Light Barrier

“Fifty-four minutes!”

The Rubik’s Cube strangely stopped for a while before the last two simple steps. The Redwood chief justice stared at the cube, worried for Gu Shen, feeling every second was like a year. He guessed that the reason the dice stopped at this moment was that this young man had consumed a considerable amount of mental power and needed a rest before making the final push.

He must have reached his limit.

What a pity.

Otherwise, this result could have been faster, although it was meaningless to be faster. In previous assessments, the fastest record for the Dream Decipher of the Blue Cube was three hours and one minute. Gu Shen’s record surpassed this by more than two hours, and it was likely that there would not be a record faster than his for many years to come.

As the Rubik’s Cube in his palm completed the final turn, the young man slowly opened his eyes.

Dream Decipher, completed!

At this moment, every member of the assessment team had their gaze fixed on Gu Shen’s face, wanting to see the lingering emotions from the dream in this little guy’s eyes. Those who had experienced the Blue Cube often had expressions of fear and apprehension in their eyes.

But there was nothing in Gu Shen’s eyes.

They were clear and clean, like a pristine lake.

His calmness left some feeling disappointed.

“Congratulations on completing the Dream Decipher of the first sealed object, the Blue Cube,” the grand magistrate said indifferently as he scrutinized Gu Shen. “Your results are neither good nor bad. You need to speed up for the second one.”

The rest of the assessment team remained silent.

Their choice to remain silent made them feel some guilt within their hearts. The Redwood chief justice avoided looking into Gu Shen’s eyes, but he heard the sound of something placed gently. The young man had placed the Blue Cube in front of him and said softly, “Is that so? I still need to speed up… I thought I was already very fast.”

“You can still be faster. This is about achieving S-grade in the assessment,” the grand magistrate said calmly. “If you feel that your mental power can’t endure it, you can choose to give up now.”

Earlier, they hadn’t seen any fear or apprehension in the young man’s eyes.

But they all sensed it. Gu Shen had consumed a lot of mental power to complete the Blue Cube’s Dream Decipher.

This was the consumption required by Dream Decipher!

“I choose to continue.” Gu Shen reached out and took out the inverted hourglass from the table.

“Very good,” Tang Qingquan said. “If you’re ready to enter the dream, just flip the Sands of Time.”

Sands of Time… That’s the name of this sealed object. Gu Shen nodded.

He wasn’t in a hurry to start.

After completing his first Dream Decipher, he suddenly realized what his talent was.

Disasters like ‘nightmares’ that ordinary people avoided seemed to be… a good thing for him?

Their poison was his sweet nectar.

With the experience of the Blue Cube, Gu Shen decided to observe this sealed object carefully before flipping the Sands of Time. The Blue Cube was a dream about cutting through space and finding the right pattern. This hourglass clearly corresponded to the rules of time.

The sand grains in the hourglass were snow-white and piled up like a small mountain. With a slight shake, the sand grains scattered normally.

After spending about a minute, Gu Shen shook it left and right a few times and carefully examined it. There didn’t seem to be anything abnormal about it.

After ensuring that he didn’t miss anything, he flipped the hourglass.

Swoosh.

As expected, the moment he flipped the hourglass, his mental power began to be drawn away uncontrollably, as though it were engulfed in quicksand, swept away by thousands of grains of sand…

Because his mental power was too weak.

So the sealed object directly hypnotized him into the dream.

…

After Gu Shen entered the dream, the assessment team waited patiently.

Suddenly, Grand Magistrate Tang Qingquan narrowed his eyes. He received an email in his ‘mental sea’.

As he read this email, his expression became extremely solemn. After reading it three times, he tapped the table lightly, attracting everyone’s attention. “Everyone, I just received an accusation report.”

The big shots were stunned. “Accusation? Against whom? Gu Shen?”

“Yes,” Tang Qingquan said calmly. “This report was submitted by Han Dang of the Adjudication Bureau.”

Everyone was familiar with Han Dang’s name. He was a famous junior and a leader of the younger generation of the Adjudication Bureau.

“He investigated Gu Shen’s case in Oto City and the truth about the fire case.” He leaned forward. “I think everyone should take a look at this report.”

With a wave of his hand, data condensed from his mental power swept toward the surrounding seats.

The report was placed in front of every assessor.

After a cursory glance, the chief justice’s expression immediately changed. “According to the on-site investigation and the Profile of the fire care, there are sufficient reasons to suspect that… Gu Shen does not possess a transcendental ability but illegally used a transcendental sealed object…”

He read aloud the contents of this report and couldn’t help laughing. He berated, “This is nonsense. Since when can Profile be used as evidence?!”

Another assessor nodded and added in a deep voice, “Profile can’t be used as evidence. This is the consensus among the Three Courts.

“It’s just that this report was submitted by Han Dang. If not for him, I wouldn’t even bother to glance at this document.”

The grand magistrate said, “The focus is on the ‘investigation of the truth’ in this report.

“We all came to Oto City to inspect Gu Shen’s mental potential… and his risk of losing control.”

Tang Qingquan looked around and said in a voice tinged with misgivings, “We’re here to investigate if he has an S-grade ability. But if this report is true, if Gu Shen is just an ordinary person, then the problem is very serious.”

If this report were true, then a series of charges would follow—falsifying the scene of the fire, obtaining a pardon order by deception, and deceiving the Parliament.

These were very serious charges.

“Han Dang is currently on the way to gather evidence.” The grand magistrate felt that this email was a little strange. “I haven’t reported this matter to Elder Zhao. If Han Dang completes his investigation and proves that everything in the report is true, we might have some trouble ahead.”

Upon hearing this, the big shots in the assessment team became unusually silent.

This young man’s Dream Decipher ability was indeed very strong.

But what was his transcendental ability?

So far, there hadn’t been the slightest hint of it. If the five-member assessment team gave Gu Shen an S rating and then Han Dang’s report was confirmed, Gu Shen wouldn’t be the only one in trouble.

Without a doubt, the correctness of the assessment would be questioned, and this five-member team responsible for the assessment would face investigations accordingly.

“The internal struggles within the Adjudication Bureau are really exciting.” The Redwood chief justice sneered coldly. “In order to become the grand adjudicator, Zhu Wang is really unscrupulous. He has been calling the shots in Changye for the past few years. Isn’t that enough?”

He was upright and aboveboard in his position. As long as he gave a fair assessment, he didn’t care about the troubles it might cause!

The others felt the same.

However… trouble was still trouble, and no one wanted to invite a mess.

“Alright, don’t let this report sway you.”

After sharing this report, the grand magistrate clarified his stance. “Everyone, just uphold justice. There’s no need to worry about trouble. I am the leader of this assessment. I will bear the responsibility for all problems.”

He paused.

“If Gu Shen can pass this demanding test, I will absolutely give him an S-grade evaluation,” Tang Qingquan said calmly. “The premise is… he indeed possesses a transcendental ability.”