42: Chapter 42 SS-level genius Lin Qi

The speed of Cang Ya was extremely fast; it ran across the rugged wasteland as if it were on flat ground, covering twenty kilometers in just a few minutes.

Soon, a massive fractured canyon appeared before the three of them.

The canyon was bottomless and pitch-black, with foul-smelling gusts of wind occasionally rushing up from below, mixed with bursts of teeth-grinding "creaking" sounds that made one's scalp tingle just hearing them.

"This is the place." Liu Ruyan slowly descended from the air, her pretty face slightly pale. "The things down there... there are a lot of them."

Zhang Chao jumped off the wolf's back, patted his chest, and looked unconcerned. "Why be afraid of how many there are? We'll kill as many as come! It's perfect for letting my Cang Ya have a feast!"

He turned his head to look at Fang Chuan. "Chuanzi, when the fighting starts later, stay far away and don't get anywhere near it. The things in this canyon don't sound like they're easy to deal with. If we tell you to run, you must run!"

Fang Chuan nodded and said calmly, "Mm, I'll remember that. You guys be careful."

Zhang Chao didn't hesitate any longer and had Cang Ya provoke them first.

Cang Ya let out a long howl toward the cliff, the sound echoing through the canyon. Instantly, the teeth-grinding "creaking" sounds from below intensified more than tenfold!

Immediately afterward, a dark, oppressive shadow surged up from the depths of the canyon like a tide!

"They're here!" Liu Ruyan's expression tightened.

By the dim twilight, the three of them finally saw the true appearance of this group of ferocious beasts.

They were monsters with a build comparable to hunting dogs, appearing like a combination of giant beetles and scorpions.

They had hard black carapaces, six sharp jointed limbs, and a tail stinger held high that shimmered with a ghostly green cold light.

The three of them immediately saw the monsters' information.

[Race]: Rot Walker

[Bloodline Rank]: Silver Rank

[Level]: 15-20

...

[Comprehensive Combat Power]: 2200 - 3000

[Skills]: Holy Shield, Regeneration, Poison Needle

"Watch out for their poison needles!"

Zhang Chao shouted loudly and then summoned eight three-star talent werewolves to assist in the fight.

There was no help for it; their numbers were too great, totaling over three hundred!

"Chuanzi, stay far away!"

Seeing that although the number of monsters was large, their combat power was average and they didn't require him to make a move, Fang Chuan summoned three werewolf followers to guard himself and retreated to the side.

These three werewolves were forced upon Fang Chuan by Zhang Chao; Fang Chuan couldn't refuse, so he just raised them to level 20 and stopped bothering with them.

Seeing that Fang Chuan had left the danger zone, Zhang Chao and Liu Ruyan no longer held back.

"Cang Ya, go! Show them what you've got!"

"Roar!"

The Silver Moon Demon Wolf Cang Ya let out a roar, its massive body turning into a silver afterimage as it actively charged toward the black tide.

"Rending Claw!"

Cang Ya's front claws lit up with a blinding silver light. With a fierce swipe, three crescent-shaped silver claw beams instantly flew out, slicing the three Rot Walkers at the very front into pieces before they even had time to scream.

"Nice work!" Zhang Chao shouted excitedly.

However, the number of Rot Walkers was simply too high; killing a few was of no use. The subsequent monsters surged forward fearlessly, instantly submerging Cang Ya's massive body.

"Clang, clang, clang!"

Countless tail stingers and jointed limbs attacked Cang Ya frantically, emitting a series of crisp metallic clashing sounds. Fortunately, Cang Ya's defense was astonishing; these attacks did not break through, only sparking against its silver, gleaming fur.

"Wind Bind!"

Liu Ruyan also acted in time. The two Gale Sprites beside her flapped their wings simultaneously, and strands of cyan wind-ropes appeared out of thin air, precisely entangling several Rot Walkers attempting to attack from the flank and binding them in place temporarily.

