Chapter 163: College Entrance Examination
For a moment, Guo Guo couldn’t tell whether something had gone wrong with her ears, or whether there was something wrong with her mind.
Right, she probably hadn’t woken up at all. This should still be a dream. Otherwise how could it be explained that the mutated elf that left a deep shadow on her in the dungeon before last had now appeared in front of her again for no reason?
And even if it were in elf-ball form, it should have been a big blue rubber ball. What’s with this white little lump in the sink?
White lump: “Achoo!”
The ball trembled, then a pair of hands directly picked it up. The owner of the hands looked as serious as ever: “I made it.”
Guo Guo: “!! Sister You, you??”
She suddenly realized something and leaned back: “Could it be…”
“That’s right.” Zhang You also rubbed the space between her brows with a rather headache-inducing expression. She covered the white lump with a towel before raising her head to explain: “Old item recycling.”
[Old Item Recycling] was an auxiliary ability Zhang You had awakened earlier. It could randomly “recycle” one item from the previous dungeon.
When she used this ability before, what she obtained were all non-living objects like the little red phone, fragments of the freezer, and so on. But this time she never expected that what she “recycled” would actually be a living thing!
When she saw a white lump the size of a rubber ball fall from the sky into her hands, Zhang You was also completely dumbfounded.
The reason they could determine its identity and species was the result of Tang Xinjue using the identification function together with her mental power to investigate. They didn’t know how to deal with this thing, so they simply put it into the sink.
Zheng Wanqing walked over carrying a fruit knife: “Yeah, when I just woke up and saw this thing, I was also startled. Luckily it’s just a ball right now. If it turned into what it looked like in the competition…”
Thinking back to the wave after wave of mutations among those “little elves,” Guo Guo couldn’t help but shiver.
If that kind of thing grew inside the dormitory, putting aside the danger for now, just the appearance alone would be enough to give her nightmares for several days.
“So just in case, to prevent monsters from invading the dormitory,” Zheng Wanqing raised the knife seriously: “let’s slice it and throw it into the pot.”
It could even serve as extra food reserves. One move, many benefits!
White lump: “Jiu?”
Tang Xinjue looked at her quietly: “You’re craving it because it smells too good, right.”
Zheng Wanqing: “That’s right. Don’t you think it looks like a giant tangyuan… no! I’m thinking about the safety of the dormitory.”
She swallowed her saliva. “Anyway, let’s kill it first. At worst we can test whether it’s poisonous afterward.”
As if it sensed the killing intent, the white lump looked at Zheng Wanqing with its glossy black eyes, then *pop*—spat out a mouthful of water.
The water didn’t spray onto Zheng Wanqing’s face, but it made the fragrance in the air even stronger.
Almost at the same time, the knocking outside the dormitory door became faster and heavier: “Dong dong dong dong dong!”
Guo Guo: “……”
She suddenly realized: “The thing outside is knocking because our dormitory has an extra little elf!”
She had actually foolishly believed Jue Shen’s explanation just now, and almost got sent off on the spot by this white lump.
Although they didn’t know what exactly was pacing and patrolling in the corridor every day, judging from previous experiences, it seemed to hold no malice toward the students inside the dormitories and would even remind them sometimes.
“So my guess is that little elves probably also belong to the category of ghosts and monsters. Plus it’s giving off such a strong fragrance, so maybe it was smelled outside.”
The existence in the corridor probably thought a ghost or monster had entered their dormitory, so it was urgently trying to warn them.
Zhang You unfolded the towel and completely covered the white lump: “Does this reduce the smell a bit?”
Tang Xinjue: “A little.”
“Alright.” Zhang You nodded, twisted open the faucet, grabbed the lump, and began scrubbing it vigorously.
“In case the door that was just renovated gets knocked broken on the first day, Zhang You and I discussed it. We’ll first weaken its smell, then study how to deal with it.” Tang Xinjue explained.
Of course, the most important thing was to confirm whether this ball was good or bad.
Zheng Wanqing still refused to give up: “It really can’t be stewed? Look at Guo Guo, her eyes are red from hunger…”
Guo Guo: “…I think your eyes are red from craving it!”
She turned her head angrily, but the corner of her vision accidentally glanced at the mirror. Her neck made a crack and froze stiffly in place. Then she slowly turned her head back, confirming she hadn’t seen wrong:
“It’s over, I’m finished.”
Guo Guo held her face, mouth wide open in shock: “My eyes are really red?!”
The white lump being scrubbed poked a small eye out from the towel: “Jiu!”
“Help!!”
“Jiu jiu jiu!”
Guo Guo’s panic didn’t last even a second. By the time Zheng Wanqing grabbed her arm first, the girl’s head had already drooped down.
When she raised it again, both eye sockets were completely occupied by deep red, but the expression on her face was very calm: “Don’t worry, it’s me.”
Before the sentence even finished, Zheng Wanqing had already clenched her fists, and a massive steel phantom began to emerge—
“…It’s me! I’m your counselor!”
