16: Chapter 16: Questioning My Collusion with the Abyss? A Military Boss Debunks the Claim

Ultimately, Lin Yuan's name reached the number one spot on the leaderboard.

Rated S-Rank.

Lin Yuan raised his hand and pressed the red forfeit button inside the connection pod, voluntarily severing the connection to his Wasteland Divine Domain.

The pod door popped open.

He stepped out of the connection pod and casually straightened his collar.

The vast training grounds.

Over three thousand students, including Teacher Lei Yan and the Military Representative on the podium, all fixed their gazes on the youth who had just turned eighteen.

No one spoke; even the sound of breathing was kept very low.

"Cheating! This is simply impossible!"

A roar broke the brief silence.

Zhao Tianze's eyes were bloodshot as he pointed at the large screen, his features somewhat distorted.

He rushed to the front of the stage and yelled at Lin Yuan, "An F-Rank Wasteland Divine Domain can't even grow a blade of grass! How could he possibly afford to raise thousands of Mutant Goblins?"

"He must have used a forbidden Abyssal sacrificial contract! He sold his soul to the Abyss; this is treason against our race!"

Once these words were spoken, many commoner students in the audience looked hesitant.

Such a display of combat power, defying common sense, had already exceeded their understanding of a high school student's Divine Domain.

The Mutant Goblins tearing apart bronze-level monsters with their bare hands didn't look like followers that a legitimate god could cultivate.

"Shut up!"

Teacher Lei Yan slammed his hand heavily onto the alloy railing.

He released his Demigod pressure.

Zhao Tianze's knees went weak, and he slammed onto the ground, creating two deep dents in the alloy floor plates.

"The underlying logic of the matrix is top-secret military encryption! Are you questioning the military's detection mechanism, or are you questioning the eyes of the soldiers on the front lines?"

Teacher Lei Yan's gaze was cold and piercing as he stared down at Zhao Tianze.

Zhao Tianze was pressed down until he couldn't breathe, his face flushed red, yet he gritted his teeth in defiance, "Teacher Lei Yan, starting with a Wasteland and flooding the field with troops—this simply doesn't follow the Law of Conservation of Energy for Divine Domains!"

Teacher Lei Yan retracted his pressure.

He knew clearly that Lin Yuan hadn't cheated.

Because that branch of the Abyssal Carrion Tree was something he had personally sold to Lin Yuan.

But he was equally shocked by how Lin Yuan had managed to utilize that thing to such an extent.

"It doesn't follow the laws because you are just an idiot who only knows how to throw money at problems."

Before Teacher Lei Yan could speak, the Military Representative on the right, who had remained silent until now, quickly walked down from the high platform.

He ignored Zhao Tianze, who was kneeling on the ground gasping for air, and walked straight up to Lin Yuan.

In his eyes, tempered by the baptism of war, a fervor erupted as if he had seen a peerless treasure.

"Student, how did your Mutant Goblins... survive in a highly toxic environment and undergo obsidian-like mutations?" the Military Representative asked in a hurried tone.

Lin Yuan looked at him without answering.

The Military Representative slapped his own forehead, "Right, right, right. Core secrets of a god shouldn't be asked in public."

"Apologies, but I watched the recording of your Divine Domain, and I really couldn't hold it in."

He turned his head and waved a hand at the main screen.

A bird's-eye view of Lin Yuan's Divine Domain was isolated and displayed.

The Military Representative pointed at the thirty-meter-tall Abyssal Carrion Tree and the churning blood pool below it, his voice trembling with excitement, "Teacher Lei Yan, your school hasn't just produced a combat genius; it has produced a prodigy in mutation ecology!"

"Look!" The Military Representative pointed at a Mutant Goblin in the image dragging a companion's corpse toward the tree roots.

"Utilizing the Abyssal Carrion Tree to absorb toxic gases and corpses, producing meat fruits with high concentrations of blood energy."

"Then, using the extreme environment and limited food to force the Mutant Goblins into brutal internecine slaughter!"

"The weak become fertilizer, while the strong devour the flesh and blood of their kin and enter the blood pool to temper their genes. This not only solves the problem of the Wasteland lacking high-energy crops, but it also completes species selection in one go."

The Military Representative became more excited as he spoke, slamming his hand heavily onto the tactical screen, "This is the perfect extreme adaptive evolution!"

He turned around, his gaze sweeping across the entire venue, "This kind of deduction ability—using waste to catalyze combat power and achieve a perfect closed loop—is something even those old guys at the military research institute might not be able to pull off!"

The entire venue was stunned.

Over three thousand students had their mouths agape, their minds buzzing.

They thought Lin Yuan was using cheats, but it turned out he was an academic big shot in ecology?

