The comments said I was deeply affectionate, I just added points by using an alternate account.

Thirty minutes later, the shrill ending bell rang.

Fewer than forty people were still standing inside.

Black Crow stared at the rankings on the screen and announced expressionlessly: "...An Changqing, third; Long Ao, fourth; Su Yuehe, nineteenth; Chen Guan, thirty-second; Liu Feiyu, fifty-fourth."

Just when everyone thought the opening ceremony was over, another figure walked out from the platform.

The man was wearing a crisp instructor's uniform and gold-rimmed glasses.

A gentle, friendly smile played on his lips, completely out of place with the somber atmosphere of the place.

He was only twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, and was refined and cultured.

However, the moment he appeared, Chen Guan's eyelids twitched uncontrollably.

Why does this feel so familiar...?

The instructor clapped his hands gently, and the crisp applause drew everyone's attention to him.

"Thank you for your hard work, everyone."

His voice was warm and gentle, yet it reached everyone's ears clearly.

"Did I miss the best part?"

His gaze swept gently across the entire room, lingering for a moment on the face of each survivor.

The expression on his face suggested he was admiring one masterpiece after another that was perfect.

His smile deepened, but the meaning behind it was hard to fathom.

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Jing, you can call me Instructor Jing. Some people are very good at hiding themselves in the sand, thinking that they won't be discovered that way."

His words made several students hiding on the edge of the room tense up.

Instructor Jing pushed up his glasses, and a ray of light flashed across the lenses.

He continued in that gentle tone, "That's a kind of wisdom, knowing how to avoid risks, and it deserves praise."

He paused for a moment, his tone still gentle, but the content sent chills down one's spine.

"But you've forgotten, this is a training camp."

"And my duty is to find every grain of gold that is unwilling to remain silent, yet tries to hide itself..."

His gaze cut through the crowd and landed directly on the coffin.

Like a scalpel cutting through flesh, separating him from the crowd.

"...They were all pulled out of the sand, grain by grain."

He stretched out a finger and pointed in the direction of the coffin.

The smile on his face was bright, but that also made him seem more dangerous.

"I will personally help you... shine."

Instructor Jing's words had not yet faded.

On the training field, everyone's heads turned in unison.

Nearly a hundred gazes intertwined to form a net, firmly covering the coffin in the corner.

Some astute individuals had already connected the dots to what had just happened, and their faces turned grim.

The person who had been hiding the whole time was eventually exposed and will be thrust into the public eye, with nowhere left to hide.

[Here they come, the instructors are personally going down to the field to target them.]

[I'm in grave danger. This instructor is the kind of seemingly refined but utterly wicked scoundrel who wears a fake smile.]

[Hahaha, Serves you right for hiding! Now you've been made an example of, publicly executed.]

[Why am I feeling a little excited? I love seeing Coffin Bro forced to perform, it's exhilarating.]

An Changqing frowned and took a step forward: "Instructor Jing, Chen Guan is just introverted, he doesn't mean to hide it."

Instructor Jing's smile remained unchanged, and his gaze never left the coffin.

He simply raised his hand and gently pressed it into the air, and a heavy pressure immediately descended upon him.

An Changqing's body sank, as if something was blocking his throat.

They opened their mouths, but no sound came out.

"I appreciate your teamwork," Instructor Jing said gently, "but now, it's personal time."

He pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses.

A pale, cold reflection from a ceiling light streaked across the lens, devoid of any warmth.

"In order to better explore the potential of each student, we will conduct a second test called Deep Sea Listening."

As soon as he finished his announcement, the metal floor in front of everyone cracked open.

A spherical cabin, three meters in diameter and made entirely of matte black metal, rose smoothly.

Its outer shell is seamless, with only a tightly closed hatch at the front.

"The test subjects will enter a completely dark chamber filled with high-pressure turbulence. Your task is to use only your hearing to detect and touch randomly appearing sound sources within three minutes. The sound sources will appear as extremely short beeps, each lasting no more than 0.1 seconds."

These stringent rules elicited a collective gasp from the training ground.

Darkness, high-pressure water jets, and that fleeting sound...

This not only tests hearing, but also a person's physical control, spatial awareness, and reaction speed in extreme environments. People with low mental strength are all frowning in distress.

"Of course, in order to be fair, and also to give our lucky winners a stage to showcase themselves."

Instructor Jing's gaze returned to Chen Guan.

"Chen Guan, you will be the first to be tested, and the difficulty of your test will be increased threefold, the sound source intensity will be reduced by 70%, and the turbulence pressure will be doubled."

"Oh, by the way, if you fail the exam, you'll be deported."

These words drew the attention of the red-haired girl who had been lost in thought, and she cast a curious glance at her.

This is not a test, it's murder.

Chen Guan met Instructor Jing's piercing gaze, his Adam's apple bobbed, but he ultimately remained silent.

He understood that any rebuttal would only become an excuse for the other party to go further, adding to their amusement, and besides, this kind of perverse pleasure seemed strangely familiar.

The sense of déjà vu is getting stronger and stronger.

Chen Guan remained silent and walked towards the black metal sphere.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, some with sympathy and others with schadenfreude, he placed the coffin at the doorway and walked into the testing chamber.

The hatch closed with a dull click as the mechanism locked.

Immediately afterwards, a stream of eerie blue data lit up the entire surface of the sphere.

The images inside were projected onto a huge light screen in the center of the training field.

It was pitch black, blocking out all light, with only the echoing sound of a huge rushing water.

"Test, begin," Instructor Jing announced softly.

Inside the cabin, Chen Guan felt himself being swallowed by the icy, bone-chilling torrent.

The force of the water surged from every direction, pulling at his body and making him unsteady.

The concept of the universe.

Thoughts raced through his mind as his eyes closed in the endless darkness.

Outside, the sea rages; inside, the sky is a silent starry expanse.

In his perception, the entire spherical cabin transformed into a miniature model of the universe.

The flowing water is like a rushing galaxy, and he himself is a small boat navigating that galaxy.

hum...

A faint buzzing sound, almost swallowed by the sound of flowing water, appeared from the left rear and then disappeared.

On the light screen, everyone saw the coffin being pushed to the left and back by a stream of water.

His body tumbled uncontrollably in the water, about to crash into the bulkhead.

However, just as he lost control of his body and his hands were flailing wildly in the water...

His fingertip, however, touched a point on the bulkhead at an incredible angle.

[Audio source successfully captured.]

A mechanical beep sounded.

You could hear a pin drop on the training field.

Everyone stared intently at the strangely posed figure on the screen.

This... will work?

hum...

The second sound source appears in the upper right corner.

Chen Guan's body was once again lifted to the surface by another stream of water.

His limbs flailed wildly, and he floated upwards in a contorted posture.

Then, his forehead bumped right into the second sound source.