“How is Mr. Guan doing?” The person-in-charge made small talk while processing the invitation card.
Few outsiders knew about Cillin’s connections, but the same couldn’t be said for some of the senior management of the affiliated schools. They knew that Cillin wasn’t just the student of Guan Feng; he also enjoyed the patronage of the imperial and royal families and was good friends with the princes. As the founder of Return, Cillin was also the head administrator of the forum. Even if he exercised his power only once in a blue moon, no one in the academic and education circle was stupid enough to disrespect him. It was also why Wheeze was allowed to “roar” as it pleased on the forum where another person would’ve been punished for a similar conduct.
“He’s in a good mood lately,” Cillin replied smilingly.
“Oh? Didn’t he lose his temper over something a while ago?”
“That was then, this is now. You didn’t hear it from me, but now is the best time to speak with him if you need him for something.”
Practically everyone had heard of Guan Feng’s foul mood at this point. It was why few people dared to speak with the older man as of late despite needing his help, and why the person-in-charge had made the discreet inquiry. Cillin volunteered the information since he saw no harm in doing so.
After the personal information on the invitation card was modified accordingly, the person-in-charge passed it back to Cillin’s hands. His name had been logged into the system, and the data on the card had been refreshed. All Cillin needed to do now was to head to the campus with the invitation card.
On a related note, Wheeze had been given official permission to participate in the selection test as well. It would be playing the role of a troublemaker, a.k.a the same role as King Kong and the other animals during Cillin’s selection test some time ago. Of course, Wheeze accepted the responsibility wholeheartedly. Not only would be it be able to “fight together” with King Kong and the others, it could bully the crap out of the candidates and make some extra cash to buy more cat food. It would be killing three birds with one stone. Whats not to like about it?
This was the first selection test after the system reform, so there were more people at the reserve campus than usual. A lot of new buildings had been added to accommodate the increased number of visitors as well.
Gen Xingming and the others managed to catch Cillin for a quick reunion before the young man headed to the reserve campus. At first, all the princes wanted was to enjoy a simple get-together with Cillin because they hadn’t seen him for a long time. When they learned that Cillin would be participating as the exam instructor though, all three of them broke into wicked grins immediately. The selection test doubled as a semester exam for them just like the previous selection test, so they shamelessly begged Cillin to er, give them some tips and lower the bar so to speak.
“You absolutely must help us out when the time comes, kay Cillin?”
“Yeah, yeah! Whether or not we do well in the exam is all up to you now!”
“Seriously man, you have to help us. There’s no telling if we’ll run into a useful teammate like last time. If we got unlucky and got a poor score, our parents will beat the crap out of us!”
Unfortunately, Cillin could not give them a sure answer. It was because the specifics of the test was a mystery even to him. After the system reform, the top brass was tight-lipped about some secrets more than ever before. It had been a joint decision by the imperial family and the RAS, so no one was bold enough to oppose it.
The next day, Cillin arrived at the reserve campus a bit later than expected because he had been forced to spend the night before drinking with the Three Dissolute Musketeers. Most of the exam instructors had already moved into the instructor’s hostels by the time he checked into his designated lodging, or at least, he tried to. At the check-in counter, he ran into one of the administrators of the exam and a long-time teacher in AF1. He seemed like a kind and agreeable man on the surface, but in reality he was an immature senior just like Mo Heng. Cillin had just finished his make-up exam at his place two days ago.
“Yo, Cillin. You know you’re running the risk of getting your pay docked for showing up so late, right?” The administrator greeted him.
“I’m almost late, but I’m not actually late, so I doubt it,” Cillin replied unconcernedly while passing his card to the receptionist.
The old man glanced at the form on the monitor before letting out a chuckle. He then said to the receptionist, “Transfer him to the temporary hostels. The first floor of Block C seems good, don’t you think? Consider it a punishment for being late.”
The temporary lodging area was where the candidates were staying. It was where Cillin had stayed during his selection test.
The receptionist glanced back and forth between Cillin and the administrator. Then, he swiped a finger and moved Cillin’s name to the temporary accommodation area.
Cillin glanced at the smiling old man as he received his hostel card and invitation card. Before he left, he commented, “You look like a fox when you smile, sir.”
“Thank you for the compliment. By the way, I heard that Old Man Guan is in a good mood as of late. Apparently, he has found himself a new disciple; a girl to be exact.”
“That is correct.”
“That’s a shame. That means you’re not his favorite disciple anymore, huh?” The administrator said in a regretful tone that wasn’t reflected on his expression at all.
