49: A stolen marriage contract, a hot potato of a divine position.

The sound was as sharp as a dull saw blade frantically cutting glass. Su Chen's eardrums throbbed from the vibration, and the void before his eyes distorted in waves.

He had originally thought those two blank contracts were a way to exploit the system, but now it seemed those benefits clearly came with barbs.

"Shit, I've been set up."

Su Chen cursed under his breath.

From the corner of his eye, he saw the blood-colored marriage certificates floating at the top of the giant metal tower. Like iron filings drawn to a magnet, they all pivoted in unison.

Over three hundred blood-stained papers formed a massive funnel cloud in the air, its tip aimed dead center at the roof of the Class 1, Senior Grade 3 bus.

"It's rewriting the rules!"

Zhao Wanting's voice carried a hint of a sob. Her translucent body huddled under the dashboard, shaking like a broken projector.

"This isn't a simple marriage contract at all. The Divine Marriage Altar sensed 'abnormal data,' and it's initiated a forced verification program!"

"The new rules... the new rules have refreshed: The primary seat holder must pass the 'Final Exam.' If they fail, everyone on the bus becomes fuel for the examiners!"

Just as she finished speaking, a loud crack rang out. The rusted steel plates on the bus roof were violently torn open like paper.

Dozens of objects as pale as paper spun down from the rift, pelting Su Chen's body.

Su Chen grabbed one at random, his eyes instantly widening.

It wasn't paper, but a bizarre material—thin enough to be transparent, yet feeling like human skin to the touch.

At the top of the page, five blood-drenched characters were emitting black mist:

Furnace Breeder Ethics.

"What kind of goddamn name is this?"

Su Chen's lip twitched.

An old hand like him, who had graduated years ago, hated nothing more than returning to an exam hall—especially for a subject that sounded this perverted.

"It's the Lin Family's 'Family Exam.'"

Lin Mengyao suddenly reached out and snatched a sheet. The moment her fingertips touched the paper, her face turned paler than the sheet itself.

"These are the test papers the Lin Family Ancestral Hall uses to screen high-quality cauldrons. Every question is linked to bloodline curses. If you get one wrong, a sensory orifice is gouged out."

"Su Chen, this altar... is using the Lin Family's logic to judge us."

She gritted her teeth, her fingertips tracing the lines of questions that squirmed like venomous snakes, only to find the questions were constantly draining her life force.

She tried to scratch out an answer with her fingernails, but as the Yang Energy—stagnant from the poisoned blood—surged to her fingertips, the paper emitted a scorched pop, and the writing instantly turned to black charcoal powder.

"For this kind of exam, the answers must be written with 'Yang Fire.' My blood is tainted; I can't write the standard answers."

A flash of desperate ruthlessness flickered in Lin Mengyao's eyes.

The golden vine patterns on her wrist began to flow backward frantically. It was a sign of the Sacred Yang Divine Body being rejected.

"If it's dirty, wash it. If it won't wash off, wipe it out and rewrite it."

Su Chen yanked Lin Mengyao behind him.

He didn't look at those nonsensical ethics questions. Instead, he stared at the pale Qin Ya huddled in the back seat.

"Teacher Qin, you're a professional at this. Can you grade these papers?"

Qin Ya was stunned for a long moment.

She looked at the test papers radiating malice, and in that moment, her professional instincts actually overrode her fear of the apocalypse.

She took a deep breath and fished out a half-broken red ink pen from her stack of yellowed lesson plans.

"As long as there is an 'exam hall,' there are 'proctoring rules.'"

Qin Ya's voice suddenly regained a certain intellectual calm. She quickly flipped to the back of the paper, pointing to a blank space labeled "Proctor's Remarks Section."

"Su Chen, no matter how rigid this altar's logic is, it recognizes 'status.' I am now entering the contract with a Teacher's Soul; I am the head examiner on this bus."

She unhesitatingly pricked her finger. As her golden-red blood stroked across the paper, it actually produced a hum like metal grinding.

"I will grade the questions. How they are written is up to you."

Su Chen heard the bizarre roars drawing closer outside the window, and his mind raced frantically.

Ancient educational ritual vessel... screening and elimination mechanism... the closed loop of grading and test-taking... A glint of devious brilliance flashed in his eyes.

"Lin Mengyao, forget the correct answers. Use the poisoned blood in your body to draw the Lin Family's forbidden runes in the corner of every question. The more sinister, the better!"

"Are you crazy?"

Lin Mengyao's eyes widened.

"The points will be completely deducted that way!"

"I want the point deductions!"

Su Chen slammed a palm into the gap in the floorboards by the driver's seat, forcibly stuffing the marriage contract runes he had stolen earlier into the cracks in the wood.

His entire face was flushed red due to the overload of Yang Energy.

"This altar wants 'qualified furnace breeders.' If the examinee is a scumbag, or even a chronic cheater, it will be forced to re-evaluate our 'value.'"

"Teacher Qin, every time she writes a stroke, you grade it. Note her down as: 'Cheating for life, malicious behavior'!"

The air inside the bus cabin tightened instantly.

Lin Mengyao no longer hesitated.

She forced black poisoned blood from her fingertips and smeared it frantically over the pages of Furnace Breeder Ethics. The forbidden runes representing the Lin Family's decaying rules spread like spiderwebs.

Meanwhile, the red pen in Qin Ya's hand moved like a soaring dragon, following closely behind to leave brilliant golden remarks.

"Plagiarized question, deduct ten points!"

"Sloppy handwriting, wicked intent, deduct ten points!"

The two extreme forces collided violently on the test papers, and cyan-gold flames soared into the air.

Su Chen keenly felt that the originally lethal pressure of the rules was being neutralized bit by bit within the logical loop of "cheating" and "point deduction."

Ashes drifted toward the fuel tank opening, and Su Chen kicked them inside.

The originally raspy engine sound suddenly emitted a clear, resonant chime, like an ancient temple bell.

"Clang—!"

A long, drawn-out bell toll exploded at the top of the ruined giant tower.

Everyone jerked their heads up.

Above the clouds, a massive scoreboard composed of blood-red runes slowly emerged:

[Class 1, Senior Grade 3 · Total Score: 0 (Invalid)].

The blood-colored marriage certificates dancing in the sky seemed to lose their power supply. They shattered in large swathes, turning into blood-colored butterflies that dissipated in the wind.

The base of the altar emitted a crisp sound like breaking glass, and cracks spread like spiderwebs to the end of the horizon.

Su Chen opened his palm.

A charred fingerprint was slowly seeping stardust-like light.

Under Zhao Wanting's control, the entire bus silently lifted off the ground, broke through the remaining rune formation of the dome, and plunged into a pure white void.

There were no more sounds of impact outside the window, no more buses from other classes—only the sound of the wind and the light blue words "Area Exited" flickering on the dashboard.

"Phew... did we survive?"

Lin Mengyao leaned against Su Chen's shoulder, drained of strength and drenched in sweat.