As soon as these words came out, the dormitory finally quieted down.
Zheng Wanqing and Zhang You looked toward Tang Xinjue. Tang Xinjue nodded: “The aura is very familiar.”
“Guo Guo” let out a breath of relief: “As expected, Tang tongxue has the best memory…”
Tang Xinjue: “But familiarity still doesn’t guarantee absolute safety. Please prove it, teacher.”
“Guo Guo”: “……”
She had no choice but to wave a hand toward the window. A gigantic red eyeball larger than the window floated up outside, completely filling the view beyond the glass.
“Last time I came to see you was too rushed, so this time I deliberately hid first, in case appearing suddenly would scare you.”
The counselor explained somewhat gloomily.
The three: …suddenly possessing someone without a word is the scariest thing!
Whether they were scared or not aside, Guo Guo was definitely frightened badly. She was probably already mentally shut down by now.
The counselor blinked apologetically, saying she would use a gentler method next time. Then she returned to the main topic: “Back to the point. The reason I came to find you this time is because of something very important.”
Room 606 immediately focused their attention and heard her ask: “Have you received your advancement notice?”
So she came because of advancement?
Tang Xinjue exchanged a glance with her roommates and smiled: “Teacher, you came at the perfect time. We were just planning to look for you.”
—There was no advancement notice, but there were four crashed APP interfaces.
After looking at the four phones and listening to their description of the APP repeatedly glitching back and forth, the counselor visibly relaxed: “Good. You didn’t directly advance to first-tier universities. There’s still room for buffering.”
Tang Xinjue sensed something unusual: “Isn’t advancing to a first-tier university a good thing?”
The counselor’s expression became serious.
“Yes, and no.”
……
After some explanation, Tang Xinjue and the others finally understood the key differences between “first-tier” and “second-tier.”
Once candidates successfully advanced, what they faced first was not more permissions, benefits, or game information, but a sudden increase in exam difficulty.
The higher the level, the harder the exam, and the more dangerous the ghosts and monsters in the dungeon.
Correspondingly, the rewards for clearing were also greater—but you had to stay alive to claim them first.
Therefore, although in theory the faster and higher you advanced the better, if an ordinary third-tier student were forcibly thrown into a first-tier exam, it would only lead to certain death!
“This is also why only dormitories that pass the evaluation can participate in advancement exams,” the counselor said.
“Besides that, University City will open voluntary registration slots from time to time, but again, only students whose abilities meet the basic clearance requirements can register successfully… ahem, those things have nothing to do with you.”
The counselor immediately changed the topic after letting that slip: “So for student safety, step-by-step advancement is the best method.”
She didn’t continue the next sentence, but the people of 606 already understood:
Skipping levels upward also represents danger.
Thinking back to the “first-tier university” notification that the APP had displayed yesterday, several of them felt a chill in their hearts.
“The invigilator once said that if a grader likes us very much, we could even be directly recommended to a first-tier university.”
Tang Xinjue deliberately emphasized the words “directly recommended,” as if she had already guessed something.
The counselor sneered: “Then he really does [like] you a lot.”
“He?”
Tang Xinjue caught that word.
But the counselor shook her head: “I can’t tell you information about exam grading. That would violate Ministry of Education regulations.”
“But a student’s imagination doesn’t violate regulations.” Tang Xinjue thought for a moment. “So teacher, can I ask a hypothetical question that doesn’t involve specific information?”
The counselor hesitated for a moment: “Go ahead.”
“Hypothetically, if someone would rather expend effort to recommend us early into a first-tier university, but not because they were satisfied with our college entrance exam results, then what would the reason be?”
Those inhuman deep-red pupils stared at Tang Xinjue. From the lips belonging to Guo Guo came two words:
“Private grudge.”
The counselor’s visit this time was very brief, seemingly just to remind them of this.
Because the personal information page of the APP was still a black screen, even after checking, the counselor couldn’t provide an answer. She only told them to prepare for the worst, to face all the dangers that were about to descend.
“But don’t be too pessimistic.” She held Guo Guo’s small fist and encouraged them: “As you say, 'Learning is like sailing on a boundless sea, and hardship is the only boat!'*"
*the second half of a famous couplet in the Tang dynasty, meaning that there's no shortcut, only by persisting can you learn something
“Teacher, at our stage of study, the proverb we usually use is: the sea of learning has no end—turn back and the shore is there.”
Counselor: …you people are really hard to understand.
Tang Xinjue supported Guo Guo’s swaying body and waved goodbye to the red eyeball outside the window. “By the way, thank you for your help during the advancement exam.”
The red eyeball rotated its pupil shyly: “That was a built-in dungeon segment. I just happened to have time, so I sent a small strand of consciousness to take over… wait, what’s that?”
The pupil rotated to a certain angle and saw the white lump swaying under the towel in the sink behind the three of them.
The eyeball looked even more shocked than Guo Guo who had just woken up:
“You abducted a little elf into the dormitory?? And even washed its color off???”
“This will have to go to the Elf Protection Court!!!”
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