EM CH30

Chapter 30: Punishment

The exit of the elimination pit led directly into the examinee rest lounge, where emergency medical team doctors had set up designated stations. Examinees were received the moment they slid out: the injured received on-site treatment, while those unhurt proceeded directly to onboarding medical evaluations to rule out latent physical trauma.

The lounge was stocked with a buffet and showers for the interns to freely use. Interns gathered inside, mingling and chatting while eating, lamenting their scores and seeking commiseration.

Ji Nian sat on a velvet armchair in the lounge hugging his knees, holding a white porcelain plate, nibbling small bites of red velvet cake with a fork as he listened to Yong Zheng venting furiously about Yu An beside him.

“I knew that bastard had rotten intentions all along.” Yong Zheng flipped his precious laptop over and over, checking for dents or scrapes. “How could he put on an act in front of us for that long without batting an eye or skipping a heartbeat? Was he a fraudster in a past life?”

“Yeah, maybe,” Ji Nian bit his fork. When Yong Zheng paced to the left, Ji Nian’s head swiveled to the left; when he paced to the right, his head swiveled to the right.

“Yeah, my ass!” Yong Zheng smacked Ji Nian’s head of curly chestnut hair. “And you actually left him the Precision Belt?!”

“It’s not some rare relic anyway, just a little trinket I cobbled together. Nothing to be stingy about.” Having finished his cake, Ji Nian used the lace paper doily to fold an intricate miniature paper airplane. “Getting out early means eating early, doesn’t it?”

“Aren’t you angry in the slightest?”

“If Yu An loses on behalf of the technicians, then I’ll be angry.”

“Give me a break. Those two investigators aren’t pushovers. Just you watch; the next one tumbling down the chute will be Yu An.”

The paper airplane glided several meters, abruptly making a sharp ninety-degree turn, smacking square into Yong Zheng’s forehead.

“Heheh, bullseye,” Ji Nian chuckled.

The hot entrées at the buffet were refreshed. Drawn by the vermicelli-steamed scallops, Ji Nian hopped off his chair and scurried over.

Soon after, the elimination pit exit slid open once more, and an intern flew out of the chute headfirst.

Scrambling up from the floor, Huo Yangui rubbed his head, sitting in a daze with little stars circling his vision.

His arrival caused the room’s temperature to jump five or six degrees within seconds. The staff had to switch the climate control from heating to cooling just to offset the thermal radiating from his body.

“…No way.” Utterly astonished, Yong Zheng paced around Huo Yangui, scrutinizing him: “Lan-jie beat you down here?”

Huo Yangui shook his head: “No. Knocked down by a technician.”

“Yu An?” Yong Zheng was stunned. “He can beat you?”

“I didn’t even get to trade blows before I tripped and fell. Didn’t you know? He can swap…” Huo Yangui stopped himself, brushed the dirt and crushed grass from his shorts, wiped his nose, and muttered, “Whatever. I was outmatched. I’m taking off.”

The moment he left, the temperature in the lounge plunged. With winter outside and the air conditioning blowing cold air within, the room chilled down like an ice cellar.

“Swap? Swap what?” Yong Zheng watched his retreating figure, lost in thought.

Pandemonium had already erupted in the conference hall.

Ten minutes earlier, Yu An had squatted beside Huo Yangui, folded the beauty standee back into his backpack, and then retrieved another pale blue wolf core from his Core Storage Analyzer, saying to Huo Yangui sprawled on the ground: “I have another one. If I say ‘Drop dead,’ you die. The elimination pit is right behind you. Jump in yourself.”

The Underground Railway executives had fallen into dead silence, watching the monitor screen. The crisp shatter of a dropped tumbler snapped everyone back to reality. The big boss stood bolt upright from the sofa, the fine chain of his spectacles swaying.

Zhao Ran’s face was livid, his deerskin gloves creaking under his clenched fists. Snapping his fingers in the shadows, all four wrap-around display screens abruptly died simultaneously; no matter how the assistant behind the console calibrated the controls, the feeds could not be restored.

That brat… During weekend training, he had repeatedly drilled into him never to blatantly expose his ability to swap Aberrant Cores, yet the kid had treated it like hot air. How was he supposed to clean up this mess now?

Seeing his prized disciple Huo Yangui schemed into elimination, Team Leader Duan hadn’t even worked through his rage before being struck completely dumb. Team Leader Yuan was equally shaken. When someone nearby who had been busy drinking asked what just happened, Yuan Xiaoying waved her hand frantically: “Don’t ask.”

