71: Chapter 71 The Rankings Soar! The Entire Federation is in Shock!

Zhennan City, Southern United Martial Arts Academy.

Midnight.

The giant holographic heavenly pride ranking in the tactical hall was permanently glowing with blue light, and several juniors on night duty were dozing off against their chairs.

"Beep beep beep!"

The ranking list emitted a shrill system alert.

The students jumped up in a fright, rubbing their sleepy eyes as they looked over.

The next second, all their sleepiness vanished completely.

On the ranking list, a name was skyrocketing wildly.

Shen Qingci.

[Federal heavenly pride ranking · Overall Ranking]

...

188th place: Shen Qingci, 3420 points

...

150th place: Shen Qingci, 4200 points

...

97th place: Shen Qingci, 5500 points

...

50th place: Shen Qingci, 6800 points

...

The numbers in the points pool were jumping like crazy, and every flicker swallowed several names ahead of it.

Finally, in the dead silence, the string of numbers slowly settled.

[Federal heavenly pride ranking · Overall Ranking: 32nd, Shen Qingci, 7100 points!]

[Southern United Martial Arts Academy · Internal Ranking: 5th, Shen Qingci, 7100 points!]

Within the hall, you could hear a pin drop.

A few seconds later, it completely exploded.

"Are these points... having a seizure?"

"7100 points? Am I seeing things?!"

"School 5th place?! She squeezed out Senior Lei Ze, who had dominated the 5th spot for years!"

"One day! Just one day! She went from 188th to 32nd? Did she wipe out an entire nest of Source Beast in the Source Abyss?!"

The student on duty took a screenshot with trembling hands and threw it into the class group.

Three seconds later, the group exploded as well.

—

School gate.

Inside a lightning-themed hover car, Lei Ze was chatting heatedly with a female student in the passenger seat, when his terminal suddenly vibrated frantically.

He clicked it open with some impatience.

When he saw himself change from "School 5th place" to the glaring "School 6th place," his handsome face twisted instantly.

"Bang!"

He punched the steering wheel, and the expensive leather covering immediately sparked with electricity.

"What kind of international joke is this!"

Lei Ze roared, "A freshman, farming 7100 points in the outer zone of the Source Abyss? Did she carry a nuke to wash the place?!"

He slammed the car door shut, the engine roared, and the sports car disappeared into the night.

The girl in the passenger seat stood where she was, the wind ruffling her skirt.

...So the bar is off tonight, then?

—

Southern United Martial Arts Academy, girls' dormitory building.

Tang Qiqi had just finished showering, her towel wrapped around her voluptuous figure, and she was scrolling through her terminal while drying her hair.

When she saw the ranking push notification that had been pinned to the hot search, she bounced up from the bed.

She tapped out a message furiously.

[Coffee No Sugar Tang]: "Qingci! Did you go slaughter a city behind my back? You went from 188th directly to 32nd??"

She waited for a dozen seconds.

[Qingci Half-Que]: "Um... no, but it's close enough."

Tang Qiqi stared at this line of text, the corners of her mouth twitching.

Close enough?

[Coffee No Sugar Tang]: "...Are you serious?"

[Qingci Half-Que]: "Yeah, I'll treat you to a meal when I get back."

Tang Qiqi couldn't help but laugh.

For this girl to say the four words "treat you to a meal" was already the highest level of explanation the ice queen could give.

—

In the same dormitory building, on the west side of the third floor.

Xia Youyou also saw the ranking update.

When school started, she was ranked 14th, and Shen Qingci was 16th.

The gap between the two wasn't large.

But now?

She was still hovering at 12th place, while the other party had already reached the threshold of the school's top five.

Xia Youyou clicked open Shen Qingci's detailed combat record list, and dense hunting records filled the entire screen.

[Kills: Tier 1 · Poison-Sac Spider × 13]

[Kills: Tier 1 · Needle-Stinger Fly × 20]

[Kills: Tier 2 · Rock-Armored Centipede × 6]

[Kills: Tier 2 · Ash Wind Blade Wolf × 37]

...

She had risked her life to kill three Tier 2 lizards last month, almost losing her life in the process.

Xia Youyou closed the combat record page, opened the academy's internal forum, and started typing.

