Chapter 12: Sensing the Peril to Your Life

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Di Qiu paid no mind to any rules or strategies—she swung her fists with all her might, striking wherever she could! Relying on instinct and her body's movements, she unleashed blow after blow without any order, logic, or technique—just pure force.

As she fought, she sensed the eerie presences gradually materializing from nothingness—the vague outlines sharpening into clear forms, becoming more substantial with each passing moment.

That day, Di Qiu witnessed more bizarre apparitions than ever before in her life.

There were faces of red, white, black, and blue; she even saw skin tones that formed a full spectrum of rainbow colors. Some bore the grotesque visages of demons, others the exquisite beauty of angels.

The shapes were strange and monstrous beyond anything she had imagined.

Once again, Di Qiu marveled at how vibrant and diverse the world outside truly was.

She finally understood the life advice on her test sheet: if the cities outside were hiding such sealed horrors, it was indeed safer not to leave the village.

Since recognizing these eerie figures, their numbers multiplied—from one to two, two to three, until a dozen or so surrounded her—and she could no longer hold herself together.

It would have been better not to see them at all.

She ran in and out of the Taoist temple repeatedly, the building reduced to little more than crumbled walls and stones. Statues on either side had collapsed with a thunderous crash, leaving only the golden statue in the main hall standing firm, radiating a brilliant light.

From this, Di Qiu roughly gauged the ranks of these entities—certainly above F-class, perhaps higher—after all, she was already panting from exertion.

"I swear! This one’s luck stat must be maxed out! Still not down after all that! That’s an A3-level entity!"

"Wait, just a simple sidestep dodged an A1-level entity's attack? I thought her ability level was B1?"

"After all my years on missions, I’ve never seen anything like this. Something’s fishy here!"

Zhang Lei had been babbling nonstop since Di Qiu started fighting. If he hadn’t faced these creatures before, he might have believed it all.

By the end, he even suspected the test was rigged. The footage alone would make even the entire logistics team at the Central Micro Bureau skeptical.

He turned to ask Deng Jingxiang, "Sister Xiang, are these entities really inheriting the original owner's traits? Their reactions seem absurdly slow."

Deng Jingxiang glanced coldly at him and replied, "You can go down and try it yourself."

"The test data has been syncing to the central cloud since the start. If there were any problems, the test would have stopped immediately."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Lei quieted down. He glanced at the remaining time—half an hour left—and saw messages of Di Qiu killing entities, mostly below B-level. No miraculous level-skipping kills appeared.

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"The system hasn’t announced a pass yet. It’s unlikely she’ll make it in this short time. If she’d woken earlier, she probably could have faced a wave of low-level entities. Such a newborn’s luck is supposed to be good—in some ways it is; but in others..."

Zhang Lei suddenly paused, swallowing hard. "...It’s actually pretty bad."

Suddenly, the golden surface of the statue in the main hall shattered. In an instant, its true form burst forth—a fearsome entity with a head crowned by two horns, baring sharp teeth as it lunged behind Di Qiu.

Even Deng Jingxiang’s calm face showed a flicker of emotion as she focused intently on Di Qiu, missing no detail.

Then, a golden light shot up as if from the ground, accompanied by a booming rumble that shook the entire empty city.

Zhang Lei had made his move.

As Di Qiu threw a punch, a chill ran down her spine. Though she had just worked up a sweat warming up, she turned to see the entities before her being pulled behind by some force—and something rushing toward her.

When she turned fully, the black mist surrounding her dissipated, replaced by a huge, gaping mouth.

"Oh! This test is finally ending."

Facing this creature for the first time, Di Qiu felt its power viscerally—far beyond the skirmishes with lesser entities she’d had before. This must be a legendary-class entity.

The howling wind screamed fiercely around her, the entity’s power threatening to tear her to pieces.

Just as she tried to throw a punch to gauge the difference, the enemy struck first: a giant, Buddha-like hand descended from above, trapping her despite her rolls in every direction.

Di Qiu had never experienced such a grand scene. Though she knew it was an illusion, her first impulse was terror. Instinctively, she crouched, covering her head and closing her eyes—instantly losing all her earlier vigor.

But after two or three seconds passed without a crushing blow, she wondered—could the test be over?

Apparently, the test was quite humane, sparing participants from pain.

Tentatively, Di Qiu opened her eyes. The surroundings were bright, and before she could wonder more, two voices sounded simultaneously.

"Congratulations to student Di Qiu for perfectly completing the entry test, Grade A rating."

"Ding! Detected life danger; automatically activated Vajra protection talisman. Ah! Another peaceful, uneventful day."

Di Qiu stood frozen for two seconds, listening carefully to the voices. After hearing their message, she fell silent for a moment.

A question began to form in her mind: "Were those entities real?"

"Not real, but not fake either."

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A snap sounded beside her ear.

In the next moment, the pure white world transformed back to the office she had entered that morning.

Di Qiu blinked and looked at Deng Jingxiang and Zhang Lei standing before her. The voice answering her moments ago had been Deng Jingxiang’s.

"Hello, let me introduce myself. I’m Deng Jingxiang—you can call me Sister Xiang. This is Zhang Lei, or Brother Lei."

Di Qiu recovered from her shock and addressed them in turn, then fixed her gaze and asked, "So, was it real or fake?"

"Didn’t you feel the difference when you fought those entities?" Deng Jingxiang replied, turning to sit on a chair.

Her question made Di Qiu recall the encounter. Honestly, she couldn’t tell real from fake—the fear she felt was the same both times.

So she shook her head, admitting she didn’t know.

Zhang Lei, now more composed, explained, "The entities in the test are mirrors of ones previously subdued. You can imagine them as real or as illusions.

"By real, I mean the battles cause actual injury.

"As for fake, well, the entities aren’t completely real.

"The system guarantees your life safety. For example, when that S3-level entity attacked, you had ten seconds to react.

"If you couldn’t counterattack in that time, and were severely injured or incapacitated, the test would eject you.

"Your body would still suffer considerable damage, but you wouldn’t die. It would simulate near-death sensations.

"We’re humane—we don’t want you to develop trauma or fear. So we remove negative physical effects, though there’s a minor side effect: your memory of the test is erased."

After this long explanation, Zhang Lei twisted the lid off his thermos and took a sip to soothe his throat.