19: Chapter 19 The leaderboard exploded! Old Wang, you call this F-rank?!

One minute ago.

Jianghai City Trial Command Center.

A massive holographic screen floated in mid-air, displaying a dense, scrolling list of scores for each team.

The atmosphere was slightly serious, but filled more with anticipation.

Sitting in the central seat was the principal of Chengnan No. 3 High School, Principal Zhang Dapao.

His name suited him perfectly—he had a booming voice and an explosive temper. He was determined to turn Chengnan No. 3 High School into a key city school.

However, the school lacked resources, so it couldn't attract top-tier students. Without top-tier students, the school couldn't secure resources. It was a vicious cycle.

Surrounding him were several deans and various homeroom teachers, including Old Wang, who was always clutching a thermos to appear profound.

"Our talent pool at Chengnan No. 3 High School is looking good this time. We have Li Hao with an A-Grade Talent. He's already a Level 2 beginner warrior, right?"

Principal Zhang Dapao took a sip of tea and pointed at the screen. "Hong Ze from Tianxing No. 1 High School also has an A-Grade Talent, and his score is currently 780, ranking first in the city. What about our school's Li Hao?"

The dean next to him hurriedly scrolled through the screen, searching for a long time, cold sweat forming on his forehead.

"Well... Principal, Li Hao is in 98th place."

"Pfft—!"

Principal Zhang Dapao sprayed his tea directly onto Old Wang's face.

"How much?! 98?! Old Wang! Didn't you say Li Hao had an A-Grade Fire Talent and was the most promising student to get into Qingbei Martial University this year? What the hell is rank 98? Did he go inside to have a picnic?"

Old Wang wiped the tea from his face. He was panicking internally, but he kept a straight face.

"Please calm down, Principal. This is definitely temporary! Li Hao is a high-spirited kid; he's probably farming a boss! A single Level 2 leader boss is worth 100 ordinary beasts! It's normal to be slow in the early stages, normal!"

"Hmph! It better be!"

Principal Zhang Dapao slammed his teacup onto the table. "If we end up being suppressed by other high schools again this year, you'll all be coughing up your bonuses!"

Just then, the young female teacher responsible for monitoring the data let out a sharp shriek.

"Ah!!"

This cry startled everyone present.

Principal Zhang Dapao frowned. "What are you screaming for? Haven't you seen the world before?"

"No... that's not it, Principal! Look at the leaderboard! The first-place spot has changed!"

The teacher pointed at the big screen with a trembling finger.

Everyone's gaze instantly focused on it. Previously, Hong Ze from Tianxing No. 1 High School had been in first place.

But the next second, all the data was pushed down. A glaring, bright red name shot directly to the top of the list!

[1st Place: Lin Fan Team — Score: 1150! (Chengnan No. 3 High School)]

Dead silence filled the room.

Principal Zhang Dapao rubbed his eyes, then rubbed them again.

"Lin Fan? Is he also from our school?"

He turned his head sharply to look at Old Wang. "Old Wang, who is this Lin Fan? Which class is he in? How come I've never heard of such a fierce talent before?!"

Old Wang was completely dumbfounded. His mouth hung wide open, his jaw nearly hitting the floor.

Lin Fan?! That F-Rank Talent loser?! That psycho who spent every day on the playground asking people to hit him?!

How could this be possible!

"Principal... this... this must be a system bug!" Old Wang stammered. "Lin Fan is in my class, but he awakened an F-Rank Talent [Tenacity]! He's just a meat shield who can only take hits; he has absolutely no attack power! How could he possibly get so many points?!"

"I wasn't even planning on letting him sign up; I was afraid he'd die in there. How could he be in first place..."

"F-Rank?" Principal Zhang Dapao was stunned, his brows furrowed tightly. "An F-Rank can get over a thousand points? Do you think I'm senile?"

"And he just popped up out of nowhere! This so-called Lin Fan wasn't even in the top 100 of the city rankings before!"

