Book 6: Chapter 25:1: World Consciousness’s Malicious Intent, Part 1
The next day, outside the exam hall:
Chen Heng had miscalculated; he was not in the same exam hall as Mo Qingtong, so he had no opportunity to meet her.
However, after Luo Li told him that Mo Qingtong did not seem affected, he stopped worrying.
“Ahem! Ahem! All students, please listen up. Please pay attention to this announcement. We have installed an ability suppressor device in this school, and it can suppress all abilities. Students, please don’t make a mistake and use an ability to cheat or get an ability user to help you cheat. All forms of disguise ability, telepathy, or vision ability would be greatly suppressed.”
Just as Chen Heng was about to enter the exam hall, an announcement rang out in the school. These words were not without reason. Before they had ability suppressor devices, there had been high school students using abilities to cheat in the past two years.
There had been situations like using a disguise ability on a top scholar so that the top scholar could take the exam in the student’s place or using telepathy to communicate the exam questions to others outside the exam hall and receive the answers from them. Such scenarios and more had been discovered previously.
Furthermore, these were just the ones that were caught. Who knows how many more had escaped notice? Although government-employed ability users proctored the exam, they could not keep up with the students’ creativity.
Of course, Chen Heng did not know if this solution could stop ability users who could see the future from cheating, but it was unlikely. After all, time ability users were extremely, extremely rare. Why else did Luo Li end up in such a miserable state after the Secret Scholar Society discovered her?
Why else would the Special Affairs Bureau be willing to use a honeypot trap (Chen Heng) to entice Luo Li to join the Special Affairs Bureau despite not her mental instability?
Wasn’t it all because time ability users were simply too rare? There were only a few examples in the entire world, and those were just minor abilities, like speeding themselves up. Even so, all the major hidden-world factions fought over these ability users.
Even if there were someone with a time ability to see the future, would such a person use it for something trivial, like seeing the college entrance exam questions or gambling using those questions? The schools for ability users or the Special Affairs Bureau would have recruited such people long ago. Such people were all treasures, the kind these factions would turn hostile at the slightest hint of anyone else trying to recruit them.
Even with the Spiritual Energy Resurgence, ability users had to take the college entrance exams, no different from mundane people. The nation needed ability users to develop holistically. Furthermore, ability users had Will Energy that far surpassed the ordinary to support them. Hence, they learned faster than mundane people.
Of course, abilities differed in strength. The governmental organizations or ability-user schools would recruit powerful ability users even if they scored zero. However, they were more likely to join a large faction of the hidden world.
Actually, the Special Affairs Bureau felt helpless because of the Spiritual Energy Resurgence, or rather, the appearance of ability users in large numbers.
The various countries had already known about the hidden world’s existence long ago, and they did their best to keep the hidden world a secret from the mundane world. However, the appearance of ability users en masse (just relative to the previous rate; ability users remained in low numbers) made concealing the hidden world much more difficult.
To prevent the exposure of the hidden world to the eyes of the mundane people, every nation agreed to create the facade of the Spiritual Energy Resurgence and reveal some of the lower-tiered forces, like the Valkyries.
Choosing the Valkyries turned out to be a stellar decision. Let’s face it. We’re in an age that worships beauty, and most Valkyries are drop-dead gorgeous. They’re goddess-level figures in the eyes of the average person.
Men might have been jealous if the warriors were male, but Valkyries didn’t spark envy among women. After all, the world of Honkai Impact 3rd was always rich in lesbian relationships, and the fused world was no different.
Of course, there was a more important reason: the ceiling of the Valkyries’ combat prowess wasn’t that high.
When the people of the hidden world chose a representative, they naturally would choose someone easier to control. The Valkyries aside, even the Honkai God was easier to control than the leaders of the hidden world’s major factions.
Cultivators had the Heavenly Court, which had numerous immortals with extraordinary strength.
The other major factions of the hidden world—like the demons, the angels, the pantheons—had high combat prowess, so they were not suitable for exposure. Thus, the hidden world eventually chose low-threat factions like the Valkyries.
Since they could not completely hide the truth, they might as well choose a few weak factions, which were easy to control.
Now, the Valkyries had become a force to be reckoned with, even within the hidden world. Celebrities paled in comparison. These goddess-like Valkyries were a far better sight than those celebrities who only had looks.
Back to the main topic. When Chen Heng heard the announcement, he instinctively scanned the crowd. Sure enough, he spotted a few who seemed out of place. Ordinary people wouldn’t notice, but Chen Heng did. Those individuals didn’t leave immediately upon hearing the warning about cheating in the college entrance exams.
These people who helped others cheat to earn money illegally were usually low-level ability users. Such people would never have heard of an ability suppressor device, so they doubted the authenticity of such an announcement.
Even Chen Heng wouldn’t have known about it if he hadn’t used one before. This was the device’s public (mundane world) debut after being kept secret for two years.
“Second warning! This is the second warning. Any examinee intent on cheating using abilities, leave now! We’ll activate the ability suppressor device in 30 seconds. All abilities will suffer from extremely strong suppression. Please do not cause injury to yourself. Thirty, 29, 28…”
Chen Heng watched as the cheaters he’d marked with Will Energy stayed put. These were no timid souls and would not be scared off by an announcement.
Too bad their bravery was misguided, challenging the bottom line of the Special Affairs Bureau. They could have placed their bravery to much better use, yet they came to seek death here.
Vast Sea City was a vital territory in China, and as the best high school there, Vast Sea City First High School had the Special Affairs Bureau’s full attention. It deployed a high-end ability suppressor device and several government-employed ability users to monitor the situation.
A few disguise ability users started to panic when they heard the countdown. Of the four Chen Heng had identified, two quietly left the exam area. He was sure the Special Affairs Bureau’s people had spotted them, too. All those who could join the Special Affairs Bureau were competent.
These were only the disguise ability users. Chen Heng had the hunch that there were countless other types of ability users among the examinees. Of course, most of them would be the examinees themselves rather than substitutes.
As the countdown slowly approached zero, Chen Heng unhurriedly climbed to a slightly higher platform to look at the examinees below and watch the excitement.
“…Three, two, one!” Buzz!
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