Zhao Tianze knelt on the ground, the expression on his face slowly freezing.

The money-throwing tactics he was so proud of seemed extremely laughable in the face of the ecological miracle described by the Military Representative.

He never expected that he would be so vulnerable in the other person's eyes.

Recalling his previous arrogant actions of demanding Lin Yuan become his vassal.

Zhao Tianze felt a burning pain on his face; he wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

Lin Yuan timely reached up to rub his temples, feigning a look of exhaustion from overdrawing his mental energy, and put on a helpless, bitter smile, "Sir, you overpraise me. I just read a few ancient texts in the library, combined with a little bit of luck. Commanding those Mutant Goblins to frenzy just now nearly drained my divine soul."

"Luck is also a part of strength! A good seedling! This is exactly to my liking!" The Military Representative patted Lin Yuan's shoulder and laughed heartily.

He turned around and loudly announced to all the teachers and students, "I, on behalf of the military, declare that Lin Yuan is the undisputed first place in this defense line assessment!"

"Lin Yuan, you come with me to the independent conference room. Let's have a private chat."

Under the gaze of envious, jealous, and hateful classmates.

Fatty Wang was so excited that his fat trembled all over, and he gave Lin Yuan's shoulder a hard punch, "Yuanzi, awesome! You've brought honor to us commoners!"

Lin Yuan smiled and followed the Military Representative toward the backstage of the training grounds.

The access door closed, isolating them from the outside clamor.

They entered the independent conference room.

The Military Representative, who had a kind face a second ago, withdrew his smile the next second.

He walked to the water dispenser, poured a glass of water, placed it on the table, and pulled out a chair to sit down.

The air in the conference room dropped to freezing.

The pressure belonging to a high-ranking god spread silently.

The Military Representative crossed his hands, his eyes sharp, "Kid, stop pretending. Sit down and talk."

Lin Yuan pulled out a chair and sat down, his expression completely calm.

"The equilibrium point of a Wasteland ecosystem—even if it's off by a millimeter, it would cause the laws of the Divine Domain to collapse. Your closed-loop 'flesh factory' is so exquisite that it's chilling."

The Military Representative stared into Lin Yuan's eyes, "An eighteen-year-old high school student, even if he ate all the books in the library, couldn't deduce this level of practical combat data. Is there an expert guiding you behind the scenes?"

The Military Representative was no fool.

Such perfect mutation evolution must have undergone thousands of failures and trial-and-error attempts.

Lin Yuan, a novice who had only awakened a few days ago, succeeding on the first try—this defied common sense.

Lin Yuan's heart tightened.

The Creation Extraction talent absolutely must not be exposed; this was the foundation of his standing.

But he already had a prepared draft in his mind.

"Sir." Lin Yuan looked up, staring straight into the other's eyes, "You should be able to look up my file."

The Military Representative raised an eyebrow.

He tapped a few times on his wrist terminal, bringing up Lin Yuan's information.

Foster father: Lin Hai.

"My father, Lin Hai, was once a Lower True God." Lin Yuan's voice was low, his tone revealing just the right amount of melancholy.

"Ten years ago, the seventh defense line of the Abyss collapsed. To cover the retreat of commoners, he fought to the death on the battlefield."

"His Divine Domain was torn apart by Abyssal Monsters, his godhead shattered, and his right leg was amputated. Now, he can only survive on a subsistence allowance."

Lin Yuan looked at the water glass on the table; ripples appeared on the surface of the water.

"Although he is crippled, he spent half his life dealing with Abyssal Monsters on the front lines. He gave me a private notebook about biological mutation."

"It records his countless failed experiences with Divine Domain deductions, including the flesh-to-blood conversion rate of organisms and the critical point of genetic collapse."

Lin Yuan lifted his eyelids, his gaze clear, "I have no expert guiding me. I am just standing on the shoulders of a veteran, reciting from the book."

The Military Representative was stunned.

He looked down at the service record of "Lin Hai" on his terminal.

Third-class merit twice, second-class merit once.

Disability rating: Special grade.

Reason for retirement: Shattered godhead.

These words represented iron blood and loyalty in the military system.

The pressure in the conference room dissipated without a trace.

The Military Representative was silent for a moment, then stood up.

He straightened his military uniform and gave Lin Yuan a standard and solemn military salute.

"I apologize; it was my rashness." The Military Representative's voice lowered, "Give my regards to your father. Senior Lin Hai is a hero."

Lin Yuan stood up and returned the salute, "I thank you on behalf of Old Lin, sir."

"No wonder you could come up with such insane tactics." The Military Representative sat back down, the doubt in his eyes vanishing like smoke.

"Like father, like son. Although Senior Lin Hai's godhead is shattered, he raised a good son."