Bubble Basketball

Chapter 11 Bubble Basketball

After finishing the first day of the exams, Zhou Leng went home early and once again took Big Yellow to cultivate beneath the Frost Giant Tree.

Early the next morning, Zhou Leng returned to Xiaoru Village, and some messages popped up on his phone.

There were several missed calls. When he opened them, the note read, "Jiang Yan, Deputy Team Leader."

Jiang Yan was Zhou Leng's direct superior at Pioneer Company, overseeing dozens of employees who butchered demon beasts.

Zhou Leng opened the Wuxin APP he used to chat and saw the message Jiang Yan had sent.

"Zhou Leng, a huge shipment is arriving tonight. You must come!"

"Why didn't you answer your phone?"

Zhou Leng replied, "I was cultivating yesterday, so I turned off my phone."

Afterward, Zhou Leng opened a message from his friend Hu Yi. Hu Yi had sent a voice message.

"Haha, I'm dying of laughter. That idiot Jiang Yan told me to go to work tonight. Did a donkey kick his brain? I told him over and over that I had the College Entrance Examination, but he said that even if the sky fell, I still had to go. I cursed him out and hung up. He'll probably make things difficult for me again."

Zhou Leng sent a voice reply. "Ignore him. The Martial Arts Examination is more important. Once it's over, we'll go to the company together."

As soon as he finished speaking, Jiang Yan sent another message.

"Zhou Leng, when the company needs you, neither of you comes in. How is the company supposed to train you like this?"

Zhou Leng replied, "Team Leader Jiang, I've been taking the College Entrance Examination these past few days. I already requested leave in advance."

"I know, and I can understand. But we were truly short-handed yesterday. Couldn't you spare a thought for the company?"

"I'm taking the College Entrance Examination," Zhou Leng said.

"You and Hu Yi came to the company to butcher demon beasts. It wouldn't affect you much. Who knows, the training might even improve your results. I won't say much more. If you still want to work properly at the company, you must follow the company's rules and regulations."

"Oh." Zhou Leng replied with a single character.

He ran all the way home.

Today was Saturday, and Li Linhan was off work.

When they headed to the examination venue, Li Linhan got into the car as well. In the back seat, Zhou Leng sat between Li Linhan and Zhang Meiqin.

Zhou Leng and Zhang Xinglie exchanged a knowing glance and began chatting together.

After getting out of the car, Zhang Xinglie said quietly, "After today's exam, meet outside Passage Four. We'll stroll around the Martial Arts Mall, then get back in the car."

Zhou Leng nodded.

When he entered Examination Venue Four again, everything before his eyes was completely different from yesterday.

Inside Examination Venue Four, a curtain stretched across the field.

The curtain occasionally billowed up, revealing rows of Demonized Marble Tables. At the far end of the Demonized Marble Tables, another curtain stretched across the venue.

Zhou Leng had used Demonized Marble Tables at school. The students in the elite class could practice every day, and some classmates even had one at home.

They cost more than fifty thousand each.

At the first roll call, Zhou Leng was among those called. He entered together with twenty other students.

Zhou Leng sat down.

The marble table was enclosed on three sides. Directly opposite him was a white display screen, which was also the impact zone.

Black, red, and blue squares slowly appeared on the display screen, then faded away before slowly appearing again.

Each square was about the size of a thumbnail.

In front of Zhou Leng sat a large basket of black, red, and blue frosted marbles, each about the size of a soybean.

"Everyone has ten minutes to familiarize themselves with the equipment. Please make good use of the time."

Zhou Leng reached out and touched a marble. It was much easier to grip than a smooth bean.

Zhou Leng selected a red marble with one hand and a black marble with the other, then flung them simultaneously at the display screen two meters ahead.

Smack...

The two marbles reached and struck the display screen at the same time, making it sound like a single impact.

The red marble hit the red square precisely, while the black marble landed on the edge of the black square.

No score appeared on the screen.

His force was insufficient, and the demonized power had not detected any trace of True Qi either.

