Chapter 62
Chapter 62
“Hurry! Stop the examination!”
“This is an accident!”
“If this continues, my students will be crippled!”
The elderly principal of No. 1 High School had only just regained consciousness. After desperately sucking down a few breaths from the oxygen tank in his arms, he was already on the verge of passing out again.
The proctors exchanged uneasy looks. None of them knew how to handle the situation.
Should they really stop the examination?
On the screen, Wang Lei had nearly been tortured beyond recognition. None of his injuries were especially severe, yet the mere sight of them was enough to make every viewer feel phantom pain.
And he was not the only one. The other candidates from No. 1 High School looked every bit as wretched.
Even now, however, none of their vitality had fallen low enough to trigger a forced withdrawal.
According to the rules of the joint examination, the test could only continue.
Fatty Wu and Li Shan, meanwhile, sat off to the side playing Fight the Landlord as though they had not heard the argument.
“Three of a kind with a kicker…”
“Seventeen cards! You think you can finish seventeen cards in one move? If you pull that off, I’ll smash this surveillance screen right–”
Only when a proctor walked over and cleared his throat twice did Fatty Wu finally look up with a radiant smile.
“Oh, what’s going on? Is the examination over?”
“Is everyone out?”
The proctor lowered his voice and poked Fatty Wu in the shoulder. “Old Wu, don’t you think that’s enough?”
“If you keep this up, you’ll completely fall out with No. 1 High School.”
Fatty Wu’s smile did not change. “Really?”
“I thought we’d fallen out a long time ago.”
A cold gleam crossed his eyes. “What excuse did they give when my students were beaten into the hospital? Oh, right. It was ‘a minor dispute between students.'”
“As far as I’m concerned, this is just another little disagreement between young people.”
“They’re seventeen or eighteen, full of hot blood. It’s perfectly normal for them not to know their own strength.”
The proctor found himself at a loss for words.
Bad blood had existed between the two schools for a long time. Incidents had been particularly frequent lately, and even the proctors had heard a thing or two.
“No need to worry. My students know where to draw the line,” Fatty Wu said with a beaming smile. “They’ll be about done soon. Tell that old man to be patient. Getting worked up at his age isn’t good for him. What a shame it would be if he actually had a heart attack.”
The proctor sighed helplessly. He looked back at the principal of No. 1 High School, who was clutching his chest and groaning, then at Fatty Wu, who had gone right back to his card game without a care in the world.
His head felt ready to explode.
What kind of mess was this?
…
Inside the simulated instance, Qin Lan’s communicator suddenly chimed.
It had been issued by the Anomaly Hunter Bureau and could communicate with the outside world even from inside a simulated instance.
The moment the message arrived, Qin Lan knew what it said without needing to open it.
“That’s enough.”
His voice sounded in everyone’s minds, and they all stopped.
Zhang Ke was panting, but his expression was wildly excited. “That felt amazing. Absolutely amazing!”
“Senior, those moves you taught me are so useful!”
“Don’t make things up. I didn’t teach you anything. You figured all of that out yourself…” Qin Lan staggered to his feet, putting on the appearance of someone who had just awakened after fainting.
He glanced around before walking over to Wang Lei and looking down at the so-called elite student.
Then he kicked Wang Lei between the legs.
Whoosh!
Wang Lei instantly dissolved into white light and vanished. His vitality had finally fallen below the safety threshold.
Qin Lan’s expression did not change. He walked over to the next person and stomped down once more.
Whoosh!
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
“As expected of Senior Qin. Every kick is flawlessly accurate…” Zhang Ke watched solemnly, his eyes filled with reverence as Qin Lan demonstrated the supreme art of the Lineage-Ending Kick.
Every man present felt a sympathetic chill between his legs whenever Qin Lan moved.
Seconds later, there was no one left in front of them.
All ten members of No. 1 High School’s team had been wiped out.
“Senior Qin, thank you…”
Liang Yu stepped forward and bowed sincerely to him.
The others followed her example, thanking Qin Lan one after another.
“Thank you, Senior Qin!”
“Thank you, Senior!”
Zhang Ke nearly dropped to his knees. “Senior, you’re incredible!”
