CHAPTER 17: CHAPTER 16: RANKINGS

Beauty Path Chasing: When you encounter an opponent or teammate of the opposite sex, attack speed increases by 35%, and there is a 50% probability of increased damage.

Jiang Ye’s current punching speed is 1.35 times his usual rate.

He can throw an extra punch each second!

It may not seem like much, but in ten seconds, that’s ten more punches, and the compounded damage is considerable.

In just three or four seconds, Jiang Ye, like a pile driver, had already thrown more than a dozen punches.

Each punch nearly maxed out at 600 kilograms of force!

"Roar!"

The humanoid shadow’s face was pounded in, issuing a howl, and its figure vanished.

"Swoosh!"

It didn’t escape but quickly possessed the shadows of Tao Xiaogang and others.

The Shadow Race is highly intelligent.

It seemed to ’realize’ that Jiang Ye was difficult to deal with, so it decisively chose to handle the others first.

"Roar!"

The humanoid shadow howled, its voice seemingly disrupting minds, causing everyone’s heads to fuzz and their ears to ring.

"Watch out!"

Jiang Ye shouted loudly.

He was the first to regain clarity, vigilantly scanning the surroundings.

Even baby forms of the Shadow Race have speeds far surpassing ordinary humans; they can teleport using shadows, their movements are elusive.

This is one of the reasons why the Shadow Race is tough to handle.

As soon as Jiang Ye’s words fell, the pitch-black shadow reappeared, clawing viciously towards Xia Qing.

"Go to hell!"

Xia Qing was not one to be trifled with; she cried out and smashed her fist into the shadow.

But the effect of her punch was far inferior to Jiang Ye’s.

Fortunately, Tao Xiaogang and the others quickly caught up, each displaying their skills, surrounding and attacking the baby form of the Shadow Race.

Ordinary weapons, knives, guns, swords, even firearms, could hardly do substantial damage to the Shadow Race.

Instead, human fists can indeed threaten the Shadow Race.

This is because the human body generates a peculiar ’magnetic field’ that can intimidate evil spirits.

And the Star Sky Martial Arts Masters harness Star Sky Energy to evoke this magnetic field, at which point special weapons can be used to inflict greater damage on the Shadow Race.

As for those who haven’t reached the First Break, they can only rely on their own fists.

"Die!"

Jiang Ye and several others together besieged the shadow.

Though it was only the weakest baby form, five people together found it extremely difficult.

Every time the shadow howled, it made people dizzy, barely able to stand.

Fortunately, those howls had little effect on Jiang Ye, so he could remind the others in time.

If not for this, the group would have already suffered severe injuries.

Roar~

Another roar.

This time, Jiang Ye was too late to warn.

"Pfff!"

One of them had their arm bitten off, blood gushing, and cried out in pain.

"Li Xuan!"

"Are you okay!?"

Tao Xiaogang’s face changed, the intense battle making him almost forget they were in a virtual world.

"This damn Shadow Race, their life force is too strong!"

Their physical strength is limited, but the Shadow Race seemed to have endless energy, with thick skin, practically unkillable.

Bear in mind, this was five against one; if faced alone, it would be unimaginable.

"It’s almost at its limit too!"

Jiang Ye looked at the shadow, saying sternly, "Go all out, finish it!"

At this moment, the humanoid shadow was continuously distorting, like a melting popsicle, struggling to maintain its form.

This indicated weakness!

"Go all out!"

Jiang Ye charged forward first, throwing a punch with all his might.

In this moment, he felt a sudden inspiration, predicting that the punch’s power would greatly increase.

Increase damage by 50%!

"Finally triggered, after the whole game?"

Jiang Ye had no time to think, fiercely smashing his fist at the shadow’s head.

"Boom!"

This punch directly caused the shadow to ’create phase separation’, with splashing shadow resembling droplets of liquid.

Yet the shadow still had some strength, its form flickering and disappearing once more.

The next moment, the shadow appeared in the shadow behind Li Xuan, clearly intending mutual destruction.

Luckily, Tao Xiaogang noticed just in time, sending a leg whip to sever the shadow’s body.

"Finally dead..."

Tao Xiaogang exhaled deeply.

"The Shadow Race, too troublesome." Jiang Ye shared the same heavy expression.

Thankfully this was in the virtual world; if placed in the real world, the danger would be far greater.

Just then.

