e-booksonline Chapter 674? That's possible?!
Chapter 674? That's possible?!
Chapter 674? That's possible?!
On the big screen, the timers for both instances reached the last minute.
The air in the command center felt frozen.
Commander Zhang sat in the main seat, his thermos cup untouched for half an hour.
In the corner, a young female office worker covered her mouth, her eyes reddening.
No one spoke.
The mechanical watch on my wrist, the second hand ticking away like a knife chopping on a chopping board.
“It’s not their fault.” Deputy Commander Zhou took off his glasses, wiped the lenses with his sleeve, and said in a dry voice, “They all did their best.”
Chen Cheng and Skinny Monkey did their best, and Director Lin also did his best.
But fate played a cruel trick on them; they were not on the same wavelength.
On the screen, the night at the Ming Tombs was as dark as iron. The stone statues on both sides of the Sacred Way stood in the moonlight, civil officials holding tablets and military generals with their hands on swords, standing silently in formation, majestic and sinister, as if they were about to burst out of a dungeon at any moment.
Commander Zhang finally picked up the thermos, his hand trembling slightly.
He tried to find a bit of humor in the situation: Chen Cheng and Skinny Monkey had failed, but there were still about 300 people left in the instance. Maybe someone would just get lucky and stumble upon a perfect opportunity?
Even if all 300 or so people are wiped out, there are still hundreds of thousands of soldiers in the instance. Surely there can't be not a single liberal arts student left, right?!
He took a deep breath and told himself to stay calm.
A minute can feel both slow and fast.
Finally, they heard that merciless announcement again.
Everyone thought it was a failure notification; their hearts felt like they were being gripped by a giant hand, throbbing with pain.
However, a golden firework suddenly exploded in the center of the screen, followed by two lines of text, one word at a time, accompanied by an emotionless voice.
"Eastern player Chen Cheng, cleared the stage with [Red Pill]. Historical accuracy: 92%. Evaluation: Clarified cause and effect, distinguished right from wrong."
"Eastern Kingdom contestant, Thin Monkey, cleared the level in [Ren Yin]. Historical accuracy: 88%. Evaluation: Beyond law and reason, there is still humanity. The wise ruler should reflect on himself."
The air in the command center froze for a full three seconds.
Then, the clerk burst into tears.
She was crying and laughing at the same time, snot bubbles coming out of her nose: "We passed! We passed!!"
Old Zhou's glasses fell to the ground, and his face trembled uncontrollably with excitement.
He braced his hands on the control panel, repeatedly muttering the same phrase: "How did I get through it... how did I get through it..."
Commander Zhang suddenly stood up.
The chair slid backward a long way and crashed into the wall with a loud bang.
"Retrieve the security footage!" he roared, losing his temper. "I want to see the whole thing! Now! Immediately! Right now!"
A faint, unrealistic expectation flickered in his mind: if Chen Chen and Skinny Monkey could pass the test, was it possible that the more than 300 soldiers could also pass it?
On the big screen, Chen Cheng and Skinny Monkey's gameplay videos were played simultaneously.
The expert team scrutinized every detail with a magnifying glass, and after half an hour of discussion, they reached a consensus.
"It was a backup plan left by Director Lin!"
"Li Bo, the Imperial Physician in Chen Cheng's instance, and Meng, the First Doctor in the Thin Monkey instance, should both be clues left by Director Lin and reinforcements sent out."
"There is a 99.999% chance that Director Lin is the boss of the Ming Tombs instance, using the alias 'Second Meng'."
The Ming Dynasty historian, with tears welling in his eyes and a trembling voice, said, "Director Lin... she is so thoughtful and meticulous. Even my mother isn't this considerate!"
If he doesn't do well on a test, his mother will hit him with the sole of her shoe.
If it were Director Lin, things would be different. The children would do well on the tests, and Director Lin could write the answers directly on the blackboard.
If this isn't love, then what is?
What happened even more shockingly half an hour later.
"Three hundred and seventeen?! You're telling me all three hundred and seventeen passed?" Old Liu from the tech team's hands were shaking as he typed, and it took him three tries to get the data up.
He pointed at the screen, his words tumbling out incoherently, "Reporting to the leader, it's true!"
Commander Zhang was in a daze. My God, his dream had come true!
Old Zhou's mouth was wide open as he twisted his thigh hard. The pain spread from his leg to his whole body, but he was so happy that tears streamed down his face.
"Good, good! Good that you passed the test!"
Everyone felt as if a kettle of water was boiling inside their chests, bubbling and gurgling.
After reviewing the records of each copy and confirming that everyone had indeed cleared the game, a deafening cheer erupted in the conference room.
According to their statistics, the more than 300 soldiers used a variety of methods to pass through the checkpoint.
Humanities whizzes could tell at a glance that they had filled in the answers randomly.
But so what?
Director Lin set the questions and graded the papers. Director Lin was happy to give them preferential treatment!
"Director Lin is awesome!"
"Long live Director Lin!"
The cheers from the crowd were like spring thunder rolling across the ground that had been frozen all winter, making the windows buzz and even causing the capital city's dungeon barrier to tremble slightly.
At the exit of the instance, 317 contestants from the East stood still, each holding a celadon bowl.
The bowl contains Meng Po soup.
It was crystal clear, like a bowl of water.
They naturally dared not drink it, nor were they willing to. The things Director Lin had gone to great lengths to give them, of course, had to be taken back to headquarters!
Three hundred and seventeen people transformed into streams of light at the same moment, passing through the underground of the Ming Tombs, through the strata of the earth, through the night sky, through four hundred years of Ming Dynasty history, and landing on an open space in the northern suburbs of the capital.
The area surrounding the open space was filled with people, all of them soldiers with live ammunition.
As soon as the contestants appeared, they were taken back to the command base by these soldiers.
Deep within the dungeon, on the stone wall of the Judge's Hall, the last ray of golden light dissipated.
On the stone wall, the records of passage, imperial edicts, and secret memorials were stacked layer upon layer, until finally they were burned to ashes by a raging fire.
The underworld natives who made a cameo appearance in the Ming Tombs instance...
"No, what just happened? I was just about to enjoy my meal, and then my food disappeared!"
"Hello, is this the Development and Reform Commission of the Dead City? I also want to report that Meng, the second boss of the Ming Tombs dungeon, is using a part-time job as an excuse to freeload off our labor."
"Hehehe, as you know, I don't usually like to laugh unless I'm angry. Second Meng, if you want to get something for free, just say so. Why let more than 300 people from the East escape? I feel sorry for you!"
"Second Meng, you can question my strength, but you can't insult my intelligence. You actually let them pass this seemingly impossible situation?!"
"I don't care, Second Meng, if you don't give us an explanation, I'm not leaving!"
The dead beings broke through the great defenses, and the cooked duck flew away. No one could accept that.
Meng Po mingled among them, joining in the commotion.
Among the rioting crowd, she shouted the loudest: "Heartless boss, give me back my hard-earned money!"
Lin Xiaohe, who was stationed at the core of the instance, glanced at Meng Po indifferently: "First Meng, what's the rush? This is just an appetizer. Look, an army of tens of thousands of people has arrived."
(End of this chapter)