Chapter 7

Zhang Jing left, and when Qianye left the classroom, he held a literacy textbook in his hand. In the following month, he had to memorize a thousand commonly used characters to pass Zhang Jing's exam. The consequence of failing the exam was to be whipped ten times!

Now, Qianye realized that in the Huangquan Training Camp, whips were the only common interest of all the instructors.

However, the training program did not slow down because the children needed to recognize characters; the training volume and time remained unchanged.

When he returned to the dormitory late at night, Qianye was so exhausted that he felt like he was falling apart. He fell asleep as soon as he got into bed, only to be woken up by the shrill alarm the next morning, realizing he hadn't memorized a single character!

Clearly, there were many children like Qianye. So on the second night, after the training ended, most of the children stayed awake, desperately trying to memorize the characters that seemed like heavenly scripts.

When Qianye barely managed to memorize the fiftieth character, he finally couldn't hold on and collapsed onto the bed, then fell asleep.

Time flew by, and the month seemed to pass in the blink of an eye.

Qianye waited for Zhang Jing's second class. The exam came before the class. In the long one and a half hours, Qianye wrote down 1,500 characters, which were the results of his month of effort.

Among all the children, Qianye's performance ranked fifth. The four ahead of him were all children from noble families who had started reading and writing from a young age. Among the children who had never recognized characters before, Qianye was undoubtedly the first. After him, there were three more children from noble families who had also recognized characters from a young age.

Eleven children did not pass Zhang Jing's exam.

"Now, it's time for you to pay the price for underestimating my course!" The beautiful woman said gently, then surprisingly picked up the whip herself and fiercely lashed the children who failed the exam, with even more force than Longhai!

Ten lashes were an extremely severe punishment. Right in front of Qianye, two children were actually whipped to death!

Qianye thus realized that this beautiful teacher was even more ruthless than Longhai!

This exam made Qianye and all the children remember firmly that literacy and physical training were equally important.

Zhang Jing called in two burly men to drag the two motionless children out, then wrote four large characters on the blackboard: "Dawn War."

When she wrote these four characters, Zhang Jing became unusually solemn and serious, and even her voice had a heavy tone: "The Dawn War has been over for 1,200 years..."

The Dawn War took place on the bottommost layer of the world, the Evernight Continent, which was also the place where the human race initially lived, thrived, and grew stronger.

During the Dawn War, the human race used every available force, including Dawn Force, burning black stones, surging energy steam, roaring firearms, massive and crude machinery, and Dark Force. This was the ultimate showdown!

In this intermittent battle that lasted over a hundred years, the human race, who had awakened to the Force, paid a heavy price, with the population reduced to one-tenth of its pre-war size. However, they ultimately defeated the dark races, freeing themselves from the fate of being slaves, vassals, and livestock. They expelled the dark races from the Evernight Domain and established the first human-dominated empire: Qin.

This decisive battle is known in human history as the Dawn War. Because after this war, humans, who had always lived in the Evernight, saw dawn for the first time. The Force that humans initially awakened to was defined as being on the side of dawn. With this war as the dividing line, the two major camps of Evernight and Dawn were officially formed.

The Dawn War was not the end but the beginning. Over 1,200 years, the human race gradually occupied four new continents in the lower and middle layers of the world and began to look up to the upper continents. The Great Qin Empire officially moved its capital, taking most of the noble families to the new continent, and more human nations began to emerge.

However, the Evernight Continent, where the Dawn War took place, became a huge garbage planet due to its harsh natural environment and scarce resources, and was re-infiltrated by the dark races who were unwilling to accept defeat.

Hearing this, Qianye suddenly shivered. He had never left the garbage dump since he could remember, but occasionally he heard the strong adults boasting about the dark races. It turned out that these were not legends but real darkness and blood.

However, Zhang Jing's expression and tone when she talked about these things made him even colder. It was a calm indifference.

Yes, over 1,200 years, the dark races and humans had never stopped fighting, with battles occurring on every continent and every border. For centuries, hatred and bloodshed were everywhere. Among the many battlefields, the Evernight Domain was not particularly significant and was even the least important.

When this class ended, Qianye felt a heavy weight in his heart, with something indescribable added. The other children felt the same way. They were still young and did not understand the weight of history. However, when they left the classroom, the children immediately ran to the training ground like they were flying. If they arrived late, they would get three more lashes.

Life quickly returned to its original track.

Time passed unnoticed, and before he knew it, half a year had passed.

Qianye's physique had improved dramatically, growing ten centimeters taller in just half a year. Besides the strict but scientific training, the key was the camp's diet.

