What Kind of Eye Did He Have?

"That contestant over there!"

On the platform, the instructor responsible for explaining the competition rules had long since finished going over the precautions and was waiting for the contestants to line up and enter the arena. Seeing Lin Hao standing motionless by the entrance, he frowned and called out, "We're about to enter. Hurry up and get in line! Don't waste everyone's time!"

Lin Hao snapped out of his thoughts and hurried forward.

The lines ahead were packed, with only a large empty space beside a five-person team at the very edge.

The surrounding contestants all took detours around it, as though afraid of getting tangled up in trouble.

Lin Hao gave it little thought. He hadn't come to compete seriously anyway, so it made no difference where he stood. He headed for the empty space.

He had only just taken his place when the boy at the front of that team turned around.

The boy looked only fourteen or fifteen, with a second-tier pharmacist badge pinned to his chest and handsome, refined features. Despite his young age, he carried the reserved nobility of someone long accustomed to a position above others.

When he saw Lin Hao look over, the boy's eyes lit up, and he walked over to him.

The surroundings immediately fell silent, and many people looked at Lin Hao as though anticipating a show.

"My name is Su Mo, from the Su Family of Qingyang City," the boy said first.

The Su Family of Qingyang City.

Lin Hao could tell that this Su Family was probably quite impressive.

But he knew nothing about pharmaceutical circles and had never even heard of any Su Family.

With the system quest still on his mind, Lin Hao smiled politely and said without thinking, "Hello, my name is Lin Hao."

The instant the words left his mouth, his heart gave a violent jolt, and his whole body tensed.

Oh, crap!

He was supposed to be Zhou Mingxuan, taking the exam in his place. How had he given his real name?

Su Mo didn't notice anything wrong with Lin Hao's expression. He smiled and said, "Brother Lin, your bearing is extraordinary. You must be hiding your abilities and have considerable accomplishments in the art of potion-making. I very much look forward to the potion you refine today."

Lin Hao was dumbfounded.

He couldn't even identify all the most basic herbs. How did that amount to considerable accomplishments?

Suppressing his bewilderment, he politely cupped his hands. "I wouldn't say I'm hiding any abilities. I'm just here to learn a little. I look forward to your work today as well, my young friend Su."

With that, he turned away and pretended to adjust his mask, afraid that more words would only lead to more mistakes.

Yet Su Mo felt that Lin Hao had even more of the bearing of a master.

He smiled, nodded, and returned to his team.

Everyone around them found it unbelievable that Su Mo had simply gone back like that.

The Su Family was a renowned pharmaceutical family among the six cities, but aside from its reputation for top-tier potions, it was also notorious for being overbearing.

As such, the pharmacists all steered well clear of anyone from the Su Family.

Yet unexpectedly, this Su Mo seemed different from the other members of the Su Family, treating a contestant who had almost arrived late with such courtesy.

Or could this seemingly unremarkable contestant truly have something exceptional about him?

Ignoring the surrounding looks and discussion, Su Mo returned to his team, where the old butler, Uncle Fu, came over.

He lowered his voice. "Young master, why are you being so polite to this... Mr. Lin?

"He didn't even bring an assistant, and he arrived at the very last moment. Nothing about him looks like a contestant who's serious about competing. Why get so close to him?"

Su Mo turned his head at that, his tone certain. "Uncle Fu, my intuition tells me that this Lin Hao is no ordinary person."

Uncle Fu looked bewildered. "Intuition? No ordinary person? What's so extraordinary about him?"

Su Mo said earnestly, "He came alone, without a single assistant. That means he has absolute mastery over every step of potion refinement.

"Ordinary pharmacists keep even three or four assistants running off their feet, yet he alone is enough. What level of control do you think that takes?

"Most importantly, I feel the mutual appreciation between pharmaceutical geniuses. I can sense that he and I are the same kind of person. He should be able to sense it too. We're both heaven-sent prodigies of the pharmaceutical world."

Uncle Fu listened in a daze. Seeing his young master's certainty, he could only nod repeatedly. "Yes, yes, of course. You're right, young master."

