Suicidal Behavior

The instant Zhu Ping'an obtained his first Star Light, his figure was projected onto the enormous portal at the examination venue outside.

"The first examinee to obtain Star Light has appeared! Is it Leng Tianjiao? Or Ye Qingxian from Qingcheng High School? Or perhaps Cai Kun from Experimental High School?"

The crowd in the stands was worked up over an event as grand as the College Entrance Examination. They craned their necks toward the portal.

But when they got a clear look at the figure inside, they froze.

"Who's that? I've never seen him before!"

"Is this the dark horse? Sure enough, every year someone makes a stunning debut in the College Entrance Examination!"

"The uniform he's wearing looks like Qingcheng High School's. Is that boy a student there?"

"I don't recognize him!"

Everyone buzzed with speculation, curious about Zhu Ping'an's identity.

Just then, a piercing shriek erupted from the stands!

"Ah!!! He's Zhu Ping'an! He's my son, Zhu Ping'an! Ah!!!"

"Honey, keep your voice down. Honey, lower your voice!"

Zhu Jianghua watched Xia Yue, beside him, reveling in excitement. He wanted nothing more than to find a crack in the ground and crawl into it, but the area was packed with people. There were plenty of ditches, but not a single crack.

"Dad... Mom's gone crazy..." Zhu Kaixin pointed at the celebrating Xia Yue.

"Don't talk nonsense, kid." Zhu Jianghua patted Zhu Kaixin's head. "Haven't you always been from a single-parent family? What mom?"

Father and daughter tacitly edged away from Xia Yue.

Just then, the crowd's attention was drawn back to Zhu Ping'an, because he was doing something alarming in the projection.

"What's this kid doing? Why's he shoving Star Light into his mouth?"

"Need you ask? Clearly he wasn't paying attention in class!"

In the crowd, a retired teacher with graying hair and round reading glasses shook his head.

"The teachers must have stressed this more than once: although the Star Light in the Secret Realm of Star Gazing contains enormous energy, that energy comes from the destruction of stars and is far too violent for the human body to absorb. Forcing it down will cause severe harm to the body, or even death!"

The retired teacher pushed up his glasses.

"But no matter how often they stress it, whenever the College Entrance Examination's secret realm is chosen for Star Gazing, there are always students who try to absorb Star Light and get hurt. It happens all the time."

After hearing the retired teacher's explanation, everyone finally understood. Their eyes turned to Zhu Ping'an with a trace of disdain.

It seemed that collecting Star Light first had only been a matter of luck. Nothing worth mentioning. Quite a few people who had planned to cozy up to Xia Yue in advance stopped in their tracks, deciding to wait and see.

Inside the Secret Realm of Star Gazing, Zhu Ping'an swallowed the Star Light in one gulp.

Just as the retired teacher had said, the instant the Star Light entered his body, it became a mass of violent starlight, darting through every limb and bone.

Zhu Ping'an couldn't help letting out a low growl, hoping it would ease the pain.

After a long while, the Star Light finally vanished completely inside him.

Zhu Ping'an clenched his fist and felt out his body. His Qi and Blood Value hadn't increased; it was still the same as before. But he could feel that his body seemed to have grown just a tiny bit stronger.

The energy of this Star Light didn't seem to affect a warrior's Qi and Blood Value. Instead, it acted directly on a warrior's physical body!

"The College Entrance Examination has barely begun, and he's already injured. It seems this young man's chances in the exam are slim." The retired teacher looked at Zhu Ping'an with a hint of regret.

Since Zhu Ping'an had refined the Star Light, his figure fell out of the top ten and vanished from the projection.

By then, Leng Tianjiao, Ye Qingxian, and the others who had already become First-Rank Warriors had also found their first Star Light and appeared on the projection. Everyone shifted their attention to these geniuses, no longer paying attention to the minor incident Zhu Ping'an had just caused.

An hour passed in the blink of an eye, and the competition inside the Secret Realm of Star Gazing grew even fiercer.

"Leng Tianjiao has already collected 188 Star Light! At this rate, she could end up with more than seven hundred!"

"Ye Qingxian from Qingcheng High School is fast too. He has 175 Star Light, second only to Leng Tianjiao!"

"I think it makes sense that they're in first and second place, but who's this third-place Yao Xu? I've never even seen him before. He's even ahead of Cai Kun from Experimental High School! How does that make sense?"

"You clearly haven't been paying attention. Yao Xu got lucky and ran into some poor sucker, then stole his Star Light. His ranking shot right up!"

Everyone chattered among themselves, watching the scene inside the Secret Realm of Star Gazing with rapt attention. As time went by, examinees were already running into one another and fighting.

Compared to collecting it slowly, plundering someone else's Star Light was the fastest way!

While the College Entrance Examination was in full swing, one name began quietly climbing the rankings: tenth, ninth, eighth, seventh...

By the time Zhu Ping'an had knocked Cai Kun down and reached fourth place, someone finally noticed him.

"Look! It's Zhu Ping'an, the guy from earlier! Didn't he get hurt trying to force himself to absorb Star Light? How can he have caught up?"

"Incredible... He's still this fierce while injured?"

"What's the use of collecting Star Light so quickly? He'll just be making a gift of it to someone else. He's hurt this badly—he'll be a sitting duck if he runs into anyone!"

The principal of Experimental High School gave a cold snort, his displeasure plain on his face.

Cai Kun was the top student at their school. It was bad enough that Leng Tianjiao and Ye Qingxian had pushed him down the rankings. First there was the obscure Yao Xu, then this hothead Zhu Ping'an, who had come out of nowhere. Both had ended up ahead of Cai Kun, and it rankled terribly.

"Wait... something's not right. Look! What's Zhu Ping'an doing?"

Someone cried out and sprang to their feet, fear on their face as they stared at the enormous projection.

In the projection, Zhu Ping'an, ranked fourth and holding more than 150 Star Light, tipped back his head and swallowed it all!

The horrifying sight left everyone gaping.

The retired teacher from earlier was so shocked that he fell onto the ground. He took off his reading glasses and muttered to himself.

"Zhu Ping'an didn't come here to take the College Entrance Examination. He came here to kill himself..."