Popularity is everything; I play a super genius

“Countless ‘stains’ accumulate and converge, eventually forming a ‘vortex’ that is enough to pierce the boundary between reality and the void. This is the origin of the ‘rift’.”

"One of our duties as Echoers is to cleanse these 'stains' and prevent a large influx of Void Beasts from threatening the safety of the city-state."

He paused, then looked around at everyone: "Today you are to clear a small rift rated D. It will contain a large number of Tier 1 Void Beasts and a small number of Tier 2 Void Beasts."

"Your task is to work together to complete the area sweep within the specified time. Wear your recording devices. Ms. Tsukimi, the other judges, and I will evaluate each of you based on the real-time footage, including your on-the-spot judgment, combat skills, and teamwork."

He repeatedly emphasized several safety rules and emergency plans before finally announcing:

"The assessment begins!"

Students from Class 1 and Class 8 stepped into the rift entrance one after another.

The light suddenly dimmed.

Inside the fissure lies the ruins of an eroded old town.

The wreckage of buildings was twisted and piled up, the sky was dark purple, fine ash floated in the air, and a faint low-frequency hum could be heard underfoot.

When students from both classes appeared on camera together for the first time, viewers quickly noticed some issues.

Surprisingly, there was also someone wearing a mask in the crowd of students.

"Holy crap, their character settings are the same?"

"Two masked characters?"

"Host, host, your alternate self has appeared!"

"But as expected, the streamer's mask looks better."

The masked man on the other side of Class One is Su Shi from the Thousand Faces family, and was also the original candidate for the five-star card "Thousand Faces".

Therefore, to some extent, Saki is actually seizing the other party's niche in the anime series.

Now that I've finally met the person in question, I can't help but feel a little embarrassed.

However awkward it may be, Saki will not hold back.

He's determined to get the "Thousand Faces" card!

In order to highlight her "unpredictable" personality in front of the camera, and thus better match the characteristics of the "Thousand Faces" card—

Qi Ji even took the initiative to step forward and greet him, saying, "Hey, this assessment is quite troublesome. Do you need to team up?"

When Su Shi saw Qi Ji, his eyes under the mask instantly turned cold, and an unnamed fire suddenly rose in his heart.

The Thousand Faces family has passed down the name "Thousand Faces" through generations, and its members often wear masks, symbolizing "a thousand faces and an unpredictable nature."

She has been strong-willed since childhood, and in the impression of those around her, she has always been a synonym for "mask" and "genius," and the focus of everyone's attention.

But all of this changed after this guy, Saki, who appeared out of nowhere, suddenly appeared.

She also wears a mask and is also known as a "genius," but she is more arrogant, more mysterious, and more popular than her!

Unbeknownst to many, when people mention "the masked genius," the first person that comes to mind is Saki Sakuya, not the Thousand-Faced Woman.

She seemed to be living in the other person's shadow.

It's unclear when exactly, but defeating her opponent became her obsession.

Team up? Are you kidding me!

Su Shi glanced at Qi Ji and said, feigning composure, "You find even this D-level rift troublesome, and you still have the nerve to talk to me about joining forces?"

She's quite arrogant, isn't she?

Qi Ji smiled and returned to his class.

"Appeal to the world—!"

At the same time, a crisp sound rang out.

Bai Lili jogged out from the Class 8 line, raised her little hand high and waved enthusiastically at Su Shigao.

"Would you like to come to my house after school today? Your father and mother miss you very much."

Seeing Bai Lili being so enthusiastic towards boys from other classes, many boys in Class 8 immediately looked rather unpleasant.

With their top-notch modeling skills, Bai Lili and Liuli gained immense popularity in their class on their very first day of school.

"Don't let the good stuff go to outsiders" is an unspoken idea among many boys.

Seeing the awkward atmosphere, a girl in the class who seemed to know something about it lowered her voice and explained with a laugh:

"Don't you know? The Bai family and the Qianmian family officially formed a marriage alliance several years ago. The marriage partners are Bai Lili and Young Master Su Shi."

"what?!"

"real or fake?!"

Upon hearing this devastating news, a chorus of heartbroken wails erupted from the boys in Class 8.

Along with the lamentations, the chat room comments were also filled with cries of despair:

"A marriage alliance?? Draw your sword, masked man! Let's duel!"

"Guys, I've been dumped!"

"On the bright side, what if there's actually a beautiful girl behind that mask?"

"Why don't you just say that there's a beautiful girl under Saki's mask?"

Faced with Bai Lili's enthusiasm, Su Shi seemed a little awkward and turned his head slightly away.

At this moment, a burly young man stepped forward.

Pan Yan is the class monitor of Class 1.

He first nodded to Saki and the rest of Class 8, then proposed:

"The teacher told us to make our own decisions. In my opinion, to maximize efficiency, our two classes should divide the area and work separately. Class One can clean the east area, and Class Eight can clean the west area, then we can meet up at the center. What do you think?"

