"Lin Yi. Jianghe City. E-Rank Laborer."
The silence that followed was a different category from the one after Wang Hao. Wang Hao had produced curiosity and mild surprise. Lin Yi produced something closer to a full stop. Everyone in the room processed the words in sequence and then apparently had to run them again.
"E-Rank," Zhang Ruoxi said.
"Laborer," Chen Yanming added, as though completing a sentence that needed both halves to make sense.
Luo Peng unfolded his arms and refolded them, which appeared to be his version of a significant reaction. "That's a lifestyle class."
"It is," Lin Yi said.
"How," Mei Lihua said. She said it the way people say a single word when the sentence they were forming ran into an obstacle.
Han Yue had still not looked at Lin Yi directly.
"There has to be an error," Zhang Ruoxi said, turning to look at Chen Yanming beside her. "The intake process doesn't accept lifestyle class students on academic terms. There must be a supplementary pathway."
