My Apocalypse Territory-Chapter 88 This is a fatal question
Iron Hammer Brothers followed the others into the examination hall, searching for their seats.
The tall and skinny one walked in front.
The short and fat one followed closely behind.
"Big brother, big brother, weren't we here to buy weapons? How come we suddenly ended up taking part in this assessment?" asked the short and fat one.
"Didn't I tell you?" The tall and skinny one didn't even turn his head. "This Patrol Team seems somewhat interesting, so I came to check it out, get it?"
"But big brother, didn't you say yesterday that this Patrol Team was nothing special?" The short and fat one asked.
The tall and skinny man's face stiffened, and he turned to glare at the short and fat man, "Shut up!"
The short and fat man looked grievously wronged.
They found their seats and sat down.
Soon after, exam papers were passed down from the front.
As usual, the first things to fill in were the name and student number… exam identification number.
The tall and skinny man wrote down his illustrious name.
Swiftly, in three characters.
Ma Jiafeng.
His brother's name was Ma Jiazze.
Their real names were completely different from their nicknames; in this area, no one would recognize those two names. Only as the Iron Hammer Brothers did they symbolize an identity.
After filling in his name, the test started shortly.
Examinees of all ages, from fresh-faced youths to seasoned veterans, all picked up their pens to begin.
Outside the examination hall,
Tang Yu was holding an identical paper, looking at it with utter boredom.
The test began with multiple-choice questions.
Question one.
[What is the name of the Patrol Team Captain?]
Below were four options, each with different names.
Such an easy question.
Luo Zhe was in the public eye daily, and if there was anyone in the Sanctuary's upper echelons with high visibility, it had to be Luo Zhe.
Who among the survivors in the Sanctuary didn't know him?
Offering this giveaway question was to make the survivors taking the assessment feel the warmth of home.
Was there another examiner out there as considerate as he was?
Certainly not!
...
"This really is a giveaway question."
At his seat.
Zhao Ming skimmed through the questions quickly and knew most of them were common knowledge.
They weren't difficult, and he felt confident about it.
Especially this first question, it was definitely a giveaway.
"And they even put Captain Luo's name as the first option. Anyone would choose A."
Zhao Ming wrote down a flamboyant A.
Now, he started to feel it was too easy, failing to demonstrate his strength.
Not just identifying Captain Luo's name, he could even state Captain Luo's height, strength, military exploits, and even the length of Captain Luo's longest sentence, if asked.
He had prepared for this evaluation for quite some time.
Looking at it now, he might not even need much of that preparation.
Ah, the loneliness.
...
Elsewhere.
The Ma Brothers were also answering the questions.
Ma Jiafeng, the big brother, was quite confident in his own abilities.
He wasn't the type with brawn and no brains, but thinking of that made him suddenly worry about his foolish brother.
Ma Jiafeng shook off these distracting thoughts and began to take the test seriously.
He didn't start from the beginning, but rather preferred a random selection method, doing whichever question he saw.
"After all, these questions aren't difficult; they're all common sense, the same old same old."
He glanced at a multiple-choice question.
[Is Demonized Beast meat edible?]
[A. Completely; B. Not at all; C. Mostly; D. Mostly not;]
"This is easy! If Demonized Beast meat could be widely consumed, we wouldn't have shortages of food."
Ma Jiafeng decisively wrote down a D.
Then he randomly saw a fill-in-the-blank question.
[What are the two sources of Source Crystals? Please write the answers on the line below.]
[________,________]
Of course, they congeal in the Source Crystal Mines and inside the bodies of Demonized Beasts.
He quickly finished writing again.
It was a breeze, without even needing to think.
Ma Jiafeng's gaze swept across the paper and landed on the first question.
[What is the name of the Patrol Team Captain?]
Another simple question, he thought.
Suddenly, he froze. The Patrol Team's captain—who was the Patrol Team's captain again?
He looked up, fixing his eyes on the stern-faced burly man in front of him. This person seemed to be the Patrol Team Captain, appearing quite capable indeed.
But what exactly was his name?
Ma Jiafeng racked his brain, and then a spark of inspiration flashed.
"Got it! Yesterday, someone mentioned the name 'Captain Luo', so the captain's surname is Luo, no doubt about it!"
His eyes scanned over the four options, yet he was startled again.
[A. Luo Zhe; B. Chen Haiping; C. Luo Zhan; D. Shay;]
Two of the options had the surname Luo, how to decide?
This chapt𝒆r is updated by frёewebηovel.cѳm.
Eldest Ma fell back into deep thought, but this time, no further clues surfaced in his mind.
After pondering for a moment, he decided to analyze it from a different angle.
Luo Zhe, Luo Zhan.
What was the difference between these two names?
One is the 'Zhe' from philosophy.
The other is the 'Zhan' from battle.
In no time, he had analyzed the answer, and according to normal convention, when faced with a multiple-choice question you don't understand, choosing C has the highest chance of being correct.
It must be Luo Zhan!
If it was just one factor, he would not be very confident, but combining the two greatly increased his assurance.
Ma Jiafeng was quite satisfied with his reasoning.
He should be able to score on this question, right?
The next moment, he slightly raised his gaze and saw the points allocated for the question.
"This is a special question; correct answers will not be awarded points, incorrect answers will deduct ten points."
A mouthful of blood almost sprayed out.
He could only helplessly continue with the test.
Even though he was a third-tier Awakener and a master with plenty of wilderness survival experience and knowledge about Demonized Beasts...
Regrettably, these general knowledge questions perfectly avoided his repository of knowledge.
And then some questions were elusive, which was really frustrating.
He looked at the last question, a comprehensive essay question with a significant portion of the points.
"I must score on this one!"
Ma Jiafeng encouraged himself and started reading the question carefully.
[Question: Can Awakeners defeat opponents of a higher tier in battle?]
[Note: Both combatants are not ability users, and have equal combat experience and equipment…]
Iron Hammer Boss Ma Jiafeng, without even thinking, was ready to write a "yes".
Then, he read the next line.
[Please state your reasons.]
He was instantly stumped.
If this were a novel, he could come up with hundreds of reasons for the protagonist to overcome higher-tiered opponents, but the problem was, this was reality. Reality isn't a script; defeating a higher-tiered opponent seemed like a fantasy.
Take his own situation, for example, Ma Jiafeng didn't believe that a mere second-tier Awakener could defeat him.
But also, if he had to fight a fourth-layer Awakener under the same conditions, he felt it was equally impossible.
"Could it be that I should write 'no' as the answer to this question?"
Ma Jiafeng instinctively felt it couldn't be that simple.
This time it was not based on so-called exam experience but rather because he felt that, after the apocalypse, even Awakeners understood too little of their own powers.
Awakeners cannot overcome Demonized Beasts of the same tier.
This is common sense, but why does this situation occur? Is it because the Awakeners' physical capabilities are inferior to those of Demonized Beasts, thus showing disadvantage in combat, or is it because the Awakeners' powers have not been fully developed?
This question was different from the previous general knowledge questions.
It seemed like it was testing something.
Very meaningful.
So, what else could influence both parties' strengths besides combat experience and equipment?
Eldest Ma wracked his brains.
