16: Chapter 16: Mission Completed, Killing Never Stops

In the monitoring rooms outside various high schools and test centers in Jianglan City, in the residential complex where Su Mu lived, and among all those watching the Jianglan City Gaokao live stream—

Everyone was staring at Su Mu on the screen, who looked as small as a tiny bean compared to the Ferocious Beast.

Su Mu was locked in a struggle with the Explosive Flame Panda.

Calling it a struggle was a stretch; in reality, Su Mu was unilaterally wearing down the Explosive Flame Panda.

Su Mu's perception within his domain was incredibly strong, making it quite easy for him to evade the Explosive Flame Panda's attacks.

Unfortunately, the Explosive Flame Panda's fur was very thick and had a strong insulating effect.

Left with no choice, Su Mu temporarily gave up on lightning attacks and switched to his spear.

The Explosive Flame Panda's paw swiped straight down.

Su Mu dodged to the side ahead of time. The massive paw brushed past his face, taking a few strands of his hair with it.

He took the opportunity to leap up, tapping the tip of his spear against the panda's wrist to vault onto its back.

He thrust the spear straight down into its nape.

"Roar!"

A heart-wrenching roar echoed throughout the core area.

Su Mu had no intention of letting it go.

He would strike while it was down.

He continued to stab and slash at the Explosive Flame Panda's spine.

Flicking, cleaving, and thrusting.

The Explosive Flame Panda's back was already a bloody mess.

Stepping his right foot onto the Explosive Flame Panda's head, he performed a backflip and landed back in the sunlight.

"Awoo—Roar—"

Su Mu watched the hideous Explosive Flame Panda as it roared toward the sky.

Suddenly, Su Mu's eyes narrowed slightly.

The surrounding temperature was slowly rising. The Explosive Flame Panda's size increased once more, and cracks began to appear across its body.

Blazing flames seeped out from within the cracks.

Good grief, no wonder it's called the Explosive Flame Panda.

This move directly cut off any possibility of Su Mu engaging in close-quarters combat.

However, he wasn't at his wit's end yet.

Black lightning continuously condensed in Su Mu's left hand, accompanied by a piercing screech.

'Crackle—Crackle—'

The first time he used Chidori, Su Mu had discovered that this combat technique could trigger changes in the weather.

However, every time before, he had used Chidori before the dark clouds could gather.

This time, Su Mu intended to hold the Chidori without releasing it to induce a weather change.

'Rumble—'

White lightning struck down from the dark clouds.

Drip!

A drop of rain landed on the tip of Su Mu's spear.

'Splash!'

A torrential downpour began to fall over the core area.

The flames on the Explosive Flame Panda's body gradually extinguished.

As the heavy rain washed over it, the blood on the Explosive Flame Panda's body mingled with its fur and flowed onto the ground.

The bright red blood stained the earth.

Su Mu kept Chidori charging in his left hand while holding his spear in his right to use Thunder Cloud Spear.

Because the rain conducted electricity, the arcs of lightning that were originally only dancing on the ground—

Instantly expanded into the three-dimensional world, filling the entire space.

Zhou Yang and his companion, standing on the rooftop, didn't bother to seek shelter from the rain. They stared unblinkingly in Su Mu's direction.

The scene before them could only be described as magical.

"Damn! Is he really a candidate in the same year as us?"

How could the gap between people be this large?

Water conducts electricity. After being baptized by the rainstorm,

Su Mu's Dark Thunder Domain's power increased significantly.

He swung the silver-white B-grade alloy combat spear through the heavy rain.

As the spear tip swept through the raindrops, it seemed as if the spear was moving so fast—

That the raindrops were sliced in half in mid-air.

Suddenly, the spear was enveloped in electric arcs, and rain could no longer get near the spear tip.

When it got within a centimeter of the spear, it was directly electrolyzed.

At this moment, the Explosive Flame Panda was in a wretched state. Its fur, soaked by the rain, clung to its body.

The Explosive Flame Panda's frame suddenly seemed much thinner.

It looked as hideous as a hairless dog.

Su Mu wrapped lightning around the spear in his right hand and then threw it with all his might.

The entire spear left his hand, flying straight toward the Explosive Flame Panda's abdomen.

'Puchi—'

The distance between the man and the beast was very short, and given the beast's massive size, dodging this spear was extremely difficult.

As Su Mu expected, the spear tip pierced into the beast's body.

Lightning surged wildly out from the spear.

The white fur on the Explosive Flame Panda's abdomen was completely scorched black by the electricity.