Then, Liu Ruyan summoned four more Sprite Archers to shoot them down!

Fifteen minutes later, the three hundred-plus Rot Walkers were completely wiped out.

"10 points per kill, Cang Ya killed 200, so I have 2100 points now!" Zhang Chao said excitedly.

Liu Ruyan was also very happy; her sprites had killed quite a few as well, bringing her score to 1520 points.

"Let's go, keep moving forward!"

The monsters in the canyon were not particularly strong, mostly ordinary ferocious beasts around level twenty, which, for Zhang Chao and Liu Ruyan, were essentially free points delivered to their doorstep.

Cang Ya was like a silver whirlwind, charging recklessly through the herd. With every swipe of its sharp claws, a ferocious beast would howl and collapse to the ground.

Liu Ruyan's Gale Sprites circled in the air, wind blades sweeping through like a storm, harvesting the stragglers.

Fang Chuan had no intention of making a move at all. Happy to be idle, he just sat on a rock, watching the two of them farm points.

Anyway, this assessment lasted a full 12 hours, and it had only just begun, so there was no rush.

"Fang Chuan, there's something glowing over there, go take a look!" Zhang Chao shouted to Fang Chuan while directing Cang Ya to tear apart a giant lizard.

Fang Chuan jumped off the wolf's back and walked to a crevice in the rocks, where he indeed found a herb emitting a faint fluorescent glow.

[Discovered Tier 3 spiritual herb 'Moonlight Grass', can be exchanged for 300 points.]

"Not bad." Fang Chuan casually "harvested" it, and the number on his points panel jumped.

Just like that, he followed Zhang Chao and Liu Ruyan as they ventured deeper into the heart of the wasteland.

As for the natural treasures discovered along the way, the two of them yielded them all to Fang Chuan.

After a few hours, Fang Chuan's points had slowly risen to 1600.

And as they ventured deeper, the situations they encountered became more complex. Not only were the monsters' levels getting higher and their strength increasing, but they also ran into several teams from other schools.

However, as soon as these teams saw the majestic Silver Moon Demon Wolf beside Zhang Chao, they all tactfully kept their distance.

The reputation of an S-rank genius, combined with the deterrent power of a four-star follower, still carried a lot of weight.

"Sigh, it's a pity this is a virtual battlefield. Otherwise, with so many monsters killed, my Cang Ya should have been able to level up to 35." Zhang Chao patted Cang Ya's head with some regret.

At this moment, his personal points had soared to 12900, and his ranking had charged into the top thirty, placing him at 22nd. Liu Ruyan also had a bountiful harvest, ranking 67th with 10200 points.

This performance was already quite impressive.

But they also felt the pressure. The monsters they were facing now were basically all above level 35, and even Cang Ya, with a combat power exceeding 110,000, was starting to struggle to deal with them.

"We haven't even reached the real Core Area yet, and the monsters are already this strong. If we keep going further in, will we encounter monsters above level 40?"

Liu Ruyan's expression was somewhat grave, and she began to have thoughts of retreating.

Zhang Chao also frowned. Although he was warlike, he wasn't stupid.

Cang Ya was his trump card; if too much combat power was lost here, the subsequent assessment would be difficult.

"How about this, let's explore forward for another half hour."

Zhang Chao thought for a moment and proposed,

"We'll just walk along the edge and not actively provoke monster groups. Mainly, we'll see if we can find any broken Divine Kingdom buildings and scavenge. If we encounter danger, we'll run immediately and not get bogged down in a fight."

In the simulation battlefield, discovering and "recovering" damaged buildings in those Divine Kingdom ruins could also be converted into points, and the point values were often much higher than simply killing monsters.

"Okay." Liu Ruyan nodded in agreement.

After all, the assessment had only just begun five hours ago; returning home now would indeed be too much of a loss, so it was better to try their luck a bit more.

Unexpectedly, their luck was actually quite good this time.

Twenty minutes later, Zhang Chao luckily discovered a half-damaged altar in a ruin.

