87: Chapter 87 Nine-Man Siege

Qin Chuan sat in the audience, his brow furrowed in deep anger.

"This is infuriating! The officials are doing absolutely nothing, even though Su Lin's match schedule was clearly tampered with! No one's lifting a finger to fix it!"

"This is the College Entrance Examination! How can someone pull these kinds of tricks?"

Qin Chuan felt his worldview being overturned. This was Tianhai City, the very heart of Tiannan Province, yet even something as critical as the College Entrance Examination could be manipulated behind the scenes!

Yesterday, Su Lin and Qin Chuan had quickly found a staff member to report the situation. To their surprise, the staff member flatly denied that the match list had been altered, claiming they needed to investigate further.

But the match was the next day. Su Lin didn't have time to wait; he couldn't just skip the arena while waiting for their so-called investigation.

So, even knowing the match schedule had been tampered with, Su Lin still stepped onto the stage today.

Even for someone as steady and calm as Su Lin, his expression was a bit grim today. His brow remained slightly furrowed, and he wasn't holding his milk tea.

Qin Chuan was even more incensed, swearing that after the exams, he would expose all this darkness online.

Other spectators in the stands also noticed that Su Lin seemed a bit different from previous days.

"Hey, Su Lin looks very serious today. Does he also think today's free-for-all will be tough?"

"Look, he didn't even bring milk tea up today. As expected, even Su Lin doesn't dare to underestimate today's battle. It seems I really came to the right place; there's going to be a good show!"

The livestream viewers were also busy analyzing what was different about Su Lin today.

Su Lin, however, turned a blind eye to these discussions.

Naturally, he had already finished his milk tea today. At this moment, his blood qi had reached 7,900 points, just one step away from the eighth stage of meridian opening realm.

As for why he didn't bring milk tea up, it was because he had a faint feeling that something was very wrong today, so he wanted to observe the situation carefully first.

After Su Lin stepped onto the stage, the other arena contestants walked up one after another, and the referee began the announcements.

"Introducing the contestants. Su Lin, as everyone knows, is from Jianghuo High School, an out-of-city candidate."

"Li Long, from Tianhai High School, a Tianhai City candidate."

"Wu Hu, from Beishu High School, a Tianhai City candidate."

...

"Fang Heng, from Fangcao High School, a Tianhai City candidate."

Ten contestants were introduced in a row, and surprisingly, only Su Lin was from out of town; the other nine were all Tianhai City candidates.

Furthermore, none of the contestants were nobodies.

As soon as the referee announced their names, both the audience in the stands and the livestream chat immediately erupted into various discussions.

"Li Long! It's him! From Tianhai High School, a top-three existence with strength already at the eighth stage of meridian opening realm!"

"Damn! There are more experts. Wu Hu is also at the Eighth Stage! And he's been at that stage for a long time; he's no ordinary Eighth Stage, but a true powerhouse!"

"Fang Heng, I know him too. Although he's only at the Seventh Stage of Meridian Opening Realm, his terrifying archery skills are such that even an Eighth Stage martial artist would have to avoid his edge."

...

Gasps of surprise echoed through the audience. They hadn't expected that besides Su Lin, there would be so many experts in this free-for-all. Each one, if taken individually, had strength and fame that rivaled Su Lin's.

"There are actually two at the Eighth Stage, and the rest are all at the Seventh Stage—and very strong ones at that. This is on a completely different level compared to the previous matches."

"No wonder Su Lin looks so serious. He really is nervous."

Many people had originally supported Su Lin, but now the situation had taken a turn.

Everyone began to feel that Su Lin's chances of winning were not optimistic.

"I'm afraid even one Eighth Stage opponent will force Su Lin into a bitter struggle. If Su Lin is unlucky and gets besieged by two Eighth Stages, even he will likely be eliminated immediately."

"Isn't that the truth? I see those people on stage looking at Su Lin with very ill intent. Don't tell me they all want to hit Su Lin first?"

"The bird that sticks its head out gets shot. Su Lin was too arrogant in the first few matches; it's expected that he'd be targeted for elimination first."

Seeing the livestream flooded with comments doubting Su Lin, the audience from Jianghuo City also fell into silence.

They also knew that this match would likely be very difficult for Su Lin, and he might even lose.

With Su Lin as the only out-of-city candidate and the other nine all being from Tianhai City, Su Lin's situation was extremely precarious.

While everyone's thoughts were racing, the referee announced,

"Match start!"

The moment the start was announced, an astonishing momentum erupted on the arena stage.

The nine contestants other than Su Lin seemed to stand together as one, simultaneously unleashing their full blood qi, causing the entire arena stage to tremble.

A massive roar echoed through the venue. Before anyone could clearly see the situation, various attacks were already surging toward Su Lin from all directions.

Flying swords, flying daggers, arrows, spears, formations...

Countless attacks instantly submerged Su Lin. The nine contestants had actually attacked Su Lin simultaneously the moment the match began.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The entire match ground felt like it was hit by an earthquake, as billowing thick smoke rose into the sky.

Countless spectators were stunned, their faces turning pale with shock.

"Holy crap! Do they all have a grudge against Su Lin?! Nine people are actually besieging him at the same time?!"

"You call this a free-for-all? Are you sure they aren't raiding a boss??"

Everyone had thought at most three or four people would gang up on Su Lin, but they hadn't expected those nine contestants to act like a coordinated team, going nine-on-one from the very start.

Shocking cracks appeared on the section of the stage where Su Lin had been standing, and his figure vanished within the billowing smoke.

The Jianghuo City audience immediately started cursing.

"This is bullying! What's wrong with these nine brats? How can they all attack Su Lin together? This is a foul!"

"This is too much! Nine against one—how is this different from adults beating a child? There are even two at the eighth stage of meridian opening realm. This isn't fair!"

"How sinister! As soon as the start was announced, all nine moved together. Forget Su Lin not being able to react; even I couldn't process it."

Despair filled everyone's hearts. Su Lin had likely taken the full brunt of that terrifying wave of attacks. That amount of damage would likely heavily injure even someone at the Ninth Stage of Pulse-Opening Realm; it was highly probable that Su Lin was already in grave danger.

Principal Li Youran rubbed his forehead, his face dark as he let out a sigh.

"Sigh, Su Lin... it's my fault..."

The three members of the Su family stared at the livestream screen occupied by thick smoke, falling into a deathly silence.

"Su Lin, how is he? He'll be okay, right?"

Su's Mother felt dizzy and nearly fainted, but luckily Su Xiaoyue and Su's Father comforted her in time.

"Mom, Brother will be fine. He's the strongest."

Although she said that, Su Xiaoyue's heart was also in her throat, and she stared at the livestream screen, feeling lost.

As if in response to their hopes...

A figure suddenly shot out from within the thick smoke.

Whoosh!

The crisp sound of someone landing broke the heavy atmosphere of the martial arts field. When the crowd saw the figure, looks of surprise and joy appeared on their faces.

"It's Su Lin! He's fine!"

"He actually wasn't knocked down?"

On the arena, Su Lin stood straight on one side, looking at the nine contestants on the other side.

He wasn't completely unscathed; his left sleeve had been destroyed, exposing his entire arm.

However, there were no injuries on that arm.

Su Lin chuckled and took out a cup of milk tea.