Chapter 1112: 99. Gluttony

Muen sat down in the examination room and observed his surroundings.

It was called an examination room, but it was only a few mud houses temporarily opened up and connected together. As for the environment, even if one could not call it magnificent, one could at least say it was shabby as hell.

Even the “exam papers” used for the examination were thinly polished stone tablets. After all, in this place starved of sunlight, whether it was paper made from plant fiber, or various paper substitutes like linen, parchment, or bamboo slips, they were all rare goods. It was impossible for ordinary people to use them.

The only thing that could be used was stone tablets.

So Muen waited for quite a while before Bear King Theresa finally walked into the examination room with a pained expression, carrying a huge stack of stone tablets taller than he was.

Printing so many stone tablets at once, even for a man who came and went like the wind, made his mighty arm ache faintly.

“Everyone, don’t cheat. Take the exam honestly, people first. Of course, if you insist on cheating, that’s fine too, as long as you aren’t discovered by me or the other proctors here, it counts as passing. The time limit is two hours. Hand it in directly once you’re done.”

There were not as many rules as the examinations Muen was familiar with. The stone tablets were handed out, answers were written with the stone pens placed beside them, and the task was simply to finish within two hours.

There was not even a fixed starting time. Quite a few people still came in midway to take the exam. But this time, the person responsible for proctoring was Bear King Theresa, a Pioneer. One could imagine how difficult it would be to cheat under his nose.

Especially after the stone tablets were handed out, Muen noticed that many people’s expressions immediately became extremely ugly.

It seemed the difficulty was not low.

“But what does that have to do with me, an empty-headed outsider? Since they said cheating is allowed, then don’t blame me for being rude.”

Muen’s gaze quickly locked onto a man diagonally behind him. He looked rather thin and weak, but unlike the others who were wailing, gritting their teeth, cursing, or pulling at their hair, he had begun writing furiously the moment the stone tablets were handed out, as if the questions on the tablet caused him no obstruction whatsoever.

“You’re the one!”

The corner of Muen’s mouth tilted. Heat gathered behind him, and he was just about to move...

A warning sign suddenly came.

“Mm?”

His butt had already left the bench by one centimeter, but Muen still forcefully stopped his own movement. He alertly turned his head and discovered that, within time slowed by several dozen times, Theresa was slowly shifting his gaze toward him.

That fast?

Muen calculated it. There was not enough time.

He seemed to have been a little too careless. The other party was at least a Pioneer. Peeking right in front of him was too disrespectful.

He should pretend to be a good student first.

Muen dispelled the time delay and put on an act of earnestly looking at the questions, waiting for the moment when the other party would move his gaze away... But after waiting for a while, to his surprise, the opportunity he expected did not arrive.

Theresa circled around the examination room once, then stopped directly beside him. At the same time, he stared at Muen with two copper-bell-like eyes.

“What is it, Bear King?” Muen blinked.

“Heh, nothing.”

Theresa chuckled.

“It’s just that the president thinks very highly of you, so he asked me to take extra care of you.”

“Thinks highly of me?”

Muen was “overwhelmed by favor.”

“I am merely an ordinary traveler. How could I be worthy of such favor from the president?”

“I’m not too clear on that either. This is the first time I’ve seen someone the president values so much.”

Theresa scratched his head.

“But no matter what, not many people receive this kind of honor from the president. Kid, if you need anything, just say it. I’ll satisfy you as much as possible.”

Muen thought for a moment.

“I want some water.”

“Sure.”

A cup of clear water was brought over.

Theresa remained unmoving.

“I want something to eat.”

“Of course.”

A boiled potato was brought over.

Theresa remained unmoving.

“...I want to go to the bathroom.”

“No problem.”

Several burly men were brought over.

Theresa still remained unmoving.

Under Muen’s horrified gaze, Theresa pointed at them.

“They’ll go with you.”

“...”

What “satisfy you as much as possible”? In reality, he was just watching him and preventing him from cheating, right?

Muen swept his peripheral vision around and discovered that it was not only Theresa. Several people throughout the examination room...

No, after Theresa’s extremely obvious special treatment, almost everyone had locked their gazes onto Muen.

...The examination result was already no longer important. It seemed this entire examination had been nothing more than dumplings made for his plate of vinegar.

What a dog.

They were doing everything they could to get a grip on him...

However... heh.

“Forget it, Bear King.”

Muen responded with a reassuring smile.

“I will not trouble everyone. The things and the people can all go back. I have nothing else for now.”

“Haha, no trouble, no trouble.”

Theresa nodded. In reality, he also did not understand exactly what Theodore meant. He had been responsible for quite a few rounds of examinations, but staring at one person to this extent was still a first.

But since it was the president’s order, he could only complete it properly and keep his eyes fixed on this young man.

As long as he had even the slightest issue, he would expose him directly!

Under the surveillance of his Bear King self, no one could cheat. Absolutely no one!

“Heh...”

Muen still looked as harmless as ever. Sunlight fell across the side of his face, causing some girls in the examination room to unconsciously blush.

After confirming that the path of obtaining answers from others was blocked, Muen’s attention finally truly returned to the stone tablet.

