"Who?!"

The long-haired youth instinctively asked, but no one answered him. He quickly looked down to check.

Only then did he realize that completing the C-level task for the first time was not done by one person alone.

A message floated across the chat channel on his arm display—[Congratulations to new blood Teng Xiangqing, Wan Ming, Xu... for completing the first C+ level task.]

"A team completed it..."

The long-haired youth counted and found a total of five names listed in the announcement.

On the new blood assessment rankings, indeed, the names of five people appeared.

However, except for Teng Xiangqing at the top with a score of 430 points, the other four under him had scores mostly in the teens or low twenties.

"Why is there such a large difference in the score after a team completes a task?"

The mature-looking, dark-skinned youth, Xiang Shenghao, frowned at the rankings.

"Isn't it obvious? It must be an expert carrying them..."

The punk girl, Xu Chengying, said nonchalantly, chewing her gum.

With a snort, the blue-haired youth, He Jun, looked at the electric light flashing between his fingers and said scornfully, "An expert? Just a C+ level task, the strongest enemy is only just below C-level. If it were me, I could also complete it alone..."

The long-haired young man couldn't help but frown.

"You make it sound as if we were all holding you back... But this Teng Xiangqing is indeed an expert. He studied Ancient Martial Arts from a young age, maxed out his genetic enhancement by the age of eighteen, and even had B+ level New Martial Lightning Strength transplanted. His comprehensive strength rating is said to be B-level. His preliminary rating... is even S-grade!"

"B+ level Lightning Strength? S-grade preliminary evaluation?!"

Upon hearing these words, the blue-haired boy's face changed slightly, and he asked, "Where did you get this information?"

"Someone already dug it up on the public chat channel."

The long-haired youth held out his wrist display and said mockingly, "Teng Xiangqing is from the Teng Family of the Southern District of the Sum Nation. He's a young master of high status, coming to the Yellow Bear for some 'gold plating.' If you don't believe me, read the public channel messages yourself. Oh, right, you can also search online. The profiles of these direct heirs from prominent families are constantly updated online."

The blue-haired boy said nothing, his face turning ugly.

His arrogance and confidence stemmed from his recently transplanted C+ level New Martial Arts Blue Electric Finger, and he had already passed the integration period long ago.

Because of this, his first preliminary evaluation by his recommender, a White Bear Guard, reached A-level.

However, this seemed... insufficient compared to Lightning Strength, a B+ electric-type New Martial Art.

Lightning Strength is an internal New Martial Art, developed following the principles of Vigor found in Ancient Martial Arts.

The transplantation requires the remodeling of parts of the body's skeletal structure, muscles, and meridians; its complexity and precision far surpassed what the Blue Electric Finger could compare to.

Moreover, its power after the transformation was immensely powerful.

B+ level Lightning Strength, upon entering the Great Completion Period, was enough to support the cultivator's strength, allowing them to easily advance to A-level.

No wonder Teng Xiangqing's preliminary rating could reach S-grade.

The long-haired youth was right. This was indeed a "young master from a prestigious family," an expert-level figure!

The long-haired young man did leave some face for the blue-haired youth. He rapidly switched the topic after scoffing at him, cleared his throat, and said, "We can't compete with those kinds of guys who are clearly aiming for the top spot in the assessment. Let's just focus on our own tasks. I've checked. The level of the tasks is generally one level higher than the strongest enemy we will encounter. That is, in a B- level task, the strongest enemy won't exceed C+. In a B-level task, the strongest enemy won't exceed B-... and so on."

"Let's keep reporting our strengths, and we can discuss and set a target for the highest difficulty task we can challenge..."

"DING-DONG..."

Before the long-haired youth finished speaking, the wrist displays of the four started ringing again.

"Damn it!"

He couldn't resist tapping the table, mumbling, "Why are these guys so fast? Ignore the messages. Let's hurry up and focus on our own..."

But someone had already habitually looked down to check the message on their wrist display.

