Only a very few people knew what had happened in the command center.
Bay Town was peaceful.
The third-floor glass windows of the command center remained unbroken.
The college entrance exam concluded with only a slight hiccup.
On the third day.
Su Hao and the other candidates who hadn't been eliminated felt their communication wristbands vibrate.
It signaled that the exam was over.
Now, they were to head to the nearest exit point to leave the island and return to Bay Town.
"Gu nuo?!"
The little one, upon hearing they could go back, instantly shed all traces of fatigue, tears welling up in its eyes.
It had been so tough!
Days without playing on the phone or computer, with novel updates全靠定时.
And no chance to shower!
It was just too hard!
"Gu nuo~!"
The Dream Moth tugged at Su Hao's hair, urging him on.
So Su Hao, in turn, urged the Water Scale Beast.
Among the three spirits, the Water Scale Beast was in the best shape.
After all, it hadn't fought much.
Its need to flee or dodge had been rare.
Only the Fire Wool Crow looked exhausted and listless from overexertion.
"Well, yesterday was your first time going all out. It's normal to have aftereffects. You'll get used to it after a few tries."
Su Hao said to the Fire Wool Crow.
The Fire Wool Crow looked up. Was that... really the case?
As they hurried from the island's core outward, the powerful spirits they encountered grew fewer.
The path became easier.
In just twenty or thirty minutes, they reached the island's edge.
In the distance,
they saw a massive transport plane parked on an open field ahead.
Some candidates had already arrived and were boarding one by one.
"Caw—"
A sharp cry came from above.
Su Hao looked up and saw a pterosaur with tiny arcs of electricity flickering on its wings descending from the sky.
At the pterosaur's claws, a person was clinging tightly.
When the pterosaur landed slowly, the person quickly jumped off, straightening their not-so-clean combat uniform.
Feng Liangcai then spotted Su Hao.
And Su Hao's spirits.
Aside from looking a bit tired, they were hardly injured?
"Could it be... he didn't hunt any elite-level ones?"
Feng Liangcai wondered.
His two spirits, the Electric Cry Pterosaur and the Swordback Dragon, were covered in various wounds.
He didn't feel disheveled.
Those were badges of honor.
Proof that he had hunted two elite-level spirits.
He shook his head slightly.
In such a safe exam zone, if one wouldn't even try to challenge themselves, what achievements could they expect in the new world later?
He boarded the transport plane on his own.
Su Hao was a bit puzzled.
He glanced over, then turned his head away. What was that about?
"Let's go."
Inside the cabin.
Compared to when they arrived, every candidate and their spirits looked exhausted.
Some slumped into their seats and fell fast asleep.
The cabin was silent.
Until the transport plane landed at Bay Town's airport.
...
"Attention all candidates, attention all candidates!"
The burly instructor bellowed, jolting the drowsy candidates awake.
"Now, take out the badges you've collected for score tallying.
"The sooner this is done, the sooner I finish my work, and you can go rest!"
A table was set up on the open field ahead, with two staff members handling the tallying and badge collection.
Some candidates who had arrived earlier were already in line.
"Gu nuo~!"
The Dream Moth urged, so Su Hao got off the Water Scale Beast's back and stepped forward.
He craned his neck to look ahead.
He saw the staff member's eyes sweep over. "22 primary badges, 18 intermediate badges, 4 advanced badges, total score 212... Next."
The tallying was fast.
Some candidates handed over their badges and left.
More stayed, wanting to know others' scores—since it affected them too.
"67 primary badges, 45 intermediate badges, 33 advanced badges, and... two elite badges!
"Total score: 2367 points!"
Seeing the stunned looks in other candidates' eyes, Feng Liangcai's lips curled slightly.
He spotted Yu Jiang.
When Yu Jiang heard his score, he also looked a bit taken aback, clearly having fewer badges than him.
Su Hao...
Su Hao was still chatting with his spirits?
Feng Liangcai's smile stiffened.
Had he not heard clearly, or...
He had a vague sense of unease.
Finally,
it was Su Hao's turn.
Though only two or three minutes passed, it felt like an eternity to Feng Liangcai.
He couldn't wait to know Su Hao's score.
"Rustle—"
He saw Su Hao dump the badges from his backpack onto the table.
His eyes narrowed.
"About the same number as mine!"
He grew nervous.
The staff member began counting.
After a moment, they said, "62 primary badges, 42 intermediate badges, 32 advanced badges..."
Feng Liangcai breathed a sigh of relief.
Less than his.
Then he heard,
"Elite badges..." The staff member paused briefly, then raised their voice, "Five!!"
Three more than him.
That was equivalent to 75 more advanced badges, 375 more intermediate badges, and countless primary badges...
Feng Liangcai felt dizzy.
The title of provincial top scorer was slipping away from him.
The perfect score was no longer his either.
But it wasn't over.
The staff member continued, "Since candidate Su Hao defeated the ambush team, this is valued as five elite badges added to the total score..."
Boom—!!
Feng Liangcai's head felt like it had been hit with a hammer, his mind buzzing.
All he heard was the echo of the score number.
By the time he snapped out of it, Su Hao was nowhere to be seen.
...
The small courtyard assigned for the exam.
Inside the room, Su Hao lay on his back, pulling his phone out of his backpack.
The little one didn't fight him for it; it went to the computer on its own.
Very harmonious.
The Fire Wool Crow flopped onto another bed like a dead crow.
The Water Scale Beast, unusually lacking in energy, walked behind the Dream Moth, trying to peek at what the big sister was up to.
"Gu nuo?"
Before it could get close, the Dream Moth noticed and turned the laptop away.
The screen faced the wall.
Writing novels couldn't be discovered, gu nuo~!
Leaving the Water Scale Beast dumbfounded.
What did I do wrong, xi lu (?﹏?)!
...
Su Hao played on his phone for a while before falling asleep.
He slept straight until noon.
No one disturbed him.
When he woke up, he saw...
Well,
the sleeping Fire Wool Crow was still sleeping.
The computer-playing Dream Moth was still at it.
The Water Scale Beast, unsure what to do, was trying hard not to make a sound.
Seeing Su Hao awake, it let out a delighted "Xi lu~," having been holding it in for so long.
Su Hao took a shower, changed into clean clothes, spritzed some hair wax and styled his hair. Half an hour later, he said to the Water Scale Beast, "Let's go."
"Xi lu ヽ(￣▽￣)?"
...
After filling his stomach, Su Hao didn't know where to go for a while.
Go back?
That was for tomorrow.
The others were even worse off, all sleeping like logs.
He glanced at the class group.
The Spirit Studies Class 2 group's last message was from three days ago.
Some old classmates from the culture class were asking, but Su Hao thought better of it and stayed quiet.
If someone asked later, would he say he got first, first, or first?
Would that be too boastful?
"Showing off in the regular class group isn't fun either. I'll wait until Liu Ren and the others wake up."
Su Hao decided to go enjoy the sea breeze.
An City wasn't coastal; he'd thought about swimming, since with the Water Scale Beast around, even a half-baked swimmer like him wouldn't drown... but he realized he hadn't brought swim trunks, and there wasn't a single swimmer in sight.
No cute girls, no bikinis.
Forget it.
He strolled toward the beach with his hands in his pockets.
Having completed the milestone of the college entrance exam, he suddenly felt a bit empty inside.
He hadn't been pondering for long.
Before he even reached the beach, Old Chen found him.
"What? Summer King wants to see me? Oh, okay, coming right away."