Chapter 77: I'm Used to Working Alone, You Guys Do Your Best

As he spoke, the examiner waved his hand, and a massive magic circle slowly emerged on the ground in the center of the plaza.

The magic circle shimmered with a mysterious light, and within the light, some strange scenes seemed to be vaguely outlined, with a sense that one could almost see through to the scenes inside the magic circle.

"This will be the examination hall you are about to enter, named the Peak Secret Realm!"

"There are various monsters in the Secret Realm. For every monster you kill, you can obtain one Assessment Crystal, and each Assessment Crystal is worth 1 point."

"The examination duration is 1 hour! You must survive for as long as possible during this time and earn more Assessment Crystals."

"Of course, you can also obtain the Assessment Crystals dropped by other examinees by killing them."

"In short, do everything in your power to survive and obtain more Assessment Crystals. Killing monsters or killing your peers are both acceptable!"

"After the final examination ends, only the ten examinees with the most Assessment Crystals can successfully enter Shenxia University; the others will be assigned to other universities according to their preferences."

"However, the prerequisite is that you must have Assessment Crystals on you; being killed means losing the qualification to compete for Shenxia!"

"Death in the Peak Secret Realm is not real death, but you will be directly teleported out. So, you don't need to worry about safety at all."

"Next is the free team-up time; the limit for each team is 5 people."

"There is now less than 5 minutes left for you to form teams, so please hurry!"

As soon as the examiner said this, the plaza was instantly in an uproar.

The examinees looked at each other, their eyes filled with shock and disbelief.

The rules for this College Entrance Exam's Peak Examination Hall were actually so cruel, completely beyond everyone's imagination.

They had originally thought it would just be an examination where one relied on their own strength to deal with monsters in a Secret Realm, striving for good results through cooperation and hard work.

But they never expected that it would actually encourage examinees to kill each other to a certain extent to obtain Assessment Crystals.

In fact, this world is cruel by nature.

As the saying goes, the examination hall is like a battlefield.

Those who can truly survive on this battlefield must not only have solid strength but also be mentally tough enough to quickly adapt to various cruel rules and sudden situations.

After all, this is a world where the Soul Profession is supreme; the law of the jungle, where the strong prey on the weak and the fittest survive, remains the only main theme.

Survival of the strong and elimination of the weak is actually the theme of this Peak Examination Hall.

The stronger the opponents, the more intense the competition.

This is already an indisputable fact.

Among the 50-plus examinees present, only 10 spots will ultimately enter the top institution, Shenxia University.

However, the final result of the exam might not be 10 people, or it could even be fewer than 10.

After all, the prerequisite for everything is not being killed; once you die, the Assessment Crystals on you will drop.

Without Assessment Crystals, it is equivalent to losing the qualification to compete for Shenxia.

Clearly, this is to select the elite among the elite.

At this moment, although the examinees on the plaza were full of shock and resistance, time was tight, so they had no choice but to stop thinking about other things and seize these last few minutes to form teams.

To be safe, the examinees still completed their final team formations based on their respective schools.

Some schools with insufficient numbers even formed alliance teams in the name of brother schools.

In this way, it would depend on which school could ultimately have more survivors to occupy as many of these precious 10 spots as possible.

Zhou Chu also did not expect that the cruelty of this world's College Entrance Exam would be simply staggering.

In his original perception, even if the College Entrance Exam was highly competitive, it should be under fair and just rules, distinguishing the superior from the inferior based on knowledge reserves, skill application, and team cooperation.

But the rules before him laid the dark side of human nature bare on the table.

Zhou Chu actually felt that the crueler the rules, the more exciting and interesting the exam would be.

To put it bluntly, the focus of the exam is not to form a powerful team or get many Assessment Crystals, but to try one's best not to be killed.

Otherwise, even if one obtains many crystals, it is possible to end up working for someone else's benefit.

Zhou Chu felt that it was not difficult to get a high score.

