Chapter 38: The Battle to Defend the City (4)

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Feeling the needle-sharp malice in everyone’s gaze, Zhou Ke let out a carbonated burp and waved amiably.

“Good afternoon, everyone. Had your afternoon tea yet?”

As expected, no one answered him. The concentration of malice rose another notch, and a faintly sour, bitter taste seemed to drift through the air.

Though surrounded by hostility, Zhou Ke found his iced cola even sweeter than before.

“Wonderful. I just love scenes where everyone wants me dead but can’t do a thing about it.”

He strolled naturally over to Wu Bai, who was busy making written records.

“Proctor Wu, slacking off?”

“I’m compiling the list of candidates who have lost their eligibility to continue the exam.” Wu Bai had noticed someone approaching long ago, but had not expected the man to act so familiar. “And why exactly am I telling you this?”

Wu Bai quickly put the documents away, though Zhou Ke still managed to glimpse a line or two.

“One hundred and fifty-five eliminated in the first round?” Zhou Ke thought.

All one hundred and fifty-five had been candidates who could not resist calling for help from the proctors.

In truth, most of them had not suffered injuries severe enough to prevent them from fighting. Some were even in fairly good condition. They had simply decided, deep down, that they could not go on—and so, naturally, they could not.

Before taking the Magister Examination, they had all been ordinary high school students. Even after awakening the Truth, it was impossible for them to adapt to life-and-death combat in such a short time.

Of course, there were always exceptions in this world—people who seemed born to break the rules.

And the greatest purpose of the Magister Examination was to sift these dazzling diamonds from the sand.

“Here. I brought this especially for you.”

Zhou Ke pulled a can of soda from his hoodie pocket.

“Bribing me?” Wu Bai glanced at the drink but did not accept it, remaining on guard.

“If I bribe you, can I take a few more pounds of iron out of the exam grounds?”

“I told you, those are weapons, not scrap metal for you to sell.” Wu Bai replied wearily, but accepted the drink in the end. Surely he could not be blackmailed over a single can of soda.

Yet he had still underestimated Mr. Zhou’s deviousness.

Without noticing Zhou Ke’s expectant little eyes, and without checking the can’s outer wrapping, Wu Bai tilted his head back and took a generous swallow.

“Ugh?!”

As the drink slid past the tab and into Wu Bai’s mouth, assaulting his taste buds before surging upward into his nostrils and straight into his skull, he belatedly realized that something was wrong.

The violently pungent aroma left Wu Bai’s mind a blank. It felt as though a hundred thousand pigs that had dined on fertilizer-laced rice had arrived in his mouth at precisely the same moment to relieve themselves.

“Bleaaagh!”

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Wu Bai could not swallow even a mouthful. Brown, viscous liquid erupted directly from both his nose and mouth.

Coughing violently, he tore away the wrapping around the aluminum can, only to discover that beneath the red cola label was another layer of packaging.

That was the drink’s true, concealed identity:

Century-egg-and-pork milk tea.

“Just as I thought—it really is terrible. I told you, how could a drink in that flavor possibly taste good?” Zhou Ke shook his head and sighed beside him, wearing an expression that suggested he had expected this all along.

“Then why did you make me drink it?!” Wu Bai hurriedly spat out the fishy taste coating his tongue, barely able to speak clearly.

The fact that he still had not uttered a single vulgarity showed that his refinement was truly remarkable.

“Because I was curious what it tasted like,” Zhou Ke answered honestly.

“If you were curious, drink it yourself!”

Even Wu Bai’s excellent self-control could not withstand that. Still, he dared not vent too forcefully, afraid he might accidentally crush the aluminum can in his hand and splash himself with its foul contents.

He carefully placed the can—the “biological weapon”—into a trash bin, then said in bewilderment, “It’s precisely because of your personality that none of the other students will give you the time of day!”

“Hmph. Only the weak like to gather in packs.”

“What’s with that over-the-top supervillain line you delivered with such utter seriousness? Are you trying to defy heaven?”

Wu Bai himself did not know how it had happened. Normally disinclined to waste words, he had been forced by Zhou Ke into a full-blown lecture.

If complaining could accumulate aether, he would probably have broken through the bottleneck that had kept him stalled for ages.

“All right, you’ve accepted the gift. Time to return the favor and do me a little favor.” Zhou Ke sat down beside Wu Bai as though nothing had happened.

His self-righteous air made it sound as though he had just given Wu Bai several million.

Zhou Ke dragged his finger downward and silently recited the command in his mind.

Whoosh—

A miniature sky-screen appeared before his eyes.

Three square icons were displayed upon it:

[Guardian’s Fury: Upon first suffering a fatal attack, enter ten seconds of invincibility. During this period, you cannot take any damage, nor can you inflict any damage. Cost: 1 point]

[Surprise Box: No one knows what may be inside. Cost: 1 point]

[Beauty Beyond Compare: Increases citizens’ initial favorability toward you by 40. Cost: 1 point]

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This was the Point Shop. The relevant information had appeared the moment he returned to the safe zone.

“The first three items offered in the Point Shop are always fixed, and they come with a discount. Every one of them costs only a single point.”

Wu Bai took out the mineral water he carried with him and rinsed his mouth. To Zhou Ke’s surprise, he truly did not hold the incident against him, instead explaining everything with professional composure.

It was no wonder he was the commander of the entire proctoring team. His bearing as a leader was genuinely impressive.

“Once you purchase one of them, all the items will refresh. They won’t be this cheap afterward.”

“Oh. So I’d better choose one of these three?” Zhou Ke looked troubled by the decision.

“There’s no need to choose.”

Wu Bai shook his head, indicating that there was nothing to deliberate over.

“We’ve conducted some experiments. The Surprise Box can only produce biscuits, candy, or blank scraps of paper. If you’re lucky, they might at least serve to stave off hunger.

“Beauty Beyond Compare is even more useless. It only makes the citizens speak a few extra words to you.”

It had never occurred to him to conceal the truth about those two items and trick Zhou Ke. A proctor’s duties did not permit such behavior, and neither did his upright character.

“To prevent your hard-earned points from being wasted, the Magister Examination recommends that all candidates choose the first item: Guardian’s Fury.”

“If you encounter an emergency from which you cannot escape, activate Guardian’s Fury immediately. During those ten seconds of invincibility, you’ll be absolutely safe, and the proctors will have ample time to rescue—”

Wu Bai did not get to finish, because he watched Zhou Ke’s finger click without hesitation on Beauty Beyond Compare.

The Point Shop panel shifted. A cheap golden flash, like the shoddy five-cent special effects from some knockoff online game, flickered across Zhou Ke’s body.

Apart from that, nothing happened.

“Why did you choose Beauty Beyond Compare?” Wu Bai’s mouth went dry. He believed he had explained the matter clearly enough.

“I think I deserve it.” Zhou Ke flashed a V sign and smiled with confidence.

?

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