15: Chapter 15 Accidentally First Place

The ten Orcs that had just charged out stiffened, torn apart by an irresistible traction force, turning into streams of light and being reabsorbed by the light gate.

As for the Orcs currently covered by the skill effect in the white light, they remained completely unaffected until the light gate slowly dissipated.

The assessment ended.

Gu Han let out a long breath and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Quit while ahead. Now that the Honey Badger Chickens were all dead, the Iron Vine Snake Banyan simply couldn't stop the Orcs.

If he didn't stop, and those ten Orcs behind really broke in, he would have to use his skills to subdue them, but that would increase the risk of exposing the secret of his skills.

After all, if the kill count remained stagnant, it would easily arouse suspicion.

Getting three Orcs and one Giant Golden Beetle for free—this wave was already a huge profit.

In front of the big screen outside the evaluation center, the audience was silent.

Everyone looked up, staring at the ranking that had just refreshed at the very top of the leaderboard.

First Place: Gu Han, Waves Survived: 41, Kills: 1012.

Second Place: Lin Chuxue, Waves Survived: 32, Kills: 493.

Third Place: Tang Jichao, Waves Survived: 30, Kills: 485.

...

"Holy crap!" someone in the crowd shouted.

The whole venue instantly exploded.

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

"Is the machine broken? How could a C-rank slacker get first place?"

"A thousand monsters? Is he raising Godzilla in his Divine Kingdom!"

Teacher Qin Lin, who was leading the team, stood frozen, looking at the final ranking in disbelief.

Chu Yue stood at the very front of the crowd, her pretty face turning pale. She stared at the name on the big screen, biting her lip tightly. She had an S-rank rating and didn't even make it into the top ten, yet Gu Han was actually first!

"Quiet!"

A boy wearing glasses suddenly shouted. He pushed up the frames on his nose, his tone very certain: "Think about the assessment mechanism. Combat power evaluation matches invading monsters based on the student's Divine Kingdom rating!"

Everyone looked at him in unison.

The bespectacled boy continued to analyze: "The invading creatures encountered by an S-rank rating are definitely much more powerful. And what is Gu Han? C-rank! What the system matched him with was probably just some common species; at most, there were just more of them!"

As soon as these words came out, many people around suddenly realized, and looking at the kill count comparison, it was indeed the case.

"That's right! How strong can C-rank difficulty monsters be?"

"Scared the hell out of me. I thought he was playing the fool to catch his prey. Turns out he just exploited a loophole in the assessment mechanism."

"As long as there are some decent species in the Divine Kingdom, one could probably survive many waves of invasion. Forty-one waves—this Gu Han can be considered top-tier among C-ranks."

"Someone with nothing to lose isn't afraid of anything. He probably pushed until his Divine Kingdom was severely damaged."

Everyone began to comfort themselves, and the huge sense of psychological disparity from just a moment ago was instantly filled. It turned out he just benefited from having a low rating.

With a soft "click," the door to the assessment pod Gu Han was in opened.

He rubbed his neck and walked out, only to find the entire venue's focus on him as soon as he looked up.

Following everyone's gaze, he looked up and saw his own name hanging high in first place on the holographic screen, glowing bright red.

Gu Han cursed inwardly: Oh no!

He had originally thought he might rank near the front, but he hadn't expected to accidentally get first place! This was a disaster; his secrets were very likely to be exposed.

His brain raced as he thought of countermeasures.

Even that SS-rank genius Lin Chuxue, who possessed an Elf Divine Kingdom, couldn't help but cast a scrutinizing gaze his way.

She had persisted until the thirty-second wave at the cost of slight damage to her Divine Kingdom, thinking she was firmly in first place. She never expected this C-rank would actually be ahead of her.

Gu Han felt his skin crawl from being watched, so he quickly lowered his head, feigning exhaustion, and walked quickly to Teacher Qin Lin's side.

"Teacher Qin, I feel so dizzy, my Divine Kingdom almost collapsed." Gu Han held his forehead and began to act.

Teacher Qin Lin had been full of questions, but upon hearing this, she quickly supported him: "If you couldn't hold on, why didn't you exit earlier? Are you willing to sacrifice the future of your Divine Kingdom just to get the scholarship?"

Gu Han immediately lowered his head: "Teacher, you are right to scold me. All the chickens I raised were thrown in."

The students around who were listening with pricked ears sneered. But it couldn't be denied that Gu Han did indeed have some strength.

Meanwhile, in the monitoring room on the top floor of the evaluation center, the atmosphere was completely different.

Several examiners stood in a row, silent before the screens.

The students below all thought that Gu Han's assessment difficulty was much lower.

But on the internal data panel in front of them, it was clearly written:

[ Candidate: Gu Han ]

[ Forty-first wave invasion difficulty: S-rank (manually adjusted) ]

[ Invading species: Orc tactical squad ]

[ Verdict: Invasion squad not recovered, candidate judged to have passed this batch. ]

A middle-aged examiner swallowed, pointed at the line of data on the screen, his voice dry: "Colonel Zhong Ran, how should this be counted?"

"That means passed." Colonel Zhong Ran chuckled, nonplussed.

Another examiner urgently pulled up the backend logs, "The system judged that he passed the forty-first wave, but the data shows his kill count has discrepancies; the kill count for the thirty-seventh and forty-first waves is zero!"

Everyone was full of confusion; this was a situation that had never happened before.

"Could the assessment terminal have glitched? After all, we modified the difficulty halfway through."

"Not sure! There has never been such a situation before."

Colonel Zhong Ran chuckled, nonplussed.

"That is your problem then." She leaned back in her chair, "Raise this kid's scholarship amount to S-rank. Afterward, call him over separately; I'm also very curious how he managed to do it."

The examiners looked at each other, but no one dared to refute her; after all, she was the sponsor this time.

Inside the evaluation center hall, the noise gradually subsided.

The chief examiner in charge of the assessment walked to the front with a list and cleared his throat.

"Quiet! Some students performed excellently in this assessment. Your scholarship amounts have been approved and will be sent to your accounts within three working days."

The chief examiner scanned the room, pausing specifically on Gu Han for half a second.

"This scholarship is personally sponsored by Colonel Zhong Ran of our Huaxia Ministry of Defense. These funds are targeted credit points, only supported for purchasing supplies needed for the development of your Divine Kingdom. I hope everyone works hard and does not let down the country's cultivation of you..."

The chief examiner read out the recruitment conditions of the Ministry of Defense as usual, and the teachers and students listened quietly.

After it ended, Gu Han followed the queue to the terminal, swiped his ID card, registered his account for receiving funds, and immediately checked his scholarship amount.

A line of information popped up on the screen.