"PUFF...POP!"

The bubble gum bubble Xu Chengying, the punk girl, had just blown, burst with a POP! and stuck to her face.

She stared at the screen of her wrist display, her expression stunned, as if she had seen something utterly unbelievable.

"What's wrong with you? Seen a ghost?" the blue-haired youth beside her couldn't resist a snide remark.

Xu Chengying, unusually, didn't snap back. Instead, she actually nodded, her expression dazed. "Yes, I've seen a ghost... Someone has already achieved the first completion of a B-level task."

"What?!"

The other three at the table—the long-haired youth, Xiang Shenghao, and He Jun—jolted violently upon hearing this.

First completion of a B-level task?!

The impact and shock of this were many times greater than the first completion of the C+ level task from earlier.

These achievements were announced around the same time... but the significance behind them was completely different.

"And it's... a solo first completion!" Xu Chengying murmured.

The three youths were even more astonished, instinctively asking, "Who did it?"

Even Teng Xiangqing, the esteemed young master of the Teng Family, only managed a C+ first completion, and that was with a team.

What kind of monster was so much fiercer than him?

To solo a B-level task, one would need at least B-, if not B-level strength, right?

Xu Chengying, her face covered in bubble gum, looked at the three of them and uttered a name in a peculiar, low voice: "Lu Yuan."

"Lu Yuan?"

The three of them had already found the newly released all-channel notification on their wrist displays—

[Congratulations to new blood Lu Yuan on completing the first B-level task.]

"Who is Lu Yuan?"

"That name sounds familiar... I think I've heard it somewhere..."

They exchanged a few mumbles. After a brief silence, suddenly... BOOM! The small square pub table where the four of them were sitting exploded into smithereens under the simultaneous impact of several uncontrolled bursts of their power.

「...」

In a spacious, abandoned parking lot.

The cracked cement ground was littered with broken machinery parts and scorched black marks, as if from intense electrical discharges and fire.

In the center of the open space stood a bald youth, about 1.9 meters tall, with a robust yet well-proportioned and slender build.

His eyes were slightly narrowed, his hands hanging naturally at his sides.

His body crackled with many tiny blue sparks of electricity, making him look like a superhero who had just stepped out of a science fiction movie.

"HUUH—"

Once the youth had gathered all the electric sparks back into his body and expelled a breath tinged with a faint blue light, a thin young man with dyed brownish-yellow hair finally dared to approach him.

But as he drew near the youth, the residual ions in the air around the latter still made his body hair stand on end; even the yellow hair on his head seemed to fluff up with a BANG.

"Mr. Teng!"

The yellow-haired man looked at the other youth's shiny bald head. He's so handsome, yet he shaved his head. So that's the reason, huh? Yeah, even for a good-looking guy, walking around with an explosive hairstyle every day would be ridiculous. Going bald is definitely more distinctive.

"The mission target has been dealt with, but we lost one."

The yellow-haired youth pointed to the side, where a middle-aged man was leading a little girl out of the abandoned parking lot, escorted by the rest of their team.

On the ground lay a woman, showing no signs of life. It was clear they had originally been a family of three.

Her mother dead, the little girl was crying her heart out.

The middle-aged man, however, didn't seem sad at all; his eyes, in fact, held a distinct glimmer of joy as he was trying to console her, "Nine-Nine, don't cry. Mommy is just sleeping. She'll be back in a few days..."

Teng Xiangqing, the bald youth, swept a glance over them, his own closely cropped eyebrows slightly furrowed. He remained silent.

He had actually noticed the "hostage's" death earlier.

His B+ grade Lightning Strength had only recently been transplanted, and he hadn't yet completed his conditioning period, so his control over it wasn't sufficient.

During the recent battle, although he had been very careful, he had inevitably allowed some of the leaking Lightning Strength to affect one of the "hostages," leading to her death.

"You'll probably lose some points, but it's not a big deal for you, Mr. Teng."

