127: Chapter 127 But that wasn't a hunting assessment!

And this scene left Hill completely stunned.

By the time the nianshu bead was reassembled, he still hadn't reacted.

Huh?

Was that just... a second? No, it wasn't even a second, was it?

Hill was dazed; he looked up, his gaze blankly falling on Gu Changming's face.

As if trying to confirm whether what he just saw was an illusion.

Seeing him look over, Gu Changming gave a soft smile, then raised his index finger to his lips in a "shh" gesture.

Shh, don't tell anyone.

Hill stared at him, his mind buzzing.

It was real.

It wasn't a trick of the eye, nor was it an illusion.

This guy... really disassembled and reassembled the nianshu bead in the blink of an eye.

Earlier, when Gu Changming showed a time of three minutes and twenty-one seconds, he already thought the other was being somewhat ridiculous.

But looking at it now... back then, the other guy was still holding back.

His true strength was far beyond that.

And it far exceeded his imagination. One must know that among his race, the strongest Mentalists who had fully mastered the nianshu bead and played with it until they were bored...

Disassembling and reassembling the nianshu bead, even when pushed to the limit, would take at least over a minute at the fastest.

But what kind of speed was that just now...

Watching Hill's reaction, Gu Changming sensed the changes within himself again.

Hmm, the attempt should have been a success.

The intrusion attempt just now succeeded; his performance hadn't attracted the attention of the Assessment mechanism, and only Hill had seen it.

Thinking this, Gu Changming hooked his finger again, bringing the nianshu bead into his hand to toy with.

Back then, he had already thoroughly researched this thing and understood its principles; otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to design a new nexus case.

For others, every disassembly and reassembly of the nianshu bead involved new variations and different steps.

But for him, he could see through the most fundamental changes at a glance and find the only solution.

Therefore, disassembling and reassembling this thing wasn't an Assessment at all for him.

How could someone take a puzzle to its designer and ask them to solve it?

...

While Hill was still stunned, the light all around began to flow.

The last few Trial Takers also finished their challenges, most of them failing.

Then, a gentle yet irresistible force supported the five of them, including Hill. A familiar slight dizziness hit them as the pure white before their eyes faded.

They returned to the palace paved with blue-gray stone bricks.

The three Examiners who were originally stationed here had disappeared.

In front of the palace, a pale blue wall of light stood quietly, with light and shadows floating inside, vaguely outlining a scene different from this place.

Clearly, those three Examiners had been chosen to enter the Assessment scene for the third stage.

Gu Changming just glanced at it, then naturally summoned a translucent panel, his gaze quickly scanning a certain spot on the edge.

【intrusion progress: 71%】

Beside him, Hill's attention was finally pulled back.

After glancing at the other three Examiners whispering together nearby, Hill walked toward Gu Changming.

His lips moved, seemingly wanting to ask exactly what happened with that scene just now.

But before he could speak, Gu Changming raised his hand and lightly pressed it to his lips.

Seeing this, Hill swallowed the words at the tip of his tongue.

He paused and changed the question: "In the Assessment just now, why did you hide your strength?"

It wasn't that he couldn't understand the mindset of hiding one's strength; for example, the other three Examiners had also held back somewhat.

But you hid over four minutes' worth... no, looking at it now, you hid over seven minutes' worth.

True strength—less than a second. With just two taps on the surface, you disassembled and reassembled the nianshu bead.

Gu Changming didn't answer Hill's question but instead asked in return:

"What do you think?"

Hill glanced at the other three talking in low voices nearby and spoke slowly, "When I came over just now... I heard them say you want to deceive those Eclipse Clan Trial Takers and then make sure not a single one of them passes the Assessment..."

Hearing this answer, Gu Changming nodded. "Yeah, close enough."

Although they hadn't guessed right, he didn't care about others' opinions. Besides, it was better if they guessed wrong; no one would know what he was up to.

"Huh?" Hill was stunned for a moment. "You really plan to not let a single one of them pass?"

Hill was truly dazed... You said before that you were kind-hearted.

"Huh?" Gu Changming also looked at Hill with some surprise, not understanding why he had such a big reaction.

Feeling that there was a communication problem between them, Hill paused and explained, "But during the previous stage of the Assessment, didn't you say you weren't willing to take action?"

Later, when he teamed up with Gu Changming, he was the one who did all the fighting.

"Oh." Gu Changming nodded, understanding his surprise. Then, he looked up and thought for a moment before responding, "But that wasn't a hunting assessment just now."

"Eh?" Hill was taken aback, his mind unable to keep up.

But soon, he thought about it and began to understand Gu Changming's logic.

What the man had said at the beginning was that too many people in his hometown had died during a hunting assessment, so he was moved by the scene and unwilling to take action. But this second stage of the Assessment... indeed wasn't a hunt.

So he could harden his heart and eliminate everyone, is that right?

"Hiss..." Hill gasped. Looking at it this way, it seemed he had misjudged him.

"Sorry, I was mistaken," he said proactively.

Gu Changming waved his hand. "It's fine, I forgive you."

After the brief conversation ended, the two stood side by side.

In this round, there were no arrangements for the five of them.

Gu Changming continued to focus his attention on the slowly climbing intrusion progress bar at the edge of his vision.

He had just tried it; the intrusion was actually working.

During that three-second shielding time, what he had done really wasn't detected by the Assessment mechanism.

It was just a trial run, though; he didn't know what would happen once the intrusion was complete.

While Gu Changming was pondering, Hill looked around for a bit.

Finally, like the other three, he turned his gaze toward the pale blue wall of light in front of the palace where the Assessment scenes were appearing.

The images were clear; this third stage of the Assessment seemed to be a competition of fighting techniques.

Inside, Eclipse Clan Trial Takers were being eliminated one after another, though some were performing very well.

"Say," Hill suddenly spoke up, "what kind of rewards will these Trial Takers get in the end? Is it possible... they'll be even better than what we Examiners get?"

This Assessment was clearly prepared for these Eclipse Clan Trial Takers; they were just brought in as temporary sparring partners.

The final winner's reward might actually be better than what any single Examiner would receive.

Gu Changming snapped out of his thoughts slightly, looked over, and replied, "Maybe."