37: There are countless ways to show off, but this time I'll try a different one.

At the entrance of the Underground Cave, one hundred three-person teams were ready for departure.

Teleportation lights flashed one after another, and the teams were successively and randomly dropped into different regions of the Underground Cave.

The live broadcast camera displayed a split-screen view, with viewers across the entire network fixated on their screens.

In the Jiangnan Province live stream room, the number of viewers had already surpassed thirty million.

The bullet comments scrolled by:

"It's here, it's here! Let's see how God Fan performs this time!"

"I bet Lin Fan's team will break one thousand points on the first day!"

"The person above is being conservative; I bet two thousand!"

"His teammates Su Muyu and Qin Yue are not weak either; this team composition is simply luxurious..."

"But I heard the Geniuses from other provinces have already joined forces to specifically target Lin Fan's team..."

"The Underground Cave is so big; even if they join forces, they might not be able to find them, right?"

"God Fan's strength is likely above mine..."

"The person above, say something everyone doesn't already know..."

...

The third level of the Underground Cave, a certain limestone cave.

The light dissipated, and the three of them—Lin Fan and his team—landed.

Qin Yue observed the surroundings immediately: "This is... the third level of the Underground Cave. According to the manual, it is mainly populated by second-order and third-order exotic beasts."

Su Muyu drew her long sword: "There is movement nearby."

However, Lin Fan went straight to find a flat rock and sat down.

He took out... a lounge chair from his space ring.

He lay down.

He then took out a cup of iced fruit juice with a straw from the ring.

"Slurp."

Qin Yue: "..."

Su Muyu: "...What are you doing?"

"Resting." Lin Fan closed his eyes. "I just finished breakfast; it's not suitable to do strenuous exercise."

Qin Yue was between laughter and tears: "Student Lin, this is the Provincial Examination, we are in a competition."

"I know." Lin Fan opened one eye. "That's why I need to conserve my strength. Anyway, there are seven days; what's the rush?"

Su Muyu frowned: "But our initial points are zero, and other teams have already started hunting."

Lin Fan waved his hand: "Let them kill, the more they kill, the better."

Qin Yue and Su Muyu looked at each other, both seeing the confusion in the other's eyes.

The bullet comments in the live stream were also bewildered:

"A lounge chair? Fruit juice? Is God Fan here for a vacation?"

"Conserving strength? He slapped thirty people away during the Provincial Examination and didn't seem tired at all!"

"I understand, he is playing a big game of chess!"

"Big game of your head, he's just lazy!"

"Look at the other teams' live streams; they have already killed several exotic beasts."

"Lin Fan's team points are still zero, they are at the bottom of the rankings!"

"Could it be that God Fan is scared? Planning to play it safe?"

"He must be afraid; maybe he has already been taught a lesson by a big shot behind the scenes!"

"I get it, I get it, God Fan is just thirsty!"

"Damn it... are you just here to troll?"

"It's only because this is a free novel with such filler content; otherwise, the readers would have scolded you long ago!"

"Hilarious, they scold even if it's not filler!"

...

Elsewhere in the Underground Cave.

The team from Dragon Capital No. 1 High School, led by Xuanyuan Potian, had already killed two second-order exotic beasts, earning 30 points.

Xuanyuan Potian looked at the real-time ranking on his watch and sneered: "Lin Fan's team is still at zero? What is he doing?"

Teammate: "Maybe they were teleported to a safe zone?"

"Ignore him." Xuanyuan Potian sheathed his blade. "Continue hunting, we need to widen the gap."

...

The team from Magic City No. 1 High School.

The Ye family Genius, Ye Wuchen, flashed his sword, and a third-order Armored Rhino collapsed to the ground with a bang.

Points +100.

"Captain, Lin Fan's team still has zero points." The teammate reported.

Ye Wuchen wiped the blood off his sword: "No need to pay attention to him. This Underground Cave Trial is not just about strength, but also efficiency, tactics, and endurance."

"No matter how strong he is, if he doesn't kill monsters for seven days, his points won't go up."

...

Genius teams from all over the country were hunting crazily.

The leaderboard kept updating:

1. Dragon Capital No. 1 High School Team (Xuanyuan Potian): 420 points

2. Magic City No. 1 High School Team (Ye Wuchen): 380 points

3. Tang Sect of Shu Team: 350 points

...

97. Yuncheng Third High School Team (Lin Fan): 0 points

The bullet comments in Lin Fan's live stream had exploded:

"97th place?! Fourth from the bottom?!"

"God Fan, what exactly are you doing!!!"

"I'm dying of anxiety! The other teams are hunting like crazy!"

"Zoom in the camera! I want to see if he's really asleep!"

"+1!" × 9999

...

The camera zoomed in.

Lin Fan was really... asleep on the lounge chair.

His breathing was steady, and his chest rose and fell.

Su Muyu and Qin Yue sat on a nearby rock, one wiping her sword, the other regulating her Qi.

Qin Yue finally couldn't help but ask: "Student Lin, are we really going to stay like this for seven days?"

Lin Fan didn't open his eyes: "What's the rush? It's only the morning of the first day."

"But the points..."

"The points will come." Lin Fan turned over. "And there will be more than all of them."

Su Muyu suddenly spoke: "Are you planning to rob them?"

Lin Fan smiled: "Robbing is boring. I want them to... deliver it to my door voluntarily."

Just as he finished speaking.

Hasty footsteps and roars came from the depths of the limestone cave!

The three of them looked over simultaneously.

They saw a three-person team fleeing in a panic, pursued by two third-order Bloodthirsty Wolves!

