Chapter 31: Fooled by him

Most of the students at Saint Water Middle School are boarders; a few who live off-campus use the school’s south gate, while external visitors like Qiao Sang uniformly use the north gate.

The north gate was tightly shut, and the security guard in the guardhouse hadn’t started work yet.

Qiao Sang checked the time for the nth time.

8:52 AM.

Only 28 minutes remained until 9:20 AM, the assembly time for Saint Water Middle School’s special enrollment exam.

Aside from Qiao Sang and her Fire Fang Dog, there wasn’t even a passerby at the large north gate.

Qiao Sang couldn’t help but yawn sleepily.

If only she had known, she would have stayed in bed longer and not come so early…

8:58 AM.

Eight black dots appeared in the sky, moving from far to near, and in a moment, they landed at the north gate, stirring up dust from the ground.

Qiao Sang tried hard to open her sleepy eyes.

They were eight Black-billed Magpies, each about 2 meters in size.

Their beaks were entirely black, like their feathers, and they had a pair of beautiful black curly tails, making them easy to identify.

From the eight Black-billed Magpies, six males and two females disembarked one after another; they all looked to be around her age.

“Hello, that will be 8,000 alliance coins in total,” said the man on the back of one of the Black-billed Magpies.

“We reported the group purchase price,” a bob-haired girl with a red hairband said anxiously.

The man looked at his companion with his eyes, asking if this was true.

His companion nodded and said, “Yes, they reported the group purchase price.”

“Then it’s 7,222 alliance coins,” the man said.

“Can you give us a further discount? We can call you again when we go back later,” asked the tallest of the six males.

“Please pay for this trip first,” the man did not answer directly.

Since it had come to this, they naturally paid the money first.

After paying, the tallest male asked again, “How much of a discount can we get if we call you later?”

“None,” the man replied.

“What?” The tallest male was stunned.

“No discount,” the man replied to him again.

Everyone: “…”

…

While this group of people was chatting and making transactions, Qiao Sang had already entered Saint Water Middle School with her Fire Fang Dog.

At exactly 9:00 AM, the security guard uncle came out of the school and opened the gate.

He literally clocked in right on time…

Following the route provided on Saint Water Middle School’s official website, Qiao Sang arrived at Field No. 3.

There were only four teachers on the field; compared to Hanggang Sixth Beast Taming Middle School, they seemed to not take this special enrollment competition very seriously.

“Teacher, I’m here for the exam,” Qiao Sang walked over and said.

“ID card,” Sun Boyi said concisely.

Qiao Sang took out her ID card and handed it over.

“Qiao Sang, from Wencheng Middle School?” Sun Boyi lowered his head and confirmed the ID card with the information.

“Yes,” Qiao Sang replied.

Sun Boyi put a checkmark next to Qiao Sang’s name on the paper. “Go sit over there first. We’ll start when everyone is here.” After saying that, he returned her ID card.

When Qiao Sang went to the side, Qin Wen said with interest, “This girl actually contracted a Fire Fang Dog.”

“People who awaken on their own are all conceited. Is it rare for their first Pet to be a difficult-to-control Pet? Lu You, who was recommended to our school this time, didn’t he also contract a Little Horned Dragon?” Zheng Guoping said dismissively.

Qin Wen secretly rolled her eyes.

How could they be the same?

The Little Horned Dragon’s temperament was much better than the Fire Fang Dog’s; it was only because it was a Dragon-type Pet Beast that its price was too high for most people to contract.

One relied on courage to contract a Fire Fang Dog, and the other relied on money to contract a Little Horned Dragon. How could they be the same?

However, Zheng Guoping was difficult to talk to and would explode at the slightest provocation, so she was too lazy to argue with him about this.

A few minutes later, the people who had disembarked from the Black-billed Magpies outside the north gate earlier all walked into the field and lined up to verify their identities.

