You son of a bitch, are you looking to die!?

Lin Xia rode the school bus to an abandoned ancient temple.

"Students, quiet down!"

Director Xie Feng cleared his throat, drawing everyone's gaze toward him.

The next moment, Xie Feng gestured to begin, and several staff members began operating the electronic instruments in their hands.

"Good heavens!"

The students exclaimed in succession.

This was because the surrounding scenery began to blur, eventually fading away entirely.

The dilapidated buildings vanished, replaced by massive gray pillars that soared into the sky.

Everyone knew these were the Reinforcement Pillars mentioned in the morning lecture.

"Don't be in such a rush to study the Reinforcement Pillars; focus on successfully obtaining a Summoning Card first!"

Before the students could admire them closely, Xie Feng pointed to the black vortex behind the pillars and said:

"This is a Black Iron-level Secret Realm, and it is the only one you are permitted to enter today!

Don't let its low rank fool you; every year, students go in and never come back...

Even at our Imperial University, it's no different; last year, two freshmen perished inside."

Xie Feng's tone was heavy with both sorrow and warning.

He brought up these tragic cases to ensure the students took this seriously.

After all, as Awakened, they had to take the step of entering a Secret Realm eventually.

And the Secret Realm before them was the lowest-level and easiest one available.

The students naturally understood these principles, so they nodded to show they understood.

"Secret Realm spaces are independent, and at most two people can enter the same space together...

Next, you will come to me one by one to draw tickets; those who draw the same number will enter the Secret Realm together!"

After Director Xie Feng finished speaking, a staff member placed a yellow box on the table in front of him.

The next moment, the students began to form a long line.

Lin Xia understood the purpose of this.

It was for the sake of fairness!

If they didn't use a lottery system to form groups, the strong would inevitably team up with the strong.

This would result in students with lower initial strength having a very difficult first Secret Realm experience.

Because the experience points gained in the Secret Realm are identical and are not split between participants.

Therefore, no one would choose to solo a dungeon.

Doing so would only increase the risk of their own death.

"Why are there so many people?"

Lin Xia looked at the dense crowd of heads around the perimeter of the venue, his brow furrowing slightly.

These people varied in age.

The younger ones were about the same age as Lin Xia, clearly upperclassmen from Imperial University.

Their faces were filled with curiosity and the look of spectators watching a show.

As for the middle-aged and even elderly individuals, they wore expensive suits and polished leather shoes, with the word "wealth" written all over them.

Only a small portion were dressed plainly, carrying an air of scholarly refinement, appearing to be teachers.

Although Lin Xia didn't recognize these people, he was certain they were all discussing him.

At this moment, someone tapped him on the shoulder from behind.

Lin Xia turned around to see Wu Ziyang.

"Where's that fat guy? How come I don't see him?"

"He's sleeping in the dorm; he didn't come today, saying he's forfeiting the Secret Realm trip."

Lin Xia didn't have much affection for Wu Ziyang, so he didn't offer much of an explanation.

The other party seemed to sense the displeasure in his tone and didn't continue the conversation.

However, Wu Ziyang's question brought Lin Xia's thoughts back to half an hour ago.

At that time, he had just returned from washing up and found that everyone else in the dorm was gone, except for Xu Jian, who was still fast asleep.

Seeing this, Lin Xia hurriedly woke him up.

But in the end, Xu Jian said he didn't want to participate in the Secret Realm trip and was giving up on going.

The reason was that his Awakening ability was too trashy; he would likely die in the Secret Realm, so he might as well stay safely in the dorm.

Lin Xia asked Xu Jian again what his skill actually was, but the answer he received was still just the word "trash."

For a moment, Lin Xia even fantasized about whether Xu Jian's ability had truly become trash.

Immediately after, he stopped pressuring Xu Jian, as the school allowed students to choose for themselves whether or not to enter the Secret Realm.

"It's your turn."

The staff member's voice pulled Lin Xia's thoughts back to reality.

He looked at the yellow box in front of him, preparing to reach his hand inside.

But just then, the staff member gave him a look and slipped a small piece of paper into Lin Xia's hand.

What is this about...

Lin Xia opened the note in confusion and saw the number [5] written on it.

Xie Feng, who had been chatting with other students, saw that Lin Xia had finished drawing his ticket and curiously leaned over:

"Lin Xia, you drew number 5."

He scratched his head, trying hard to recall something, "I remember the person who drew the other number 5 is..."

"It's me!"

A male voice rang out.

Lin Xia looked toward the sound and saw a handsome man in a black T-shirt, standing about 185 centimeters tall, walking over.

"Right, right, I remember now, it's you, Meng Bo!"

Xie Feng's smile was radiant.

Meng Bo was the pride of Class 1 and the class monitor he had personally selected.

This was not only because of Meng Bo's powerful family background, but also because he was an SR-rank Awakened!

He was also one of only two SR-rank Awakened in this year's cohort!

Meng Bo ignored Xie Feng, instead staring coldly at Lin Xia, as if they shared some deep, blood-feud hatred.

Lin Xia didn't understand why the staff member had secretly given him this ticket, but he still politely offered a greeting; to him, it made no difference who he was teamed up with.

Hi, hello, let's take care of each other while entering the Secret Realm...

Under normal circumstances, Lin Xia would have said that, as one still needed to be courteous.

But after seeing the extremely unfriendly look in Meng Bo's eyes, he simply said coldly: "Hello."

"Hello."

Meng Bo responded as well, but it was clear he only said it reluctantly because Xie Feng was standing right there.

Even a rich kid had to act well-behaved in front of their homeroom teacher to leave a good impression.

The next second, after Xie Feng was called away by someone else.

Meng Bo stopped pretending, his expression revealing disdain and contempt.

With his hands in his pockets, he struck a high-and-mighty pose, "You dog! When I came to pick up Xiaoyu this morning, I saw you pull that hooligan move on her... are you fucking looking for death!"

Xiaoyu... a hooligan move...?

Lin Xia thought for a brief moment and realized that the "Xiaoyu" this guy was referring to was Zhu Tingyu.

And the "hooligan move" must have been the flying kiss he had blown at her.

"Are you Zhu Tingyu's boyfriend?"

Lin Xia didn't get angry; instead, he asked the question.

He wasn't an unreasonable person.

If Zhu Tingyu had a boyfriend, and he had performed that action right under her boyfriend's nose, then he would indeed be in the wrong.

If this person really were Zhu Tingyu's boyfriend, he would not only sincerely apologize, but he would also give up his interest in her.

They were both men; no one wanted their woman to be harassed, right?

However!

If this person was not Zhu Tingyu's boyfriend.

Then for him to curse at him like this...

Lin Xia sneered inwardly, and killing intent began to rise.