She changed the title three times, and finally settled on one that looked very "objective":

《Data Analysis: Tier 2 Awakened farming 7100 points in a single day, is it strength-based slaughter or a loophole in the rules?》

The post was two thousand words long, ranging from the respawn frequency of Source Beasts in the Source Abyss Ash Belt to the theoretical output limit of a Tier 2 Awakened, citing a bunch of data models, and finally concluding...

Based on Shen Qingci's publicly known Tier 2 realm and known talent sequence, completing this amount of hunting independently was theoretically impossible.

She didn't write the word "cheating" directly.

But every paragraph was implying it.

—

The post was pushed to the forum hot search less than ten minutes after it was sent.

The number of replies skyrocketed.

"Really or fake? Isn't she only at Tier 2 peak?"

"The analysis is well-founded; it is indeed absurd for a Tier 2 to farm this many points independently."

"Even if the points are halved for team play, that's still over 3500 points. In one day, that's pure slaughter!"

"She hunted thirty-seven Tier 2 Wind Blade Wolves! Even military squads don't dare to touch that stuff in the Ash Belt easily!"

"It must be team farming! Otherwise, it's impossible to have such terrifying efficiency!"

"I know someone from her cohort; it's said that this girl was an SS-grade Geng Metal Blade Bone when she enrolled, she's gifted, and only started exerting her power this year!"

There were voices of support, but they were quickly drowned out.

Those who had been surpassed by Shen Qingci in the rankings found an outlet for their frustration.

They didn't necessarily think Shen Qingci cheated.

But why should she ride on their heads in just one day?

They couldn't swallow this.

—

Boys' dormitory area.

Gu Linchuan, ranked 9th in the school, also saw the post.

He had pursued Shen Qingci.

He confessed publicly when school started, and was rejected on the spot.

At this moment, he stared at Shen Qingci's ranking and that line of "temporary two-person team," and remained silent for a long time.

His roommate leaned over: "Old Gu, your goddess has become strong again, can't catch up anymore, right?"

Gu Linchuan didn't speak.

He clicked on Xia Youyou's post, scrolled to the bottom, and replied:

"I suggest the academy make the combat summary public. The credibility of the heavenly pride ranking needs transparency to be supported."

The tone was restrained, the wording appropriate.

But the meaning was very clear: I also want to know who that partner is.

This reply was pushed to the top comment.

—

The post continued to ferment.

Some people started digging into Shen Qingci's enrollment files, some went to check the recent energy fluctuation records of the Southern Source Abyss Ash Belt, and a few radical students even threatened to report it to the Academic Affairs Office under their real names in the post.

The entire forum was divided into two factions.

One faction believed Shen Qingci spoke with her strength, and SS-grade talent itself was an existence that crushed those of the same level.

The other faction felt the data was too absurd, and there must be something fishy behind it.

After arguing for over a hundred comments, no one could convince anyone.

Just when public opinion was at its hottest...

3:42 AM.

The academy's internal network turned red across the screen.

All posts were forcibly suppressed.

A pinned post was issued from the highest authority port.

Signed: Commander Huangfu Jing, Colonel.

Commander of the 7th Independent Regiment of the Southern Military Region's Suzaku Corps.

The main body of the post didn't have a single word of explanation.

There were only two pictures.

The first was an energy fluctuation map captured by the Source Abyss monitoring station.

The horizontal axis was the timeline, and the vertical axis was the energy intensity.

Two sharp red peaks on the chart shot straight to the top of the scale, like two spears piercing through the coordinate system.

The annotation next to it was written coldly:

"Quasi-Tier 3 · Ash Wind Blade Wolf Guard · Death energy release. Quantity: 2."

The second was a screenshot of the kill location automatically uploaded by the system.

The image was blurry, but you could clearly see large areas of dark bloodstains on the ground, as well as the shredded remains of the wolf pack.

Broken flesh and fractured bones covered half the hillside, as if they had been crushed by something.

Below the two images, there was only one line of text:

"Those who feel it's unfair, go solo a Quasi-Tier 3 Source Beast before you come here to fart."

The entire internal network,

went instantly silent.

A dozen seconds later,

the comment section exploded like a tsunami.

"Quasi... Quasi-Tier 3 Wolf Guard?! And she killed two?!"

"Isn't that a level that only military squads can touch?"

"Colonel Huangfu stepped in personally! This is an official certification!"

"So she wasn't farming points... she was really out there slaughtering..."

Xia Youyou looked at that line of text on the screen,

and those two red peaks piercing through the coordinate system,

her fingers froze on the keyboard.

