Lin Zhen’s thoughts.
A thick beam of light poured down from above.
It swiftly swept across the multi-tiered surrounding stands before splitting into six beams, each precisely locking onto one of the three arenas.
“Next, please give a round of applause to welcome—the top six in this fighting evaluation!”
A coarse but familiar voice rang through the venue.
Instructor Behemoth’s projection appeared above the arena, holding a microphone, his sharp gaze sweeping over the audience.
The previously noisy crowd instantly fell silent.
This was the oppressive presence of Instructor Behemoth.
Although he hadn’t intervened in any class’s training this past month, there was no doubt he was the most feared figure in all the trainees’ minds.
“First, the undisputed current number one in the war camp—0001!”
As the rough voice fell, enthusiastic applause broke out in the stands, and Instructor Behemoth nodded with satisfaction.
Amid the applause, within a beam of light on the first arena, a slender figure slowly took form.
He lifted his eyes indifferently, his gaze passing over the sea of black-clad spectators and, surprisingly, precisely locking onto the inconspicuous Lin Zhen among the ten thousand.
A barely noticeable curve curled at 0001’s lips.
Lin Zhen immediately felt a chill run down his spine.
Could it be that he had already…
No, Yun Ruoxi had entered the losers’ bracket, so he probably wouldn’t meet her.
Even if they did meet, it would only be a virtual fight—there shouldn’t be any real danger.
Lin Zhen’s expression darkened slightly. What he truly needed to worry about was whether 0001 might target her in reality.
But they weren’t in the same class and had almost no chance of crossing paths.
Besides, though Yun Ruoxi’s appearance was deceiving, she wasn’t really the weak girl she seemed.
If she actually fought, he might not even be her match.
Thinking of this, he let out a long breath.
He’d really been scared by 0001’s reputation. Such a simple truth had troubled him for so long.
It really shouldn’t have.
Most trainees were very curious about 0001—after all, this was the ruthless person who had held the war camp’s top spot for an entire month.
But now that he was seeing him…
He didn’t look all that special. Pretty ordinary, actually.
“Next are the other five members of the Six Champions. They are 0002!”
Instructor Behemoth paused.
A blonde boy stepped out from the beam of light on the second arena.
He smiled, handsome and radiating a sunny vibe, waving to the audience as he walked.
He seemed to treat the crowd as if they were his fans.
“…0003!”
A boy with cat ears appeared on the third arena, hands stuffed casually in his pockets.
“Wah—!”
At the sight of the fluffy ears on his head, the audience erupted instantly, the applause unable to drown out waves of surprised exclamations.
A Mixed-Blood?!
Surprise flickered in Lin Zhen’s eyes as well.
The universe was vast and endless, and alien races were countless.
Among them, there were inevitably some with aesthetics that matched human tastes.
Mixed-Bloods were the offspring of intermarriage between humans and these alien races.
Generally speaking, as long as the human bloodline exceeded 80%, the Empire recognized them as “Mixed-Blood Humans” and granted them citizenship rights nearly equivalent to pureblood humans.
But rules were one thing, and in many star regions, pureblood humans looked down on and excluded Mixed-Bloods.
Many saw them as “tainted outsiders.”
However, Lin Zhen held no such prejudice.
Ah!!
His home, a trash planet on the Empire’s frontier, was almost forgotten by society.
There, many Mixed-Bloods shunned by mainstream society gathered.
To him, as long as their appearance wasn’t too deformed, Mixed-Bloods counted as humans.
He had once had Mixed-Blood companions himself.
Lin Zhen was only surprised that the war camp even recruited Mixed-Bloods; he had originally thought only humans were admitted.
0003 on the arena seemed used to this kind of surprise.
He simply grinned, showing sharp tiger-like teeth, and softly clicked his tongue.
“I want a cat-eared boy, but is there a catgirl? I want a catgirl!”
“Are there any Mixed-Bloods with Big Spray? I love Big Spray the most!”
“There are quite a few sorrowful types in this world—aliens don’t mind at all…”
“As long as you’re good-looking, it doesn’t really matter so strictly about gender or race.”
As the applause and commotion gradually died down, Instructor Behemoth continued:
“0032…”
From the other beam of light on the first arena, a short, sullen-faced boy slowly appeared.
He clearly wasn’t used to being stared at by so many people.
His teeth chattered involuntarily, and his legs trembled.
But under Instructor Behemoth’s sharp gaze, he still tried to straighten his back.
However, when he saw 0001 sharing the arena with him, his just-straightened spine immediately bent again.
His legs trembled even more violently, and the sound of his clenched teeth was almost audible.
If someone had approached the arena then, they might have heard his trembling, tearful mumbling:
“I’m doomed, doomed… why does it have to be 0001… I’m definitely going to lose… my rank will drop out of the top five thousand… I’ll be eliminated… no…”
It’s him?!
Lin Zhen widened his eyes slightly.
He knew this 0032.
Because he was his roommate when they were first assigned.
But later, when the classes were reassigned, they separated and never met again.
Lin Zhen didn’t even know which class 0032 had ended up in or what had become of him.
He hadn’t expected that in just one month, he’d leap from over a thousandth place to thirty-second.
That rise was even more extreme than Yun Ruoxi’s.
How did he manage that?
“…and 0045!” Instructor Behemoth raised his hand.
“She made it after all!” Lin Zhen’s eyes landed on the second arena, where the purple-haired girl’s figure slowly appeared.
Is her opponent 0002?
If it’s her, victory isn’t impossible.
Lin Zhen thought silently, then his gaze shifted to the third arena, where the last member of the Six Champions had yet to appear.
He didn’t know who it was or which class they belonged to.
According to the introduction rules, it should be someone after 0045, but the number probably wouldn’t be below 100.
Otherwise, that would be a major upset.
Pretty ordinary? Nvm what i said before, i thought as villain he has interesting visual