Book 6: Chapter 25:1: World Consciousness’s Malicious Intent, Part 1

Book 6: Chapter 25:1: World Consciousness’s Malicious Intent, Part 1

The next day, outside the exam hall:nove(l)bi(n.)com

Chen Heng had miscalculated; he was not in the same exam hall as Mo Qingtong, so he had no opportunity to meet her.

However, after Luo Li told him that Mo Qingtong did not seem affected, he stopped worrying.

“Ahem! Ahem! All students, please listen up. Please pay attention to this announcement. We have installed an ability suppressor device in this school, and it can suppress all abilities. Students, please don’t make a mistake and use an ability to cheat or get an ability user to help you cheat. All forms of disguise ability, telepathy, or vision ability would be greatly suppressed.”

Just as Chen Heng was about to enter the exam hall, an announcement rang out in the school. These words were not without reason. Before they had ability suppressor devices, there had been high school students using abilities to cheat in the past two years.

There had been situations like using a disguise ability on a top scholar so that the top scholar could take the exam in the student’s place or using telepathy to communicate the exam questions to others outside the exam hall and receive the answers from them. Such scenarios and more had been discovered previously.

Furthermore, these were just the ones that were caught. Who knows how many more had escaped notice? Although government-employed ability users proctored the exam, they could not keep up with the students’ creativity.

Of course, Chen Heng did not know if this solution could stop ability users who could see the future from cheating, but it was unlikely. After all, time ability users were extremely, extremely rare. Why else did Luo Li end up in such a miserable state after the Secret Scholar Society discovered her?

Why else would the Special Affairs Bureau be willing to use a honeypot trap (Chen Heng) to entice Luo Li to join the Special Affairs Bureau despite not her mental instability?

Wasn’t it all because time ability users were simply too rare? There were only a few examples in the entire world, and those were just minor abilities, like speeding themselves up. Even so, all the major hidden-world factions fought over these ability users.

Even if there were someone with a time ability to see the future, would such a person use it for something trivial, like seeing the college entrance exam questions or gambling using those questions? The schools for ability users or the Special Affairs Bureau would have recruited such people long ago. Such people were all treasures, the kind these factions would turn hostile at the slightest hint of anyone else trying to recruit them.

Now, the Valkyries had become a force to be reckoned with, even within the hidden world. Celebrities paled in comparison. These goddess-like Valkyries were a far better sight than those celebrities who only had looks.

Back to the main topic. When Chen Heng heard the announcement, he instinctively scanned the crowd. Sure enough, he spotted a few who seemed out of place. Ordinary people wouldn’t notice, but Chen Heng did. Those individuals didn’t leave immediately upon hearing the warning about cheating in the college entrance exams.

These people who helped others cheat to earn money illegally were usually low-level ability users. Such people would never have heard of an ability suppressor device, so they doubted the authenticity of such an announcement.

Even Chen Heng wouldn’t have known about it if he hadn’t used one before. This was the device’s public (mundane world) debut after being kept secret for two years.

“Second warning! This is the second warning. Any examinee intent on cheating using abilities, leave now! We’ll activate the ability suppressor device in 30 seconds. All abilities will suffer from extremely strong suppression. Please do not cause injury to yourself. Thirty, 29, 28...”

Chen Heng watched as the cheaters he’d marked with Will Energy stayed put. These were no timid souls and would not be scared off by an announcement.

Too bad their bravery was misguided, challenging the bottom line of the Special Affairs Bureau. They could have placed their bravery to much better use, yet they came to seek death here.

Vast Sea City was a vital territory in China, and as the best high school there, Vast Sea City First High School had the Special Affairs Bureau’s full attention. It deployed a high-end ability suppressor device and several government-employed ability users to monitor the situation.

A few disguise ability users started to panic when they heard the countdown. Of the four Chen Heng had identified, two quietly left the exam area. He was sure the Special Affairs Bureau’s people had spotted them, too. All those who could join the Special Affairs Bureau were competent.

These were only the disguise ability users. Chen Heng had the hunch that there were countless other types of ability users among the examinees. Of course, most of them would be the examinees themselves rather than substitutes.

As the countdown slowly approached zero, Chen Heng unhurriedly climbed to a slightly higher platform to look at the examinees below and watch the excitement.

“...Three, two, one!” Buzz!