83: Chapter 83: The First Place in the Gap! The Monster's Rebirth

"The leaderboard is out!"

These few words were like ice water thrown into a pot of boiling oil, instantly exploding amidst the celebratory atmosphere on the lawn.

Everyone took out their phones at the same time as fast as they could.

The light from unlocking screens flickered into existence all over the lawn, fingers sliding and tapping rapidly on screens to log into the campus intranet.

This area fell into a brief silence.

Suddenly.

"Oh! I'm 148th! I made it into the top two hundred!"

"55th—not bad, better than expected."

"202nd? What the f—"

Exclamations, groans, excited shouts, and frustrated curses erupted like lit firecrackers, popping one after another from every corner of the lawn, quickly merging into a noisy wave of sound.

Everyone confirmed their ranking immediately, and emotions instantly polarized.

Compared to the students around him who were either ecstatic or annoyed, Ye Zhen was exceptionally calm.

He was surrounded by a few classmates who also came from extraordinary backgrounds, their expressions carrying reserve and confidence; they were all very calm.

Ye Zhen finally took out his phone.

He unlocked it, entered his password, and pulled up the query interface.

The progress circle on the screen spun rapidly, then disappeared.

Name: Ye Zhen. Class: Combat Academy Class 1. Total Points: 420.

Current Ranking: 4.

The concise data popped up.

Time seemed to freeze at this moment.

The expression of composure that was always on Ye Zhen's face was like a frozen lake at this moment, with a clear crack appearing.

He tilted his head slightly, his gaze locked firmly on the number "4," his eyes unfocused, his expression blank.

Fourth place?

His breathing, after a brief pause, suddenly became rapid.

Ye Zhen clicked the "View Full Leaderboard" link next to it with almost enough force to poke through the screen.

The shimmer of loading flashed by, and the total points leaderboard slowly unfolded before him.

His gaze instantly bypassed the dense list of names below and nailed itself firmly to the very top line.

1st Place: Lin Chen, Combat Academy Class 3, Total Points: 1450.

"..."

Ye Zhen felt his breathing really stop at this moment, and even his brain experienced a brief blank.

1450?

He subconsciously looked at his own 420 points, then looked back at that 1450.

Ye Zhen was silent for a moment, forced himself to take a few deep breaths, then moved his gaze away to look at the subsequent rankings.

2nd Place: Su Qingyuan, Combat Academy Class 3, Total Points: 510.

3rd Place: Bai Lu, Combat Academy Class 2, Total Points: 480.

Fourth place was himself, 420.

And starting from fifth place, the points dropped off a cliff, falling directly below three hundred.

In other words, the top three each had significantly more points than him.

And that Lin Chen at the top of the list had more points than the bottom three combined.

Watching and watching, Ye Zhen's shoulder twitched. For some reason, he laughed out loud: "Heh..."

Not far away, Zhou Ming's reaction was much more direct.

"Holy sh*t!!!"

A cracked, high-pitched scream burst from Zhou Ming's throat, causing many people around to look over.

He bounced up from his chair with a "whoosh," almost overturning the juice cup in his hand, but he stared fixedly at the leaderboard on his phone, then suddenly turned his head to look at Lin Chen, who was sitting calmly beside him, his fingers trembling as he pointed at the screen, then pointed at Lin Chen, his lips quivering: "Bro, Brother Chen! You got 1450?! I, I—are you even human??!!!"

He was actually quite satisfied with his own ranking this time, ranked 17th with 210 points, but at this moment, under the dazzling light of those 1450 points at the top of the list, it seemed insignificant.

This was a huge gap of more than five times.

As more and more people saw the first place on the leaderboard, the exclamations and discussions gathered rapidly like a snowball, eventually evolving into a storm that swept the entire venue!

"1450 points?! Are you kidding me!"

"Reported, someone is cheating!"

"Lin Chen? Which Lin Chen? The one from Class 3?"

"The first place has more points than the next four combined? How is this even playable?"

For a time, the focus of the discussion quickly shifted from their own rankings to the name at the top of the list whose points were far ahead. Countless gazes searched eagerly for Lin Chen's figure in the crowd like searchlights.

Just then, an excited voice rose high, overpowering some of the noise: "I know! I know Brother Lin Chen! I fought alongside him!"

Everyone looked towards the source of the sound, only to see Zhang Dongdong having climbed onto an empty dining chair at some point, waving his arms, his face flushed with excitement, spraying spit as he began to recount: "The story starts with an Earth-Shaking Violent Bear..."

