Speedrun the Trial

Late in the Warring States period, Zhao State, Handan.

On a First Month Winter Night, a cold wind whipped fine snow against the grey brick walls of Handan City.

In a spacious courtyard within the city, a man dressed in fine clothes paced anxiously back and forth, occasionally raising his head to glance at the tightly shut bedroom door ahead.

From within the room, intermittent groans and pained cries could be heard.

Each cry felt like a stab to his heart, causing him immense distress.

Until, at a certain moment, the tense atmosphere inside and outside the courtyard was broken by an infant's cry.

The Brocade-clothed Man's head shot up, and he rushed into the room with ecstatic joy.

"Young Master, it's a male infant!"

The Midwife handed over the swaddled baby with a smile.

Even before he took it, a strange smell, mixed with the scent of blood, assaulted his nostrils.

But Ying Zichu paid it no mind, still taking the bundle with great happiness.

Zhao Ji, who had just given birth to the male infant, weakly raised her head, also revealing a joyful smile.

"Young Master, have you thought of a name?"

"Of course, since he was born in the first month, how about we call him..."

Before he could finish, Ying Zichu suddenly froze, looking at the infant in his arms with a strange expression.

"Why did he stop crying?"

At his words, everyone in the bedroom was stunned.

The next second, the wind and clouds above Handan changed dramatically. Thick dark clouds rolled in from all directions, covering the sky and blotting out the sun.

"Rumble!"

Thunder roared, and everyone in Handan City stopped what they were doing, looking up at the sky in terror and awe.

Within the clouds, thick blue-white lightning flashed and leaped, like numerous Lightning Dragons tumbling in the sea of clouds.

...Is God angry?

The people of Zhao State in Handan City had never seen such violent lightning. For a moment, they stood stunned, unsure how to react.

Just then, the leaping lightning within the clouds rapidly converged, as if brewing even more terrifying power.

"Boom!"

The next instant, accompanied by a deafening thunderclap, deep purple lightning as thick as a house descended from the sky, crashing down towards the blood-soaked courtyard in Handan City.

For a time, the entire Handan City could see the pillar of deep purple light connecting the sky and the earth.

Despite this, Ying Zichu and the others in the courtyard remained completely unaware, oblivious to the impending doom.

It wasn't until the deep purple lightning struck the eaves that the male infant in Ying Zichu's arms suddenly opened his eyes.

What kind of eyes were those!

Black as night, deep as an abyss, as if they could devour everything in this world...

In fact, it was true. The moment the male infant opened his eyes, an incomparably terrifying consciousness spread from him, directly meeting the lightning striking from the sky and swallowing the entire pillar of deep purple light.

At the same time, arcs of purple electricity erupted from the male infant.

Ying Zichu, holding the male infant, was caught off guard and struck directly by the purple lightning, instantly turning into charcoal.

Not only that, but the violent purple lightning continued to spread, reducing everyone in the room to ashes.

The entire house shattered in the purple lightning, turning into countless pieces of crushed stone dancing with purple electric arcs, shooting out in all directions.

In just a moment, the entire large courtyard was destroyed by the rampaging purple lightning.

Unfortunate pedestrians passing by were also affected by the lightning and lost their lives in an instant.

Amidst the scorched ruins, the tiny male infant glowed with lightning, floating up as if he were a Heavenly God.

Purple lightning danced on his skin, constantly cleansing his body, making his skin gradually plump and his body gradually grow taller.

In just a few seconds, the male infant, who had just had his umbilical cord cut, had grown into a boy about 1.2 meters tall.

On his wrinkled little face, more distinct and vivid expressions finally appeared--

"Sigh..."

The boy sighed softly, looking down at the ruins with a dejected expression.

He just wanted to properly experience this trial, so why were there so many hiccups right at the start?

Could it be that his Main Body Consciousness had entered this world, thus provoking the World Consciousness's resistance?

This was wrong!

How could a mere Virtual World be qualified to have a World Consciousness?

Thinking of this, the boy, or rather Lin Yu, looked up in surprise at the sky brewing with lightning above his head.

That's right, just as Lin Yu had thought, this world was not real.

From the very beginning of his transmigration, he had discovered that everyone living in this world, whether his own parents or the lively people of Zhao State outside, were not truly alive.

