Chapter 48: Who

All examinees, attention: the national professional advanced assessment is about to begin; we are now conducting the city‑level test for assigning difficulty levels of the assessment instances!

Professionals participating in the assessment will, in order, step onto the professional testing platform; depending on your occupation category and level, you will receive different badges.

White badges denote professionals below level 15; you will take part in the basic‑difficulty instance assessment!

Yellow badges denote professionals of levels 16–25; you will take part in the intermediate‑difficulty instance assessment!

Silver badges denote professionals of levels 26–30; you will take part in the advanced‑difficulty instance assessment!

Gold badges denote professionals above level 30; you will take part in the top‑tier difficulty instance assessment!

All examinees, gather at the designated spot according to the badge you received; a dedicated vehicle will transport you to the corresponding assessment instance location, and you will participate in batches.

After the assessment, you will immediately receive a score; once everyone has finished, the overall ranking will determine the candidates for the county‑level exam.

Now, everyone will step onto the testing platform in order!

The city‑level exam exists only to separate the outstanding from the ordinary, so the assessment ceiling is at the first‑turn level; within a hundred days, very few can reach first turn, and those who do are certainly eligible for the county exam, but for fairness they still must take part in the instance assessments.

Instances of different difficulty contain monsters of varying levels, so the resulting output data naturally differ, and the composite evaluation score also has a higher ceiling for higher difficulty.

The basic assessment has a maximum of 1,000 points, the intermediate a maximum of 3,000, the advanced a maximum of 5,000, and the top‑tier a maximum of 10,000!

With a low level you don't even qualify for high scores; you're given no chance to show yourself.

In this world of professionals, level is laid out plainly, without concealment! The lower a examinee's level, the easier it is to fill a whole transport; silver‑badge students have to wait a long time before a full group can be dispatched, and gold‑badge students are even fewer—never enough to fill a vehicle.

Soon it reached the students from Liuyang City No. 1 Middle School, where Mu Yunlan, Yang Dong and Lu Zheng each held a gold badge, prompting many exclamations of amazement.

Among the gold‑badge students, a student named Ma Xiu from the first‑level war‑preparedness city Fengyang City spoke up:

"I never expected a mere fourth‑level war‑preparedness city to produce three gold‑badge students; Fengyang City has only six gold‑badge students in total. Such a situation is truly rare."

Next to him, a student with triangular eyes named Sun Zheng said disdainfully, "Even among gold badges there are differences; those three have probably only just completed the first turn."

At that moment, Lu Zheng and the two others approached, and one of them leapt straight in front of Lu Zheng, saying in disbelief:

"No, why are you a summoner? Weren't you an ice mage!?"

Lu Zheng frowned at the Dongfang Niaoniao before him and said slowly:

"I have never claimed to be a mage, and also, please don't block my way."

Everyone is a student, and this is the crucial moment of the college entrance exam; he doesn't want any trouble that could inconvenience his master, so his tone remains fairly polite.

Although he is rather annoyed by this lingering‑spirit‑like girl.

Dongfang Niaoniao, being stared at by him, felt an inexplicable fear; the pressure from a powerful professional and overwhelming mental force made her instinctively step aside.

"Hey! This classmate looks so arrogant! Being so rude to a girl, thinking that wearing a mask to hide one's level lets you do whatever you want?!"

Sun Zheng stepped forward and blocked Lu Zheng, saying:

Lu Zheng was speechless; he had already been polite, so why did such a short‑sighted person appear? "No! Who the heck are you to speak to my boss like that!"

Yang Dong stepped forward coldly, noting that the other was only level 45, yet dared to provoke the boss—truly a suicidal act.

The boss has a good temper, and I, as his subordinate, can't stand it! At this moment Sun Zheng realized he couldn't discern not only Lu Zheng's masked level, but also the levels of Yang Dong and Mu Yunlan standing beside him.

He looked at Yang Dong uncertainly and asked:

"What level are you?"

Yang Dong was about to answer when a voice from behind cut him off.

"Boss! I finally see you, I missed you so much!"

Wang Jun ran from the testing platform, launching like a cannonball to Lu Zheng's side, even dropping to the ground and clinging to one of Lu Zheng's legs.

Yang Dong, seeing this, had no mood to deal with Sun Zheng; what the hell is this guy who shows more flattery than I do! If I don't act quickly, the top henchman spot under Lu Zheng might slip away.

"Who are you! Let go of my boss! This is my spot!"

Yang Dong grabbed Wang Jun's arm and glared angrily.

Sun Zheng, Dongfang Niaoniao and several other students were stunned by the scene; many of them are children of high‑ranking officials, so they knew Wang Jun's background—he is the direct grandson of Wang Jiucheng, deputy lord of Hongwei City, and also the maternal grandson of Chen Dongming, deputy lord of Fengdu City! It is said his level has now reached 54.

He was supposed to take the assessment in Hongwei City, but a while ago he was suddenly transferred to Fengdu City, which already made him stand out.

And now, this guy with a powerful background and great strength is on the ground hugging the thigh of a student from a fourth‑level war‑preparedness high school, shouting "Boss!"? Wang Jun, pulled by Yang Dong, rose angrily:

"No, why are you pulling me? What about your spot? The boss already agreed to let me hug his thigh, and I still want to go to the same university as the boss!"

At this moment, Dantan Mingyue came over, carrying a great hammer.

"Stop messing around, you two! Yang Dong, Wang Jun is indeed the boss's follower. Wang Jun, Yang Dong is the boss's classmate, a close brother; lately the boss has been training levels together with me and him."

Wang Jun glared at Yang Dong, released his grip, then pitifully looked at Lu Zheng, his face full of plaintive resentment.

"Boss, it's fine that you train together with sister Mingyue, and I support you fostering a bond between you two. But how could you abandon me and take that guy Yang Dong with you?"

Dantan Mingyue's face flushed, and she pretended to be angry, saying:

"Wang Jun, what do you mean 'we're together'! If you keep spouting nonsense, I'll hammer your doghead to bits!"

Yang Dong was also angry.

"Yang and I have been childhood friends; we grew up together. What's wrong with him taking me along? This newcomer is so arrogant!"

Lu Zheng rubbed his forehead; although Yang Dong and Wang Jun are respectively a stick and a fatty, their personalities are almost identical—truly sycophantic to the extreme.

But that doesn't make them any less likable; after all, who doesn't like being fawned over? "Alright, both of you shut up. You're brothers; stop quarreling. If you can fight, do it, but after we get to university, if you can't attend the same university as me, don't blame me for not leveling you up!"

When Lu Zheng spoke, the two fell silent instantly, glared at each other, and stood to his left and right, pushing Mu Yunlan to the back where she stood together with Dantan Mingyue.

Mu Yunlan couldn't help but look at Dantan Mingyue and whispered:

You, you and Lu Zheng—what is your relationship?

(End of Chapter)