Immediately after, Su Mu charged forward at high speed.

Although the Explosive Flame Panda had been struck by the spear, its reactions were still not slow.

It raised its front paw and swiped down at Su Mu.

'Bang!'

Tiles and gravel flew everywhere.

However, without a weapon, Su Mu was even more agile. He dodged the claw with a roll.

Crouching on the ground in a Tiger Pounce Stance,

He leaped onto the Explosive Flame Panda's back once more.

But this time, Su Mu was going to deliver the fatal blow.

The spot on its nape that he had previously pierced with the spear was now exposed flesh.

The Chidori in Su Mu's left hand had been gathering energy for a long time.

'Zzzt—'

Aiming at the bloody nape, he swung his fist down.

A blinding flash of light was accompanied by a heart-wrenching scream.

The massive body suddenly tilted and then crashed to the ground.

Ding! Killed Tier 3 Low-level Ferocious Beast: Explosive Flame Panda. Conversion Value +50.

The mechanical voice sounded in Su Mu's mind.

With the discharge of the Chidori, the thunderclouds in the sky also began to dissipate.

A ray of sunlight squeezed through the dense dark clouds, shining on Su Mu's face.

'Clear all Ferocious Beasts in the town: 100% complete.'

Su Mu felt a mix of emotions. This place used to be familiar to him.

Although it was three years late, he had finally cleared all the Ferocious Beasts out of this city.

Meanwhile, in the monitoring room outside the test center—

Unlike the previous clamor, the monitoring room was now eerily quiet.

All the high school principals and the two admissions directors present understood that the Tier 3 Ferocious Beast in the core area was not meant to be soloed by a candidate.

To use an analogy, the Tier 3 beast in the core area should have been a Guild Raid Boss in a game.

It wasn't something a single person could take on.

Yet the facts were right before their eyes. The fallen beast made everyone realize—

In the face of a true genius, all established rules are meant to be broken.

Someone suddenly blurted out a string of profanities.

Then, the room was filled with various colorful expressions of disbelief.

"This is definitely the provincial top scorer. If he isn't, I'll eat a pound of shit."

"Holy crap, brother upstairs, your stakes are too low. If he isn't the provincial top scorer, I'll eat ten pounds."

"Good grief, two guys here just looking for a free meal."

Similar comments were appearing frequently online.

Inside the test center, Su Mu pulled his spear out of the beast's body.

He glanced at the points leaderboard.

'1st Place: Su Mu, 1637 points (Jianglan No. 1 Middle School)'

'2nd Place: Zhou Yang, 462 points (Jianglan No. 16 High School)'

'3rd Place: Wu Shuang, 458 points (Jianglan No. 16 High School)'

'4th Place: Liu Bo, 397 points (Jianglan No. 16 High School)'

His points had suddenly increased by 500.

The point value for a single Tier 3 beast was truly extraordinary.

Su Mu didn't stop to rest just because all the beasts in the core area had been killed.

He opened the map, checked his current location, picked the shortest route, and ran toward the central area.

If there was wool to be sheared, he would shear it. Besides, Su Mu had no other way to gain conversion values. He would kill as many as he could.

Not to mention, he harbored a deep hatred for Ferocious Beasts in his heart.

Even without a system or an S-grade innate ability, he would still do his best to kill them.

He didn't turn off his Dark Thunder Domain, running toward the central area with the domain still active.

The man was a walking storm of sparks and lightning.

On the rooftop, Zhou Yang and his companion were stunned beyond belief.

"Crazy! I must be dreaming. Zhou Yang, hit me and see if it hurts."

Zhou Yang struck Wu Shuang's arm with a Wind Blade.

"Ouch—"

"Damn! This actually isn't a dream."

Then the two of them saw Su Mu leaving.

"Where is he going?" Wu Shuang asked, a question from the depths of his soul.

But since he was gone, the two didn't worry about it too much and continued to look for beasts in the town.

The two of them wandered the town for over ten minutes without finding a single Ferocious Beast.

"How can there not be a single beast?"

"Zhou Yang! Look at the leaderboard!"

Zhou Yang opened the leaderboard.

Su Mu: 1723

Su Mu: 1772

Su Mu: 1823

...

Su Mu's score was still changing.

"Is he hunting beasts in the central area?"

The two of them immediately realized something was wrong and finally remembered Su Mu's earlier suggestion that they should go to the central area to find beasts to kill.

At the same time, they both said:

"Monster!"