I am the Clone of a Death Row Inmate-Chapter 116: Counter-attack

"By the way, do you guys think Su Ze will participate in the freshman assessment?" someone suddenly asked.

"Yeah, he’s also a freshman at our school this year."

"I don’t think so. He chose the research department, so he must have given up on the path of a combat-type evolver."

"What a shame. If he participated, with his strength, no one among these freshmen would be a match for him!"

Just then, the bearded teacher hosting the assessment announced loudly, "Will the freshmen participating in the assessment please enter the field now!"

Hearing the announcement, Su Ze immediately pushed through the crowd and walked toward the center of the field. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

At the perimeter of the competition area, someone was responsible for verifying the participants’ eligibility.

Su Ze handed over his student ID. The senior student in charge of verification immediately said, "Junior, please take off your hat, sunglasses, and mask."

Su Ze cooperatively took them all off, revealing his face.

The senior student gasped, covering her mouth in surprise. She took Su Ze’s student ID, looked at it repeatedly, then pulled out the registration list and actually found Su Ze’s name at the very end.

Su Ze had already asked Mr. Ya to sign him up.

"Su Ze, good luck!" The senior student snapped out of her daze, smiling and making a fist.

Su Ze returned her smile and quickly walked onto the competition field.

At that moment, some of the students and teachers in the crowd also spotted Su Ze and exclaimed, "It’s Su Ze! He’s participating!"

Su Ze, who had been missing for several days, had finally reappeared—directly at the freshman assessment.

Instantly, all the students and teachers in the stands focused their attention on Su Ze, their discussions all revolving around him.

"With the strength Su Ze has shown before, he’s practically guaranteed to take first place."

"Yeah, but who knows if the rumors are true. Some people say he switched to the research department because he hit a bottleneck on the path of a combat-type evolver."

"Could he have failed his second evolution? No way!"

Su Ze had a large number of female fans at Dongli University, and at this moment, they were in the stands waving banners and cheering for him.

Han Xiaoke and the female students from Evolution Class 2 of ’01 were cheering the loudest, like they were Su Ze’s personal cheerleading squad.

When the other freshmen participating in the assessment saw Su Ze, however, their expressions turned grim.

’This guy is already so strong, and he still wants to compete with us for first place in the freshman assessment? Isn’t he just bullying us!’

These newly enrolled freshmen were generally eighteen or nineteen years old. To have completed their first evolution at this age already made them geniuses, so most of them had only just entered the Pupa Stage.

Of the more than sixty freshmen participating, over ninety percent had only absorbed a single tube of extract after entering the Pupa Stage. Only a few of the very top students had absorbed two.

But they knew that during the Battle of Judgment, Su Ze had utterly crushed the strongest Pupa Stage genius from Luofan Country. It stood to reason he could do the same to them.

With Su Ze participating, they could basically forget about first place. Everyone else could only fight for second.

The bearded teacher said, "Now, will all participating freshmen please come up onto the stage. The first round of the assessment is about to begin."

Su Ze and the other sixty-plus contestants all stepped onto the enormous assessment stage. The teachers from the school’s medical office were also in position, ready to treat any contestants injured during the assessment at a moment’s notice.

The bearded teacher reminded the participating freshmen, "After the assessment begins, Examiner Yu Feng will control his power and attack you. You can choose to defend, you can run and evade, and of course, you can also counter-attack, though I wouldn’t recommend it."

A wave of laughter instantly erupted from the stands.

A group of Pupa Stage freshmen counter-attacking Yu Feng from the Master Class was no different from "an egg hitting a rock"—it would be painful.

The bearded teacher continued, "Once you leave the assessment area or lose the ability to fight, you are eliminated. The examiner will continuously unleash more of his power, increasing the attack intensity until only eight contestants remain on the stage."

"Now, get ready... The assessment begins!"

As the bearded teacher’s voice fell, the first round of the freshman assessment officially began. The contestants were instantly on high alert, their eyes fixed on Yu Feng in the center of the field.

Yu Feng, however, wasted no time. He had only taken on the task of being an examiner to earn some extra credits; he had no interest in playing house with a bunch of freshmen.

He just wanted to finish the task as quickly as possible, so he opened with an area-of-effect skill—Gale Blade.

A violent gale swept out in all directions, cutting at the contestants’ bodies like blades. In an instant, many had their clothes torn and their skin sliced open with numerous wounds.

Some people hastily used various defensive skills to block the Wind Blades’ attack. Those without defensive skills could only run around the stage blindly, trying to escape the attack’s range.

But the wind was inescapable.

Soon, some people were crying out in pain and voluntarily fled the competition area, forfeiting the assessment.

Others were toughing it out, their clothes ripped to shreds and blood spurting from their bodies, yet they refused to give up.

So, Yu Feng increased the intensity of the Wind Blades.

This time, many more couldn’t hold on and voluntarily left the stage to seek treatment from the school medics.

As the most famous of all the contestants, Su Ze naturally drew a lot of attention. He was seen standing in his original spot, completely motionless.

He didn’t use any defensive skills... because he didn’t have any.

Nor did he dodge, because there was no need.

The Wind Blades could only rip his clothes but couldn’t cut his skin. He only felt a slight, scraping pain across his body, but it was completely tolerable.

Even after Yu Feng increased the Wind Blades’ intensity, they could barely leave a few shallow cuts on Su Ze’s body, which were healed by his Regeneration Skill before he could even feel the pain.

Yu Feng finally stopped the Gale Blade attack.

At this point, fewer than thirty contestants remained on the field.

The stands were buzzing with discussion.

"Senior Yu Feng is way too brutal! He eliminated almost forty people in one go!"

"Haha, Senior Yu Feng really doesn’t show any mercy."

"The ones who are left are the elites among the freshmen."

"Su Ze is the calmest one here. He didn’t even move an inch."

"Look, Senior Yu Feng is about to launch his second wave of attacks!"

"He’s not even giving them a moment to catch their breath."

Yu Feng’s second attack was, surprisingly, another area-of-effect skill: Acid Rain!

A green cloud materialized out of thin air, and corrosive acid rain began to fall upon the remaining contestants.

Su Ze frowned. It seemed this Yu Feng was a purely ranged-attack type of evolver. This type of evolver was actually his biggest counter. As a melee fighter, Su Ze shared the same "short reach" disadvantage as all other close-combat fighters.

However, the assessment field created a favorable condition for Su Ze. As the examiner, Yu Feng couldn’t leave the stage, which limited his ability to kite.

’Should I counter-attack...’ The thought surfaced in Su Ze’s mind.

The rules did allow contestants to counter-attack, but no one had ever done so before, because in all previous freshman assessments, the power gap between the contestants and the examiner had been far too great.

’I might as well give it a try. This is a good chance to spar with an evolver of the same stage and see how strong I am now that I’ve reached the Cocoon Stage.’