Chapter 182 - 100: Reaching the Top Spot
"Class C... Sigh..."
Cries of surprise, murmurs of discussion, and disappointed sighs instantly filled the cafeteria.
The students reacted in various ways upon learning their results.
The excited ones immediately stood up, calling to their companions.
The dejected, however, remained seated, their expressions grim.
Soon, the crowd began to stir. Large groups of students followed the directions on their communicators, hurrying out of the cafeteria toward their designated class assembly points.
Lin Yi stood up as well, his movements crisp and decisive.
He turned to Gao Yongkang, who was still looking at his message.
"I’m heading to the classroom. Contact me on the communicator if you need anything."
His tone was as calm as if he were just going to an ordinary class.
Gao Yongkang, having now seen his own message, nodded emphatically. "Right! I’ll be in touch!"
Just then, a low growl, thick with suppressed rage and disbelief, came from nearby:
"Class C?! How could I be in Class C?!"
Liu Ying glared at her communicator screen. The glaring "Class C-12" on it made her face turn livid, and she clenched her fists so hard her knuckles turned white.
"Dong Kun! This is all your fault, you bastard!"
She wanted nothing more than to crush the communicator in her hand.
When she jerked her head up, looking to find Lin Yi and the others to complain or seek comfort, she found that his figure had already disappeared through the cafeteria entrance.
Only Gao Yongkang was still sitting there.
He wore a... strange expression.
"Gao Yongkang!" Liu Ying asked urgently, as if grasping at her last straw. "You... what class did you get assigned to?"
She still harbored a sliver of hope.
She hoped Gao Yongkang was in Class C with her.
That way, at least she’d have a companion in misery.
Gao Yongkang slowly picked up his communicator, waved the screen at her, and said, "Sigh, I barely scraped by into Class B-3."
"Class B?!" Liu Ying’s eyes went wide. "How is that possible?! Didn’t you say you performed terribly?!"
She clearly remembered Gao Yongkang’s complaints from a moment ago.
"Yeah, I did perform terribly."
Gao Yongkang nodded, a look of pure innocence on his face.
"It’s all that guy Lin Yi’s fault! You have no idea. The gatekeeper for our assessment area, number 35, looked super intimidating. But then Lin Yi went up, and with a BANG, BANG—two clean punches—he knocked the guy out cold! It was terrifyingly fast! I hadn’t even finished warming up before the fight was over! So tell me, how was I supposed to show what I could do? I wanted to contribute, but I never even got the chance!"
As he spoke, he made exaggerated gestures of the two punches, a smug look he couldn’t hide on his face.
𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂
Liu Ying was thunderstruck, standing completely frozen, her mouth slightly agape, unable to utter a single word. Only shock and regret surged in her eyes like a rising tide.
’Two punches... knocked out a Third Grade gatekeeper?’
The words crashed wildly in her mind.
’The Lin Yi from this afternoon, the one I’d dismissed as mediocre and abandoned without a second thought... was actually this strong?!’
’If... if I hadn’t chosen Dong Kun back then, if I’d stayed on Lin Yi’s team... then the one in Class B right now, maybe even getting into a better class by riding his coattails, would be me, Liu Ying!’
A vast sense of disparity and crushing regret instantly seized her heart.
It nearly suffocated her. Her face went from livid to a deathly pale, and she looked utterly devastated, as if all the strength had been drained from her body.
Seeing Liu Ying looking as if her world had just come crashing down, Gao Yongkang felt the frustration that had been building all afternoon finally vent in the most satisfying way.
Every pore in his body seemed to tingle with satisfaction.
’Sweet!’
He fought back the urge to throw his head back and laugh, inwardly bursting with joy.
’Totally worth it!’
’Putting up with this woman’s racket for over an hour, all for this one moment!’
’Saving up that final reveal was so damn worth it!’
Gao Yongkang ignored the petrified Liu Ying. Happily humming a little tune, he also stood up and headed towards his Class B-3 classroom.
...
Lin Yi walked with a steady and rapid pace through the alloy corridor leading to the Class A area.
He glanced down again at the information displayed on his communicator:
[Student]: Lin Yi.
[Class]: A-1.
[Overall Rank]: 1.