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墨書 Inktalez
Zhong Kui's Diary
"Excuse me, can I bother you for a minute? I am Chen Gangdan, a reporter from Star City Television's live coverage program."
"Chen Gangdan? A name that plain can be a reporter? You must be a fake, right?"
"This is my press badge..."
"Yo Xue, it really is you. What do you want to discuss with me?"
"What are your thoughts on the ongoing Dragon Palace Selection Competition in Star City?"
"The Dragon Palace Competition? Isn't that the one where they don't care about looks, talent, or education, and the only requirement to qualify is swimming skills?"
"Exactly!"
"Do you think I'm pretty?"
"Uh... you're okay!"
"Even a beauty like me gets rejected just because of poor swimming skills. What’s the point of this Preliminary Selection? Back in the day, I was known as the class flower, a beauty without sugar for kidney deficiency. Is the planner of this Preliminary Selection an idiot? Are all the judges idiots too? And... hey, don’t walk away! That person, what was their name... hey... vibrating egg... don’t go..."
...
"Excuse me, can I bother you for a minute? I am Chen Gangdan, a reporter from Star City Television's live coverage program."
"Chen Gangdan? A name that plain can be a reporter? You must be a fake, right?"
"This is my press badge..."
"Yo Xue, do you have any questions for me?"
"What do you think about the ongoing Dragon Palace Selection Competition in Star City?"
"Well, since the main purpose of this event is to see how well people can swim, I think it's necessary to participate in revealing swimwear during the preliminary selection. Ahem, sorry, I misspoke; I meant that swimwear would be more appropriate. Of course, if one must go fully nude, I would face it calmly. I have always held an appreciation for art, such as body poker; I have several sets at home... Hey, don't walk away! What was that again... Dog egg... Chicken egg..."
...
"Excuse me, can I interrupt you for a minute? I'm Chen Gangdan, a reporter from Star City Television's live segment. What do you think about the Dragon Palace Selection Competition currently being held in Star City?"
"A reporter? Oh, that's great! Come here! My husband has a mistress, and I'm planning to confront his boss about it! You should come with me. Chen Tiedan, right? You're also educated; help me reason with him! Why are there so many scoundrels with the surname Chen these days?"
"Ma'am, I understand your feelings, but I'm asking you about the Dragon Palace Competition..."
"What does that lobster competition have to do with me? My husband is cheating on me; do you think I have the mood to care about this nonsense? Come on, let's go..."
"Ma'am, let's talk this over... Hey... don't pull my belt! Let go! If you don't let go, I'll call the police!"
...
After listening to these three recordings, I smiled at Zhuo Wei, who looked exhausted and dazed. "So, do you understand how others perceive the Preliminary Selection now?"
Zhuo Wei weakly nodded. "I thought that once we advertised it, people would flock to sign up. But it turns out our planned Preliminary Selection only left this impression on others."
I chuckled. "What did you expect? Haha, but it's not impossible to remedy this."
Zhuo Wei's eyes lit up. "How can we remedy it?"
"Now for the Preliminary Selection, it's either about fame or fortune." I adjusted my expression to a pretentious mode: "Let's go for both, fame and fortune. I'll contact Lingfeng or Guo'er to help reach out to a well-known director, seeking a role for the Preliminary Selection champion in their movie, at least as the second male or female lead. As for the money, you figure it out; you need to create a buzz with a million-dollar prize."
Zhuo Wei initially listened with shining eyes, but upon hearing the last sentence, his face fell: "Where am I supposed to get a hundred thousand?"
"Don't give me that. With your skills, just dive into a sunken ship and fish out an Artifact, or dig up some big shells and collect a few large pearls. The money will come, right? Do I really have to teach you this?" I laughed and scolded.
Hearing this, Zhuo Wei left happily.
I watched Zhuo Wei's back with a bitter smile; now I was even more anxious than he was to find this so-called Dragon Palace Descendant. Otherwise, I'd be driven crazy by this guy.
Should I just get rid of him? As I thought about it fiercely, I gritted my teeth with a fierce expression.
A week later, the Dragon Palace Competition preliminaries officially began.
Thanks to Guo'er contacting someone from Feng, a major supporting role was secured, and Lingfeng sponsored two million in prize money. Just the champion could receive one million in rewards. This caused a sensation throughout Star City, with over thirty thousand people signing up.
As for why Lingfeng sponsored two million, it was because Zhuo Wei somehow got his hands on a palm-sized Han Dynasty White Jade Tripod. Even someone like me could tell that this white jade tripod was priceless. At that time, Lingfeng took the tripod under the pretense of verifying its authenticity, took a couple of looks, and then ran off; he covered all the expenses for the Dragon Palace Competition...
