The undead have descended upon the world? I possess a sword that can cleave the heavens once more!

The scarred man saw Hu Lie as soon as he stepped out of the portal. His narrow eyes snapped open, and the scars on his face contorted in pain. "Brother Lie?"

Hu Lie was taken aback, looking at the tall, thin man with a long scar on his face, not recognizing him for a moment. He stared at the face for several seconds, rummaging through the corners of his memory, before hesitantly speaking, "You are...?"

"Oh, it's me, Li Feng!" The man strode forward, his voice filled with the excitement of a long-awaited reunion. "Little Feng who used to always follow you around, Brother Lie!"

Hearing the man's words, Hu Lie looked at the thin, weathered face and tried to match it with a strong figure in his memory.

The round-faced boy who always followed him around, calling him "Brother Lie" all the time, and the tall, thin, scarred man in front of him could never be completely reconciled.

"You are... Li Feng?" Hu Lie's voice was filled with disbelief.

"It's me, Brother Lie! Long time no see!" Li Feng grinned, and his smile was exactly the same as he remembered, honest and a little silly.

Hu Lie looked the tall, thin man, who was half a head taller than him, up and down, and couldn't help but sigh, "Xiao Feng, what happened to you... You used to be quite strong, didn't you?"

"Sigh, if you use your abilities too much, you won't become strong." Li Feng waved his hand casually.

At this moment, the light gate behind Li Feng fluctuated again, and black mist surged to both sides. Hu Lie quickly looked at the light gate behind him again.

A sturdy, round-faced man walked through the portal into the stronghold's walls.

No.

Hu Lie sighed and looked at Li Feng again: "Time flies, Xiao Feng is already an eighth-level expert."

Then he seemed to remember something: "By the way, Xiao Feng, you should have just come back from the A-level danger zone, right?"

Li Feng nodded: "That's right, Brother Lie, you don't know, you don't know, we ran into someone on the road..."

Before Li Feng could finish speaking, the portal was slightly activated again, and a man with a well-proportioned physique walked out.

Not yet.

Seeing this, Hu Lie's eyes darkened, and he thought of many bad possibilities: Could it be that they had encountered a group of seventh-tier corpse species? Or even an eighth-tier corpse species?

Hu Lie prayed silently: It's okay if the mission isn't completed, just don't overdo it.

He looked at Li Feng beside him and couldn't help but ask, "Xiao Feng, are you in the A-level area—?"

Before Hu Lie could finish speaking, a tall, slender figure with white hair appeared from the portal behind Shen Qing.

It was Wu You.

A black trench coat, long white hair, and an expressionless face that seemed otherworldly, yet the person standing there exuded an ethereal and otherworldly aura.

Upon seeing Wu You return safely, Hu Lie breathed a sigh of relief, the weight that had been hanging over his chest for so long finally lifted.

He turned to look at Li Feng, his tone much more relaxed: "It's alright, Xiao Feng, what did you just say?"

Li Feng lowered his voice and leaned close to Hu Lie's ear, his tone filled with the excitement of sharing gossip: "Brother Lie, you have no idea, but today I met a girl on the street who insisted that she was a man, and that she was the chief candidate in this year's preliminary training."

He shook his head, his expression full of regret, "Such a pretty young girl, why does she insist on thinking she's a man..."

"puff--"

Wang Qi, who was standing to the side, couldn't help but speak up.

He covered his mouth, his shoulders trembling, and his whole face turned bright red.

He knew who Li Feng was talking about just from the words "little girl" and "chief".

Hu Lie's expression also became subtle. He glanced at Li Feng, then at Wu You who was walking over, and his lips twitched: "Xiao Feng, is there any possibility—that he really is a man?"

Upon hearing this, Li Feng immediately waved his hand, his tone as certain as if stating an undeniable fact: "Impossible! Brother Lie, you haven't seen him yet. You'll know once you do. That appearance, that demeanor, how could he possibly be a man?"

At this moment, Wu You had already walked up close. He naturally heard Li Feng's words and pursed his lips slightly.

Li Feng also saw Wu You walking over, and he quickly nudged Hu Lie, who was standing next to him, with his shoulder, signaling him to look.

Wang Qi, standing to the side, was barely able to contain himself. His face turned a deep purplish-red, and he covered his mouth tightly with both hands, managing not to utter a single laugh.

Wu You glanced at him, a few black lines appearing on his forehead. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried a "you dare laugh and I'll make sure you never laugh again" implication: "Just keep holding back."

Wang Qi nodded frantically, almost laughing until tears streamed down his face, but he didn't utter a sound.

Wu You turned to look at Hu Lie, his expression returning to calm: "Uncle Hu."

Hu Lie looked him over, scrutinizing him from head to toe. Confirming there were no obvious wounds and that although his face was somewhat pale, he seemed to be in good spirits, he finally felt completely relieved. He nodded, his voice filled with a sense of relief and relief: "It's good that you're back."

