Chapter 135: Yan Da and Hua Qing aren't playing

In a blink, two days passed.

The final practical exam of Everprosper City kicked off amid great attention.

The importance of this exam is beyond doubt, and its danger, as the Special Affairs Group insisted on adding third-rank demon beasts despite opposition, far exceeds that of the previous two.

Therefore, the specific rules of the exam were announced a day in advance, giving examinees and their families ample time to discuss and decide.

Ultimately, about sixty percent of the examinees, realizing they could not meet the requirements of the various colleges' admissions offices, chose to give up this exam.

Participating in just one of the three practical exams would allow normal application to the colleges' extraordinary combat department; if that was their sole goal, they had already achieved it.

After final confirmation, a total of 573 examinees would participate, and the exam site remained Azure Net Mountain.

However, the demon beasts had been entirely replaced by the Special Affairs Group.

With the incident of the Black Demon Cat from the previous exam, the Special Affairs Group's screening this time became even more meticulous.

After distributing safety helmets, distress signal flares, and third-rank demon beast locators to each examinee, Lan Cheng reiterated the exam rules and announced the start of the exam.

As the examinees entered Azure Net Mountain in batches, the admissions office staff from various colleges had already arrived at the meeting room used in the previous exam.

This time, the admissions office staff who came were not merely observers.

According to regulations, if the examinees' provisional ratings showed no A or S grades, the third exam's final rating would be given by a teacher from the colleges' admissions office who has the authority to decide.

If A or S grades appeared, the director of the colleges' admissions office would personally come to the site, inspect, and give the final rating.

Since Qin Chuan's performance in the previous exam met or exceeded the A-grade requirement of every college, this time each college sent its admissions office director.

Although some admissions office directors were merely making a perfunctory appearance, having not seen each other in a long time, they exchanged pleasantries, filling the meeting room with worldly sentiments.

And they also noticed that the presence of two colleges seemed missing from the meeting room.

"Have Yan Da and Hua Qing not arrived yet? I haven't seen Director Song and Director Liu in ages and wanted to catch up." The admissions office director of East Lake University couldn't help but speak up.

His words also drew more attention to the two parties absent from the meeting room.

"Please settle down, don't be restless." As Zhou Zixiu pushed the door open and happened to hear this, he smiled and said, "Today there are more admissions office staff, and this meeting room can't seat everyone."

"So that everyone can conduct the final rating for each examinee without influence, fairly and justly, some admissions office staff are in the small meeting room next door."

"The exam has already begun; please remain quiet."

Having said that, Zhou Zixiu opened the monitoring big screen.

The first batch of examinees entering Azure Net Mountain have already begun clashing with demon beasts.

The admissions office staff from the various colleges exchanged glances.

"Which admissions office staff are absent? Isn't it just Yan Da and Hua Qing?" In an instant, all the present admissions office directors felt displeased.

"Yan Da and Hua Qing are really something—now they won't even play with everyone, right?" Watching the exam already underway, everyone could only suppress their displeasure and shift into work mode.

Soon, each admissions office staff member began to take notes diligently.

At the same time, inside the small meeting room next door, the two directors—Director Song of Yan Da and Director Liu of Hua Qing—were equally bewildered.

They should have been in another meeting room, but were brought here by Lan Cheng, who wore a smile.

"Group Leader Lan, what does this mean?" Director Liu of Hua Qing couldn't help but frown.

"That's how it is." Lan Cheng casually placed a file folder on the meeting table and explained unhurriedly: "During the previous practical exam, I noticed that every move of Yan Da and Hua Qing's admissions office staff attracted great attention from other admissions office staff; some staff based their ratings of examinees not on the examinees' actual performance, but on the reactions and attitudes of the two observers."

"I believe this situation would compromise the fairness of the exam ratings."

"So, for this exam I want to place Yan Da and Hua Qing's admissions office separately in a meeting room to prevent such occurrences."

"Really?" Directors Song and Liu simultaneously turned their questioning gazes toward the observer standing behind them.

Zhou Xiaoyu reflected on the previous exam's situation and frankly said, "Other peers indeed paid excessive attention to my reactions toward the examinees."

"Indeed." Fan Gang on the other side also gave an affirmative answer.

Since both observers said so, the two directors naturally had nothing more to say.

Although they did not want to appear overly special in front of their peers,

but relying on the backing of Yan Da and Hua Qing, such a thing could not be completely avoided.

"Then let's do that—first get down to business." Director Song of Yan Da took out a notebook and pen, his gaze fixed on the already-activated monitoring big screen.

Director Liu on the other side did the same; the two observers sat beside them with a seat in between, clearly separated.

Although many examinees were listed as C or above by the two colleges and required close observation, only one was truly placed in the A grade.

The two of them came mainly for the examinee named Qin Chuan.

Even everything that happened when Zhou Xiaoyu and Fan Gang interacted with Qin Chuan was clear to the two directors.

After the monitoring room staff filtered the footage, it appeared in real time on the big screens of both meeting rooms; the noteworthy actions of each examinee led many admissions office directors to finalize their ratings.

Qin Chuan also appeared on the big screen.

As one of the examinees closely watched by the various colleges, he effortlessly slew large numbers of first-rank demon beasts with a single Ice Blade, cutting them down like vegetables, and even killed a 14th-rank demon beast in just two or three rounds; his strength was indeed eye‑catching.

But…

In the small meeting room, Director Song of Yan Da couldn't help but furrow his brow slightly.

Such performance alone is not enough to warrant an "A+"…

"A" is already the limit.

He glanced back at Zhou Xiaoyu without speaking.

Director Liu beside him, however, showed a calm smile.

Having him do the rating would also yield an "A".

But Yan Da is dropping from a provisional "A+" to an "A", while Hua Qing is rising from a provisional "A-" to an "A", giving a completely different impression.

Yan Da this time might end up shooting itself in the foot!

The atmosphere in the small meeting room grew somewhat strange.

Time flew by quickly, and the exam was soon approaching the one‑hour mark.

During this period, Qin Chuan's battle footage appeared several times, but his performance never caused the two directors' internal rating to rise.

Soon, the silhouette of a third‑rank demon beast appeared on the screen of the small meeting room.

(End of chapter)