The bob-haired girl with the hairband, who was the first to finish identity verification, looked around the surroundings, then came and sat next to Qiao Sang, saying familiarly, “You’re also here for the exam. Why didn’t you come with us?”

She subtly glanced at the Fire Fang Dog beside her.

A formidable opponent.

Qiao Sang was confused. “Why would I come with you? Do I know you?”

The bob-haired girl said in surprise, “Didn’t you see the message in the group?”

Qiao Sang was even more confused. “What group? What message?”

“It’s the group that all special enrollment students were asked to join, under the Saint Water Middle School special enrollment official website,” the bob-haired girl explained. “Didn’t we agree in the group to meet at the Oujie Street intersection at a set time and come together?”

Qiao Sang was silent for a moment, then said, “I didn’t join…”

The bob-haired girl: “…”

“That’s not right. There are 9 special enrollment students in the group. If the remaining person isn’t you, who else could it be?” The bob-haired girl asked doubtfully.

Back then, someone in the group said that masters always appear last, and then everyone in the group said they wanted to be the last to arrive.

Li Yang, who was the tallest of the males, later stepped forward and suggested that everyone gather together and arrive together closer to the exam time.

Everyone in the group had awakened on their own.

This time, there were 5 special enrollment spots for Saint Water Middle School. In the future, they might be from the same school, so there was no objection to getting to know each other and building good relationships beforehand.

So, they all decided on Li Yang’s proposal.

Now, only 1 minute was left until 9:20 AM. Including the girl in front of her, there were exactly nine people, so everyone should be here.

Could it be that there were 10 people for this special enrollment?

Just as the bob-haired girl was about to say something, a startling cry suddenly came from behind her.

Turning to look, they saw a four-legged Flying-type Pet with a long, slender tail, a body mostly blue with gray-black wings, and its entire body covered in thick armor, appearing 3 to 4 meters above the ground.

It was a Horned Armored Eagle, a High-level Pet.

Zheng Guoping looked at the Horned Armored Eagle with a deep frown. Their Saint Water Middle School did not allow external Pets to enter. Just as he was about to step forward to stop it, he saw a figure jump down from the Horned Armored Eagle’s back.

“Dad, you go first,” the jumping boy waved and said.

The man riding on the Horned Armored Eagle’s back nodded, and then the Horned Armored Eagle flew away.

“Teacher, I’m not late, am I?” The boy walked up to the teachers and asked.

“Lu Liangye, right? You’re the only one left. Your timing is quite good. If you were two seconds later, you would have been late,” Zheng Guoping scoffed.

Lu Liangye smiled and said nothing, his eyes unconsciously glancing at the other examinees.

Except for Qiao Sang, everyone else understood his meaning.

How about that? Masters are always the last to appear!

Everyone: “…”

Damn it! He really showed off!

Sun Boyi clapped his hands to gather everyone and said, “Everyone is here. Let’s start the exam.”

“Everyone knows the exam rules, right? I’ll say them again here.”

“Ten people, two per group. The five winners rest first, and the other five losers compete to determine one winner. Adding the original five winners, there will be a total of six people.”

“These six people will be divided into three groups. The winners will get the top three spots. The three losers will compete again, and one will be eliminated. The remaining five people will then qualify for our Saint Water Middle School’s special enrollment.”

Understood.

In short, it’s all about luck.

If you happen to be paired with a strong opponent in the initial two-person groups, you can only consider yourself unlucky.

After all, four of the five people who lose initially will be eliminated.

“To ensure fairness, we will draw lots. There are two slips for each number from 1 to 5. Those who draw the same number will automatically form a group,” Qin Wen said, taking out a wooden box.

Soon, everyone had drawn their lots.

“Let’s start with number 1. Who drew number 1?” Qin Wen asked.

“That’s me.” Lu Liangye raised an eyebrow and showed the slip of paper in his hand.

“Who is the other number 1?” Qin Wen continued to ask.

At this moment, a fair hand was raised nearby.

“Me.”

It was Qiao Sang.