22: Chapter 22 Live Broadcast Across the Entire Internet! An Unprecedentedly Grand Monthly Exam Stage

Not long after.

The day of the Monthly Exam!

At 6:30 AM, Su Bai's dormitory door was being pounded like a war drum.

"Su Bai! Su Bai, are you up yet! Something huge happened!!"

Zhao Dahai's voice exploded in from outside the door, accompanied by the door panel's overwhelmed trembling. Su Bai opened his eyes and spent three seconds confirming he wasn't dreaming—then the door lock gave off a sharp sound, on the verge of snapping.

"Stop knocking! The door is going to break!"

Su Bai rolled out of bed and yanked the door open.

Zhao Dahai's chubby face appeared in the gap of the door, his expression caught between terror and excitement, his double chin shaking.

"Quick, look at the class group chat! No—wait—you need to come out and look at the plaza! No—wait—put on your pants first! Forget it, you don't have to, let's talk as we walk!"

"...Let me wash up first."

"Wash up, my foot! Li Qingyue! Master Li Qingyue is already here!!"

Su Bai paused for a beat.

Lin Xiao poked half her body out; she had already changed into her neat school uniform, her hair was tied up cleanly, and her expression was as calm as ever.

"Morning. You two, stop messing around and hurry up and get ready. If we're late, Deputy Commander Zhou Mu will skin us alive."

"Lin Xiao, how can you be so calm!" Zhao Dahai said, heartbroken. "That's Li Qingyue!"

"I know. Didn't they say so in the group chat earlier? You're making a fuss over nothing." Lin Xiao slowly took a pocket watch out of her pocket and glanced at it. "We have forty minutes. That's enough time for you to wash your faces and eat. I'll wait downstairs."

She turned and walked downstairs, her pace forming a sharp contrast with the chaos around them.

Zhao Dahai stared at her back in a daze: "Did her family accumulate some kind of merit in their past life? How can she be this calm when facing a 9th-tier Supreme?"

"Haven't you noticed? Lin Xiao is just reserved; she might be more excited than anyone right now." Su Bai closed the door and started getting dressed.

That pink Magic Card was quietly tucked into the card pocket on his chest. Kyubey was sealed inside, currently in a standby state.

It is common sense for a Card Creator to carry their cards with them. Physical summoned creatures are usually sealed within the cards, which not only saves mana consumption but also avoids unnecessary trouble.

Su Bai touched his card pocket, confirming the card was still there.

Fifteen minutes later, the three of them walked through the dormitory area toward the plaza.

Then, they stopped in unison at the entrance of the plaza.

"...Holy crap." Zhao Dahai was the first to speak.

Lin Xiao didn't speak, but her usually calm eyes widened slightly.

Su Bai stood between the two, looked up at the scene before him, and couldn't help but exclaim—

"Isn't this setup a bit ridiculous?"

Ridiculous.

Extremely ridiculous.

They walked past the Central Plaza every day. The usual vibe was: a few students dozing off on benches, the fountain spraying water half-heartedly, and occasionally a stray cat basking in the sun on the steps.

But now—

Twelve giant holographic projection towers had risen from the ground, each five stories tall, with the mana projection arrays at the tops of the towers emitting a cold, ice-blue light in the morning sun.

On the temporarily constructed rostrum directly in front of the plaza, a deep red velvet carpet was laid out. Embroidered on the carpet was the emblem of the Jinghai Card Creator Academy—crossed card-creating pens and a Magic Card, with a line of gold-stamped characters below: [The 237th Armament Card Monthly Exam · Official Examination Venue].

On both sides of the rostrum, four massive holographic projection screens, comparable to cinema screens, were erected. The lists of contestants for this Monthly Exam and real-time betting odds were scrolling on the screens.

Yes.

Betting odds.

"They even opened up betting markets?!" Zhao Dahai pointed at the screen, his finger shaking. "My odds are 1 to 89! 89! Am I here to take an exam or to feed kills to the enemy!"

"Mine is 1 to 2.3." Lin Xiao glanced at the screen, the corners of her mouth curling up slightly. "Not bad."

"What about you, Su Bai?" Zhao Dahai leaned over to look.

Su Bai's name was at the very end of the list.

Odds: 1 to 500.

Zhao Dahai fell silent.

Su Bai also fell silent.

Lin Xiao, on the other hand, laughed out loud: "It seems the bookmaker thinks your cat can't even reach the passing line."

"...Is that funny?"

"A little."

Su Bai couldn't be bothered to argue, but he rubbed his chin and said: "By the way, can I bet on myself?"

"Not really."

Lin Xiao said helplessly: "To prevent contestants from cheating, contestants are strictly forbidden from betting on themselves."

Su Bai was helpless and had to give up on his plan.

Outside the plaza, a dense crowd of people had gathered, more than one layer deep.

The magical photography arrays in the media area were set up in three full rows, and the logos of major live streaming platforms flashed through the air one after another.

Further out were high-level professionals from various major families, wearing coats embroidered with their family crests, their gazes as sharp as if they were picking out goods. Recruiters from the Mercenary Association occupied a separate area, and scar-covered old veterans puffed on pipes, eyeing every young face that entered.

Zhao Dahai swallowed hard: "Why do I feel like we aren't taking a Monthly Exam, but being auctioned off?"

"Basically correct." Lin Xiao scrolled through the popularity rankings of the streaming platforms on her phone. "Currently, the total number of online viewers across the web has exceeded ten million, with seventeen platforms broadcasting simultaneously. After today, anyone who receives a B-grade rating or higher will receive signing invitations from various major families tomorrow. If you don't get it—"

"If you don't get it, it's the Abyss Front logistics unit." Su Bai interjected.

