Illusion

Soon, the freshmen had mostly gathered, forming a dense, dark crowd. Their whispers merged into a buzzing background noise. Everyone wore the same uniform, but their expressions varied wildly.

Chen Guan noticed that among these students, there were not only Hua Xia natives but also quite a few foreign faces. It truly lived up to its reputation as a top-tier academy.

Suddenly, the lights in the auditorium dimmed, and all the whispering vanished in an instant.

A beam of light hit the center of the stage, where a figure had silently appeared.

It was a middle-aged man wearing a deep purple robe. His facial features were ordinary, but his eyes were as profound as the starry sky.

He simply stood there without any extraneous movements or uttering a single word, yet he rendered the entire auditorium instantly dead silent. An invisible pressure enveloped every freshman.

"Freshmen, welcome to Huaqing Academy."

The man's voice wasn't loud, but it transmitted clearly into everyone's ears, carrying a sense of majesty. "I am the Vice Principal of Huaqing Academy. My name is Situ Ming. You may call me Vice Principal Situ, or you may call me Teacher Situ."

Vice Principal! Many freshmen gasped.

They hadn't expected to see such a prominent figure on the very first day of school.

For the previous cohort, the one who welcomed the new students wasn't a big shot like this, but merely a grade director.

Situ Ming's gaze slowly swept across the audience. After a full circle, he spoke slowly, "Huaqing is a place that cultivates the strong, but being strong means more than just having immense power."

Situ Ming continued, his tone flat but containing an unquestionable power. "Wisdom, temperament, perseverance, and responsibility. These many qualities are all indispensable. Today's placement test will be a preliminary examination of you."

"The test will take place in a special simulated illusion. You will encounter different scenarios and challenges. There is no fixed grading standard. The academy will evaluate and assign you to classes based on your comprehensive performance in the illusion."

A simulated illusion? Chen Guan's heart stirred.

This would save him from the embarrassment of directly exposing that he had no special abilities, but as for his performance in the illusion... how should he utilize his advantages?

"Remember, although everything in the illusion is not real, your feelings, choices, and actions are all reflections of your true nature," Situ Ming said meaningfully. "Now, relax your minds and prepare to connect."

As his words fell, he raised his right hand and lightly tapped his index finger in the empty air.

Buzz.

An invisible fluctuation spread out with him at the center, instantly enveloping the entire auditorium.

Chen Guan only felt his vision blur. Irresistibly, the surrounding scenery rippled like water waves. The seats, his classmates, the auditorium... the outlines of various objects before his eyes rapidly became hazy.

The next second, a feeling of weightlessness hit him, and the lighting abruptly changed.

When Chen Guan's vision cleared again, he found himself standing on a... scorched and desolate wilderness.

The sky was an oppressive leaden gray, the earth was cracked, and not a single blade of grass grew. The air was thick with the stench of blood.

In the distance, the twisted outlines of ruined buildings billowing thick smoke could be faintly seen.

[Holy crap! Hell difficulty right from the start?]

[This environment... is it an apocalyptic wasteland setting?]

[Where are the others? Why is the Coffin Bro all by himself?]

[Looks like it's an independent illusion test. The scenarios everyone faces might be different.]

The bullet screen comments appeared at the right time, confirming Chen Guan's guess.

He quickly calmed down and observed his surroundings.

He didn't see An Changqing, Long Ao, or any other freshmen.

On this wasteland, there seemed to be only him, and...

With a thought, that heavy black iron coffin impressively appeared on the ground beside him.

Just as he thought, the coffin, which was most closely connected to his main body, was also recognized by the illusion and projected into it.

"What is the test content? Survival? Exploration? Or defeating something?"

Chen Guan squatted down and touched the scorched ground. It felt rough and warm to the touch. The environment was simulated extremely realistically.

He tried to mobilize the power within his body. The attributes of his alt-identity seemed to still be there, but special abilities? He didn't have any to begin with, so it didn't matter.

Just as he was pondering, the ground suddenly began to tremble slightly.

Rumble...

A muffled sound came from the direction of the horizon, getting closer and louder.

Chen Guan looked up and saw billowing dust in the distance, as if an army of thousands of horses was stampeding.

No, it wasn't an "as if".

From within the dust emerged a dense swarm of twisted creatures.

They ran swiftly on all fours with exposed fangs. A scarlet light flashed in their eyes, and bloodthirsty roars escaped their mouths.

Like a tidal wave, they swept toward where Chen Guan was standing.

[A beast horde!]

[An instant kill at the start? How is he supposed to fight this?]

[The coffin! Quick, use the coffin to block them!]

[He doesn't seem to have a weapon. How is he going to take the test? Run away?]

The bullet screen instantly became tense.

Chen Guan's heart also clenched suddenly. This illusion was indeed not simple; it threw a desperate trial at him right from the get-go.

Flee? Where to? This wilderness stretched as far as the eye could see. How could two legs possibly outrun these four-legged beasts? Not to mention his agility was only 1.

Furthermore, the purpose of the test was probably not simply to run away.

His gaze fell upon the silent black iron coffin beside him.

He had no offensive abilities... but he possessed the sturdiest shield in the world.

Of course, it could also be the sharpest spear.

Seeing that the vanguard of the beast horde had approached within a hundred meters, a foul wind hit his face, and their hideous forms were clearly visible.

A flash of resolution crossed Chen Guan's eyes. His main body shouldn't be in the coffin, and even if it was... sorry about this, Old Me, but this is an emergency, and the greater good matters most!

Instead of retreating, he took a step forward and stood in front of the black iron coffin.

Then, he took a deep breath, pressed his hands against the side of the coffin, tensed all his muscles, and mobilized his strength to the absolute limit. He let out a low shout, "Up!"

The heavy black iron coffin was actually lifted up by him. The cheat the system had given him still existed. He continuously spun around in the open space, bringing the coffin along with him and creating a muffled howling of wind.

This wasn't some exquisite battle tactic; it was purely relying on the sheer weight of the coffin to smash the monsters.

The very next second after he started spinning, the black beast horde crashed into him with a boom.

Bang, bang, bang!

Muffled sounds of impact rang out endlessly. The beasts charging at the very front slammed fiercely into the angled wall of the black iron coffin. The immense impact made Chen Guan's arms shake violently and his hands go numb. His feet plowed two shallow trenches into the scorched earth, but he gritted his teeth and held on tightly to the shoulder straps made of iron chains.

The black iron coffin was completely unscathed, not even leaving a single white scratch. Meanwhile, those beasts that crashed into it were like watermelons hitting a steel plate; their tendons snapped and bones fractured instantly. With their heads smashed and blood flowing, they were trampled into mud by the herd behind them.

In an instant, a vacuum zone formed all around him.

Chen Guan's blood surged from the recoil, but he fiercely gripped the iron chains.

The beast horde was endless. Beasts continuously crashed into him, only to be bounced off, smashed to death, and crushed.

Black blood and severed limbs quickly piled up in front of the coffin, forming a bloody barrier.

He was like a reef amidst violent, stormy waves, relying on a single coffin to boldly face a destructive onslaught.

[Holy crap! He's actually using the coffin!]

[That is so freaking cool!]

[With that arm strength, he could smash someone straight into a bloody pulp. Just how heavy is that coffin? To think Chen Guan can actually grab it and swing it around! What class of ability does he have anyway? Enhancement?]

[It might be simple and crude, but it is seriously effective.]