Chapter Seventeen: The Trio

Chapter Seventeen: The Trio

While waiting in line, Xia Zheng discovered that he had been grouped with Lister, Caroline, and Andrew. Fate truly has a sense of humor, he thought.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Lister." Seeing Xia Zheng again, Lister found it rather amusing and took the initiative to introduce himself this time.

"Xia Zheng," he replied. After exchanging names, Caroline hesitated but eventually gave hers as well, while Andrew mumbled his own rather reluctantly.

Besides the four of them, there were three others in the group, all younger than Xia Zheng and Lister. It seemed the two of them were among the oldest of the trainee espers. Those who awakened abilities at eighteen were quite rare; most experienced their awakening before fifteen. Xia Zheng had only just caught the last train, so to speak.

The seven made their way down a corridor, which ended at a spacious training hall bristling with cameras—much larger than the Tianren squad's training room, more like an athletic field.

Before the official tests began, an announcement reminded everyone to warm up thoroughly to avoid injury and premature withdrawal. Xia Zheng, like the others, spent about ten minutes stretching and preparing.

"The first test: speed! A hundred-meter dash in under ten seconds qualifies; under 9.5 seconds is considered excellent." The announcement was no surprise to Xia Zheng. If speed was being tested, a sprint was inevitable.

In federal history, the best hundred-meter time ever achieved by a professional athlete was 9.5 seconds, but espers were expected to be a cut above. Here, 9.5 seconds was merely the passing mark. For those with speed-enhancing abilities, this test was their home turf.

Xia Zheng took his stance, crouched at the starting line, while the others adopted more conventional positions. At the sound of the gun, all seven shot forward like arrows loosed from a bow.

"This category only counts for about 20% of the total score, so there's no need to stand out," Xia Zheng thought, deliberately controlling his speed. He finished in 9.42 seconds, placing third.

Lister claimed the top spot with a time of 9.25 seconds, earning a perfect score. Second was a tall white man, surprisingly quick for his size, with a 9.31-second run—also perfect. As long as one ran under 9.5 seconds, they received full marks for speed, so Xia Zheng too earned 100 points.

"Rest for ten minutes. The agility test will begin soon," announced the broadcast. Xia Zheng relaxed his body, preparing for the next challenge.

Ten minutes later, the agility test—also called the evasion and scoring game—began.

The seven stood within a marked circle, about twenty meters in diameter. Hundreds, even thousands of glowing spheres would soon rain down, colored red, yellow, or blue. The spheres moved swiftly, darting and bouncing unpredictably.

Catching a blue sphere earned +10 points; a yellow one deducted 10; catching a red one meant instant disqualification for this round. The spheres were linked directly to the scoring system, so everyone's totals updated automatically.

Blue spheres were rare, about one-tenth of the total; the rest were split between red and yellow. This test measured keen eyesight, speed, and evasive skills. The higher the score, the better, but stepping out of bounds meant immediate elimination.

The time limit was ten minutes, and 60 points were needed to pass.

Xia Zheng sensed the tension mounting. This time, it wasn't just about individual effort; you had to watch out for others, as they would compete for blue spheres too.

"Begin!"

With a rush like a waterfall, hundreds upon hundreds of spheres cascaded from above, most of them red and yellow, with only a sparse scattering of blue.

If he played by the usual rules, he’d be locked in a fierce struggle, Xia Zheng realized. So he discreetly split off a strand of his mental power, winding it around his arm like a tendril. At just the right moment, he snagged a blue sphere and reeled it in.

"Ten points," he noted, crushing the blue sphere in his grasp. His score instantly updated beneath his avatar: 10 points.

With a blue sphere secured, he focused on dodging, repelling the red and yellow spheres with a flicker of mental force. Soon, he’d claimed three or four more blue spheres, bringing his score up to 50—just one more to pass.

Suddenly, a massive figure crashed toward him. Xia Zheng sensed danger and flipped backward, narrowly avoiding a collision. The man seized a falling blue sphere with his huge hand and crushed it.

"Thanks!" the burly man grinned. Xia Zheng realized he hadn’t noticed anyone so large before—an ability boost, clearly.

"Ability enhancement," Xia Zheng noted. Looking around, he saw that all six others had unleashed their powers to snatch blue spheres. Lister was a water-variant elementalist—an ice user. A chill vortex of frost spun around him, freezing any red or yellow sphere that came close, shattering them to powder. He froze the blue spheres as well, making them too cold for anyone else to touch, a rather overbearing tactic.