Qi Ji looked at everyone in the class and, seeing that they had no objections, nodded in agreement.

He had read the plot summary and knew that this D-level assessment would be slightly more difficult than the standard due to some unexpected factors.

However, as a top-tier class, Class One is composed of carefully selected geniuses, possessing formidable overall strength. Therefore, dealing with such an unexpected situation is not a problem for them.

Saki should have been one of them, but unfortunately, the tuition for Class 1 was a bit more expensive than for other classes...

Therefore, he decisively chose Class 8, which offered better value for money.

Not only can it save money, but it also makes it easier to get shots of the main characters.

Watching the students from Class One walk away, many students from Class Eight couldn't contain themselves any longer.

"Everyone from Class One has left, let's go too!"

"Finish cleaning up as soon as possible, then go home!"

"Aim for a high score!"

Everyone echoed this sentiment.

After all, performance evaluations are directly linked to future resource allocation, and the faster and cleaner the sweep is completed, the higher the evaluation will be.

Class 8 ventured deeper into the western area.

Not far along, Liuli, who had released butterflies to investigate, suddenly spoke with a grave expression:

"A horde of Void Beasts has been spotted ahead! Quite a few!"

Everyone immediately went on high alert and advanced slowly.

After passing through a patch of low, fluorescent, and strange bushes, a scene came into view on a relatively open, corroded clearing—

In the center of the open space, nearly twenty ferocious-looking virtual beasts lay prone.

They are covered with dark, rock-like carapaces, have inverted triangular heads, sharp mouthparts, six pairs of limbs covered with barbs, and a sharp barb with a venom sac trailing from their tails.

It turned out to be the most troublesome gregarious Void Beast in the D-level rift—

"Rock Armored Scorpion!"

……

……

Chapter Twelve is ready, time to go!

The Rock Armored Scorpion possesses above-average individual strength among first-tier Void Beasts. Its carapace provides excellent defense, while its poisonous stinger attacks are insidious and difficult to deal with.

What's more troublesome is their highly socialized gregarious nature.

Once they reach a certain scale, it means that at least one "leader" of rank two or above must have emerged among them to unite so many unruly individuals.

As if to confirm everyone's guess, the rock-armored scorpion, which was originally lying on the ground and was a size larger than its kind, slowly stood up in the very center of the open space.

"Glala..."

The shells rub together, producing a teeth-grinding sound.

When it stood up completely, the sheer size of it created an overwhelming sense of pressure that made many trainees gasp.

It was more than four times larger than a regular rock scorpion, resembling a moving, rock-armored hill!

Its carapace is a darker color, with a faint metallic sheen, and its tail stinger is as thick as a short spear, with an ominous, dark purple tip.

Not a typical second-order...

It was actually a second-tier leader that had reached the upper level!

In addition, there were two slightly larger, darker-colored Tier 2 lower-level scorpions, and sixteen ordinary Tier 1 scorpions...

Everyone's expression changed.

I never expected to run into this kind of situation in my first battle.

A herd of beasts with a leader is exceptionally united; if one is attacked, the rest will swarm in.

Tactics like pulling monsters together or taking them down one by one simply won't work.

Once you decide to confront them, you can only fight them all at once.

There are 20 students in Class 8.

Those who can enter Echo Academy all possess the strength to defeat a Tier 1 Void Beast on their own.

However, facing a second-tier void beast head-on requires the combined strength of several people—

Moreover, the "second order" mentioned here specifically refers to the lower level.

If it's intermediate or even advanced level...

Everyone's eyes turned to Saki.

Sensing the gazes of the crowd, Qi Ji shrugged indifferently and stepped out from the crowd.

"I'll take the biggest one; you guys handle the rest."

The recording devices worn by everyone transmitted the images and sounds back to the academy in real time.

Several teachers responsible for grading couldn't help but frown as they looked at the multi-angle images transmitted back simultaneously.

"The detection report only indicated a small Class D rift, right? But the density and strength of this Void Beast in the West District... are already approaching the edge of a Class C rift!"

"And a second-tier superior Void Beast leader has appeared..."

"It's possible that the recent unusual fluctuations in the surrounding emotions have accelerated the accumulation of 'stains'."

"These are all promising talents. What if there are serious injuries or deaths during the assessment..."

Should we order a halt?

"Let's wait and see. If that kid named Saki is really as strong as the rumors say... then maybe he's worth believing."

……

Hearing that Qi Ji had taken on the most difficult task of leading, the members of Class 8 felt relieved and the pressure was greatly reduced.

Soon, under the organization of several stronger students, the remaining virtual beasts were quickly "claimed".

Everyone drew their guns and entered combat mode.

Before awakening their aggressive Echo, trainees can generally only rely on firearms to effectively kill Void Beasts.