[Reboot Volume] Chapter 227: The Day of Results Announcement

“Li Qingchi?” Mo Xing asked.

“Yes! That bastard!” Senior Brother Mianhua said angrily. “When I heard that name back then, I almost exploded. I grabbed his clothes and asked if it was Li Qingchi who ordered them to raid the village. Old Tian nodded vigorously, confirming it. They were threatened by Li Qingchi because the village held something he was after. If their wives and children hadn’t been kidnapped, they wouldn’t have done such dirty work, not to mention the lure of a hefty sum of gold coins.”

“I wanted to ask for more details, but before I could, the Imperial City SWAT arrived so quickly and captured all those bandits,” Senior Brother Mianhua shrugged.

“There’s such a thing? No wonder you looked so glum when you were eating that evening,” Mo Xing said. “What about the bandits’ families? Were they found?”

“Yes. I heard from others that the Imperial City SWAT found them near the Moonlight Sanctuary. They were tied up with ropes, their mouths gagged, eyes covered, but otherwise unharmed. According to their account, a masked person ambushed them and took them there bound.”

“And then?” Mo Xing pressed.

“Well, you, me, and Little Sister Shiyan all returned to school together, right? After the strength test during registration, you thought you were a zero-level and stormed out—”

“Ah, Senior Brother, don’t remind me. I still feel embarrassed just thinking about it,” Mo Xing groaned, rubbing his forehead.

“Little Sister Shiyan chased after you, while I was left dragging all three of our luggage back to the dorm. I was exhausted!” Senior Brother Mianhua shook his head.

“By the way, don’t you have a storage ring? Why did we have to drag luggage?” Mo Xing wondered, flicking the ‘Titan Ring’ given by Teacher Tianqi.

“You’re silly! Storage rings have different levels and qualities. Ours can only hold weapons and small items. You know how much luggage we had that day,” Senior Brother Mianhua said, shrugging.

“Zhang Zihao’s storage bracelet must be top-level. He can fit a lot in there,” Mo Xing muttered, recalling how Zhang Zihao pulled out medical kits, snacks, a small stove, and various things from his bracelet like a ‘Doraemon’.

“Anyway, back to the main topic. On the way back to the dorm, I saw that bastard Li Qingchi. He told me to meet him by the back mountain on Sunday morning.”

“I cursed at him, asking why! That bastard just smiled and said, ‘come if you want.’ I was so mad, I shouted, ‘Come on then, who’s afraid?’ and he just smirked and slipped away.”

“So you went to meet him at the back mountain yesterday,” Mo Xing said.

“Yes. I waited there all morning, but he never showed. I wondered if that bastard chickened out. Just as I was about to leave, a masked man blocked my path.”

“Was it Li Qingchi?” Mo Xing asked.

“No, it wasn’t him.” Senior Brother Mianhua shook his head, frowning deeply. “It was someone else. He exuded a powerful oppressive aura. I asked who he was and told him not to block my way. He said bluntly that he was from the Dark Sect. When I heard those words, I nearly exploded—Dark Sect is a heretical cult! I asked what he wanted here and told him not to be arrogant in the school. He calmly said he wanted to take me to the Divine Weapon Tower as a guest—they needed a good experimental body.”

“I cursed at him, ‘Are you crazy? Daring to target me?’ Then he turned away and flicked several poison needles from his sleeves into the bushes nearby. I realized Little Sister Shiyan was standing there—she didn’t have time to dodge and was struck by the poison needles, falling instantly!”

“I panicked, drew a greatsword from my storage ring, and fought desperately. That fellow was ruthless; he used some move and knocked me unconscious!”

“When I woke up, I was in the hospital. I heard you and Zhang Zihao came to the Divine Weapon Tower to rescue me,” Senior Brother Mianhua paused.

“Junior Brother, thank you so much!” He gave a thumbs-up.

“No, no, I just did my part. The main credit belongs to Zhang Zihao,” Mo Xing scratched his head.

“Ha! Even if you didn’t earn credit, you suffered for it. Anyway, thanks,” Senior Brother Mianhua smiled.

“Yeah,” Mo Xing nodded.

Sunlight streamed through the window, filling the room with vitality.

“Oh! I forgot to tell you.” Senior Brother Mianhua suddenly slapped the table.

“What… what’s up?” Mo Xing had just finished breakfast and wiped the grease from his mouth with a napkin.

“In half an hour, you freshmen must gather at the Hades Training Ground. The school will announce the assessment results,” Senior Brother Mianhua said.

“What? Aren’t the results supposed to be announced at 2 p.m.?” Mo Xing frowned.

“Junior Brother, please look at the clock on the wall!” Senior Brother Mianhua suddenly laughed out loud.

Mo Xing turned his head to glance at the clock—

“Ten… twelve o’clock…”

“Twelve fifty-five!”

