Chapter 160: College Entrance Examination
Facing the somewhat embarrassed-and-angry eyeball invigilator, Tang Xinjue calmly explained:
“It can’t be put that way, teacher. My ability is mental, not precognition. When I discovered you placed the mark, I was also very surprised.”
—It could be said to be a pleasant surprise.
“…Hmph.”
The white eyeball did not want to speak further. The gray pupil reflected Tang Xinjue’s figure within it, and the next second suddenly began to spin and contract. Before anyone could see clearly, the pupil returned to normal again:
“Are you sure you want to remove that ring?”
Tang Xinjue immediately asked sharply: “Did teacher discover something?”
“That yellow eyeball, you should know it.” The gray pupil stared over. “If you want to eradicate them according to danger level, why not choose it?”
“I think it still has some research value.” Tang Xinjue did not conceal it at all. “Also, I have already seen the ghosts that belong to the glass bottle and white tape marks. But the silver ring has been relatively unstable recently, and its source is difficult to determine, so I wanted to ask you to help erase it.”
Several dungeons ago, when she first entered the sea of consciousness with the counselor’s help and saw these marks, she had once speculated about their origins.
The glass bottle mark belonged to Li Xiaoyu from Class 3-1, and the yellow eyeball mark came from the eyeball monster on the first night. As for the two unfamiliar items—the ring and the tape—she had guessed the former was Wu Shi from the Road Trip dungeon, while the latter’s identity was unknown.
But as her mental power gradually upgraded and strengthened, her perception of these marks became clearer, which instead overturned part of her earlier guesses: judging from the aura, the silver ring leaned more toward the coldness of dark creatures, while the white tape was instead similar to the glass bottle, more like the work of a student ghost.
If she could remove one mark, she would naturally choose the completely unknown dark creature.
The white eyeball tapped its pupil. After several seconds it spoke again: “All right.”
Tang Xinjue immediately extended her mental power into the sea of consciousness. Inside, there were indeed only three kinds of marks left; the silver ring was nowhere to be seen.
“Thank you, teacher.” This time her smile was extremely sincere. “May I know how to address you? If there is a chance in the future I will definitely thank you properly.”
White eyeball: Then wait for you to extort and blackmail me again next time?
It directly skipped this part: “Helping you already counts as a violation. This matter cannot be told to anyone, otherwise…”
“If I tell it, I will be expelled and fall into becoming a ghost, never able to escape.”
Tang Xinjue declared solemnly.
Only then did the eyeball snort. The enormous sphere vanished from the spot in an instant, leaving only a voice in the air:
“The exam is over. Open the examination hall door and you can leave here. At that time you will also know the results.”
Guo Guo’s spirits lifted: “If we return to the dormitory, does this dungeon completely end?”
“Yes.”
Tang Xinjue: “Then if we stay here and don’t leave, theoretically, the dungeon won’t end the whole time?”
The air: “……”
The voice finally could not endure it and spoke in one breath: “The time flow of this examination hall compared with the outside gaokao examination hall is 1:100. After two hours it will close automatically, and at that time you will also be teleported back to the dormitory. During this period, whether you leave or not is up to you.”
Anyway it was leaving. Goodbye!
The air fell completely silent. In the huge classroom only the four from 606 remained. The four looked at each other, finally exhaled in relief, and slumped back into their chairs again.
Too tired.
When fighting monsters the body was tired; when taking exams the mind was tired. After a whole dungeon, the exhaustion was almost comparable to the Dormitory Friendship League.
Zhang You suddenly spoke: “Xinjue, you’re not planning to return to the dormitory now?”
Tang Xinjue leaned back against the chair, eyelids half closed: “If we stay here for one hour, outside they will take the gaokao at least ten times.”
The others immediately understood.
Since they would not suffer any loss, letting Hong, Lan, Lǜ, and Zi experience the beauty of the gaokao a few more times—what harm was there?
The four immediately sprawled out completely, each choosing the most comfortable posture. Some lay on the desk, some lay back in the chair. Even if they did nothing at all, they would let these two hours pass naturally.
Guo Guo buried her head into her sleeves: “I’ll sleep first. Wake me up when we go back to the dormitory.”
A moment later.
She suddenly lifted her head and grabbed her hair: “No! The moment I close my eyes my head is full of the questions from the paper. I can’t fall asleep at all, wuwuwu!”
Turning her head, she saw that the other three were also completely sleepless. Who wasn’t the same?
“I’ve never done such a abnormal test in my life.” Guo Guo was miserable. “It’s even more abnormal than the final higher mathematics exam—how could I possibly know the names of the Reapers?? I’ve never even seen their faces!”
Zheng Wanqing bit her lip and sighed heavily: “I… I handed in a blank paper for the earlier part.”
From kindergarten until now, she had never handed in a blank paper. She never expected to stumble on this exam paper today.
Zhang You also rubbed her temples: “These questions are very tricky in angle. Even guessing randomly is difficult. Only the last writing question had a bit of room to play with, but…”
But although they had experienced many “courses” and seen a pile of ghosts, they did not recognize a single one of the teachers behind those courses, let alone know them well.
If they had never even seen them, how could they write about them?
“Eh, actually, if we’re not that strict, among the teachers, there is one we actually know…”
Guo Guo slowly lowered her hands. With hair sticking up like chicken feathers, she looked at the other three. Finally they spoke in unison:
“The counselor!”
“Achoo!”
