169: The terrifying 288

The teacher's appearance lowered the surrounding noise by several decibels.

Many students' attention was drawn to him.

"You are Lin Yu, right?" The teacher pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses and confirmed in a business-like tone, yet with a hint of concern, "The one with Hell difficulty, a thirty-two times coefficient."

Lin Yu didn't turn around.

"Mm."

A simple syllable, considered an answer.

This reaction made the teacher's prepared speech falter slightly.

This student was even colder than he imagined.

"I need to remind you," the teacher cleared his throat and raised his voice slightly, seemingly wanting everyone around to hear clearly, "your difficulty coefficient will be factored into the mission star rating."

"That is to say, the final difficulty rating of the mission you choose will be your chosen star rating multiplied by thirty-two."

His words successfully made more people quiet down.

Multiplied by thirty-two?

Everyone's minds began to calculate rapidly.

"A one-star mission, for you, will be a thirty-two-star difficulty," the teacher continued to explain, seeing that he had successfully attracted Lin Yu's attention, "This has already far exceeded the scope of a nine-star mission. Thirty-two stars, this is a difficulty that has never appeared in previous College Entrance Examinations in Linzhou."

"I advise you to consider carefully."

As the teacher's words fell, there was a collective gasp of cold air.

"Thirty-two stars? Are you kidding me! A one-star mission is that hard?"

"How can he even play? He alone won't even be able to complete the lowest-level mission, right?"

"No wonder he's challenging it alone; who would dare to team up with him? Isn't that just pure dead weight?"

"Crazy, he's truly crazy."

Various discussions rose and fell, and the gazes directed at Lin Yu were filled with sympathy, ridicule, and schadenfreude as if watching a good show.

Lin Yu still showed no reaction.

His finger slowly moved across the light screen.

From one-star, it slid past two-star, three-star, four-star... The teacher, seeing that he didn't seem to be listening, grew anxious.

He took a step forward, almost pressing against Lin Yu, and lowered his voice.

"Student Lin Yu, this is not a joke! I know you have a lot of personality and ideas! But the College Entrance Examination only happens once! This is not the time for you to be willful!"

"Do you know what it means for you if you choose a five-star mission?"

"Five stars, multiplied by thirty-two, is one hundred and sixty stars! Do you know what one hundred and sixty stars means? That's not a mission; that's sending you to your death! Even the military's ace squads wouldn't dare to say they could 100% complete a mission of that difficulty!"

The teacher's voice was a bit distorted from excitement.

He felt it was his responsibility to pull this genius, whose head was turned by fame, back from the edge of the cliff.

One hundred and sixty stars.

This number plunged the entire examination hall into complete silence.

Even those who had been mocking earlier couldn't laugh now.

They couldn't imagine what a hellish scene that would be.

In the distance, Lin Yao's small hand unconsciously clutched the corner of her clothes.

Zhao Tianyang's massive body remained motionless, only the red patterns flowing around him seemed to deepen.

Everyone thought Lin Yu would be intimidated by this number.

He would back down and re-select the safest, and only possible, one-star mission.

However.

Lin Yu's finger showed no hesitation.

It deftly moved past the five-star area.

Six-star.

Seven-star.

Eight-star.

Finally, it rested steadily on the highest, most dazzling option.

Nine-star.

"If you choose nine..."

The teacher hadn't finished speaking.

Lin Yu's finger had already tapped down.

Without the slightest hesitation.

Buzz!

The huge light screen suddenly flashed.

All complex mission information disappeared.

In its place were several characters rendered in bright red, so large they occupied the entire screen.

【Examinee: Lin Yu】

【Selected Mission: Nine-star · ???】

【Mission Difficulty Coefficient: x32】

The rest of the teacher's words were stuck in his throat.

He stood with his mouth open, his mind blank.

Nine stars... multiplied by thirty-two... equals... The air around him solidified.

The entire examination hall, hundreds of proud prodigies, at this moment, seemed to have collectively been cast with a petrification spell.

Time stood still.

Until the middle-aged teacher, in a dreamlike, infinitely trembling voice, completed that simple multiplication for everyone.

"Two... two hundred and eighty-eight... stars..."

Boom!

The silent examination hall was completely ignited by this number.

It wasn't a clamor, nor was it a discussion.

It was a pure chaos, mixed with extreme absurdity, fear, and incomprehensibility.

"Two hundred and eighty-eight stars? Did I f*cking hear wrong?"

"He's crazy! He's completely crazy! This is suicide!"

"This isn't an assessment! This is an announcement to the whole world that he's an idiot!"

"What do you guys know... no matter what he chooses, he can't complete it. If I were him, I'd also choose a high one. Thirty-two stars, if we try hard, maybe it's possible, but 288 stars, even immortals couldn't handle it... If everyone can't handle it, then it's normal for him not to handle it."

"That makes sense, that makes sense... Yeah, anyway, it's all going to be bad."

Mockery, pity, disdain—all kinds of emotions intertwined, forming a huge wave of sound that threatened to completely drown the slender figure standing before the light screen.

However, Lin Yu was deaf to all of it.

On the light screen, a final confirmation window popped up.

【Warning: The difficulty of your selected mission is 【Two Hundred and Eighty-Eight Stars】, far exceeding the system's safety threshold. Once confirmed, it cannot be changed. Do you wish to proceed?】

A bright red "No" and an equally bright red "Yes" flickered on the screen.

Lin Yu looked at the "Yes."

Then, he pressed it.

The teacher's body swayed.

He could no longer persuade him.

Facing someone determined to die, any words were pale.

He shook his head and sighed deeply, that sigh filled with powerlessness and the heartache of an educator watching a genius fall.

"Crazy! He really chose it! He really chose two hundred and eighty-eight stars!"

"This isn't an exam, this is a live broadcast of suicide! How could the school allow such an option to exist!"

"Allow it? Didn't you hear the teacher? Far exceeding the safety threshold! He chose it himself!"

"Forget it, forget it, you should have known he was crazy five years ago..."

"Who's to say, what good person would refuse money from a company?"

Mockery, sneers, pity, the excitement of onlookers who love a good show.

All kinds of emotions converged into a huge wave of sound, threatening to completely engulf the figure standing before the light screen.

Lin Yu, however, was deaf to all of it.

He turned around and, amidst the clamor, slowly walked back to his original spot.

On his face, there was no determination after making an earth-shattering choice, nor was there anger at being condemned by a thousand people.

Only a profound calmness.