Waiting

Su Mu narrowed his eyes slightly.

He was indeed a little surprised.

From the time he returned to the classroom to build Lion Camel Ridge to the time he came back to the trial grounds, only a dozen or so minutes had passed at most. Yet Ye Qingxue had not only completed the normal and hard dungeons, but had also recovered her condition and charged straight into nightmare.

That speed...

Su Mu did the math in his head. In terms of pure combat efficiency, she must have swept through every wave with overwhelming force, leaving the monsters almost no room to do anything.

An SSS-rank core card, an SSS-rank theme, and a perfectly matched build.

She certainly had what it took.

He shook his head and stopped thinking about it.

The gap was there, but his own path had only just begun.

Su Mu found a spot against the wall and quietly waited for Li Ming.

After another seven or eight minutes, more students gathered outside the entrance to the trial grounds.

Those who had completed the normal dungeon emerged from the light screen one after another, some overjoyed, others dejected.

Just then, several figures approached from the direction of the administration building.

Zhao Jianguo walked at the front, followed by the vice principal, the dean of students, and several dungeon design instructors. The group said little as they hurried toward the trial grounds.

Some sharp-eyed students spotted the school leadership from afar and moved aside.

"The principal's here..."

"Damn, there are several instructors behind him too. What a huge turnout."

"Obviously. It's the last week before the college entrance exam. Trial data is the most important reference for the final push, so of course the leadership would come keep an eye on things personally."

Zhao Jianguo arrived in front of the trial grounds and looked first at the dark red nightmare light screen.

"Ye Qingxue went in?" he asked.

A teacher responsible for recording data hurried over. "Yes, Principal. Ye Qingxue entered the nightmare dungeon about three minutes ago. She cleared the normal dungeon in three minutes and forty-two seconds, and the hard dungeon in seven minutes and fifteen seconds. Both times are currently the best in the school."

Zhao Jianguo nodded, satisfaction appearing in his eyes.

"At that speed, she'd rank in the top ten across the entire province."

A rare note of approval entered his voice. "The fact that she cleared normal and hard so quickly shows that her dungeon has both staying power and clearing efficiency. Even if she can't get through every wave in the nightmare dungeon, making it past the first nine would already be an outstanding result."

Several teachers nodded in agreement.

The dean of students suddenly spoke up. "Huh? Su Mu's here too?"

Zhao Jianguo looked in the direction he pointed and saw Su Mu standing beneath a tree beside the trial grounds, his hands in his pockets as he calmly studied the nightmare light screen.

Several teachers exchanged puzzled looks.

"Hasn't he entered the normal dungeon yet?" someone asked quietly.

"No way. With his combat value, getting into the normal dungeon shouldn't be difficult."

"Then what's he standing around here for? Waiting to form a team?"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than the light screen at the trial grounds flashed, and another person came out.

Li Ming.

His head was covered in sweat, and there were streaks of goblin blood on his school uniform sleeves. Clearly, the last few waves hadn't been easy. As soon as he emerged, he looked around, and his eyes lit up when he saw Su Mu. He hurried over.

"Brother Mu!" he called, panting. "I cleared it! Level 4. You came out even before I did? Did something go wrong?"

Su Mu shook his head. "No. How did you do?"

"All right." Li Ming spoke as though he were discouraged, but he had a smile on his face. "At least I cleared it. Oh, right, how about you?"

"Level 4. I cleared it too," Su Mu said.

"Impressive!"

Li Ming gave him a thumbs-up!

He really hadn't expected that, and Su Mu had clearly cleared it faster than he had.

But seeing that quite a few people around them were looking their way, he didn't ask Su Mu exactly how he had cleared it.

They exchanged a few simple words, then walked toward the trial entrance together.

The school leaders in the distance saw this, and several teachers frowned at once.

"Are they going to form a team?" The female teacher looked visibly disappointed. "Isn't Su Mu's combat value already over eleven thousand? He could easily solo the normal dungeon. Teaming up now is the same as giving away half the experience. That's too much of a loss."

"More than that," the dean of students added. "Li Ming just came out of the normal dungeon. According to the rules, they can't team up and enter it again. In other words, they're preparing to team up for hard."

"Now that you put it that way, it seems we misunderstood. With his combat power, teaming up for hard makes sense."

"Speaking of which, Li Ming just came out of normal, so if they're teaming up, they must be entering hard... But when did Su Mu do the normal dungeon?"

The question caught everyone off guard for a moment, and then they all realized the same thing.

"Right. I remember he was still over by the classroom earlier. It only took us four or five minutes to get here..."

"No way. Su Mu cleared it that quickly?"

The teachers were puzzled. Although Su Mu had an A-rank card, he still shouldn't have been able to clear the normal dungeon so quickly, so they all turned their eyes toward him.

But Su Mu and Li Ming had already reached the trial entrance, their figures somewhat blurred by the glow of the light screen.

On the pale blue light screen, the hard difficulty lit up.

Just then, another commotion broke out at the entrance to the trial grounds.

A tall figure emerged from the light screen.

Wang Hao.

He had just come out of the hard dungeon. His face was somewhat pale, the sweat on his temples had yet to dry, and he looked rather disheveled. But when he looked up and saw the attention everyone was paying him, he immediately straightened his back and forced a composed smile onto his face.

"Brother Hao is awesome! He even cleared the hard dungeon!"

"Wang Hao cleared it pretty quickly too. He might make the top five."

"Of course. An S-rank core card is no joke. Wang Hao must have soloed hard just now—a genuine solo clear. That's worth a lot more than clearing it as a team."

"I heard he's going to try the nightmare dungeon too. That's insane."

As Wang Hao listened to the discussion around him, his smile grew wider.

He had originally planned to come out and rest for a while after finishing the hard dungeon, but all the praise left him walking on air. The times he had nearly come to grief in the dungeon were instantly cast to the back of his mind.

He was about to say a few words for the occasion when he suddenly spotted Su Mu and Li Ming nearby.

The two stood shoulder to shoulder in front of the trial entrance, the blue light screen slowly lighting up before them.

Entering as a team.

Wang Hao froze for a moment, then his lips curled into a contemptuous smile.

Teaming up?

As expected, a piece of trash with an F-rank stone doesn't have the guts to solo.

A hundred mocking remarks sprang to mind, and he was about to go over and give them a proper "greeting" when, out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the crowd in the distance... Zhao Jianguo and several school leaders were standing over there, calmly watching in his direction.

Wang Hao stopped short and pulled back the foot he had already half-stepped forward.

I can't cause a scene in front of the principal and teachers.

At least, not now.