The 24-hour test time was almost up.
Inside the test hall, the atmosphere was heating up again.
Hundreds of guards stood around the edge of the hall, waiting for the results.
Hal, Milton, and the others kept tiptoeing and craning their necks, their eyes fixed on the space gate.
"Something’s off. Those examiners haven’t come out for 16 hours straight," Milton said, squinting with a puzzled look.
"Under normal circumstances, the examiners should have come out to report the casualties by now. It’s been so quiet for so long-something big must have happened inside," Carlton said in a low voice.
"Hey, look at Quentin over there. Why does he look like someone just died?" Hilton pointed at Quentin and lowered his voice.
Hal and the others followed Hilton’s gaze.
It wasn’t just Quentin-even Marcus had a terrible look on his face.
Hal and his friends exchanged glances and quietly crept up behind Quentin.
"Damn it! What the hell is Barron doing?" Quentin muttered under his breath, his voice full of urgency.
"Oh, look! Little bastard Quentin, you’re making a face like you’re at a funeral. Did someone in your family die?" Hilton’s sarcastic remark instantly set Quentin off.
"Bullshit! I’m just feeling sorry for you guys! You’re about to collect Raymond’s body!" Quentin quickly wiped the worry off his face and put on a confident look.
Hal pushed Hilton aside, stepped in front of Quentin, and said coldly, "What makes you so sure? Did you guys pull something behind the scenes?"
Quentin’s expression flickered. He snorted and turned his head away from Hal. "I’m just going by my gut. Everything will be clear once the test is over!"
Hal narrowed his eyes and said coldly, "You’d better not have pulled any tricks!"
With that, Hal pulled Milton and the others away quickly.
They found a new spot near the space gate and silently waited for Raymond to return.
At that moment, Veronia looked at her watch and said in a serious tone, "It’s about time. I’m going to open the space gate now. Everyone can take a look at how each camp is doing."
With that, Veronia began casting a spell.
Grayson glanced at Marcus and smiled. "Don’t be nervous. This might actually be a nice surprise for you."
Marcus let out a cold laugh. "I hope so. Let’s just pray the results don’t shock you instead!"
As the two traded barbs, images quickly began to appear on the space gate.
The crowd around stretched their necks, eager to see how the first group of junior guards had performed in the test.
"Wait! Where are the people?" A junior guard who was watching widened his eyes.
In the image on the screen, the campfire had gone out inside the camp, the prison cart had been smashed to pieces, and the bodies of three junior guards lay on the ground in a miserable state. But the death row prisoner was nowhere to be seen.
"Damn it! Useless idiots! They let the prisoner escape after getting killed!" A guard who had placed a heavy bet pointed at the bodies on the screen and cursed loudly.
Veronia frowned and turned to Grayson. "These three were your men, weren’t they?"
Grayson spread his hands. "Since they chose to take the test, they were prepared for the possibility of dying. I’ll have someone bury them."
Marcus let out a smug laugh. "Looks like you’re going to have to pay a lot for funeral expenses!"
Grayson narrowed his eyes at that. "We’ll see about that."
As the two argued, the screen quickly switched to another camp.
Just like the last one, this camp was also a mess. Three junior guards were dead, and the prisoner had disappeared.
Marcus smirked again and reminded everyone, "More of Grayson’s men. It seems like Grayson doesn’t know how to train his people properly."
Grayson said nothing and just stared at the screen as the images kept switching.
After five camps in a row, every single one showed the same scene as the first two.
"Grayson, it looks like all the junior guards you sent to this test have been wiped out!" Marcus said smugly, pretending to be concerned as he reached out to pat Grayson on the shoulder. But Grayson dodged him.
"Are you blind? We haven’t seen Raymond’s camp yet!" Grayson turned to Veronia. "Please switch to Raymond’s camp."
Sensing Grayson’s mood, Veronia sighed. "Give me a moment."
Soon, Raymond’s figure appeared on the space gate.
Instantly, the test hall was filled with gasps and shouts.
"Look! Finally, a camp passed the first round!"
"Wait, what are they doing? Why are they stuffing socks into the prisoner’s mouth?"
"Oh man, I can almost smell it from here. Which cell is that prisoner from? He’s really suffering!"
...
The murmurs and chatter spread through the crowd. Hal, Milton, and the other squad leaders all smiled at the same time.
