A Good Memory Can't Beat a Broken-Gong Voice

Luo Jun nodded. "I'll go."

"Can you do it?" Lao Miao Miao asked with some doubt.

"Anyway, it's the last one," Luo Jun said with a smile. "You've all been on stage before, so give me a chance to shine too."

"I think we can give him a try," Lu Fei said. "Back in the Martial World world, I noticed that he has excellent insight and memory; he might achieve good results."

Ling Xin nodded, "It's a rare Exchange Meeting."

Currently, the scores of the five colleges are roughly equal, and the ranking in this category won't determine anything, so everyone had no objections and let Luo Jun go up and give it a try.

Wearing a name tag representing Ningdong, Luo Jun stood on the field, looking at his opponents around him.

The Tianjing side sent Ouyang Yu, the blond boy who provoked Zhai Xixi earlier. Judging from his previous performance, he's a Spell Faction, especially skilled in Curse- based abilities. Spell Faction generally have strong Mental Power and can use buffs to clear their minds, making him a good choice.

Guanxi University assigned a fair-skinned boy with glasses to the battle. Generally speaking, Cultivators rarely have vision problems and wear glasses, either as a decoration or to conceal their vision, as members of the Insight Faction.

The Insight Faction possess high Mental Power to process massive amounts of information and are adept at observing details, making them very skilled at this Link Link game. Looking at Puhua Mountain's contestant, he's a bald young man who appears to be only sixteen or seventeen years old. He's participated before and is a very powerful Illusion Faction.

As for the Dongchuan Academy, it's an old acquaintance of Luo Jun's, Zhu Xixi. (The previous chapter's description of Zhu Xixi's school was incorrect and has been corrected.)

This is Luo Jun's teammate whom he encountered in the battle in Stone Bridge Town. I remember he was a Manipulation School. His performance in the Tier A Mission was average, but among students, he should be considered a very capable character.

The Manipulation School also requires a high level of mental strength... So, it seems that apart from the rough and ready Martial Combat Faction, all the schools have some degree of Mental Power requirement.

Once everyone was present, they drew lots to determine the order of arrival. Considering the issue of short-term memory, it was definitely better to be ranked earlier in the order, so everyone was eager to draw a good order.

At this moment, Luo Jun suddenly raised his hand and said, "You guys draw, I'll volunteer to be last."

The others looked at Luo Jun with some surprise upon hearing this, but Zhu Xixi finally walked over with a smile and said, "Don't be like that. Let's compete fairly and no one should take advantage of anyone else."

"It's alright, I don't care." Luo Jun waved his hand with a smile, but Ouyang Yu suddenly said, "Who knows if you're really trying to take advantage or if you're plotting something? You're cunning and sly, we won't let you have your way!"

Luo Jun was slightly taken aback, wondering if this was how others perceived him. Turning to look at the others, he saw their wary and distrustful gazes, so he shook his head self-deprecatingly and said with a smile, "Alright, then I'll draw lots too."

At this moment, the leaders of the Yuan Cultivation Society and the senior members of the Puhua Mountain Academy on the judging panel were also observing the situation on the field.

"Is this Luo Jun?" the president of the Puhua Mountain Branch asked curiously. "He hasn't appeared before, has he? I didn't realize he was such a formidable figure."

"I met him once when I was at headquarters," a representative from headquarters replied. "This kid does seem unremarkable at first glance, but when you talk to him, you'll find that he's quick-witted and has a very meticulous mind. His seemingly casual answers, when reviewed in the notes afterward, all corroborate each other, and his logic is clear and watertight."

"That's actually a problem," the dean of the Puhua Mountain Academy frowned. "Normal people's memories are always a bit off, especially since he survived in the maze for so many days. When recalling his experiences, he's bound to make mistakes and omissions. He often has to recall and verify things to refine the whole story. It's normal for him to make minor modifications to his previous statements."

"So, either everything he said was pre-written and polished," the president stroked his chin, "Or his memory is amazing; no matter how complicated or how much time has passed, he can recall it perfectly."

The headquarters representative nodded: "Based on the testimonies of the other participants, his recollections seem plausible and not fabricated." "Then..." the chairman looked at the group drawing lots. "I'm somewhat looking forward to this kid's performance."

By this time, the participants had already drawn lots. Luo Jun drew fourth place, with only Ouyang Yu following him.

After the draw was completed, just as the host was about to announce the start of the competition, Luo Jun suddenly raised his hand. "I have a question."