“Oh my god, I’ve slept this long?” Mo Xing was shocked.

“You think so?” Senior Brother Mianhua chuckled. “Sometimes you sleep like a lazy pig. I remember you once slept for three whole days and nights, haha.”

“Can’t help it, I was sick then,” Mo Xing shrugged.

“Mo Xing, have you noticed you’ve changed quite a bit?” Senior Brother Mianhua teased.

“Changed? How? Got fatter?” Mo Xing scratched his head, puzzled.

“Hahaha, no, no. I mean your personality has changed a lot,” Senior Brother Mianhua pointed at Mo Xing.

“Why do you say that?” Mo Xing asked.

“You’ve become much more cheerful and no longer stammer when speaking,” Senior Brother Mianhua chuckled.

“Seems so!” Mo Xing was surprised. After these days of ‘training,’ his personality had shifted from introverted to more outgoing.

“Well, I won’t say more. Junior Brother, get ready to head to the Hades Training Ground!” Senior Brother Mianhua smiled and patted Mo Xing’s shoulder. “No matter the results, you’ll always be my good junior brother.”

“Uh… okay!” Mo Xing nodded, feeling a strange sense of embarking on a journey from which there’s no return.

…

Hades Training Ground.

Thousands of freshmen lined up in orderly rows. When Mo Xing arrived, he could only stand at the back, peering forward. He was too late and there were no good spots left. He had taken the wrong direction after leaving the hospital, wandering in circles before arriving here.

He was utterly hopeless with directions!

“Is everyone here?” Teacher Tianqi scanned the crowd from the stage. Many mentors stood beside him, including Teacher Longlian and Teacher Su Yunzhou.

“Now, we will begin announcing the results,” Teacher Tianqi paused.

“How will the results be announced?” a student shouted.

“Do we go up one by one to see our scores?” another asked.

“Wouldn’t that take forever?”

“Yeah, there are so many of us!”

“Please calm down.” Teacher Su Yunzhou smiled. Though his voice was not loud, it carried an inexplicable power that quieted the crowd.

“Your mentors should have given you storage rings, right? Please take them out now,” Teacher Longlian added.

Students raised their hands and looked at their ‘Titan Rings’ used for storage. Suddenly, a dazzling light shone, and a string of numbers appeared.

“What’s this?”

“Amazing!”

“What does 85 mean?”

“Mine’s 89!”

“Ah, why am I only in the seventies?”

Mo Xing looked at his Titan Ring. A string of numbers appeared.

Though he didn’t know how the storage rings projected images like tiny holograms, he knew the numbers represented the results.

And his score was...

One hundred points?!!!

There’s an old saying: “Don’t boast in victory, don’t despair in defeat,” but seeing a perfect score made a surge of pride well up in him.

Though he didn’t know which subject the score was for, getting a perfect 100—

That was something to be proud of!

“This is your usual score,” Teacher Su Yunzhou smiled gently. “The full mark is two hundred.”

What? The full mark was two hundred! He’d only scored half! Mo Xing was stunned.

Maybe because he’d missed several days due to hospitalization, he was marked absent. He remembered Shiyan telling him to get a leave slip from the administration office to make up for the missed classes, and he nodded in agreement, but it slipped his mind amid the busyness.

“Students who scored at least 150, please step forward,” Teacher Tianqi clapped his hands. “Please gather to my left.”

A group of students stepped out from the crowd and moved toward Teacher Tianqi’s left.

“That’s quite a lot,” Teacher Longlian observed, doing a quick mental count.

“Four thousand eight hundred and fifty-one in total,” Teacher Su Yunzhou narrowed his eyes.

“You can count that?” Teacher Longlian asked, though he already knew the answer.

Su Yunzhou, one of the most senior teachers at the Holy Sky Royal Academy, possessed the unique skill ‘Eagle Eye,’ allowing him to perceive the states of all things. He must have sensed the body temperatures of each student stepping forward to calculate the total.

Besides that, Su Yunzhou had another skill called ‘Sound Range.’ With so many freshmen, shouting through a megaphone wouldn’t suffice. He used ‘Sound Range’ to modulate the volume of the mentors’ voices, enhancing communication.

With just these two abilities, Su Yunzhou overshadowed many other mentors in the academy. Coupled with his unique teaching style and humble nature, he was deeply loved by students. Being named one of the top ten mentors at the Holy Sky Royal Academy was truly well-deserved.

“Hmm.”

Su Yunzhou nodded, then glanced toward Mo Xing.

“Mo Xing’s usual score didn’t reach 150?” Su Yunzhou asked.

“No, he missed several days due to illness and didn’t get leave slips from the administration, so points were deducted,” Teacher Tianqi shook his head.

“The old fellow in the administration office is really ruthless, showing no mercy,” Teacher Longlian chuckled.