Caroline’s power was peculiar: one hand generated suction, the other repelled. She alternated her hands, drawing blue spheres in while pushing the red and yellow ones away, her score climbing to 40.

Andrew’s ability surprised Xia Zheng. He was a mimic from the superhuman class—his neck stretched like a giraffe’s, and he snapped up blue spheres with his mouth. Occasionally, he’d catch a yellow, but never a red, so his score fluctuated wildly between forty or fifty and then dropped back to twenty or thirty.

The others included the brute who’d just snatched a blue sphere from Xia Zheng by force, another superhuman. Another was an elementalist who used wind to ferry blue spheres to himself, looking quite at ease. The last was an enhancer with remarkable leaping ability—he could jump three meters high and had managed to snatch several blue spheres that way.

Compared to these dazzling powers, Xia Zheng seemed "ordinary," with no flashy effects or transformations. Yet somehow, he always appeared at the right spot a few seconds before a blue sphere arrived, as if he could predict their movements.

Again, the brute barreled toward him. This time, Xia Zheng wouldn’t give way. As the man, emboldened by his transformation, charged like a raging bull, Xia Zheng used his mental force to tickle the man’s soles. The brute faltered, unable to stop, and barreled out of the circle—eliminated!

Seizing the opportunity, Xia Zheng lashed out with his mental tendril, snagging a blue sphere hidden behind a cluster of red and yellow.

"This one’s not yours," Caroline declared. A powerful suction from her palm began to draw the blue sphere toward her, making it difficult for Xia Zheng to hold on.

"This one’s for Lister," Andrew chimed in, joining the fray. Together, they opposed Xia Zheng. A glance at the scoreboard showed Lister had already reached sixty points—why did he need more?

"I need just ten points to pass. Lister already has sixty. Let me have this one, and I’ll stop," Xia Zheng protested.

"No, Lister needs a perfect score."

"Yeah, go get another one. This one belongs to Lister."

Their unreasonable logic stirred Xia Zheng’s temper. Even a saint would lose patience. With a cold snort, he sent a mentally controlled flying knife and spike toward Caroline and Andrew—not aiming to injure, but enough to threaten.

"You dare attack me?" Caroline exclaimed, flustered and forced onto the defensive, losing her grip on the blue sphere.

Andrew, with his mimicry, wasn't particularly strong or quick to react. Pressured by Xia Zheng’s hidden weapon, he hastily abandoned the blue sphere and changed shape to evade.

Thus, Xia Zheng swiftly seized the blue sphere and crushed it.

"Sixty points!" His score now met the target.

Nearby, Lister was already at seventy, clearly aiming for a perfect hundred. Was that level of perfection really necessary?

Xia Zheng remained still within the circle, wary of retaliation from Andrew and Caroline, but Lister scolded them, and they rejoined the blue sphere hunt. With so few blue spheres left, it was uncertain if five people would have enough to all pass.

Red and yellow spheres kept coming, but Xia Zheng dodged and deflected them, standing firm like a rock in a stormy sea.

Suddenly, a shout broke out. The wind-element teammate was sent flying out of the circle by Lister—eliminated! That teammate had fifty points; what a pity.

Lister’s score hit eighty, then ninety after taking the blue sphere from the eliminated player.

Caroline and Andrew both reached sixty points and now focused all their efforts on helping Lister reach a perfect score. The last remaining teammate, skilled in jumping, was frustrated. His ability was great for escaping, less so for offense. Surrounded by three dominant contenders, he circled the edge, hoping for a stray blue sphere. He was at fifty points—just one more to pass.

"Could you let me have one? I just need one more, please! You’ve all passed—why be so ruthless?" he pleaded.

But Lister and his allies ignored him.

"You..." When the ten minutes ended, Lister had claimed another blue sphere, reaching a perfect hundred. The unlucky teammate, still one short, cursed them furiously, then left in dejection.

Being eliminated in the individual events meant a significant loss of points in the physical attributes section, possibly costing him the entire esper qualification.

Xia Zheng now felt a deep aversion toward Lister, Caroline, and Andrew. Their selfishness and arrogance were intolerable—they could never be his teammates.

Of the seven, two were eliminated for stepping out, and one fell short of the score, for a total of three out. Lister alone had a perfect hundred; the rest had sixty.

The third test, endurance, was about to begin, and the broadcast once again called for a ten-minute rest.

Xia Zheng stepped aside, reflecting that this trip had been well worth it. Training at the base and gaining experience outside were two entirely different things. Out here, you saw much more of the darkness—such as the human heart.

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