Chapter 28

He walked along the blood-soaked path, slowly approaching the exit.

The light-colored clothes the young man had changed into just before entering were already covered in glaring scarlet, like paint splashed across a canvas. He still gripped the short knife that had been his only weapon. The soft, fluffy brown hair at his forehead and temples had grown heavy with sweat, and shocking wounds covered him from his arms to his chest and abdomen, all the way down to his legs.

Blood was even still pouring from the hole in his stomach.

Everyone was stunned.

It wasn't because the person who emerged looked so battered. Rather, none of them had expected that the young master, who looked like he had barely been in a fight, could really kill everyone in a one-versus-many battle without a protective bracelet and walk out of the purgatorial arena alive.

Xu Qingran walked unhurriedly to the entrance before stopping for the moment.

The tower master stood directly in front of him, maintaining the same posture as he met his gaze. Seeing the scene, everyone else, despite having graduated from military academies, inexplicably felt oppressed by Xu Qingran's aura.

It was a stark contrast to his soft, harmless appearance.

In the silence, the tall, slender young man suddenly raised the hand holding the knife.

Thinking he might be a prospective Type E, everyone tightened their grips on their weapons, ready to strike back and subdue him at any moment.

Instead, he gave a soft chuckle, the corner of his mouth lifting. His hand loosened slightly, and the short knife Evil Tower had given him clattered to the ground.

At the same time, the people present let their guard down a little.

The tower master pondered for a moment before speaking. "Congratulations. You managed to become the arena's sole victor without a protective bracelet. You do have some ability."

Who would have thought that the eldest young master of a wealthy, prestigious family would be an even better fighter than those villains?

Terrifying.

Xu Qingran looked him over, then suddenly asked, "Are you the master of Evil Tower?"

"Yes," the tower master replied.

"The medical department will take care of your injuries. Afterward, as long as you're willing to sign Grandis University Military Academy's agreement and join the Imperial Military, you can leave whenever you like."

"I'm in no hurry," Xu Qingran said. "There was a question I spent a long time thinking about in there, and I finally worked part of it out."

"So now, I'd like to confirm it with you."

The tower master said, "What question?"

Xu Qingran sneered. "The examiner who sent me into Tower 3's arena—his full name is Shen Tingyu, isn't it?"

Chapter 13: Meeting

During his two days in the arena, Xu Qingran had thought about many things.

First, how to kill everyone inside with the least possible effort.

Then there was the examiner who had taken particular "care" of him lately. For days, he'd felt that something wasn't quite right, though he couldn't say exactly what it was, until he entered the arena and began the group fight with his life on the line.

A high-ranking officer in Golden Wing Camp, a naturally exceptional bearing, and a style of conduct very much in keeping with a Type E Extremist.

The name had suddenly occurred to him.

The tower master pretended to be troubled for a long while before answering, "If you put it that way, I can't exactly say it isn't."

That was as good as confirming his suspicion.

There was little need to hide it anyway. Prisoners who had only just arrived at the tower might not recognize him, but staff who had been there long enough all knew he was the admiral from Golden Wing Camp.

Another brief silence followed before Xu Qingran laughed again.

"Good. I have no more questions," he said.

He wasn't a perverted old man after all.

Look at his body and qualifications, then look at the shell you picked for me. Shouldn't you take a good, hard look at yourself? he said to the system in his mind.

The system sounded aggrieved. "Ah, even if you wanted to, he isn't dead, so you couldn't transmigrate into him."

Xu Qingran said, "Then next time, kill him first, and let me transmigrate into him afterward."

The system said, "..."

It couldn't do any of that!

Xu Qingran had made it through the arena and outlasted the examiner.

He spent the next few days in Tower 3's medical department, doing nothing but getting his dressings changed and resting to build up his strength.

His fever had completely subsided.

He continued to refuse the MT Agent injections offered by the medical staff, choosing to recover slowly. After his Spiritual Pool rank had risen, it took considerably longer for his Mental Power to return to full strength, but his physical injuries also healed faster.

The women in the medical department came from different camps, but they got along quite well.

They just loved gossip.

"Come on, let me show you the heartthrob of our Silver Dragon Military! Colonel Lu really is the best. He went out himself and led a team to deal with the trouble in Red City's North District 3!"

"Your Colonel Lu really is so handsome! Too bad he's already taken. At least we can still dream about the one in our Golden Wing!"

Today, they had started discussing the prominent figures of the two camps again.

At first, they had been mindful of his presence when the subject came up, but after realizing he didn't care at all, they gradually began speaking more freely.

One particularly experienced staff member asked him outright, "Young Master Xu, remember that gossip about the 99% soul compatibility match we told you about a few days ago? Everyone's saying now that you're one of the two."

"How about giving us some details?"

As one of the people involved in the gossip, Xu Qingran had been brought up to speed a few days earlier on the big matchmaking story on the Star's Edge Forum.

Apparently, it was still trending on the front page.

"Shh, Tower 3's supervisor is coming!"

At the warning from their colleague who was keeping watch, everyone hurried back to their stations and got to work.

A supervisor was a minor tower master responsible for a single numbered tower.

Tower 3's supervisor was a very tall man, with arms and legs as long and thin as bamboo, a goatee, and a perpetually stern face. He had come and gone frequently since Xu Qingran entered the medical department, mainly to discuss the arrangements for his departure from Evil Tower.

Today, Tower 3's supervisor brought him a red letter with gold-stamped lettering. "This is an official invitation from Grandis University."