The Freshman Chat Explodes

The group had over three hundred members, but compared to groups that could hold up to two thousand, it was just a small one.

But the activity level was extremely high. Messages flew by at a speed comparable to legendary danmaku, making it impossible to keep up.

At the moment, though, Huang Xiu wasn’t paying attention to the messages. She was focused on the group’s member count.

“Is this really all the special freshmen recruited nationwide by Sky Capital University this year?”

That count included the school administrators.

But after a moment’s thought, she found it unsurprising.

At the second round, there were 299 candidates total. Probably less than a sixth of them ended up qualifying for admission to Sky Capital University.

Most of the remaining candidates eventually entered the Administration Bureau, the Battle Bureau, or the Special Higher Court.

And of the thirty-four provinces in Great Xia, only a handful had larger populations than Yunshang Province.

So a freshman class of over three hundred made sense.

After all, this was the nation’s top institution for training special individuals. Huang Xiu felt a swell of pride, mentally gilding her future alma mater.

[Huang Xiu has joined the group chat.]

Her entry notice wasn’t very conspicuous amid the blazing messages.

But for a group of just three hundred, the meaning of a new member was obvious.

Welcome messages and emoji packs flooded the screen instantly.

[Shiyun: Another big shot has arrived! Group status -1]

[King Wanglong: New guy, share a selfie! It’s tradition!]

[Ashitaka: Which province are you from? What was your second-round grade and score? Fess up quickly!]

Sharing a selfie was definitely out of the question. Even without her mother’s advice, Huang Xiu wouldn’t casually post her picture.

And she certainly couldn’t reveal her grade and score, or she’d risk being labeled a show-off.

Everyone was so enthusiastic; she had to respond somehow.

After thinking it over, Huang Xiu sent a cute cat covering its head emoji, then quietly went into lurking mode, planning to observe.

But just as she thought she could hide, someone else had other ideas. The next second, a message bubble popped up.

[My Zed Is Really Strong: This one here is a true big shot]

[Shiyun: Big shot? How big? (squinting smile) Everyone in the group is a big shot. I’m just a newbie.]

[Shiyun] replied modestly, but inside he was unimpressed.

Anyone who got into Sky Capital University had skills, and everyone had been called a big shot before.

“I’m a big shot too!” he thought, grabbing a cola can from the table, twisting it open, and taking a gulp.

Meanwhile, Huang Xiu muttered to herself: “My Zed Is Really Strong… Could that be her account?”

The ID reminded her of someone, the freakishly strong little loli named Liu Lu!

Huang Xiu had no idea how Liu Lu had recognized her identity, but the immediate concern was to keep her from exposing her.

Otherwise, forget about lurking; she’d be hauled up like an ornamental fish for everyone to gawk at!

She didn’t want to relive the experience of being surrounded and stared at during the second round.

She quickly started typing to shut Liu Lu up, but she was still a step too slow.

[My Zed Is Really Strong: This one is S-rank, scored 910 in the second round. Is that big shot enough for you?]

The moment he saw the message, the word “S-rank” washed over [Shiyun]’s eyes, crowding everything else out, leaving him dizzy.

Huh… what?

He didn’t even have time to swallow the cola in his mouth. He choked, spraying it out in a cough.

“Pfft!”

The black, bubbly cola spray hit his girlfriend sitting across from him, dripping down her face along with her foundation.

“Are you trying to…” she started, but froze mid-sentence, her mouth twitching, temples throbbing.

The next second, a roar erupted from her like a lion’s howl.

“Fei Tianyun, you’re dead meat!”

The tragedy unfolding in that restaurant was unknown to the group. And even if they knew, they’d probably just say, “Serves him right!”

After all, he was a normie with a girlfriend.

All the group members knew was that [Shiyun], who had been extremely active, suddenly went silent after seeing that message, seemingly stunned.

Well, it was definitely a shock. Just one of both physical and psychological nature.

But right now, the other group members couldn’t care less, because Liu Lu’s message was way too explosive.

It set the entire freshman group ablaze.

Many who had been lurking surfaced, asking if it was true.

And the freshmen from Yunshang Province stepped up to confirm.

[I Have the Tremor-Tremor Fruit Too: As a freshman from Yunshang, let me confirm: it’s all true. The big shot is even stronger than this person claims. She single-handedly took down the combined efforts of NO.2 and NO.3.]

Those words were like pouring oil on the fire. The group exploded even more.

At this point, the messages weren’t just flying by like danmaku anymore; they were machine-gunning.

Notifications pinging her account popped up frantically in the upper right corner.

Huang Xiu didn’t dare say another word in the group.

She could only stare at her phone as it buzzed incessantly with beeps, like it had caught a virus.

Friend request notifications kept refreshing in the notification bar, the next one usually pushing the previous one out of sight before it even settled.

Eventually, it just became: [You have 99 new friend requests, you have 999 new messages.]

The phone in her fair hand started heating up, visibly slowing down.

Huang Xiu tried tapping the contacts tab, but no matter how many times she pressed, the phone didn’t respond.

“My phone… it’s dead!”

Staring at the unresponsive screen, the girl felt like crying but had no tears left. She had no choice but to restart the phone.

Fortunately, what Zhou Shuren, a relative of the locust tree giant, said was true: restarting could solve ninety-nine percent of problems.

After the reboot, the phone came back to life.

Trembling, Huang Xiu opened the group chat again and found that the entire freshman group had been muted.

[Flash of Lightning (Group Owner): Please do not harass other freshmen. Everyone, please discuss rationally. Alright, now that all freshmen are in the group, please pay attention to the following notice.]

[Flash of Lightning: @everyone, both the real and fake admission letters have been prepared and will be delivered to you shortly. Please check your mail on time. As soon as you receive the letter, follow the freshman handbook tutorial to register for your Void Net account.]

This message was not only @’d to everyone but also set as a pinned message and group announcement.

After sending these two messages, [Flash of Lightning] didn’t unmute the group.

Clearly, he intended to let everyone cool down.

“Oh, the letter is coming!” Huang Xiu exclaimed, her voice rising with excitement.

This was the legendary Sky Capital University admission letter!

In the past, she could only occasionally see unboxing videos on channel 13.

Who would have thought that after all these years, it would be her turn to unbox a Sky Capital University admission letter!

“Oh, congratulations!” Huang Qinian and Zhuang Wenli both replied with smiles.

Her mom even tossed her a peeled apple.

Huang Xiu caught it and took a bite. The sweet and sour taste filled her mouth with saliva.

She finished the apple in a few bites, then hesitated for a moment.

Eventually, she opened the new friends list and accepted all the friend requests.

After all, they’d all be schoolmates, and they’d run into each other on campus often. So-called connections were an important asset too.