"Hoo!"

In the shadows not far away, three more human-shaped virtual shadows emerged.

They were also standing at a height of 1.5 meters, the lowest level — infant bodies.

But this time, there were three!

"Second level." Everyone’s expressions tensed.

The Virtual Starry Sky’s assessment was similar to game levels.

The first level only had one Shadow Race.

The second level had three!

The third level had five!

As you progressed, the number increased.

"Don’t slack off, strive to get through the second level!" Jiang Ye said.

"Got it." Tao Xiaogang and the others centered around Jiang Ye and naturally had nothing more to say at this moment.

...

While Jiang Ye’s team was fiercely battling.

Other teams were also engaged in fierce combat.

In a virtual space.

Xu Sisi, leading four others, was fighting fiercely against three shadows of the second level.

Now, three members of her team were already injured, with two of them having lost an arm.

The entire team’s strength was greatly reduced.

Only Xu Sisi still maintained her peak combat strength, but she wouldn’t be able to hold on much longer.

"Hang in there!"

Xu Sisi gritted her teeth, thinking to herself, "You are the only hope for your parents; you have to make it into the Twenty-Five Schools Alliance and let mom and dad live in a 200 square meter house!"

"You cannot fall here."

"If you can’t even secure the second, how can you talk about first, talk about the Twenty-Five Schools Alliance?!"

"Kill!"

Under the force of her will, Xu Sisi exploded with astonishing combat strength.

Poof!

She drove a punch through a shadow’s head, but at the same time, her left arm was torn apart by the Shadow Race.

Xu Sisi gritted her teeth and continued to rush towards the next target.

...

In another virtual space.

Boom!

Li Zhichao destroyed the third shadow, continuously bleeding.

He too was severely injured, and the situation was dire.

But turning back, he saw four teammates being pinned to the ground and beaten by a shadow.

Li Zhichao intended to go back and support them.

"Roar!"

A roaring sound echoed, and Li Zhichao immediately covered his ears in pain, feeling the world spin.

This was a roar from the Shadow Race, capable of mind interference, causing confusion!

While he was unguarded, a shadow flashed over, delivering a slap.

...

In the metal hall.

Zhang Jianwu stood with arms crossed, watching the rankings scrolling on the giant screen.

"That girl Zhao Qingli reached 700 points? Unbelievable."

"I recall that when she enrolled in the first year, her talent wasn’t among the best... But if she maintains this momentum, she might make it into the top ten elite schools next year."

An City No.3 High School isn’t the best school in An City.

They don’t always have students who make it into the top ten elite schools every year.

Even An City’s best high school — An City No.1 High School, at most has one or two such students annually.

An City, after all, is a small city.

Zhang Jianwu’s gaze flickered slightly, then shifted toward Jiang Ye’s direction.

"This student indeed shows some potential, and perhaps next year, he might have the smallest of chances to get into the Twenty-Five Schools Alliance... For Miss Chen’s sake, let’s give him a trial opportunity."

As he pondered, a young man walked over.

"Director Zhang, is there a student here that interests you?"

The young man asked with a smile.

Zhang Jianwu turned to look; the young man was Wang Ziang, a student from the advanced class.

He was also a prominent figure in this end-of-term assessment, currently ranking third in his grade.

Wang Ziang glanced around the hall, curiously asking, "I see that these are just students from the ordinary class."

Zhang Jianwu spoke with hands behind his back, "Never underestimate anyone; the ordinary class has produced strong contenders before, like last year, when a student transferred from the ordinary to the advanced class and finished in the top fifty of the grade during the college entrance exam."

Wang Ziang did not refute, remarking, "Such people are always the minority; most people, including me, are actually quite mediocre."

He sighed repeatedly, displaying a self-deprecating demeanor.

Zhang Jianwu glanced at him accusingly, "Stop fronting, you being third in your grade yet acting modest. First, surpass those two girls ahead of you before you talk big."

Wang Ziang was speechless, "I already said I was mediocre; how am I faking it?"

Zhang Jianwu snorted coldly, not replying further. He knew this kid often put on a show, wasn’t he aware of that?

Now, having ranked third in the grade, he feigned humility, but in reality, he was quite arrogant.

At this time, most of the students from Class 9 had finished the assessment.

The top-ranked students were also gradually exiting the Virtual Starry Sky.

The grade rankings on the giant screen were changing once again.