“Oh my gosh, that was so thrilling! Twists and turns, and then more twists. My poor little heart almost stopped from the shock.”
The principal of the Command Academy pulled out a handful of tiny pills and stuffed them into his mouth.
The situation earlier was just too tense and exciting. He held back the pain in his heart, afraid that in the time it took him to pull out his pills, the situation would take another dramatic turn.
Edwin looked absolutely thrilled. “Haha, I guessed right, didn’t I? Lin Xiaohuo really is going it alone! Gee, that’s young people for you.”
Melina couldn’t stop smiling. Only Lin Xiaohuo, along with candidates from the Third Star Ring and the Fourth Star Ring, had made it into the bonus round.
All the candidates from the Second Star Ring were eliminated, including Gabriel, who had stolen the spotlight at the very beginning!
Fewer than a hundred candidates remained from the Third Star Ring, and the largest group was still from the Fourth Star Ring.
Well done! Big points for the Fourth Star Ring!
Compared to the joyous atmosphere of the Fourth Star Ring, the faces of the education department officials from the Second Star Ring were as dark as the bottom of a pot.
“I think there’s a problem with the setup of this bonus round. Johansen clearly has a bias, so it’s not fair or impartial.”
The principals of the Second Star Ring schools started picking holes in everything.
“Exactly. There’s something wrong with the exam venue. Lin Xiaohuo’s power level settings don’t make any sense at all! How could she possibly destroy a spaceship with just one mech? The laws of physics would be turning in their graves!”
“I want to file an appeal! Lin Xiaohuo must be cheating.”
Before Melina could even celebrate, she was doused with a bucket of cold water.
Even though she was the director of the Fourth Star Ring Education Bureau, and her rank wasn’t as high as the big shots from the Second Star Ring, she still firmly stood by Lin Xiaohuo and the Fourth Star Ring candidates.
“[Nuwa] has already checked multiple times. There’s nothing wrong with Lin Xiaohuo’s data. Didn’t Evan say so? There’s a hidden powerhouse among the candidates, which is why the difficulty of the entire exam was raised. Judging from the exam situation, that hidden powerhouse is Lin Xiaohuo!”
The director of the Second Star Ring Education Bureau couldn’t help but retort, “When you analyze things, you need to follow real-world logic. Even if Lin Xiaohuo is the reason the exam difficulty was raised, does it make sense for her to be this powerful? Everyone, tell me, she stripped the [Firebird] mech of all its weapons and backup energy sources, so where did her own weapons come from? What kind of weapon could produce such tremendous power?”
Discussions exploded on the StarNet.
“That’s right, this is way too strange. Energy is conserved. The various designs of the [Firebird] simply couldn’t withstand the energy and recoil of those weapons.”
By normal estimates, when the mech fired those terrifying green bullets, the mech itself should have been shattered by the recoil.
“I just analyzed the vaporization process of the Imperial spaceship frame by frame, and the results left me very confused. I have no clue what type of bullet that green bullet is supposed to be.”
There are many types of weapons: solid ammunition like missiles, energy types like electromagnetic cannons, laser cannons, particle beams, and combat-simulating types like combat claws, and so on.
With so many categories, they still couldn’t find one that fit the green bullet.
Isn’t that strange enough?
All sorts of speculation and discussion made the StarNet more lively than ever before.
Many big shots who hadn’t been interested in this exam were also drawn out.
Lyander, a Stardust Mutant Beast Manipulator, posted a comment that made the StarNet, which had been bubbling like a pot of boiling water, fall completely silent.
[I’ve watched Lin Xiaohuo’s practical combat videos from the previous two rounds, and I have a guess. Lin Xiaohuo might be a Stardust Plant Manipulator.]
Because she’s a Stardust Plant Manipulator, she can bring her own plants into the StarNet.
For a full ten minutes, no one said a word.
Until Cassian, trembling, shaking, cautiously and carefully posted a comment: [An 18-year-old, self-taught Stardust Plant Manipulator who controls two types of Stardust plants?!]
