CHAPTER 200: CHAPTER 163: THE MYSTERY OF THE UNDERWORLD CITY! (TWO IN ONE, 2/9)_2

Chen Mo scanned his surroundings but didn’t see Yan Yingyue, figuring she must have teleported directly from the Academy Alliance to the examination site. Given her previous close call with an assassination attempt and her record-breaking performance in the last examination, she was clearly under thorough protection.

"Mr. Mo, how are your preparations coming along?" Fang Datong, sporting a new set of equipment, approached him.

Chen Mo looked at him in surprise. "Where did you get all this soulbound gear?"

"Eh? How did you know it’s soulbound? I made sure to hide it specifically."

Chen Mo almost forgot his Pioneer’s perception ability was so strong it allowed him to see through any concealment. He quickly laughed it off, saying, "Just a guess. Your aura is completely different now."

"Heh, you guessed right! A rich woman invested in me, and that’s how I got this great set of equipment."

"A rich woman?!" Chen Mo scanned Fang Datong from head to toe incredulously. "Your profession isn’t that spectacular. How did you attract a rich woman?"

"Don’t judge a book by its cover! I’m a three-star warrior, you know. Less than one percent of candidates nationwide awaken a three-star profession. I’m definitely top-tier!"

Chen Mo glanced towards the school gate and asked with a smile, "Which one at the gate is she? Introduce me."

"Ahem, you don’t need to know that."

"Can’t be seen in public?" Chen Mo teased.

"COUGH, COUGH, COUGH. She’s just a bit... unique-looking, but that’s not important. What’s important is that she’s loaded! Once I become stronger, I’ll get her a Beauty Holy Fruit, and it’ll all be worth it."

"You’re really not picky," Chen Mo said, speechless.

"Enough about me. How are your preparations? I heard you received a huge prize in this examination—1.1 billion, right?"

"Yeah, so I’m very well prepared. I think getting into a top-tier university shouldn’t be a problem."

"I really envy you, having Yan Yingyue, the five-star class beauty, carrying you. I’ve seen her before; she’s gorgeous and has a great figure. Mr. Mo, you sly dog, when did you win her over?"

The moment Fang Datong finished speaking, he felt a chill run down his spine. He peeked to the side and saw Shen Bingbing staring at him with an icy expression. He quickly ducked his head.

"What nonsense are you spouting? We just happened to be in the same dungeon, and since we’re from the same school, we cooperated. That’s all," Chen Mo retorted.

Only after Chen Mo spoke did Fang Datong feel the pressure on his back lessen considerably. He took a deep breath and said, "True, true. Our class has plenty of beauties too. Bingbing’s quite nice, don’t you think?"

"In terms of looks, they’re about even. But their temperaments give off completely different vibes." Chen Mo commented casually.

Fang Datong felt as if spikes were pricking his back and didn’t dare ask what he meant by "different vibes."

As they were talking, the teachers approached. Principal Shen Rulong stood before everyone and began, "Everyone, I’ll keep it brief. Today is the most important day for all of you!

All your efforts and preparations over the past ten-odd years have been for this day, to achieve your best possible results!

There’s not much more for us teachers to say, except to wish you all outstanding performances and the success you desire!"

True to his word, Principal Shen kept his speech short. He then activated the Teleportation Array, and the teleportation process began.

As a massive teleportation array formed, a flash of light enveloped them, and everyone appeared inside a vast, empty hall. The central area was already packed with people.

"Teachers, please move away from the teleportation array area and observe from the high platforms nearby. Students, please remain where you are. The examination will officially begin at eight o’clock!"

Chen Mo used his perception ability and discovered he was standing on an enormous teleportation array, capable of holding all tens of thousands of students in the hall. The hall was circular, with tiered spectator stands rising around the perimeter. Four massive screens hung in the center, displaying the names, professions, and schools of the thousands of candidates.

Since it was a balanced dungeon, everyone’s Level would be capped at 10 upon entry. All Skills or equipment above Level 15 would be restricted, so displaying Levels wasn’t necessary. Instead, the star level of one’s profession became the crucial factor.

