Chapter 64: Can’t Be Found
Chapter 64: Chapter 64: Can’t Be Found
The metal shark opened its great maw and lunged forward to bite.
CLANG!!
Wang Xi held his sword vertically, pressing his left palm against the flat of the blade, perfectly jamming the shark’s mouth open. A fist-sized metal fang pressed against his face, radiating a chilling cold.
GLUG GLUG!
Bubbles escaped Wang Xi’s lips as his horizontal yellow pupils sharpened.
His right leg shot out like a cannonball, slamming into the giant shark. A jellyfish-shaped vortex of bubbles erupted underwater.
BOOM—
The shark was kicked away, and Wang Xi used the force to swim in the opposite direction.
After quickly putting some distance between them, he skimmed along the bottom of the pool. With swift eyes and even swifter hands, he snatched several number balls in a row.
They were an A, 6, 9, and Q.
Without a second thought, Wang Xi tossed the A, 6, and 9, and continued swimming forward.
’What is this garbage? Who wants single digits!’
The metal shark behind him was still in hot pursuit.
Wang Xi used the same trick again, taking a lunge head-on and blasting the shark away with a kick to change direction.
He once again created distance, his body darting along the bottom like a nimble barracuda, zipping past a dense cluster of black balls.
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
Wang Xi retracted the Beheading Sword into its Card form, then used both hands to continuously grab number balls.
At first, he discarded anything worth less than 10 points. Later, he stopped bothering with the 10-point ones too, only taking the Flower Mark Balls.
Before long, Wang Xi had collected six Flower Mark Balls.
He’d instantly racked up over a hundred points.
This was already far beyond the full-score requirement; he could have left right then. But then he had another thought. ’Since I’ve already blown past the mark, I might as well go all out and shatter the Valley City record again just for fun.’
And so, Wang Xi repeatedly shook off the pack of sharks, venturing into new areas again and again to "treasure hunt."
He’d find number balls only to pick them up and toss them away.
Heh, just for kicks.
"..."
Above the water, the arena was silent.
Everyone, both inside and outside the competition area, stared intently at the placid surface of the water. A full five minutes had passed. If not for the faint shadow seen swimming below, everyone would have thought Wang Xi was already dead.
So, the question was.
If he wasn’t dead, what was he doing?
Why hadn’t he come ashore to escape?
’Don’t tell me he’s looking for number balls?’
As this conjecture emerged, almost everyone felt a profound sense of absurdity.
Diving for five minutes wasn’t hard.
Finding the balls wasn’t hard either.
But what if there were ten or twenty Mechanical Doll sharks relentlessly hunting you...?
’Seriously, dude.’
’Do you think this Professional Warrior assessment is a water park?’
’You’re just going to mess around while everyone watches?!’
SPLASH—
Finally, just as the water level surpassed eight meters, a bare-chested figure burst from the surface, sending up a shower of spray, and climbed into the newly opened exit on the northern steel wall.
The entire crowd was stunned.
Not because of the young man’s lean, muscular build and perfect physique, nor because of his handsome, wet-haired face, but because of—
the "burlap sack" he was carrying.
That "burlap sack" was none other than the large, black short-sleeved shirt he had been wearing!
Looking at the bulging black "sack," the crowd already had a vague suspicion, and their breathing began to quicken.
"Brother Bai," a female Examiner said in a daze. "What’s the record for the survival and emergency response test in Valley City from previous years?"
"If I remember correctly..."
Shi Bo’s expression was complicated as he spoke slowly.
"120 points. And that record was set six years ago by Mr. Wei Sr.’s direct disciple, Li Xingduan."
Li Xingduan, now one of the vice-presidents of the Valley City Hero Association. He was once hailed as the strongest Hero of the younger generation and had just obtained his "Upper Two Stars" certification this year.
"..."
The Examiners all took a deep breath.
’That bag of number balls...’
’It can’t be less than 120 points, can it?’
At this moment, everyone turned to look at the exit behind the platform.
They awaited the appearance of the black-haired young man.
SPLAT, SPLAT...
The sound of wet footsteps echoed.
The bare-chested, black-haired young man emerged from the dim corridor and walked straight back onto the platform.
In front of the cameras of several drones, the young man flashed a brilliant, toothy grin and gave his signature thumbs-up.
He loosened his grip, and the large, black short-sleeved shirt fell onto the all-metal floor—
THUD!!!
