Gaoyang City, once famous in the Beruk Province, was known for its dismal performance in the high school and college entrance exams for decades, earning it the nickname "The Stubborn Lamb." It was consistently ranked at the bottom, and for a long time, Jingyang City—though also not great—would take every chance to mock Gaoyang, especially during the New Year or exam seasons. It was the perfect example of "the weak mocking the weaker," and there was always a sense of superiority when Jingyang's students compared themselves to Gaoyang's.
This dynamic extended beyond students to their parents, who shared the same mindset. Gaoyang was seen as the bridge everyone stepped on.
However, as the years passed, Jingyang's performance began to slip further, and it soon found itself scraping the bottom alongside Gaoyang.
The day the two cities faced off in an exam was always full of awkwardness. The situation was like "one mocking the other for only going fifty steps," but when they both took fifty steps, who would be laughing?
This time, if they faced Gaoyang's students, and those students turned out to be good, Jingyang's pride would be deeply wounded.
At the testing site, people exchanged tense glances.
"Why are we forced to face Gaoyang's students?" one person muttered.
"Are they really that good? I didn't hear any news about them being impressive."
One parent scoffed. "Are you stupid? If Gaoyang really had any outstanding students, they wouldn't announce it. You know how tightly controlled the education information is in this province. If any details were leaked about high scores, they'd get sealed off. You really think the education departments would let that information slip?"
In the middle of the discussion, a screen flickered, and four people appeared on the battlefield. These weren't just any students—they were formidable.
The team from Gaoyang released hundreds of fiery red bats in a formation, burning and sweeping across the goblins. The fiery storm turned them to charred remains.
As the battle raged on, the students remained calm and composed, especially the boy in the center. His bald head gleamed in the firelight, looking like a hot, boiled egg.
The egg-shaped figure spoke.
"Something's off about the villagers' deaths. They've been tortured before they died, but not in the same way we do. This is a different kind of torture. I suspect there's a protective formation here. The goblins fear it."
"Let's move quickly," said the girl with red hair, raising her eyebrows. "We can't let the goblins stop us. We need to find the village chief's house."
As they rushed to the village chief's home, they felt the oppressive force of the protective formation. They didn't know that the protective mechanism was the very thing that Yao had discovered earlier—the seal hidden within the beams of the village chief's house.
The four students, confident and skilled, moved in synchrony. Yao had no choice but to retreat and hide, knowing they were far stronger than her.
She observed them from a distance, realizing that Gaoyang's students were not to be underestimated. Not only were their physical and magical abilities formidable, but their teamwork was flawless.
"They must have some serious backup," Yao thought, feeling a twinge of anxiety.
But for now, all she could do was wait and observe. Even though their powers were immense, she wasn't completely helpless. She had her own methods of avoiding danger, and she knew she had to tread carefully.
The situation escalated when she realized the group had found something hidden beneath the floorboards of the village chief's house—a family crest. Upon closer inspection, she saw it bore the insignia of the powerful family from Jingyang, the Xie clan.
The discovery set off alarms in Yao's mind. Why was the Xie family crest here? And what did it have to do with the goblins and the strange protective formation?
In her mind, a theory began to form. The plot was deeper than just an exam. It seemed that the real game was about to begin.
Yao knew she had to move quickly before the mysterious forces around her discovered her connection to the Xie family. She took a deep breath, bracing for whatever might come next.