"Help! Help!" The boy running in front saw Lin Fan and the others, his eyes lighting up. "Students! Please help!"

The school badges on their chests showed—Xishan Province Experimental Middle School. (Normal team formations are usually among people familiar with each other within the same province; being from the same school is very normal. Lin Fan is an exception.)

Bullet comments:

"It's here, it's here! The first encounter!"

"It's a third-order Bloodthirsty Wolf! It's very difficult for a single team to handle!"

"Is Lin Fan going to make a move?"

"Finally, I can see God Fan perform!"

...

However.

Lin Fan sat up from the lounge chair and stretched.

Then, he showed a friendly smile to the three of them: "I can save you."

"For a fee."

The three from Xishan Province: "???"

Live stream: "???"

The leading boy was stunned: "A... a fee?"

"Yes." Lin Fan counted on his fingers. "Two third-order Bloodthirsty Wolves, the market price for each complete corpse is about 500,000, not including the core."

"I'll help you solve it, and charge a service fee... let's say 30 points each."

"Two of them would be 60 points, I'll round it down for you, let's call it 50 points."

The boy opened his mouth wide: "But... but we only have 80 points in total!"

"That's perfect." Lin Fan nodded. "Give me 50, you keep 30, it's not a loss."

"..."

A girl couldn't help but say: "Student, this is an exam! Where is the logic in charging points to save people!"

Lin Fan shook his head, lamenting their foolishness: "Foolish!"

"If I don't save you, the proctors will come to save you, and you'll be eliminated!"

"As long as the green hills remain, there's no need to worry about firewood!"

"Three seconds. If you don't agree, I'm leaving now."

"Three..."

Before he could finish, the leading boy quickly spoke up: "50 is 50, hurry up and act!"

With that said.

A Bloodthirsty Wolf pounced close, its sharp claws almost grabbing the girl's back!

The girl screamed!

"The customer is God. You dare to touch my God?"

"You're courting death!"

He pointed his index finger.

Six Meridians Divine Sword—Shang Yang Sword!

The Sword Qi curved, bypassed the girl, and precisely pierced the Bloodthirsty Wolf in that... exactly the same spot where Xiao Zhan exploded.

The Bloodthirsty Wolf howled and fell to the ground.

The other wolf saw this, growled, and pounced towards Lin Fan!

Lin Fan didn't get up.

He just gripped the air with his right hand gently.

rubber-rubber fruit—Rubber Bind!

His arm instantly elongated, turning into a rubber rope, binding the wolf in mid-air!

"Bang!"

The wolf was smashed heavily onto the ground and passed out.

The whole process took no more than three seconds.

The three from Xishan Province were stunned as wooden chickens.

Lin Fan retracted his arm and smilingly extended his hand:

"Done, pay up!"

"...Here!"

The watches connected, and 50 points were transferred to Lin Fan's watch.

"Lin Fan's team points: 50"

"Rank: Jumped from 97th to 78th!"

The bullet comments exploded:

"Holy crap! You can play like this?!"

"Charging for saving people?! What kind of maneuver is this?!"

"The key is he actually collected it! And those three actually paid!"

"Shameless! Too shameless! Isn't this taking advantage of someone's misfortune?!"

"But why do I feel... so satisfied?!"

"Lin Fan: I'm not here to compete; I'm here to do business."

...

"Ding! New routine for flaunting, refreshing and novel, prestige value +1000!"

"Current prestige value: 27070 points!"

Most of their points were gone, and the three of them looked dejected.

They immediately turned to leave, obviously wanting to go hunt other exotic beasts to recover some points.

"Wait."

Just as the three were about to leave, Lin Fan's voice rang out again.

"Is... is there something else?"

The three looked back, appearing somewhat afraid.

Lin Fan shook his head helplessly and said: "Students nowadays are really so impolite."

"I saved you, don't you even have a 'thank you'?"

"Say thank you!"

...

The three: "..."

The leading boy's face turned bright red, and he squeezed out from between his teeth: "Th... thank you..."

"I can't hear you."

"THANK YOU!!"

"Not sincere enough."

The boy was about to cry: "Student! Thank you for saving us! Thank you very much!"

Lin Fan was finally satisfied: "Alright, go ahead. If you encounter danger next time, you can still find me. Old customers get a 10% discount."

The three fled as if escaping.

Qin Yue watched from the side, dumbfounded.

Su Muyu covered her forehead: "Lin Fan, doing this... wouldn't it be too..."

"Too what?" Lin Fan lay back on the chair. "The rules of the Underground Cave didn't say I couldn't charge a rescue fee."

"I saved their lives; is 50 points a lot?"

"Without me, they would have been eliminated!"

If not for the fact that Su Muyu had once brought him soup.

Lin Fan would definitely have reenacted the classic scene from Black Gold on the spot!

His words sounded very reasonable.

In fact, they were indeed very reasonable.

Although Su Muyu felt it was a bit wrong, she didn't continue to speak.

At this moment, Lin Fan looked at his watch, ranking 78th.

"Look, don't we have points now?"

"And I don't even have to do it myself."

Qin Yue suddenly smiled: "Student Lin, you really are a... Genius."

"A business Genius."

The bullet comments in the live stream had gone crazy:

"What kind of business Genius is that!"

"I declare, the biggest dark horse of this year's national examination—the Underground Cave capitalist, Lin Fan!"

"Other teams are working themselves to death killing monsters, while he is lying down collecting protection fees!"

"The key is that people actually pay!"

"Those three had no choice; if they didn't pay, they might have been eliminated..."

"I'm starting to look forward to it; how many teams will be 'rescued' next..."

"Lin Fan's team points prediction: Over ten thousand in seven days!"