"Please," the host said, and a staff member handed him the microphone.

"I'd like to ask, if I accidentally get a negative score due to exceeding the time limit, will I be eliminated immediately?"

Luo Jun's question surprised the host slightly. After discussing with the judges, the host replied, "No, you will only lose the opportunity to continue if you fail to flip the card ten times in a round. When we tally the scores at the end, we will subtract the points you lose from your score. Even if it's a negative score, you will still get a result."

"Oh, I see. Then I have no problem." Luo Jun nodded and returned the phone.

Seeing that no one else had any questions, the host gave a command, and the huge screen flashed, displaying a dense array of patterns.

These images are incredibly diverse, ranging from cartoon images of various animals to everyday objects, from common foods and dishes to various means of transportation and buildings... In short, the organizers put a lot of effort into creating these seven thousand or so images. Even the huge screen, after being crammed with more than ten thousand images, still appears cluttered and dazzling.

All five contestants stared intently at the screen, their eyes darting around. The contestants from Guanxi University even took off their glasses, trying to memorize as many patterns as possible in the shortest amount of time.

Sixty seconds passed in the blink of an eye, and all the patterns were covered. Now the card-flipping competition officially begins!

The first one to draw was Zhu Xixi from the Dongchuan Academy. Each contestant had a large tablet with a corresponding image on a large screen. Contestants could zoom in and out on the tablet to accurately select the patterns. She quickly selected ten pairs of squares, and all of them were correct, a perfect score. After all, she was the first to operate, and her memory was still very clear. With the Mental Power of Cultivators in the Heart Refining Realm, memorizing the positions of a hundred pairs of patterns in a short time was not difficult, let alone ten pairs.

In fact, the contestants all had similar plans. From the beginning, they didn't expect to memorize all the patterns. Instead, they chose a small area on the huge screen, used it as a benchmark, memorized the pattern there, and then looked for the corresponding pattern on the entire screen. This method was more efficient for memorization, but with such a large screen and such a complex grid, even Cultivators with exceptional Mental Power could only memorize a few hundred positions at most in a short time.

What they have to compete on is not only memory, but also luck. They gamble that others don't remember the same area as themselves, so as long as they haven't forgotten, they can guarantee to get all the points they remember. They also gamble that other people's areas of memory overlap, so that when they compete with each other, the points they get will be reduced!

After Zhu Xixi finished her task, the second person in line was the bald guy from the Puhua Mountain Academy. He chose another area on the big screen and quickly clicked on ten pairs of squares, all of which were correct. Then came the third person, the Insight Faction bespectacled man.

To prevent memories from fading and Blur over time, no one wasted time, and everyone completed their selections as quickly as possible, so there was no need for the thirty-second time limit.

Unfortunately, the bespectacled man and the bald man chose base areas very close to each other. Although his ten pairs of patterns were also correct, their memory ranges inevitably overlapped, and after a few rounds, conflicts might arise.

The bald guy frowned upon seeing this, but didn't say anything.

Finally, it was Luo Jun to be in fourth place. However, he was a little different from the previous three. After entering the arena, he didn't rush to choose a square. Instead, he looked at the sixty squares that had already been turned over and chuckled to himself.

The audience discussed his performance animatedly, while the other contestants looked at Luo Jun with puzzled expressions.

"What are you laughing at!" Ouyang Yu, the Last One in line, snapped impatiently. "Don't waste time, hurry up and choose your grid!"

Luo Jun turned to look at him, then pointed to one of the flipped-up illustrations. "Look at the panda's dark circles, aren't they a bit asymmetrical, one big and one small, like it got punched?"

"Huh?" Ouyang Yu glanced at it subconsciously; it really wasn't quite symmetrical...

Then he realized what he meant, turned around and yelled, "I don't care about his dark circles, hurry up and choose, then it'll be my turn!"

"Don't rush me!" Luo Jun glanced at Ouyang Yu: "Besides, I said I wanted the Last One at first, and you disagreed. What's the use of rushing now?"

As he spoke, Luo Jun chuckled again, pointing to the area that the bald guy and the bespectacled man had flipped open. "Look at the squares you two flipped open, don't they look like a dog's head when put together?"

The two frowned, but still couldn't help glancing at each other.

"And you, Senior Zhu, you're from the Dongchuan Academy, right?" Luo Jun struck up a conversation with Zhu Xixi again. "Is your area near the sea? Is the climate nice? Is the seafood delicious?"