Cassian’s mouth hung open as he gasped for air.
Holy black hole!
If this guess is true, then Lin Xiaohuo would be the youngest Stardust Plant Manipulator in Federal history!
“Cassius! Quick, quick, get me a bottle of oxygen!” His brain was about to be starved of oxygen.
Cassius had been completely mesmerized by the words “Stardust Plant Manipulator” for over ten minutes, his mind in a daze. His pride and confidence had been utterly shattered by Lin Xiaohuo’s performance.
Hearing his principal’s call, Cassius finally snapped out of it, fumbled to find an oxygen bottle, and stuffed it into the principal’s hands.
Cassian sucked on the oxygen while logging onto the StarNet.
The principal of the Command Academy was crawling around in the shadows on the StarNet. Why was the Central Military Academy so ridiculously lucky?!
Even the youngest Stardust Plant Manipulator in history had fallen right into their lap!
“Wan Tianming! You absolutely must snatch Lin Xiaohuo away!”
A naturally polished gem of talent like this, with both brains and brawn, is truly rare!
If he missed out on Lin Xiaohuo, he’d never be able to sleep again for the rest of his life!
On the StarNet, many people hardly dared to breathe, afraid that one big gasp would blow away the 18-year-old Stardust Plant Manipulator.
But this calm, restrained atmosphere lasted only until Master Lyander posted his next comment.
Lyander: [Principal Cassian, let me correct a small mistake of yours. Lin Xiaohuo does not manipulate two types of Stardust mutant plants.]
Cassian’s heart gave a jolt, then he relaxed.
Even if she only manipulates one type, that’s still great. Lin Xiaohuo is only 18; her future holds infinite possibilities.
So what if she can’t manipulate two types of Stardust mutant plants now? Maybe once she grows up, she’ll be able to.
Lyander is a bit older. He likes the feel of vintage mechanical keyboards, so he types his comments on the StarNet slowly.
Lyander: [Based on my observations, Lin Xiaohuo likely controls 3 to 4 types of Stardust mutant plants.]
!!!
[Principal of Central Military Academy, Cassian, has disconnected.]
[Principal of Command Academy, Dion, has disconnected.]
[Minister of Education of the First Star Ring, Alaric, has disconnected.]
[Principal of Anchor Point Strategy First Military Academy, Chris, has disconnected.]
…
To protect the mental energy of netizens, if their emotions fluctuate too wildly, they are forcibly disconnected by [Nuwa].
The entire StarNet was empty, except for Lyander.
Lyander looked around the deserted virtual network and sighed slowly, “You’re all far too unstable. I wasn’t even finished. Lin Xiaohuo is still in her developmental phase. Who can say where her upper limit really lies?”
[Nuwa] disconnected Lyander.
“Principal?!”
The students of the Central Military Academy were astonished to see Principal Cassian, tears streaming down his face, running at full speed.
Cassian ran all the way to Marshal Chu’s small courtyard, hugged his leg, and wailed, “Marshal Chu, I’ll never again curse you in my heart for whatever you plant, it dies! It turns out that you do care about our Central Military Academy!”
“Thank you, Marshal Chu, for your immense kindness in recruiting this unparalleled genius for us!”
Marshal Chu’s face was full of question marks. Was Cassian being sarcastic?
Meanwhile, the director of the Second Star Ring Education Bureau was practically turning green with envy.
Marshal Chu was way too biased! He was hoarding all the talent for the Central Military Academy! Couldn’t he spare a glance at their Second Star Ring?
So annoying!
“What’s up with Gabriel? Why did he perform so poorly? He’s embarrassed himself in front of the entire Federation.”
Right now, the Fourth Star Ring parliament Hall was in chaos.
Something huge had happened!
Woken up just after five in the morning…
The feeling of being sleepy but unable to fall back asleep is just too much.
The production team’s donkey needs to rest a bit first. I’ll try to post extra chapters once I’ve saved up enough drafts.
