Early on the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, the red scraps of paper left behind by last night's fireworks had yet to be cleared away when Linjiang Academy's Passage Center was placed under a full lockdown.
Dozens of vehicles from the Transcendent Association and the military were parked in the academy's eastern district.
After the final coordinate calibration on New Year's Eve had been completed, all twelve Space Rings, which had previously only maintained basic operations, were activated.
Large quantities of Psionic Crystals were transported into the underground energy level, continuously supplying power to the Spatial Gate at the center, which had yet to fully take shape.
By the time Qing Xuan and Qing Yi arrived, most of Class 7's returnees had already completed the first round of examinations.
Everyone who had participated in the class's training expedition was on the temporary review list.
Although Qing Xuan had not truly entered Douluo Continent, he had been the only one who had lost his coordinates during the original transmission and returned alone to Blue Star from another unknown world.
Whether or not he possessed cultivation now, this unusual record of crossing worlds meant the Space Department could not exclude him.
The two entered the central hall.
None of the relaxed atmosphere left over from yesterday's New Year's Eve remained in the hall.
Rows of equipment surrounded the central passage, while complex figures constantly shifted across more than a dozen translucent light screens.
Zhou Ruolan stood near the entrance alongside several researchers from the Space Department, confirming the returnees' examination results one by one.
Zhao Lie stood to the left of the passage.
Several classmates who had appeared at Return Plaza yesterday still followed behind him.
One of them was named Han Zheng.
After the barrier had