Chapter 213: Superior Person! Cole Ross

Chapter 213: Chapter 213: Superior Person! Cole Ross

Seraphina Sullivan said nothing, but a thought flashed through her mind.

’Sky City?’

She immediately recalled the information she had gotten from Graham Gallo.

In the early days after the Sky-Hole appeared, a handful of elites held immense wealth and power.

Before the contamination had completely spread across the globe, they used special machinery salvaged from the trash.

They poured all their resources into building a pristine metropolis that floated high in the sky.

Sky City.

It was regarded as the last sanctuary, a utopia that all the survivors on the ground yearned for.

Seraphina Sullivan couldn’t help but cringe.

’So Nelly Nash had mistaken the Players’ out-of-place and "innocently ignorant" aura for that of sheltered elites from Sky City.’

’It was the perfect cover, explaining why these Players seemed so odd.’

"Alright, let’s not talk about those annoying guys." Nelly Nash waved her hand, bringing her attention back to the matter at hand.

She hefted the heavy metal guitar in her hand and said, "The assessment is about to start. We need to hurry and check in."

Seraphina Sullivan nodded. "Okay."

"Boss! You got this! You have to make it this time!"

"We’ll be waiting for your triumphant return!"

The Biker Gang members who had come along to support them couldn’t enter the assessment area, so they could only wave their weapons from outside, loudly cheering Nelly Nash on.

Seraphina Sullivan took a deep breath, then cast one last wary glance in Yana Yates’s direction out of the corner of her eye.

Then she composed herself and followed Nelly Nash, striding toward the futuristic metal Tower that stood in the center of the "sanctuary."

Yana Yates did indeed notice the faint, scrutinizing gaze.

It wasn’t the only curious gaze from his surroundings.

But he couldn’t even be bothered to lift an eyelid.

After being a Player for so long, he was used to all sorts of eyes following him.

This carefully maintained facade of a delicate, pale young man.

Paired with the fragile melancholy in his slightly furrowed brow, he naturally drew everyone’s eyes wherever he went.

However, under the influence of his Weak and Pitiful Talent, these gazes would ultimately transform into sympathy and protectiveness.

No one would ever associate him with the word "danger," let alone build up any real defense against him.

’This place... is absolutely filthy.’

Although there were very few garbage heaps here in the Forest of Verdure.

But there were still many in the distant outskirts.

Yana Yates’s gaze swept over the distant garbage heaps.

The stench of decay wafting through the air crept into his nostrils, making his stomach churn.

His high Level had also granted him many enhancements, and with his keen sense of smell, he felt like he was about to die from the stench.

But despite possessing all sorts of items, he surprisingly didn’t have a single one that could block out the foul odor.

That was something he hadn’t expected.

If this special instance didn’t hold a faint clue related to the "Divine"...

A clue that concerned the minuscule opportunity to advance to Level 6.

How could he possibly have set foot in this godforsaken place where every breath felt toxic?

At the Level 5 tier.

Simply clearing instances and accumulating experience was no longer enough to break through the level barrier.

For a Player to advance from Level 3 to Level 4, they needed more than just experience.

The required conditions were many and varied.

Some might need to obtain a special item.

Others might need to pass a trial.

Or perhaps absorb a certain kind of Power.

Level 6 was a whole new realm.

Advancing from Level 5 to Level 6 required touching upon the rules of the world.

How ironic that this seemingly lowest-level LV1 instance could hold information about the Divine.

"Lynn, what are you spacing out for? The assessment is about to start!"

The short-haired girl, Julia Joyce, came over holding a pair of scissors, her voice light and feigning familiarity.

"Lynn" was the alias Yana Yates was using for this trip; he was accustomed to infiltrating places using the most inconspicuous identities.

"This is only my second time entering a ga... uh, a place like this."

Julia Joyce quickly corrected herself, but her eyes shone with an unconcealable sense of novelty. She clearly hadn’t taken the system’s warning to heart.

"Yeah, it’s my second time too. I’m a little nervous,"

Yana Yates said softly, lowering his lashes as a docile smile with a hint of dependence graced his lips.

Inwardly, however, he was as agitated as if countless ants were crawling over his skin.

’Newbies this naive and stupid are always the first to die, and yet they just love to latch onto me.’

"But don’t be scared!" Julia Joyce lowered her voice, full of confidence.

"I’ve studied the mission description. We just have to pass the assessment to become Purification Envoys, then survive for seven days, and we can go back! This is the first time I’ve seen a mission with an assessment. It’s got to be much safer than all that fighting and killing!"

Yana Yates: "..."

He could barely suppress the cold sneer tugging at his lips.

’Treating the Doomsday Game like some kind of theme park attraction?’

’This level of delusion is an insult to the very concept of being a Player.’

"I’d advise you to drop that playing-house mentality sooner rather than later."

A cold female voice cut in.

Cole Ross, wearing a woven hat, stood a few steps away with her arms crossed. Her gaze was sharp as a knife, scraping across Julia Joyce’s sheltered face.

"Assessment missions have always had terrifyingly high death rates. You think a ’survive for seven days’ mission is simple?"

After she spoke, she shot a meaningful glance at Yana Yates, her eyes filled with undisguised scrutiny and wariness. Then, she turned and left without the slightest hesitation.

Her sixth sense was screaming a warning, telling her to stay away from the seemingly harmless "Lynn."

Beneath that fragile exterior, he exuded an Aura more unsettling than the stench of rotting garbage.

Cole Ross thought of her own world, which had also long since devolved into a doomsday instance.

She thought of the people in her own world who possessed various Special Abilities, and the mysterious "Player" who gave them messages from The Silenti.

She finally understood that her own world was probably just another doomsday instance, like this Junkheap Ruins.

And those people who briefly appeared in her world only to disappear were just there to complete tasks issued by the system.

Choked up by Cole Ross’s words, Julia Joyce’s face turned beet red as she mumbled indignantly, "What’s with her... We’re all in this together... What’s wrong with a little mutual encouragement..."

Yana Yates maintained the gentle smile on his face, but his mind had already begun its cold calculations.

’This Julia Joyce... I could probably push her out as a scapegoat or bait at a critical moment.’

’And that Cole Ross... her intuition is sharp. Is her Talent perception-based?’

’That’s a problem. I’ll either have to get rid of her soon, or... find a way to make her another addition to my puppet collection.’

He lifted his gaze to the metal Tower standing amidst the ruins, his eyes dark and unreadable.

The assessment?

He wasn’t concerned about it in the slightest.

...

Seraphina Sullivan didn’t let herself get distracted by the small dispute happening behind her.

The moment she stepped into the main hall of The Tower, her attention was captivated by the attire of a group of people up ahead.

They were a few individuals dressed in matching uniforms.

Their uniforms were pristine white coats made of some special material, with clean lines and not a speck of dust on them, and they emitted a soft, pure halo of light.

Inside The Tower, which was itself somewhat tainted by the filth of the outside world, these figures in pure white were dazzling.