"Stand still, all of you!!!" the instructor behind Yuan Gang roared!
All the new recruits in the field immediately fell silent. Although the formation was still crooked, at least the basic shape of the ranks could be seen.
Lin Qiye and Baili Pangpang arrived relatively late, so they stood at the very back of the line. Even so, they could still feel the pressure from the instructors on the training platform!
Without using any forbidden artifacts or weapons, they simply stood there, their imposing presence like a majestic mountain pressing down on everyone's chests.
This kind of spirit can only come from the tempering of life-and-death battles, something that these rookies lack.
Yuan Gang stared silently at the crowd below for a long time before slowly speaking, his voice deep and resonant:
"I know that you are all geniuses from the entire Great Xia Dynasty. Some of you possess forbidden realms that ordinary people can only dream of, while others have unparalleled skills, and some may even have extraordinary backgrounds..."
"But from the moment you stepped through that door, you have had only one identity..."
"That is, new recruits!"
"You are rookies!!"
"No, right now you don't even qualify as rookies. You are useless, you are trash!"
"When facing a truly powerful and mysterious being, they are nothing but a useless person who will only harm themselves and drag their teammates down!"
"You are still a long way from truly becoming members of the Night's Watch!"
Yuan Gang's voice grew louder and louder, like thunder echoing across the empty training ground. Lin Qiye could clearly sense that most of the new recruits around him had turned cold.
Some people held their heads high with pride, some sneered inwardly, some looked on with disdain, and some lowered their heads in deep thought...
"What? You're not convinced?" Yuan Gang took in everyone's expressions and raised his eyebrows.
No one answered, but their answers were written on their faces.
"Yes, I refuse to accept this!"
"Do you think you have powerful forbidden realms, extraordinary abilities, and a bright future? Do you think the only reason I can stand here and reprimand you is because you were born a few years earlier and your cultivation level is higher?"
"Do you think I can call you weak, that your level is low, but I can't call you trash or garbage?"
Yuan Gang sneered twice, "Bullshit! I'm absolutely right. In your current state, even if you reached the 'Klein' level, you'd just be slightly stronger pieces of trash! You wouldn't even last a single move against a true powerhouse!"
"Do you believe it or not?!"
Many people began to breathe heavily, staring intently at Yuan Gang on the stage, their eyes seemingly burning with anger.
"I don't believe it!!"
Just then, a young man with his military uniform open and his general's cap backwards slowly stretched out his hand, chewing gum in his mouth, his face full of mockery. He's the one standing next to Lin Xi Chen.
"New recruit, what's your name?"
"Shen Qingzhu"
"Alright, who else disagrees?"
"I disagree!"
"I!"
"Me too!!"
"..."
With Shen Qingzhu leading the way, more and more people were dissatisfied, and in the end, about half of the people in the group raised their hands.
In the back row, Baili Pangpang nudged Lin Qiye.
"Qiye? And you?"
"Me? I accept it."
"...Why?"
"Because he's right." Lin Qiye's mind flashed back to the torrential rain that washed everything away, and the invincible Ghost-Faced King in the rain. And in the Second Middle School, there stood in the darkness, possessing extraordinary intelligence, secretly plotting everything…
"They've never encountered the Mysteries, they don't know what those things are..." Lin Qiye's eyes narrowed slightly. "I guarantee that if they really faced those two Mysteries I've encountered, no more than ten out of these two hundred people would survive."
"Moreover, there are definitely stronger and more monstrous mysterious beings in this world... If I were to encounter them now, I probably wouldn't even know how I died."
"Have you seen the Mysterious? Are they very powerful?"
"Very impressive."
"Fine, if you admit it, I admit it too," Baili Pangpang said without any principles.
On stage, Yuan Gang's lips curled slightly upward. He nodded and continued:
"Alright, since so many of you are dissatisfied, I'll give you a chance—a chance to see yourselves clearly."
As he spoke, he took out his walkie-talkie and said indifferently, "Come down."
Beep—!
The walkie-talkie clicked off. Yuan Gang looked up at the azure sky, seemingly waiting for something.
The crowd below the stage looked up but found nothing. After a while, they began to whisper among themselves.Suddenly, someone in the crowd exclaimed:
"Look! Someone fell from the clouds!!"
Everyone suddenly looked up!
Lin Qiye gazed at the sky, his eyes slightly narrowed.In the azure sky, seven black dots were rapidly enlarging. After a few seconds, everyone could see that they were seven people.
Seven people wearing grey cloaks, carrying black boxes, and wearing different masks.
They fell from the clouds, without any protective gear, freefalling rapidly towards the training ground, their cloaks billowing in the wind!
"Holy crap! Did they jump from the plane? And they didn't even have parachutes?!" Baili Pangpang, standing next to Lin Qiye, exclaimed in surprise.
Not only was Baili Pangpang shocked, but everyone else was also dumbfounded, and the noise grew louder and louder.
On stage, Yuan Gang touched his nose and muttered to himself, "Goodness, I just mentioned it casually, and they actually jumped... They're so dedicated."
Above the sky!
The seven figures plummeted rapidly, their screams, like chickens being slaughtered, echoing in the air. Among them, the man wearing a vortex mask writhed wildly.
"Aa...Help!...ah--!!!"
"Vortex! Can't you be quiet?! I'm going deaf!" the woman wearing the rose mask cursed."
"I'm afraid of heights!!! Rose! Don't just stand there and talk like you don't know what's going on!!" Vortex's voice was hoarse from shouting. "Captain! Yuan Gang said he'd jump out of the plane, are we really going to jump!? Why should we!!"
At the bottom, a man wearing a mask with the character "王" (King) spoke calmly: "I heard this year's freshmen are hard to scare. Instructor Yuan probably had no other choice but to ask us for help. We have to help them."
"Aaaaaah!! What if we fall and die?!"
"With me here, you won't die from the fall." The man wearing a sky mask next to him rolled his eyes.
"Are you sure you're good at it? I've gained two pounds recently, can you hold me up?"
"...Captain, can I just let this guy fall to his death like that?"
"No."
"..."
"Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh..."
"Alright, quiet down!" Wang Mian glanced down and continued, "We're about to land. If you shout too loudly, they'll hear you, and that'll be embarrassing."
"Then...then I'll try to make it as quiet as possible..." Vortex covered his mouth....
As they got closer to the ground, the recruits finally got a clear look at their uniforms.
"Is it [Masked]?!"
"The [Masked], one of the four special squads?!"
"Hiss..."
Amidst the exclamations of the crowd, just as the seven were about to crash into the ground, the man wearing the Libra Mask extended two fingers and gave them a light flick...
The gravity on the seven people vanished instantly, and they floated to the ground as lightly as feathers.
They touched the ground with their toes and stood firmly in place, their gray cloaks fluttering in the wind, and their seven distinct masks gleaming in the sunlight.
Wang Mian's gaze swept across everyone's faces, and he spoke calmly, "Hello everyone, we are [Masked] Xiao..."
Before Wang Mian could finish speaking, Vortex's legs went weak...
He knelt down in front of the freshmen with a thud.
Vortex: ( •︠ˍ•︡ )
Masked Crew: (▼ヘ▼#)!
The new recruits: ( ･᷅ὢ･᷄ )?! ! ?