Lu Zhi had never imagined what it would be like to walk upside down.
The world was inverted, the sky overhead a vast expanse of ocean. Mountains and the horizon seemed to be falling, tilting. If he lifted his heel, his body would plunge into the sea, swallowed by the water, or perhaps smash against the peaks, breaking into pieces.
"Ah—"
"Be careful!"
From behind and to his right, terror, hidden within cries of surprise, reached him.
Lu Zhi, suppressing the dizziness, couldn't help but be grateful that Wang Cao Tian had dragged him out for a wild night yesterday. Apart from the initial disorientation, he could now calmly observe the conditions of his fellow students.
The dozen or so of them were now inside a giant gear. Their feet, however, were treading on the uneven teeth of the gear. One wrong step, and they could be grazed by the rapidly rotating gears passing by their sides, or worse, be caught in the interlocking gaps and crushed.
Unable to fly on the wind, they were constantly focusing on their footing, fearing they would lose control and fall at any moment. If they managed to avoid the rotating gears and fall into the sea, it would be better than hitting the gears mid-fall, resulting in a gruesome mess, leaving them alive but maimed at best.
Just as the new students were in a state of panic and confusion, there was a "pop," and a small cloud burst open above everyone’s heads. A palm-sized figure, holding a gear for a head and with adorably cute eyes, appeared before them.
"Hello~" The gear-headed figure's voice was like that of a lively, cheerful young boy. (*^▽^*)
Lu Zhi instinctively tried to find a projector, but there was nothing around them except for the giant gears carrying them on the sea.
"I am the freshman guidance system, Xiao Lun. Welcome, excellent future elites of humanity, to the physical training grounds. It is currently 8:15 AM. All freshmen, please proceed to the starting line." Xiao Lun's bronze gear had human-like, q-version cute eyes that sparkled.
Suddenly, the slowly rotating gears began to shake violently. Lu Zhi instinctively took a few steps back, hearing the grinding sound of interlocking gears. Thumb-sized gears surged from all directions, sparsely laying out a staircase before him that seemed to stretch endlessly.
"Ta-da~" Xiao Lun circled the new students and pointed to the blue light beneath their feet. "The preliminary test begins. Please reach the red finish line before 9:00 AM. Those who fail to do so will be eliminated."
Lu Zhi hadn't expected the freshman test to be so varied, even capable of eliminating students in a physical training exercise. The new students around him had already rushed off. Luo Shi Yu was the first to start running, and Lu Zhi didn't think twice before joining them.
The path was a straight line, barely wide enough for two people to run side by side. There were no guardrails on either side, and a slight jostle could cause one to fall.
No one was vying for position; they only wanted to reach the finish line. However, as they ran longer, some students with weaker stamina began to falter. The red finish line ahead was visible, but seemingly unattainable.
At this moment, everyone’s vision began to invert. The gears spun rapidly. The sparse grinding sounds made Lu Zhi, who was panting for breath, turn his head to look behind him. The path they had just run was quickly disintegrating and scattering, and beneath it lay a cliff where mountains and waves crashed.
"Run—"
Someone shouted, and the new students, who had been running at a leisurely pace, turned pale and sprinted with all their might.
Lu Zhi's heart skipped a beat. He looked up at Xiao Lun, who had been floating behind them all along. Xiao Lun's cute eyes were curved into a smile as it innocently cheered them on, "Go~ Go~"
Time slipped away as they ran. Lu Zhi's chest began to feel uneasy, his breathing growing hot. A girl ahead of him, whose stamina was poorer, was bent over, supporting herself with her knees, sweat dripping from her chin.
Lu Zhi wiped the sweat from his forehead and adjusted his breathing. Just then, he saw a dark shadow in the mist seemingly lunging towards the girl. Without thinking, Lu Zhi accelerated, tackled the girl to the ground, and shouted, "Down!"
