Zhu Yaoguang

In the vast plaza of the secret realm, the figure of King Yama Zhou appeared in the center.

All the gathered prodigies hurriedly withdrew their scrutinizing gazes and stood still with obedient expressions.

King Yama Zhou held significant prestige in Nanzhou Province.

As long as one was a student, there was no one who did not know this man.

He was notoriously strict.

When King Yama Zhou appeared in the secret realm, he scanned his surroundings and nodded with satisfaction.

His deep voice rang out.

"I presume none of you candidates are strangers to me."

"So, I won't waste words. There are no monsters here today."

"The purpose of setting this up was simply to gather the top one hundred of the Nanzhou Province trial rankings here."

When King Yama Zhou's voice fell, the prodigies felt their moods relax slightly.

However, they became even more curious, sizing up the others.

The candidates here were the top one hundred of the Nanzhou Province trial rankings!

This meant that these candidates had earned the qualification to freely choose top-tier universities!

Zhu Yaoguang, who held the title of the White-Haired Witch, thought of the boy who had made her lose interest earlier as soon as she heard King Yama Zhou's words.

He carried a bulging pack of basic equipment, his aura was mediocre, and his appearance was equally plain.

He was actually in the provincial top one hundred!

Zhu Yaoguang turned her head to search for that figure.

The boys who were swept by Zhu Yaoguang's gaze immediately puffed out their chests, pretending to be indifferent.

They wore expressions that screamed, "I am a cold, aloof god, come love me, little lady."

After all, among all the girls appearing in the plaza, Zhu Yaoguang was the most beautiful.

Many boys would have rushed over to fawn over her if they weren't trying to maintain their own status.

Mainly, they knew that for such a proud daughter of heaven, being a sycophant was useless.

You had to attract her and pique her curiosity.

How did that saying go? When a woman develops a strong curiosity about a man, it means she is not far from falling in love with him...

Consequently, every prodigy boy deliberately put on a cold and indifferent facade.

Yet, inside, they were howling: Beauty, look at me, look at me.

Zhu Yaoguang didn't think that much; her gaze quickly found that ordinary figure.

That figure was currently huddled in a corner, eating a biscuit and occasionally taking a sip of water.

No one else noticed him.

"Actually, my purpose in gathering you students here is very simple."

A smile appeared on King Yama Zhou's cold face: "It is simply to let you students meet and interact with one another."

"After all, in the future, you will all be attending various combat academies. If you get to know each other, who knows? Perhaps after graduation, you could form an SSS-rank team?"

At the current stage, the Dragon Kingdom had a total of three SSS-rank teams.

Venturing into unknown trial secret realms was not as simple as this assessment trial.

For these prodigies, low-level trial secret realms could be soloed entirely.

However, true high-level unknown trial secret realms absolutely required team operations.

Because the strength of those monsters was far beyond anyone's imagination.

Every combat student would form their own strike team after graduation.

The team strength levels, from low to high, were:

E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS.

King Yama Zhou held high hopes for this group of prodigies.

"Alright, you may now interact with each other for ten minutes. After ten minutes, I will announce the top ten of the provincial rankings!"

King Yama Zhou gave a faint smile, and his figure vanished from the plaza.

He knew that his presence was too imposing and would make the students feel restricted.

Therefore, he intended to leave temporarily.

Sure enough, after King Yama Zhou left, the atmosphere at the scene suddenly became much more relaxed.

The top one hundred provincial prodigies began to interact with each other.

Most prodigies could guess the other's name just by looking at their school uniforms.

For example, Zhu Yaoguang.

For example, Huang Bo.

For example, Liu Qiang.

And so on.

These were the top prodigies who frequently appeared in the newspapers of Nanzhou Province.

Sun Ze from Yundong City was actually quite obscure.

He came to Ling Zhan's side, his expression clearly very surprised: "Ling Zhan, you actually made it into the provincial top one hundred!"

He said this, but he had already let out a sigh of relief in his heart: It seems I'm not at the very bottom; Ling Zhan must be the one in the hundredth spot.

Thinking of this, the inferiority he had felt upon seeing these arrogant prodigies dissipated quite a bit.

Human nature was just like that.

When you face someone more powerful, you feel a bit inferior.

But if there is someone worse than you beside you, you suddenly feel confident: I'm not the worst.

"I just got lucky," Ling Zhan said dully.

Sun Ze didn't mind.

In his eyes, Ling Zhan had always been a dull person who didn't like to talk much.

His personality leaned toward being honest.

He was the invisible person of the class.

"You really are lucky to make it into the top one hundred just like me. You must have burned incense before the exam," Sun Ze joked with Ling Zhan.

Ling Zhan didn't explain.

He just kept eating his biscuit.

He had thought there would be a great battle in this final stage.

He hadn't expected it to be a social mixer.

He didn't really like such mixers.

Because he could sensitively perceive that all the gazes cast upon him carried a kind of... disdain.

Even Sun Ze was the same.

It was just that Sun Ze hid it well, deliberately putting on the appearance of a good classmate.

Ling Zhan didn't feel any inferiority; he just couldn't be bothered to pay attention to these overbearing prodigies.

In his eyes, these prodigies would have no intersection with him in the future, so he couldn't be bothered to cozy up to them.

But sometimes, the more you don't want something to happen, the easier it is for it to happen.

Take now, for example.

Ling Zhan had just finished his little biscuit.

A pleasant scent of sweet osmanthus drifted to his nose.

He looked up.

The cold, white-haired girl had already walked up to him.

Sun Ze, standing to the side, was happy to death.

He shouted frantically in his heart: She must be here for me! She must be here for me! What tone should I use to speak to her later? Should I be cold? Or enthusiastic?

He reached out his hand, struck a perfect pose, and said in a deep, bubbly voice:

"Hello, fellow student, my name is..."

Before he could finish, Zhu Yaoguang raised her jade-like hand, signaling him to shut up.

She didn't even look at him, instead looking at... Ling Zhan, who had just finished his biscuit.

Sun Ze: ?

Everyone: ?

Hidden in the shadows, King Yama Zhou couldn't help but smile when he saw this scene.

"Hello, what is your name?"

Zhu Yaoguang's tone was as cold as her temperament.

This caused all the prodigies who had intended to come over and strike up a conversation to stop in their tracks.

They thought with interest: Could it be that this person offended the White-Haired Witch?

Ling Zhan didn't think that much.

Or rather, he had never even considered that this beautiful white-haired girl would take the initiative to talk to him.

But his state of mind didn't fluctuate; he just nodded calmly and said, "Hello, my name is Ling Zhan."

"Zhu Yaoguang."

Zhu Yaoguang extended her fair, delicate hand.

Ling Zhan was stunned, but he still reached out, touched her hand, and pulled away.

"May I ask what your profession is? Just pure curiosity, because you are carrying too many things," Zhu Yaoguang asked straightforwardly.

It was evident that this beautiful girl, Zhu Yaoguang, didn't have much emotional intelligence.

She gave off the feeling of, "I want to ask this, so I will ask this."

She couldn't even be bothered to care about what others thought.