Located somewhere in an unknown region, a gigantic blood-red eyeball was hurrying along with effort.
Beside the eyeball floated several student files filled with garbled text, but from its “eye,” every file bore a large stamp: [Pending Visit]
Another beautiful day of hard work!
—If not for these sneezes.
The red eyeball fell into silence.
In theory, it was an eyeball. Eyeballs do not sneeze.
So why…
Just then, the air in front of the files suddenly tore open a crack, and a sheet of paper fell out from inside.
…An entrance examination paper?
What did this have to do with it?
Before it even had time to open it, another paper suddenly fell from the crack, then a third, a fourth…
Red eyeball: ???
A trace of ominous premonition arose in its mind. Immediately afterward it saw the portion of the paper that belonged to its grading:
My Teacher: Counselor
All right, all right. The eyeball relaxed and glanced downward. Then in the examinee name column it suddenly saw a familiar name:
Tang Xinjue.
……
It was silent for a moment, then turned its pupil back to the answer area:
[My counselor, Teacher Cai, is a conscientious and kind educational worker in University City. She often drags her vigorous eyeball body to the dormitories of new students to observe and conduct visits.]
The red eyeball currently dragging its eyeball body on the road for visits: “……”
[She often sees injustice and upholds justice, helping student dormitories drive away ghosts.]
The red eyeball that once treated students as ghosts and almost executed one on the spot: “……”
[She also works carefully for the students’ studies, giving serious guidance. On our road of learning and promotion exams, she has made indispensable contributions.]
The red eyeball that sensed hidden meaning in the words: “……”
It looked at that sentence again, then silently turned back to reread the first sentence.
…Damn.
It was discovered!
【The rewards you obtained in this competition are: Endurance ×2, Immunity ×2, Reaction ×2, Physical Strength…】
Tang Xinjue opened her eyes. What entered her sight was the familiar dormitory.
What lingered beside her ears was a piece of strange background music—celebratory within strangeness, and strange within celebration. A mechanical prompt sounded along with the music.
This should be… in the middle of the reward settlement?
Tang Xinjue remembered the timing when her roommates were pulled into the dungeon. So after leaving the entrance examination dungeon, they had returned to this exact same time point again?
She turned to look at Zhang You and the other two who had just awakened as well. From their eyes she received confirmation.
They were back.
【Each dormitory member receives 50 points, receives the first place buff: [Points ×2], receives 5 mall lottery opportunities…】
The settlement voice continued, indicating the generous rewards of the Friendship League.
Although only one second of time might have passed in the dormitory, for the four of them, there was a sense of disorientation after crossing another dungeon, especially for Tang Xinjue who was asleep at that time.
In a sense, if it had not been for the sudden appearance of the entrance examination dungeon awakening her, she might have continued sleeping and missed the reward settlement entirely.
【Obtain group achievement [Group Battle Hunter]: What is a faction? Never heard of it. For the first place, there are only two factions in the world—you and your defeated opponents.】
【Obtain group achievement [Black Saturday]: For the Bu Handmade Group, [Black Saturday] is their proudest fireworks. But for certain examinees in the competition, your existence is the true Black Saturday.】
The more Tang Xinjue listened, the stranger it sounded: “Why do these achievement titles describe us so brutally this time?”
Roommates: …Why would that be? Don’t you know?
……
After reading a large pile of achievement titles, the competition settlement finally reached the last stage:
【Dormitory captured sprite count has reached the standard. You have obtained a special gift from the Home of Sprites. Buff enhancement is being applied. First place buff [Super Double] applied. Examination accident compensation bug [Quality Upgrade] applied. Enhancement complete. Opening gift…】
【Ding! Congratulations, you obtained the golden legend-grade props: [Dormitory Renovation Voucher]!】
A glittering golden card descended from the air. The moment it was touched, information about it appeared in the minds of the four:
[Holding this voucher allows free renovation of the dormitory. The renovation scale is determined by the dormitory’s comprehensive level. Usage rule: all dormitory members must sign in the blank space. The construction team will arrive that same night.]
[Voucher validity period: 72 hours]
After receiving the renovation voucher, the other rewards also appeared one after another. Random blind-box props quickly gathered into a small pile on the floor, like the scene of receiving packages after a shopping festival.
Guo Guo cheered and squatted down to open the blind boxes. Zhang You and Zheng Wanqing also joined in to help. Tang Xinjue had just picked one up when she keenly caught a faint jingling sound.
It sounded like… a phone notification?
She immediately turned her head. The phone she had not seen for a long time was quietly lying on the desk. After opening it, the screen lit up. No messages popped out, yet her gaze suddenly sharpened.
“Check your phones!”
Hearing Tang Xinjue’s reminder, the three were startled and pulled out their phones. Their eyes gradually widened.
On the phone screens, the interface belonging to the [Dormitory Survival APP] had completely changed.
Not only the background, fonts, and function layout had changed. More importantly—
On the personal information page, displayed after the school name was clearly:
[First-Tier University]!
Guo Guo almost could not believe her eyes: “We went straight from third-tier to first-tier??”
Did they really answer that exam paper that well?
As soon as Guo Guo finished speaking, the APP interface suddenly flickered again. Then she watched with her own eyes as the words “First-Tier University” turned into “Second-Tier University.”
“?”
Before the four could even discuss it, the screen flickered again and changed from Second-Tier University back to First-Tier University.
“???”
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