Myriad Realms Gatekeeper

Shen Ye's face showed a strange color as he glanced at Qian Rushan.

Qian Rushan didn't even lift his head.

"Fine, eat if you want," Shen Ye pushed the plate of barbecue towards the other party.

The boy's face instantly lit up with joy, grabbing the plate with both hands and began eating the kebabs voraciously.

He was really too thin, practically skin and bones.

With every big chew of the grilled meat, Shen Ye could see his temples throbbing.

"The group doesn't even provide enough food to eat? That's a bit much."

Shen Ye cast a glance at Qian Rushan and said.

This time Qian Rushan spoke:

"Don't look down on our group—there are Selectors from eleven provinces on this Flying Shuttle, aside from our group, there are also newcomers chosen by the Zhilie Equipment Research Institute and the Eternal Science and Technology Union."

Shen Ye turned his gaze back to the skinny boy.

The boy had a good temperament and raised a hand, taking the initiative to say:

"I'm from the Eternal Science and Technology Union."

"Where's your group leader?" Shen Ye asked.

"He's here," the boy said.

Suddenly someone patted Qian Rushan on the shoulder and laughed:

"Isn't this Old Qian? What's this, struck some kind of fortune this year, and even recruited a newcomer?"

Shen Ye looked up to see that the speaker was a gaunt old man with a mocking smile on his face.

Accompanying the old man were seven or eight middle school students, who appeared to be about the same age as Shen Ye.

"Yu Sihai, you recruited seven people at once?"

Qian Rushan exclaimed in surprise.

The gaunt old man's face twitched, a trace of vicissitude flashing in his eyes.

Qian Rushan immediately ceased asking, waving at Shen Ye:

"Go play, we adults have some things to talk about here."

"Yeah, you guys might even end up being classmates in the future," said the gaunt old man.

Shen Ye was at a loss for words.

—This was clearly a conversation they wanted to have without him overhearing.

He looked at the boy, only to see him finishing his kebab and gesturing for Shen Ye to come over.

"Come with me, there's a fun place on this Flying Shuttle, I'll take you there."

"Ah, okay," Shen Ye responded.

The boy walked ahead with Shen Ye following him; they quickly passed through several cabins and arrived at a venue with wooden flooring.

This was a bowling alley.

"You want to play this?" Shen Ye asked.

"No way," the boy shook his head repeatedly, "The seats are too narrow, there's nowhere else to play, only here can we stretch our limbs and move about."

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"That's true, the thought of sitting for over twenty hours is just too much," Shen Ye sighed.

He looked around.

Some youths had already gathered here.

They were all going to take a specialized test for the Three Great High Schools and didn't want to keep sitting in their seats, so they all gathered here, quietly discussing the test among themselves.

"I'm Guo Yunye, what's your name?" the boy asked.

"Shen Ye," Shen Ye replied.

The boy named Guo Yunye said, "The reason I asked you for food just now was actually to play this."

He pulled out a card from his pocket and showed it to Shen Ye.

The card had "Guo Yunye" written on it, below which were three lines of smaller text:

"To earn a unique card in the 'Newcomer' deck, please complete the following tasks first:"

"Eat the food of seven candidates for free."

"Current task progress: 3/7."

Shen Ye asked curiously, "What's this?"

"Don't you know? It seems your parents aren't Professionals. Don't worry, I can tell you," said Guo Yunye.

He placed the card in Shen Ye's hand, then snatched it back.

Shen Ye instinctively looked at his hand, only to find that he now had a card in his hand as well.

But Guo Yunye still had a card in his hand!

"Nice magic trick," Shen Ye said, impressed.

"It's not a magic trick, this is a 'Three Great High Schools Newcomer' deck produced by the Tower of Tarot. Because you helped me complete a task, I'm telling you—"

"Take a look at the card in your hand," Guo Yunye said.

Shen Ye picked up the card to see lines of tiny text materializing:

"Shen Ye."

"To secure your place as one of the cards in the 'Newcomer' deck, please first complete the following tasks:"

"1. Without doing any promotion, have at least six candidates participate in an activity you preside over;"

"2. Have at least twelve candidates participate in another activity you preside over."

...The text appeared automatically.

It knew he was Shen Ye!

If this wasn't magic, then what was it?

"Hey, why do I have a task too?" Shen Ye asked.

"Complete the task, and you can become a Preparatory Card in the 'Newcomer' deck—I'm working hard on that," Guo Yunye leaned in and said.

"What's the benefit of being one of the deck?" Shen Ye inquired.

