Chapter 457 The Trial of Fire


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    The next morning, Theresa drove to the first defensive line bright and early.


    By the time she arrived, more than four hundred students from the zing Sun Alliance’s school were already there.


    Every student wore the high–polybat suits issued by the Alliance, fully covering them from head to toe.


    Today’s exam had only one objective: kill zombies.


    Students could use any weapon–guns, knives, whatever they had. Every zombie they killed counted toward their score.


    To protect the youngest students, Theron had prepared the exam grounds in advance. Each testing zone held only about a hundred zombies.


    When the students saw Theresa, their young faces lit up with excitement.


    “Everyone, give it your best,” she said.


    “Yes, Ms. Hall!”


    The reply was crisp and uniform. Students arranged themselves by age into four zones. The youngest was eight years old.


    Within the Alliance, there was a clear age gap. Very few children were under eight, and only a small number were between eight and ten. Most students were twelve to fourteen.


    In the apocalypse, children and the elderly had the highest mortality rates. From the early days toter on, the weak were always targeted.


    But the children who survived weren’t helpless.


    Each of these kids had endured the harshest trials of the apocalypse before joining Theresa’s Alliance. In their eyes shone the fierce spark like that of young tigers.


    Theresa respected that spirit.


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    In her previous life, she remembered that by theter stages of the apocalypse, children and adults were no different mentally. The only real difference was that children were small andcked ess to resources. No matter how fierce or cunning they were, they rarely stood a chance against adults for survival.


    They were constantly bullied by stronger adults.


    To survive, they had to be smarter and more cunning than the adults.


    Now, Theresa was giving these small, vulnerable kids a chance to grow. She them training and resources.


    No matter how small, they would no longer be bullied.


    No matter how weak, they would be able to fight back.


    The exam began.


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    Each group of one hundred students moved into their assigned zone. Each carried a gun and two bullets.


    Killing one zombie was a passing grade; two was excellent. If they ran out of bullets without killing a zombie, they could finish the job with a knife.


    Bang<i>! </i><i>Bang</i><i>! </i><i>Bang</i><i>! </i>


    Gunfire cracked across the walls.


    The first group finished their shooting round. Out of one hundred children, their hit rate was ny–three percent. Seventy percent had hit with both shots.


    Most importantly, none of the children hesitated to face the zombies–they fired without fear.


    “Well taught,” Theron said, standing beside Theresa, clearly pleased.


    Theresa nodded, equally impressed.


    Soon, the remaining groups began. Their average hit rates stayed above ny percent, with sixty percent achieving perfect shots.


    The passing rate for this first test was already ny percent, and seventy percent


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    Chapter 457 The Trial of Fire


    scored excellent.


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    When the hands–on melee portion cameter, their passing and excellence rates would only climb higher.


    The children’s training was remarkable.


    All students twelve and older could drive. The younger ones hadn’t been taught yet due to physical limitations, but their performance with weapons was just as strong.


    Theresa was extremely pleased with the school’s results. In just two years, this group would be ready to fight on any battlefield, bing the new backbone of the Alliance.


    Meanwhile, as the exams raged below, a helicopter headed toward the eastern region. On board, Horace studied a satellite map.


    “Kl Camp should be near the border between Ansford and Branford,” he said. “Based on what I know of theirmander, they’d pick a location that’s easy to defend and hard to attack—a canyon, away from zombie swarms, to set up a small camp.”


    The helicopter drew closer to the area as he spoke.


    Building a camp in the middle of endless zombies would be nearly impossible. A camp like Kl would need to be far from zombie territory, in a remote and harsh environment.


    Horace pictured it already: a dpidated, overcrowded camp, people and livestock crammed together, living conditions miserable.


    Flying over fields of zombies only confirmed his expectations.


    And yet, a woman from such a wretched camp had dared to refuse Morgan.


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    Chapter 458 The Iron Bastion