The College Entrance Examination dungeon was the most balanced type of dungeon. Each student would enter a separate Dungeon Space for their examination.

You didn’t need to worry if you had a support-type profession and couldn’t kill monsters, if you had a pure output profession and couldn’t tank, or if you had a pure tank profession and couldn’t deal damage.

After entering the Dungeon Space, you could recruit NPC teammates of various professions in the Initial Small Town. These NPC teammates would have the same profession star level as you (though their Occupational Talents would be ordinary) and would start with a basic set of equipment. Their equipment would automatically upgrade each time they cleared a floor. Moreover, they would obey your commands unconditionally. Once you formed your desired team, you could advance towards the Underworld City. Your score would be determined by the number of Underworld City floors you cleared. The deeper you progressed, the higher your score.

However, you couldn’t recruit too many people. The more teammates you had, the more difficult the Underworld City became. If you went solo, the difficulty was 100%. Each teammate recruited increased the difficulty by 10%, and it increased by an additional 10% for each subsequent teammate. In other words, one teammate meant 110% difficulty, two meant 130%, three meant 160%, four meant 200%, and five meant 250% difficulty. A maximum of five teammates could be recruited.

As more people were teleported over, by around 7:50 AM, the broadcast turned on. It provided some explanations regarding this College Entrance Examination, mostly reiterating rules everyone already knew by heart. Once the lengthy list of rules and precautions was finished, the start time for the examination was rapidly approaching.

On the viewing platform, teachers from various academies chatted, speculating on which students might perform well in this College Entrance Examination. Su Tianxin’s gaze fell upon Shen Bingbing and Chen Mo. Although Chen Mo was only a two-star, she sensed a unique confidence radiating from him that particularly resonated with her. This inexplicably made her feel that Chen Mo could achieve an outstanding result. Consequently, she found herself subconsciously focusing on him.

「Soon, it was officially 8 o’clock.」

"This examination officially begins! All students, please prepare!"

Three seconds later, the Central Teleportation Array flashed. The crowd of over ten thousand students, just moments before buzzing with chatter, vanished without a trace.

Chen Mo felt a flash of light, and then he found himself in a quaint little town. It had red-brick buildings with green-tiled roofs, and the ground was paved with bluestone, giving it a very simple, unadorned look.

*The Heavenly Path’s Hint:* You have entered the special examination dungeon "The Mystery of the Underworld City." A mysterious entrance to the Underworld City has recently appeared near Wuge Village, attracting many Adventurers.

Please form your own Adventurer Team to explore it.

This dungeon does not result in true death. Dying in the dungeon will lead to immediate resurrection and ejection from the dungeon, with no death penalty.

The time limit for clearing this dungeon is 24 hours. Please try to achieve a greater clear depth within these 24 hours!

The deeper you venture into the Underworld City, the greater the rewards, up to SSS-level!

This dungeon offers an exclusive special title. The deeper you go, the higher the title’s rank, up to an SSS-level title.

For every five floors you advance, you can choose to increase your reward rank by one rank.

You can advance a maximum of fifty floors.

The initial reward rank is C-Class.

This dungeon is restricted to participants officially under 14 years of age (equivalent to 19 years old or younger for Earth humans). Only one challenger can obtain the highest-rank reward during any given period.

*The Heavenly Path’s Hint:* The dungeon will officially begin in 5 minutes. Please assemble your Adventurer Team immediately.

After reading the Heavenly Path’s hints, Chen Mo immediately explored the town. To his surprise, all recruitable NPCs in the town were seven-star.

Wow, even the star level of hidden professions is synchronized? This dungeon is really impressive.

However, Chen Mo had no intention of recruiting teammates; he simply didn’t need any. Whether it was a tank, damage dealer, healer, or Support, he was self-sufficient. Instead of recruiting teammates and increasing the difficulty, he preferred to take on the original difficulty alone.