It was nothing more than killing all the monsters and then killing everyone else, nothing more.

At this time, a four-person team from another school saw that Zhou Chu did not have a team yet, so they prepared to invite him to join.

However, seeing that Zhou Chu was only wearing a school uniform and did not even have a single piece of equipment, they were a bit hesitant at first.

On one hand, they did not know what the other party's Soul Profession was, and on the other hand, not having a single piece of equipment made people feel that his strength was probably not very good.

"Hi, handsome, want to join a team? Our team is still missing 1 person!" In the team, a female priest extended an invitation to Zhou Chu.

Zhou Chu immediately waved his hand and said, "No, I'm used to working alone; you guys go ahead and do your best!"

The female priest was slightly stunned, as if she had not expected Zhou Chu to refuse so decisively.

The three teammates beside her also showed expressions of slight surprise; after all, under these cruel rules, one more person meant one more share of strength, and they had originally thought Zhou Chu would readily agree.

The burly warrior in the team frowned and said with some dissatisfaction, "Hey, kid, don't be ungrateful! We kindly invited you, and you, on the other hand, refused without even considering it."

"You don't even look at the current situation; just you working alone, how long can you last in this Peak Secret Realm? You might get finished off by someone as soon as you go in!"

When Zhou Chu heard this person's words, his eyes instantly lit up.

That's right, killing one more person is equivalent to having one less competitor.

Why hadn't he thought of this logic?

He didn't expect that although this person looked rough and burly, his thinking was actually quite "meticulous."

"Thanks!" Zhou Chu immediately beamed and said this to the other party.

"Is this guy sick?" The warrior glanced at Zhou Chu with annoyance and then left with his teammates.

Immediately after, they walked toward Qin Ye, seemingly seeing that the other party's equipment was not bad and he was alone, wanting to invite him to join the team.

However, seeing those four leave in a dejected manner, it was clear that they had been rejected.

Finally, the sense of division among the three schools in Tianhua City was the most severe, and they eventually split into four teams.

Zhou Chu and Qin Ye chose to work alone, He Muxue and her three schoolmates formed a team, and Chen Bo and his girlfriend Meng Jie formed a team.

"Time is up! The assessment officially begins!"

Following the examiner's command, the magic array in the plaza, driven by several examiners, bloomed on the ground like a dazzling, scorching Sun.

That light seemed to possess a tangible suction, instantly pulling the examinees present into the magic array.

Zhou Chu only felt a powerful force constantly tearing at his body, while before his eyes was a blinding brightness, and then he was pulled into this force.

When the light before his eyes completely dissipated, Zhou Chu discovered he was already situated in a strange forest that exuded an eerie aura.

The surrounding trees were tall and dense, their branches and leaves intertwined, blocking out the sky and sun, and from time to time, strange cries came from the depths of the forest, appearing exceptionally gloomy.

Zhou Chu narrowed his eyes slightly and quickly sized up the surrounding environment.

In this Peak Secret Realm, one could say crises lurked everywhere.

Not only were there monsters of unknown strength, but there were also fellow participants eyeing him like tigers, so he had to remain vigilant at all times.

First and foremost, self-preservation was the most important thing.

Thus, Zhou Chu directly began continuously casting Soul Shield upon himself.

The Soul Shield, having reached the God-tier in proficiency, had no time limit, and in the eyes of outsiders, it had no outline; only Zhou Chu himself could see its existence.

The moment the Soul Shield was cast upon his body, Zhou Chu saw a transparent film, as if flowing with a faint light, shroud his body.

This film appeared thin and fragile, but in reality, it was incomparably tough and capable of withstanding attacks of considerable intensity.

After stacking it to one hundred layers, it could be called indestructible!

The corners of Zhou Chu's mouth curled into an elegant arc, and he summoned several Undead Wanderers from the Contract Pool.

He immediately issued the command: "Disperse and scout while Hidden; kill anything living you encounter without exception!"