Chapter 26

Tang Xiao followed Xiao Bai to the rooftop outside the banquet hall, feeling extremely uneasy. Xiao Bai looked around, nodded, and said, “No one’s here. Come over.”

Tang Xiao took a deep breath and kept trying to talk himself down: He’d made it through all those big-name scholars earlier. Don’t chicken out now. Don’t chicken out...

Xiao Bai began with a simple assessment. At first, the questions were within Tang Xiao’s knowledge, and he answered them smoothly. But gradually, they grew more advanced, and before long Tang Xiao was stumbling over his answers.

He forced down his panic as he answered, keeping his eyes on Xiao Bai and trying to read his reaction. But to his disappointment, whether Tang Xiao answered fluently or faltered, Xiao Bai’s expression never changed. Tang Xiao couldn’t even decide whether he should reload and try answering again.

But what good would reloading do? This wasn’t an exam with standard answers. Xiao Bai was often just asking him to explain his thought process, and reloading wouldn’t give Tang Xiao a new brain.

Tang Xiao would have bet that those ten minutes were the longest he’d ever spent playing this game. Even being killed by 428 until he’d grown numb hadn’t made him this nervous.

The barrage of questions left Tang Xiao feeling dizzy. His mind was racing as he struggled to keep up with Xiao Bai’s train of thought.

Just after Tang Xiao finished answering one difficult question, Xiao Bai suddenly asked, “What do you think of 428?”

Tang Xiao was so stunned that his mind couldn’t catch up. He blurted out, “It’s hard to deal with, but it has the potential to evolve into the King of Fungi.”

This time, Xiao Bai remained silent for a long while...