Chapter 174 - 99: Brute-Force Pass
"Coming!"
Liu Ying’s crisp reply rang out. Without a moment’s hesitation, she jogged over to Dong Kun, her face showing a look of relieved gratitude.
Gao Yongkang subconsciously took two steps to follow.
However, halfway there, he came to an abrupt stop and turned to look at Lin Yi.
He took a deep breath, turned around, and strode back to Lin Yi’s side.
"Gao Yongkang!"
Seeing this, Liu Ying’s voice grew shrill with anxiety, sounding particularly piercing in the somewhat noisy plaza.
"What are you standing there for? Get over here! Have you lost your mind?"
Gao Yongkang shook his head. His voice wasn’t loud, but it was exceptionally clear.
"We came from Yang City together. What does it say about us if we just abandon Lin Yi? Isn’t that just bullying? Forget it, I’ll stick with Lin Yi."
Liu Ying stomped her foot in anger, her words tumbling out in a rush as she tried to persuade him.
"Don’t you understand what’s at stake? This training camp assessment will decide whether we get into the elite class, the ordinary class, or the bottom class! The resources, the instructors, our futures—they’ll be worlds apart! Even if you really want to help Lin Yi, wouldn’t it be better to wait until we’ve secured our place in a good class and then give him a hand? Why are you trying to be a hero now!"
Lin Yi looked at Gao Yongkang, a little surprised by his choice.
After all, they had only known each other for a few hours.
They couldn’t even be considered friends.
It would have been perfectly normal for him to leave for the sake of his future.
He spoke, his voice calm and even. "You should go with them. Don’t worry about me."
Gao Yongkang shook his head again.
"No. Since this assessment is team-based, it means it’s a team battle."
𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦
"Dong Kun’s cousin’s team is full of experts, all top students from their respective cities. If I squeezed in, I’d just be dragging them down, and I wouldn’t get a chance to show what I can do in the assessment! Rather than being invisible on a strong team, it’s better to find a weaker one. I might have a better chance to go all out and maybe... just maybe, do something that impresses the examiners!"
"Besides... it’d be too boring for you to be all alone, right?"
Hearing this, a flash of surprise crossed Lin Yi’s eyes.
’This Gao Yongkang guy... he’s pretty sharp!’
’I hadn’t even thought of that!’
He nodded and said simply, "Alright. Let’s go, then."
With that, he turned and started walking back toward the training ground without a second glance at Dong Kun and Liu Ying, his steps steady.
Gao Yongkang immediately followed, and their figures, one behind the other, quickly blended into the crowd.
"That Gao Yongkang, what a blockhead! He doesn’t know what’s good for him!" Liu Ying fumed, stomping her foot hard as she watched them disappear.
A shadow passed over Dong Kun’s face. He snorted coldly, his tone dripping with disdain.
"Hmph, my cousin was kind enough to give him a leg up, but he’s the one who doesn’t know what’s good for him! You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear! Come on, forget about them. I’ll take you to meet my cousin..."
He turned, a smile reappearing on his face, and led Liu Ying toward his cousin, who had a profound aura.
...
Lin Yi and Gao Yongkang walked back into the center of the bustling training ground.
At this moment, the plaza was like a huge marketplace.
In every corner, scenes of people forming cliques and factions were playing out.
Students who were powerful and had outstanding presences were surrounded by people, confidently recruiting teammates.
Some of the weaker ones gathered in small groups, sizing each other up and searching for reliable partners.
Then there were stragglers like Lin Yi and Gao Yongkang, standing dazedly at the edge of the crowd, looking somewhat out of place.
They hadn’t been standing there for long when a sharp-looking, short-haired boy approached them with a few others in tow. His eyes swept over them. "Hey, bros, your team looking for more people? Wanna team up?"
Before Lin Yi could speak, a flash of hope appeared in Gao Yongkang’s eyes, and he quickly replied, "We don’t have a team yet. We’re looking to form one!"
"Oh? What city are you from?" the short-haired boy asked casually, his gaze appraising.
"Yang City," Gao Yongkang answered truthfully.
"Yang City?" The enthusiasm on the short-haired boy’s face vanished instantly, replaced by unconcealed scorn and disgust.
His companions behind him immediately let out low snickers.
"From Yang City? Yang City’s results have always been the worst in the province..."
"Tsk, no wonder I didn’t recognize them. So these are the ’elites’ from Yang City."
"Haha, look at them. They were probably the leftovers in Yang City too, right? The bottom of the bottom?"
"Let’s go, let’s go, what a waste of time! Teaming up with people from Yang City would just drag us down. Do you still want to pass the assessment or not?"
Lin Yi heard all their comments, but his expression remained calm, his heart as still as water.
He didn’t care at all.
Gao Yongkang, however, blushed beet-red, both angry and anxious.
"We’re screwed! Lin Yi, I didn’t realize the prejudice against Yang City was this bad! It’s going to be even harder for us to find a team now!"
"What’s there to be afraid of!" Lin Yi wasn’t worried in the slightest. "A thousand people came to this training camp in total. With twenty people per team, the numbers work out perfectly. In the end, some team will have to take us."
His gaze swept over the noisy crowd as if he were stating a foregone conclusion.
Gao Yongkang looked crestfallen.
"That may be true... but if that happens, the team we end up on will be full of people nobody else wanted... I’m afraid our strength..."
Lin Yi looked completely unconcerned.
"We don’t know the exact details of the training camp’s assessment yet. But as long as it’s not a direct fight between two teams to determine a winner and a loser, the team’s overall strength might not be that critical. Come on. Since no one wants to pick us now, we might as well find a quiet place to rest up, conserve our energy, and wait to be automatically assigned to a team at the end."