"Worried about the quota?"
In an instant, Liu Ma understood why Chen Kong said that.
Chen Kong didn't hide anything and nodded right away.
Before Liu Ma could speak, an unexpected voice sounded.
This voice was accompanied by the 'da-da' sound of game console buttons.
"Relax, the qualification assessment for Explorers has no quota limit. As long as you possess the qualities of an Explorer, it's fine even if everyone passes."
Chen Kong followed the source of the voice and saw Mi Yao sitting on a sofa with his legs crossed, holding a silver-grey handheld console and chewing gum, playing leisurely.
Because Mi Yao had bullied him several times when he was a child,
Chen Kong didn't exactly dislike the guy, but he certainly didn't have a good impression of him.
So, after a brief glance, he said nothing more.
Mi Yao didn't pay much attention to this either.
Chewing gum while playing his console, he said casually, "However, even without a quota limit, I don't think a bottom-feeder like you, or your weak friends, can pass this assessment."
"After all, I don't see the necessary qualities of an Explorer in any of you."
Hearing this, Chen Kong frowned.
He could ignore Mi Yao belittling him, but he couldn't accept him looking down on his comrades.
Coupled with the fact that he had just copied the Star Core of a Calamity Class Ant Queen, he even felt deep down that the current Mi Yao wouldn't be his opponent.
Therefore, Chen Kong uncharacteristically stood his ground.
"Mi Yao, sometimes being too arrogant isn't a good thing."
Chen Kong's sudden rebuttal made Mi Yao abruptly stop playing his game. He looked up at Chen Kong.
His amber pupils were full of scrutiny, like he was looking at an interesting toy...
Seeing Mi Yao's gaze, Chen Kong inexplicably felt a little guilty.
"Strange. How did a low-level player like you suddenly become so confident? Did you perhaps pick up some treasure recently and think you're different now?"
At Mi Yao's words, Chen Kong's heart skipped a beat, and a cold sweat instantly broke out on his back. He quickly lowered his head to hide the panic in his eyes.
"I just think it's ridiculous to jump to a conclusion without even trying."
"Trying?"
Mi Yao scoffed, looking back down at his game console and saying dismissively, "Explorers need experience and mentality. Unless you suddenly jump to a Tier 3 Star Envoy, otherwise..."
He paused, then his tone turned sarcastic: "...Unless a miracle descends, an idiot like you will never get Explorer qualifications in this lifetime."
This time, Chen Kong chose to remain silent, worried that saying one more word would cause Mi Yao to notice something amiss.
But what he didn't know was that silence is sometimes an answer.
On a nearby sofa, Huan Qianying looked at the speechless Chen Kong and nudged Ye Shenlin beside her with her elbow.
"Lin, look at that kid Chen Kong. He must be hiding some secret; his aura just now was completely different."
Hearing Huan Qianying's words, Ye Shenlin only gave a faint 'mm' without even lifting her eyelids.
Efficiency-driven as she was, her attention was already focused on more important matters, and she didn't care about any changes in Chen Kong.
Faced with Ye Shenlin's cold shoulder, Huan Qianying didn't say much, having long been accustomed to Ye Shenlin's taciturn, 'emotionless' personality.
But after shrugging, she continued to scrutinize Chen Kong with curious eyes.
An hour quickly passed, and the air in the resting lounge gradually grew heavy.
Suddenly, Ye Shenlin, who had been resting with her eyes closed, sharply opened them...
At the same time, the shadow beneath the light behind her seemed to come alive, quietly separating from the hem of her clothes and slipping into an inconspicuous corner, as if fearing something.
With a ding, the door to the resting lounge opened.
Tendo walked in, his silver hair glowing softly under the lights.
Looking at so many familiar faces inside, he smiled and said, "Yo, I didn't expect to run into so many acquaintances in this assessment."
Caroline followed closely behind him, her silver-white long hair resting against her lower back, her emerald pupils calmly sweeping across the hall.
The appearance of these two made the already heavy atmosphere in the hall even more tense.
Although everyone knew that the Explorer qualification assessment had no so-called numerical limit,
Everyone was still a little worried about taking the assessment alongside a monster like Tendo.
In the far corner of the hall, An Qin, wearing a grey-blue hoodie and trying hard to minimize her presence, suddenly froze.
Because she, who had been keeping her head down, couldn't help but look up the moment Tendo walked in.
And that slight lift of her head happened to align with Tendo's direction.
Even though sunglasses covered Tendo's eyes, An Qin instantly felt her body being scanned by something, as if even her soul had been seen through.
This made her heart pound uncontrollably, and her palms were sweaty.
Did he find out?
Or was it a coincidence?
Just as An Qin was feeling uneasy, Caroline, standing next to Tendo, noticed this anomaly immediately.
And quickly found her information in her quantum database.
[Name: An Qin]
[Student Rank: Yellow]
[Star Source: Unknown]
[Note: Suspected existence of an aberration]
An Qin was one of the many suspicious individuals Tendo had asked Caroline to note down during the previous Ladder Qualification Selection.
But the time wasn't right yet, so Caroline subtly withdrew her gaze, acting as if she hadn't noticed An Qin.
Just then, a raccoon wearing small black work clothes suddenly appeared in the center of the resting lounge.
Its round eyes scanned the people present, then it turned and walked into the dark passage behind it.
"Follow me."
"Interesting."
Tendo raised an eyebrow and got up to follow.
Caroline followed closely, her silver hair shimmering under the passage light.
Seeing that someone had already left, the others in the hall quickly followed.
The end of the passage was a winding staircase, spiraling upwards, dimly lit.
At the very front of the line, the little raccoon in black work clothes led the way.
Tendo and Caroline followed leisurely behind.
After walking with the main group for about five minutes and presumably climbing ten or twenty flights of stairs,
Chen Kong frowned and said, "Strange, we've been walking for so long, haven't we reached the destination yet?"
"When exactly does this Explorer qualification assessment begin?"
Similar doubts arose in the minds of others.
And at this moment, Mi Yao, who had deliberately fallen back and was only one body length away from Chen Kong, suddenly spoke.
"Idiot, haven't you realized that the assessment started a long time ago?"
Hearing this, Chen Kong immediately looked around.
And quickly spotted the anomaly.
The fire hydrant on the passage wall, with its seal torn open, was clearly visible.
He distinctly remembered seeing this very fire hydrant when he first entered the passage.
This meant that either the seals of all the fire hydrants in this building were torn, or...
Liu Ma also reacted, frowning, "We're back where we started? This staircase is a loop?"
Chen Kong said with a wry smile, "It seems so. I just don't know what the criteria for this assessment are."
Meanwhile, Tendo at the very front of the line was casually saying to Caroline beside him, "Caroline, do you think this infinite loop of the Rōse Staircase truly has no end?"
Caroline calmly provided the answer.
"Theoretically, no."
Hearing this, Tendo smiled.
"Yes, but that's theory, not reality."
"I'm a little tired, so I'll go 'rest' nearby first."
With that, after walking up one more section of the staircase, Tendo walked directly toward a wall without a door.
A bizarre scene unfolded.
The empty wall suddenly rippled strangely as Tendo approached it.
Immediately after, Tendo took a step forward and vanished from everyone's sight in the blink of an eye.
And the instant Tendo disappeared, the little raccoon walking at the very front slowly spoke.
"Remaining assessment time: 25 minutes."
"Current number of people who have passed the assessment: 1."
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