Chapter 48

Li Qingxuan then pointed to another middle-aged man standing beside him, who had a kind and gentle appearance and was slightly overweight, and said, "This is Lord Li Luoran from the City Lord's Mansion. He will be responsible for the distribution of food and drink, recording of scores, and other matters during the preliminary competition..."

The people from the City Lord's Mansion are also involved in this preliminary competition?

That's a bit strange.

Ding San Shi, the team instructor, pondered silently in his heart.

Li Qingxuan continued, "My name is Li Qingxuan, representing the Yunmeng City Education Bureau. I am fully responsible for this city-wide second-year prodigy competition's preliminary round. I have a nickname, 'Iron-Faced Venomous Tongue.' You will soon understand me. Here, I remind you again, out of the one hundred people in the training camp, only twelve will be selected to enter the main competition, so I hope you seize the opportunity to prove your abilities."

Select twenty out of one hundred?

Lin Beichen was a bit surprised.

An 80% elimination rate.

Cruel.

But I like it.

Although he only participated in the preliminary competition to win the prodigy gold medal, the competitive atmosphere moved him.

At least at this moment, Lin Beichen felt a faint excitement in his body.

"Next, I will announce the rules of this preliminary competition."

Li Qingxuan's gaze swept over the crowd, and his expression became unusually stern.

"The preliminary competition will officially begin tomorrow. You must leave the camp at the first ray of sunlight and head to the Green Wilderness for exploration. The purpose of the exploration has two aspects: first, hunting, to capture low-level magical beasts; second, finding the star emblems hidden in the wilderness..."

"Hunting low-level magical beasts is to ensure your survival, as from tomorrow, the camp will not provide you with any drinking water or food. Everything will depend on your own hands in the wilderness."

"The star emblems are the sole standard for individual rankings. There are a total of one hundred emblems hidden in different places in the wilderness. For each emblem you find and bring back to the camp, you must personally hand it over to Lord Li Luoran to receive ten points. After ten days of trials, the top twenty students with the highest points will have the opportunity to participate in the main competition of the Prodigy Sun Competition."

"You must return to the camp before sunset."

"During the competition, you are not allowed to kill your classmates."

"You are not allowed to intentionally cause serious injuries to your classmates."

"Other than that, there are no other strict rules."

"Do you understand?"

Li Qingxuan finished speaking in one breath and loudly asked.

"We understand."

The students answered excitedly.

Most of them were prodigies who had previously participated in the Prodigy Sun Competition and were quite familiar with these rules.

(To be continued, please turn the page)

Lin Beichen, however, was amazed.

Isn't this just a survival training in the wild?

Moreover, this seemingly simple selection rule hides a profound mystery.

It's not just about finding the star emblems.

You must personally hand them over to Lord Li Luoran at the camp.

This means that, without killing or seriously injuring other students, you can completely snatch emblems from other students as your own trophies.

Therefore, to earn points, you not only need to find the star emblems but also protect your own emblems.

The second point is even harder.

Lin Beichen stood at the front of the line, pretending to be excited and shouting along with the crowd.

Li Qingxuan added, "Finally, one more thing. After sunset tonight, the camp will hold a bonfire party, giving you two hours of interaction time to get to know and familiarize yourselves with each other. During this process, you will have the opportunity to eat your fill. Remember, you can only eat, not store... Tomorrow, what you can eat and whether you can eat your fill will be determined by your own performance. Your fate is in your own hands."

The crowd cheered again.

Then they dispersed.

One hour later.

In the center of the square, pairs of bonfires burned brightly.

On the stone tables around the bonfires, various delicious foods were placed, including roasted meat, fresh fruits, cakes, and fine wines. The night air was filled with enticing aromas.

Suddenly, the entire camp became lively.

Lin Beichen's eyes sparkled.

On Earth, he was a game addict and a food lover.

The exotic delicacies could not be missed.

And since it was free, not eating would be a waste.

After greeting Ding San Shi, Lin Beichen sat down at the stone table without hesitation and grabbed a roasted animal leg, savoring it.

"Wow, delicious."

A mouthful of meat made Lin Beichen's eyes sparkle.

"Hey, the wine is also good, sour and sweet, like fruit wine on Earth."

"This flatbread is also delicious."

Lin Beichen seemed to have been reborn as a hungry ghost, eating more and more enthusiastically.

The surroundings were already filled with noise, and the students were relaxing and preparing for the competition the next day.

Usually, they studied and trained intensively at school, but in the camp, there were fewer rules. Some young boys tried to express their love to their crushes, gathering together to find topics and build relationships.

Especially around many goddess-level girls, there were always people around.

And some genius male students from the National Royal Junior College also became the core of the crowd.

Occasionally, some female students were amazed by Lin Beichen's good looks and came over to greet him.

But he ignored them all.

"Is he too arrogant?"

"Hmph, not even in the top ten, and he's so arrogant. What's so great about him?"

The ignored female students were clearly unhappy and grumbled as they walked away.

Lin Beichen continued to do as he pleased, immersed in the great cause of battling with the food.

He didn't notice that in a stone house in the camp, a pair of exceptionally beautiful eyes were always watching him, almost without a moment's break, as if appreciating something or weighing something.

Suddenly, a familiar figure sat down next to Lin Beichen.

"Are you reborn as a hungry ghost?"

Ding San Shi looked speechless and said with a sigh, "You little chicken, such a good opportunity, and you're really just focused on eating?"

Lin Beichen stuffed a piece of succulent roasted meat into his mouth, chewing forcefully as he replied, "What else? Didn't Lord Li Qingxuan say to seize the opportunity and eat your fill tonight?"

Ding San Shi was even more speechless and said, "Are you a pig? That's just the surface. Don't you realize the true purpose of this bonfire party?"

"What is it?"

Lin Beichen mumbled, "Um... isn't it to eat?"

Ding San Shi wanted to bash this wastrel's head into his chest with a sword sheath and said, "Just thinking about eating. It's to get you to form alliances."

"Um, alliances?" Lin Beichen asked, "Who are the alliances? Why do we need to form them?"

"I..."

Ding San Shi couldn't hold back any longer and gave Lin Beichen a good beating on the head.

"Can't you be a bit more normal?" The old instructor was furious and roared, "I'm talking about serious matters, not joking."

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The website's 2019 year-end review, our Sword Immortal only started on December 25th, so we won't compete. If you have other favorite authors, you can vote for them.

Also, thank you to Ding Mengya for the generous reward. I will add an extra chapter after the release, and I will note the continuous rewards from Nian Wuwei and Song Yidao.

Finally, on the WeChat public account [Raging Blade], we will release a portrait of Lin Beichen playing with his phone in class, which is very handsome. The artist drew it based on a photo of the author. If you haven't followed the public account, please do so quickly.