Chapter 251: The Lowest in the Venue

Although Yan Wu had been assigned to Area No. 3, he still held his head high. He had survived the Nightmare World ten times.

That experience was more than enough to let him look down on everyone else in Area No. 3. It was like being the top student in a remedial class.

He took great pride in that. He was still young; since he was already at the absolute peak of his peers at Silver 1, he would naturally remain at the top when he reached Silver 2. The only things holding him back were rank and time, but his future was boundless.

"Number 282."

Wen Xuan, who had remained silent the entire time, stepped forward. Beep, beep, beep...

Yan Wu's eyes widened in disbelief. The display screen on the metal door clearly read: 1-11

"Silver Rank 1, survived the Nightmare World eleven times. Go to Area No. 2."

Hearing the examiner's cold voice, Yan Wu felt a surge of resentment. His title as the top student in the remedial class had just been snatched away. Someone standing right next to him had actually been promoted to the regular class?

'Hmph! Eleven times in the Nightmare World and still only Silver 1. He's probably just a piece of trash who relied on a Transcendent Potion to advance. He's definitely not a Chosen One.'

With that thought, Yan Wu felt a little better.

"Number 283."

Su Mu stepped out from the crowd and ascended the platform with an elegant stride. The Cane in his hand tapped lightly against the ground. Every movement he made exuded a distinctive grace.

His appearance instantly drew the crowd's attention. He stood out like a crane standing among chickens; his presence was simply too conspicuous. Everyone else here was a nightmare apostle—a pack of desperate outlaws.

Yet Su Mu looked like a noble who had wandered into their midst. With his effortless elegance, his impeccably tailored suit, and his striking appearance, he looked more aristocratic than actual nobles.

Whispers even broke out in the crowd.

"That guy has to be a noble, right?"

"I never expected to see a nightmare apostle pop up among the nobles, heh..." someone gloated. It was hard not to feel a twisted sense of joy seeing someone of a higher, privileged class suffer the exact same grim fate as the rest of them.

But others viewed Su Mu with deep wariness. The sheer resources a noble family possessed were beyond a commoner's imagination. Transcendent Potions, Artifacts, Mithril, and other priceless treasures—a commoner would struggle endlessly just to obtain one, yet a noble could easily have them all.

Su Mu's arrival also made the examiners look twice. Two of them even leaned their heads together and whispered, "Is there a noble among the nightmare apostles this time?"

"I heard there is. The nightmare apostles are chosen at random. They appear among commoners, so naturally, they appear among the nobles too. The Royal Family is taking this exploration mission very seriously, and quite a few noble families have dispatched nightmare apostles from their own ranks."

The two whispered for a moment before returning their attention to Su Mu.

"Sir, please begin," the examiner said. The usual coldness on his face had softened slightly, and he even added the word 'please.'

In the Chiyan Empire, being a noble meant absolute privilege!

Su Mu smiled and nodded, then walked toward the metal doorframe. Beep, beep, beep...

The crowd looked at the display screen, only to freeze in confusion. The numbers on the screen were flashing wildly, jumping back and forth between 1 and 2, as if the machine were suffering from severe interference.

"Is the machine broken?"

"There were probably just too many people taking the test today. It must be overheating."

Su Mu frowned slightly. He manipulated the Dream Law, Thousand Illusions of Fleeting Life, burying his true nature as deeply as possible. At the same time, he allowed a faint trace of his Follower of Strength aura to seep out.

After this subtle adjustment, the display screen finally returned to normal.

1-3

"Oh, it's working again!"

"1-3?" The examiner was stunned when he saw the numbers, his gaze turning peculiar. The lowest score in the entire venue had just appeared. Everyone present was a Silver Grade Nightmare Apostle, and almost no one who reached this level had only gone through the Nightmare World three times.

It seemed this person was a latecomer. He must have already been at the Silver tier in reality before becoming a nightmare apostle. The only other explanation was that his noble family possessed some special method to deliberately delay the onset of a Nightmare Omen.

The experienced examiner made a spot-on assessment!

A wave of murmurs rippled through the crowd, and a few people even flashed looks of outright disdain. Three Nightmare Worlds? You could pull any random Bronze off the street and they would have a higher count than him!

In the face of the crowd's whispered mockery, Su Mu's expression remained perfectly neutral. He didn't care in the slightest.

