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Chapter 61: The First Trial
🕑 Added 2025-04-10 08:07:00 +0000 UTC"Can I start the challenge to break the seal now?"
Assessing holder's strength... Assessment complete. Holder may proceed with the first trial. Begin now?
"Yes." As soon as Yun Fan finished speaking, he felt a wave of dizziness wash over him. The next moment, he found himself in an endless black space. The space was pitch black, as if it could swallow all light, yet paradoxically, he could still see everything clearly. How contradictory.
Just then, the voice of the Void Archives echoed in his mind.
First trial commencing...
"The first trial? I wonder what the content of this trial is..." Yun Fan thought to himself, but before he could finish, a wave of drowsiness overwhelmed him, and he fell into a deep sleep.
Ding ling ling! Ding ling ling!
The sound of an alarm clock rang out. Groggily, Yun Fan reached out and fumbled around on the bedside table, finally finding the switch to turn off the noisy alarm.
"Where am I?" Yun Fan sat up in bed, looking at the familiar six-person dorm room. He felt disoriented. "Where is this?"
"Where? This is the dorm. Yun Fan, how late did you stay up gaming last night? Hurry up and get out of bed. We have Teacher Liu's class this morning!" His roommate, who was sleeping on the lower bunk, was frantically tying his shoelaces and glanced up to speak to him.
"Teacher Liu's class?!" Yun Fan jolted awake and quickly put on his clothes, shouting to his friend on the neighboring bunk, "Dog Heng, toss me that jacket on the clothesline!"
"Tch, here. And stop calling me Dog Heng. I'm not a simp anymore," the roommate named Dog Heng said as he handed over the jacket, clearly annoyed.
"Yeah, yeah, sure!" Yun Fan replied dismissively, his words echoed by the other roommates. For a moment, the dorm was filled with the hypnotic chant of "Yeah, yeah, sure!"
"Stop messing around! We've got five minutes before class starts, and the disciplinary committee might be checking attendance. Hurry up!" The speaker was Yun Fan's good friend, nicknamed "Principal Liu" by everyone.
"I want to, but there's still one guy who hasn't woken up yet." Dog Heng quickly walked over to the bed and vigorously shook the still-sleeping chubby kid.
"Red Pig, Red Pig, get up!" But Dog Heng's wake-up call seemed to have no effect. Red Pig just rolled over and continued sleeping.
Yun Fan shook his head and glanced toward the bathroom. He had just seen A Kun go in, so it would probably be a while before he was ready to leave. "Forget about Red Pig. Let his 'dad' A Kun deal with him. Let's hurry to class."
With that, Yun Fan dashed out of the dorm at top speed, heading straight for the classroom. The others followed closely behind.
"Whew, we made it just in time." The group of sprinters burst into the classroom just as the last minute ticked away. Seeing that the back rows were already full, they had no choice but to head to the empty seats in the front row.
"Yun Fan, how are you so fast? Have you been secretly training?" Dog Heng whispered to Yun Fan during a lull in the lecture.
"I don't know. It just happened," Yun Fan replied, feeling confused. He felt like there was a gap in his memory, as if he had forgotten something important.
"Tch, whatever. If you don't want to say, fine," Dog Heng muttered, turning away with a pout.
"Yun Fan, check this out." A Zhen, sitting to Yun Fan's right, nudged him and placed his phone in front of him. "Look at this. It's a new open-world game by Da Huyou called Genshin Impact."
"Genshin Impact?" Yun Fan stared at the screen, where Lumine was engaged in battle. A strange sense of déjà vu washed over him. Weird, this was his first time seeing this game, so why did it feel so familiar?
"Yun Fan, stand up and answer this question." Just as Yun Fan was about to delve deeper into the game, Teacher Liu suddenly called his name, forcing him to cut short his thoughts and obediently stand up to answer the question.
"This problem can be solved using the Lagrange Mean Value Theorem..."
The morning passed quickly, and the hungry group headed to the cafeteria. As everyone happily dug into their plates of fried noodles, Yun Fan suddenly said, "A Zhen, let me see that game again."
"Why the sudden interest?" A Zhen asked but handed over his phone anyway.
Yun Fan took the phone and scrolled through the various characters. Although he had never seen them before, they all felt strangely familiar.
Especially when he saw the Deaconess, his chest suddenly ached, as if he had forgotten something important.
For the rest of the afternoon, Yun Fan remained silent, not paying attention to the lectures at all. This was unusual for him, as he was normally a cheerful and outgoing guy.
"Yun Fan, can you come to the rooftop with me?" After class, as Yun Fan was about to head back to the dorm with his friends to game, a sweet, melodious voice reached his ears, causing him to instinctively stop in his tracks.
"Whoa, Yun Fan's hit the jackpot! Isn't that our school's beauty, Ling Xue?" Dog Heng whispered to A Zhen and the others.
"No kidding. I'm shocked too," Red Pig chimed in.
Yun Fan ignored the chatter behind him. After all, Ling Xue was the girl he had a crush on. His heart was racing.
"Can't we talk here?" Yun Fan blurted out, but immediately regretted it. Wow, I'm such a blockhead.
"W-Well, I guess we can, but I'm a bit shy..." Ling Xue blushed, causing the guys behind Yun Fan to erupt into cheers.
"Yun Fan, I like you. Please go out with me!" Ling Xue said earnestly, extending her delicate hand.
"Say yes, say yes..." The group of friends behind him started chanting, drawing the attention of everyone around.
Yun Fan felt embarrassed. He opened his mouth but found himself unable to say the words "I accept."
Seeing his friend falter at the critical moment, Dog Heng stepped in. "Ling Xue, Yun Fan's just too shy. He's actually already agreed."
"I..." Yun Fan started to speak but suddenly felt as if a sword had pierced his chest. He couldn't breathe.
"What's happening to me?" Images flashed through Yun Fan's mind like a kaleidoscope.
'These Jueyun Chilies are delicious. Thanks, Fan.'
'Fan, what do you think my sister is doing right now?'
'If I grow old one day, will you still like me, Fan?'
'Fan...'
Yun Fan's eyes widened as he knelt on the ground. The Fenghuang Down in his consciousness sea bloomed, and a barrier in his memory seemed to shatter. Scenes from the past flooded his mind.
"Yun Fan..." Ling Xue stepped forward, concerned, and reached out to help him up.
"Thank you, Ling Xue," Yun Fan said, standing up on his own before she could reach him. A smile returned to his face.
