The only one who could force a truck to a standstill was a true master of Ancient Martial Arts like Master Liudao Yuan.

Ancient Martial Arts is truly brutal. If Calophis were pitted against the Electronic Demon, one round of Death Qi Moon Blades could easily blast it apart...

Lu Yuan couldn't help but mutter. He then picked up a copper wire from the ground and casually tied up his long hair.

With the death of the Electronic Demon, his A+ rank mission was successfully completed.

Checking his mission watch, he saw that he was still ranked first on the New Blood leaderboard.

The number of points he possessed was—122,580.

He had almost 120,000 more points than the second-placed New Blood, Teng Xiangqing.

It wasn't hard to see that the runner-up was trying to catch up, probably having completed another B-rank mission. The last time Lu Yuan checked, this second-placed guy had a three-digit score.

He ignored the screenfuls of "???", "!!!", and "666" flooding the All Channel.

Lu Yuan brought up his profession panel.

The A+ rank mission against the Electronic Demon provided his Fighter class with nearly 1,500 Experience Points.

Not bad at all.

Killing a Calophis would only yield 3,000 Experience Points.

His Fighter class was Level 8 (2,717/12,800 Experience Points).

"If I finish the remaining seven A-rank missions, I guess I could level up again. Even if that's not enough, there are still three S-rank missions."

As Lu Yuan thought, he curiously checked the introductions of the three S-rank missions.

Having completed an A+ rank mission, the information for these three S-rank missions had been fully unlocked.

"Swimming Dragon… Pure Martial… Rated at A+..."

Lu Yuan randomly opened one of the S-rank mission introductions and was taken aback.

The ultimate boss of this S-rank mission was a Pure Martial powerhouse, rated as high as A+.

"This Swimming Dragon has reached A+ through Pure Martial… Quite intriguing."

Lu Yuan blinked, a mysterious gleam shining in his eyes.

"Could it be that he, like Master, has grasped the True Intention of Martial Arts?"

He was almost eager to try it out right away.

But his reason restrained this impulse.

"There's no rush to challenge S-rank missions. Apart from me, probably no one else is qualified or bold enough to try."

"On the other hand, A-rank missions are likely to be completed by others in this assessment."

"After all, they can choose to work in teams..."

"So, the priority is to grab all the remaining A-rank missions first, and quickly."

"Every mission I miss is a thousand potential Experience Points lost..."

With his mind made up, Lu Yuan straightened his clothes and casually picked up the black-rimmed glasses that he had left on the game console before the fight.

He carefully put them on, then walked out of the chaotic underground arcade with a calm face.

「 」

"Actually, it's not a big deal..."

"It's just soloing an A+ rank mission, what's the big deal... Haha... Don't you guys think so?"

Ye Wuqiang, a young man with long hair, tried to force a nonchalant smile.

However, he found it extremely difficult.

Even without a mirror, he could imagine his current smile was probably uglier than tears.

He tried to find something to do to mask the turbulent emotions in his chest, which felt like a hundred large trucks were ramming back and forth inside him.

Ye Wuqiang found a half-empty beer bottle among the debris of a shattered table and hastily picked it up as if seeing a lifeline.

But he found his hand shaking badly.

The exoskeleton device attached to his arm felt like a fake, offering no stability whatsoever.

"Although it's hard to admit..."

Among the three silent people sitting opposite Ye Wuqiang, Xiang Shenghao, the one with the calmest temperament, finally spoke. His voice, however, was as strained as if squeezed from between rocks.

"It seems we really missed a golden opportunity to be carried by a top-tier expert..."

Xiang Shenghao looked at the other three, his face a mask of complicated emotions.

"Stop..."

The blue-haired boy, who had been looking at his mission watch, interrupted Xiang Shenghao, saying quickly, "Everyone in the All Channel is asking who Lu Yuan is! They're asking who came here on the same Fly Shuttle with him..."

"Damn!"

The blue-haired boy suddenly lost his temper and couldn't help but punch fiercely into the air.

The blue electrical sparks that burst from his fingers almost singed their eyebrows.

"Alright, alright. Who could've expected him to be so strong? He just looked like one of those handsome, high-achieving... boys in class..."

The punk girl, Xu Chengying, turned out to be the most emotionally stable among them, the quickest to accept this reality.

She muttered, her soot-smudged pretty face glowing with a strange light.

The blue-haired boy next to her stared at her for a long moment, his expression gradually turning odd. He couldn't help but ask, "Back in school, did you have a crush on the top students but couldn't confess because your grades were too poor? Who would've thought that after joining Yellow Bear, you'd still be stuck in this fate? A slacker crushing on a top student, only to be rejected in the end?"

"If you want to die, just say it!"

CLICK!

A black handgun was pressed against the blue-haired boy's forehead. The safety was off, and behind the slender finger on the trigger was Xu Chengying's murderous expression.

This time, the blue-haired boy surprisingly didn't get angry. Instead, he shrugged, smiling like a triumphant general.

"Looks like someone's nerve was struck. Defenses shattered, huh..."

"You..."

"Alright, stop messing around."

The long-haired young man, Ye Wuqiang, waved his hand wearily. "Let's quickly pick a mission target and get going. We can't keep wasting time on this pointless stuff."

"Indeed."

Xiang Shenghao, beside him, nodded and slowly looked up from his watch screen.

He raised his head, and the complexity on his dark, mature-looking face seemed to have deepened even further.

"We really need to hurry. If we're late, we might not even be able to grab any missions. All the assessment teams are being forced to step up their game. Some teams have already decided to skip C-rank missions and 'go in blind' to challenge B-rank ones..."

"Why?"

Ye Wuqiang blinked. "Were they spurred on by Lu Yuan?"

"Yes."

Xiang Shenghao nodded. "Many people speculate that Lu Yuan isn't just a regular New Blood participant in the assessment. He might be someone planted by Yellow Bear, part of the assessment itself. Representing... some kind of special 'pressure mechanism,' specifically designed to push us to complete missions as quickly as possible... If we don't hurry, Lu Yuan might complete all the missions. Then, some participants who originally had the strength to pass will fail because they couldn't get any missions, and they'll end up eliminated..."

"This theory… isn't it a bit far-fetched?" Ye Wuqiang looked confused, unsure what to make of it.

He admitted that Lu Yuan was a freak, so strong that he seemed to be from another world compared to them.

But to say he's part of the assessment, some kind of 'pressure mechanism'... isn't that a bit much?

"Although it's a bit far-fetched, it's still possible."

Xiang Shenghao glanced at his watch and said, "Just while we were talking, Lu Yuan's score on the leaderboard changed. He gained another hundred thousand-plus points. He now has a full 250,000 points more than Teng Xiangqing in second place. Clearly..."

Xiang Shenghao paused, then continued in a low voice, "In the last twenty minutes... Lu Yuan completed another A+ rank mission. If you don't believe me, look at the mission map. There are only six red areas representing A-rank missions left..."

"Uh..."

Ye Wuqiang's mouth fell open, and he stood there, stunned.

The blue-haired boy and Xu Chengying next to him were also frozen in place.

Twenty minutes... he soloed another A+ rank mission...

After a brief, deathly silence.

With a sharp BANG!

The four figures in the bar all darted towards the exit simultaneously.

Never mind not being able to latch onto a powerhouse like Lu Yuan for a free ride.

Now they were being swept up in the intense competition he was creating.

What in the world kind of ultimate grinder and pressure monster is he?!

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