"You did very well, Furbollo."

"I thought you might crack under pressure and confess!"

While Lin Yu was studying hard, Fu Luo was sitting upright in a private room at an internet cafe in Jiangcheng, watching the blinking cursor on the screen and the text that appeared out of nowhere in the notepad, his expression serious.

He spoke softly into the microphone.

"How could I, sir, how would I dare betray you?"

As Fu Luo spoke, new text appeared in the notepad.

"Hehehehe, you'd better remember that, otherwise you know exactly what I'm capable of!"

"Now I have a new mission for you."

Fu Luo looked at the two lines of text and spoke while bowing and scraping: "Just say the word, I guarantee I'll complete it, I'd go through fire and water without hesitation!"

"......"

"Good. Right now, the Psychological Society's S-class executive 'Fluoxetine' is in Jiangcheng. I'll send the location to your phone."

"Go eliminate 'Fluoxetine'!"

When Fu Luo saw this line of text, his face turned deathly pale.

"Eliminate the Psychological Society's S-class... me?"

Fu Luo immediately stood up, slapped the table, and jumped up!

Then he aimed himself at the camera in front of the computer, precisely jumped onto the sofa chair in the private room, and then knelt in front of the computer.

"Sir, great 'Hacker' sir, it's not that I'm unwilling, it's just that my abilities are truly limited!"

"I have elderly parents above and... I have two elderly parents above, I really can't go."

As Fu Luo spoke, he wiped his hands over his eyes, and tears instantly streamed down.

If Lin Yu had been there to see it, he probably would have marveled at Fu Luo's acting talent.

With skills like this, even without performing on stage, he could make a living as a professional mourner throughout the local villages.

New text appeared in the notepad.

"Haha, just kidding."

"I still have uses for this 'Fluoxetine' person."

Fu Luo wiped the corner of his eye and said with a bitter smile: "Even if you had no use for her, I still couldn't kill her."

"But I do need you to cause trouble for someone."

Fu Luo looked at the new text in the notepad and said: "Just tell me, as long as it's not 'Fluoxetine'... uh, as long as it's not someone too strong."

The notepad's cursor blinked for a while, making Fu Luo nervous.

"'Hacker' sir, it's not really a top expert, is it..."

He gritted his teeth.

"Anyone below 'Third Tier' is fine, anything higher I really can't handle!"

The cursor continued to blink.

Fu Luo's face turned pale: "If it's just causing trouble... if I find some helpers, 'Third Tier' might be worth trying, as long as they're not on the leaderboard!"

Hearing Fu Luo say this, the notepad finally moved.

"Hehe!"

Fu Luo's tears immediately fell again: "Please stop messing with me, they're really on the leaderboard?!"

"You already have a grudge with him anyway."

New text appeared, and Fu Luo nearly wet himself in fear.

"What? I have a grudge with a player on the leaderboard?! Which one?"

A single character appeared in the notepad: "'Twenty'".

Fu Luo was stunned, then said: "What the hell? He's on the leaderboard, and he's 'Third Tier'?! You're joking!"

"I'm not joking. He's an anonymous player, ranked 77th."

Seeing the text in the notepad, Fu Luo instead calmed down.

"If it's that guy... it might be worth trying."

"After all, that guy doesn't kill people, and... 'Hacker' sir, you'll assist me too, right?"

The notepad closed.

The next moment, sweat beads reappeared on Fu Luo's previously calm face.

"Sir... sir, don't run away, sir!"

......

Peaceful days passed in the blink of an eye.

At noon on Tuesday, after finishing his open-book exam, Lin Yu stretched lazily, eating in the cafeteria while watching the blood-red text floating before him.

『Less than 24 hours remain until the latest start time of the next game!』

『Before midnight tonight, find a dark and enclosed environment, use methods to limit your oxygen intake through breathing, and wait to enter the game.』

Lin Yu let out a breath.

"Here it comes, this time it's near-suffocation..."

But that wasn't important. What was important was...

"Why hasn't the prompt for the 'Second Tier' Promotion Trial appeared?"

Lin Yu felt somewhat strange.

His 'First-Tier' Promotion dungeon was in the third dungeon [Frostpeak Mountains].

According to experience summarized by previous players, the 'Second Tier' Promotion dungeon should be in the sixth dungeon.

But...

This blood-red text contained no information about promotion.

Logically, it should have appeared when he returned, but it still hasn't appeared...

"Most likely, there really won't be a 'Promotion'..."

Lin Yu muttered to himself.

However, Lin Yu wasn't too concerned, feeling it was within normal expectations.

Promoting to 'First Tier' in just three dungeons was already somewhat outside normal expectations...

So, not getting 'Second Tier' in the sixth dungeon was within expectations.

"Maybe it's better not to promote now..."

Lin Yu let out a breath.

Nowadays, he didn't have such an urgent need to become stronger—although it was still urgent, it wasn't to the extent of "must promote as soon as possible."

Having more time to prepare and ensuring everything was foolproof was most important.

His only worry now was...

What if the 'Second Tier' Promotion Trial follows a completely different process from the 'First Tier' one?

Right now, he had no channels to inquire about 'Second Tier' promotion matters—even though he already knew many 'Third Tier' experts, given his current identities... none of his identities were anywhere near ready for 'Second Tier' promotion.

Lin Yu couldn't verify this.

He could only proceed with preparations carefully, operating under the assumption that "what if I really have to promote immediately upon entering the game?"

Of course...

There wasn't much special preparation he could do anyway.

He just ate a massive meal in the cafeteria and activated several particularly useful BUFFs.

Besides [Miserly Wealthy One], the Immortal Brew buffs currently stored in the Immortal Brew included [Closed Mind] and [Ice Blessing].

[Closed Mind (remaining 12 hours): Immune to all mental and soul attacks, blocks all attempts to peer into the soul.]

[Ice Blessing (remaining 3 hours): Movement speed increases fivefold, gain ability to move ignoring terrain, while reducing temperature within five meters to freezing point.]

Besides these three blessings, Lin Yu also had several small buffs enhancing his physique, which collectively boosted his physical attributes to about half of what the [Soldier] enhancement provided.

"Alright, even if it really is the second 'Promotion Trial', there's nothing to fear."

Lin Yu let out a breath, then felt somewhat emotional.

But then again...

Thinking about it carefully, even during the dungeons when he wasn't 'Promoting', weren't the difficulty and intensity completely high too?

In the first dungeon, he faced off against someone with S-level potential, and he was on a very unfair team.

In the second dungeon, he encountered a god.

In the third dungeon, during promotion, he encountered the monster 'Chate' created by the Truth Corporation.

The fourth dungeon... he encountered a god again!

The fifth dungeon, he encountered the 'Free Alliance' team-building event, and again came to the "Truth Corporation's" territory.

Recalling his past experiences, Lin Yu suddenly felt emotional.

"From now on, I should probably prepare for every dungeon as if it were a Promotion dungeon..."