24: Chapter 24 A Suicide Mission? A Huge Bounty!

At eight o'clock that evening, Room 301 of the teaching building.

Captain Zheng stood on the podium, behind him the projection screen displayed a satellite map.

The location marked by the red circle was precisely that resort villa shrouded in grayish-white mist.

All dozens of members of Class 2 were present.

"Everyone here stands out from this initial test, and now, this is the latest monitoring data I obtained this evening; take a look for yourselves."

The projection screen switched to a new chart, with several energy fluctuation curves of different colors violently undulating on the coordinate axes.

In the upper right corner of the chart was the red confidential seal of the Demon Suppression Division monitoring station, dated seven o'clock that afternoon.

"Two hours ago, the energy peak was at least thirty percent higher than the same period yesterday!"

"The core grudge-force fluctuation cycle has been compressed from ninety times per hour previously to nearly one hundred and thirty times, which means her activity frequency and attack desire are rapidly increasing."

"Moreover, this core female ghost has extremely formidable illusion capabilities. Many team members who have gone in so far didn't even see her true body before dying in the illusion."

He raised his head and looked at everyone.

"In other words, the information we collected before is a mix of truth and falsehood. After you go in tomorrow, the actual situation inside will likely not match this data. The internal structure of the villa, the specific locations and numbers of the ghosts, and the hiding place of the core are all vague."

Someone in the back row of the classroom whispered a curse.

Captain Zheng did not criticize; he just looked at everyone and said earnestly, "After entering the Ghost Domain, stay alert. When encountering uncertain situations, prioritizing saving your own life comes first!"

Afterwards, he spent half an hour formulating tactics.

Only after finishing did he step aside, and Qu Xianghong stood up to add a few precautions.

But an indescribable sense of dullness permeated the classroom, and everyone's complexion did not look too good.

"Isn't this going to our deaths..." someone whispered in the corner.

No one refuted.

Only Lin Ye sat in the corner of the last row, very calm, completely out of tune with the surrounding depressing atmosphere.

Because to outsiders, that was hell, but to him...

He wondered if the ghosts inside could withstand his zhulong seal, Human Emperors Coercion, and hand-crafted heavenly lightning?

Strong illusion capabilities?

He also had the huanyue bead given by his good disciple Tushan Yue!

Near the end of the meeting, Fang Zhenyuan unexpectedly walked in personally.

His appearance made the students who hadn't gotten up yet sit back down.

This old principal stood in front of the podium.

"Everyone, I am announcing a matter. Originally, this assessment was allocated to all of Class 2."

"But after Captain Zheng showed me the latest data on the Ghost Domain, I made a decision. This assessment will be changed to a selection system!"

Everyone in the classroom suddenly raised their heads.

"Not all of Class 2 will go; only a few people whose scores ranked at the very front in this school-wide initial test will go. Because they are relatively strongest and most capable, going gives them a chance to come out alive. For anyone else to go in is simply courting death!"

Outside the classroom, several people walked in.

They were all those whose scores in this initial test were above seventy points.

"Let me introduce: Jiang Xiaohong from the Foul Curse Plane, eighty-one points."

"Shen Qinghan from the Ghost-Slicing Team Plane, eighty-three points!"

"Wang Zheng from the Shadow Escape Plane, seventy-five points!"

"Lu Wanqing from the Psionic Plane, seventy-four points!"

"..."

"Uh... Anyway, I won't introduce them one by one. Everyone should already understand."

Fang Zhenyuan stopped pacing and stood still again, "Then, the main force this time, I think without a doubt is Lin Ye! Everyone has witnessed his performance in the initial test scores! When the time comes, everyone must take him as the core and cooperate with each other!"

The air in the classroom froze subtly for a moment.

Fang Zhenyuan did not mention Lin Ye's score, because that score...

Ninety-nine plus blowing up the chart...

Could no longer be described with numbers.

His original intention in saying these things was to increase everyone's survival rate, but after hearing Fang Zhenyuan tell them to cooperate with Lin Ye...

