515: Recruitment of outstanding operators

"What happened?"

Hearing a hint of joy in Liu Shihhan's tone, Xiao Yun knew that this matter was definitely settled.

As expected, his previous speculation was correct; an excellent school wouldn't limit itself to just one recruitment method. Instead, it would have multiple channels to absorb outstanding young people from across the country and even the entire globe.

Whether in his past life or this world, the situation with these elite institutions was basically similar.

It was just that schools in his past life valued talents in scientific research or business and finance more, while academies in this world prioritized talents who could create profit and value within the Forbidden Zones.

"He Yan's exact words were: 'You should have said so earlier. Lu Xueqing has already completely met the standards for the Outstanding Operator Recommendation and exam-free admission.'"

"Outstanding Operator Recommendation? Aside from the standard recommendation quota for each school, Qingbei University has this kind of recruitment channel too?"

Hearing Liu Shihhan's words, Xiao Yun couldn't help but be taken aback.

Logically speaking, the school's annual recommendation spots were already determined by the results students achieved in the Forbidden Zones.

He had thought that was the so-called Forbidden Zone recommendation channel, but it turned out to be something entirely different from what he had imagined.

"Tell me the details."

"It's not that complicated. Simply put, it's like being a National Level One Athlete or something similar. In the Forbidden Zones, as long as an outstanding Operator can reach the Platinum rank or above before graduating high school, basically all top domestic universities will fight over them, and Qingbei University is no exception."

"That simple?"

Hearing Liu Shihhan's explanation, Xiao Yun was even more surprised.

He thought to himself that if he had known entering the country's top university was this simple, he wouldn't have put so much effort into fighting for a recommendation spot back then.

One must realize that at this moment, Xiao Yun had already reached the Black Hawk Rank, which was two ranks above Platinum.

It was just that his official GTI status hadn't been finalized yet; otherwise, he would likely have reached the peak ranks, placing him among the top hundred in the country.

And in his team, Liu Shihhan and Lu Xueqing had also long since rapidly climbed the ranks.

Liu Shihhan, having stayed by his side for a long time, had also upgraded to the Black Hawk Rank, while Lu Xueqing had reached the Diamond rank.

By this standard, the three of them wouldn't need to take up the school's recommendation spots at all and could be directly admitted to Qingbei University through special recruitment.

"Oh, Xiao Yun, you're looking at this from a place of privilege. You don't know how hard it is for others."

Seeing Xiao Yun's reaction, Liu Shihhan felt somewhat helpless.

"You have no idea how difficult the standard he set is. For ordinary people, most only turn eighteen during their senior year of high school, which is when they finally become eligible to enter the Forbidden Zones."

"If you don't consider repeating a grade, the time available to familiarize oneself with the environment and supply points in the Forbidden Zones is inherently limited."

"Even for a top student like Lu Xueqing, you saw how she performed in the Forbidden Zones at the start. She was just scavenging green or white tier supplies to make a little bit of pocket money."

"If she were to play solo in the Forbidden Zones without any external resources, she would reach the Silver rank at most by the time she graduated high school."

"Even with good luck, finding some valuable supplies that speed up an Operator's rank progression, she would reach Gold Five or Gold Four at most. That's already being a standout among ordinary people. Others wouldn't even come close to the requirements for special recruitment of outstanding Operators."

"No wonder there are so many students repeating grades in school—some have repeated so many times they're in their fifth or sixth year of high school. What if they repeat? After two years, would they still worry about not reaching the Platinum tier?"

"Of course! How could it be that easy to reach?"

Liu Shihhan said crossly.

"You have to understand that ranks in the Forbidden Zones don't just go up; they can go down. If you fail to extract, or if you lose a lot of supplies, your rank points will be deducted—especially after you reach the Gold tier."

"If you earn very little in a round, you barely gain points, but if you fail to extract, you lose a massive amount of points."

"It's not easy for ordinary people just to maintain a Gold rank; it requires a significant investment of resources and capital, let alone reaching the Platinum tier. I've seen people online calculate that to reach Platinum from zero, one must extract supplies with a net profit of over thirty million in value."

"I see. No wonder the minimum standard for an escort in this world is the Platinum tier. Looking at it that way, it really isn't easy."

Xiao Yun nodded silently.

Only now did he realize that wanting to reach the Platinum tier before high school graduation was no simple feat.

After all, in this era where strength in the Forbidden Zones is king, a Platinum tier Operator is already a standout among ordinary people, capable of leading a small squad in the zones.

It wasn't like the games in Xiao Yun's previous life where rank points only went up and didn't drop, with the concept of losing more points than gaining only appearing after the Black Hawk Rank.

Therefore, in the games of his past life, Platinum wasn't much different from Bronze.

But this world was different.

Regardless of the rank, as long as an extraction failed and supplies were lost in the Forbidden Zone, the corresponding rank points would be deducted.

If an ordinary person could bring back thirty million in net value from the Forbidden Zones, they probably wouldn't even need to consider going to university.

"And you should know, this requires graduating high school and being under twenty-five years old to enter Qingbei University through this channel. It's much harder than the normal exams. For the exams, you only need to master theoretical knowledge; if you rank in the top few dozen in the province, you can enter Qingbei University. Isn't that much easier than reaching the Platinum rank in the Forbidden Zones?"

"That makes sense. Then do you know how many students this outstanding Operator recruitment channel admits in a year?"

When asked this, Liu Shihhan did indeed hesitate. "For domestic students, they might not even recruit one in ten years."

"Huh? Then was this standard designed to...?"

After hearing Liu Shihhan finish, Xiao Yun had already deduced the intention behind this.

He knew that globally, only within the Dragon Kingdom was the age requirement eighteen to enter the Forbidden Zones.

In other places, whether developed or developing countries, people could start entering the Forbidden Zones at fifteen or sixteen.

In other words, this recruitment standard for outstanding Operators wasn't actually designed for domestic students, but for international students who were ethnically from the Dragon Kingdom but had moved their household registration abroad.

Upon realizing this, Xiao Yun could only give a helpless smile.

As a reincarnator, he didn't find it hard to understand the intentions of these universities.

After all, being able to gather back those young people whose registrations were abroad was also a good thing.

"By the way, Xiao Yun."

Liu Shihhan spoke again, shifting to the next topic.

"Shiya is coming back. Do you want to go to the airport with me to pick her up?"

"Shiya?"

Hearing this name, Xiao Yun's mind suddenly buzzed.

Some dormant memories gradually began to awaken in his mind, and at the same time, a blurry silhouette faintly emerged in his thoughts.