Are you kidding me?! The boss of the Hell Dungeon is a loli!

The headquarters building of the Human Federation.

Long Zhanye looked at the Red Moon Domain on the big screen, which had stopped expanding.

A hint of doubt appeared on his scarred face.

The intelligence officer, carrying a tablet computer, hurried into the conference room.

He was even having trouble breathing.

"Commander-in-Chief."

The intelligence officer placed the tablet on the table.

"The energy fluctuations from Red Moon Castle have ceased leaking out; it has completely solidified in the central area of ​​the thirty-seven top-tier cities!"

Hongye toyed with the silver longsword in her hand.

She looked up at the screen.

What does "solidification" mean?

The intelligence officer swallowed hard.

He pulled up a high-resolution image taken by a satellite.

"It has become a physical building standing in the center of the city, and the conditions for entry have been made public."

The picture shows the enormous ancient castle that emits a dark red glow.

The castle gates were open.

A huge sign written in human blood stood in front of the door.

Long Zhanye placed his hands on the table.

He stared at the words on the sign.

"Welcome to Red Moon Castle. Those who succeed will receive supreme power bestowed by the gods, while those who fail will become eternal nourishment for the castle."

Hongye sheathed her long sword.

"What a brilliant and open strategy! She's issuing a challenge to all of humanity."

Hongye's meaning was simple and clear; she immediately understood the true nature of the current situation at Red Moon Castle.

I'll put the copy here.

Come if you want. You can get rewards for clearing the dungeon, but if you fail, you will be completely wiped out of the world!

Long Zhanye slapped the edge of the conference table, causing several deep cracks to appear in the solid wood surface.

"This is clearly robbery!"

He pointed at the ancient castle on the screen, which was emitting a dark red light, and the veins on his forehead bulged.

"They've taken over our city center, and then say they can come and go as they please, or get out if they don't. Do they really think all of humanity are fools they can manipulate at will?!"

Hongye remained seated in her chair, her fingers lightly tapping on the scabbard.

"She has the power to treat us like fools, but this strange lord didn't massacre the city directly, which is the biggest concession she made."

Long Zhanye turned around and stared at Hongye.

"You mean we should be grateful to something bizarre?"

Hongye shook her head and pushed a top-secret file in front of Long Zhanye.

"I'm certain she's fundamentally different from those abyssal monsters that only want to destroy humanity."

"As long as we don't infringe on her interests, she won't even bother to deal with us."

Hongye's gaze swept over the several high-ranking generals present.

"The safest approach now is to make a three-point agreement with her and follow her rules completely."

"Recently, awakened individuals who can resist the supernatural have begun to appear frequently across the country, as well as veteran ghost slayers who use supernatural powers to fight against the supernatural."

"Although this red moon is a disaster, from another perspective, it is also an opportunity for the human world as a whole to become stronger."

"In this process of survival of the fittest, a group of people will inevitably be eliminated, but only those who survive will truly have the capital to stand on their own feet in this new era."

Long Zhanye stared silently at the files on the table.

He had to admit that Hongye's words were reasonable.

"The most urgent task is to determine the true intentions of that white-haired loli."

Long Zhanye looked up at the intelligence officer standing in the corner.

"Go and invite Lin Meng from Shanhe No.1 Middle School. Her ability allows her to know the exact trajectory of human destiny, and she should be able to find out the true thoughts of this strange BOSS. We need her opinion."

The intelligence officer took a step forward, holding his tablet computer, his face paler than paper.

"Commander-in-Chief, we can't get Lin Meng, the examinee, to come right now."

Long Zhanye frowned.

Why?

The intelligence officer projected the tablet's image onto a large screen.

"Lin Meng's exam venue is Shanhe No. 2 Middle School, which is exactly within the coverage area of ​​the Red Moon Castle instance."

The meeting room was deathly silent.

Long Zhanye stared at the teaching building shrouded in red mist on the screen, speechless for a long time.

……

Inside the Red Moon Examination Hall instance.

Lin Meng sat in a seat by the window, her black pen still drawing meaningless circles on the edge of the test paper. The red moonlight outside the window made the entire science test paper look as if it had been soaked in blood.

She's already cursed that white-haired loli eight hundred times in her mind.

For this most important exam of her life, she stayed up countless nights and did a mountain of practice questions. Just when she was about to hand in her paper and be free, this sudden and bizarre event abruptly put her on hold.

If it weren't for the fact that she, an ordinary human who could only see the trajectory of fate, was no match for the Abyss Overlord who would flip the table at the drop of a hat, she would have wanted to rush into Red Moon Castle right now and slap this unfinished science exam paper hard onto Jiang Luo's delicate little face.

This is the most important college entrance exam of my life, how could you ruin it like this!

Lin Meng mentally ranted, her fingers twirling the pen in frustration, leaving a trail of afterimages. She took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down, and glanced at the mechanical maid on the podium carrying giant scissors.

Before she could figure out her next move, a screeching noise came from the front row as chair legs scraped against the terrazzo floor.

A girl in a baggy school uniform stood up, gripping the edge of the table tightly with both hands. Her knuckles turned white from the excessive force, and her bloodshot eyes stared intently at Lin Meng, who was sitting in the back row.

Lin Meng knew this girl.

Her name is Zhang Ting. Her grades have always been in the lower middle range of her class, and her family is not well-off.

Their favorite thing to do is to gossip behind Lin Meng's back about her outstanding achievements and the special treatment she received from the Federation.

"Lin Meng, aren't you usually the smartest student at Shanhe No. 1 High School? Weren't you already pre-selected by the Human Federation Headquarters?!"

Zhang Ting's voice became sharp and shrill due to extreme fear. She screamed in the classroom, where only the sound of breathing could be heard, spitting on the desk in front of her.

"We've all been dragged into this hellish dungeon, and even the proctor is nowhere to be found. If you're so capable, why are you just sitting there doing nothing? Hurry up and figure out a way to get us out of here!"

The other candidates who had been huddled in their seats, trembling with fear, all looked up when they heard this, and dozens of eyes filled with a mixture of hope and resentment instantly focused on Lin Meng.

Lin Meng stopped twirling her pen, flipped the test paper over and placed it on the table, looking at Zhang Ting, who was standing there morally blackmailing her, with an expression as if she were looking at an idiot.

"The exam rules were written in blood on the blackboard. As long as you sit quietly in your seat and finish the exam paper within the allotted time, you will not trigger the death condition."

Lin Meng's voice was flat and emotionless. She leaned back in her chair, her hands clasped in front of her, not even bothering to give the other person a single extra expression.

"This basic rule-based exercise is written with requirements even more explicitly than your usual mock exams. As long as you keep your mouths and hands to yourself, everyone can survive. Are you trying to hasten your death by standing up and yelling?"

Zhang Ting was completely enraged by Lin Meng's indifferent attitude. She couldn't listen to any explanation of the rules and was filled with fear of death and jealousy of the top students.

"Stop pretending to be so high and mighty. You survived the bizarre dungeon before, and now everyone's in trouble. You have a way to clear it, so why don't you just tell us the shortcut!"

She pointed her finger at Lin Meng's nose, her chest heaving with excitement, completely ignoring the mechanical maid on the podium who slowly turned her head.

"You're selfish! You just want to watch us die here so you can flaunt your superiority as a federal special recruit! A cold-blooded monster like you doesn't deserve those resources!"