The yellow-haired youth laughed and said, "I just checked. Just as you predicted, Mr. Teng, after completing a C-rank mission, the data for B-rank missions has indeed all been unlocked. Now it just depends on which B-rank mission you want to choose, Mr. Teng. The few of us will definitely do our best to assist."

"You guys don't need to assist much..."

Teng Xiangqing shook his head and casually opened his mission map. "I can handle a B-rank mission on my own. You just need to help me clear out the ordinary guards up ahead. Try to conserve your strength; be ready to accompany me when I challenge A-rank missions. I'll also take this opportunity to properly practice controlling my Lightning Strength."

"Mr. Teng is formidable! We'll follow Mr. Teng's arrangements."

The yellow-haired youth flattered him with a grin.

These new bloods had all been contacted before the assessment began.

The Teng Family had promised them that as long as they cooperated well with Teng Xiangqing during the assessment, not only would their passage through the new blood assessment be guaranteed, but each of them would also receive a large sum of money afterward.

Given the amount the Teng Family promised, a few flattering words... were hardly shameful.

As the two were talking, suddenly, a pleasant chime sounded from their wrist-devices.

Both of them lowered their heads to check.

"HISS—"

After clearly seeing the message, the yellow-haired youth drew a sharp breath and exclaimed with a touch of awe, "Solo-cleared a B-rank mission! What kind of powerhouse is this? Damn impressive, 666...."

After exclaiming, he suddenly remembered Teng Xiangqing was still standing beside him.

He hastily changed his tune and questioned with an air of righteous indignation, "That's unreasonable! How could it be so fast? Besides, we're the only ones who have passed a C-rank mission so far. This guy hasn't unlocked the mission data, so how could he take on a B-rank? Mr. Teng, I suspect this person named Lu Yuan is cheating!"

Teng Xiangqing glanced at him, remained silent for a moment, then said softly, "Who said you can't challenge a B-rank mission without unlocking the data? The assessment rules don't stipulate that you have to start from C-rank missions and work your way up. The mission data is just an indirect way to help us lower the mission difficulty...."

"Er..."

The yellow-haired young man paused, realizing there seemed to be some truth to that.

"...This person must be extremely confident in his own strength, so confident that even without knowing anything about the enemy, he's sure he can crush them solo. Interesting!"

Teng Xiangqing took his eyes off his wrist-device; a faint blue light seemed to flicker in his dark pupils.

"It seems I've been too conservative.... I originally thought there wouldn't be any real competition in this assessment, but it turns out there are a few individuals who can actually make one take notice."

Teng Xiangqing drew a deep breath, and the electric energy around him surged. The yellow hair on the head of the young man beside him now stood up so much that he could barely press it down with his hand.

"Next mission, choose B+. This time.... None of you are to make a move. I will.... solo it!"

"Ye...Yes, Mr. Teng."

「...」

Lu Yuan stepped out of an office building.

From between the twenty-third and twenty-seventh floors of the building behind him, thick smoke was pouring out.

The people on the street turned a blind eye to it; only a few paused.

But even they only looked up, snapped a few photos, and then walked away.

"What an indifferent world."

Lu Yuan pushed up the black-rimmed glasses on his nose and sighed softly, "Here... only the surging passion of battle can bring me a sliver of warmth."

He sighed lightly and used his wrist-device to dial the fire department in Smokeless City.

Lu Yuan had just completed a B-rank mission.

Originally, he had planned to go to a C+ mission point.

Halfway there, he suddenly remembered that Gao Qing had evaluated him as C-rank strength a few months ago. Still doing C-rank missions... isn't that a complete waste of time?

So, he changed his target midway and went to the nearest B-rank mission.

He had initially intended to go to the B+ mission point next door.

But that B+ mission required rescuing hostages, which Lu Yuan found too troublesome, so he chose this B-rank mission that only required destroying the enemy's nest for completion.

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