The food given to the children contained a large amount of nutritious ingredients, some even directly from the dark races. Additionally, a small amount of special medicine was added to the soup every day, which could rapidly stimulate the body's potential.

Qianye felt that the days were repeating themselves, as if nothing ever changed, except that the number of his companions seemed to be constantly decreasing.

When Qianye and the children around him numbered less than fifty, they welcomed a new batch of partners. The new children were of various ages, totaling about fifty. Their only similarity with Qianye was that their physical qualities were roughly the same.

Another half a year passed, and Qianye's companions were reduced to fifty again. They welcomed another batch of new partners. At this point, Qianye learned that he and the hundred people around him formed a company. Whenever the number was reduced by half, new people were added to bring the total back to one hundred, with the principle being that their strength was similar.

When Qianye had been in the training camp for a full year, all the children were suddenly gathered on the parade ground, lining up to await instructions.

During the wait, Qianye suddenly had a strong urge to look around, despite the fact that such a small action could result in a whipping.

He discreetly and quickly glanced to his left and right, then took advantage of the moment when the instructor turned away to look back quickly, immediately returning to his normal stance. This simple action made his heart race.

Because Qianye suddenly realized that among all the people around him, he recognized fewer than thirty faces! Most of the original hundred children had already left this world forever.

Only then did Qianye understand the true meaning of the phrase "Welcome to Hell" at the entrance to the valley.

Longhai appeared in front of the children, his cold gaze sweeping over them. His single eye seemed even more ferocious. However, all the children bravely met Longhai's gaze without fear. These children, after a year of hellish training, had already developed a brave, or perhaps numb, heart.

Longhai was very satisfied and said, "Very good! After eliminating the dregs, the remaining ones finally look acceptable. However..."

After a long pause, Longhai smiled meaningfully, "The good news is that you have all received preliminary recognition and will be seriously cultivated, no longer punished for trivial matters. Of course, the consequences of violating the prohibitions remain the same. The bad news is, you will find that the real training is just beginning!"

Longhai walked back and forth in front of the formation, his booming voice continuously bombarding the children's ears: "In the next few years, you will truly begin to cultivate! Cultivate the Force! You will learn the most direct and effective killing techniques, and you will have the opportunity to personally kill every type of dark race. Of course, you also have a significant chance of being killed by them. So, pray, little ones! Finally, I can tell you that among those standing here today, only less than a quarter will be lucky enough to leave here alive."

The last sentence was heavy, but Qianye did not take it to heart. He had already learned not to worry about things he couldn't control.

No matter how slim the chances, as long as they existed, Qianye would devote himself entirely to striving for them. Without this resilience and focus, he would have long turned to dust in the garbage dump, young and severely injured as he was.

Longhai waved his hand, and several burly men came over, distributing new textbooks to each child.

The cover of the textbook read "Soldier's Cultivation Technique" in bold, powerful strokes, each stroke sharp like a sword! When Qianye saw it, he felt a slight pain.

This was the cultivation technique! The key that distinguished ordinary people from those with abilities. Holding this thin book, Qianye suddenly felt that his fate would change because of this small book!

The children were led into the classroom, and the one responsible for teaching the Soldier's Cultivation Technique was none other than Zhang Jing. It seemed that beneath her beautiful appearance, she possessed extraordinary strength. Qianye had already noticed that Longhai never got too close to Zhang Jing, maintaining a distance of about five meters. Now he suddenly understood that it was out of caution.

Zhang Jing pushed up her glasses, and her chest rose and fell dramatically with the small movement.

"This Soldier's Cultivation Technique is specifically prepared for cannon fodder!"

Hearing this evaluation, Qianye was very surprised.

Over the past year, although the training camp's survival was more brutal than the garbage dump, it was still a relatively normal society. In the limited interactions among the students, Qianye learned some basic life knowledge and naturally saw that the training camp had invested considerable resources in them.

The elimination rate in the Huangquan Training Camp was extremely high, with only one in a hundred said to be able to leave here. The resources spent on the 99 who were eliminated were essentially wasted. After such a significant investment, they were given a cultivation technique for cannon fodder?

Many children shared Qianye's thoughts.

Zhang Jing saw the changes in the children's expressions and coldly laughed, "Don't think that 'cannon fodder' is a derogatory term! In fact, many people don't have the qualifications to be cannon fodder! Only when you survive and walk out of here intact will you be considered a qualified cannon fodder! Next, you need to cultivate a complete Force Tide within three months and ignite your first Force Node within a year! If you can't do it..."

Zhang Jing suddenly licked her lips and said softly, "You will be punished..."

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**End of Chapter**