Quentin curled his lips in disdain. "Tch! Just lucky!"
Just then, Grayson chuckled and turned to Marcus. "Hey, looks like I do have a few talented people after all."
Marcus snorted and pointed at Ralph and Bobby on the screen. "Those two are just extras. Raymond got through because he got lucky!"
Not wanting the two to keep arguing, Veronia quickly switched to the next camp.
The moment the image appeared, the guards in the hall stood frozen in shock.
In the picture, the camp looked like it had been trampled by a herd of wild beasts. It was completely destroyed.
Blood was splattered everywhere, and the ground was littered with broken limbs and severed body parts.
But the strangest thing was-those limbs didn’t belong to humans.
"Look! That’s a werewolf from the orc tribe! It’s stuck together with a prisoner’s corpse!" A guard’s eyes went wide as he shouted, drawing everyone’s attention.
"Oh my god! That werewolf is five meters long!"
"Look at the fur-it’s a pure-blood werewolf. How did it even get in here?"
"Wait! That werewolf looks kind of familiar... Isn’t that Everett?"
...
More and more people started recognizing the werewolf. In the test hall, Quentin and Marcus had faces as dark as coal.
"Damn it! Everett is a half-beast! He’s only three meters tall. That werewolf is all burnt up-how can you even compare them?" Quentin gritted his teeth and tried to argue.
"Even if that werewolf isn’t Everett, then where is the real Everett? And how did this werewolf sneak into the magic barrier?" Hal didn’t give Quentin any room to escape. He went straight to the core of the problem.
At that moment, Veronia’s face also darkened.
She turned to Marcus and said coldly, "The junior guards assigned to this camp were all your men. When the test is over, you will give me an explanation."
Marcus clenched his teeth and shouted to stop the murmuring in the hall. "Enough! As the head examiner, we will investigate the situation and give everyone an answer! For now, let’s move on to the next camp!"
The hall fell quiet. Veronia adjusted the image on the space gate again.
Soon, the next camp appeared on the screen.
And once again, it was a horrible scene. The bodies of several dead guards lay at the entrance of the camp. The prisoner who was supposed to be locked up inside was gone.
By now, Marcus’s eyes were red.
The dead guards he had secretly placed in two camps-two of them were already dead.
They were supposed to be Marcus’s guaranteed picks to pass the test. Someone had killed them!
Furious, Marcus growled, "Switch to the next camp! I want to see who’s bold enough to kill so many of my men!"
The next camp’s image appeared on the space gate.
Another orc corpse lay on the ground.
Marcus clenched his fists tightly. Ignoring Veronia’s suspicious gaze, he urged her, "Next camp!"
One by one, Veronia switched through the camps.
Marcus watched the bloody scenes, and the coldness in his heart grew stronger and stronger.
Finally, the screen switched to the last camp. The area around it had clearly been through a fierce battle.
But strange thing was-all the bodies on the battlefield had completely disappeared. Only a few examiner uniforms and badges lay scattered on the grass.
Suddenly, Barron’s longbow appeared in the image. Marcus instantly flew into a rage. "Damn it! Who did this? Who dared to kill the examiner I sent?"
Grayson watched Marcus lose his temper and said calmly, "Keep your voice down. What if it was just your own men turning on each other?"
"Bullshit!" Marcus shot Grayson a vicious glare, ready to strike at any moment.
Just then, a crack suddenly appeared on a bare patch of grass.
Everyone looked closely. A longsword pierced through the grass and broke through the dirt.
Then, Bucky climbed out from underground with great difficulty. He was covered in mud and looked around in confusion.
It was obvious that Bucky had buried himself deep underground to survive the battle.
Suddenly, he spotted the arrows scattered on the ground and the longbow stuck in the dirt. His eyes turned red.
He ran over and threw himself onto Barron’s longbow, kneeling and screaming, "Big brother! I will avenge you! Raymond, I’ll tear you apart!"
Bucky’s voice was loud. Everyone heard the name Raymond.
In an instant, the whole hall buzzed with whispers.
Marcus even pointed his finger right at Grayson’s nose, his voice squeezing through clenched teeth. "Just as I thought. It was your men who did this!"
Grayson raised an eyebrow. He didn’t respond to Marcus. Instead, he looked at the space gate with anticipation. "Veronia, it’s about time. Let’s bring Raymond out."