Inside the dueling arena—
A suffocating silence fell.
Everyone stood frozen in disbelief, their expressions blank, their minds utterly blank.
They were stunned.
Truly and completely stunned.
Every single person who had just witnessed it—
the spectators who'd rushed over,
the staff of the Ability User Guild,
even the referee—
all stared wide-eyed, mouths agape,
as if someone had just unplugged their souls.
They weren't just shocked—
they were utterly dumbfounded.
Drip… drip… drip…
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
Only after a full three seconds of dead silence did everyone finally begin to process what they'd just seen.
They looked up at Zhao Xuan—
standing tall and calm on the stage, confidence radiating from him—
then at Cao Hu, the Third-Tier examiner,
who was clutching his chest and trying—very ungracefully—to get back to his feet.
And then, in everyone's minds, the same two words appeared in bold, flashing lights:
What. The. Hell!?
The crowd erupted.
"Wh-what just happened? WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED!?"
"Holy shit! HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT!"
"Did I see that right?!"
"Wait—wait—Cao Hu LOST!?"
"How is that even possible!? How did Cao Hu lose to an eighteen-year-old!?"
Confused voices, shouts, gasps, and curses all collided into a roaring wave of chaos.
No one could make sense of it.
Their brains were still buzzing—
filled with disbelief, shock, and complete bewilderment.
Just what in the world had they witnessed!?
And then—
Zhao Xuan broke the silence.
He turned toward the referee below the stage and called out casually,
"Referee, does this mean I've passed the Third-Tier Ability User assessment?"
"Referee?"
"Referee?"
"Referee!?"
He had to call out four or five times before the referee—still stunned by the sight of Cao Hu being launched off the stage—finally blinked and snapped out of his trance.
"Huh? Oh—ah? You're… calling me? What is it?" the man stammered.
"I asked," Zhao Xuan repeated,
"this should count as passing the Third-Tier exam, right?"
The referee blinked again, turned his head toward Cao Hu,
who was still coughing and covered in dust,
hesitated for a moment, then said,
"W-wait here for a second!"
He rushed over to the recording terminal nearby and began replaying the footage.
The entire "fight"…
had lasted less than three seconds.
Two kicks.
Just two kicks—
and a Third-Tier Ability User had been knocked out cold.
The referee replayed it again.
And again.
And again.
After watching it seven or eight times,
he finally turned back to Zhao Xuan,
his face pale, eyes wide,
and voice trembling as he spoke:
"Y-you've… p-passed. You've officially passed the Third-Tier Ability User assessment."
The words hit like a thunderclap.
The entire arena exploded again.
"WHAT THE HELL!!!"
"Are high schoolers really this insane nowadays!?"
"Cao Hu got one-shotted!?"
"No way! He must've gone easy on him!"
"Yeah, yeah—he must've! That had to be staged! A high school kid can't possibly have that kind of power!"
"This is rigged! Totally rigged! There's no way that was real!"
The accusations, curses, and gasps came one after another.
But Zhao Xuan didn't care.
He wasn't interested in explaining himself.
He just wanted to go take some missions and start making money.
However—
just because he didn't care didn't mean the guild could ignore it.
Because if they didn't address the controversy,
this incident could damage the guild's reputation.
So, facing the increasingly chaotic crowd,
the referee raised his voice and declared:
"Everyone, please calm down! The recording of this Third-Tier assessment will be played publicly on the main arena screen shortly. You'll all be able to see for yourselves whether there was any foul play involved!"
With that said, he turned back toward Zhao Xuan, who was just about to leave, and called out,
"Mr. Zhao! Please wait a moment!"
Zhao Xuan stopped and looked back.
"Is there something else?"
"Yes," the referee said quickly.
"According to regulations, the footage from assessments isn't normally made public—it could expose a candidate's unique abilities. But since there's been so much dispute about this case, we have to release the footage to maintain transparency."
He hesitated for a second, then added carefully,
"As compensation for broadcasting your battle, the guild is willing to pay you two hundred thousand yuan. Would that be acceptable to you?"
"Two hundred thousand?"
Zhao Xuan raised an eyebrow, pleasantly surprised.
"Yes," the referee confirmed with a nod.
"No problem! Absolutely no problem!" Zhao Xuan replied with a wide grin.
"Excellent! Please wait here for a moment, Mr. Zhao. I'll confirm with the finance department and then escort you to receive your payment."
"Sounds good," Zhao Xuan said, nodding cheerfully.
As the referee hurried off,
the crowd still buzzed in disbelief,
and all anyone could think was—
"What the hell did we just witness!?"
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