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In the depths of her clear, limpid eyes, a white flame flickered. Yet, the light it cast was so infinitesimally faint that it couldn’t even penetrate a meter before being utterly consumed by the boundless darkness.
Huang Xiu turned her head, her gaze sweeping levelly across her surroundings.
The darkness still seemed impenetrable, obscuring everything, yet a subtle shift had occurred. She discerned four buttons, each emitting a faint white glow, scattered across what she presumed were the four walls.
They were switches, beyond a doubt.
Just as she prepared to step towards a switch, Huang Xiu suddenly heard a woman’s voice drift from nearby. It belonged to the girl in the dress.
“Everyone,” the girl announced, “I think I’ve succeeded. I can feel Void Energy fluctuations nearby, and further away too.”
Huang Xiu abruptly turned her head towards the source of the voice. Where only darkness had reigned before, a single white speck now gleamed. This speck, however, wasn’t the sharp white flame from her own eyes, but a hazy, indistinct glimmer, suspended mid-air.
Chi Xue, having loudly declared her findings, also turned her head towards the location where she had previously sensed the Void Energy fluctuations. The distant fluctuations likely indicated the switches, but what could be causing the ones so close?
Her turn was initially an unconscious reflex; after all, what could one hope to see in such absolute darkness? This time, however, she truly saw…
She saw a pair of eyes shimmering with white light, and beneath that ethereal glow, the girl’s fair and delicate face.
“Eh?”
The two girls stared wide-eyed at each other, momentarily frozen in surprise.
‘Why are her eyes glowing?’ Chi Xue wondered.
‘Why aren’t *her* eyes glowing?’ Huang Xiu mused.
“How did she manage that?” The question simultaneously flooded both their minds.
****
“What is this? Is she just brute-forcing it?”
The man in the white lab coat burst into hearty laughter. Before him stretched a silver-white wall, upon which flickered images of Huang Xiu and the three other candidates. Despite the examination room being plunged into absolute darkness, the scenes displayed on the wall were as clear as if it were broad daylight.
This was the room known as the Main Control Room.
“She hasn’t even learned the Void Art of Void Energy Attachment, yet she’s forcibly specialized her eyes just by channeling a massive amount of Void Energy,” a proctor beside him, clad in a trench coat, remarked, his face etched with astonishment. “I’ve proctored so many re-examinations,” he continued, “but this is genuinely the first time I’ve witnessed such a phenomenon.”
“Exceptional talent truly knows no bounds!” another proctor, surprisingly dressed in pajamas, chimed in with an exclamatory sigh.
Though two candidates had clearly discerned the switches, all attention in that moment was fixated on Huang Xiu, to the point where the other candidate was entirely overlooked.
After his exclamation, the trench-coated man found himself in a quandary. “So, how exactly should we grade this?” he pondered.
Originally, there was only one prescribed method to pass this particular assessment. This involved perceiving objects imbued with Void Energy by detecting subtle shifts in one’s own internal Void Energy. In other words, it was Chi Xue’s method, the one employed by the girl in the dress.
Yet, who could have anticipated Huang Xiu’s sudden, unorthodox approach, which left them utterly bewildered? In truth, the method of attaching Void Energy to one’s eyes to grant them specialized vision had been attempted by many before Huang Xiu. To be precise, it was often the very first idea that occurred to most individuals. However, after a series of attempts, they would invariably discover that the concept was utterly impractical. Even Mercury-tier Awakened individuals found it incredibly challenging to affix Void Energy to a specific body part without first mastering the Void Art of Void Energy Attachment. Only someone with Huang Xiu’s S-rank innate Void Energy concentration – essentially a Mercury-tier ‘Void Energy cow’ due to her abundant reserves – could possibly pull off such a feat. Moreover, without that tenacious, almost stubborn resolve to ‘break through a southern wall’ – to persist against seemingly insurmountable odds – most would have simply abandoned it halfway, overcome by fatigue.