Zhou Leng still did not use True Qi. He calmly flicked various marbles forward, and his accuracy continued to rise.

Three minutes later, Zhou Leng's qi had reached all ten fingers. He pinched two marbles between both hands and lightly flicked them. The two marbles flew out together.

Smack!

The marbles struck the squares of their corresponding colors dead center, landed on the tabletop, and slid back into the basket.

+1, +1...

At this moment, the other marble tables erupted with dense crackling sounds of ricocheting marbles.

Zhou Leng remained unhurried. He slowly sensed and observed the True Qi, marbles, display screen, the force he used, and every other detail, committing them all to memory.

At this point, dozens of squares often appeared on the screen simultaneously. They vanished one after another, then resurfaced one after another.

Seven minutes later, Zhou Leng's gaze suddenly sharpened. Both his hands turned into afterimages as he continuously drew out marbles and flicked them toward the display screen.

Zhou Leng no longer lowered his head to look at the basket. His eyes remained fixed solely on the display screen ahead.

Whenever he raised a hand, he glanced from the corner of his eye at the color of the marble he had picked up and flicked it toward a square of the same color.

This not only saved the time spent lowering his head, but also the time needed to initially decide which color marble to take.

This method placed extremely high demands on reaction speed and True Qi.

At first, Zhou Leng still occasionally flicked the wrong marble, but starting from the ninth minute, he hit every corresponding color.

In front of the large monitoring screen, Wang Boxiong, Deputy Director Lu, and the others stared intently at the footage of Zhou Leng from every angle.

"This kid's got something."

"His internal cultivation teacher was very likely telling the truth. After enduring a great calamity, his will was tempered, allowing him to advance further. Things like this are very common."

Before long, the five-minute marble examination officially began.

The instant the "1" in the countdown on the screen vanished, Zhou Leng's hands dropped like lightning and flicked out two small balls like a violent wind. Then, from the display screen ahead came a dense sound like a sudden rainstorm striking a window.

Rat-a-tat-tat...

"+1" continuously appeared in the upper-left corner of the screen. It was so fast that dozens of "+1"s even lined up across the screen at once.

Zhou Leng stared at the screen while observing the marbles in both hands from the corners of his eyes. His hands formed afterimages as he kept flicking them out.

After one minute, Zhou Leng's speed accelerated once more.

He took marbles as casually as plucking flowers, while the marbles flew from his fingers like bolts of lightning.

When the five minutes were up, everyone in the monitoring room breathed a sigh of relief.

"Converted to a percentage score, his result this time should be a perfect 100."

"Let's see the second test of True Qi control."

Everyone waited in silence.

After a long while, the second True Qi control examination began.

The examiner said, "This round is 'Bubble Basketball.' It mainly tests the finesse, gentleness, and accuracy of your True Qi. Each person has ten opportunities to practice with a large bubble. Please enter according to your examination numbers."

The second curtain was lifted, revealing a row of ten standard basketball hoops.

It was soon Zhou Leng's turn.

Zhou Leng and the other nine students walked forward and stood before the free-throw lines of the basketball hoops.

In front of the free-throw line stood a Demonized Bubble Machine, shaped like a miniature plastic cannon and standing more than half a person tall.

At the examiner's command, the Bubble Machine sprayed out a large bubble the size of a basketball. It floated lightly toward each person.

"Pop..."

"Ah..."

The instant one examinee reached out and touched the large bubble, it exploded.

The examinees behind him felt a chill in their hearts as they watched. Bubble Basketball was one of the most difficult parts of the Martial Arts Examination.

Zhou Leng watched the large bubble float over and circulated his True Qi, sending it straight to his palm.

He extended his palm beneath the large bubble. His True Qi pulsed as he skillfully used techniques such as dispersing force to touch the bubble, then lifted it upward. The bubble slowly rose through the air.

It was like holding up mist in his hand.

When the bubble flew above his head, Zhou Leng extended his hand like he was striking a volleyball, but at an extremely slow speed, letting his True Qi-covered right hand gently brush against it.

His hand was as soft as cotton, and his qi was like a gentle breeze.

