She Was Timid?!

Ding Ruixue slowly raised her hand, a hint of danger in her faint smile. "Well... I'm sure our outstanding graduate has plenty of ideas about how to score this Gaokao Assessment."

"...I'm sorry."

Chen Ze dropped to his knees in an instant, his expression changing like the flip of a page as two streams of noodle-like tears slid down his face.

For every foot the righteous rose, the devil rose ten.

"This situation wasn't part of the plan! There's no way to score it!" Chen Ze pounded the floor and sobbed.

To lure out the two Lords, he had deliberately kept the Observation Group and the Principals in the dark. The idea had been for everyone to demonstrate their abilities in a life-or-death crisis, completing the Assessment while also landing some big fish.

He had never expected it to blow up in his face.

"Who could've known there was an Abandoned Warship there? Who could've known Yan You would be discovered so quickly? That's practically cheating!"

To be fair, Ye Buyu had discovered them far too quickly, giving the examinees and the Observation Group more than enough time to evacuate afterward.

The result was...

Only a handful had demonstrated their abilities. The remaining examinees had put on a flawless display of extraordinary teamwork, but their individual abilities hadn't been shown at all!

How was he supposed to score that?!

Team score: full marks. Individual score: ???

A miscalculation. What a miscalculation.

Lan Huaiyu sighed. "We can't hold another Assessment. Even the Gaokao can't afford to burn through resources like that."

Spending manpower and resources to clear out another area that was dangerous but not lethal would defeat the whole purpose.

Lei Yue covered his face. "Besides, things aren't exactly looking good in the Present World. First, the [Whale of Wailing] launched a surprise attack on the River of Forgetfulness, and we still haven't found out why. Then two Lords apparently joined forces, with their objective unknown.

"Even the apocalypse progress bar, which hadn't moved in three years, advanced by one percent. We can't keep squandering resources."

Ding Ruixue frowned deeply, tapping her chin with her index finger. "Then there's only one option left."

She looked up at the others helplessly. "We'll have to hold a competition. It won't push their potential to the absolute limit, but this crisis should be enough to make them push themselves. That still counts as achieving our goal.

"They've already demonstrated their ability to handle a crisis to the fullest, and they were even better than we imagined.

"If we assign scores arbitrarily, plenty of people will feel it's unfair. A competition will not only showcase their individual abilities, but also reassure the people left anxious by the advancing apocalypse progress bar. What do you think?"

The others considered it.

Lei Yue said, "Hmm... good suggestion. We can just use the Intercollegiate League arena. It's the best solution without consuming more resources."

Lan Huaiyu asked, "An Individual Arena Competition, or a Points Competition for killing monsters?"

Zhao Zhe said, "A Points Competition. Toss in some calamities. Watching them embarrass themselves will be entertaining."

As he listened to the Principals discuss it, a bead of cold sweat rolled down Chen Ze's forehead. He observed a moment of silence for his juniors.

Having teachers with such nasty personalities really was unfortunate.

Right, junior?

Junior?!

Chen Ze met the eyes of Ye Buyu, who had turned toward him. Both fell silent.

Chen Ze asked awkwardly, "When... did you wake up?"

Ye Buyu blinked. "Around when you were pounding the floor, I think. So... we were never actually going to die?"

Chen Ze curled his toes in embarrassment. "That's right."

Little Whale said smugly inside her head, "You humans really know how to have fun. Incidentally, while you were unconscious, this Calamity generously killed that conjurer."

Still trying to process everything, Ye Buyu paused and looked up at Chen Ze. "That Void Cultist..."

"He's dead." Chen Ze spread his hands. "Though we don't know how he died. There wasn't even a soul left."

At that, Chen Ze sidled up to Ye Buyu and asked with a conspiratorial wink, "Junior, do you know who did it? You can get a reward from the Social Security Bureau for providing a lead."

Ye Buyu pondered for a second whether she should sell Little Whale out.

"Hey!" Little Whale jumped up. "Could you show some decency? I just did you a huge favor, and this is how you repay me?!"

Who knows whether you'll take over my body while I'm asleep and do things against my will?

Little Whale slapped the consciousness space irritably. "Could I have done anything if you hadn't let me out? Do you think I had nothing better to do?!

"Is slacking off not fun enough? Is watching the show not fun enough? Why would I go out of my way to find work? Am I sick in the head?!"

Little Whale shouted inside Ye Buyu's head.

All right, all right. Thank you for helping this time. I was wrong. I'll stop teasing you.

Ye Buyu came back to her senses in a daze and shook her head under Chen Ze's puzzled gaze. "I don't know."

Chen Ze looked away thoughtfully. "Ah, never mind, then. He wasn't anyone important anyway. What do you think of these lousy teachers' proposal?"

Chen Ze willingly dropped the subject and sat beside Ye Buyu to chat.

Ye Buyu considered it for a few seconds, then complained with a miserable expression, "The teachers have thought it through very carefully, but can I sit it out?"

"Are you afraid of calamities?"

"No."

"Then why don't you want to participate?"

The corner of Ye Buyu's mouth twitched. "Because I'm a healing type. I don't have much offensive power, so I can't kill calamities."

Chen Ze turned toward her in confusion. "Then find some teammates. Healing types are really popular. You can split the points afterward."

Ye Buyu opened her mouth, unable to put her misery into words.

"You... haven't watched how I did earlier, have you?"

Although he didn't know why she was asking, Chen Ze nodded. He had been busy pursuing a Lord as soon as he arrived and really hadn't had time to watch. Was there something she couldn't talk about?

But the students who had stayed until the end should have been the best of the bunch.

Ye Buyu hugged her legs and buried her head between her knees, looking like a little white cat curled into a ball.

Her dejected voice drifted out. "I can't find teammates with my ability."

She couldn't kill calamities, anyone she healed suffered bad luck, and she could easily wander into danger without even realizing it.

Kitty Ye Buyu wept. My life is so hard.

Chen Ze was at a loss, unsure how to comfort her. Was it really that bad?

Maybe he should watch the replay. What sort of ability made it impossible to find teammates?

Bad luck that spread? Or an ability too embarrassing to mention?

Lan Huaiyu caught sight of the pair out of the corner of her eye and tapped the edge of the table in warning. "Chen Ze, don't bully my student."

"I'm innocent! I wasn't! I was just comforting my junior." Chen Ze pointed at Ye Buyu, who looked utterly done with life. "Principal Lan, she's your student?"

Lan Huaiyu nodded. "She's timid. Don't scare her."

Zhao Zhe spat out a mouthful of tea. "She's timid?!"

"Lan Huaiyu, that's bullshit. She was the first to notice something was wrong. She faced a Void Cultist and a Wind-Thunder Cantor single-handedly and escaped alive, and you call her timid?

"She's so brave she's practically taking flight!"

Chen Ze abruptly lowered his head to look at Ye Buyu, who was hugging herself.

Holy shit, you really can't judge a book by its cover. She charged into a calamity's lair all alone? She's that brave?