When Yue Shi opened his eyes again, he found himself lying on a rock-hard bed.
Above him was a white ceiling, and the air held a faint, musty smell.
He sat up and looked around.
This was a very small room. There were four beds, each a loft bed with a desk underneath. The beds were covered in uniform blue-and-white striped sheets.
Beneath the beds were the desks, their surfaces completely empty.
And that was it.
Yue Shi looked once, then looked again.
Why did this feel so strangely familiar?
The ghost drifted out from the button and circled the room, its expression one of surprise, its eyes wide as brass bells. “Holy crap, this looks like... a school dormitory!”
It floated to an empty bed, leaned in to inspect the dust on the bedboard, and then drifted over to the window.
Outside the window was a large playground with a red rubber track, green grass, and white soccer goalposts. In the distance were several academic buildings with grey-white exterior walls and square windows.
“Where the hell have we been sent?”
Yue Shi shook his head. “How should I know?”
He also walked to the window and looked out with the ghost.
There was no one on the playground; everything was silent.
Just then, a broadcast chime suddenly rang out, and a toneless female voice came through the speakers. “All freshmen, please report to the playground immediately.”
Yue Shi opened his third eye and scanned the surroundings randomly, ignoring the announcement.
Then, he was standing on the playground.
He hadn't walked there himself; he had been forcibly transferred.
He hadn't felt any spatial fluctuations or a pull of power. In one instant, the light before his eyes simply shifted, and he appeared in the center of the playground from the dormitory building.
The ghost had been transferred as well, floating beside him, looking bewildered. “What on earth is going on?”
Yue Shi looked around. A fair number of people were already standing on the playground, scattered about. Some were observing cautiously, some were whispering to each other, some were resting with their eyes closed, and others were looking up at the sky.
Their attire was a chaotic mix. Some wore modern clothes, some wore ancient costumes, and others wore eccentric outfits—looking like actors who had just stepped off the set of a fantasy movie, their bodies covered in glowing lines.
Yue Shi saw several people radiating golden light with halos behind their heads, resembling the gods and buddhas enshrined in temples.
He also saw a bride in a red wedding dress, her head covered by a veil that bore a large, traditional “Double Happiness” character.
Beside her was a small dwarf clutching a ball of flame in his hand, looking at the bride with a face full of wariness.
Yue Shi made a rough assessment in his mind.
There were no weaklings here.
Not a single person standing on this playground was ordinary.
Their auras were either fiery, icy, profound, or elusive, but every single one was extremely powerful. Yue Shi could even feel that several of them possessed power that was not inferior to his own.
He studied them curiously, and he was being studied in return.
Just then, the overhead broadcast rang again. The toneless female voice came from all directions simultaneously, using a special language that allowed everyone present to understand its exact meaning.
“Welcome, freshmen, to this school. Every transmigrator capable of reaching this institution is of the True God level. This is the Transit World, the place that will determine your future destiny.”
The playground went silent for a moment before quickly becoming noisy.
“True God level”—the term was like a bomb exploding in the crowd.
Everyone present was actually a True God level existence?
Not ‘close to a True God,’ not a ‘pseudo-True God,’ but an actual True God!
The expressions of the few people radiating golden light with halos didn't change much; they seemed to have known their own worth for a long time.
However, the surprise on the faces of some people wearing casual clothes, who looked like ordinary office workers, was definitely not an act.
They might have always thought they were just lucky transmigrators who gained some superpowers, capable of fighting, tanking, and running while hopping between worlds. They had never imagined they had already reached the level of a ‘True God.’
Yue Shi’s gaze swept over those shimmering golden figures, his vigilance reaching its peak.
If everyone was a True God, it meant they were all at the same starting point.
The ghost was shivering on the side. It wasn't some True God level figure; it was just a piece of information. Every person standing on this playground seemed capable of crushing it into fragments with ease.
Amidst the crowd, someone shouted, “If the Transit World has special rules, just spit them out.”
The synthesized female voice from the speakers rang out again, briefly explaining what kind of place the Transit World was.
The location of the Transit World was very special. From here, one could travel to any world within the Bewitching Beauty Painting Workshop. One could also leave the Bewitching Beauty Painting Workshop and go anywhere in the outside world—wherever one wished to go.
The playground fell silent again for a moment. Countless transmigrators sneered; they didn't believe in such things as free lunches falling from the sky. There was surely more to it. There had to be a ‘but’ coming.
Sure enough, the female voice in the broadcast said, “However, there are threshold requirements for traveling to other worlds.”
The playground erupted in boos.
A man with a cigarette in his mouth demanded, “What requirements? Hurry up and say it!”
The female voice continued, “The Transit World is a school. According to the school's rules, freshmen can only leave after undergoing rigorous study and examinations to obtain the necessary grades for graduation.”
“We can leave just by graduating? That simple?” Someone in the crowd let out a disdainful laugh.
The speaker was a man in a tracksuit with no hair, his scalp reflecting the sunlight.
“Study, exams, graduation—how difficult can that be for existences of our level?” He opened his arms to embrace the sky, his tone leaking a confidence that said, ‘I’ve already cleared the game.’
Many people around him nodded in agreement. After all, most of those standing here were people who had been lost within the Bewitching Beauty Painting Workshop. Who among them hadn't fought their way out of various bizarre worlds?
Everyone possessed formidable martial prowess and wisdom. A place that only required studying and taking exams didn't sound like a trial; it sounded more like a gift.
Yue Shi held the snow leopard, his gaze scanning those overconfident faces.
He had seen too many people like this—people who, before entering an unknown territory, always felt they could handle everything.
Unfortunately, most of them failed.
Just then, Yue Shi suddenly sensed someone watching him. The gaze was scorching and intense, as if trying to see right through him.
He turned his head and saw a blue-haired guy staring at him with burning eyes.
The other man's skin was very pale, and his hair was the color of the deep sea.
Yue Shi wasn't sure what the other man meant, so he could only treat the stare as a provocation. His brow furrowed slightly, and his fingers tapped gently on the snow leopard's back.
The snow leopard looked up, following his gaze, and then lowered its head again to continue its nap.
The blue-haired punk seemed to notice Yue Shi's displeasure. His lips curled upward, and he calmly looked away.
Rate on N.U.
