Ch21 – Good Evening, Gentlemen

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How could this be?!

Seeing the gleaming ‘S’ and ‘F’ above the white-haired young man’s head, silence swept across like a giant tide. 

Let alone Zong Jiu, everyone else was utterly dumbfounded.

[Those who had watched A’Jiu-gege’s live broadcast, come over and back me up.
Is it possible that the S-rank rating was because he had struck some kind of hush-hush wink-wink deal with Master Zhuge in the instance? Also, at the end, after A’Jiu hammered the pervert doctor down, he had even whisked the S-rank prop with him as he left.
By all accounts, getting an S-rank rating is reasonable, right?]

 

 

[Wtf, this little whitey got hold of an S-rank prop? What’s going on, did I miss something? /shook.jpg]

[Whatwhatwhat? An S-rank prop? Upstairs, now that you’ve said this, I suddenly feel that the system giving him an S-rank rating isn’t the issue here, choked speechless.] 

[…Terrifying.
Are the newcomers this fierce now? My melon seeds have dropped out of my hands.]

 

After all, the bullet chat could watch the omniscient perspective, and were thus privy to more information.

By the time they came to their senses, another question came up.

[Huh? I’ve now figured out how he got an S-rank rating from the system, but why did he get an F from the instructor?]

 

[Honestly, I wanted to ask this too… He got an S from the system, so why did the instructor go as far as to flunk him? I don’t get it.]

[@upstairs, that sis who had watched the live broadcast.]

[I’m here I’m here I’m here.
Uh, I’ve been thinking about this too.
If I had to come up with something, I think it’s probably because A’Jiu killed an NPC with a hammer (zero mercy), after all, it’s an unwritten rule not to hurt NPCs in the infinite loop… so maybe the instructor gave him a low rating because of that? /think.]

[It may also be because Master Zhuge helped him I think.
Who knows what happened when that bigshot used an S-rank prop to isolate a space.] 

While the bullet chat was on fire, the discussion in the broadcasting studio got increasingly heated.

The Exorcist said theatrically, “Oho, F-rank, good lord.
Did this kid mess with the instructor?”

The other nine thrones stayed mute.
Even the mystifying No.
6 looked thoughtful.

Up until now, no one knew who was the ‘instructor’ that the system spoke of.
But according to their previous inferences, since the instructor’s rating and the system’s rating weren’t too far apart, this implied that their rating criteria were somewhat consistent, otherwise they wouldn’t be so close. 

But now, the ‘F’ that the white-haired young man received broke everyone’s assumption.

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A psychic said out of the blue, “Interesting, it sounds as if the instructor is like some kind of supreme being.
Could the system have refined itself into a spirit?”

Everyone else thought it was just a wisecrack, but the dark-haired man, who had been sitting with his eyes closed, lifted his eyelids and coldly bombed a sentence.

“Spirit refinement is prohibited after the founding of the country.” 

Everyone else, “…” What does that mean? It sounds antarctica cold.

They suddenly remembered that Zhuge An was the owner of the Taiji Eight Trigrams of the East.
Since such talk revolved around spirits, perhaps the knowledge required was in a highly specialised subject area.

 

They all wiped their sweat and gave false praise.
“Ahaha, bro.
You’re so funny.”

It was rare for Zhuge An to speak up.
Everyone also forgot their previous discussions, and the highest vantage once again turned as uneventful as stagnant water. 

On the contrary, the one seated at No.
2 beside him inexplicably turned his head to glance at Zhuge An.

While the voices above had died down, there was still a lot of noise from beneath.
Even after the evaluation of all the E-rank trainees was completed, the focus of the discussion remained fixed on the newcomer who had received such a polarising rating, and people continued to glance at him on occasion.

“This is practically a drama.
Who knew that it would end up like this; what a downer.”

“I know right.
At first I thought that a dark horse capable of showing up those veterans had appeared.
But, man, who would have thought…” 

They mourned insincerely.
In truth, their expressions were full of gloating over the other’s misfortune.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection.
If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

“Ktja’r ktja P kjr rjslcu.
Cii bo er jgf cfkmbwfgr, tbk mjc rbwfbcf yf atja mjqjyif? Qtb xcbkr, tf mbeiv tjnf mtfjafv.”

“Tfjt, pera ibbx ja tlw, tf’r wbgf yfjealoei atjc j kbwjc.
Zjsyf atf lcragemabg rjk tlr agef ojmf jcv ujnf tlw jc M-gjcx obg la.”

