The next second, Jing Mingqiu landed behind a man in a black trench coat. Without any preamble, he raised his arm and threw a straight punch at his face.
"Bang!"
A dull thud echoed as the trench coat man slammed onto the ground, his head lolling to the side, spitting out half a mouth of broken teeth.
Such an incident caused the crowd to instantly stir. Some retreated in panic, while others shouted on the spot.
Two other individuals acted with practiced ease, darting behind cabinets to observe their surroundings while their right hands instinctively moved towards their lower backs.
Seeing the situation escalating into chaos, Jing Mingqiu quickly pressed a button on his chest, activating the mech's built-in loudspeaker.
"Everyone, please do not panic. I am Jing Mingqiu, the chief invigilator for this exam. My sudden action was for your safety. That person was attempting to attack..."
His booming voice carried throughout the hall. After his identity as the chief invigilator was revealed, the tense atmosphere significantly eased. Just as things were about to return to normal, a sarcastic voice cut through the crowd.
"So what if you're the chief invigilator? Does that mean you can just hit people? You claim he attacked, but I didn't see anything!"
"You didn't see it? Then I'll let you experience it firsthand!"
Jing Mingqiu had no intention of indulging him. He activated the mech's scanning function, used sound localization to pinpoint the sarcastic voice, and pulled the man out of the crowd.
The man who was apprehended raised his phone, adopting a defiant pose. "Are you trying to force a confession? Let me tell you, I'm live-streaming! I haven't done anything!"
"Stop shouting, I'm not going to hit you. I just want to treat you to something."
Jing Mingqiu walked over to the trench coat man, who was lying on the ground spitting blood, rummaged through his pockets, and pulled out a small, card-like object resembling a hair clip. He carefully picked up a bit of the blood the man had just spat onto the ground. He then returned to the apprehended man.
"Lick the blood on this, and I'll publicly apologize immediately! And I'll give you my position as chief invigilator."
Faced with such generous terms, the apprehended man's eyes darted away. "Don't push your luck! I'm a vegetarian!"
"Vegetarian, huh?" Jing Mingqiu sneered, throwing the blood-stained card at him. "I think you're afraid of getting infected with AIDS, syphilis, hepatitis B, hepatitis A! And gonorrhea! All five deadly diseases! How did you find someone this dangerous?"
It turned out that Jing Mingqiu, following the name called out by Yi Wenliu, had been reviewing system records when he was surprised to find that one of the male students, Zhao Geng, suddenly had an infection marker.
Out of curiosity, Jing Mingqiu clicked on it and saw the entire modus operandi in the system notes. A guy named Wang Dazhi had first used a special tool containing a trace amount of anesthetic to inflict some inconspicuous minor injuries on Zhao Geng. Then, he had transferred his bodily fluids onto them, allowing the viruses to enter Zhao Geng's body through the wounds.
Jing Mingqiu pulled up Wang Dazhi's profile and discovered he was the one who had undergone full cosmetic surgery to impersonate someone else. To avoid causing a disturbance, Jing Mingqiu had intended to have him apprehended. However, he noticed Wang Dazhi looking down through the window and saw him reach into his pocket again to retrieve a homemade tool, preparing to infect others once more.
Seeing another innocent victim about to be created, Jing Mingqiu could no longer control his emotions and smashed through the window, jumping down.
"Be careful, that guy has several highly contagious diseases on him."
After handing over Wang Dazhi and his accomplice to the arriving security personnel, Jing Mingqiu crossed the crowd and walked over to Zhao Geng, patting him on the shoulder under his nervous gaze.
"Student, you don't need to take the exam anymore. You've been directly admitted. Go to the hospital for treatment immediately. AIDS can be effectively prevented by taking blocking medication within twenty-four hours of infection. For other infectious diseases, early treatment also reduces the chance of infection."
Hearing this, Zhao Geng's vision went black, as if he had lost his parents. Nevertheless, he managed to stand straight and refused Jing Mingqiu's offer of direct admission.
"This has nothing to do with you. It's my bad luck to encounter someone who wants to retaliate against society. I don't need special admission! I believe with my own strength, I can pass the exam honorably."
"How can it have nothing to do with us? They were targeting me! Otherwise, who would risk so much to perform cosmetic surgery for someone carrying five deadly diseases?"
"However," Jing Mingqiu paused, "your luck is indeed not good. With so many people present, they targeted you first. How about this: go to the hospital, and once you're well, I'll assess you individually."
Zhao Geng gently shook his head. "There's no need for such trouble. You said the blocking medication works within twenty-four hours. I can take the exam first, and then go to the hospital for treatment."
Seeing his stubbornness, Jing Mingqiu didn't say much more and agreed. AIDS, syphilis, hepatitis B, hepatitis A, and gonorrhea – these are essentially incurable terminal illnesses for modern medicine. For Jing Mingqiu, as long as he worked to improve his system level, solving them would merely be a matter of effort.
"Alright. Then I won't waste any more time. Follow me to the workshop, and I'll tell you what the second round of the re-examination will be."
Jing Mingqiu led the remaining ninety-eight candidates to the workshop, pointing to the various raw materials on the table and introducing them.
"The initial test assessed your knowledge. The re-examination will assess your practical skills. There are a total of ten auxiliary mechs here. Next, you will form teams freely and modify these ten auxiliary mechs."
"The modification is limited to three hours. At the end of the time, we will conduct a unified test. Whichever team's modified mech has the strongest fire resistance will be admitted to my laboratory."
"Oh, and by the way," Jing Mingqiu added, "my laboratory isn't large. This time, I'll be accepting a maximum of ten people. If your group has double digits, you will need to conduct an internal elimination among yourselves."
With ninety-eight people and ten groups, with no group exceeding ten people, at least one group would have fewer than ten. Modifying a mech in just three hours was a time-sensitive and critical task, and every participant was crucial. No one wanted to be in the group with fewer members.
Therefore, as soon as Jing Mingqiu gave the order, the second round of the exam began. To compete for teammates and form alliances, the previously quiet workshop erupted into heated arguments.
Temporarily handing over the exam venue to other teachers for supervision, Jing Mingqiu quietly left through the back door and returned to the school hospital, finding Yi Wenliu, who had been waiting for him.
"Alright, the matters are mostly dealt with. Please read out a few more names for me."
Yi Wenliu took out a small notebook from his pocket and very conscientiously reread the names.
"Zhang Jiazhi doesn't have any major health issues, but he's been poisoned with a slow-acting toxin and needs to take the antidote regularly. Zhao Geng was originally just weak and had poor eyesight, but now he's been ambushed. If not properly treated, he's likely to contract all five deadly diseases."
"Sun Datong, he's too fat, with high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high blood lipids, and severe arteriosclerosis..."
As Jing Mingqiu listed more ailments, Yi Wenliu's eyes widened involuntarily.
"It's all! It's all correct! How is this possible? Even if you memorized all their background information, you couldn't possibly get it all right. I clearly..."
Mid-sentence, Yi Wenliu realized what he was saying and abruptly raised his hand, tightly covering his mouth!