CH 17.1

“Where is he? Turn the camera to him.” Several Senior Stone Gamblers said anxiously.

The staff member beside them operated the light screen immediately, and the slender form of the teenager was shown on the oversized screen, which was about five meters long.

He was dressed in a plain white shirt and black trousers, with a pair of thick black-rimmed glasses perched on the bridge of his nose as he concentrated on marking out the rough stones.

Looking at the teenager’s answer sheet, all the Senior Stone Gamblers were astounded: he had actually gotten all the answers correct. What’s more, his talent was as good as Du Xingyu’s!

“Who is this kid? His eyesight is extraordinary.”

“Yes, his foundation must be very good to be able to distinguish all the field openings.”

“Do any of you know him, what’s his name and what planet is he from?” Level 6 Stone Gambler Lu Yuan asked the crowd behind him.

It was rare to find such a good talent, they couldn’t let him go to waste!

Unfortunately, none of the people present could answer his question.

They had never heard of this teenager before, and judging from his clothes, he should be of commoner origin.

“Master Lu, from the examination room he is in, it shows that he is from Proxima Star.” One of the staff member replied.

“Proxima Star? Umm, not bad. To be able to raise such a good student, it seems the third largest branch’s position is saved this time.”

The President of the Gambling Guild said with a brilliant gleam in his eyes as he stroked his beard with a smile.

Hearing the President’s words, the other Stone Gamblers looked at each other then made up their minds. It seems the situation of the Gambling Guild branch in Proxima Star wasn’t as hopeless as they had thought. It would be best if they befriended them more in the future.

The head of the fourth largest Gambling Guild branch, which was located on Wicker Star Planet gritted his teeth in resentment.

He had thought that moving up in the rankings this year was a foregone conclusion, and had even written his celebratory manifesto that was just waiting to be released.

Unexpectedly, the Proxima Star Gambling Guild had gotten lucky and produced a talented teenager who was as talented as Du Xingyu, saving them from falling in the rankings.

Why wasn’t this boy from their Wicker Star Planet? Dmn it! Dmn it!

Bai Jing, who was observing the rough stones suddenly had the feeling that he was being watched, causing him to look around him without the expression on his face changing, however he found no danger, hence he continued on with his exams quietly.

Perhaps he was being too sensitive. This was the headquarters of the Gambling Guild in Capital Star, the safest place in the entire empire apart from the royal palace, so there would never be any accidents.

A full four hours had passed since the exams began and after drinking two nutrient solutions to replenish his strength, Bai Jing entered the virtual space again.

He had examined all of the fifty-five rough stones carefully, and except for the six rough stones which he still couldn’t find any clues about, the numbers of the rest of the rough stones had all been filled in on the answer sheet.

Looking at the numbers of these six rough stones, Bai Jing frowned slightly then planned to save them for the end. If he was really unable to tell which planet and field opening they were from, then he would rely on luck.

He now had to concentrate on finding the rough stones that would produce jadeite, which would give him five points, a test to see his ability to be able to gamble on rough stones, so he had to get his hands on them.

After the observations he had just made, he picked out three rough stones out of the fifty-five. One with white salt sand skin, one with dark ebony skin and the last one with a yellow pear-like skin, numbered 12, 33 and 48 respectively.

Of the three rough stones, the best was the one with the white salt sand skin.

This rough stone was a mountainous stone, the finest of the white sandstones.

These types of rough stones were subjected to weathering by rain and sun over a long period of time, resulting in a generally white skin that felt distinctly sandy to the touch, as if it were salt sand.

Rough stones with white salt sand skin tended to have fine internal textures, good seeds and sufficient water head and mostly produced white glass, ice and ice blue jadeite, of which white glass and ice jadeite were the most common. However they also produced high quality jadeites of the emerald and emerald green varieties once in a while. [Note]

The rough stone numbered ’12’, was smaller than a rugby ball, slightly flattened and oval in shape, with a fine crust and two bands of green pine blossoms in a symmetrical pattern. It was considered to be of excellent quality.

The other two were good, but not as good as this rough stone with white salt sand skin.

Using his sense perception ability, he looked deep inside the rough stone and detected a strong reaction activity, which showed that it could produce jadeite of the ice variety!

The jadeite inside was roughly one-third the size of the entire rough stone, weighing at least three kilograms, which wasn’t too small.

As a rule, this rough stone should no longer be doubted, as both the rough stone itself and the texture of the jadeite were so good that Bai Jing shouldn’t hesitate to write down the number ’12’ on his answer sheet.

However, it was its outstanding performance that caused him to have doubts.

From what he could tell, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call today’s practicals exams ‘H*ll Mode’.

But this rough stone with white salt sand skin was the equivalent of a clean sweep, leaving all the rough stones far behind, making it impossible for anyone with even a passing knowledge of gambling on stones to miss it.

It was almost as if the answer was laid out in plain sight, just waiting for it to be taken.

Could the exam questions really be that simple?

Bai Jing guessed that something wasn’t right.

He didn’t think the five points were so easy to get. There had to be something he had overlooked.

He looked at the rules again: out of the fifty-five rough stones, pick the one that is most likely to produce jadeite, and if you bet on one that yields a great gain, five points will be awarded.

If you bet on one that yields a great gain…. bet on?!

Instantly, as if a flint had been struck against a hard object, as if a lightning bolt had flashed through his mind, Bai Jing finally understood the ‘trap’ in the question.

At the same time, he couldn’t help but admire the cunning and ingenuity of the questioner.

“Yo, he’s found out.” The President of the entire Gambling Guild said with a smile.

The other Stone Gamblers had naturally also found out the ‘fishy’ aspect of the question, and a few of them couldn’t help but scold the president in their hearts. He was really an old fox, actually playing such word games.

This time, it was expected that many candidates would be misled and fall into the prepared ‘trap’, especially since the questions were extremely difficult and time was limited.