A heavy thud resounded.
The few examinees closest to him jumped, their hearts nearly stopping.
’What the hell?!’
’It’s so heavy!’
From within the unfolded shirt, a large pile of black balls tumbled out—at a rough estimate, no fewer than twenty of them!
Looking closer, they almost couldn’t believe their eyes!
Not a single one had a number!
They were all goddamn Flower Mark Balls!
And on even closer inspection—
No.
Not only were they all Flower Mark Balls.
There wasn’t even a single J or Q.
They were all Kings!
That’s right. In the end, Wang Xi had even looked down on the Js and Qs, tossing them all away and replacing them with Ks.
"This... this, this?!"
Everyone around him was stupefied.
Yu Jiali pushed through the crowd and took a step forward, her pretty face filled with shock. She said, aghast:
"You collected all the K-balls in the entire pool?!"
"Dunno."
Wang Xi spread his hands.
"I just swam a couple more laps at the end and couldn’t find any more."
Couldn’t find any more...
A simple, concise sentence.
Yet it was filled with philosophical meaning.
It was like a heavy punch landing right in the hearts of every examinee present. The six seed candidates, especially Yu Jiali, were particularly stunned, their eyes blank.
It was as if they’d been knocked dizzy by the blow.
The expressions on the faces of Shi Bo and the other Examiners were priceless, shifting through several stages. The camera drones captured this moment perfectly.
In the livestream, the bullet comments flew across the screen.
"’Couldn’t find any more,’ he says..."
"Even the Examiners are dumbfounded."
"What kind of monster is this guy?!"
"So many K-balls, how many points is that? It has to be higher than those six geniuses, right?"
"Hilarious! The six of them combined don’t have as many points! So this is—Six Gods!"
"Eheheh! Six Gods! Aaaaaah!!"
A staff member nearby finally snapped out of it, picked up the Flower Mark Balls from the floor, and dropped them into a barrel-shaped machine.
CLINK, CLINK, CLINK...
Soon, as the water level dropped, two long beeps echoed throughout the arena.
On the steel wall to the right of the platform, a new ranking list appeared.
And in first place was, once again, Wang Xi.
"Wang Xi, Number 666."
"Survival and Emergency Response Test, 1200 Points (Score: 100)"
BOOM!!
A fireworks animation appeared on all four steel walls of the arena.
BEEP BEEP—
"New Valley City Record Logged!"
"Record Holder: Valley City 17th Professional Warrior Assessment Examinee, Number 666, Wang Xi."
He broke the record again!
A full 1200 points!
The examinees’ eyes went wide.
Just how absurd was this number?
Forget the six seed candidates; even if you added several more batches of examinees, they still couldn’t touch this number!
This black-haired young man had broken two Valley City records in a row during this Professional Warrior assessment...
He was destined for greatness.
And the name Wang Xi would surely resound throughout Valley City.
Even his number, 666, would go down in history.
What the people at the scene didn’t know was that screams had erupted in Cupid’s Home Hall.
In the viewing area on the second floor of the Hero Association Building, more than half of the Professional Warriors had spontaneously risen to their feet, witnessing this moment and deeply engraving the young man’s image in their minds.
On the top floor of the building, the various high-level leaders looked at each other in astonishment. The president, Mr. Wei Sr., burst out laughing and led a round of applause, exclaiming that the younger generation was truly formidable.
Even the three beautiful figures in the main seats turned to the big screen. Ning Meng wore a perplexed expression, as if she couldn’t understand how this young man, who had ordered delivery from her place several times, could be so dazzling... and she hadn’t noticed it before.
Yu Zizi adjusted her glasses and sighed softly,
"Mr. Wang Xi is even more outstanding than I imagined."
"..."
She heard no response.
Turning her head, she saw the silver-haired girl gazing quietly at the screen, the corners of her lips curved up slightly, her sapphire-like eyes reflecting the image of the black-haired young man.
...
...
「Around 6:00 PM.」
The 17th Valley City Professional Warrior assessment came to an end.
After a final evaluation by the panel of Examiners, the president, Mr. Wei Sr., personally came forward to announce the results—
A total of 29 people passed the assessment!