They were more like projections from another world, NPCs with false consciousness.

If this were not the case, Lin Yu would not have chosen to confront the lightning descending from the sky head-on, but would have adopted a more stable approach, such as moving everyone in this courtyard to another location...

Of course, even knowing that this was a virtual space akin to a realistic illusion, Lin Yu had no intention of flipping the table from the start.

The reason such a thing happened was mainly because he hadn't expected that after his consciousness devoured the lightning, it would surge out from within his body!

This indicated that the body he currently inhabited was not made of real flesh and blood, but was a spiritual substance influenced by consciousness.

This point had already been verified when Lin Yu attempted to temper his body with lightning.

"Rumble!"

Accompanied by deafening roars, the dark clouds in the sky continued to brew lightning, showing no signs of giving up.

Lin Yu frowned, pondering why this situation had occurred.

Firstly, this was a trial, and the World Consciousness should be considered the invigilator.

So the question now was, what kind of behavior from the examinee would cause the invigilator to target them so fiercely?

The answer was undoubtedly—cheating!

With this thought, Lin Yu's consciousness spread out, instantly covering the land of Huaxia. He discovered that all the NPCs in the entire world were ordinary people, with no extraordinary power whatsoever.

So... was his consciousness too strong, so strong that it could easily interfere with the entire world, thus being deemed cheating by the invigilator?

Lin Yu's expression darkened. He immediately landed on the ground, restrained his consciousness, and looked up at the sky.

As expected, the lightning brewing in the dark clouds weakened slightly, but it did not disappear.

Lin Yu pondered for a moment, thinking that his attempt to temper his body with lightning was already irreversible.

"So there's no room for negotiation then..."

Lin Yu sighed.

The next instant, a Deep Purple Lightning as thick as a house crashed down.

Lin Yu's consciousness swept out, instantly devouring the lightning, and he glared at the sky, saying, "You were the one who wanted to pull my Main Body Consciousness over just now, and now you're the one who thinks my Main Body Consciousness is cheating—what, can't handle losing?!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The dark clouds remained silent, only continuing to strike with lightning.

Lin Yu laughed in anger, enduring the lightning striking down from above his head.

"Fine, fine, fine, you don't want to play? Then no one plays!"

Before the words even fell, Lin Yu's body erupted with lightning, soaring into the sky. A terrifying consciousness spread from him like a tide, instantly sweeping across the sky for a hundred miles.

In just a moment, all the dark clouds were swept away, the deep purple lightning was annihilated inch by inch, and even space itself seemed unable to withstand the impact of Lin Yu's consciousness, cracking open into dark, elongated fissures.

This was only the beginning, as Lin Yu had no intention of stopping.

Thus, the sky collapsed and tore under his gaze, and the earth trembled and roared under his will.

The entire world seemed to have plunged into hell, with scenes of apocalyptic disaster everywhere.

"Rumble!!"

With deafening roars, the earth cracked open into vast, canyon-like fissures.

Viewed from above, the entire land of Huaxia was covered in a spiderweb of dark abysses. Space rifts, centered above Handan, spread rapidly in all directions, devastatingly devouring everything.

Palaces shattered, houses collapsed, rivers ceased to flow, mountains crumbled.

All the NPCs living on this land, before they could even react to what had happened, had their false bodies swept away by the terrifying wave of consciousness and returned to nothingness.

In just three minutes, the entire world was completely destroyed by Lin Yu's consciousness impact.

All matter vanished, leaving behind only a vast, dead, and silent dark void...

Lin Yu floated quietly in this void, sighing as he looked at the pop-up window that had disappeared from his mind.

Just as he thought this Trial had completely failed, a brand new pop-up window suddenly leaped out from the chat box--

"Achieved Stage Achievement [Defeated Zhao State] [Defeated Wei State] [Defeated Yan State]..."

"Achieved Clear Achievement [Unified the World] [Four Seas United]..."

"Achieved Special Achievement [Standardized Carts] [Standardized Writing] [Standardized Ethics]..."

"Achieved Ultimate Easter Egg Achievement [Dominate Huanyu]!"

[Detected that the clear conditions have been met, Score SSS]

[Congratulations to group member 'Lin Yu' for being promoted to Administrator!]