BXBX NOVEL Chapter 63 The Meal And Tournament
After the man disappeared, phantom energy rippled gently from behind a tree. Then, Zhou Mingrui's figure appeared at the lower section.
"What is that guy's background? Since he was waiting here for me, he must be after me."
As he looked towards where the man had disappeared, Zhou Mingrui frowned.
Earlier, he had sensed that something was wrong. He was at the Heavenly Saint Academy. It was not possible for random people to enter.
Moreover, the secret realm trial had just occurred, so the academy's security patrol had been strengthened by more than one level.
Plus, almost every person at that age was at the teacher or professor level. Even an investigator sent by a research institute would not do such a thing except under special circumstances.
With all those considerations, Zhou Mingrui decided to pretend to leave first, and then return.
After using phantom energy to completely transform into an energy body, his body became free from obvious energy fluctuations. In addition, the energy body did not need to breathe or have a heartbeat.
As such, the mysterious man was completely unable to detect Zhou Mingrui hiding close by.
Indeed, as soon as Zhou Mingrui left, the mysterious man revealed his true form.
"He even specially disguised himself. However, I don't recall seeing this guy among the new students."
Admittedly, Zhou Mingrui did not have a photographic memory. However, he at least had basic impressions of those he had met. Yet, he had no impression of that man at all.
"He must have used a disguise among the new students as well. This guy is way too cunning."
With those thoughts in mind, Zhou Mingrui raised his guard around the new batch of students. Who would have expected a sinister, unscrupulous character to be hiding among those ordinary-looking students?
After all, Zhou Mingrui had came from the information age. He had seen all sorts of special abilities in various manga, movies and novels. That man might just be one of them.
In any case, it was important to always be vigilant against people. Zhou Mingrui took note of that man.
After a few rounds, Zhou Mingrui was no longer in the mood for a stroll. He returned to the dormitory.
As soon as he entered, he smelled the delicious aroma of food. Yan Wuyue had just emerged from the kitchen.
"You really picked the right moment to come back," Yan Wuyue looked at Zhou Mingrui and laughed.
"That's right. I smelled the wonderful aroma from far away and immediately rushed back."
Zhou Mingrui did not stand on ceremony. After saying that, he pulled out a chair and sat down, waiting to start eating.
"Wash your hands first, or you're not allowed to eat!" Yan Wuyue, who had brought out more dishes, smacked Zhou Mingrui's hand which was about to steal some food.
"All right."
Zhou Mingrui helplessly stood up and washed his hands. Then he helped to bring the cutlery on the way out.
"Your cooking is not bad. I've never tried your cooking before. I didn't expect a noble lady like you to be this good," Zhou Mingrui exclaimed after a few bites.
"Cough, cough. It's just all right," Yan Wuyue did not show it on her face, but from her eyes you could tell that she was pleased.
The next moment, Zhou Mingrui suddenly turned the conversation around, "But based on the time I've spent with you, you should not know how to cook. Could it be that..."
"You learned to cook during the great calamity period before transmigrating here? But actually didn't know how to cook before the great calamity?"
Zhou Mingrui stuck out a finger, completely oblivious to Yan Wuyue's progressively icy gaze. As if possessed by Detective Conan, he continued, "And you believe that this is all you. Whether it was before or after the great calamity, it was you who learned it, so you..."
"Shut up!" Yan Wuyue shouted in a low tone.
"Er, I can't even speak the truth?" Zhou Mingrui grumbled.
"Are you going to eat or not? If you are, shut your mouth!" Yan Wuyue said angrily.
"How am I supposed to eat if I close my mouth..." Zhou Mingrui replied weakly.
Bang!
"Eat quietly, or get out!" Yan Wuyue slammed her chopsticks on the table.
╮(╯▽╰)╭
Zhou Mingrui had no choice but to eat in silence.
After they finished eating, they sat in the living room in awkward silence.
"Zhou Mingrui."
Yan Wuyue suddenly spoke.
"Hmm?" Zhou Mingrui, who was thinking of taking an afternoon nap, was jolted awake and hurriedly sat up.
"When you went out this morning, did you get any new information?" Yan Wuyue looked towards him and asked.
"I...I...didn't find anything."
Zhou Mingrui could not possibly tell her that he had met a scoundrel in disguise. That he had sensed something amiss and turned back, only to find that the man had disguised himself to secretly plot against him.
It sounded too much like a movie.
"Sigh," Yan Wuyue sighed helplessly, then said, "Based on the information I received, the next two rounds of the tournament will consist of an individual match and a team match."
"That sounds all right. I can understand the individual match, but how will the team match be conducted?" Zhou Mingrui asked.
"The individual match will be a one-on-one elimination contest. For the team match, the school will randomly form groups of three to compete against each other."
Yan Wuyue continued in detail, "The individual match does not need further explanation. The team match will test your control of extraordinary situations, as well as your ability to organize and command in an emergency situation."
"Because no matter how strong a person is, he's still one person. Unless he surpasses all life forms by one or two levels, the power of a group will still be stronger."
"This is also what the research institute guys are focusing on in the assessment."
Zhou Mingrui's eyes narrowed as he listened to Yan Wuyue, "With our strength, we can comfortably win the individual match as long as we don't play around. The main issue is the team match."
"The key here is the random team formation. If we get good teammates, we'll easily get a good placing. But if we get horrible teammates, we will most likely have problems."
"That's right."
When she saw that Zhou Mingrui was finally willing to analyze such things, Yan Wuyue looked gratified. She continued, "Actually, with our strength, we'll have no issues even with two very weak team mates. I'm just afraid that they will deliberately drag us down."
"Otherwise, if simply being strong was enough, there wouldn't be a need for the team match."
Zhou Mingrui frowned, "Do you mean that someone might intentionally give us such people? So that the observers from the research institutes will score us poorly?"
Yan Wuyue nodded, "That's right. In my previous life, the champion of the individual match did not even rank in the top 10 in the team match because he was sabotaged this way. His overall score dropped to ninth place, almost falling out of the top 10."
As expected, the academy was not that stupid.
"Do you have a solution then?" Zhou Mingrui asked.
"The only solution is to communicate properly before the match, there is no other way. If you threaten and offend those people, they will drag you down even at the expense of their own results. This isn't the only way to enter a higher level school anyway."
Yan Wuyue shook her head, to indicate that there was no other solution for the team match.