First place in overall scores, Carl Lee, 98.5 points;
Second place, Lin Xin’Er, 97 points;
Third place, Wang Xi, 96 points;
Fourth place, Xiao Yuzhe, 95.5 points;
Fifth place, a tie between Jiang Tianjie and Nagata An, 95 points;
Sixth place, Yu Jiali, 94 points.
Seventh place, Zhong Shuang, 72 points.
The subsequent ranks were basically in the 60 to 70-point range.
Anyone with a discerning eye could see that starting from sixth place, there was a huge gap between the rest of the ranks and the first-tier candidates.
And among everyone, Wang Xi was the only "lopsided student" who had achieved a perfect score on the practical exam and scraped the bottom on the written exam.
Just moments ago, almost every member of the Examiner panel had been wringing their hands and sighing in distress... If that young man named Wang Xi had just worked a little harder and gotten a perfect score on the written exam, he probably would have set yet another new record.
What a pity!
Such a waste!
The only person at the scene who kept smiling was Section Chief Chu from the Overlook Bureau’s Disenchantment Class.
Because in her eyes, this was the real Brother Xi.
Even though Wang Xi’s performance had also exceeded her expectations, making her marvel at how much he had changed in four years... his terrible written exam score was the same as ever.
Chu Nai had secretly chuckled to herself about it several times.
At this moment.
Hero Association, Engraving Square.
The sun was setting, and the dimming sky left only a final sliver of dusk, casting its light obliquely across the gray-black plaza.
The 29 who had passed the assessment stood in neat rows in the center.
An old man in a long black coat, surrounded by numerous association staff and Examiners, walked to the front of the crowd.
Camera drones hovered around, recording the scene.
"First, congratulations on passing the assessment."
Wei Xuan stood with his hands behind his back, a smile on his face.
His voice was deep and gentle.
"Everyone, I don’t wish to give a long-winded speech. I just want to tell you this... a civilization without people is meaningless, and a collective without love will fall apart."
"You are about to become the new generation of Heroes, shouldering a heavy burden for humanity... Flowers and applause are not the goal. They are merely ornaments on your journey, the sounding of the horn to advance, the echo of your mission."
The gray-haired old man paused, his eyes filled with reminiscence.
His voice grew more distant:
"Nineteen years ago, the ’Initial Hero’ led nine Legendary figures from the Five Great Countries to jointly repel the first and only super-red-level disaster in human history, averting a world-ending crisis, turning the tide, and saving a world on the brink of collapse!"
"Fifteen years ago, during the fall of Southern Continent’s Luocheng, the ’Wax Master,’ Bai Yanwei, sacrificed herself to cover the evacuation of civilians, single-handedly luring away the sudden Cataclysm-rank legion, the ’Black Gentleman Mechanical Doll Corps,’ and fighting fiercely for three days and three nights!"
"Ten years ago, during the collapse of Earth State’s Salt City, the ’Divine Sword,’ Ryu Yang, fought alone against the sudden Cataclysm-rank behemoth, the ’Dark Nightmare Mountain Man,’ saving 6 million civilians before sacrificing his life!"
"Seven years ago, during the civil unrest in Huangzhou’s Fu City, ’Cui Ping,’ Fang Wenxia, led the Defense Team to engage the sudden Cataclysm-rank twins, the ’Molting Roses,’ saving 5.5 million civilians. The entire team was sacrificed!"
"Four years ago, during the Painting Incident in West Continent’s Observation City, the ’Red Bear,’ Li Jie, gave up his chance to evacuate and returned to the scene to fight a battle to the death with the sudden Cataclysm-rank king, the ’Gallery Manager,’ ultimately saving 980,000 people before he was sacrificed!"
"Two years ago..."
As Mr. Wei Sr. spoke of the Heroes of the past, his eyes glistened with tears. He recounted every name, every deed, and every memory as if they were cherished treasures.
The Examiners’ expressions grew somber.
The crowd of examinees was lost in a daze.
Even the livestream chat grew quiet. The number of comments dwindled, the playful banter gone... As if by a tacit understanding, everyone offered a unanimous "Respect" for the fallen Heroes.
"Please remember this—"
Mr. Wei Sr. shouted hoarsely.
"A Hero—is one who is brave and fearless, but also one who is an ant trying to shake a great tree! You must all, with the spirit of the nine heavens, fearlessly strike back against overwhelming disaster!"
"Without the charge into certain defeat, without the determination to be reborn from death, how could the mountains and seas of the mortal world ever be worthy of the light!"