# Chapter 1: Eighth Rank Trial
Light and shadow flickered before his eyes. Su Xiao felt the space shuttle device beneath him lightly vibrate, then the surrounding scene returned to normal. He was already inside the back room of Lide's forging shop.
"Bai Ye, thanks for this time."
Lide was in a good mood. Although there were some interruptions along the way, Su Xiao had given him enough face, not wasting the fact that Lide had been helping him repair equipment and forge gear for free all this time. Besides these things, whenever Su Xiao obtained mineral-type items, Lide would purchase them at 7% above market price.
"If you have any equipment that needs repairing, just say the word."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course. I'm a man of my word."
"Mm."
Su Xiao took off his [Wild Hunt Night] long leather coat and tossed it to Lide. After fighting against King Duoyin earlier, this equipment's durability had dropped significantly. Since Lide had almost gone mentally unstable repairing this long leather coat before, Su Xiao had originally planned to find another repairer. But since Lide offered now, there was no need to be polite.
Lide held the [Wild Night] long leather coat, as if petrified. He now very much wanted to slap himself.
After leaving Lide's forging shop, Su Xiao noticed that there were far fewer people in Reincarnation Paradise. This was because the contractors had all entered mission worlds. Every time a mission world began, numerous worlds were opened simultaneously. Those still remaining in Reincarnation Paradise were basically all workers.
A worker, arms crossed and humming a tune, walked past Su Xiao. This worker's expression was exceptionally relaxed, after all, the madmen (contractors) had all entered mission worlds.
It could be said that over 98% of workers were quite normal. Although they occasionally entered mission worlds, the main missions they received were relatively simple. In the early stages, it was just running errands, and by the final mission stage, at most they had to eliminate a few ordinary enemies, not even encountering elite units.
Su Xiao hadn't entered a mission world because he was about to participate in the Eighth Rank promotion trial. As of now, he had absolutely no information about the next world. No hints had appeared, and he didn't even know when he could enter the world.
At this moment, Su Xiao still had 611 Soul Coins remaining. The trading street had no stalls set up. There were stalls in the trade market, but those were transactions between workers and workers, nothing Su Xiao needed.
As for going to the Land of All Beings·Fifth Layer, Su Xiao weighed the options in his mind and decided to keep these 611 Soul Coins. Since meeting Brother Wusan, Su Xiao would always leave a certain amount of Paradise Coins before entering a mission world. Now it was leaving Soul Coins, after all, that parachuting experience was too unforgettable.
With nothing else to do, Su Xiao walked into a street that wasn't too wide and pushed open the door to enter a restaurant.
"Welcome... hey, hey, hey hey?"
Seeing Su Xiao walk into the restaurant, Xia, who was holding a game controller behind the counter, was very surprised. Beside her was a girl with bottle-bottom glasses and messy hair.
"You should have entered the world already."
Xia put down the game controller, tied up her hair, and prepared to go to the back kitchen to cook.
"We've all been demoted to workers."
Baha flipped through the menu, while beside him, Amu grabbed several menus.
Xia smiled, neither confirming nor denying. She didn't believe Su Xiao had been demoted to a worker.
Under Xia's already somewhat numb gaze, Amu, Bubu Wang, and Baha finished ordering their dishes. She had gotten used to it. Due to the high-intensity cooking, her Stamina attribute had even increased by 1 point.
Before long, one delicious dish after another was brought to the table. Amu started feasting first. When Amu was about half full, Xia had already sat down across the table. Due to the sweat on her cheeks, a strand of her hair was stuck to her face.
After a hearty meal, Su Xiao lit a cigarette, rested on his seat for a moment, then walked toward the restaurant exit.
"Xia, they haven't paid yet. Eating and dashing. Should I go warn them?"
Behind the counter, the girl with messy hair, bottle-bottom glasses, and both hands holding a game controller spoke up.
"Calm down, it's not eating and dashing..."
"As your friend, seeing you being bullied, how could I stay calm?"
The glasses girl narrowed her eyes, her gaze somewhat dangerous.
"How reliable. But ah, his name is Bai Ye, he's a regular. He pays once every 1000 Paradise Coins."
Hearing this, the glasses girl was silent for a moment.
"I'll just keep playing games. The outside world is dangerous."
...
Inside the Exclusive Room, after waiting for over an hour, Su Xiao finally received a notification from Reincarnation Paradise.
[Notification: The Hunter is about to return to the Real World. Teleportation has begun.]
Just as Su Xiao saw this notification, he was already teleported back to the Real World. Moreover, the entire team was teleported back. Among them, Amu was in a disguised state, while Bubu Wang, Baha, and Beini didn't need to disguise themselves.
"Meow?"
Beini, returning to the Real World for the first time, looked around curiously. Su Xiao, however, frowned deeply. This new world was too peculiar. After waiting so long, there was still no entry notification. Instead, he was made to return to the Real World to wait.
[Notification: The Hunter will undergo the Eighth Rank promotion trial in 48 hours.]
[Due to the Hunter's personal combat power exceeding Seventh Rank, Void Tree has determined that the Hunter will enter the ??? world with a delay, and the entry location will be extremely far from over 99% of contractors.]
...
Seeing these two notifications, Su Xiao understood why he had been unable to enter the new world for so long. The notary for the new world was Void Tree. This was very interesting.
Clearly, the world Su Xiao was about to enter had already had contractors entering it one after another. The entry order was based on their personal combat power. The weaker the Seventh Rank contractor, the earlier they entered that world. As for Su Xiao, he had been delayed by several days.
A peaceful Real World life began. It was worth mentioning that Su Xiao noticed a new cold drink shop had opened across the street. It was run by a pair of siblings, both newbie contractors.
Time passed quickly. On the evening of the second day, Su Xiao received a notification from Reincarnation Paradise.
[Notification: A new world is about to open. The Hunter will return to Reincarnation Paradise. Please ensure there are no witnesses nearby.]
[Notification: The new world is an ultra-large world, involving conflicts with external forces, resource competition, etc.]
[The Paradise Merit System is about to open.]
[The World War is about to begin.]
[Teleporting... Teleportation Location: Reincarnation Paradise.]
[Teleportation Completed.]
[Void Tree Notarizing...]
[Notarization Complete. During the World War period, Reincarnation Paradise, Death Paradise, Sanctuary Paradise, and Apocalypse Paradise are all prohibited from providing any form of assistance to their subordinate contractors.]
[This War Location: Demon Spirit Star.]
[War Intensity: High!]
[According to Initial Law Article 1548762, Void Tree is an absolutely neutral party.]
[The Hunter is about to participate in the Seventh Rank World War.]
[Notification: You have obtained Universal Language Lv.70 (Temporary Skill). It will be forgotten after the World War. This is an ability granted by the four-party notary (Reincarnation, Sanctuary, Death, Apocalypse).]
[Notification: Long-distance teleportation preparation complete. First Stop: Star Transit Station. Disguise function activated. Six Eighth Rank contractors from Sanctuary Paradise, Death Paradise, and Apocalypse Paradise will arrive at the Star Transit Station together with the Hunter.]
...