The preliminaries were set at Star City Sports Center, which had a standard Swimming Pool. All participants faced the first challenge of holding their breath underwater for one minute.
Relatively speaking, this challenge had a very high threshold; out of more than thirty thousand registered contestants, only one hundred sixty-seven advanced to the semifinals, including one hundred fifty men and seventeen women.
Among them, three stood out: two men and one woman.
Cheng Hao, male, 5 years old, from Star City Yuhua District, a retired Marine Corps soldier and police officer from the Municipal Public Security Bureau River Division Jigong Mountain precinct. His breath-holding performance underwater was four minutes and thirty-seven seconds.
Luo Jinyun, male, 8 years old, from Star City Qinghu District, born into a martial arts family and currently a client manager at Star City Hades Cultural Co., Ltd. His breath-holding time underwater was five minutes and six seconds.
Liu Qi, female, age unknown, from Star City Yuhua District, recently graduated from university and is currently unemployed. Her breath-holding time in water has reached an astonishing twelve minutes and twenty-eight seconds.
At that moment, I told Zhuo Wei that there was no need for any more preliminary or final rounds; Liu Qi was definitely the person he was looking for. Her age was appropriate, and her swimming skills were exceptional—she was the one.
Unexpectedly, Zhuo Wei shook his head. "We can't be sure about that yet."
"What do you mean? If she can stay underwater for over ten minutes, who else could it be? That exceeds human limits," I said in surprise.
"Please check Baidu first. Do you really think ten minutes is the limit? The human limit is around twenty minutes!" Zhuo Wei laughed. "Do you know how long I can stay underwater?"
"How long?" I felt a bit anxious; he seemed so confident. Could he stay for half an hour?
"I can stay at the bottom for seventy-four hours," Zhuo Wei said proudly.
I was taken aback and scratched my head. "That doesn't count; you must have used some kind of spell." However, I thought to myself that if the human limit is twenty minutes and he could last seventy-four hours, clearly, he wasn't human!
Zhuo Wei didn't deny it and continued, "That's nothing. The vast majority of people in Dragon Palace live underwater."
"Do they have gills hanging from their chins? If Dragon Palace Descendants looked like that, it would be easy to find them," I said with a wry smile. "So how can you tell if they are Dragon Palace Descendants?"
"I'm not sure. It's like a high-quality inflatable doll compared to a real person; they may look similar, but there's a distinct difference when it comes down to it," Zhuo Wei casually compared.
I nodded. "Your example is quite straightforward. Well then, let's continue with the Dragon Palace Competition."
Next, the Dragon Palace Competition held its preliminaries. At Star Riverbank, a section of water was enclosed, and all one hundred contestants were placed in it. They could interfere with and attack each other... the last one standing would be the winner.
This test was not just about breath-holding; it also assessed the contestants' agility and evasion underwater. In short, those who could last until the end would definitely be the best swimmers.
I originally thought the results would be similar to the preliminaries, with Cheng Hao, Luo Jinyun, and Liu Qi clearly leading the other competitors. Unexpectedly, the final winner turned out to be a young man named Jiang Feiyu.
From the underwater cameras, it was evident that Jiang Feiyu's Kung Fu skills were exceptional. He successively drove Cheng Hao and Luo Jinyun out of the water, while he simply had his way with Liu Qi, leaving her no choice but to withdraw from the competition in a mix of anger and despair.
After the competition, I asked Jiang Feiyu, "Why did you hold your breath for only one minute and three seconds during the preliminaries? Yet in this round, you managed to stay underwater for almost five minutes?"
Jiang Feiyu chuckled sheepishly and replied, "Isn't one minute enough to qualify for the next round? Why would I stay down like an idiot for ten minutes?"
"…"
As a result, after the semifinals concluded, five contestants were selected for the finals. Jiang Feiyu, Liu Qi, Luo Jinyun, and Cheng Hao ranked in the top four, while fifth place went to a young man named Lu Yiguan.
Zhuo Wei looked at Jiang Feiyu with a frown, clearly puzzled about whether Jiang Feiyu was truly a descendant of the Dragon Palace. In the end, Lou Wei came up with a plan: he suggested obtaining some blood or hair samples from the Dragon King and collecting samples from Jiang Feiyu as well. They could then conduct a DNA test to determine if there was any blood relation.
Would this method be suitable for a descendant of dragons? This was a question on all our minds. Lou Wei dismissed our doubts with a single statement—people from the Ninth Research Institute had upgraded this testing method to version 10, which was not only applicable to humans but almost all forms of life.
It was announced that the finals would take place in a month. Zhuo Wei returned to the Dragon Palace to collect DNA samples from the Dragon King. Before he left, Fatty curiously asked, "Where exactly is this Dragon Palace?"
Zhuo Wei smiled and replied, "Mariana Trench."
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