[Discovered damaged A-rank Divine Kingdom building 'Heroic Spirit Altar', recovery value being evaluated... Evaluation complete, converted to 300,000 points!]

"Holy crap! 300,000!" Zhang Chao was so excited he almost jumped off the wolf's back.

With this, his points directly skyrocketed.

On the other side, Liu Ruyan's Gale Sprites also found a relatively intact alchemy laboratory in a collapsed mage tower.

[Discovered B-rank Divine Kingdom building 'Alchemy Laboratory', recovery value being evaluated... Evaluation complete, converted to 180,000 points!]

Both of their points skyrocketed instantly!

Zhang Chao's total points suddenly surged to 335,000, and his ranking, like a rocket, soared directly to 8th place!

Liu Ruyan also squeezed into 10th place with a high score of 210,800 points!

"We're rich! This wave was a huge profit!" Zhang Chao was so excited his face turned red. "Let's go, let's go, quit while we're ahead. Let's retreat first and consolidate our ranking!"

Liu Ruyan felt the same. Both of them had achieved scores far exceeding their expectations; the safest way now was to find a safe place to hide until the assessment ended.

However, just as they were discussing returning the way they came, an unexpected change occurred.

Three teams, totaling over a dozen people, silently flanked them from three directions, surrounding them completely.

The leader was an arrogant-looking young man, followed by a massive four-star follower, a 'Shadow Leopard'. The level of that leopard was shockingly as high as level 40!

"Yo, isn't this Zhang Chao and Liu Ruyan from No. 1 High School? Quite a harvest you have there." The young man spoke with a fake smile, his eyes sweeping over their point rankings, full of greed.

"However, you've crossed the line. This area is now under our control; no one below SS-rank is allowed to enter! Furthermore, we have to confiscate your points!"

Zhang Chao and Liu Ruyan's expressions sank instantly.

Unknowingly, they had gotten too close to the Core Area.

This area had already been monopolized by the legions under the command of the three great SS-rank geniuses: Lu Hai, Qin Yao, and Lin Xiaoxiao.

They were like emperors of this wasteland, with countless squads under their command responsible for clearing out all "miscellaneous personnel" approaching the Core Area and mercilessly harvesting their points.

Looking at the school uniform badges, the team before them were students from No. 3 High School. Zhang Chao recognized the leading young man; he was another genius from No. 3 High School besides Lin Xiaoxiao, Lin Qi, who had an SS-rank Divine Kingdom rating! He was also a member of the Lin family!

Meanwhile, in the main control hall outside the virtual battlefield, this scene was clearly displayed on a split screen.

"Isn't this Lin Qi going a bit too far? How is this any different from blatant robbery?" Seeing his two prized students surrounded, Principal Yao Guishan of Qinghe No. 1 High School immediately furrowed his brows, his face full of displeasure.

Principal Xiao Mi of No. 3 High School, however, appeared dismissive and slowly took a sip from his teacup. "Principal Yao, don't blow things out of proportion. They're all just a bunch of kids; isn't it normal for kids to bicker and fight? Besides, isn't Lu Hai from your school doing the exact same thing?"

"Lu Hai and his team aren't extorting points!" Yao Guishan was unhappy and stared coldly at Xiao Mi.

Principal Chang Ya of No. 2 High School smiled and tried to smooth things over at this moment: "Principal Yao, don't be angry. The rules of the virtual battlefield don't say you can't do this. At the end of the day, it depends on whose fist is bigger. If the students of your No. 1 High School have the ability, they are more than welcome to go and steal points from our No. 2 High School students. If we lose, we absolutely won't say a single word."

Yao Guishan snorted coldly, too angry to speak. He could only cast his gaze back to the screen, his heart full of regret.

Zhang Chao was 8th, and Liu Ruyan was 10th. This was quite an excellent result for their No. 1 High School in this joint examination, besides Lu Hai. If they were wiped out just like that, it would break his heart.