The Beast Tide Begins

“Let me through!” Candidate 100 yelled as he pushed to the front of the crowd.

He intended to show off in front of everyone and the unseen examiners.

He held his hands horizontally in front of his chest, forming a Tai Chi ball shape.

Whoosh!

Scorching heat distorted the air.

A fireball about three centimeters in diameter, smaller than a ping-pong ball, slowly took shape in his palms.

“Go!”

Sweat beaded on his forehead. Candidate 100 shouted, and the fireball shot toward the iron lock.

Pfft!

The fireball struck the lock. The yellow paint was destroyed by the high heat, revealing the metal layer underneath.

The metal temperature soared, glowing as if undergoing a flame reaction.

But the lock remained a lock… nothing changed.

“This…” Candidate 100 was a bit embarrassed.

“Seriously, bro?” Moon Surface leaned forward from the ground, looking at the discolored lock in disbelief.

That fireball wasn’t even as big as his balls, and the guy still dared to pick the attack position?

No self-awareness at all.

“I’m only at the Awakening stage. Being able to produce a fireball is already pretty good,” Candidate 100 said, his face turning bright red as he hurriedly tried to explain.

“Move aside.” Huang Xiu interrupted, stepping forward. Chi Xue silently made way for her.

Her round, full-moon-shaped fingernails gently cut through her flesh, and agate-like drops of blood scattered onto the vines.

As if Han Li had poured a bucket of green liquid on them, the vines visibly grew larger and thicker.

The green python raised its head, its powerful body twisting and distorting the iron bars one by one.

Finally, it revealed the various entrances, large and small.

“Let’s go in.” Without looking back, Huang Xiu walked into the botanical garden under the astonished gazes of the crowd.

The green python covered the entrance again.

That vine-like green iron serpent slithered down from the iron gate, rubbed against the girl’s palm, then raised its upper body and followed behind her like a guard.

“This ability… is so strong!” Moon Surface murmured.

A hint of envy flashed in his eyes.

If not forced, who would want to be support?

Even though she had anticipated it, Chi Xue was still shocked by Xiao Bei’s display.

The plants catalyzed by this ability were actually this powerful.

And seeing how effortlessly Candidate 122 handled it, she could probably catalyze a lot of plants.

“It seems ‘all-rounder’… she really wasn’t exaggerating,” Chi Xue whispered to herself.

But Candidate 100 heard her, his face flushed red, and barely suppressed jealousy flared in his eyes.

Why? Why was his ability so weak while hers was so strong?

He thought this, completely forgetting the satisfaction and pride he had felt upon first awakening.

“My God of Fire is so awesome…”

That night, under the starry sky, the boy stared at the small fireball in his hand, his face full of excitement, saying just that.

****

“Truly a powerful ability. It seems it’s not simple manipulation; it grants plants simple life and autonomy.”

Inside the control room, the woman in red spoke in a soft, seductive voice.

Her insight was exceptionally sharp; she saw through the essence of [Senluo] at a glance.

This wasn’t a manipulation-type ability but a creation-type one.

She licked her lips. “Old lecher, you’ve really picked up a treasure this time!”

The man in the white coat struggled to keep his drooping eyelids open.

On the screen, Huang Xiu continually mutated various plants, building her army of the plant sea.

“Release the monsters,” he yawned.

…

“Can you still catalyze plants?”

In the botanical garden, Chi Xue hesitated.

It wasn’t that she had no faith in Candidate 122, but…

She turned to look around.

Dense, enhanced plants followed behind the girl, as intimidating as a swarm of mosquitoes.

Candidate 100 and Moon Surface were also stunned.

Both of them had gone from initial envy or jealousy to complete numbness.

The gap was too huge!

They were simply not on the same level; there was no point in comparison.

“You’re much stronger than me. You take the lead as the main attacker, and I’ll support as the wingman.” Candidate 100 lowered his head and suddenly spoke.

This remark earned a second glance from Moon Surface. Admitting one’s shortcomings in time was already better than most.

“Okay.” Huang Xiu nodded and was about to lay out defense measures for the botanical garden.

Suddenly, a series of earth-shattering roars erupted from the distance of the examination grounds.

Time was up. The monsters were out!

The ground began to tremble, like an earthquake traveling from afar.

Even the dust on the walls was shaken loose.

“There seem to be quite a lot of monsters!” Huang Xiu thought.

Over thirty mutated plants rushed out of the botanical garden, forming four squads to guard the east, south, west, and north passages.

Only the mutated vines and Huang Xiaoxian remained by her side.

“Let’s go check the situation first.” Moon Surface pointed to the only high ground—the outer wall.

They climbed up the inner stairs, while Huang Xiu seized the time to continue creating mutated plants.

Moon Surface steadied himself, walked to the wall, and gazed into the distance.

Dust billowed there, and hundreds of silver-white animals were running.

Tigers, leopards, elephants, and even a tiger shark with thick legs.

At that moment, Moon Surface suddenly understood why most candidates could only hold out for a short while.

How could anyone withstand this kind of onslaught?

Even Candidate 122 probably couldn’t… maybe.

“There are super many monsters, at least a hundred!” Moon Surface turned and shouted down to Huang Xiu under the wall.

The silver-white beast tide advanced rapidly, like the Qiantang River’s tidal bore. At first glance, it seemed far away, but upon closer look, it was already right before them.

The mutated plants with ranged attacks managed only one volley against such speed.

Boom!

The silver-white ocean instantly flooded into the green lake, intertwining green and silver.

The two sides engaged in a brutal melee.

The three onlookers watched from above as if viewing a constantly shifting painting.

“No, it’s too chaotic.”

Candidate 100 had initially tried to throw fireballs at this moment to kill a few monsters and score points.

But the situation below was too chaotic.

The silver-white monster standing one second might be torn apart by a mutated plant the next, or it might tear apart another plant.

Positions changed constantly between offense and defense.

With his current aim, one fireball would likely either miss or cause friendly fire.

And… with his current void energy reserves, he could only throw ten fireballs at most before collapsing.

Better to save them for later survival.

Chi Xue had the same idea. She picked up a pile of stones from the ground, stuffed them in her pocket, and climbed up.

But unlike Candidate 100, although her void energy concentration was only C-grade, [Grand Momentum] only amplified kinetic energy and didn’t consume much void energy.

With her current Awakening level strength, throwing dozens of stones wasn’t a problem.

So she simply gathered her strength and hurled stones toward the densest areas of silver-white monsters.

Without specific training, Chi Xue’s aim wasn’t good.

But with a barrage of stones raining down, she still managed to kill a few silver-white monsters.