Reining in his shock, the big boss dabbed the spilled liquor on his robe with a napkin, clearing his throat lightly: “Everything discussed in this conference hall constitutes top-secret Underground Railway intelligence. From this day forward, I expect everyone to watch their words and conduct.”

Zhao Ran pressed his brow, overwhelmed by rising fury, the unhealed wound on his flank throbbing faintly.

He rose to his feet and strode out of the conference hall in icy silence.

Having claimed all of Huo Yangui’s points, Yu An’s combined tally surged to 210, more than doubling Ni Lan’s score.

Ni Lan sat at 95. Even if she eliminated Zeng Rang to gain fifty bonus points, she would only reach 145. While it appeared Yu An had victory firmly in hand, reality proved otherwise.

The real-time scoreboard suddenly updated with a flicker. Yu An noticed that alongside Huo Yangui whom he had just eliminated, the name of the assassination target, Zeng Rang, also bore the word [Eliminated], his score wiped clean to zero.

What happened?

Only choosing voluntary surrender and withdrawal wiped a score to zero.

When the objective to “Kill Intern Zeng Rang” had been issued, Yu An immediately realized that Underground Railway was publicly broadcasting an execution warrant, signaling a willingness to break all ties with the rival company. Zeng Rang couldn’t fail to understand; he had been scurrying like a rat to avoid all interns, and those few dozen minutes were undoubtedly the most terrifying moments of his life.

Yet with his undercover identity blown, wouldn’t stepping outside be walking straight into a trap?

Unless Underground Railway had another mole capable of receiving him.

Or killing him.

Yu An felt he needed to report this to the interviewer immediately, but despite signaling toward the surveillance cameras several times, he received no response.

The thermal scanner hooked onto the Precision Belt suddenly sounded an alarm. Glancing back, Ni Lan was already closing in, dragging her Void Laser Blade behind her.

Yu An was the sole examinee privy to the inside story; Ni Lan knew nothing of the undercover operation. In fact, when the objective had been deployed, she hadn’t even registered the distinction between “eliminated” and “killed” in the briefing.

The strength test had entered its final ten-minute countdown.

Yu An had zero intention of engaging Ni Lan in an open duel. He only needed to duck inside the safe house where he took the written exam to lock down his first-place score. However, spending a dozen seconds signaling the cameras had allowed Ni Lan to rapidly close the gap by dozens of meters.

Spotting the entrance to his safe house ahead, he embedded Goat Horns into his socket, sprinting toward the blast door at top speed.

He had already planted one leg into the tunnel’s shadow when a flash of silver streaked past his eyes like lightning splitting from scalp to sole. Ni Lan’s Void Laser Blade stabbed straight down into the floor, wedged directly between Yu An’s legs, blocking his path.

Cold sweat broke across Yu An’s forehead. That woman was brutal; had he edged forward even a single centimeter, the laser blade would have cleaved straight through the center of his body.

A moment later, Yu An felt knuckles lightly grazing his cheek as a drift of perfume closed in from behind. A gorgeous face leaned close to his ear, laughing softly: “Didi, to think you could hold out until now; truly beyond my expectations. But next time, you’ll have to run a little faster.”

Yu An glanced sideways, Ni Lan’s die earring spinning in a blur before his eyes.

Ni Lan’s speed, power, and swordsmanship were overwhelmingly dominant; Yu An had never planned to duel her head-on from the moment he entered the arena. With eight minutes left before the exam concluded, he had to hold out no matter what, or everything would unravel.

Moving suddenly, Yu An struck a beat ahead of Ni Lan, yanking the Void Laser Blade from the floor and hurling it into the safe house—

The laser blade sank instantly into the reinforced wall, buried inside Yu An’s safe house.

Stepping into another examinee’s safe house triggered immediate elimination. Ni Lan hadn’t expected him to pull such a dirty trick, her eyelashes fluttering in sheer indignation: “You little brat—”

Pinching Yu An by the cheek, she dragged him out from the shadow of the safe house entrance. Turning her back to the threshold, she blocked his path entirely, leaning forward with fists raised, curling her lips into a grin: “I don’t need a sword to handle you anyway.”

Heels clicking against the concrete, Ni Lan focused purely on offense without defense, blue veins bulging along her fair arms, throwing punches at dizzying speed.