“My admiration for you flows as endlessly as a mighty river and surges as unstoppably as the flooding Yellow River…”
“Please, take me on as your lackey!”
Qin Lan was speechless. He kicked Zhang Ke away from his leg. “Go bother someone else…”
“My job here is done. You’ll have to handle the rest of the fighting yourselves.”
No. 1 High School, the strongest faction, had already been wiped out. Only No. 2 High School remained. If Qin Lan intervened again, he really would be disrupting the joint examination too much.
Besides, Fatty Wu had only sent him in to help settle a grudge. As for the rankings?
Those were secondary.
Once Liang Yu described the terrible things Wang Lei and the others had done, Qin Lan understood Fatty Wu’s true reason for sending him to the examination.
Of all the principals, Fatty Wu was probably the most fiercely protective of his students.
No. 1 High School had started the trouble, beaten his students, then refused to take responsibility. Given Fatty Wu’s personality, there was no way he could swallow that insult.
But as a principal, he could hardly go after students like Wang Lei in person.
That was why he had turned to Qin Lan.
Elsewhere, Chen Jing, captain of No. 2 High School’s team, found herself trapped in a difficult dilemma.
After reuniting with her teammates, she had immediately told them that a high-star anomaly might exist inside the instance.
Then she activated Echo Vision again in an attempt to gather more information.
The good news was that she successfully located the other three schools’ teams, giving her the initiative.
The bad news was that she discovered the high-star anomaly right in the middle of No. 3 High School’s group.
“Wang Lei’s group already encountered that thing…” Chen Jing’s face was pale. “After only a few minutes, I couldn’t detect their location anymore. That means their entire team has been eliminated…”
“That thing must have done it!”
“How did No. 3 High School get involved with such a terrifying anomaly? Were they lucky enough to discover some hidden rule and make a deal with it?”
Chen Jing could not understand.
“Captain, if No. 3 High School can really control an anomaly, and if it’s truly as strong as you say… do we have any chance of winning?”
The teammate beside her looked deeply worried.
Chen Jing fell silent.
As captain, the most rational choice was to protect her teammates by surrendering and leaving the instance immediately.
It would be humiliating, but at least no one would get hurt.
Yet Chen Jing could not accept that.
She had prepared for this joint examination for a long time. She had even devised tactics specifically to counter Wang Lei, all so she could defeat No. 1 High School and take first place.
But now Wang Lei’s entire team had been eliminated, and their opponents were already heading this way.
If she did not decide soon, the two sides would meet.
During this time, Chen Jing activated Echo Vision several more times. Every attempt collapsed the moment it encountered the high-star anomaly.
She could obtain no useful information. All she knew was that it was getting closer.
The pressure bearing down on Chen Jing soared.
“Captain! Why don’t we fight them?”
“Yeah, Captain!”
Several teammates refused to give in and wanted to make one desperate stand.
But cold sweat beaded on Chen Jing’s forehead, and even her hands were shaking.
She was afraid.
She had not even seen the approaching anomaly, yet the way it repeatedly shattered her Talent exerted an overwhelming pressure on her.
“We can’t fight it… This is absolutely beyond us!”
“No!”
She stomped her foot in frustration and shouted her order.
“We withdraw!”
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh–
Ten flashes of white light erupted, and Chen Jing and her teammates vanished from the instance.
The scene shifted, and Chen Jing reappeared outside.
At once, she saw Wang Lei and his teammates being carried toward an ambulance on stretchers. They were covered in blood, their conditions unknown.
“They lost that badly?”
“Were they beaten all the way down to the safety threshold and forcibly teleported out?”
Chen Jing’s heart lurched, but she also felt somewhat relieved.
At least this proved her decision had been right.
She looked up at the surveillance feed, wanting to see which anomaly No. 3 High School had struck a deal with.
Instead, she saw No. 3 High School’s team on the screen.
“One, two, three… eight, nine…”
“?”
Chen Jing froze. Only then did she realize that, including Qin Lan, No. 3 High School’s team had exactly ten people.
Where was the anomaly?
An absurd yet perfectly logical thought surfaced in her mind.
“No way…”
“That anomaly… is a person?”