His narration was like pouring a ladle of hot oil into a boiling pot; the crowd completely boiled over.

Lin Chen sensed one gaze after another starting to lock onto him. He prepared to leave before being surrounded, but a figure as tall as a mountain blocked his path at the right moment, simultaneously blocking most of the scorching gazes.

"Ahem." Zhao Honggang looked at Lin Chen, his voice surprisingly gentle. "Lin Chen, come with me for a moment."

After saying this, Zhao Honggang turned and left. Lin Chen took the opportunity to leave his seat and followed closely behind.

Countless gazes followed the direction of his departure and did not look away for a long time.

A moment later, Zhao Honggang brought Lin Chen to a bright room.

The room was not large, with simple furnishings: a large solid wood desk, several comfortable armchairs, and bookshelves against the wall stuffed with thick classics and files.

Almost the moment the door closed, a figure behind the desk who had originally been buried in a pile of paper reports stood up with a "whoosh."

This was an old man with completely white hair, wearing thick black-rimmed glasses.

He was thin, with deep wrinkles on his face, and was currently examining Lin Chen, who had just entered the room, through his lenses.

Zhao Honggang introduced from the side: "This is Professor Li Jingming from the Research Department."

Li Jingming, however, had no intention of exchanging pleasantries. He didn't even look at Zhao Honggang, but stepped forward two paces, almost getting right up to Lin Chen's face, and went straight to the point: "Student Lin Chen, regarding your Flame Claw Beast..."

He paused, seemingly considering his words, but the eagerness in his eyes was almost overflowing: "Is the brand-new evolutionary form of the Flame Claw Beast something you explored, experimented with, and succeeded in entirely on your own? Have you named this brand-new form?"

Facing Professor Li's scorching gaze, Lin Chen nodded: "Yes, the evolutionary path was something I figured out myself. I named this new form—Flame-Spine Tyrannosaur."

"Flame-Spine Tyrannosaur—Flame-Spine Tyrannosaur—"

Professor Li repeated the name in a low voice, the light in his eyes growing even brighter.

He suddenly raised his head and said in an even more eager tone: "Incredible! Truly an incredible discovery!"

"At your age, to be able to independently ponder and research a brand-new evolutionary form. Student Lin Chen, your talent, your insight, your experimental spirit—you are simply a natural-born researcher!"

He became more and more excited as he spoke, grabbing Lin Chen's wrist: "Come to our Research Department, I will personally mentor you! We have the best laboratories, the most abundant resources, and the most cutting-edge projects!"

Lin Chen pursed his lips.

His research relied entirely on the system.

"Ahem!" Zhao Honggang coughed heavily twice. "Professor Li, Student Lin Chen is a student of the Combat Academy. His talent for actual combat is plain for all to see."

Professor Li reluctantly released his hand, but still stared at Lin Chen: "Fine, fine. Student Lin Chen, regarding this brand-new evolutionary form, how do you plan to handle it later?"

Lin Chen had long considered this.

In this world, there are usually three mainstream ways to handle a new evolutionary form researched by an individual:

First, keep it secret and keep it for personal use or family inheritance.

This is a common choice for many established families and large forces.

Monopolize a certain powerful or special evolutionary form, making it an important part of their own core competitiveness, forming a technological barrier.

Second, make it public to the academic community and society, and publish detailed papers.

Through authoritative journals and the Beast Tamer Association's certification, obtain huge academic reputation, social honor, and generous rewards from officials or various parties.

Third, authorize or sell it to the outside world with limitations.

Sell the evolutionary conditions at a high price to specific targets, or set strict conditions for authorized use.

But for Lin Chen, the evolutionary conditions provided by the system were fundamentally different from the mainstream evolutionary conditions of this world.

Pet beast evolution research in this world is built upon countless rigorous breeding experiments, resource ratio tests, and so on.

It requires massive knowledge accumulation, resource investment, luck, and the ability to cope with the risks of evolution failure or even the death of the pet beast.

The birth of a stable new form is often the result of the painstaking efforts of countless researchers and pet beasts.

But he was different; he had the system.

The Flame Claw Beast evolving into a Flame-Spine Tyrannosaur had conditions of filling the evolution bar plus an evolution material, which could be said to be very simple.

But the evolutionary conditions of this world were very complex, very cumbersome, and absolutely not this simple.

Most importantly, other people didn't have the system, didn't have experience points.

Therefore, there was really only one choice left for him.

Lin Chen met their gazes, his voice clear: "I will keep the Flame-Spine Tyrannosaur evolutionary form for my own use and will not release the specific information to the public for the time being."