A line of system notation appeared under her ID:

This user has been banned for seven days for posting false information.

A Tier 5 Colonel personally suppressed the post.

She didn't even have the chance to delete the post,

the post was directly nailed to the pillar of shame.

This farce,

was forcibly ended in the most violent and direct way.

But another, bigger storm,

was brewing quietly in higher-level circles.

—

Beibei City, Northern Xuanjia Academy.

In the gravity training room,

a sturdy man over two meters tall put down the alloy barbell weighing a full ton on his shoulders,

sweat soaking through his tank top.

He scanned the terminal screen with cold eyes.

Xiao Zhan, S-grade Indestructible Golden Body, 1st on the Xuanjia Academy combat ranking.

"Shen Qingci..."

He thought about it, having some impression.

Last year's Four-Academy Competition, a substitute sent by the South.

She sat on the bench the whole time, never getting a chance to play.

7100 points.

Even if there was fluff,

it was enough to be a main force in the Four-Academy Competition.

He turned off the terminal,

picked up a towel to wipe his sweat.

"At the end of this year's heavenly pride competition, I hope she has the chance to test how hard my Indestructible Golden Body really is."

—

Dingxi City, Western Shadow Academy.

In an unlit dormitory,

the faint light of the terminal screen reflected on an expressionless face.

Codename "Night Crow."

The top of the Shadow Academy combat ranking who was always invisible.

He marked a name in his terminal: Shen Qingci.

Added to the "Key Observation" list.

Then he turned off the screen, and the room fell back into darkness.

—

Andong City, Eastern Lingyun Academy.

Feng Wunher sneered,

and typed a line in the Four-Academy joint channel:

"Tier 2? Hope she wasn't carried by someone. Is the Southern Academy starting to play that 'packaging a genius' game?"

This message sparked a new round of flaming wars.

—

Imperial Capital Federal Central Academy, freshman forum.

Theory genius Qin Zhao pulled up Shen Qingci's point growth curve,

and pushed up his glasses.

The curve was very smooth.

The growth of normal hunting points was stair-stepped.

You gain a chunk after a wave of fighting,

then rest and resupply before fighting again.

But Shen Qingci's curve was almost a straight line with a constant slope.

This meant she almost had no pauses during the entire combat process.

Either she had infinite stamina.

Or... someone was tanking the damage for her.

Qin Zhao posted a brief analysis on the forum:

"The point growth curve is abnormally smooth,

there is a high probability that there is a high-defense or high-output partner who bore a large amount of front-line pressure.

This person is not on the heavenly pride ranking, there are two possibilities:

First, they are not a registered student of a military academy,

Second, they actively turned off the point records.

Either way, it's worth paying attention to."

—

The response from the Magic City Academy side was more direct.

Chaebol heiress Chu Xiaoxiao finished reading all the analyses,

and posted a status in her social circle:

"Whoever can find out who her temporary partner was this time?

I want to invest. I'd rather invest wrongly than miss out."

The attached image was the back of a Federal black gold credit card.

The comment section was full of "so rich it's inhumane."

—

One stone stirred up a thousand waves.

On the public forum of the Martial Faith Network,

the trend changed completely.

"Request to make the teammate's combat information public! If the temporary partner's contribution exceeds Shen Qingci's own, is the point attribution reasonable?"

"Find an expert to carry you, won't the data look good?"

Soon,

everyone's curiosity and questioning,

converged on the same point!

Who exactly was that mysterious partner who carried the SS-grade genius Shen Qingci,

and even accompanied her to hunt a Quasi-Tier 4 Source Beast?!

For a time,

"Shen Qingci's mysterious partner,"

became the hottest topic in the freshman circles of the six top academies.

Some guessed it was active-duty military personnel from the Southern Military Region secretly escorting her.

Some guessed it was a Tier 3 mercenary hired by Shen Hongyuan with money.

Someone used their connections,

dug out Shen Qingci's mission declaration record,

and found that the partner column only had one line of text —

"Jiangcheng No. 1 High School, temporary personnel, information undisclosed."

Jiangcheng No. 1 High School?

A regular high school in a D-level satellite city?

Everyone felt this was a cover identity.

After all, a tough person who could withstand a Quasi-Tier 3 Source Beast in the Source Abyss Ash Belt,

and help an SS-grade talent rack up 7100 points.

How could they be a high school student?

...