The area was the most central area of the forest, and it was at least a few football fields wide. Because there were not that many trees blocking the way, they could basically see the whole area. On the surface, it did not look that dangerous, and Xiao Lin and Gu Xiaoyue could not sense anything as well, so he allowed everyone to disperse to look around. However, he made sure they were two in a group, so that there would at least be someone able to pass the news if anything strange happened.
Xiao Lin had naturally wanted to be in a group with Gu Xiaoyue, but what rendered him speechless was that Anna said she could not really speak with the others, and decided to follow the two of them, completely ignorant to the fact that she was like a lightbulb at the moment. Maybe Planet Norma did not have such a notion?
Gu Xiaoyue’s face was still calm, completely ignoring Anna who did not stop talking. Her gaze was fixed on the surface of that calm and peaceful lake.
They walked around a few times nearby. There did not seem to be any caves or nests around, so the only point of suspicion was that lake. Xiao Lin could not resist recalling what had happened in Silverlight Lake. Was there a legendary presence in that lake as well? A spirit that had been trapped there for millions of years?
Xiao Lin’s thoughts had really started to wander.
However, the lake was incredibly ordinary. Of course, Xiao Lin wondered if it was a remnant of a meteor strike or something similar, but there was no evidence of it.
Since no one knew any special water magic, they decided against diving deep inside. After half an hour, everyone had returned empty-handed. Other than saying that the scenery was nice around them, they did not gain anything.
It was not bad news, but it had disappointed everyone, and someone even started to suspect what Anna had said earlier. It was inevitable that some of them felt that the natives could not be trusted and that she should just be killed off. Thankfully, Anna did not understand Mandarin, and Xiao Lin and Gu Xiaoyue were not dumb enough to translate it.
When they rested, Xiao Lin discussed the matter with Gu Xiaoyue. If something like a calamity happened, the lake might actually be a sanctuary. After all, as long as it was not too big of an explosion or some form of impact, the lake should be able to absorb most of the damage.
They rested there for two days, and the entire forest turned quiet yet again. Xiao Lin felt that it was very off. They could clearly hear movement from the beasts outside, but when everyone prepared for battle, they never saw any beasts coming into the central area.
During the last few days, they could no longer even hear any movements from the beasts. If the examination was split into three parts, then the first part would be when they first arrived and their tasks were focused on survival and collecting early spoils of battle. In the second part, the beasts started to be excited and active, and the stronger students could still handle it. Then came the final part, where everything fell into silence again.
Xiao Lin did not dare to be careless, and was constantly on alert. He had maintained a steady three shifts of guard duty; the others felt it was troublesome, but still did it in the end.
It was obvious that everyone’s tense mental state had slowly been relaxed because the beast tide that Anna spoke of did not come as they expected. As time drew closer, there were still no signs of those horrifying Epic-ranked beasts of legend. Anna felt a little awkward, but Xiao Lin still had his suspicions. He was not suspicious of the existence of the beast tide, but since Anna’s astrologian had made a mistake once, it was possible there would be a second mistake.
The examination just passing like that was not a bad thing. There was not much time left, and they could no longer try to escape the forest. With that in mind, everyone had decided to just enjoy the nearby scenery like it was a vacation.
With that attitude, time had slowly closed onto the last day of the examination. If nothing unexpected happened, when the day came to an end, they would have stayed in the forest for a month, and all of them would return to the academy.
Even Xiao Lin had started to suspect if he had been overthinking things. It was possible that that was all there was to the examination, and that the difficulty was not as hard as they expected. If they avoided those beasts during the middle stages, they could have easily survived.
It was right before noon during that last day when the calm forest finally started to change, and it was an unbelievable change!
The weather on the last day was not great. The sky had been covered in dark clouds since the morning, but there had been no rain fall. There were more and more dark clouds, and the sky got darker and darker. When noon came, it seemed like the clouds could no longer stand the pressure, and started to rumble.
The sound was very different from normal thunder because it was low and long, and could occasionally be accompanied by a sharp howl that sounded like a steel plate being snapped. It caused everyone to have goosebumps.
“It doesn’t seem like it’s raining.” Gu Xiaoyue’s expression was heavy. In truth, no one had a good expression on, but with the sky like that, they could not make anything out.
Only two of them had a very strange expression on their faces. Xiao Lin opened his mouth to say something, but did not know how to explain to the others.
It was true, the scene in front of them might be foreign to the others, but it was something Xiao Lin was already familiar with. No, it was a scene Xiao Lin had seen a few times already — once in the Final Lands, and again when he went to the past to visit Atlantis…
It was the signs of space and time being fractured; it symbolized the cracking of space!
Planet Norma’s space and time would obviously not collapse. Based on Xiao Lin’s understanding, it was different from Earth’s fragile space. Planet Norma was still very stable, and no cracks or destruction would happen. The only possibility was that someone was using an external power to force their way into the time and space of this world!
Thinking about that, a moment of shock passed through Xiao Lin’s mind. The examination had been set before the colonist academies arrived, but he never knew how long before it was. Now Xiao Lin had a sudden realization.
It was possible that today was the day Dawn Academy came into this world from Earth!
“I think we’re witnessing history.” Xiao Lin thought about it, and decided not to tell the others. However, he found it a little strange. Was the point of the examination so they could experience their actual history?
However, he paused in the middle of his sentence because Xiao Lin noticed that he was not the only one with a strange expression on his face; there was also another person: Anna!
