Pre-death assessment

"The Five Realms?"

Lei Zhenyu frowned immediately: "I'm only at the fourth realm now; I can't reach the fifth realm in such a short time!"

Elemental ability users' abilities can be enhanced during combat or under certain special conditions.

To put it simply, just like the people in fantasy worlds, they can cultivate.

Since it can be cultivated, it is impossible to improve instantly.

This is a slow growth process; it takes time.

But now that his older sister has already completed the game, how can he wait that long?

At my current pace, it would probably take me several years to reach the fifth realm, right?

I can't just leave my sister waiting for me here.

Her older sister was going to the next level with Ling Wu and the others. She could wait, but Ling Wu and the others couldn't.

"You indeed cannot reach the fifth realm in a short period of time, but..."

At this moment, Ling Wu continued, "I have a way; perhaps we can give it a try."

"What method?"

Lei Zhenyu's eyes lit up: "If you can really help me, you'll be my brother-in-law from now on!"

The Fifth Realm—that's the highest level for ability users.

If I reach the fifth realm, I can easily kill even high-level hunters, right?

That's a level where you can truly walk sideways.

"Tsk...Are you sick in the head?" Jiang Luo stood to the side, arms crossed.

I've already said that Ling Wu can only be my brother-in-law, why are you still calling him that?

"I have the ability to enhance."

Ling Wu continued, "If I were to bestow all my enhanced abilities upon you, perhaps I could help you reach the Fifth Realm!"

Upon hearing this, Lei Zhenyu's eyes narrowed slightly.

It seems like that's actually possible, huh?

"Then... let's go!"

He immediately spread his hands: "Let's try it now!"

"We all expended a lot of energy in that big battle, so... we need to rest for two days."

Ling Wu replied, "Let's get back into good shape before trying again."

We've just gone through a major battle, so it's unwise to unleash the Reaper's clone at this time.

So, get some rest first.

"This... will do!"

Lei Zhenyu nodded: "Anyway, I'll follow your arrangements, brother-in-law!"

"Are you still going on and on..." Jiang Luo immediately put her hands on her hips.

Every time Lei Zhenyu called her brother-in-law, her brows furrowed a little more.

Lei Yun, standing nearby, was secretly laughing.

Although she knew there was no possibility between her and Ling Wu, she was certainly happy to occasionally take advantage of him...

"Then go back and rest first, and recharge your energy."

Ling Wu continued.

"Okay, I'll go back to sleep now and make sure I'm in top condition to deal with the hidden BOSS in this assessment space."

Lei Zhenyu stood up.

Now he does whatever Ling Wu says.

"Then...we'll head back now." Lei Yun smiled at Ling Wu.

He's really talking complete nonsense with a straight face.

However, it did manage to fool his foolish younger brother.

Ling Wu and she exchanged a glance and he nodded slightly.

Lei Yun and Lei Zhenyu then left without lingering.

"You have such a thick skin."

After they left, Jiang Luo couldn't help but mutter something to herself.

He never intended to be your brother-in-law, yet you keep calling him that.

That's definitely shameless!

"So what you just said... is all true?"

At this moment, Li Ming and the others looked at Ling Wu with curiosity: "Is there really a hidden BOSS here?"

"It's true!" Ling Wu nodded gently.

"hiss……"

Li Ming and the others all narrowed their eyes slightly.

Advanced hunters are powerful enough; Li Ming could only defeat one with Ling Wu's enhancement, Dr. Lu's defense, and the opponent's distraction.

If there are even stronger hidden bosses, how powerful would they be?

Has he truly reached the level of a fifth-realm expert?

"So that guy really is some kind of chosen one?" Liu Ruyan crossed her arms, somewhat incredulous.

"He's not exactly a chosen one, but..."

Ling Wu looked at Liu Ruyan and continued, "You should thank him."

"what?"

Liu Ruyan looked confused: "What am I supposed to thank him for?"

I have absolutely no connection with this Lei Zhenyu, do I?

It means he unilaterally likes her and wants to pursue her.

Why should I thank him?

"Because what he's supposed to do is something you should have done," Ling Wu said slowly.

To be honest, if Lei Zhenyu hadn't been there, he might have actually asked Liu Ruyan to do this.

After all, Liu Ruyan was the only fourth-realm expert he could find at the moment.

"What does this mean?" Liu Ruyan was a little confused.

"You'll understand sooner or later," Ling Wu smiled.

"You're keeping us in suspense again!"

Liu Ruyan rolled her eyes at him, then said, "Now... can you tell us about the Hunters now?"

Now, everyone has completed the level requirements and killed enough hunters.