Ccv jwlvra atf ktlrqfglcu, atf bcis qfgrbc ktb kjrc’a rtjxfc kjr, mbcnfgrfis, atf reypfma bo atflg jaafcalbc. 

Zong Jiu stood still, his eyes gently lowered as he gazed at the green badge on his chest where a big ‘C’ popped out.

The system gave him an S-rank; the instructor gave him an F-rank.
Taking the median, that would be C-rank, sure enough.

F-ranks would be eliminated in this round of evaluation and forced to enter the punishment instance.
On the whole, it was a good thing that Zong Jiu managed to be promoted a few ranks from E-rank with room to spare.

Only, Zong Jiu was a little unhappy now. 

Anyone who was told that they got a perfect score of a 100 points in the exam, but only received 30 points when the papers were returned would definitely be in a foul mood, right?

His expression didn’t change.
The people beside him didn’t dare say anything, only secretly exchanging looks with each other.

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After this series of events, there seemed to be a subtle disconnect between him and the newcomers; not a single person dared to come up to talk to him.

As time passed, the system’s evaluation reached the A-ranks.
Everyone’s attention turned back to the scene in the broadcasting studio. 

To this point, there had only been one red S-rank in the entire hall.

It was a good thing that the strong A-rank trainees didn’t disappoint, as nearly ten out of less than two hundred had red letters appearing above their heads.

 

Incidentally, all of these people received a higher rating from the instructor than the system.
There were a few who were only given A or B-ranks by the system, but the instructor was generous enough to award them S-ranks in encouragement.

The more he saw this, the more Zong Jiu felt that he was being targeted. 

The instructor’s rating.

He muttered these words in his mind, falling into deep thought.

This instructor had definitely given him an F-rank on purpose.

But when Zong Jiu searched through his head trying to work out the logic, he couldn’t find anything that would correspond to that. 

After thinking about it, the most confusing factor was still Sheng Yu.

Sheng Yu didn’t even make it back alive, but this man left Zong Jiu a list of countless riddles, leaving a deep impression on him.
The most suspicious death was once again the one that was effortless and imbalanced, like it had been cut off abruptly without any further context.

Another factor that appeared very suspicious was that doctor… Anyway, Zong Jiu had gotten his revenge, and as he had guessed, there should have been a point deduction for injuring the NPC.

Nevertheless, Zong Jiu felt that this one hammer down was well worth it, ridding the world of a scourge, he hadn’t taken a loss at all.
Anyway, what was he caring about an NPC for? Once he left the instance, he would never see the doctor again. 

So, the source of the problem still revolved around Sheng Yu.

As Zong Jiu contemplated this, the evaluation for the S-ranks ended.

Without exception, it was sunset red across the board.
In the end, only No.
9 and No.
10 exchanged places.
The seats above didn’t change, and none of the trainees below usurped their positions.

In fact, the higher they went, the smaller the range of power shifts.
For high ranking trainees, their strength wasn’t much different from what the system initially evaluated.
Only if they were thrown together into a difficult enough instance could they pull the distance, otherwise the score was very tight and virtually indistinguishable from each other. 

[The second round of evaluation has concluded.
Trainees may now move.]

Zong Jiu slowly followed the crowd and ascended two steps up the stairs to the step for the C-ranks.

The hall was noisy.
Whether or not they had been promoted, the faces of the trainees who hadn’t fallen to F-rank were all overjoyed.

At the same time, the faces of those wearing purple badges starkly differed.
Their expressions were pinched, crying hysterically. 

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[Punishment instance is being opened…]

Once the trainees in the other ranks took their positions, all the F-ranks were forcibly transferred by the system, vanishing into thin air in the broadcasting studio.

 

Now, the lowest rank was E.
While the E-rank trainees were thankful to have escaped, they also began to worry about how to act in the next round.
If they didn’t get promoted in the next instance, they would face the same fate as the eliminated F-ranks.

[Forced transfer complete.] 

A cold system prompt rang out in the hall.

[The second instance will open in three days.
Venues will be randomly assigned according to the results of this ranking.
It is strictly forbidden for trainees to sell or trade information gained from rank advantage in private.
Once found, severe punishment will be meted out.]

Information referred to the advantages different ranks of trainees possessed.