Hearing Lu Zhi's shout, those who reacted quickly immediately lay down. A couple of students who were confused, amidst frightened screams, were swept off the path by gears swinging from the side.
"Save me—"
However, no one could react in time. Both the boy and the girl plummeted from the aerial gears, disappearing into the mist and gears.
For a moment, everyone stared in shock, then fear.
"Shen Rui Ming, He Meng Meng have been eliminated," Xiao Lun's voice pulled everyone back to reality. "There are twelve minutes and thirty-two seconds left until 9:00 AM. New students, please hurry and reach the finish line."
Lu Zhi hadn't expected the physical training to include obstacle evasion, and Xiao Lun hadn't given any warning about this. No, Xiao Lun hadn't specified what the physical training entailed at all. It had only said they needed to reach the finish line by 9:00 AM, and those who didn't would fail. Would they, like the two just now, meet an unknown fate?
"Are they... are they dead?" the girl Lu Zhi had saved asked, her lips trembling.
Lu Zhi shook his head. "I don't know."
"Are they dead?" a boy couldn't help but demand of Xiao Lun in panic.
Xiao Lun smiled adorably but replied, "I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know!"
Xiao Lun: "Xiao Lun only serves elite trainees who reach the finish line. Losers are eliminated. Life and death are of no concern."
The new students looked dumbfounded.
"There are nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds left until the finish line closes. Everyone, keep it up. Hehe~" Xiao Lun's cute laughter sent a shiver down the spines of the new students.
Lu Zhi quickly thought and observed the direction of the finish line. They could see its location, meaning it wasn't far. Luo Shi Yu, who was running at the very front, should have been the first to reach the finish line, but Lu Zhi could clearly see Luo Shi Yu's back the entire time.
A large portion of the surrounding gears were hidden in the mist, crisscrossing each other. The gears varied in size, and occasionally, three swinging gears would appear out of nowhere. A slight misstep would cause one to be scraped off the path by a gear.
"Don't overthink it, just run," Lu Zhi gestured for the girl to continue towards the finish line, while concentrating on the problem. After running for a short while, Lu Zhi noticed the swinging gears in the mist again and shouted, "Here they come!"
With the earlier incident, everyone was now paying attention to the randomly appearing swinging gears and uniformly dropped to the ground.
As Lu Zhi went down, he looked up at the gears after they had swung past. Hidden in the mist, there seemed to be two copper needles of varying lengths. Suddenly, Lu Zhi realized something and said, "No, we're running in the wrong direction!"
...
In the sky, beneath the gears hidden in the mist, under the sun umbrella of a large yacht, Shen Qi lay comfortably on a lounge chair.
Just then, two figures in the sky continued to fall. The terrified screams of the new students mixed with the sea breeze, a sound both sharp and despairing.
Shen Qi opened his eyes. A flash of light swept through his silver-gray eyes. A giant white gyrfalcon soared over the yacht, its shadow engulfing the entire vessel. The falcon then transformed into a youth with a head of white hair.
The youth's white hair shimmered like snow in the sunlight. With a casual wave, two white feathers flew towards the two people falling from the sky, transforming into two balls of white light that enveloped the two unconscious new students, slowly bringing them up to the yacht.
"Boss, are you sure about playing this aggressively right from the start? You've already eliminated eight new students in just two days." Hao Yun Yi, who looked like a youth but was a mature man nearing thirty, possessed a baby face that had deceived countless people.
"There's no time," Shen Qi raised his gaze to the gears, his tone deepening. "The next 'Cage Haven' is about to descend."
Hao Yun Yi frowned. "Does the principal know you're doing this? Using precious artifacts to condense seven days of training into one day, isn't that clearly making it impossible for anyone to pass? If you don't want to take students, no one can force you."
Shen Qi's lips curved slightly. "Who said I don't want to take students."
Hao Yun Yi looked at the curve of Shen Qi's lips and involuntarily shivered.
This... this smile made him feel like someone was about to have bad luck.