After bringing Jing Liuli into his team, Tendo led her to Caroline, who was still engrossed in her extensive data analysis. Caroline was completely focused on her tactical tablet, her emerald pupils streaming with torrents of data like a waterfall, and actual white smoke emanating from her head, a physical manifestation of brain overload.
Seeing this, Tendo immediately raised his hand and flicked her forehead.
"Tendo?" Caroline belatedly looked up, completely unaware of the small red mark on her forehead.
"Stop calculating, Caroline. That guy's Star Energy value alone is over thirty times ours. Even if you calculate until tomorrow, our chances of winning will still be zero."
"But..."
"No buts." Tendo took a candy from his pocket and popped it into Caroline's mouth. "What do you think those old geezers put this thing out for? Isn't it just to give us a strong warning?"
"Anything you can think of, those old geezers must have thought of too. So, it's absolutely impossible for us to defeat that guy."
"So... relax. Our goal isn't to win against it, but to find a way to make those old geezers' jaws drop."
Hearing Tendo's words, Caroline slowly calmed down, savoring the candy in her mouth. Jing Liuli, seeing this, immediately looked at Tendo's jacket pocket around his waist with big, expectant eyes. "Ten-Tendo, I need to replenish my sugar too."
"Huh?" Looking at the greedy Liuli, Tendo impatiently waved his hand. "Go on, go on. Someone whose brain doesn't even turn once in ten days or half a month, do you need to eat sugar to replenish your brain's sugar? Go play somewhere else."
Hearing Tendo say this, Jing Liuli immediately became displeased. "Who said that? I'm good at thinking too, okay? Tendo, don't underestimate me!"
"Huh?" Tendo raised an eyebrow. "What's 10 multiplied by 25?"
"Eh?" Liuli's pupils instantly turned into spirals, and her fingers waved aimlessly in the air. "10... 25... that..."
"It's 250, you idiot!"
"I-I know it's 250! You just blurted out the answer!" To prove she wasn't lying, Liuli huffily pulled out her phone. After some fumbling, she brought up an IQ test report. "Tendo, I'm not an idiot! Look, this is my IQ test result from last time, which cost me 100 kuai. It's totally..."
Tendo snatched her phone, speechless, looking at the incredibly simplistic IQ test report. "Seriously, spending 100 kuai on a test like this... you really are an idiot."
"Because only an idiot would believe in this kind of scam app and actually spend money on it."
"You're lying!" Liuli's voice was tearful as she glared fiercely at Tendo, gritting her teeth. She didn't want to admit she was an idiot, nor did she want to admit she'd been tricked.
Caroline, seeing this, said somewhat sympathetically, "Uh, Liuli, I've actually done a similar test too..."
"Really?!" Jing Liuli looked at Caroline excitedly, her expression like a drowning person clutching at a last straw. But before she could ask Caroline for her test results, Tendo preemptively dismantled it. "Idiot, stop fantasizing. With a shrewd person like Caroline, she's either saying that to comfort you, or she took the test but definitely didn't pay for it in the end."
"You don't actually think everyone's as easily fooled as you, do you?"
"Tendo, shut up!"
Tendo raised his hands. "Alright, alright, I won't say anything more. I won't say anything more."
Caroline glared at Tendo, signaling him to stop. Didn't he see that after hearing those words, Liuli looked as if she'd been struck by lightning, her entire demeanor turning grayscale?
Tendo turned to look at Liuli. He saw that after his barrage of attacks, she had gone from mysteriously confident to mysteriously insecure, muttering repeatedly about being scammed out of a hundred kuai. This made him suddenly feel a little guilty. It seemed he had indeed spoken too harshly. Should he... comfort her?
However, just as Tendo was wondering whether to comfort her, Jing Liuli, having thought of something, suddenly put down her beloved pillow and began furiously writing on it with her marker. Tendo and Caroline curiously leaned in, wanting to know what she was writing. But when Tendo saw the words, his small sunglasses nearly slid off his nose.
Because Jing Liuli had just written: [Liar Tendo Only Bullies People] in big letters.
This made Tendo very displeased. "Let me go, Caroline! Let me go! She's slandering me, she's slandering me! Am I, Tendo, the kind of person who likes to trick people?!"
"Calm down, Tendo, calm down. Why are you getting angry with a child?"
"Calm down? I can't calm down one bit today!"
Jing Liuli looked at Tendo, who was being held by Caroline, and then hugged her beloved pillow, turning her head away with a "hmph." It was as if she was saying Tendo was a big liar, and the kind who liked to bully people.
"Caroline, look, this girl is still provoking me! Let me go, I have to argue this out with her today, or else I'll write 'Tendo Simei' backwards!"
"Nya nya nya!"
Looking at the flailing Tendo, Jing Liuli wasn't afraid at all. Instead, she made a mocking face at him, utterly defiant.
Meanwhile, Chen Kong watched Tendo and the others, who were still bickering despite the final assessment being imminent, with envy. "Sis, do you think Brother Tendo and his team can pass the final assessment?"
"They don't seem to be taking this assessment very seriously..."
Facing this question, Chen Xing's reply was very rational. "Tendo, ranked first, Liuli, ranked third, plus Caroline, ranked fourth. Based purely on theoretical strength, they are already the strongest of the twelve teams."
"Not to mention their Star Cores can even complement each other. If even they can't pass the final assessment, then I honestly can't imagine who could."
"Alright, instead of worrying about them, you should focus on yourself. After all, if you dare to drag me down later, I definitely won't let you off easy."
"U-understood..."
At the same time, similar words echoed from behind a one-way glass panel directly above the central arena.
"No matter how you look at it, Tendo's team is the strongest, isn't it?"
"Yet, even so, I still don't see them having even a sliver of a chance of victory."
"After all, the Second-Tier Earth Dragon Lizard is a famously fierce beast, its combat power is top-tier among its rank. Even Tendo and his team will struggle to last three minutes in front of it, let alone those other teams far inferior to Tendo's."
"Doctor, are you sure there's no problem with this final assessment arrangement?"
Hearing the canary's words, the Doctor revealed a meaningful expression. He looked at Tendo below the glass and uttered something that took everyone by surprise.
"No, on the contrary, I think this Second-Tier Earth Dragon Lizard is just right."
"Everyone, just watch. That child, Tendo, will definitely bring you quite a surprise."
"Oh, interesting." The griffon man stood up and walked to the one-way floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at Tendo's team, who were already walking towards the arena.
The final assessment had begun.