16: In Chapter 16, inside the secret realm, and outside the secret realm, you can only eat my leftovers.

"Classmate Song Jiaojiao, are you done with your tasks? If you're done... it's time for us to register for Longming!"

Chu Hong's calm, almost joking voice sounded exceptionally clear at this moment.

Having finished her registration and just about to pick up her umbrella to leave this noisy place, Song Jiaojiao couldn't help pausing. Looking at Chu Hong in front of her, her slightly aloof and delicate dark eyebrows furrowed.

She glanced somewhat uncertainly at the Longming Sacred Academy registration machine she had just used.

"You're also registering for Longming Sacred Academy?"

Chu Hong smiled: "What else? Come over to chat you up, Classmate Song Jiaojiao? That cost would be a bit too high..."

As he spoke, ignoring the shocked gazes of the surrounding people who looked at him as if he were a madman, he pulled his ID card from his embrace and inserted it into the card slot of the registration machine.

"Beep! Personnel authentication!"

"Huangshan Base City First Source Energy Middle School, Chu Hong, ID 8629729377736"

"Please stand within the yellow line area in front of the machine to receive authentication scanning."

Chu Hong stood inside the yellow frame in front of the machine, and a laser immediately began scanning him from top to bottom.

At this moment, the registration site unexpectedly fell into a dead silence.

Even Wang Suming's parents, at this moment, stared in disbelief at Chu Hong, who had already begun the registration process for Longming Sacred Academy, their mouths wide open in astonishment.

"Beep! Please confirm, the current institution for registration and assessment is—Longming Sacred Academy. Once confirmed, it cannot be changed. Please decide with caution!"

Chu Hong pressed his palm onto the palmprint scanning area.

"Beep! Registration complete. Please proceed to the designated assessment point within the specified time according to the base city's assessment regulations to complete the assessment. Unexcused absence will be recorded as a severe warning and bound to your personal ID."

"Click," Chu Hong's ID card was spat out.

The scene instantly fell into a dead silence.

Amidst the crowd, it was unknown who first muttered and expressed their truest inner thoughts.

"Holy shit... Chu Hong, this guy is crazy!"

"He actually registered for Longming Sacred Academy! That's Longming! How could he dare?"

"Song Jiaojiao's awakened initial skill is at the Eighth Stage of Qiyuan. As long as she performs stably, she can advance to the Eighth Stage of Qiyuan within two or three months of entering university. What right does Chu Hong have to compare himself to her?"

"His initial skill has no grade. The source energy naturally absorbed by others entering a secret realm once is more than him entering ten times..."

"The assessment difficulty of Longming Sacred Academy is twice as high as the assessment requirements of a First-Class Source Energy University!"

"Nonsense, why can all Source Energy Universities in Huaxia only be called universities, while Longming is called a sacred academy?"

"..."

The surrounding people all looked at Chu Hong with the eyes of someone looking at a madman, full of pity and mockery.

Meanwhile, Father Wang and Mother Wang, who had finally reacted, hurriedly rushed over.

"Oh dear, you brat Chu Hong, you, aren't you messing around?!" Father Wang was heartbroken; even though Chu Hong wasn't his son, at this moment he truly wished he could give this brat two slaps on the spot.

To wake his brain up a bit.

"Aren't you pushing yourself into a fire pit? Just for a momentary burst of pride?!"

As Father Wang and Mother Wang spoke, their gazes fiercely turned towards Wu Gang and Liu Yanyan, who were already gloating aside.

"Hahaha! Good! Good! Chu Hong, Young Master Chu, you're awesome! Hahahaha!" Wu Gang laughed loudly, looking at Chu Hong as if he were already looking at a dead man.

This time, even if he couldn't run into Chu Hong in the secret realm, Chu Hong's self-seeking death in applying for Longming Sacred Academy was enough for this fellow to die inside the secret realm.

Just ask, when others take the exam for a lower-level Source Energy University, the required single-game evacuation value can be gathered in at most two games.

But the Longming Sacred Academy that Chu Hong applied for—wouldn't he have to go in a dozen times or more?

Entering the secret realm a dozen times consecutively?

What's the difference between that and committing suicide a dozen times?

Liu Yanyan also crossed her arms and stood in front of Chu Hong, her face full of sarcasm.

"Heh, no matter how harsh you talk, aren't you still getting emotional so easily just because I left you? With this unstable emotional state, plus your initial skill that doesn't even have a grade, breaking up with you back then was simply the wisest decision ever!"

"Chu Hong, oh Chu Hong, I want to see how you manage to come out alive during the assessment!"

Wu Gang laughed wildly, one of his shoulders once again wrapping around Liu Yanyan's slender waist.

"Hahaha, still expecting him to come out alive? He doesn't even have source energy; the moment he runs into any monster inside, he'll die right on the spot."

"Chu Hong, why don't you beg me now? If I happen to run into you in the secret realm, maybe I can spare you some unwanted garbage so you can at least bring something out?"

Chu Hong disdainfully twitched the corner of his mouth.

With a half-smile, his gaze looked at the two people before him with full contempt.

"Share some garbage with me? Heh, Wu Gang, oh Wu Gang, why don't you take a look right now to see who is picking up whose garbage?"