The three of them simultaneously recalled the words from Deputy Commander Zhou Mu's first class: those at the bottom of the rankings would have their status as Card Creator apprentices stripped and be forcibly assigned to the Abyss Front logistics unit.

It wasn't a punishment.

It was a suspended death sentence.

And just at this moment—

Hum!

The twelve holographic projection towers started up simultaneously.

A massive light screen unfolded over the plaza, like an inverted bowl, enveloping the entire examination venue. Lines of scrolling text appeared on the screen—

[The 237th Armament Card Monthly Exam · Live Stream Across the Entire Web]

[Current Number of Online Viewers: 13.72 Million]

[Streaming Platforms: Jinghai Magic Media, Abyss Front Live, Card Creator Weekly... and 17 other platforms broadcasting simultaneously]

13.72 million.

Zhao Dahai's legs began to tremble.

Su Bai's expression was still relatively calm, but his palms were already covered in a layer of sweat.

Lin Xiao, however, didn't change her expression; she even took out her phone and took a screenshot: "A memento. A Monthly Exam in the first semester of the second year breaking ten million in popularity—this is probably the only time it will happen in school history."

On the rostrum.

In the center of the jury bench.

Su Bai's gaze swept over, and then he froze.

It was a young girl.

No—using "young girl" to describe her wasn't quite accurate.

It was a smaller, more eye-boggling physique. She looked at most twelve or thirteen years old, with waist-length, silver-white hair that cast a cold, metallic luster in the morning sun, the ends of her hair slightly curled, like strings plucked by spatial ripples.

She was wearing a deep blue uniform robe that was clearly custom-sized, but even in the smallest cut, it still looked a bit loose on her, the cuffs hanging down to cover half of her hands.

Then she looked up.

A pair of red eyes.

Not ordinary red. It was a deep, crimson red that seemed able to see through space itself, coming from another level of existence.

Those eyes were embedded in a small face so youthful it made one want to pinch it, the contrast so great it caused one's brain to short-circuit.

"...Huh?"

Su Bai rubbed his eyes.

It wasn't that he hadn't seen the world.

It was that the visual and the information didn't match up.

A loli was actually standing in the C-position of the rostrum?

Zhao Dahai followed his gaze and his jaw almost hit the floor: "No way—that's Li Qingyue?! A 9th-tier Supreme looks like that?! I thought it would be an old lady or at least an elegant older woman!"

"Shut up, if you want to die, don't drag us with you."

Lin Xiao clamped a hand over Zhao Dahai's mouth. But her eyes were also trembling slightly, not out of fear, but because of the instinctive awe a Card Creator feels when seeing an existence from another level of life.

The very center of the rostrum. The C-position.

The other examiners all maintained a subtle distance from her, and the holographic projection magnified her small face to the height of five stories; even so, not a single flaw could be seen, smooth and delicate like a porcelain doll.

And the comment feed was already going crazy for them.

[Master Li Qingyue!! She's too cute!! I want to take her home!!]

[The person above, your account is gone. You dare to take a 9th-tier Supreme home??]

[I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead!! Silver hair and red eyes!! A legal loli!! AWSL!!]

[Everyone calm down!! She can single-handedly break through the entire Abyss Front defense line!!]

[That means fighting her would turn into: you think you're bullying a little loli, but in reality, she can crush your entire team with one finger—what kind of ultimate contrast is this!!]

Li Qingyue.

This name itself represented an era.

Thirty years ago, during the seventh large-scale invasion of the Abyss, the front line collapsed, and the human defense line retreated a full four hundred kilometers.

It was this woman who, through her own strength, constructed a spatial barrier spanning three hundred kilometers, buying a time window sufficient to change the course of the war for the human coalition's counterattack. Her space-time theory remains the theoretical cornerstone for all Armament Cards and space-type Magic Cards worldwide to this day.

And now, she was sitting here, smiling as she watched the Monthly Exam of a group of second-year students.

"How is the level of the children this year?"

Li Qingyue turned her head and asked the Vice Principal sitting next to her.

"Much stronger than previous years." The Vice Principal was a round-faced, chubby man in his fifties, smiling so hard his eyes were almost invisible. "Especially Li Haoran, the pride of the second year—"

"I'm not asking about family background." Li Qingyue's tone was very light, but the Vice Principal shut his mouth instantly. "I'm asking about their skill level."

"...Of, of course, the skill level is also very outstanding."

Li Qingyue did not continue to press. Her gaze fell back onto the contestant roster, and she flipped to the last page.

Su Bai. Rank 1 Armament Card. Card Name—[Conceptual Armament · Incubator Kyubey].

Li Qingyue's eyebrows twitched slightly.

Conceptual Armament?

This name, when placed alongside the conventional names of others like [Blazing Magic Sword], [Frost Battle Armor], or [Red Copper Dragon Scale Shield], seemed completely out of place.

At the same time, the live stream chat exploded again.

[Li Haoran has appeared!!]

[Holy crap, he even brought lackeys?? Are the card boxes in those henchmen's arms custom-made with mithril trim??]

[A twenty-thousand-dollar card box... I can't even make a card worth twenty thousand...]

[The dust-proof cloak Li Haoran is wearing today is a custom piece from LIMITLESS; that thing costs over a hundred thousand per piece.]

[Brothers, I'm just here to watch the rich kids today.]

[Wait, the contestant lined up next to him, is that Lin Xiao? Director, cut to that and let us see!]

[Don't rush, watch Li Haoran!!]

The comments flowed by like a tide.

And in the center of the plaza, Su Bai was completely unaware of this.

"It's starting. Line up." Lin Xiao poked Su Bai's shoulder and walked toward the class assembly point first.