"The Tower of Tarot is the judging body for this exam, if you make it to the list, not only can you gain extra points in evaluations, but you'll also have the continued attention of various organizations, giving you more initiative in subsequent exams and school selection, and you'll look more impressive in front of other students. Also—"

"You can get lots of exclusive test info through the deck."

"If your image is positive and you perform in a very eye-catching manner, you might even win some advertising sponsorships and earn commissions!"

When it came to commissions, Guo Yunye's eyes lit up.

Shen Ye paused in surprise.

Tower of Tarot...

It seems there really is such an organization.

It's just that it's too secretive, Shen Ye from the past had never come into contact with an entity on this level.

But since there are so many benefits, he's decided to give it a try.

Shen Ye got serious.

"Without you making any requests, at least six candidates took initiative on their own to participate in the activity you hosted."

This is indeed a bit difficult.

What should he do?

He looked around, thought for a bit, and then raised his head to point toward the high section of the wall:

"Hey, do you see that vent up there?"

"I see it." Guo Yunye looked up and said.

"It's boring to just stand around here—can you reach that vent?" Shen Ye asked.

"It's a bit high." Guo Yunye estimated for a moment, "I'll probably have to give it my all to possibly touch it."

"Really? I don't believe you." Shen Ye said.

Guo Yunye became interested.

"What if I manage to touch it?" he asked.

"Then I'll be convinced." Shen Ye gave him a thumbs up.

"Wait for it, I'll take a run-up." Guo Yunye said.

He backed up a few steps, then with an acceleration, leaped high into the air.

His fingertips swept below the vent.

"A bit off—just by this much." Shen Ye showed him the gap.

"That was just a warm-up, let's go again." Guo Yunye was not convinced.

"Hold on, it's my turn to try now." Shen Ye said.

"Alright, one turn each." Guo Yunye stopped in his tracks.

Shen Ye took a few steps back, ran up a few steps, and leaped high—

He didn't touch it either!

"Haha, you were way off, now it's my turn." Guo Yunye laughed.

The commotion of the two attracted the attention of others.

A girl was laughing and talking with three boys when she noticed they all turned their heads to look.

"What's going on?" she asked, puzzled.

"Look over there, they seem to be reaching for the height." one of the boys said.

"Reaching for the height?" The girl chuckled, "That's so childish."

However, the three boys didn't join in the laughter.

They were seriously sizing up that vent.

"It's way too high for us." one of the boys commented.

"Maybe high for you guys, but if I take a few more steps for the run-up, I should be able to touch it." another boy asserted.

"Touching the bottom edge doesn't count, you must touch right in the middle of the vent—that height would mean you really touched it." a third boy declared.

"Of course, I know that; I mean I can touch its upper rim."

"Hehe, sure."

"Don't believe me?"

"Saying you can touch the bottom rim is plausible, but claiming you can touch the upper rim is a bit unrealistic."

"Underestimating people now, are you? I've trained for this back in the day."

As they spoke, the first boy had already run toward Shen Ye's side.

The other two boys followed suit.

The girl was left standing there, eyes wide open, mumbling in disbelief:

"I can't believe this, what's so fun about it."

Suddenly, someone joined in the conversation: "This is a challenge."

The girl turned around abruptly.

Another boy walked past her, giving her a smile.

"Zhao Ming, you're going too?" the girl asked.

"Just watch me, I'll touch higher than any of them." the boy proclaimed.

"But what's the point in touching higher? You won't gain any benefit from it." She said, spreading her hands in incomprehension.

The boy glared at her:

"Can't I just play for fun?"

Below the vent.

The boys gathered for excited whispering, taking turns trying to touch the vent.

Every time someone jumped and their fingertips only grazed below the vent, they were inevitably met with a burst of ridicule and whistles.

But no one got angry.

Everyone was enthusiastically gathered together, discussing the errors in that person's jumping posture, how much their fingers lacked to touch, and how they themselves would touch it in one go.

The ones being discussed naturally disagreed, stubbornly arguing they weren't ready and next time they definitely would reach a certain spot.

Then everyone together watched a new boy getting ready, urging him to touch quickly.

After jumping a few times, Shen Ye stood to the side, watching with a smile on his face.

Boys are that simple.

And the joy of boys is incredibly pure.

Shen Ye looked down at the playing card in his hand.

"Without making any requests, you got six middle school students to stand up and participate in the activity you hosted."

"Now please complete the second challenge:"

"At least twelve candidates must stand out to participate in another activity you host."

The difficulty of this was a bit high.

The only advantage was that this task dropped the "without any promotion."

Well then…

What else could bring the boys together?