After all, those were his true statistics. In the few short months since becoming a nightmare apostle, he had only entered the Nightmare World exactly three times: once for Tingting, once for the Ear Beast, and once for the Sea God. And just like that, he was at Silver 1.

"Wait in Area No. 3," the examiner said sternly, clearing his throat.

Su Mu stepped off the platform with elegant poise and walked over to Area No. 3 on the training ground.

The moment he entered Area No. 3, Yan Wu marched over, his face plastered with a mocking sneer. A deep sense of smug satisfaction swelled within him. 'And here I thought the Bronze Coffin only produced powerhouses, but he's just a wet-behind-the-ears rookie. Hmph! Back when I tried to join the Bronze Coffin, Murong Mengli said her temple was too small to house me. I thought she was just being polite.

'Turns out her temple really is just small.'

Su Mu smiled, his gaze settling on Yan Wu's sneering face. "Mr. Yan, do you still have family at home?" he asked warmly.

Although Yan Wu had been assigned to Area No. 3, he still held his head high. He had survived the Nightmare World ten times.

That experience was more than enough to let him look down on everyone else in Area No. 3. It was like being the top student in a remedial class.

He took great pride in that. He was still young; since he was already at the absolute peak of his peers at Silver 1, he would naturally remain at the top when he reached Silver 2. The only things holding him back were rank and time, but his future was boundless.

"Number 282."

Wen Xuan, who had remained silent the entire time, stepped forward. Beep, beep, beep...

Yan Wu's eyes widened in disbelief. The display screen on the metal door clearly read: 1-11

"Silver Rank 1, survived the Nightmare World eleven times. Go to Area No. 2."

Hearing the examiner's cold voice, Yan Wu felt a surge of resentment. His title as the top student in the remedial class had just been snatched away. Someone standing right next to him had actually been promoted to the regular class?

'Hmph! Eleven times in the Nightmare World and still only Silver 1. He's probably just a piece of trash who relied on a Transcendent Potion to advance. He's definitely not a Chosen One.'

With that thought, Yan Wu felt a little better.

"Number 283."

Su Mu stepped out from the crowd and ascended the platform with an elegant stride. The Cane in his hand tapped lightly against the ground. Every movement he made exuded a distinctive grace.

His appearance instantly drew the crowd's attention. He stood out like a crane standing among chickens; his presence was simply too conspicuous. Everyone else here was a nightmare apostle—a pack of desperate outlaws.

Yet Su Mu looked like a noble who had wandered into their midst. With his effortless elegance, his impeccably tailored suit, and his striking appearance, he looked more aristocratic than actual nobles.

Whispers even broke out in the crowd.

"That guy has to be a noble, right?"

"I never expected to see a nightmare apostle pop up among the nobles, heh..." someone gloated. It was hard not to feel a twisted sense of joy seeing someone of a higher, privileged class suffer the exact same grim fate as the rest of them.

But others viewed Su Mu with deep wariness. The sheer resources a noble family possessed were beyond a commoner's imagination. Transcendent Potions, Artifacts, Mithril, and other priceless treasures—a commoner would struggle endlessly just to obtain one, yet a noble could easily have them all.

Su Mu's arrival also made the examiners look twice. Two of them even leaned their heads together and whispered, "Is there a noble among the nightmare apostles this time?"

"I heard there is. The nightmare apostles are chosen at random. They appear among commoners, so naturally, they appear among the nobles too. The Royal Family is taking this exploration mission very seriously, and quite a few noble families have dispatched nightmare apostles from their own ranks."

The two whispered for a moment before returning their attention to Su Mu.

"Sir, please begin," the examiner said. The usual coldness on his face had softened slightly, and he even added the word 'please.'

In the Chiyan Empire, being a noble meant absolute privilege!

Su Mu smiled and nodded, then walked toward the metal doorframe. Beep, beep, beep...

The crowd looked at the display screen, only to freeze in confusion. The numbers on the screen were flashing wildly, jumping back and forth between 1 and 2, as if the machine were suffering from severe interference.

"Is the machine broken?"

"There were probably just too many people taking the test today. It must be overheating."

Su Mu frowned slightly. He manipulated the Dream Law, Thousand Illusions of Fleeting Life, burying his true nature as deeply as possible. At the same time, he allowed a faint trace of his Follower of Strength aura to seep out.