Inwardly, however, he didn't believe a word of it. He only thought his young master must have misjudged the man.

What heaven-sent prodigy?

To him, this was plainly an outsider who hadn't even figured out the rules!

Once the competition started, he probably wouldn't even know the most basic medicinal ingredient purification.

Not far away, Lin Hao's hearing had improved considerably with the increase in his qi and blood strength, and he heard everything they said.

Hearing Su Mo actually call him some heaven-sent prodigy of the pharmaceutical world gave him goosebumps all over.

Was there something wrong with Su Mo's head?

Just then, the broadcast at the front of the waiting hall sounded. "All contestants, please line up according to your assigned sections and enter the arena in order. The task for this competition will be announced to everyone once the contestants have taken their stations."

The gate at the arena entrance slowly rose, and the lines ahead began moving forward.

Lin Hao followed the crowd, but the system in his sea of consciousness still showed no sign whatsoever of issuing a quest.

Stepping into the arena, he swept his gaze across the hundreds of individual examination stations before him.

Then he lowered his head to check his number on his contestant badge.

Following the numbers, he found his station.

He had only just taken his place when his brows knotted tightly.

Instruments were neatly arranged across the spacious workbench.

A constant-temperature ultrasonic purifier, a high-precision liquid chromatography analyzer, a sterile pressure-controlled reaction vessel, an eight-channel micropipette, a real-time qi and blood activity detector...

Without the labels stuck to them, he wouldn't have been able to name a single one.

As for the powdered Origin-Returning Grass, fresh Spirit Rhyme Flower extract, and Primordial Peptide stock solution sorted into separate compartments in the refrigerated box...

He didn't recognize any of those either.

Seeing the contestants around him adjusting their instruments, he imitated them and tapped the purifier's touchscreen to avoid attracting attention.

The densely packed temperature, frequency, and duration parameters on it left him feeling as though he were staring at a tangled mess.

He looked up. The tiered spectator stands surrounding the vast arena were already packed.

Many spectators from the six cities held up support signs, cheering on their own cities' competing pharmacists.

Inside the all-glass viewing room on the second floor sat the competition's panel of judges, along with senior figures from each city's pharmaceutical trading firms and pharmaceutical families.

Lin Hao touched the black mask on his face and breathed a sigh of relief.

Thank goodness his face was covered. Otherwise, when he couldn't even figure out how to turn on the instruments, his social death would spread across all six cities.

"Brother Lin?"

A voice carrying a smile came from beside him. Lin Hao turned to see Su Mo approaching.

"What a coincidence. Our stations are right next to each other." Su Mo stepped forward, his voice full of delighted surprise. "It's truly my good fortune to witness you refine a potion with my own eyes today, Brother Lin."

Lin Hao forced a dry smile and said awkwardly, "I'm just here to make up the numbers and learn a little."

"You're far too modest, Brother Lin." Su Mo seemed to have become certain of something. Smiling, he cupped his hands and returned to his station.

He had barely taken his place when the old butler, Uncle Fu, leaned over and said, "Young master, look. He doesn't even seem to know how to use the instruments. He's just standing there without moving. How does he look like someone here to compete? I think he's nothing but an outsider."

Su Mo was calibrating the reaction vessel's parameters with his head lowered and didn't even look up. "Uncle Fu, the greatest taboo in potion refinement is an impatient, restless mind. Before acting, a true master must mentally work through the entire process to its utmost limits, calculating every step without the slightest error. Brother Lin is concealing his edge. Once he acts, he'll accomplish it in one unbroken flow, splitting stone and startling the heavens."

Uncle Fu pursed his lips and didn't dare argue, but his gaze remained full of disbelief as it fell on Lin Hao.

Just then, the enormous holographic screen in the center of the arena lit up, and the task scrolled down it.

"Task for this Six-City Young Pharmacists Competition: refine a Primordial Qi and Blood Potion."

"Time limit: five hours."

"Scoring criteria: the final rating will be determined by the combined values of four factors in the finished product: medicinal efficacy, purity, qi and blood activity, and negative effects."