"Well, who would've thought he has that trick up his sleeve?"
Lixue and Thirteen watched the whole sequence of the fight between He Ruiqi and the Night Spider a distance away in the depth of the cave. Although his face was still as easy as ever, Thirteen was actually very shocked by what he just saw.
Lixue shrugged and didn't seem to mind his plan failed, "I never seriously thought I can kill him. Not this easy. But it was quite fun seeing his desperate face just now."
"I think he can be crushed easier if you step in personally."
He shook his head, "The world won't allow it."
"?"
"Changing the topic, this is as far playing as we can go. Though unfortunately we can't go back earlier, we did get some ideas about the military's capability. Without the General, they can cope by themselves pretty well."
"Isn't that a good thing for us?"
"In terms of fighting, yes. Let's hope their brain isn't as good as their brawn," Lixue took out something from the space storage, "Here. Souvenir."
Thirteen accepted the item. It was a purple gemstone with light pulsating from it. Once Lixue took it out, the walls around them became tinted with a faint purple hue. There was a strange tingling feeling when he touched it.
"This is…?"
The purple light inside the gemstone stirred and he watched as his fingertips absorbed the light from it. He could feel something foreign invading his veins and flowed through his blood. He carefully sensed his own body until the gemstone was completely sucked and turned into a dull rock.
"Probably the same thing as what's inside He Ruiqi's body. It gave a similar feeling. It was what that octopus was protecting."
"Ah…"
Now he knew why that octopus was so angry.
"Let's go to them from outside."
After the chains of incidents, the exam continued with the northern area closed. The military sent down their people to check more thoroughly whether there was other dangerous beasts or Irregulars hidden there.
Lixue and his team continued collecting beasts normally like before. Each pair hiding secrets from each other, though it could be said it was only a one-way thing. Eventually, the exam ended 2 days later without anything else happening.
On the same day, their practical exam score was counted and calculated together with their written test. The practical exam group score and the overall score would then be posted to StarNet and on the exam site at the Federation. As for their psychology test, it wouldn't be disclosed in a matter of privacy.
The people on the StarNet gasped in shock at the result of the top three candidates, more exactly the first place candidate.
In the first place was Lin Shisan A.K.A Thirteen with a perfect score on his written test. His group was also the first place in the practical exam. They collected almost 30 varieties of beasts. To their surprise, their Irregular kill count was also counted by the military through the feed and was added to their score. In addition, the higher the level, the more points they gained. The total score overwhelmed the second-place team reaching 3 digits.
The second-place candidate was He Ruiqi. His written exam was almost perfect, but because what he couldn't answer was the bonus questions, his gap score with Thirteen was still more than 30 points. Thanks to being a part of Thirteen's team, he could achieve second place. If he was still with Jing Hao's team, even without all the scheming, he would at most only be in the top 10.
Speaking of Jing Hao's team, they somehow managed to barely pass the required criteria. Judging from their skill, they probably stole from other groups to achieve that number. 2 of them didn't pass the average score and failed.
In third place was a candidate that was apparently famous since his secondary school period. His group was the second in the practical exam. Though they didn't differ too much in the beast collection point, they didn't kill as much as Irregular as Thirteen's team. It was understandable considering how it was their first time encountering Irregulars. His group's Irregular kill count was already amazing enough in consideration of that.
Back in the hotel, Lixue took his time in taking his bath. He was really not in a good mood on that wild planet solely because of the bathing problem. As expected, washing wouldn't be complete without soap, shampoo, and a soak in a tub of hot water.
He walked out covered with a bathrobe still steaming from his satisfying bath. In the living room, Thirteen was sitting on the couch studying his own body after finishing his own bath. When he saw Lixue walking out still damp and fresh, he didn't know whether he was blessed or cursed by staying beside this demon.
"How is it?" Lixue asked.
"Nothing special. Just feel a bit stronger than usual. The feeling of something unknown coursing through my body isn't really pleasant," Thirteen lied down onto the couch, "Right, I also recover faster. My fatigue is already all gone."
"As expected, there needs to be some kind of trigger to activate it?" Lixue scanned Thirteen's body up and down, "But your state is already similar to He Ruiqi when he found us."
"Do I need to get some shock or something? Or maybe a life-threatening situation? Then, it'll be almost impossible for me to trigger it."
Lixue rested his hand on the top of the couch's backrest, "Almost?"
Thirteen looked up at Lixue who was looming over him, "Except if you decide to end me here."
"That's true…"
"Hey, don't seriously think about doing it."
"There is a way worth trying though," Lixue offered, "Open your mouth."
Thirteen felt dubious but still complied nonetheless. It didn't look like Lixue was trying to kill him. Moreover, having this power was also a benefit for Lixue.
Lixue bent down his body. As his face got closer to Thirteen, he slid his hand down to rest on the couch's armrest beside Thirteen's head. His other hand moved to hold Thirteen's face. Thirteen could feel a rare warm sensation from Lixue's usual biting cold skin.
As Lixue closed the distance between them, Thirteen's eyes opened slightly wider. His pupil traced the face of the demonic beauty that grew increasingly closer to his. Unfortunately, he couldn't see the pair of gorgeous rubies as they were hooded by Lixue who was looking down.
Once their distance was only a breath away, Lixue stopped and blew a sliver of black wisp into Thirteen before straightening back up. Thirteen wasn't surprised that nothing actually happened, but there was still a feeling of disappointment.
"What other strange thing did you put into my body?" Thirteen rubbed his throat.
Lixue raised his hand with his palm facing Thirteen, "You can say it's a part of my essence. I'm going to forcefully activate it. Get ready."
He closed his eyes. A moment later, Thirteen's body abruptly jolted up from shock. He fell down to the floor.
"Kuh!!"
He gritted his teeth and bear the high voltage shocking his body from inside.
"Don't fight it. Dominate it and make it integrate with your body."
Thirteen listened to Lixue's words and controlled his breathing first. He was caught off guard by the sudden jump of electricity. In the Red mercenary group, they were trained to resist electrocution to some degree so they wouldn't be affected by stun guns or electric batons. He just needed to think this was another training only with 1000 times the voltage.
Lixue formed several layers of barrier around Thirteen as there were black lightnings spilling out from his body. He also enveloped Thirteen and his brain with his demonic energy to keep his life and intelligence. Even Thirteen wouldn't be able to keep himself alive through a shock of more than 100 million volts by willpower alone.
Opening his eyes, Lixue saw the scene of Thirteen struggling on the floor. Black lightning currents sparked out from his body, from his fingertips until the edge of his hair, nothing was spared.
A frown formed on Lixue's face as his eyebrows unconsciously tightened.
10 minutes passed which felt like a day for Thirteen. He finally got the hang of it and slowly adapted his body to accept the energy coursing inside. When another 10 minutes passed, he could start controlling the lightning currents' flow little by little. He slowly opened his eyes and saw the expression on Lixue's face.
He managed to make a confident smile through his pain, "Don't worry. I won't die without your order, won't I, your majesty?"
Lixue didn't think this man still has the ability to talk nonsense in this kind of situation. He scoffed, "Of course."
Although Lixue acted like that, Thirteen could see how his face relaxed from earlier state. A corner of his mouth inexplicably quirked up.
"You're so not cute."