280: Extremely high efficiency

Ever since her awakening, she had been training with all her might.

She could feel herself getting stronger every day; the increase in skill proficiency and attributes brought her immense satisfaction.

She thought that even if she couldn't catch up to her brother's pace, at least she wouldn't be left too far behind.

But looking at it now, the gap might be even larger than she had imagined.

However, this did not discourage her.

On the contrary, it stirred an even stronger fighting spirit within her.

The Little Girl took a deep breath, suddenly stood up from the carpet, and pointed down at Lin Yu on the sofa.

That posture was as if she were reading out a formal challenge.

“Lin Yu!”

“I've decided!”

“Before the College Entrance Examination officially begins, I want to have a match with you!”

This sudden challenge made even Lin Yu daze for a moment.

He looked at his younger sister's small face, which was full of fighting intent, and felt somewhat surprised.

But more than that, he felt gratified.

Lin Yao clenched her small fists, her chin slightly raised, and announced in an indisputable tone.

“I don't believe that I can't even beat my own older brother!”

“No matter how you look at it, it's Mythic Rank versus Epic Rank—the advantage is mine!”

“I'm going to show you that I haven't been slacking off these past few months!”

Seeing her so full of confidence, Lin Yu truly smiled.

This kind of heartfelt confidence was more precious than any talent.

“Alright.”

He agreed immediately, short and sweet.

“I'll be waiting.”

Having received an affirmative answer, Lin Yao puffed out her chest like a little rooster that had won a battle.

“Just you wait and see!”

Leaving those words behind, she turned around with high morale and strode back to her room.

With a 'bang', the door was closed.

Even through the door panel, one could seemingly feel that raging passion for training.

In the room, only Lin Yu remained.

The smile on his face slowly faded, replaced by a hint of contemplation.

Having a match with Yao Yao... this kind of practical combat training was indeed a good idea.

Working behind closed doors, one would never know the gap between oneself and others.

The format of the College Entrance Examination is team combat; while individual strength is important, team coordination and understanding of tactics are also key factors in determining success or failure.

Thinking of this, he suddenly felt that just fighting Yao Yao wasn't quite enough.

An idea surfaced in his mind.

He pulled out his phone, skillfully opened his contacts, and found a name.

Zhao Tianyang.

Lin Yu's fingers tapped rapidly on the screen, composing a message to send over.

“Before the exam, come over. Me, you, and Yao Yao will test the waters together.”

The message was sent successfully.

Almost the next second, the phone vibrated.

Zhao Tianyang's reply popped up, with only one word.

“Okay.”

It was followed by a burning flame emoji.

It seemed this kid had been training well lately too.

Having settled things with Zhao Tianyang, Lin Yu's thoughts drifted to another person.

Wang Qingxuan.

That girl who was shrewd and capable in business, but seemed to have no talent for combat.

Calculating the time, she was also a graduating senior for this year's College Entrance Examination.

With her strength... the hellish difficulty of the exam would likely be a literal hell for her.

He wondered what that girl's plans were and who she had teamed up with.

With the Wang family's wealth, putting together a set of top-tier equipment for her wouldn't be a problem, and finding a few powerful teammates shouldn't be hard either.

But those were ultimately external forces.

Lin Yu's finger paused on the screen.

He pondered for a moment before finding Wang Qingxuan's chat box.

Forget it, he'd ask her about her team later.

If it really wasn't working out, he'd see if he could give her a hand.

After all, she was one of his own now.

Only after dealing with these trivial matters did Lin Yu truly have time to think about his own affairs.

Combat power.

Could he increase it another notch before the exam?

The matches with Lin Yao and Zhao Tianyang were just means to test his current strength; they wouldn't bring about a fundamental improvement.

To achieve a leap in a short period, there were only two paths.

Potions or skills.

The R&D capabilities of the Four Major Pharmaceutical Companies were top-tier on Blue Star. If he could integrate their resources to develop a new potion that broke through current bottlenecks, his strength would experience a surge.

But that would take time.

He didn't know if it could be solved before the exam.

If the potion path didn't work, he could only go back to researching his own skills.

“Archaic” and “Origin”—he had only just stepped into these stages and still had immense potential to tap into.

However, that kind of secluded cultivation was also time-consuming and laborious.

So busy... just as his mind was filled with a thousand thoughts, his phone screen suddenly lit up.

It was a new message.

Old Ghost.

Lin Yu's movements paused as he swiped open the screen.

The content of the message was very long, and every line was permeated with anxiety and unease.

“Boss! Are... Are you okay?”

“Just now, Miss Wang and Mr. Li suddenly brought a lot of people to Old Ghost Hall, saying they wanted to requisition me and Old Seven for some top-secret research project!”

“I asked them what project it was, but they wouldn't say, only that it was your wish. Looking at their air and those people's equipment... they seem to be from the Four Major Pharmaceutical Companies?”

“Mr. Lin, were you... were you set up by them?”

“Don't try to tough it out! While there's life, there's hope!”

“If you... if you've surrendered, just let us know! We understand! We'll definitely cooperate! We won't cause you any trouble!”

At the end of the message was a hesitant ellipsis and a cupped-fist emoji.

Looking at this message, Lin Yu became completely still.

A few seconds later, he almost couldn't help laughing out loud.

Surrendered?

Set up?

This old guy's imagination was still as outstandingly overactive as ever.

However, that cautious, heartfelt concern was genuine.

A trace of warmth flowed through Lin Yu's heart.

Immediately, a thought flashed through his mind.

Old Ghost.

This old guy, who had knocked around the black market for many years and barely made a living with his third-rate potion-making skills, was actually a quite decent researcher before entering the black market.

He had only fallen into such dire straits due to bad luck.

But even so, he could still survive in the black market by making bootleg potions.

Having him keep an eye on the R&D progress of the Four Major Pharmaceutical Companies... he was one of his own and could be trusted.

His professional ability was also sufficient.

This was actually a pretty good choice.

Moreover... Lin Yu's thoughts drifted to two other people.

Wang Qingxuan and Li Mo.

The efficiency of these two was almost frighteningly fast.

He had barely arrived home when they already started integrating his old subordinates.

Throughout the process, they hadn't even asked him for instructions once, directly driving the transport vehicles to the entrance of Old Ghost Hall in the black market.

This kind of tacit understanding and proactivity... Lin Yu leaned back on the sofa and let out a long breath of relief.

His dream all along had been to be a hands-off boss.

Now it seemed that this dream really might fall onto these two people's shoulders.

He had truly found some treasures.

He picked up his phone, tapped on the screen a few times, and replied to Old Ghost.

“Cooperate with Li Mo's actions first.”

“We'll meet and talk in detail in two days.”

Message sent.

Almost at the same time, Old Ghost's reply popped back.

“Okay!””

It was only one word, but it felt as if a thousand-pound weight had been lifted.