“Give her full marks?” The pajama-clad man voiced his uncertainty. He turned his head, looking towards the rear of the room. There, at the apex of the tiered Main Control Room, stood the most important seats. Four imposing metal chairs were arranged upon it, occupied by the chief examiners from the four major institutions, each seated in a distinct posture.
“Perhaps the leaders could offer some guidance?” he suggested.
“The Void Energy Perception assessment tests a candidate’s control and comprehension of Void Energy,” the old man, seated regally in the very center, spoke with a leisurely air. He was clad in a patched suit, and the leather shoes on his feet had clearly seen their soles repaired multiple times. This was Yan Wenmao, Director of the Yunshang Province Void Realm Jurisdiction Bureau. “Her method of completion, while…” he paused, searching for the right words, “while unconventional, has nonetheless achieved the objective. Therefore, she should be graded according to the standard completion criteria.”
“Understood,” the three subordinates nodded in unison, then raised their pens to mark 90 points in the first column of their respective scorecards. The maximum score was 100 points. The ten points deducted were attributed to the time factor.
“And then there’s Chi Xue, let me check.” The trench-coated man flipped his scorecard to Chi Xue’s entry. “C-rank innate concentration?” he murmured. “Hmm, while her comprehension and control are quite good, that still necessitates a 20-point deduction.” He expressed some regret, yet acknowledged that rules were immutable. Even a C-rank candidate who performed exceptionally well would still incur deductions. D-rank candidates would face even greater penalties.
While the three proctors meticulously graded, conversations had already begun to buzz at the rear of the Main Control Room.
Yan Wenmao turned to the middle-aged man seated to his right, a hint of dissatisfaction in his tone. “I tell you, Old Yuan,” he began, “no wonder you were so adamant about leaving us behind and rushing off to Ying City alone. So, you’ve discovered such a remarkable talent, have you?”
“Hahahahahaha!” Yuan Fei burst out, his crossed leg bouncing rhythmically. “Yes, indeed! It’s truly something. Strike first, gain the advantage! Don’t mind me for disregarding ‘jianghu’ ethics!”
“Hmph, the old rogue is still so cunning,” scoffed the chief examiner from the Awakened Higher Vocational College, a young woman. She was dressed in a vibrant, rose-red cheongsam, her eyelids brushed with matching red eyeshadow, and her feet adorned with red high heels. The moment she settled into her seat, she became a resplendent bouquet, captivating all eyes and making it impossible to look away.
“Did none of you contact those candidates in advance?” Yuan Fei retorted, abandoning all pretense and tearing off his facade. The recruitment drive, after all, was a battlefield. Exceptional talent represented the very future of their respective institutions.
“That Li Xiushen, and Bai Baibai,” Yuan Fei began, launching a volley of criticism at all three. “I hear the thresholds of their homes are practically worn smooth from your constant visits! And you truly have the audacity to lecture me? You’ve all abandoned any sense of shame!”
“If that’s the case, then why did you use your authority to block this young woman’s preliminary examination information within the AI system?” The fourth examiner, radiating a stern, decisive aura, spoke up, cutting straight to the heart of the matter.
Yuan Fei immediately fell silent, for on this particular point, he was undeniably at fault. Despite their agreement for fair competition, the instant he caught wind of the news, he had immediately imposed a block on the information. Although the block only lasted for three days, the timeliness of the information was drastically different. These old fogies didn’t realize that the true genius was in Ying City; they had all scattered to other parts of the province in pursuit of ordinary ‘geniuses’. By the time they learned about Huang Xiu, it would be too late.
As the arguments grew heated above, the examination room below remained eerily quiet. After their initial moment of wide-eyed confusion, Huang Xiu and Chi Xue decided to complete the test first. After all, time was likely a crucial factor in their scoring.
They hurried to the vicinity of the switches they had sensed, each pressing one.