The intact large bubble slowly floated toward the hoop.

The top of the large bubble skimmed past beneath the hoop but failed to enter it.

Even so, the examinees behind him all looked toward Zhou Leng's back in unison.

That was because among the other nine bubbles, the best one had exploded a meter away from the hoop.

Zhou Leng continued trying. Starting from the fifth bubble, he could successfully shoot them in, though they exploded after touching the hoop.

On the tenth attempt, the bubble actually passed cleanly and precisely through the hoop before dropping down intact.

Like a full moon falling into a well.

In the monitoring room, the many high-level martial artists nodded one after another.

"This kid..."

The official examination began.

Zhou Leng precisely and completely shot one large bubble after another through the hoop. They fell from the hoop without suffering the slightest damage.

Only when shooting the eighth one did it veer slightly during its descent and shatter as it passed through the hoop.

The ninth and tenth passed perfectly through the hoop and fell intact.

The examiners in the monitoring room nodded one after another.

"His total score for True Qi control should be 99 points. No one in Ru City's history has ever gotten a perfect score, but fewer than twenty people have scored 99."

"After failing on the eighth one, he perfectly landed the next two. That willpower and state of mind are even more worthy of praise."

"To be safe, we should conduct a second examination separately. After all, it has already been reported, and the higher-ups have approved it. What do you think, Captain Wang?" Deputy Director Lu looked toward Wang Boxiong.

Wang Boxiong also looked at Deputy Director Lu and remained silent for a long time.

Deputy Director Lu wore a faint smile.

Deputy Director Lu slowly said, "You're the chief examiner, Deputy Director Lu. I'm only responsible for guarding the examination venue. Personally, I don't think a second examination is necessary. But if the chief examiner insists, I'll follow discipline and won't object."

"Good, then we'll conduct a second examination." Deputy Director Lu chuckled.

Zhou Leng breathed a long sigh of relief, slung his schoolbag over his back, and walked out through the rear door of Examination Venue Four.

The College Entrance Examination had finally ended...

More than ten examiners stood ahead of him, like an unyielding wall.

Deputy Director Lu wore a kindly smile and raised his identification in front of Zhou Leng.

"Hello, Student Zhou Leng. I'm Lu Qiming, deputy director of the Rucheng City Education Bureau and also the chief examiner of the Ru City University examination venue. We discovered that your ranking had risen abnormally. With approval from our superiors, we'll be conducting a second verification. I hope you'll cooperate."

Zhou Leng desperately suppressed his suddenly accelerating heartbeat and quietly looked at Lu Qiming.

Lu Qiming put away his identification, still wearing a smile.

"Student Zhou Leng, don't be anxious. Relax. We don't believe there's anything wrong with you either. It's just that your results improved too much, so we're conducting a routine review. Don't worry, we won't wrong you. Personally, I feel that your results are fully deserved, but the laws of the state cannot be violated, right?"

Lu Qiming's voice was kind, and his tone gentle.

The other examiners remained silent.

Zhou Leng nodded and said, "Then does this require the highest-ranking officer of the Martial Guard Department here to guarantee that the process is lawful?"

Lu Qiming chuckled. "Of course. I'll contact him right away."

Lu Qiming took out his phone and contacted Wang Boxiong in front of everyone.

"Captain Wang Boxiong said he can come forward and participate in supervising the examination."

"Thank you," Zhou Leng said.

Before long, Wang Boxiong walked over, carefully looked Zhou Leng up and down, and said slowly, "I'm the highest-ranking martial guard at this examination venue. I'm willing to cooperate with you and guarantee that the inspection process is lawful, compliant, and reasonable."

"Thank you, Senior." Zhou Leng bowed his head slightly in salute.

Wang Boxiong nodded.

Zhou Leng followed the group of examiners into a backup examination venue. Beneath even more cameras, they began a complete retest of the Martial Arts Examination, starting with measuring his Total True Qi...

Outside Passage Four.

Zhang Xinglie looked at Passage Four in confusion, then glanced toward the security guard at the entrance.