Evolving infinitely from ground zero

Shangguan Yueying shook her head and chuckled ruefully.

Standing beside her, Shen Qinghan really wanted to tell her:

——Indeed, the people from the military area and Robotics Group are much stronger than those from Jinda, but they are not the strongest. The strongest one is Lin Zi Chen, standing right next to you.

Soon, the speed contest ended.

Zhao Yuanzhong crossed under the banyan tree slightly ahead of the others, winning the speed contest.

Zhang Kai was somewhat unconvinced, “Don’t think you’re really faster than me, I just reacted slower at the start. It could have been anyone’s game.”

Zhao Yuanzhong laughed too, “Reaction time is part of the race, part of one’s capabilities. If you lose, you lose. Why make so many excuses?”

Zhang Kai said no more, otherwise he would indeed appear to be a sore loser.

Zhao Yuanzhong duly became the team leader.

“Captain, since you’re from the military area, you must be very familiar with this building. Tell us about the challenges inside,” Shangguan Yueying said to Zhao Yuanzhong.

Zhao Yuanzhong shook his head. “You think too much. I’m also here for specialized training, and I definitely don’t know the challenges inside. Otherwise, what would be the point of the training?”

“Is that so…”

Shangguan Yueying felt it was a pity.

Very soon.

The time reached 7:30 AM.

The D-gate in front of the five slowly opened.

“Let’s go, let’s go in.”

Zhao Yuanzhong charged in first.

Lin Zi Chen was not as eager, following at a leisurely pace.

Upon entering, they were greeted by a room transformed into steel.

The floor was steel.

The walls were steel.

Everywhere they looked, there was steel.

Lin Zi Chen glanced around and noticed the walls were riddled with holes of uniform size.

They looked like the dark muzzles of guns, ready to shoot bullets at any moment.

The others noticed these holes as well.

Shangguan Yueying said, “Those aren’t all gun barrels, are they?”

Zhang Kai replied, “Most likely are.”

Zhao Yuanzhong didn’t say anything; instead, he focused and activated the exotic beast gene within his body, which instantly covered him in a layer of hard scales.

His eyes too, turned fierce and sharp, as if they could peer through everything in the world.

A second-level Genetic Integrator: fused with the genes of an Armored Earth Dragon and a Ferocious Great Eagle…

After a glance at Zhao Yuanzhong, Lin Zi Chen quickly came to this conclusion.

“I’ll charge ahead; follow me!”

After dropping this line, Zhao Yuanzhong took a quick step and dashed toward the iron door at the front.

As he crossed a beam of infrared light, the holes in the surrounding walls immediately expelled a barrage of bullets enveloped in gun smoke, showering down on him densely.

“Tat! Tat! Tat…”

The sound of a machine gun firing erupted.

Even the scales on Zhao Yuanzhong’s body were easily shattered and pierced by the bullets.

His body riddled with bullet holes.

He couldn’t hold on.

Without being reckless, Zhao Yuanzhong retreated to a safe spot right away.

“They’re armor-piercing rounds; I can’t hold them off,” he said while checking the bullet holes on his body, a slight frown on his face.

At the same time, he was secretly relieved that his scales were thick enough; otherwise, he might have ended up as riddled as a lotus root slice.

“Let me try!”

Zhang Kai raised his arms, revealing a row of dark gun barrels.

Then, he madly sprayed bullets towards those holes on the wall.

The bullets from his arms were just as powerful as those coming from the wall.

In less than half a minute, most of the holes on the wall were blocked and the guns jammed inside the wall.

“Alright, let’s rush now!”

Zhang Kai stowed away the gun barrels on his arms and quickly charged toward the front iron door.

The others followed swiftly behind.

Lin Zi Chen deliberately walked slowly, staying behind Shen Qinghan, protecting her all the way to ensure she wouldn’t be hit by the armor-piercing rounds if she couldn’t evade in time.

“Tat! Tat! Tat…”

The remaining holes in the wall, not jammed by the bullets, continued their duty, firing armor-piercing rounds and incessantly spraying at the group.

Unfortunately, there were too few left, not enough to pose a threat.

The group easily dodged and swiftly reached the front of the iron door.

“There’s no handle, no keyhole, and no code lock. How are we supposed to open this door?” Shangguan Yueying said, frowning.

Zhao Yuanzhong replied, “What else can we do but break it down with force?”

With that, he lifted his leg and kicked fiercely at the door.

A loud “bang” sounded.

The iron door didn’t budge at all, extremely sturdy and impossible to kick open.