Zhu Xixi frowned, too lazy to pay him any attention.

At this moment, the host suddenly reminded him, "Contestant Luo Jun, your time limit is almost up. If you don't make a choice soon, points will start to be deducted... You haven't scored a single point yet."

"Then deduct it." Luo Jun spread his hands, looking completely self-righteous. "Didn't you say that even negative scores wouldn't result in elimination?"

"Uh..." The host was speechless for a moment, while the judges on the side exchanged glances and nodded.

This kid seems to have figured out the hidden rules of this competition, but I wonder if he has the ability to last until the end...

"But you shouldn't affect other people either..." the host continued.

"Affecting others? Did I break the rules?" Luo Jun shrugged.

"Although the rules of the Link Link Four game don't mention it, at this Arena Stage, it's forbidden for players to use abilities to influence each other. Especially in this kind of game where players take turns, it's strictly forbidden for players off the field to interfere with players on the field." The host tried to persuade Luo Jun with the rules.

"I didn't use any abilities," Luo Jun said innocently. "Besides, look closely, I'm the one on the field right now!"

"This..." The host was momentarily speechless, but strictly speaking, Luo Jun hadn't actually broken any rules, and he really couldn't find any more reasons to stop him.

The thirty-second time limit had long passed, but Luo Jun was still in no hurry to choose a card. Instead, he chatted idly with the other four contestants, laughing and joking. Even when no one paid attention to him, he could still entertain himself and chat happily. He would even sing a few lines of pop songs when he was in a good mood. His tunes were so off-key that they were more like noise than music... no, they should be called Mental Pollution!

The top three were fine, since they already had ten points in their accounts and were somewhat confident. But Ouyang Yu, who was ranked after Luo Jun, was in a terrible situation. He covered his ears to deal with Luo Jun's interference while keeping his eyes glued to the positions of the patterns he had previously recorded.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't resist Luo Jun's incessant chanting. Under Luo Jun's relentless onslaught, almost twenty minutes passed... "Luo Jun, I must remind you, you're already over -1000 points." The host couldn't take it anymore: "Even if you get the next ten cards right, it won't help your score. But considering the progress of the competition, I hope you won't waste any more time." "Is it already this much?" Luo Jun was slightly taken aback. "That's about it..."

As he spoke, he raised his hand and swiftly selected ten pairs of patterns, all of which were correct.

This move truly amazed the audience. With such a densely packed screen, it's already difficult to remember the exact locations, and this guy, after talking and singing for so long, still managed to get them all right. His memory is truly remarkable.

Next up was Ouyang Yu. He wasn't as lucky as Luo Jun. After those twenty minutes of interference, his accuracy dropped significantly, and his memory of several locations faltered. He had to repeatedly check before he could choose correctly, and in the end, he only scored three points...

Next was the second round, with Zhu Xixi starting again. The girl, who had been quite confident in the first round, messed up her first choice, clearly influenced by Luo Jun. However, she quickly adjusted and ultimately made most of her correct choices, earning six points. The bald guy and the bespectacled man also performed far worse than in the first round, scoring four and five points respectively.

When it was Luo Jun's turn, he didn't hesitate this time and instantly selected ten pairs of squares, earning another ten points.

As for Ouyang Yu, the result was even worse this time. In his anxiety, his fingers trembled so badly that he couldn't even flip a single one correctly, and he was the first to be eliminated, with his score locked at three points.

In the following rounds, the other three's scores got worse and worse, and the bald guy and the bespectacled guy's memory areas finally clashed. In the end, all three were eliminated in the sixth round, with scores of 38, 27 and 29 respectively.

This result was truly unexpected. Normally, given the Mental Power of these Illusion Faction, Spell Faction, and Manipulation School, getting over 100 points wouldn't be difficult. Cultivators fact that the final score was so low is clearly due to Luo Jun's "effort".

The culprit, so far, has not made any mistakes and has been correct in the first five rounds. However, due to too many deductions in the past, its current score is -1073 points.

"Now it's just me left." Luo Jun looked at the judges' panel: "So, we don't need to go through rounds anymore, we can just choose directly, right?"

"We still need to calculate it in rounds of ten. After all, if you flip it completely wrong in one round, your score will stop there," the host reminded him. "Don't worry," Luo Jun flexed his fingers, picked up the tablet, and smiled confidently, "It's time to show my real skills!"