Chapter 14 The Examination Begins, The Black Tortoise Forbidden Zone

The day before the investigator examination finally arrived.

Lin Lei entrusted little Shisan to the care of Qi Fangyan, while secretly using his identity as Long Wentian to have his subordinates keep a close eye on the two of them.

He himself boarded the Investigation Bureau’s exclusive vehicle, left Biyang City, and headed for Ningcheng, the provincial capital of Qinghe Prefecture.

The Grade 3 investigator promotion examination was held in Ningcheng.

Traveling with him was Lin Lei’s acquaintance, the Tier 2 Wen Xiang.

Not long had passed since their previous mission; although Wen Xiang had not yet reached the fullness of Tier 2, she was significantly stronger than before.

Moreover, because of their shared life-and-death experience, her personality had improved considerably.

Aside from the two of them, there were seven or eight colleagues from the Biyang Investigation Bureau, though all of them were at Tier 3.

The investigator promotion examination was notoriously difficult, with combat power being a crucial evaluation standard.

Those with strength might not necessarily pass, but those who passed definitely possessed a certain level of strength.

Normally, reaching Tier 3 was necessary to ensure a passing chance in the examination.

Furthermore, because the promotion examination carried a certain degree of danger, included a mortality rate, and required spending investigation points just to register, very few Tier 2s were willing to sign up. The applicants were basically all Tier 3 and above, masters who had a certain degree of confidence in their combat prowess.

Among Tier 2s, only those with A-grade gifts and relatively strong combat capabilities, like Wen Xiang, had the confidence to register for the examination.

Tier 3s who failed to pass the investigator examination were not qualified to hold cadre positions within the Investigation Department. Aside from having a slightly higher source energy level, these people were just ordinary investigators...

Because the age of source energy awakening varied from person to person, there was a wide age gap among them.

The oldest among these individuals was even over fifty years old.

However, the youngest was several years younger than even Wen Xiang, being only fifteen.

Despite his young age, he had already awakened for three or four years.

While an awakened person's future achievements were not necessarily linked to the age at which they awakened, it had to be said that the earlier one awakened, the higher the probability of achieving greatness in the future.

Therefore, apart from their gifts, young source energy users commanded greater respect.

Except for Lin Lei and Wen Xiang, most of these people had past experience participating in the Level 3 investigator examination.

However, they had all signed confidentiality contracts and were unable to reveal the specific details of the assessment or what lay inside the examination [Forbidden Zone], though they could indirectly disclose some intelligence.

According to them, for anyone with Tier 3 strength, as long as they didn't act recklessly for the sake of test scores and remained cautious and careful, preserving their lives was quite easy.

...

Ningcheng.
Xuanwu District, on the outskirts of the city.
Xuanwu Building.

The investigator promotion examination began on the second day, and Lin Lei and the others stayed here for the night after their arrival.

The next day.
A spacious hall on the eighteenth floor of the building.

Level 4 investigators from various districts of Qinghe Prefecture gathered together.

As many as a hundred people participated in this Qinghe Prefecture investigator Grade 3 promotion examination.

One had to know that ninety percent of these participating investigators were Tier 3 source energy users.

It was Lin Lei’s first time seeing so many Tier 3 source energy users gathered in one place.

The entire Biyang Branch did not even have close to this many Tier 3 source energy users!

At the front of the hall, a leader with a bald crown and hair on the sides held a microphone, cleared his throat, and said, "Let me say a few words..."

Amidst quite tedious nonsense, some substantial information was interspersed.

In short.

Every annual investigator Grade 3 promotion examination came with a fixed quota of ten promotion slots.

Lin Lei was quite lucky; this promotion examination could be said to have had the fewest applicants in recent years, with a total of only one hundred and eight people registered.

"Yet for a mere Grade 3 promotion examination, there is a promotion probability of less than 10%. Those who manage to advance can truly be called the elite among Tier 3s..."

No wonder Level 3 investigators were so rare; in the Biyang City Branch, a Level 3 investigator was qualified to become a team leader!

Although that Mediterranean-haired official rambled on for so long, he didn't reveal a single detail about the exam itself.

Half an hour later, after the leader finished speaking, the investigators in the hall were each handed a "Confidentiality Agreement."

The general content of the agreement still forbade the disclosure of specific details regarding the Grade 3 promotion examination.

"If it were merely a paper agreement, it probably wouldn't prevent the leakage of information. This kind of 'confidentiality agreement' should be similar to the 'death agreement' Hodge made me sign, possessing some kind of special binding power."

Thinking thus, Lin Lei signed his name on it.

"Those who have signed the confidentiality agreement, take your agreements and exit through door number two..."

Lin Lei did not wait for the others from Biyang City. Holding his confidentiality agreement, he walked straight out of the hall.

"Please go this way."

In the corridor, guiding personnel were already waiting.

Soon, Lin Lei and the few investigators ahead of him queued up and were guided to a silver door.

The thick silver door parted from the center toward both sides.

The foremost investigator walked inside, while the others were blocked outside by fully armed guards.

"Please wait here for a moment."

Two minutes later, the door opened again, and the next investigator walked in.

...

After about ten minutes, it was finally Lin Lei’s turn.

Lin Lei stepped forward, strode through a corridor nearly ten meters long, and entered a spacious, empty silver room.

The room was filled with all sorts of messy, special instruments.

In the very center of the room, amidst these various special instruments, stood a huge red crystal. The red crystal radiated an illusory red light, forming an arched portal of light.

A man wearing a white lab coat and a gas mask stepped forward, handing over a silver wristband and a heavy backpack:

"Put on the wristband and enter this 'light portal.' The wristband records the examination schedule and other intelligence. Once you enter the 'light portal,' the wristband will unlock."

"The backpack contains some food and water. The examination lasts for one day, and when the time is up, you will be automatically teleported out."

Lin Lei took the wristband, put on the backpack, glanced briefly at the special light portal before him, and stepped right into it.

...

Red light completely flooded Lin Lei’s field of vision.

Yet in an instant, the red light dissipated completely, and Lin Lei felt as though he had stepped into another world.

Without needing to meditate or use [Source Energy Perception], Lin Lei could immediately sense the surging and turbulent presence of source energy.

Beneath his feet and on both sides were flat metal walls resembling mirrors, and all around him were gigantic, protruding clusters of red crystals.

He looked up. The dark red canopy of the sky overhead was shrouded in an unyielding layer of thick fog, making it impossible to see how high the walls on either side extended...

He felt as though he were trapped within some sort of labyrinth.

"This is that disaster-grade forbidden zone..."

Lin Lei did not rush to move. Instead, he raised his wrist and looked at the wristband.

The wristband had already unlocked, and numerous characters popped up on the screen.

Lin Lei spent five minutes reading through everything on the wristband.

This forbidden zone was known as the "Xuanwu Forbidden Zone."

Everyone who entered the forbidden zone would be placed into completely distinct and independent labyrinth spaces.

In other words, everyone who entered would have zero possibility of coming into contact with one another!

The examination requirement for Lin Lei and the others was to explore and penetrate deeper into the forbidden zone, slaying the anomalies lurking within.

Each person's wristband came equipped with a special function capable of recording the source energy level and quantity of anomalies killed by the wristband's owner, converting them into points.

Ultimately, the top ten source energy users in the rankings would successfully complete their promotion!