"Everyone remember, this psychological test is the absolute priority. Pass it, and you can take the Spirit Master College Entrance Exam; fail it, and you'll have no choice but to study the humanities. Did everyone understand?" The head teacher looked around as he spoke.
He paced down the aisle until he reached a student who was fast asleep.
"Li Kaixin, why are you still sleeping? Did you not hear what I just said?" the head teacher demanded sternly.
Li Kaixin opened his eyes and told the head teacher, "Sir, I'm doing the humanities track."
Hearing this, the head teacher could only wave his hand and say, "Never mind then. Go back to sleep."
At the head teacher's words, several more students slumped over onto their desks.
It looked like these guys had stayed up all night studying the humanities... Yeah, right! Weren't they obviously at an internet café all night before coming to school?
You ask how Lu Yun knew?
Last night, Lu Yun saw them posting on their Moments, and Li Kaixin's post had read: *First time pulling an all-nighter at an internet café, anything I need to watch out for?*
"In a moment, line up and head to the stepped lecture hall. An official Spirit Master from higher up will personally administer your psychological tests. Pay attention: go in one by one. Understood?"
"Understood," the students replied.
The sleeping students in the classroom blinked their eyes open, their bloodshot veins nearly swallowing the whites of their eyes.
The head teacher continued, "No matter the result of your test, take your evaluation form and head home. You'll have a three-day break to help you relax."
After nagging for what felt like ages, the head teacher finally dismissed them.
The class monitor, Zheng Hong, had them form two lines and led the procession toward the stepped lecture hall.
I have to admit, Zheng Hong's back view was absolute goddess-tier material, but the moment she turned around, she had the most thoroughly ordinary, plain-Jane face imaginable.
She was a textbook catfish from behind.
There were still a dozen or so people waiting outside the stepped lecture hall, so Zheng Hong brought her line in right behind them.
Somewhere in the queue, a delinquent named Li Dezhi felt a bit thirsty, so he pulled out a five-yuan bill and said to Lu Yun, "Lu Yun, go buy me a bottle of water."
Lu Yun looked at Li Dezhi's face and his antics, frowned, and replied, "In your dreams."
Li Dezhi froze instantly. Then he forced out an agonizingly ugly grin, thinking he looked quite handsome as he smoothed back his hair.
"Fine. Don't leave after school, just you wait," Li Dezhi muttered, putting the five-yuan bill away and returning to his spot in line.
Right then, Zheng Hong stepped in. "Li Dezhi, get to the back of the line."
Li Dezhi protested, "Come on, Monitor, I was standing right here."
"I don't care. Since you stepped out of line, don't try to cut back in. Get to the back," Zheng Hong said.
Li Dezhi had no choice but to trudge backward, deliberately slamming his shoulder into Lu Yun's as he passed.
Anyone with eyes could see that Zheng Hong was standing up for Lu Yun.
Under the guise of taking roll, Zheng Hong walked over to Lu Yun's side and whispered, "If they bully you again, come tell me. I'll go report them to the teacher."
Lu Yun was a bit surprised, but he nodded anyway and let out a soft affirmation.
"Huh? Is that all you have to say? Whatever, just remember it." Zheng Hong walked away.
In the original owner's memories, this class monitor had always treated him pretty well.
Lu Yun could guess why—it was probably just her strong sense of responsibility, prompting her to look out a bit more for a kid from a broken background.
As for the current Lu Yun, he had no interest in seeking revenge on the original owner's behalf.
Before long, it was Lu Yun's turn.
Lu Yun stepped inside the lecture hall. Three people sat before him, with a machine set up in front of the man on the far right.
The person on the far left held a record sheet, ready to log the upcoming data.
The one in the middle must have been the chief examiner.
"Name?"
"Lu Yun."
"Gender... fine, no need to say it, male."
Lu Yun: "..."
"Relax, kid. Our country doesn't have fancy genders like Apache helicopters or Walmart shopping bags. If we did, we'd send 'em to psychiatry to get their heads checked," the chief examiner said.
"ID number."
"******************" Lu Yun rattled off a string of numbers.
The recording examiner noted, "All good, we can begin."
The chief examiner in the middle nodded and asked Lu Yun, "If you become a Spirit Master, what do you want to do?"
Lu Yun answered without hesitation, "Wipe out every single Specter in the world that harms humanity."
The chief examiner glanced at the machine beside him. It emitted neither sound nor light.
The chief examiner said, "First question passed. Now for the second question: if your fellow Spirit Master partner is assimilated by a Specter, what would you do?"
"If they can't be saved, I'd give them a quick release," Lu Yun replied.
The machine beside them remained completely still.
"Very well. Then the third question: if your family is held hostage by Specters demanding the lives of an entire city in exchange, what would you choose?" the interviewer asked.
As soon as the interviewer finished speaking, Lu Yun's expression turned troubled.
Finally, he let out a sigh, as if he had made a grave decision.
"Well, I suppose I'd just have to burn a bit more joss paper for my family on holidays," Lu Yun answered.
The chief examiner looked at the machine beside him. Still no change whatsoever.
The chief examiner announced, "You passed. Take your psychological evaluation form, go back, get your mental state in order, and prepare for the Spirit Master College Entrance Exam in three days."
"Understood. Thank you for your hard work, teachers," Lu Yun said politely before exiting through the back door of the stepped lecture hall.
Instead of immediately calling the next person, the chief examiner told the recording examiner beside him, "Take a picture of his record sheet and send it upstairs. It's been a long time since I've met a Spirit Master with such righteous backbone."
As soon as he stepped out the back door, Lu Yun was cornered by Zheng Hong.
"Lu Yun, did you pass your psychological test?" Zheng Hong asked.
Lu Yun nodded. "Passed."
"Good enough. I'm heading off. Be careful on your way home, and try not to attract those things again." With that, Zheng Hong slung her little bag over her shoulder and left.
Right then, someone emerged from behind him.
It was Li Kaixin.
"That was too close, missed failing by a single point. Oh man, if I couldn't do humanities, I'd have to take this stuff instead—my family would beat me to death if I failed," Li Kaixin stammered nervously.
Lu Yun stepped forward and patted his shoulder. "There are tons of people who want to be Spirit Masters and can't even get in. If they heard you say that, they'd throw themselves off a high-rise building on the spot."
Li Kaixin shook his head. "The thing is, I'm terrified of Specters!"
Lu Yun: "...Then how did you pass the psychological test?"
"Well... the examiner asked me if I was afraid of Specters, and I said yes. The machine didn't do anything, and thirty points magically appeared on my form. Then he asked me if I'd step up if Specters besieged the city one day, and I said no. The machine still didn't make a sound, so he frowned and gave me another thirty points. After that, he didn't even ask a third question," Li Kaixin blurted out in one breath.