Principal Zhang Dapao grew more agitated the more he thought about it. "Old Wang, did you misjudge him? Or does this kid have some hidden methods?"

Old Wang shook his head repeatedly. "Impossible! Absolutely impossible! I've never seen an F-Rank this fierce! Besides, he only has that B-Grade Xia Wanqiu in his team; there's nothing else special about them..."

He opened the details page to check the members of Lin Fan's team. He hoped to see other powerful A-Grade Talents joining them. But there were none! It was just Lin Fan and Xia Wanqiu.

When Xia Wanqiu was mentioned, the dean's eyes lit up.

"Right! Xia Wanqiu! That girl with the B-Grade Talent [Life Healing]!"

The dean slapped his thigh. "I get it! It must be Xia Wanqiu! This girl is a top-tier support! With her healing him from the back, even a pig could go out front and gore a few more monsters to death!"

Old Wang immediately went along with it. "Yes, yes, yes! That must be it! It's mainly because Xia Wanqiu is amazing! Lin Fan is probably just a tool man meant to tank damage in the front; it's all thanks to Xia Wanqiu keeping him alive!"

Principal Zhang Dapao stroked his chin, lost in thought. "B-Grade healing talent... it is rare, and it can have miraculous effects when coordinated well. But isn't this score a bit too exaggerated?"

Just as these leaders were busy wildly rationalizing the situation, the numbers on the screen jumped again.

[1st Place: Lin Fan Team — Score: 2150!]

This jump completely stunned everyone in the conference room. It was 1150 just a moment ago. In just a few minutes, it increased by another thousand?!

"Holy shit!"

Even Principal Zhang Dapao couldn't help but curse. He abandoned all sense of a principal's dignity and rushed to the bottom of the big screen, staring up at the number.

"2150 points! He's leading the second place in the city by 1400 points!"

"If this is still all Xia Wanqiu's doing, then Xia Wanqiu must have an S-Grade Talent?!"

The conference room was in chaos. Old Wang slumped in his chair, his head buzzing. He felt as if his face had been slapped swollen by invisible hands.

Just a moment ago, he had been adamant that Lin Fan was an F-Rank loser relying on Xia Wanqiu. But look at the result? This rate of point growth was faster than a Usain Bolt sprint!

Could a support talent like Xia Wanqiu really achieve this level??

"Quick! Quickly pull up the national leaderboard!" Principal Zhang Dapao roared.

The technician scrambled to switch the interface. They saw that on the overall leaderboard for the National High School New Star Trial, the top 100 were originally all geniuses from top prestigious schools in Beijing and Shanghai. But now, in the 88th position, the words [Jianghai City Chengnan No. 3 High School — Lin Fan Team, Score: 2150] had appeared!

"We're in! We've made it into the national top 100!"

Principal Zhang Dapao was flushed with excitement, his body trembling. "I've been principal for ten years! This is the first time a student of mine has broken into the national top 100! The ancestral graves must be smoking with good fortune!"

He turned abruptly and grabbed Old Wang by the collar. "Old Wang! You didn't even want Lin Fan to sign up before! And you called him a loser?!"

Old Wang was terrified, trembling. "Pr... Principal, I did that for his own safety..."

"Bullshit!"

Principal Zhang Dapao sprayed spit all over Old Wang's face. "You almost buried such a great talent! If Lin Fan doesn't get a good ranking this time, you're going to be cleaning the toilets for me!"

"Stop talking nonsense! Quickly pull up the live feed! I want to see what exactly is going on!"

"Yes, yes, yes!"

The technician was sweating profusely. "Principal, I'm locating them! But Lin Fan's team has been deep in the mist zone, so the signal is a bit unstable!"

"And... and according to data analysis, they seem to be... they seem to be..."

"They seem to be what? Are you constipated?!" Principal Zhang Dapao roared.

The technician swallowed hard, wearing a look of sheer disbelief. "They seem to be drilling right into a boss's nest! They're going wherever the monsters are!"