Looking at Wu Gang whose face had turned livid, he smiled disdainfully.

He stepped closer to the other party by a few paces.

The faint aura of fierceness and slaughter on his body caused Wu Gang, who was just about to make a fierce threat, to suddenly change his expression in alarm.

In just an instant, he actually felt that the Chu Hong in front of him seemed to transform from a harmless, threatless mouse into a vicious dragon capable of tearing him to pieces on the spot.

"Whether inside the secret realm or outside it... you can at most only eat some of my leftover garbage!"

Behind him.

Wang Suming, whose face was flushed with excitement, was just about to eagerly cheer for his Brother Hong's sentence full of aura.

Suddenly, a sharp cry came from the machine in front of them.

"Please stand within the yellow line area in front of the machine to receive authentication scanning!"

Everyone was startled.

Father Wang and Mother Wang were even more shocked as they turned their heads one after another.

Wang Suming wore a dazed expression, looking at the registration machine that had already started its process, then lowering his head to look at his empty hands.

"No, I—when did I insert my ID card?! Who shoved my ID card in here?!"

Wang Suming anxiously tried to pull the ID card back out.

However.

A laser swept across his body.

"Beep! Please confirm, the current institution for registration and assessment is—Longming Sacred Academy. Once confirmed, it cannot be changed. Please decide with caution!"

A window popped up on the registration machine.

Father Wang stepped forward and yanked Wang Suming's hand over.

Then, a slap landed squarely on the back of Wang Suming's head.

"What kind of trouble are you making, brat? Do you think things aren't troublesome enough? You're even registering for Longming Sacred Academy; your old man only has you as a single seedling, you..."

He was about to take off his leather shoe right on the spot and beat this foolish boy to death.

Looking at the messy scene, Song Jiaojiao frowned slightly. Staring at Chu Hong, who was watching this scene with a smile and had no intention of reaching out to stop it, she hesitated for a moment before taking the initiative to speak.

"Will you go to participate in the assessment when the time comes?"

Chu Hong turned his head and raised an eyebrow: "Of course. Not going to participate after registering will have quite a significant impact."

Song Jiaojiao nodded and prepared to say something.

Over here, Wang Suming, who had been slapped a few times by his old man, suddenly let out a furious roar.

"I believe in Brother Hong! Since Brother Hong said we can pass the exam, we will definitely pass! Dad, are you beating your son right now? This is the future pillar of the Wang family, the only genius of the Wang family who will get into Longming Sacred Academy, this is—"

"I am your mother's—!"

*Slap*, the sole of a leather shoe struck Wang Suming's chubby face, leaving a mark.

Seeing this, Mother Wang anxiously pulled him away in distress.

His image was already far too different from the character model she had envisioned when giving birth to him; if he were beaten to the point of disfigurement, how would she chat with her sisters about this matter in the future?

"Hey, hey, hey, Old Wang, calm down, don't break the son..."

She then looked at Chu Hong with some worry.

"Xiaohong, are you really confident? Auntie isn't not believing you, it's just that this really isn't a small matter. Entering a secret realm costs lives. Suming, that foolish boy, is an only son, and so are you. You mustn't joke about this."

Chu Hong's expression became a bit more serious.

"Uncle and Auntie, I am confident!"

If it were anyone else, he wouldn't care at all. But whether it was Father Wang and Mother Wang, or his best friend Wang Suming, who had obeyed him since childhood and worn the same pair of pants with him, they were all people worth entrusting and trusting.

He would not reveal the matter of awakening his golden finger.

But that didn't mean he couldn't give them a hand.

Seeing this, Father Wang and Mother Wang were still somewhat hesitant. However, Wang Suming, who had always followed up instantly whenever Chu Hong initiated a team fight since childhood, had already quickly walked up to the registration machine and clicked confirm.

Looking at his son, who had completed the entire process in just a few strokes and pulled out his ID card.

Father Wang and Mother Wang could only let out a sigh at this moment.

Almost on the same day.

The news that three people from First High had registered for the Longming Sacred Academy assessment spread throughout the entire Huangshan Base City.

And when everyone learned—

When they found out that Song Jiaojiao was the eldest miss of the Rubik's Cube Firm whose initial skill was the Eighth Stage of Qiyuan [Stealth], they all nodded one after another, expressing recognition and envy.

However.

When they knew about the other two registrants—

One's initial skill was a grade-less [Investigation], and the other's was the Second Stage of Qiyuan [Stack], neither of which were powerful or combat-usable skills—they all shook their heads in incomprehension.

"Isn't this purely courting death?"

Because of this matter, laughter was incessant throughout the entire Huangshan Base City.

However.

As the subject of discussion, Chu Hong once again appeared in the barren mountain black market that very night.

However, he was no longer in his original appearance.

Standing 1.8 meters tall, with a slicked-back hairstyle, wearing a crisp combat uniform, a sharp blade was inserted into the short knife scabbard on his chest.

Striding proudly with his head held high, he looked like an elite soldier.

He went straight to a shop on the second floor named "Sentinel Pigeon's Court".

"Knock, knock, knock"

He tapped on the counter.

"Give me all currently known secret realm data within a forty-mile radius of Huangshan Base City!"