Previously, Zong Jiu had heard by word of mouth that S-rank trainees could know the background and venue of the next instance in advance, and higher S-ranks would even have unimaginable benefits, such as being able to choose the instance they entered.
The higher the rank of the trainee, the more information they would be given to prepare beforehand.
But a C-rank trainee like him had to wait blindly for their assignments at the mercy of the heavens. 

According to the post-match settlement for Zong Jiu’s current status as a C-rank trainee, he could only get 2,000 survival points.

If his hand had been injured in a horror instance, even if it was broken or worse, he would have been able to restore them as good as new with a single click for only five hundred points.
However, Zong Jiu’s injury was brought over from reality, so according to the rules of the infinite loop, the points required would be fivefold.

Additionally, Zong Jiu was once again a little greedy.
Since the infinite loop offered this, he wanted to further strengthen his hands; it would be wonderful to restore them back to the optimal condition they were in when he was a renowned magician.

Now, a large divide of strength and experience lay between the veterans and the newcomers.
After being screened by the first instance, the system should provide a platform to prevent the gap from widening and that the newcomers wouldn’t stagnate where they were.
After all, the purpose of the system was never to send the newcomers to their deaths, but to pick out the cream of the crop. 

Just as Zong Jiu mulled over this, the system revealed the schedule arranged for the next three days between the instances.

[During the intermission between the two instances, in order to provide more opportunities for the newcomers and promote the relationship between trainees, a special scene will be opened in the north wing of the trainee dormitories: Las Vegas Casino.]

[Trainees can participate in various activities in this casino during these three days to earn more survival points.]

[Survival points can be exchanged for some special props in the casino’s limited-time shop, or used directly for physical enhancement to improve the odds of survival in the next instance.] 

The hall roared.

The ‘Las Vegas Casino’, as the system called it, was undoubtedly a golden opportunity for every newcomer.
It also possessed a fatal allure for the veterans.

Because in the infinite loop, the only way to obtain special props was through horror instances, and the probability of obtaining them were pitifully low.

But now, the system was giving them a way to redeem props with their survival points.
Many of the veterans short of props were pumping their fists and all geared up to rush into Las Vegas and have a good time now. 

Just as everyone was engaged in heated discussion about Las Vegas, a chorus of gasps suddenly came from the higher steps.

Gradually, this sound rose.
So much so that in a matter of seconds, all the newcomers on the lower steps stopped their conversation and looked upwards in confusion.

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Behind a throne at the highest step, someone hummed a peculiar tuneless song, the tips of his leather shoes treading on darkness that swarmed up endlessly.

[Holyshitholyshitholyshit, is that who I think it is! Is he here?] 

[AHHHH he’s coming, he’s coming! The man whom I had willingly scrolled through the list of live broadcast rooms all day long for!]

[Aside from that video back then in a forum, this should be my first time seeing this person. Ah, my life is complete.]

He had come.

The man wore a neat black suit, his medium-long black hair tied behind him.
The bowtie on his classic white dress shirt was neatly folded, a red rose soaked in dew was clipped to his breast pocket, and the cold chain of his gold pocket watch dangled from a pocket.
His posture was elegant and noble, hiding madness within, as if he were about to attend a grand court ball. 

Under the light cast by the golden chandelier, the lines of his face were cut with the sharp contrast of light and shadow.
In the light, bright and flawless, perfect like God’s proudest creation beneath the throne, the incandescent angel Gabriel; in the dark, a bottomless abyss, as deep as the cold, twisted fallen angel Samael in hell.

This face was a perfect amalgam of divine holiness and demonic madness, simultaneously possessing childlike innocence and fearsome devilish might.
No one could disobey it, only cower in fear and submission.

He took one step after another, each step causing the darkness behind him to rise gently.
Transparent threads tumbled and swirled from his fingers and fell into an invisible space.

Everyone watched him. 

The eyes of countless contenders filled with undisguised mania, their heads bowing in worship.

[Welcome to the scene, No.
1.]

The system said tonelessly.

No.
1! 

The newcomers exchanged looks of shock as they watched the man take his seat on the highest, and the most central, throne.

“Good evening, gentlemen.”

No.
1’s voice was low-pitched; the more discerning could hear the lightness in it.

His fingers interlaced together, his white gloves pressing down in the air.
The broadcasting studio immediately complied with alacrity.
The whole room fell silent. 

Zong Jiu narrowed his eyes.

Just a moment ago, he felt a shiver tingle up his spine; like someone had, as viscously sharp as a viper, carved a gaze inch by inch over his body.

 

It was a familiar look.

A bold conjecture surfaced in his mind.