“Let me give it a try!”

Zhang Kai activated the hydraulic devices on his arms and threw a fierce punch at the metal door.

Similarly, a loud “bang” rang out.

This time, the metal door moved.

A clear fist imprint appeared on it, announcing that the door had sustained significant damage.

“It works!”

Shangguan Yueying’s face lit up with joy.

Zhang Kai recharged the hydraulics and with another “bang,” he struck the metal door, hitting precisely the same spot as the previous imprint.

In an instant, the fist imprint turned into a dent, furthering the damage and bringing them one step closer to breaking through the door.

“Bang! Bang! Bang…”

Zhang Kai kept hitting the door with punch after punch.

Ten punches, twenty punches, thirty punches…

After thirty-five consecutive punches, he had completely deformed the metal door.

But at this point, Zhang Kai couldn’t take it anymore. His arms had been deformed by the recoil from punching the door, which caused the hydraulic device to get damaged and stop working.

Fortunately, the door was already deformed and not as solid as before.

Zhao Yuanzhong took Zhang Kai’s place, raising his leg and kicking the door fiercely.

When tired of kicking, he rested, letting someone else take over.

Lin Zichen could have kicked the door off its hinges with one strike, but he didn’t do so with full force.

Instead, he used the strength of a mere ordinary eighth-level to kick the door steadily and consistently.

He held back because he wanted to give Shen Qinghan a sense of participation.

Otherwise, by simply clearing the obstacle with one kick, the entry assessment would lose its meaning for Shen Qinghan and become nothing but a waste of time.

After kicking for less than a minute, Lin Zichen pretended to be tired and stepped aside to make room.

Shen Qinghan quickly caught on and took over immediately, kicking the door with all her might.

“Bang! Bang! Bang…”

Feeling her legs go numb, she stopped kicking, stepping aside to let Shangguan Yueying take her place.

One by one, they worked together in this manner.

After about half an hour,

only to hear a loud “boom.”

They finally succeeded in kicking the door down.

It was Zhao Yuanzhong who had done it.

Rubbing his tingling right leg, he said with a look of distress, “It’s numb. The first obstacle is this tough, how are we going to handle the next two?”

Zhang Kai said, “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

Having said that, he stepped over the fallen door and walked quickly towards the second floor.

Seeing this, the others followed suit.

Lin Zichen also walked at the end of the group, ensuring Shen Qinghan’s safety.

Upon reaching the second floor,

the moment they entered,

Lin Zichen saw a display screen on the wall.

It was showing the progress of the four teams clearing the obstacles.

He looked closer and saw that Teams A, B, and C had already moved on to the third obstacle.

Only his Team D had just finished the first obstacle and was on to the second, moving at a pitifully slow rate.

“Damn it, how can those bastards clear the obstacles so fast? We’re just at the second obstacle, and they’ve already advanced to the third, a bunch of freaks!”

Seeing the progress bar on the display screen, Zhang Kai felt deeply hit and began to doubt his life choices.

Zhao Yuanzhong, too, was getting anxious and quickly urged the four of them, “Stop looking, let’s move on, no dawdling.”

He knew his team was bound to come in last, but he didn’t want it to be too embarrassing. The faster they got through the obstacles, the more face he could save.

Quickly, everyone entered the second obstacle.

It was another metal room.

But what was different were the walls all around, which had no bullet holes, only the wall in front of them with a metal door that had a display screen installed on it.

Above the door, the word “Intelligence” was inscribed.

So… was this obstacle testing their intelligence?

Thinking this, Lin Zichen walked straight towards the door with the display screen, to test if he would be under attack.

Seeing this, Shen Qinghan quickly followed.

“Be careful!”

Shangguan Yueying cautioned the two as they strode directly towards the door.

However, as they walked, they encountered no attacks.

As expected, this obstacle was indeed a test of intelligence and wouldn’t attack them with a sudden hail of bullets like the first one… thought Lin Zichen to himself.

Behind him, Zhao Yuanzhong, Zhang Kai, and Shangguan Yueying, seeing that it was safe to walk directly over, immediately quickened their pace.

Lin Zichen stopped in front of the door, curiously examining the display screen on it.

In the display, there appeared a virtual character continuously playing rock-paper-scissors.

Next to the virtual character, there were three pieces of text with prompts.

[Win once, the metal door opens by two centimeters]

[Tie once, the metal door opens by one centimeter]

[Lose once, the metal door closes by three centimeters, and a fierce attack will be launched]

…

PS: Begging for monthly and recommendation tickets!