Chapter 28: Siege
Chapter 28: Siege
Xue Ruyan looked at Jiang Tian in surprise. Why was he asking that? Had he investigated her?
Since coming to Yue City, only a handful of people knew her true identity. Jiang Tian shouldn't be one of them…
"Student Jiang, has something happened?" Xue Ruyan asked urgently. Instead of making assumptions, it was better to ask directly.
Most misunderstandings arise from mutual suspicion and a lack of communication.
Jiang Tian explained, "I just felt someone spying on us, but the presence disappeared quickly. It was a brief observation—just long enough to confirm our location before vanishing. It was done very skillfully."
Xue Ruyan glanced around. "Could it be an illusion?"
"Considering Wu Xianqing's deliberate provocation against you, there must be a deeper reason behind it. I just don't know exactly what they're planning."
Jiang Tian looked her in the eye. "Do you have a reason for someone to take such a big risk to attack you during the city-wide joint assessment?"
Xue Ruyan was silent for a moment before sighing. "Yes."
Jiang Tian nodded. "What are you going to do next?"
"You're not going to ask why?" Xue Ruyan countered.
"We're just classmates and temporary teammates. I'm not in a position to pry into your secrets," Jiang Tian said simply.
Xue Ruyan studied him carefully before finally shaking her head with a bitter smile. "I'll call the examiner, give up the test, and return to the outpost."
Jiang Tian was surprised.
If he remembered correctly, Xue Ruyan took this assessment very seriously. Why would she just give up?
"Give up the exam?" Jiang Tian asked again. "This is just my intuition—there's no definite proof yet."
Xue Ruyan nodded. "If I were alone, I wouldn't give up. But you're here."
"I don't want to take this risk and drag you into danger."
"Besides, thanks to you, I not only awakened my talent, but I also became a Qi Refiner!"
"This is just a city-wide joint exam. When the college entrance exam comes, I can take back everything I lost."
She patted Jiang Tian's shoulder with a smile, trying to comfort him.
Then, Xue Ruyan took out a jade token and crushed it.
This was distributed along with their combat uniforms before departure.
Although there was a death threshold set for the assessment, it didn't mean students would be left to die.
Once the jade token was crushed, an examiner would immediately arrive.
Each examination area had three examiners on standby.
The nearest examiner should be arriving any second now.
Once they followed the examiner back to the outpost and registered, they would officially fail the test and receive 0 points.
Just as Xue Ruyan had said, awakening was already the biggest reward—especially awakening as a Qi Refiner, an extremely rare profession.
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But the examiner didn't come.
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"Let me take another look around to confirm," Jiang Tian said, swiftly moving toward the area where he had felt someone spying on them.
Xue Ruyan followed behind him.
She quickly realized that Jiang Tian's sense of smell was unusually sharp. Within two or three turns, he had already found clues.
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"He was watching from here," Jiang Tian pointed at faint scratches on a tree trunk and then at his combat uniform gloves' palm pads.
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Then, he brushed aside the thick weeds.
Many of them were trampled and broken—clear signs that someone had passed through here recently.
Although the tracker was careful, they were obviously inexperienced and not thorough enough.
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Xue Ruyan followed closely behind. She was growing more and more puzzled.
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"Isn't Jiang Tian determined to be a chef? Then why is his battlefield awareness so sharp?"
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She could never have imagined that this "chef" had lived a lifetime of warfare and survival in another world.
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"How long has it been since you crushed the jade token?" Jiang Tian asked, checking the tactical watch built into his combat uniform.
This special tactical watch was powered by refined blood energy rather than electronics.
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"Thirty-two minutes," Xue Ruyan responded, her expression darkening.
She immediately understood Jiang Tian's meaning.
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"The examiner is taking too long."
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That shouldn't happen.
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Each examination zone had at least three examiners. Given their speed, one of them should have arrived within ten minutes.
But thirty-two minutes had passed, and no one came.
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Jiang Tian's gaze turned cold.
"Could it be that to deal with you, they even took out the examiner?"
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Xue Ruyan's face turned pale.
Now it was obvious—
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This was a premeditated attack.
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She clenched her fists. "Student Jiang, let's split up. You return to the outpost alone."
"Their target is me. If we separate, you will be safe."
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"If something happens to me, at least you can bring back the information."
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She looked into Jiang Tian's eyes.
"You're stronger than I thought—even stronger than me before I awakened."
"But, Jiang, whoever is behind this is not something we can handle alone."
"Go."
She turned away from him. Her voice was firm, but her hands trembled as they clenched the shaft of her spear.
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She was nervous.
She was scared.
She had never encountered anything like this before.
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At the end of the day, she was just a girl who had recently become an adult.
Now, she was facing an unknown enemy, with no idea how dangerous they were.
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The fear of the unknown is the worst kind.
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Jiang Tian watched her silently.
He could tell she was pretending to be calm.
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Then, he sighed.
"Classmate Xue, your idea is very reasonable. Unfortunately, we can't execute it."
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Xue Ruyan's heart sank.
She turned and saw Jiang Tian looking toward the dense forest.
From there, a group of figures emerged.
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Wu Xianqing.
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He walked forward with his signature fake smile.
But what truly terrified Xue Ruyan were the two men following behind him.
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Examiners.
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Their black combat uniforms had bronze trims at the collars and cuffs.
That meant they were officially assigned examiners.
But there was blood on their uniforms.
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Three examiners were assigned per area.
Now, only two remained.
The third one…
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Had already been eliminated.
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And behind Wu Xianqing's group, more than fifteen Flame Birds glided toward them, forming a circle of death.
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Now, there was no escape.
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Xue Ruyan gritted her teeth in realization.
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"Starry Sky Gate!!!"