Now, Ling Wu should be able to talk to them about the Hunters, right?

Also, now that everyone has completed the game...

Well... it's about time to head to the third level, isn't it?

But it seems Ling Wu isn't planning to leave yet?

Is there anything else he needs?

Are we going to wait for Lei Zhenyu and Lei Yun to come together?

Ling Wu let out a soft breath, then got up and walked to the refrigerator, taking out a bottle of wine.

"A space for assessment before death..."

He opened the bottle, took a sip, and asked, "So far, what do you think is the most brilliant design?"

Upon hearing this, the group exchanged glances.

"I think the most ingenious thing is the first test designed by those rulers."

Jiang Luo was the first to speak: "They designed those superpowers to make everyone compete and kill each other, and the more people die in the process, the stronger they become!"

The others nodded slightly when they heard Jiang Luo's words.

This time, their views were surprisingly in line with Jiang Luo's.

Indeed, it must be admitted that the setting of the pre-death assessment space is very clever.

To get out alive, they have to kill each other.

However, if they start killing each other, their chances of surviving will decrease.

In this vicious cycle, the ones who always profit are the twelve rulers who reside in the ninth level!

"This setup is indeed ingenious, but it can be avoided."

Ling Wu spoke slowly.

For example, didn't they avoid this matter in the first stage?

Those last seven thousand-plus people could very well have survived until the very end.

In this way, the twelve rulers did not gain any benefit.

Since those people chose to sacrifice themselves, Ling Wu and the others respected their choice.

"The most brilliant aspect of the entire pre-death assessment space lies in... death."

Ling Wu then slowly said, "Death is everywhere, death is unavoidable!"

"Once you enter the pre-death assessment space, no matter which direction you go, one thing will inevitably happen..."

"It's either you die, or I die!"

"To return to the present world alive, one must die."

"To proceed to the next level, someone must die."

"I don't want to go back to the present world, nor do I want to go to the next level. If I stay in the same place and rot away, I will still die in the end. I will either die of old age, sickness and death, or be killed by the space."

"In the end, either I or someone else will die."

"This is absolutely unavoidable!"

Death is absolutely beneficial to the ruler of this place, or the final boss.

No matter how they die, or who dies, it ultimately benefits the twelve rulers or the final boss.

You don't want to let them get away with it, but you have no other choice.

"Wait a minute, in this second layer... wouldn't we have avoided death?"

Li Qingxue said, "Since we arrived at the second level, we haven't killed a single person."

Although everyone's exam questions ultimately lead to their death.

Instead of completing the test, they killed the hunter.

Doesn't this avoid the ironclad rule of "it's either you or me"?

Ling Wu smiled and shook his head, then said, "There are three types of people who are tested in the pre-death assessment space."

"The first type is those who possess full superpowers."

"The second type only gains some abilities, not the complete ones."

"For example, the test space we came to at the hour of Xu (7-9 PM) only gave us a few chess pieces but we didn't collect a complete set of chess pieces. That's what we're talking about."

"And the third type is the ordinary person who has no ability whatsoever."

"I told you before, the deeper you go in the pre-death assessment space, the more brutal it becomes."

"But in this second level, don't you feel... it's not cruel? It's not even as cruel as the first level?"

The first level contains all kinds of people, and all sorts of cruel things can happen.

Because everyone has a reason to kill each other.

The second layer is that people don't have much reason to kill each other; they unite against the hunters.

It seems that the second layer is indeed not cruel at all.

"This second level is indeed not cruel at all."

Li Qingxue nodded: "Moreover, relatively speaking, we have all become ability users, so passing the level is not a difficult thing."

"But cruel things... actually happen every day!"

At this moment, Li Ming spoke, having already guessed almost everything.

Liu Ruyan, like him, had basically guessed it.

Ling Wu nodded slightly.

Yes, that's exactly what they guessed.

"There are three types of people in the pre-death assessment space..."

Li Ming continued, "And the hunters... have three levels!"

Upon hearing this, Li Qingxue and the others' expressions changed drastically, as if they had suddenly realized something.

"Could it be... that those hunters are actually human?"

Zhao Yu exclaimed in shock, "Every hunter we killed... was actually a human?"

For a long time, everyone thought those things were robots, so they didn't hold back when they attacked them.

So... in reality, everyone was killing their own kind?

This explains why Ling Wu didn't tell them about the hunters beforehand.

If they had known beforehand that every hunter was human, they probably wouldn't have been so ruthless...

This is indeed... very cruel.

"Not just people..."

Then, Ling Wu revealed an even crueler truth: "It could even be someone you know, someone you're related to, someone you love!"