Only through the strength and agility buffs of Goat Horns could Yu An barely parry Ni Lan’s onslaught, slapping away the fists aimed at his face. Yet Ni Lan’s combos were practiced and lethal: sweeping her long leg, the black dealer skirt whipped in the wind, her stiletto heel grazing past Yu An’s throat like a dagger. Yu An dodged backward, narrowly evading the fatal strike, yet still felt the draft cut like a razor, carving a thin trickle of blood across his neck.

Leaping into the air, Ni Lan channeled her full force into her right leg, axe-kicking downward. Seizing the opening to dart left, Yu An caught her descending right foot with both hands, yanking forward.

Yet riding the momentum, Ni Lan crashed right against Yu An’s frame, clamping down on his elbow before pivoting behind him, wrapping her forearm around his throat in a rear naked choke, winching tight in an instant.

Gritting his teeth, Yu An pried outward against her arms, drew a sharp breath, and threw an elbow shiver that momentarily broke Ni Lan’s balance. Grasping her wrist, he hurled her forward in an over-the-shoulder throw.

Her long skirt fluttering, Ni Lan spun twice midair and stuck the landing without toppling. Yet she began feeling her stamina draining, her breathing turning ragged.

Exam countdown: ten seconds.

Eight seconds.

Three seconds.

Two seconds.

One second.

The exam was over.

Yu An had timed his use of Goat Horns down to the wire. The instant the PA broadcast the end of the test, Monstrosity Core: Goat Horns depleted entirely, its blue light dying out, the horns vanishing from his head.

“Ending before I even had my fun? Guess this counts as a draw.” Hearing the broadcast, Ni Lan let out a long sigh, dropping her combat stance. Walking up to Yu An, who was leaning against the wall just to stay upright, she cleanly flicked him on the forehead: “Hit the gym when you’re free; I want a real winner decided.”

Stripped of Goat Horns’ buffs, Yu An clutched his forehead and collapsed flat onto the floor, nearly passing out.

“?” Dumbfounded, Ni Lan stared down at her own hand.

Staggering out of the arena, the scene was entirely different from what Yu An had imagined. The corridor outside was completely deserted, eerily quiet; the eliminated interns and guarding personnel had all vanished.

Yu An looked around searching for the interviewer, only to find a young woman wearing an Emergency Order Team uniform waiting for him by the elevator.

“I’m Mr. Zhao’s subordinate; you can just call me Xiao An.” Wearing a plaid silk scarf around her neck, she looked very gentle and bright. “Mr. Zhao went to handle business and instructed me to take you home first.”

“Zeng Rang…”

Xiao An narrowed her eyes, turning solemn: “Yes. Handling that matter.”

Wearing the Pure Black Hood, Xiao An couldn’t see his expression, only watching him stand in silence for a moment, slowly rolling the score sheet in his hand into a tight scroll.

“So killing Zeng Rang was what he truly cared about after all,” he murmured softly to himself, his tone carrying a sudden, disillusioned realization tinged with faint regret. “I understood it backwards.”

Xiao An couldn’t quite grasp his meaning.

Throughout the drive, Yu An sat in the passenger seat without uttering a word, propping his chin as he stared out the window, his thoughts unreadable.

Pulling up before Zhao Ran’s villa, Xiao An told him: “Mr. Zhao said for you to stay inside the house and not step out; he’ll be back later. He also specifically instructed that I come inside to keep you company.”

“No need.”

“Hey, wait,” Xiao An hurried after him, “Mr. Zhao insisted that I stay inside with you!”

Without a word, Yu An stepped into the house, shutting the door in Xiao An’s face.

Yet the moment he pushed the door open, his body instinctively flashed a warning of mortal danger, an eerie premonition making the hairs on his skin stand on end.

Intuition prompted him to equip the x-ray core, sweeping his gaze across the villa.

Taking in the sight, cold sweat drenched Yu An from head to toe.

Beneath the sofa, behind the curtains, inside the vases, within the sinks… tucked behind nearly every single piece of furniture were dense swarms of severed hands, their fingers writhing alive, crawling straight toward Yu An.

Yu An turned to flee, but the door was slammed shut by a hand with a heavy thud. Immediately, his arms were forced behind his back with his wrists pinned tight, his eyes covered by a palm, his mouth clamped shut. The hands dragged him deeper into the room with brutal force, pure fury and anxiety suffocating the entire house.

Stripped of vision and choking for air, Yu An recalled a terrifying yet intimately familiar sensation: the feeling of being pinned down and disciplined with unbridled brutality every time he drove someone past the point of fury.