CHAPTER 36: CHAPTER 33: REAL EXAM QUESTIONS FROM A CENTURY AGO

"Is anything missing?"

Lin Qi glanced at the pile of treasure chests stacked like a small mountain and felt disdain in his heart. Whether something was missing or not, the others from Twilight of the Gods should know better than anyone.

If even one chest was missing, that would mean losing five hundred points.

Lin Qi could imagine that the search of the Single-Horned Gold-devouring Rat’s nest by Twilight of the Gods and the others was likely ten times more meticulous than how they cleaned their own homes.

"A total of 43 treasure chests, counted as 21,500 points. I hope you can continue to work hard and uphold the Martial Arts Hall’s glory." Lin Qi, looking at the pure eyes of Twilight of the Gods, could only grit his teeth and accept the treasure chests.

"That’s great!" Twilight of the Gods was full of excitement upon hearing the points as a reward. "I knew it was an instance, and it really pays off to clear instances. If I can find a second instance underground next, my Shocking God Breathing Technique intermediate book is within reach!"

"You lucky kid. I’ve been digging for days without finding an instance, and you found one right away." Just resurrected, Fang Zhen couldn’t help but feel envious seeing Twilight of the Gods earning two-thirds of an instance reward so quickly. "This instance is really profitable. It’s a pity it’s one-time. It seems that for the next while, I need to search thoroughly."

"Brother Zhen, if you’re looking for an instance, I recommend digging deeper." Twilight of the Gods, seeing Fang Zhen so eager, generously shared his experience. "I kept digging down continuously because I wanted to see how deep this game could be dug. I didn’t expect to dig out an instance."

"I have to say, the game’s mechanics are well hidden. On the surface, it makes us dig holes and plant crops, but underground, they’ve already designed other gameplay. Based on my estimate, there should be many instances underground, depending on our excavation progress."

"True, this game has always hidden things deeply. Even the Grizzly Mine had a lot hidden, and so does the large outdoor map. It seems I need to dig deeper too." Fang Zhen nodded, agreeing that Twilight of the Gods made a good point. "When I find a new instance, you won’t be left out of the benefits."

"Thanks a lot, Brother Zhen." Twilight of the Gods thanked him.

At this moment, Twilight of the Gods also had a revelation, feeling that he had found the leisurely gameplay of the Descent of High Martial game.

Perhaps running transport convoys outdoors was profitable, but digging holes underground was equally rewarding, especially for someone like him who wasn’t good at combat. Excavating to find new instances was a very good option.

"..."

Listening to the conversation between the two, Lin Qi wanted to dissuade them a bit, even though he eventually decided not to.

However, considering that someone must manage planting underground, as it’s a source of long-term stable income, he gave up the idea. As long as they’re happy, it’s fine.

Then, Lin Qi assigned a main quest of restoring the Martial Arts Hall to everyone resurrected within it, providing three sets of restoration tools, enough for ten people to repair various areas of the Hall simultaneously.

Additionally, Lin Qi used his smart watch to order a large amount of cement building materials from a factory in the suburb and hired a hundred vagabonds from the Abandoned Area to repair the Hall’s walls and exteriors.

The entire Black Obsidian Martial Arts Hall suddenly became lively, like a bustling marketplace.

Yet within the Hall, a strange trend suddenly took off.

Besides occasionally repairing the interior of the Hall, the players didn’t think about expanding land anymore. Instead, like madmen, they had almost dug the entire underground of the Hall into an ant’s nest, with intricate passages forming a labyrinth.

One by one, they forcibly increased the introductory proficiency of the Leopard Shadow Step by over 10%, running like maniacs.

Plus, the intermittently planted Blood Essence Rice in the tunnels served well to block visions.

It’s fair to say that if anyone were to attack the Black Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, as long as they hid underground, it would be very hard to find them, making the defense works top-notch.

In the Black Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, the sun slowly set, and the day passed quickly.

"Opening these treasure chests is like opening mystery boxes. What’s even in them?"

Looking at another recently opened treasure chest and the exam papers inside it, Lin Qi could not help but feel his scalp tingling, deeply suspecting what kind of person would bury all their high school exam papers underground.

Burying these exam papers was one thing, but why not bury some answer sheets too? The whole thing was pure nonsense. What were they hoping future finders would get from it?

Thirty-nine treasure chests!

Apart from occasionally finding detailed explanations of fist and foot techniques, there was nothing else useful.

Wait!

There were some items.

Like thirteen methods of monster flesh cooking, how to truly absorb monster blood and flesh—all sorts of guides teaching students how to squander resources.

"These twenty thousand points seem somewhat wasteful," Lin Qi glanced at the ground littered with waste paper, with nothing he could sell, pure loss of twenty thousand points. "Looks like they’ll only be good for kindling in the future!"

For the remaining four treasure chests, Lin Qi wasn’t holding out much hope either.

"Well, it seems this person’s three years of high school weren’t entirely without progress. At least the exam papers no longer only have crosses; most of them have checkmarks. But why are the names on them not from the same person?"

"Holy crap! Is this kid hiding someone else’s exam papers for fun?"

"And hiding so many!"

Looking at the exam papers in the boxes, Lin Qi nearly broke down, feeling like the person who buried these papers had turned it into a whole business, with two full boxes of others’ exams, and who knows how much they earned from it.

As only two treasure chests were left, Lin Qi couldn’t be bothered to look anymore and simply kicked one open.

"Crap! A mannequin?"

Lin Qi was utterly stunned by seeing a mechanical mannequin inside one of the metal boxes.

Was it really okay to hide something like this in the exam paper box?

"No, this seems to resemble the testing mannequins from various junior and senior high schools," Lin Qi examined the mannequin more closely and found it increasingly familiar. "The power’s gone... I wonder if a wash would make it usable again?"

Lin Qi recalled having heard about such testing mannequins from Luo Qi, who mentioned them.

From over a hundred years ago, cities began to include some martial arts tests in their entrance exams, involving skill assessments where students were graded based on different levels of skill proficiency.

The mechanical dolls that tested students’ skills were capable of evaluating them accurately based on their performances, defining their skill level, known as the skill rank.

The first rank was roughly at the level of elementary school students in major cities.

The second rank matched the normal level for junior high students.

The third rank, resembling the normal level for high school students.

The fourth rank was equivalent to university-level skills and also the level for many near-martial-artists.

The fifth rank was a significant threshold, generally achievable only by martial artists.

This mechanical mannequin, if functional, could accurately assess the users’ skill level, making it a pretty useful machine for martial artists.

"With this tool, it’s not considered a total loss."

Then Lin Qi shifted his gaze to another metal box.

This metal box differed from the previous ones, containing no exam papers; instead, it held a 2214 high school entrance exam true solution and a whole box full of detailed explanations of genuine exam questions.

"What’s going on? A true solution for the 2214 test? A whole box of detailed explanations?"

Lin Qi was dumbfounded by the full box of solution methods.

How many questions did the 2214 high school entrance exam even have?

How is it not making students solve problems instead of writing books?

When Lin Qi opened the 2214 true exam question paper, his eyes widened significantly.

How to master stellar explosions?

Were high school students from a hundred years ago really this incredible?