Intelligence Expert

"Let me think, from what angle should I begin to explain..."

Although the process was a bit bumpy, Lin Xiaolu's Squad 629 managed to assemble. With a little time before the official start of the assessment, the three left the most crowded area and stood on a clearing on the grass. Then, the magical girl codenamed Mint began to explain what had happened:

"You think getting straight to the point will be more efficient? Then I'll get straight to the point. It's normal that you sensed my changing location using my number tag, because I am indeed constantly moving. However, my purpose isn't to play tricks on you or anything like that; it's to gather intelligence."

"Scouting out enemy positions?" Lin Xiaolu gave him a "keep making things up, I'm listening" look, and Bai Jingxuan, standing to the side, didn't show the slightest bit of trust either.

"Well, don't rush me, let me explain slowly. To be more precise, it's about assessing the competitors' lineup, right?"

Mint expressed her understanding of their attitude. "Aren't you curious? What kind of teams do those magical girls who rank at the top of the 'Carry Ranking' form? Are they assigned to weak teammates, or are they teaming up with very strong examinees? If we encounter them in the upcoming assessment, knowing the team's strength distribution in advance will give us an intelligence advantage in the competition, right?"

"... That's not entirely unreasonable."

Lin Xiaolu nodded reluctantly, acknowledging the other person's statement. She had joined some online communities for test takers these past few days and was naturally aware of the existence of the "Carry Ranking." She had even initially mocked the editor for being ignorant because Larkspur wasn't on the list, but she was quickly reprimanded afterward.

The evaluation criteria for the practical assessment do not solely rely on the magical girl's performance; her ranking is a more important factor. In other words, if her competitors are strong, even if her performance was excellent in previous years, she will still not receive a good score if she does not rank highly in this year's assessment.

Therefore, the first thing each team should consider after assembling is "how to perform better than the other teams".

"But what does that have to do with you running around like you're taking a stroll?" Unfortunately, while the other person's explanation made sense, it still didn't explain her behavior, so Lin Xiaolu continued to press for answers.

"What other connection could there be? Of course, we should go and confirm it with our own eyes."

Mint, one hand on her hip, said, "Pretend to get close to them, congratulate and encourage each other, but actually secretly observe the composition of their team. This is extremely important intelligence work!"

"Huh? What kind of statement is that?"

Lin Xiaolu still looked unconvinced. "Putting aside how you know where the top few on the so-called 'Carry Ranking' are, can you really tell their teammates' strength just by looking at them?"

"That's not something you can do just by looking; you need to combine multiple pieces of information."

Mint raised a finger with a hint of smugness. "First of all, I've memorized every code name on the Carry Ranking and paid attention to their information, so I can easily determine whether anyone on the Carry Ranking has been grouped together."

As she said this, she raised her second finger. "Then there are achievements. I will collect information on all the promising candidates in this year's exams, find out who has a record that cannot be underestimated, and thus judge their strength range."

Then she raised her third finger. "Finally, if the other party isn't well-known, then rely on my judgment! Don't let my appearance fool you, I have a very strong sense for capable people. Unless someone is truly hiding their abilities, they basically can't escape my eyes."

"Really?"

Lin Xiaolu raised an eyebrow. "Then let me see?"

"Hmph, then I'll show you what I've got. You might not believe me after I tell you."

Mint sneered, "You're the magical girl from Fangting City, right?"

"Oh?" Lin Xiaolu was taken aback by these words.

"Last year, Fangting City suffered a large-scale attack from the Black Ash Dawn, with members at the level of Ash Attendant appearing. The entire city was almost destroyed. We magical girls in Central City have long heard about this."

Mint, with three parts seriousness and seven parts boastfulness, spoke with dramatic intonation, "Considering that you were able to participate in this assessment, your Blossoming stage must be at least at the Bud Rank. This means you were definitely magical girls before the attack. So, in any case, you should have all participated in a direct confrontation with the Black Ash Dawn and survived that attack."

"That's interesting." Lin Xiaolu finally gave a positive review.

"Plus my eye for people, I can tell that you, and this kid next to you who's trying to beat me up, even though you're just elementary school students, are definitely quite strong."

Mint retracted her fingers and clenched her fist. "Without a doubt, our team's composition is the best possible outcome!"

