When in doubt, charge... no, wait, caution first.
The Water Scale Beast had already learned to understand his intent and retreated a distance.
But not too far.
—He had to guard against other spirits; staying too far would leave him isolated.
...
Yesterday.
When the raid team members first targeted a candidate, the surveillance footage was transmitted to Bay Town.
In the footage, the candidate fled in panic. Some teachers keenly noticed the candidate pressing a few buttons on their wristband.
One asked, "The candidate pressed the distress button. How should this be handled?"
Normally, calling for help meant forfeiting the assessment.
The badges earned earlier would still count, but the candidate would be removed from the exam site.
This meant the earlier a candidate was targeted by the raid team, the more disadvantaged they were—after all, candidates usually had to deal with elite-level wild spirits on their own.
But being suddenly attacked by humans made them more likely to instinctively seek help from the exam site.
It was the same principle as calling the police when in danger.
The big shot on the examiner team watched the candidate on the screen and shook his head slightly:
"In reality, if they stayed calm and observed carefully, they could notice the various inconsistencies in the raid team members.
"However, the assessment requirements aren't that high. When facing raid team members, their distress signals won't be processed.
"So, there's no possibility of voluntarily giving up the assessment."
...
The young man in the graffiti combat suit grinned, his sharp gaze fixed on Su Hao's location.
His lips moved.
Su Hao's physical condition was now excellent, and his eyesight was exceptionally sharp.
He could actually make out what the man was saying with his lip movements.
"Run... no one... will come... to save... signal... already... blocked..."
Su Hao: "..."
He looked down at the wristband on his arm.
It was different from the joint exam's.
It was a manual distress type, without a protective shield—because the shield from a spirit wristband was far inferior to a spirit master's own 'Spirit Guardian,' making such equipment impractical to mass-produce.
But he... hadn't even thought about calling for help.
"There are a few strange points."
Su Hao pondered.
Wild spirits knew how to ambush, but this person in the graffiti combat suit had walked out openly.
The Tremor Wolf looked fierce but moved slowly.
It was clearly telling you, giving you time to escape.
"And... an elite level is way too weak."
He wasn't getting cocky or looking down on elite levels.
If a transcendent-level spirit had infiltrated the island, he'd consider it a slim possibility, but still unlikely.
But an elite-level spirit... not water-type, not flying... accompanied by a spirit master, boldly appearing on the island without any reaction from the exam site?
Either there was a mole.
Or it was fake.
Su Hao leaned toward the latter.
If it were the former, why not send a transcendent-level spirit to crush the candidates outright?
Why bother with just an elite level?
It seemed Su Hao's aura of mockery was too obvious. The young man, who had planned to give him thirty seconds to prepare, now decided not to wait.
He lunged forward, pulling a pistol from his waist.
—That's right, a qualified spirit master had to know how to handle firearms to keep up with the times.
Bang!
He fired a shot at Su Hao.
Deliberately aiming off.
The bullet embedded into the ground in front of the Water Scale Beast, leaving a hole.
"Xilu?"
The Water Scale Beast tilted its head, stepped back, then leaned forward again.
It was asking what that was.
Then,
A second bullet came.
The Water Scale Beast instinctively used Bubble Defense.
The transparent bubble caved inward, then deflected the bullet, which clattered to the ground.
The young man nodded slightly.
By then, the Tremor Wolf had already pounced forward. He ordered, "Break through the two spirits, then attack the spirit master!"
"Owww—"
As the words fell, the Tremor Wolf smashed an energy ball with one claw and used a Gravity move to restrain the Ember Crow and Dream Moth.
It leaped, its massive claw swiping at the larger Ember Crow.
Clang—
A psychic shield appeared before the Ember Crow, shattered first, then the wolf's claw struck the Ember Crow, whose feathers had closed like metal.
It was like a black metal ball being knocked away, producing a crisp sound.
The Tremor Wolf adjusted its posture mid-air, almost immediately swinging a second claw after the first.
Boom!
The claw slammed into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
The young man in the graffiti suit widened his eyes.
What's going on, little wolf? Why is the attack so off?!
The Tremor Wolf landed.
It lunged forward again... aiming for Su Hao.
But suddenly stumbled.
Then, the patterns on the Dream Moth's wings lit up, and countless grains of condensed spiritual energy shot out from under its wings, raining down like a downpour.
Like a curtain of emerald rain, they slammed into the Tremor Wolf, tearing its flesh open. The wolf howled in pain.
It pushed off with all four limbs, leaping far away.
The grain machine gun pounded the ground, tearing a trench through the earth, with a tree at the end shattered into pieces.
Meanwhile,
The knocked-back Ember Crow flew back, seemingly unharmed.
It spread its wings, and a layer of flame armor covered its black feathers, making it look like a reborn firebird.
"What is that?!"
"A move... or?!"
The majestic Ember Crow dove down, trailing a long crimson tail like a meteor.
It charged straight into the sandstorm raised by the Tremor Wolf.
"Use Afterimage!"
The Ember Crow's momentum was too overwhelming; the young man dared not let his spirit take it head-on.
Seeing the fire figure pierce through the afterimage, he breathed a sigh of relief... then his eyes widened.
The Ember Crow's figure rapidly grew in his pupils.
He was directly attacked!
This wasn't the script!
"Damn!!"
"Giant Croc King, block for me—"
He suddenly realized he could only use one spirit.
By the time he reacted, it was too late to dive.
The massive impact and flames exploded on the young man.
He was sent flying, rolling several times on the ground, encased in a shield like an eggshell.
Completely dazed.
Who am I?
Where am I?
Who's the candidate here?
...
In the distance,
A raid team member on lookout stood on high ground, scanning the surroundings with binoculars.
He had to check if any other candidates had wandered into this area.
After a while,
He lowered the binoculars.
He ran across the rooftop, leaping several meters to land on another building's roof.
"Wonder how Xiao Deng is doing..."
He walked to the other side of the roof and looked.
It was far away.
But he could still clearly make out two sides.
One chasing, one fleeing.
Though something seemed off.
...
Elsewhere on the island.
Slightly chubby Liu Ren moved with surprising agility, sprinting through the forest.
A Blue Water Frog hopped behind him.
He ran for who knows how long until he sensed no more movement behind him. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.
He spread his fingers.
Summoning.
Two or three seconds later, a somewhat lethargic Lava Turtle appeared before him.
"Good..."
"But who was that person?"
Liu Ren tried to call for help, but the wristband showed no response.
"What a cheap wristband, even blocked!
"But now that I've distanced myself from that person, the signal... should be back, right?"
He was about to press it.
Suddenly,
The wristband vibrated, and a message popped up.
Liu Ren looked at it and felt like cursing.
"It's part of the assessment!"
He was furious.
He thought he'd pulled off some slick escape!
Liu Ren sat down to rest.
His gaze drifted through the dense leaves to the sky, his thoughts wandering.
"Wonder how Old Su is doing. If he ran into the raid team... maybe he wouldn't need to run?"