“Didn’t you know? I’m the one who recommended his new disciple to him,” Cillin replied one last time before waving his hand and leaving. Staring at the young man’s back, the old man harrumphed while scratching his short beard, “That lucky old bastard!”
The receptionist wisely kept his mouth shut while thinking to himself: man, I can smell the sour grapes all the way from here.
Cillin recalled the past when he arrived at the temporary lodging area. The faces were different, but the expressions were still the same. They were all full of yearning and ambition.
When the candidates looked up, they could see the main campus’ planet on the sky. This was an intentional design, of course. It reminded them the ground they were standing on was just temporary, and that they needed to give it their all if they truly wished to enter the affiliated schools.
In a sense, the planet represented the candidates’ faith. It didn’t matter if you were poor, alien, noble or something else. If you could enter that planet, then your fates could be changed forever.
Let’s see. Block C first floor, unit 103 should be over… here?
Cillin slowly made his way toward his destination while holding the hostel card in his hand. There weren’t many examinees in the area right now because there were still two days before the selection test began. The exam instructors had to arrive sooner because they had to organize things, assign tasks, gather together for meetings and so on.
After he had arriving at his hostel, Cillin swiped his card to unlock the door before stepping through the entrance. Obviously, the the exam instructors’ hostels were way better than the examinees, but it was still a lot better compared to other schools, not that Cillin minded even if it was a shack with holes on the roof. Two of the five rooms in unit 103 were already occupied, so Cillin simply picked one from the remaining three at random.
He hadn’t brought many personal effects with him, but Wheeze did. Not only did sir cat insist that he moved its “den” to the hostel, it wanted the floor of its den to be carpeted as well. Seriously. It took a while for Cillin to finish arranging everything.
“You can keep your den clean on your own, right? I’m not going to help you even if you accidentally pooped the bed or something,” Cillin said.
“No problem. I’ll just make the cleaner robot clean up after me.” Wheeze nodded in satisfaction after running around its den once and rolling on the carpet.
The two examinees who arrived early were not in the hostel—they had probably gone away to train or something—so Cillin made some food, packed his toolbox into his backpack, and left the place.
Cillin was responsible for preparing part of the obstacles the examinees would be facing during the test. Guan Feng had given him a lot of ideas before he came, but most of them were so… despicable that even he was too embarrassed to use them. He committed the less heinous ones to memory and made the decision to arrive at the site first before considering how to set up his obstacles.
There was an outdoor training ground not far away from the entrance of Block C, and it was surrounded by spectators when Cillin stepped out into the open. It was a standard human and an alien was fighting a duel with each other. They seemed to be evenly-matched, and it did not look like a victor would be decided anytime soon.
Cillin watched the duel for only a few seconds before resuming his departure. He had work to do after all. However, he had just taken two steps when he heard a cracking sound from the crowd. It was soft enough that it was nigh impossible to hear considering the noise.
Tap!
Cillin caught the object flying toward him between two fingers before examining it for a second. It reminded him of the toy bullets of a toy gun, except it was smaller and higher quality. It was relatively harmless even though it flew faster than your conventional toy bullet.
Cillin looked through the crowd and quickly spotted a girl almost the same age as Tang Qiuqiu sitting on top of a shelf at the edge of the training ground. When their eyes met, she immediately stuck out her tongue and made a face at him. It was clear she felt neither guilt nor embarrassment despite being caught red-handed by Cillin.
There were a few people who saw Cillin catching the toy bullet as well. A good number of people had been pranked by the young girl for the past couple days, and none of them thought they would be able to avoid getting hit without forewarning. That was why they were surprised by Cillin’s agility.
The Hunter paid them no attention. He simply tossed the toy bullet into the nearest bin and left the area.
“Who’s that guy?” One of the examinees asked the guy next to him.
“No idea. All I know is that someone this good can’t possibly belong to our star region.”
“He is quite strong. I can understand why he thinks he’s a cut above all of us.”
“Really? I think he’s just trying to keep a low profile. It’s easy to draw aggro if you stand out too much.”
After Cillin was gone, the young girl pulled up her sleeve to reveal a bracelet on her wrist. It was a communicator.
“Investigate that man.”
“Yes, miss!” The person on the communicator responded in a respectful tone.
……
The guards posted at the test site was quite surprised when Cillin had walked up to them and announced that he was an exam instructor. He couldn’t be an examinee in disguise, could he? They let him in only after they checked his personal information and his invitation card multiple times.
“Can we set up the traps now, Cillin?” Wheeze asked after running around for a bit and climbing up a tree.