"... almost entirely correct, with only one mistake."

Lin Xiaolu lowered her eyelids and looked at her. "I'm not a primary school student, I'm almost 15."

"15?"

This time, Mint looked at Lin Xiaolu with some disbelief, and after a while said sullenly, "Well, you really are quite ugly... ah, quite childish... uh, quite unhurried."

"Do you want to fight?" Lin Xiaolu raised her magic wand.

"I surrender. I don't intend to be disqualified for causing trouble in the exam room."

Mint immediately raised her hands. "Anyway, you should believe me now, right? I'm a professional when it comes to intelligence gathering."

"Tsk... Fine, I'll believe you as long as you can say the word 'Fangting City'."

Somewhat disgruntled, Lin Xiaolu wasn't a violent person and didn't want to fight with her newly met teammates. If she really did such a thing, and it got back to Larkspur after the exam, it would likely greatly lower her standing in Cuique's eyes. Therefore, she swallowed the seemingly provocative comment about herself and spoke rationally, "So, the reason you left our two teammates behind and ran around the field like wild dogs is because you could find the people on the ' Carry Ranking?"

Of course, since the other party used such impolite words to describe her, she couldn't possibly use any kind words in return.

"Just pay attention to the degree of crowd gathering before the exam, the surrounding reactions when the teams are divided, the emotional fluctuations and volume of some teams after they merge, and combine this with a little bit of intelligence."

Mint raised her phone, showing off her social media friends list. "It's not that I'm bragging, but I've added most of these people on the leaderboard as friends. If I ask them, 'Where are you? I'll check out your team,' they always reply after reading the message. In fact, they think I'm a kind friend and want to thank me."

"Nobody really suspects your motives?" Lin Xiaolu was dumbfounded.

"After all, I'm ranked 31st on the list myself, and besides, I didn't even meet up with my teammates when I went to find them. Doesn't that show how caring I am?"

Mint chuckled and said, "If I met up with you guys first and then went to ask them for information, it would make my motives seem impure. But if I ignore my own teammates and go to check on their team composition, then I'm putting friendship first!"

"So you're just going to leave us both hanging for this ridiculous reason?"

Lin Xiaolu frowned. "Do you know how long I couldn't find you? I even thought my device was broken?"

"Terribly sorry."

Surprisingly, Mint earnestly bowed her head and admitted her mistake regarding the matter. "I know that doing this was very disrespectful to you, so I originally planned to explain to you afterwards and apologize properly."

"... Let's not do it again."

Sensing Bai Jingxuan's wrist still twitching, Lin Xiaolu shook her head at her, then looked seriously at Mint: "You said you're ranked 31st on the ' Carry Ranking, and that you're doing intelligence work, which shows you value the assessment very much. I hope you can really turn these things into an advantage for our team."

There's no doubt that her first impression of this teammate was quite poor.

Although he looks dashing and handsome, he speaks without any sense of propriety. He acted without permission before they even met, causing this problem, and his words were often offensive. If the maximum score for teammates is ten, Lin Xiaolu's current evaluation of him is only four, five at most.

As for why she could still get such a near-passing score, it was naturally because of the "intelligence expert" the other party claimed to be, and the "31st on the Carry Ranking" seemed to be quite impressive. Although Lin Xiaolu was confident in her own abilities, she wasn't arrogant enough to think that she was definitely much stronger than the people on the so-called "Carry Ranking".

Real-world assessments are ultimately a test of true ability. No matter how bad a candidate's character is, as long as they have sufficient strength and qualities and are willing to cooperate as a team to achieve victory, then they can be considered a good teammate.

Lin Xiaolu's few positive comments about Mint mainly stemmed from the idea that "this person seems to really have some skills."

But soon, she couldn't help but have some doubts.

"... You call yourself an intelligence expert, so this so-called ' Carry Ranking probably has something to do with you too. Is your 31st place ranking really reliable?"

Adhering to the principle that teams should exchange information as much as possible, she asked rather bluntly, "Could it be that the ranking was obtained through favors?"

"Oh? This? Don't worry, it's definitely not some ranking based on personal connections, it's absolutely accurate."

The question was already quite harsh, but Mint laughed heartily without a care, giving herself a thumbs-up:

"After all, I ranked myself at number 31!"