Clearly, someone showed disdain.

Fang Zhenyuan paid it no mind.

"There are twelve people in total. Gather at the school gate at five tomorrow morning, and the bus of the Demon Suppression Division will pick you up to go to the Ghost Domain!"

After finishing, he turned to leave, then stopped.

He took a deep breath, his gaze sweeping over every single person, "All of you come back alive!"

The meeting was dismissed.

Qu Xianghong went out the door first, and several students packed their things in twos and threes, ready to leave.

Just as Lin Ye stood up, Jiang Xiaohong walked up to his desk.

Jiang Xiaohong crossed his arms, looking down at him: "You're Lin Ye, right? Did you pull some tricks with that dynamometer this afternoon?"

Standing behind him were several testers who were also selected into the twelve-person list.

Wang Zheng leaned against the edge of the table, rubbing the tip of his nose with his thumb: "That dynamometer's record has been sealed for over a dozen years, and you went up and smashed it to pieces with one punch? Why didn't we see you have this skill before?"

Lu Wanqing stood in the back row and said softly, "Actually, I think..."

"You don't need to speak up for him."

Jiang Xiaohong raised a hand slightly, his gaze pinned constantly on Lin Ye's face. "I just want to hear how you explain it. Since the principal asked us to cooperate with him, we at least have to know that the person we are cooperating with isn't some incompetent hack, right?"

The few other people in the classroom who hadn't left yet all quieted down, watching this side.

Lin Ye understood instantly.

So they were unconvinced by Fang Zhenyuan's tactical guideline centered around him.

Lin Ye turned and walked away without saying a word. Talking nonsense with this kind of people was a waste of time.

"Stop right there!" Jiang Xiaohong turned and chased a step forward.

Lin Ye had already walked to the door of the classroom.

Su Tang stood up from her seat, patted the head of the Silver Moon Wolf, and quickly followed.

The classroom was silent for a moment.

"Fine, keep acting cool."

Jiang Xiaohong took a deep breath, turned his head and squeezed out a smile at Wang Zheng, "Whether they are human or ghost will become clear once we enter the Ghost Domain."

...

When Lin Ye returned home, it was almost ten o'clock.

Saying it was a home, it was actually just a single room in an old tubular apartment building in an urban village, with a monthly rent of four hundred, and a shared toilet.

The kitchen was on the balcony, barely able to fit an induction cooker.

Sitting on the creaking spring bed.

He took off his outer coat and folded it well. The skin after the yellow emperors essence blood cleansed the marrow and cut the veins emitted a very faint dark-golden luster under the light.

He clenched his fists, feeling the few strands of power within his body.

zhulong seal, yellow emperors essence blood, Thunder Core, Taotie Origin Devouring Seal...

All stayed quietly in their respective positions, like a few well-fed beasts dozing off.

He exhaled a breath of satisfaction, pulled open the bedside drawer, rummaged out an old mobile phone with a cracked corner on the screen, and opened the official mission-publishing platform of the Demon Suppression Division.

The website's interface was somewhat outdated, but its functions were fairly complete. The scrolling banner at the top of the page read: "Recruiting testers to assist in clearing three Grade-1 Ghost Domains in the suburban area, remuneration negotiable".

Scrolling down, there were densely packed mission posts, arranged from highest to lowest by bounty amount.

Flipping down further, his gaze was attracted by a pinned help post.

[Urgent search for Grade-2 or higher testers! Someone at home is suspected of being abducted by ghosts; want to see the person alive or their corpse if dead! Bounty of five hundred thousand in cash!]

After clicking inside, the helper information column read:

[Individual merchant of Qingzhou City, female, thirty-five years old]

Lin Ye flipped down a few more pages. Most of the bounty amounts were between fifty thousand and one hundred thousand, small tasks such as hunting wandering souls and clearing low-level Ghost Domains.

Only this one, the number of five hundred thousand, was exceptionally eye-catching.