"Eh?"

Now, it was Li Feng's turn to have a strange expression.

His gaze swept back and forth between Hu Lie and Wu You several times.

"Brother Lie, you know...this..."

Hu Lie patted Li Feng on the shoulder, his tone tinged with helplessness: "Alright, Xiao Feng, I'm one of the mentors for this year's preliminary selection, how could I not know this year's chief? Xiao You is indeed a man, but he's beautiful... well, a bit too pretty."

Li Feng stood there, stunned, with only one thought echoing in his mind: Can men be this beautiful?

With Wu You's return, the more than one thousand trainees who participated in the preliminary selection also gathered again. The square was packed with people; some were resting against the wall, some were chatting in twos and threes, and some were still tidying up their somewhat damaged trench coats.

On the first day of the mission, there were no casualties: no missing persons, no serious injuries, and not even many minor injuries.

Hu Lie turned around, his gaze sweeping over all the young faces in the square, his voice steady and powerful: "Everyone has returned. No one was trapped in the Dark Mist Tide. That's good."

He paused before continuing, "It seems you've understood that sentence. But I still want to emphasize it again—as long as you're alive, there's hope of completing a mission. If you're dead, then you have nothing. Your own life is the most precious thing. I hope you'll remember this principle in the future."

Then, Hu Lie tapped his watch a few times.

In the deep dark domain, apart from the life indicator lights, there is almost no signal outside the base, so he needs to wait until all the trainees return before he can receive the kill records on their mobile terminals, that is, on their watches.

A beam of light illuminated behind Hu Lie, and a huge screen floated in mid-air, displaying lines of white text. The list listed the students' kill records in chronological order of their return.

Lian Haiping, number of Tier 5 Corpse Species killed solo: 3

……

Wang Qi, number of Tier 5 Corpse Species killed solo: 3, number of Tier 6 Corpse Species killed in collaboration: 1

Ling Shuang's solo kill count of Tier 5 zombies: 3; her combined kill count of Tier 6 zombies: 1.

……

Summer Evening, number of Tier 6 Corpse Species killed solo: 3

Lu Chenzhou, number of Tier 6 Corpse Species killed solo: 3

Huang Shaolin, number of Tier 6 Corpse Species killed solo: 4

……

Hu Lie's expression grew increasingly strange: How come not only did everyone return before the Dark Mist Tide, but they also all completed their missions this time?

Even with the highest completion rate in previous years, there were always a few trainees who failed to complete the mission. After all, some lacked the necessary skills, some were unlucky, and some were surrounded by zombies—all sorts of situations could occur.

Could it be that all the students this year are geniuses among geniuses? This thought flashed through his mind, but then he felt that something was not quite right.

Wu You remained silent.

This was certainly made possible by his small act of help.

When he was cleaning up the zombie species, he deliberately left only three zombie species of the same level near each student's activity area. The extra ones were naturally converted into Warm Experience Points.

With only three other zombies of the same rank around, it would be a miracle if these experienced torchbearers couldn't complete their mission.

Just then, a line of information appeared on the screen.

Wu You, number of Tier 7 Corpse Species killed solo: 8, number of Tier 8 Corpse Species killed solo: 3

Because this mission only counts information on corpses of the same or higher rank as the trainee, and Wu You's strength in the system is at the seventh rank, his mobile terminal will only count those corpses of the seventh rank or higher.

The trainees, who had been enthusiastically discussing how they had completed their tasks, fell silent when they saw the last line of information.

The square was quiet for a moment, then erupted into chaos.

"Oh, this..."

"I didn't see wrong, did I?"

"Eighth... eighth-tier corpse species?"

"Boss, awesome!"

"My lord, I humbly submit!"

Exclamations of amazement echoed across the square.

Eighth rank is still too far for a group of fifth and sixth rank students, after all, even their mentor Hu Lie is only eighth rank.

Doesn't this mean that someone with the Chief's strength in killing eighth-tier corpses can become their mentor?

Xia Wan, Huang Shaolin, and the others were also stunned: a seventh-tier being could still catch up, but to kill an eighth-tier corpse species... that was truly a bit...

Wang Qi patted Wu You on the shoulder and said, "You're awesome, Lao Wu. I'll be counting on you to protect me from now on."

Hu Lie's mouth also opened slightly. He turned to look at Wu You and asked in a tone that even he couldn't believe, "Xiao You, you... you're at level eight?"

Wu You nodded: "Mm."

"Oh, I'm at the eighth rank..." Hu Lie murmured, as if he were still dreaming.

His mind was processing the information rapidly—eighteen years old, eighth rank.

Then, he suddenly snapped out of it. The confusion in his eyes vanished, replaced by a burning light, and he exclaimed "Good!" three times.

"good!"

"good!"

"good!"

"Eighth Rank???"

"Eighth Rank!!!"