Chapter 4: Testing the Truth

Just as the examiner had said, the content of their assessment this time was rather simple. In essence, they were to enter a prepared room, remain inside for a random period of time, then emerge and report how long they believed they had been within. Without any instruments, timing oneself by heartbeats and pulses—this was one of the fundamental skills of an agent.

“What’s so hard about that? Even someone as useless as Joss could manage it, right?” Jason frowned, voicing his doubts.

“Hmph, that kid sure got lucky. It was supposed to be the hardest test, but they ended up with something as simple as this,” someone else muttered in agreement.

Hearing this, Joss raised an eyebrow and replied, “If it’s so easy, why don’t you go up and give us a demonstration?”

“Heh, you think that childish provocation will—”

“Eat shit!”

“Damn you! Examiner! I’ll go first!”

Joss squinted as he watched Jason volunteer and stride into the test room, then shifted his attention to the system interface.

“On second thought... if these abilities are used cleverly, their effect might not be so bad after all.”

The so-called Power of the Fly Brother, though its activation was rather peculiar, could indeed be quite useful if employed well. While it couldn’t forcibly redirect attacks like a taunt skill in an online game, it was undeniable that people often acted irrationally when angered.

“If that’s the case... maybe there’s potential in the other abilities as well?”

Since the test room was completely sealed, those outside couldn’t see what was happening within. Joss and the others simply busied themselves with their own preparations for the test ahead.

“Heh, just timing ourselves—could there be a more basic skill? Isn’t this the simplest test?”

“Haha, well, we’re in the top ten after all. Of course, they’d give us an easy pass. You don’t expect us to waste time like those losers, do you?”

“It’s fine if we pass, but it’s annoying that some trash gets to scrape by on luck.”

Indeed, it wasn’t poverty but inequality that bred resentment. If everyone failed together, there would be no complaints, but seeing a “bottom-feeder” get through by sheer luck irked even those with no particular grudge against Joss.

Joss, having just suffered a covert setback at the hands of Nick Fury, had no intention of baiting anyone further until he understood the relationship between his self-destructive tendencies and danger levels. He simply ignored the pair.

“Jason’s coming out!”

Suddenly, someone shouted, and all eyes turned toward the door.

Jason’s test hadn’t lasted long. Joss checked the time—just three minutes and seventeen seconds had passed before Jason emerged from the room.

“What happened in there?”

“Did Jason really end up like that?”

Yet, the Jason who staggered—no, crawled—out the door looked as pale as a dying man, shattering everyone’s illusions in an instant.

The examiner ignored the cadets’ protests, maintaining a stony expression as he announced Jason’s result: “Jason Green, Agent Skills Assessment, final score: 49.5.”

At that, jaws nearly dropped to the floor. It was as if they’d heard the most outlandish tale imaginable.

Jason was, after all, ranked among the top ten in the entire camp, yet he had barely scraped a passing score. The implication was all too clear.

“The test was actually this hard?”

What they had thought was a “privileged” test for the top ten had turned out to be a harsh lesson.

With Jason serving as a warning, the others hesitated, none willing to step forward. As the examiner grew impatient and was about to call on someone, Joss took a step up and said, “Examiner, I’ll go next.”

“Are you sure?” Joss’s move drew everyone’s attention, even the examiner regarding him with a look of surprise and uncertainty.

“Know your place! Even Jason ended up like that—do you really think you’re better than him?” One cadet, whether out of fear or resentment, yelled at Joss.

“Yeah! You bottom-feeder scum think you can pass?”

“Don’t embarrass yourself!”

As if a dam had burst, the others who already disliked Joss joined in with curses and jeers.

“Sorry, nothing personal against Jason,” Joss said, scratching his head with feigned embarrassment as the insults grew uglier. “It’s just that I think everyone here is trash.”

Before the words had fully left his mouth, he turned and dashed into the test room, not giving the others a chance to retort.

Talk big, then run—truly exhilarating!

...

The moment he stepped inside, Joss found himself in an endless space of pure white. Even looking back, he couldn’t see the door he’d entered through.

“What kind of high-tech is this? Spatial expansion or folding? No... for a test like this, it’s probably an illusion,” he mused.

Though curious, Joss wasn’t alarmed. In a world where science, magic, and superpowers coexisted, nothing was too surprising.

“A purely white space... staying here long enough would certainly have a considerable effect on the mind.”

After wandering for a while, Joss realized that the task—precisely calculating the time spent inside—was much harder than it sounded.

In such a space, one’s sense of time became muddled, much like those moments when you feel an eternity has passed, yet only a minute shows on the clock. Here, that effect would be amplified.

“But judging by Jason’s state, this can’t be just a white room, can it?”

As if in response to his thoughts, a point in the infinite whiteness suddenly darkened.

“It’s starting!” Joss was immediately on high alert.

The darkness spread faster than he could have imagined. Though it seemed millions of miles away, in the next instant, blackness had engulfed most of the space.

Only then did Joss see, within the blackness, countless terrifying, monstrous forms.

In the next second, the darkness swallowed Joss whole.

From utter white to utter black—the transition took but a moment. An ordinary person would be completely thrown off by such an experience. Coupled with the presence of monsters in the dark, even a seasoned agent’s nerves would be shaken.

And with the added challenge of keeping track of time, the difficulty of the test soared.

“Tsk, if they’d just left out the monsters, it would be uncomfortable but manageable. Deliberately showing you a glimpse and then plunging you into darkness—what a fiendish test...”

In the dark, Joss could only sigh as he listened to the strange footsteps and howls all around.

After a while, hearing nothing more, Joss shrugged and muttered with a wry smile, “Well, it’s basically just a giant VR simulation, right? It can’t really hurt me. I don’t know why Jason was so scared...—what the?!”

The next moment, he felt something’s claw—he couldn’t say what—smash straight into his face.