Lu Yun strolled around the pigsty for more than ten minutes without finding where the sow pen was located.
Until he wandered to the lower level and finally discovered a hidden space behind an iron door.
More than a dozen sows were locked up inside, and in the innermost large pigsty, Lu Yun found the breeding boar mentioned in the rules.
This breeding boar was exceptionally fat, easily three meters long, and that was even without counting its tail.
Lu Yun walked back and forth around the boar's pen, discovering that there seemed to be something inside the boar's belly.
At this moment, the boar seemed to sense some movement, struggled to its feet with a rumbling sound, and let out a series of oinks.
A pungent, foul odor rushed toward his face.
Lu Yun walked around to the other side of the boar and saw its other flank.
He discovered that there were actually suture marks on the boar's belly, and quite a large patch of them at that, almost as if the boar's stomach had been entirely ripped open and sewn back up.
Lu Yun developed a strong curiosity about this breeding boar; he wanted to rip out those stitches to see what on earth was inside its belly.
Only the fences in the sow pen were made of steel, while the outer pigpens were all built of concrete.
The crossbeams were simply logs with the bark stripped off and installed, looking very crude.
Spiders with massive rears hung from cobwebs in the gloomy pigsty, their spider eyes emitting a light that sent chills down one's spine.
Unfortunately, Lu Yun did not possess such a thing as a sanity meter; he had never been afraid of such things since he was a child.
Lu Yun reached out, snatched an egg sac from the embrace of a spider, and tore it open right in front of the creature, scattering tiny yellow spider eggs—each smaller than a needle's eye—onto the ground.
The spiders on the web glared at him with their eight vicious eyes.
Lu Yun left the gloomy pigsty.
Little did he know that after he left, the spider whose eggs had just been snatched let down a thread, descended from the web to the ground, and one by one gathered up the scattered spider eggs, weaving a new egg sac to protect them.
Returning to the infirmary, he rummaged through cupboards and boxes, discovering a large quantity of veterinary medicines—mostly medications whose names he could pronounce, but whose functions he had no clue about.
Looking closely at the instructions, he found that most of them were used to treat pig diseases.
Still, Lu Yun took a little time to memorize some medications that could be useful to him and kept a few on his person.
"What a fine Secret Realm. Catch a minor ailment and there's even medicine to use." Lu Yun looked up at the sky; the clouds above blocked most of the sunlight, making the weather turn gloomy as well.
"Is it noon? I'd better head back first. Hopefully Ghost Mother won't get angry with me." Lu Yun hurried back along the path he had come.
By the roadside was a crushing machine, presumably used to grind up the corn in the warehouse to feed the pigs, and that corn was actually in good condition.
Lu Yun even deliberately grabbed a handful to inspect it.
There were no bugs inside, either.
Just then, a miserable cat meow came from the bamboo grove, and Grey Hakimi bolted past right in front of him.
Where Grey Hakimi ran, droplets of black liquid were left behind.
"It looks like blood, but why is it black? Could it be that the Hakimi at home is also a ghost?" Lu Yun muttered to himself.
At that moment, his Killing Intent Perception triggered a warning again—that Pig-headed Man was standing outside the bamboo grove with its pig head, watching him warily with a meat cleaver in hand.
"What are you staring at?" Lu Yun snapped irritably.
Audience: Why does it sound like our mother got dragged into this?
Berated like that, the Pig-headed Man turned around and walked away, cleaver in hand.
Little did he know that this action of his caused a massive uproar on the outside.
You must remember, it was only the morning of the first day, yet twenty percent of the candidates had already been eliminated.
Among the remaining eighty percent, there was no one more reckless than him, daring to actually curse out the Pig-headed Man twice.
Arriving back at the entrance of "home," he pushed open the creaking gate. Ghost Mother was sitting by the dining table, and seeing Lu Yun return, she greeted him: "You're back? Come eat."
Lu Yun looked at the food on the table; the Entity's mark showed no strange reaction, so it should be edible.
However, many people at this moment chose not to eat the food prepared by Ghost Mother, terrified of falling for her illusions and swallowing something bizarre. Poisoning would be one thing, but getting assimilated would leave them with nowhere to cry!
The invigilators watching this scene couldn't award any points for now, because those who had eaten the food had yet to show any symptoms.
Even the invigilators didn't know whether they should eat this meal or not.
After the meal, Ghost Mother asked: "Did you go to the sow pen just now?"
A flicker of panic ran through Lu Yun's heart. Could that place be some sort of Forbidden Zone?
Still, Lu Yun replied: "Yes."
Hearing this, Ghost Mother didn't seem to have any strange reaction, merely saying: "I've told you already, your studies must come first right now. You don't need to get involved in matters at the pig farm."
Lu Yun suddenly asked: "Mom, where's Dad?"
Hearing this, Ghost Mother's reaction seemed a bit odd; she looked as though she was starting to crack apart.
Outside, a chill ran over the invigilator's body. Had the candidate he favored most just triggered a taboo?
Lu Yun's Killing Intent Perception crazily triggered his Killer Instinct as the Ghost Mother before him directed murderous intent toward him.
Cracking apart as she spoke, Ghost Mother said: "Who knows where that old bastard went? Said he was going out to buy a breeding boar, and next thing you know, he vanished."
Having obtained the information he wanted, Lu Yun hurriedly stepped forward, took Ghost Mother's hand, and said: "Mom is right, let's ignore that old bastard. As long as we live our lives well, that's all that matters."
Upon hearing this, Ghost Mother stopped cracking apart and gradually calmed down.
"Having a son really is useful after all..." Ghost Mother muttered as she began to clear away the bowls and chopsticks.
And just like that, Lu Yun dodged a bullet.
Closing the bedroom door, he wiped the non-existent sweat from his forehead and muttered under his breath: "Good thing I'm quick-witted, or I would've been done for."
Only then did the invigilator outside realize that this kid might have done it on purpose—his goal all along was to extract information about the other family members!
"I never expected all of this to be part of his plan." A man's voice came from behind the invigilator.
The invigilator said to him: "Chief Examiner, this kid..."
The Chief Examiner waved a hand, signaling him to pay attention, and spoke into his headset: "Put the feed of that candidate named Lu Yun onto the main broadcast screen."
Lu Yun, whose every move had landed right by pure blind luck, had no idea that he had casually caught the attention of the Chief Examiner.
Watching the examination from the outside, Xiao Qian and Xiao Chun discovered that their younger brother had actually made it onto the main live broadcast screen of the city's Spirit Master College Entrance Exam!
"This brat actually has this kind of talent?" Xiao Chun said in disbelief.
"Since when was Little Brother's acting so good? Could it be that he's been acting like this for eighteen years?" Xiao Qian said, her face equally astonished.
Meanwhile, Lu Yun, who had just stirred up a massive uproar in the outside world, was searching the house for the injured Hakimi.