Martial Arts Certification and Discipline Inspection Office.

At a glance, this department is clearly one of those powerful and authoritative ones.

Ordinary Martial Artists would naturally feel intimidated.

But Chen Shouyi was still a bit hesitant.

God bless, he's only seventeen, and until recently he was still in high school, suddenly having to choose the path for his future one day.

No matter how mature he was, he found it hard to adapt immediately.

He felt he needed to think carefully:

"I can't decide this on my own, I need to ask my parents' opinion!"

The director paused, looking at his somewhat youthful face.

Still just a kid!

He smiled and said, "Of course, there's no rush. Take your time, discuss it with your parents!"

...

Chen Shouyi looked out the window.

In the distance, chimneys stood thick, white smoke billowing, the entire industrial zone shrouded in a thick layer of white clouds.

Most of the factories here seemed to have been converted to steam engine factories.

He felt somewhat confused.

About the choices for the future.

Before coming here, his thoughts were simple: to obtain the Martial Arts certification, elevate his social status, and improve his family's situation. Beyond that, he had not thought much; as for where he would go in the future, what he would do — he hadn't considered it at all.

In his heart, he naturally inclined more towards returning to his hometown of Dongning City.

After all, it was where he had lived since he was a child.

There, too many memories were left behind, including his first love whom he lost contact with.

Moreover, after returning to Dongning City, he could once again utilize the spatial passage in the underground parking lot of the unfinished building.

With the identity of a Martial Artist, he could easily obtain an Explorer ID, granting him free access to any spatial passage.

However, compared to Hedong City, conditions in Dongning City were undoubtedly more difficult, not only was electricity uncertain but public security had also deteriorated, and cult activities had not been eradicated to this day.

Of course, given his current strength, issues like public security didn't concern him much.

But his parents were ordinary people, and although his sister had some strength, she still couldn't withstand real danger.

Compared to Dongning City, bringing his parents and sister to Hedong City would naturally be much safer.

He felt desolate in his heart; after thinking for a long time, he couldn't come up with any clear solution.

...

The bus gradually drove towards the countryside, and fields began to appear on either side. After driving for another dozen minutes, the bus stopped at the entrance of a village.

The group quickly picked up their weapons and got off the bus.

Chen Shouyi felt that the houses in this village seemed strange, but he couldn't pinpoint where the strangeness lay; it felt as if nobody had lived there for a long time.

As he was puzzling over this, a notary with a horrific scar on his face said in a deep voice:

"Before going in, let me briefly introduce this passage numbered 48233, which was discovered half a month ago, but by then the tragedy had already occurred."

At this moment, a middle-aged man asked, "Is it the incident where the village people disappeared overnight?"

"Yes, it's this passage! During the investigation over this period, we found that a small tribe of over a hundred people lived near the passage. This wasn't the issue; the key was that this group of barbarians were slaves to a giant.

The food obtained by the Barbarian Tribe was mostly needed to feed the giant. If the food was insufficient or unsatisfactory, the giant would devour the barbarians as punishment. Until the barbarians discovered this passage..."

Everyone looked solemn, the subsequent events were entirely predictable.

The barbarians found that the frail humans were easier to hunt than prey, perfectly compensating for the shortage of prey, an unexpected windfall that excited them greatly. Then the tragedy occurred; overnight, hundreds of villagers, regardless of gender or age, were driven into the passage like cattle and sheep.

Under triple gravity, they couldn't survive for long.

"As Martial Artist Apprentices, you're not ordinary people; in some sense, you're quasi-military personnel, militia. Our task this time is to massacre this tribe and kill this giant. But don't worry, this giant is about six meters tall; judging by its development, it's still a minor! Your performance will form part of the criteria in this assessment."

"This operation does carry some risk; is there anyone who wants to withdraw?" the notary asked one last time.

Everyone looked at each other.

Chen Shouyi was shocked inwardly as well.

The last assessment for Martial Artist Apprentices was already quite special, with multiple bone fractures and injuries, even incidents of examinees dying. This real combat assessment was even more brutal and bloody.

Was humanity making preparations?

...

Everyone maintained a tense silence; having come this far, they were mentally prepared, naturally unwilling to withdraw.

"Then let's go!"

The group continued walking on the village's cement road for a few minutes and found that the houses ahead had been completely flattened, replaced by a military installation with over a dozen rapid-fire gun turrets, and seven or eight armored vehicles scattered around.

Besides seeing quite a few soldiers,

there was also a large number of construction workers and engineering vehicles, busily working.

An officer with the rank of major quickly approached, shaking hands firmly with the director of the notary office: "Director Fang, glad you're finally here?"

"Major Liang, that's not fair. As soon as we received your report, we came! Plus, you have plenty of Martial Artists in your military too, right?"

"Alas, there are not enough people! They're all at those frontline passages where tensions are high... Let's not talk about it. These are this session's examinees? I'll call two people to take you there."

"Zhang Youwei, Xie Xiaozhi!"

Two soldiers immediately ran over at a quick pace.

"Yes!"

"Take the leaders to the passage entrance."

"Yes!"

...

The spatial passage was located two meters below ground level and was still open-air, but the foundation had been laid around it and would obviously be sealed off in the future.

"Head on in!" Director Fang said.

The group began to enter one after another.

Chen Shouyi felt the scene shift slightly and instantly felt his body plunge downwards; fortunately, the drop was over twenty centimeters, and he quickly found his footing.

In sight was an endless prairie.

In the distance, a few bizarre creatures could be seen, grazing with their heads lowered.

Seemingly sensing the commotion, the creatures suddenly looked this way nervously, observing the group, seemingly hesitant about whether to flee.

"Feeling nervous?" Lu Weifeng walked over to Chen Shouyi and whispered.

Chen Shouyi checked his weapon, nodding, "A little!"

Of course he was nervous, after all, he was about to face a giant.

He had never seen this terrifying creature, but without exception, they were incredibly powerful. It was said that some giants could be as tall as mountains and crush peaks with a single punch.

"Let's go, once we cross that hill up ahead, we'll reach the Barbarian Tribe. Besides, a reminder: from the moment you set foot here, the real combat assessment for Martial Artists has already begun. All decisions are yours to make, and unless danger arises, we will not intervene." Director Fang said solemnly.

Many people were already breathing heavily, looking nervous.

Most here had never killed a barbarian, nor had they ever seen one; like rookies on the battlefield, regardless of how much they trained, once they were on the battlefield, they couldn't help but feel weak in the hands and feet.

The hill ahead wasn't far, and after walking for a few minutes, the group reached the top and quickly crouched down.

This was a primitive tribe located by a small creek.

They were almost more primitive than the barbarians Chen Shouyi had initially discovered, at least those could build dugouts, but this tribe showed few signs of civilization.

They lived under the open sky, with no buildings in sight.

It was nearing dusk, and the men who had gone out to hunt were returning.

Those proudly carrying prey were showered with adoring glances from the women, while those returning empty-handed looked dejected and were ignored.

Some were draped in animal hides; others wore nothing at all, their bodies mostly thin and weak, appearing malnourished.

Chen Shouyi glanced at them before quickly shifting his gaze to the large figure in the distance.

A naked black-yellow giant lay in the grass a few hundred meters away from the tribe, surrounded by piles of excrement and white bones.

It was sleeping soundly now, its thunderous snores rising and falling, faintly audible even from here.

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