The room was quiet for a moment.

Professor Li opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to say something, but looking at Lin Chen's calm eyes, those words finally turned into a long sigh.

"Sigh—I understand."

Professor Li adjusted his glasses and retreated half a step in defeat.

"We respect your decision." Professor Li's voice was a bit dry. "However, if you encounter any theoretical difficulties in the future, or have new discoveries and ideas, you can come to me at any time. The doors of the Research Department are always open to you."

"Luck will not favor a person forever. If you want to continuously and stably research new evolutionary forms, you cannot do without solid theoretical knowledge support."

"Thank you, Professor Li." Lin Chen responded politely.

Professor Li looked at Lin Chen deeply, then finally sat back behind the desk and stared at the pile of reports, saying no more.

Seeing this, Zhao Honggang gave Lin Chen a wink, and the two stepped out of the room quietly.

Walking to the relatively quiet corridor, Zhao Honggang stopped, turned around, and while smiling, patted Lin Chen on the shoulder.

"We didn't expect that such an outstanding student as you would appear in this batch."

Zhao Honggang's face was full of smiles, completely different from the stern person outside: "Why don't you add my contact information? If you encounter any training difficulties in the future, or run into trouble that is inconvenient to handle, you can contact me directly."

Lin Chen felt a slight movement in his heart and added the contact information.

Zhao Honggang had single-handedly increased the gold content of his social circle. Do you know what it means to have connections with a Master-level Beast Tamer?

"Alright, go back and rest."

The night was deep, and Lin Chen returned to his dorm.

As soon as he entered the dorm, Lin Chen saw Yun Chuxiu staring straight at him, his gaze exceptionally scorching.

Yun Chuxiu's voice sounded faintly: "I was wrong."

"What were you wrong about?" Lin Chen was stunned.

Yun Chuxiu said word for word: "It turns out that from beginning to end, there has only ever been one monster in our batch."

"Big Boss, my next four years are all counting on you to carry me!!!"

After a simple wash, Lin Chen returned to his room.

The night sky outside the window was dotted with stars, and the lights in various parts of the academy were gradually extinguishing, leaving only the main roads and a few buildings still lit, a scene of tranquility.

But the official website forum of the Qiming Beast Tamer Academy was completely boiling.

On the official forum, the Freshman Grand Competition section had already been pinned to the most conspicuous position on the homepage.

Under the pinned official announcement post, comments were refreshing rapidly: "First row to pay respects to the monster! Passing tea to the Big Boss!"

"1450 points? Was the Academic Affairs Office's system hacked? (Funny)"

"Freshman? You're telling me this is a freshman?"

"This batch of freshmen has welcomed the strictest father."

"Am I the only one curious about how he actually did it?"

In addition to spamming and complaining, freshmen who claimed to have participated in the competition began to post some "seen with my own eyes" posts, describing Lin Chen's sporadic performance in the secret realm.

But most were vague or obviously exaggerated.

Until an account named "Li Heng is my son" published a post with pictures and text, the heat instantly exploded, and it was quickly pinned by the moderator.

Post title: [Perspective of a participant: Revealing Brother Lin Chen's three days in the secret realm — and a discussion on the brand-new evolutionary form Flame-Spine Tyrannosaur]

The poster clearly had good writing skills, clear narration, and even a bit of humor.

He detailed the whole process of being chased by a Molten Armor Dragon Lizard, the Flame Claw Beast King descending from the sky, finally evolving into a Flame-Spine Tyrannosaur, and forcefully crushing the Molten Armor Dragon Lizard, while also including high-definition photos of the Flame-Spine Tyrannosaur from various angles.

This post was like a blockbuster bomb thrown into deep water, instantly pushing the forum discussion to a new climax.

"Not a bro, not only are his points far ahead, but there is also a brand-new evolutionary form. Just give this year's Freshman King to you."

"In that case, he must have defeated several leader-level pet beasts to explain why he has such high points."

"I get it, I'm going all-in on Flame Claw Beast tomorrow!"

The number of replies to the post was increasing crazily at a rate of dozens per second. Not only freshmen, but countless senior students, even some graduate students and teaching assistants, and even a few teachers lurking and peeping were blown out to participate in the discussion.

And Lin Chen, who was at the center of the storm, was currently lying quietly on the bed, eyes closed, breathing steadily.

The disturbances outside had nothing to do with him; he just wanted to sleep comfortably until he woke up naturally.

No, he couldn't wake up naturally.

Lin Chen suddenly opened his eyes.

Classes start tomorrow.