The questions written on it... he could not understand a single one.

—Of course he could not understand them. He was not a native of this place. As for the questions they had proposed, the fact that he could recognize all the words was already the result of cramming ancient writing some time ago.

As for answering the questions?

How could he possibly do that? It was not as if he were some self-taught genius.

And leaving aside an outsider like him, even the pass rate among locals here did not seem high. Before they came, Marcie had secretly warned him that during the exam she had taken, the pass rate had been less than ten percent.

Which meant... peeking at the answers beside him did not seem like a good method either. After all, the odds of winning that gamble were truly too low.

“So, how exactly am I supposed to finish this?”

Muen twirled the stone pen and thought...

Since he could not rely on outsiders, he could only rely on himself. But knowledge was not something that appeared out of thin air. It was the result of effort and sweat.

Wait, effort and sweat?

A flash of inspiration suddenly sparked in Muen’s mind.

Speaking of effort and sweat, then it could only be...

“I still have to rely on you...”

Murmuring this, Muen slowly closed his eyes.

“Black Book.”

In his mental space, the black book floated upward.

The pages opened. This time, before Muen had even issued an instruction, a large amount of writing as well as some strange diagrams had already appeared on them.

And the records of these characters and words came from...

Marcie’s record book!

That was right. As an outsider, of course he could not handle this examination. But for Marcie, it was completely different. She was last year’s first place in the exam!

This record book, filled with her painstaking effort, naturally also gathered all her knowledge. As long as he used this knowledge... a mere exam was nothing more than a piece of cake!

This was the power of effort and sweat!

Although it was not his effort and sweat, there was no difference.

The corner of Muen’s mouth tilted, and he quickly flipped through the words on the Black Book. This time, the Black Book was extremely considerate. It even had automatic keyword search. Whenever Muen’s gaze reached a question, related information would automatically appear on the pages.

With this kind of assistance, answering the questions naturally became a piece of cake. Muen directly grabbed the stone pen and wrote furiously.

“I’m done.”

A few minutes later, Muen handed the already completed stone tablet to Theresa.

“That fast?”

Theresa was dumbfounded.

“Even faster than me knowing I can’t answer, giving up, and randomly writing bullshit?”

The man diagonally behind him was equally shocked.

“...”

So this guy had been randomly writing after all. Good thing he had not copied him.

“There is no need to be overly surprised, everyone.”

Muen modestly pressed his hand downward.

“This is all merely the result of effort and sweat.”

“...Is it?”

Theresa accepted the stone tablet with a look of disbelief. Finished answering even faster than someone randomly scribbling? He did not believe it. One had to know, this was a highly difficult question bank personally set by the president. The expected pass rate among these examinees was only five percent.

With questions this difficult, how could this guy possibly answer so fast?

Impossible, absolutely impossible!

He must also have been randomly writing!

If he really had answered that fast, Theresa would eat this stone tablet!

...

...

Office.

Theodore stood with his hands behind his back, looking through the gap in the curtains at the busy crowd outside.

As president, he spent most of every day busy. Observing the way ordinary people worked hard to live counted as one of his few ways of relaxing.

However, at this moment, he was not completely relaxed. His mind was still thinking about matters related to that outsider.

The plan... should be going smoothly, right?

“The exam is over?”

Sensing Theresa enter the room, Theodore asked indifferently,

“The result is out?”

“Mm... Crunch, crunch... It’s out.”

“That’s good. He definitely didn’t pass, right... Hm? What are you eating?”

Theodore turned his head and discovered that Theresa was chewing something with an utterly miserable expression. Intense cracking sounds came from his mouth.

“Nothing. Just a little snack.”

“Oh.”

Theodore did not pursue it too much.

“How was the result? That guy didn’t pass, right?”

Although everything was within his expectations, he still casually asked.

“He passed.”

“Mm, as expected...”

Theodore froze. The few blades of stubborn grass on top of his head trembled.

“What did you say?”

“I said he passed.”

Theresa revealed a bitter smile.

“And it was a perfect score. The only perfect score.”

“Impossible!”

Theodore’s voice, always calm and composed, turned sharp.

Passed?

And a perfect score?

How was that possible?

If it were someone else, he would not have lost his composure like this. But that person... according to the Goddess, he was an outsider!

An outsider who originally knew nothing about Annabawei wanted to pass the most difficult examination here. Was that reasonable?

That was completely unreasonable!

He could not possibly be so much of a genius that, in a mere few days, he had mastered all the knowledge of this place!

“Did he cheat?”

“No. I watched him the whole time. His eyes did not even move.”

“Then it is absolutely impossible! Where is the stone tablet? If he can get a perfect score, I’ll eat the stone tablet directly!”

“Here.”

Theresa handed over the stone tablet, his smile somewhat meaningful.

“Mm?”

Theodore accepted the stone tablet, then froze again. For some reason, the originally square stone tablet... was missing one corner?

He looked at Theresa suspiciously, but he had no time to say anything. His attention quickly fell onto the stone tablet.

Two minutes later...

He understood why the stone tablet was missing one corner.

“Does the stone tablet taste good?”

“Not bad.”

Theresa burped.

“The texture is pretty good.”

“...”