Chapter 179 - 100: Reaching the Top
"The entire assessment will conclude in about an hour. During this time, you are free to move about the public areas of the training camp and familiarize yourselves with the environment."
"At 6:00 PM, the central dining hall will open for dinner. The final assessment scores and class assignments will be officially announced at 7:00 PM sharp tonight via your communicators!"
The officer scanned the crowd, his tone turning serious.
"Now, please leave the examination area immediately. Remain quiet and do not disturb the other students still undergoing their assessments or the order of the examination grounds."
Lin Yi and the others responded in unison.
Guided by the staff, they immediately left the still-buzzing examination area and made their way toward the public rest area.
The atmosphere in the group finally relaxed, filled with the relief of having survived an ordeal and a sense of awe for Lin Yi.
"Oh my god! It feels like a dream! The assessment... we just passed like that? I didn’t even break a sweat!" a round-faced student exclaimed, patting his chest in disbelief.
"Yeah! We didn’t do a thing and got carried to victory! This feeling... it’s just too damn good!" another student chimed in, his face beaming with irrepressible excitement.
"Riding his coattails! This is what it really means to ride someone’s coattails!" someone shouted, drawing a wave of laughter from the crowd.
Just then, Li Ming pushed his way to Lin Yi, saying with some shame:
"Master! I’m sorry! I was a fool to look down on you, I had eyes but failed to recognize Mountain Tai! I shouldn’t have mocked you. I apologize! Thank you for getting us through the assessment!"
Lin Yi just smiled, not minding it at all. He waved his hand. "It’s nothing."
Li Ming asked, "May I know your name, Master?"
"Lin Yi!"
The name seemed to possess a magical quality, instantly igniting the enthusiasm of the surrounding crowd.
"Master Lin Yi! Can I add you on my communicator? Please look out for me in the future!"
"Brother Yi! Brother Yi! What city are you from, you genius? You’re incredible!"
"Master! From now on in the training camp, I’m with you! If you point east, I’ll never go west!"
"Yi God! Please accept my worship!"
In an instant, the crowd swarmed Lin Yi, chattering all at once, their enthusiasm nearly drowning him.
Excitement, gratitude, and a strong desire to befriend him were written all over their faces.
They had personally witnessed Lin Yi’s overwhelming power, one-shotting the Third-Grade guard as easily as taking something out of his own pocket.
In a brutally competitive training camp like this, it was self-evident what it meant to be able to latch onto such a powerful backer.
And having just fought in the same examination room was the perfect opportunity to build a connection.
Lin Yi felt a bit helpless against their fervor.
But he didn’t give them the cold shoulder, either.
He maintained basic courtesy, chatting and laughing with them as he exchanged contact information on his communicator one by one.
After adding everyone, he made an excuse about "needing to get familiar with the environment" and quickly pulled Gao Yongkang, who had been quietly standing by his side, away from the enthusiastic crowd, heading deeper into the training camp.
...
「At 6:00 PM.」
’Dinner time...’
The assessments had all ended at five in the afternoon.
Lin Yi and Gao Yongkang had used the free time in the afternoon to get a general layout of the training camp’s main functional areas.
The two of them navigated with ease toward the huge cafeteria located in the central area of the camp.
The cafeteria was an imposing, three-story, silver-gray building.
The entrance was bustling with people.
They were all young men and women around the same age as Lin Yi and the others.
Each one was full of youthful energy, their eyes showing a mix of excitement, exhaustion, or lingering nervousness.
They were all clearly new students, fresh from the crucible of the assessment.
Lin Yi and Gao Yongkang followed the stream of people into the spacious and bright first-floor hall.
The vast space was filled with long tables and chairs, and many were already seated.
Long lines had formed at the food service windows.
Lin Yi casually picked a line and got in.
A few students in front of him were heatedly discussing the afternoon’s assessment, their voices carrying clearly to his ears.
"Damn! This training camp is brutal! They sent a Third-Grade Martial Artist as a guard? One kick almost made me puke up last night’s dinner!"
"I know, right? That was an elite upperclassman from Nanjiang Martial Arts University! How could rookies like us, who’ve barely even reached the threshold of a Martial Artist, be his opponent? The fact that we weren’t beaten to death or crippled... I’d say our ancestors must be smiling down on us!"
"Beaten to death or crippled is a bit of an exaggeration. It’s an assessment, after all; they have a sense of propriety. But seriously, the difficulty this time was insane!"
"There were twenty people in our exam room, and the guard knocked out sixteen of them! Only four were left barely standing, and they were pretty much wrecked, not a single spot on their bodies left unscathed."
"Heh, you think that’s something? I heard from my buddy that news came from the exam room next to theirs. Apparently, some real monsters showed up this year! A team actually took down the guard!"
"What? For real?! That’s a Third-Grade Martial Artist! They beat him? No way, you’re bullshitting!"
"It’s absolutely true! I heard a total of five teams defeated their guards! And get this, only two of them did it through teamwork, by slowly grinding them down! The other three teams... tsk tsk, they had monsters in them! They went in solo, and one person took the guard down all by themselves!"
"One person?! Soloing a Third-Grade guard?!"
"There are three freaks of that level in this batch? Impossible! Absolutely impossible! That’s too ridiculous!"
"Yeah, that’s way too absurd! It must be a rumor!"
...
Lin Yi stood quietly in line, listening to the discussion in silence.
His expression was neutral, but inside, his thoughts stirred.
’Five teams defeated their guards?’
’That’s not surprising.’
’But there were actually three people who, like me, defeated their guards single-handedly?’
’This little training camp is full of crouching tigers and hidden dragons. I can’t afford to underestimate it!’