After this subtle adjustment, the display screen finally returned to normal.

1-3

"Oh, it's working again!"

"1-3?" The examiner was stunned when he saw the numbers, his gaze turning peculiar. The lowest score in the entire venue had just appeared. Everyone present was a Silver Grade Nightmare Apostle, and almost no one who reached this level had only gone through the Nightmare World three times.

It seemed this person was a latecomer. He must have already been at the Silver tier in reality before becoming a nightmare apostle. The only other explanation was that his noble family possessed some special method to deliberately delay the onset of a Nightmare Omen.

The experienced examiner made a spot-on assessment!

A wave of murmurs rippled through the crowd, and a few people even flashed looks of outright disdain. Three Nightmare Worlds? You could pull any random Bronze off the street and they would have a higher count than him!

In the face of the crowd's whispered mockery, Su Mu's expression remained perfectly neutral. He didn't care in the slightest.

After all, those were his true statistics. In the few short months since becoming a nightmare apostle, he had only entered the Nightmare World exactly three times: once for Tingting, once for the Ear Beast, and once for the Sea God. And just like that, he was at Silver 1.

"Wait in Area No. 3," the examiner said sternly, clearing his throat.

Su Mu stepped off the platform with elegant poise and walked over to Area No. 3 on the training ground.

The moment he entered Area No. 3, Yan Wu marched over, his face plastered with a mocking sneer. A deep sense of smug satisfaction swelled within him. 'And here I thought the Bronze Coffin only produced powerhouses, but he's just a wet-behind-the-ears rookie. Hmph! Back when I tried to join the Bronze Coffin, Murong Mengli said her temple was too small to house me. I thought she was just being polite.

'Turns out her temple really is just small.'

Su Mu smiled, his gaze settling on Yan Wu's sneering face. "Mr. Yan, do you still have family at home?" he asked warmly.

Yan Wu frowned. "What do you mean by that?"

The smile on Su Mu's lips deepened. He offered his advice with the gentle sincerity of an old friend. "You should spend more time talking to your family these days."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean!?" Yan Wu snapped, his voice dropping into an angry hiss.

"Quiet! No shouting!" a nearby staff member snapped, glaring at Yan Wu.

Yan Wu's expression shifted. Not daring to cause another scene, he settled for shooting Su Mu a vicious, threatening glare.

Soon, the evaluations were complete, and the crowd had been fully divided into their respective areas. Three examiners stepped forward, each heading to a different zone to begin the Heart-Questioning Test.

"This is the Heart-Inquiring Instrument, recently developed by the Law Enforcement Bureau. It is capable of detecting your deepest, truest thoughts. Do not let this cause you any undue stress; we will not ask any deeply personal questions. We are solely testing to determine if any of you are spies."

The examiner held up a compact, tablet-like device. Two thin wires extended from its top, each ending in a small, silver-white metal patch.

The crowd lined up to take the test. Unbeknownst to anyone, a large number of fully armed soldiers had appeared in the venue, vigilantly watching everyone.

The first person stepped forward. The examiner instructed him to place the small metal patches against his temples before beginning the interrogation.

"Name."

"Bao Jiangbo."

"Where are you from?"

"Qing City."

"Are you a spy sent by another empire?"

"No."

"Have you ever joined any domestic subversive organizations, such as the Seven Deadly Sins or the Revolutionary Army?"

"No."

The examiner glanced at the instrument, which hadn't reacted once throughout the exchange, and nodded. "Passed. Next."

...

The wait was tedious, but fortunately, a few minor incidents occurred to break up the monotony.

As the testing progressed, they actually uncovered a few foreign spies and members of the Revolutionary Army hiding among the ranks. The instrument shrieked with a piercing alarm, and the soldiers in their Exoskeleton Armor reacted with blinding speed, subduing the infiltrators on the spot.

For this evaluation, the Law Enforcement Bureau had deployed only its elite transcendents. Outfitted in Exoskeleton Armor, their individual combat capabilities far outstripped anyone of the same tier. Backed by their sheer numbers, even if the exposed spies were Silver-tier powerhouses, they couldn't stir up the slightest bit of trouble.

It would have been a colossal joke if the esteemed General Law Enforcement Bureau had allowed spies to escape on its own turf.