Chapter 16: Reactions from All Sides — A Horde of Fierce Beasts!

Ruined town, central district.

As its throat was slit by a sharp dagger, blood gushed out wildly, and this Tier-1 lower-rank Shadow Cat collapsed with a crash.

Behind him, Tang Qi's slender figure holding a dagger slowly emerged.

She was seen draped in a layer of purple-black cat-shaped energy outer veil, with a pair of cat ears on her head — not deliberately controlled, yet appearing very lively.

Enhancement-type B-rank ability, Shadow Cat!

During activation, it can greatly enhance her sprinting speed, reaction speed, and attack power.

It is precisely by virtue of this B-rank ability that she, merely an Awakened, was able to slay a Tier-1 fierce beast.

Of course, she herself also practiced an ability cultivation method.

Although there was still some gap before transforming into an Ability User, her physical fitness foundation was there — no matter what, it wouldn't be too poor.

However, slaying a Tier-1 lower-rank fierce beast was already the limit of her strength.

Precisely because of this, she only dared to wander around the central district, not daring to head to the core district where Tier-1 mid-rank fierce beasts were entrenched.

To conserve ability energy, Tang Qi exited the Shadow Cat form right after slaying the beast.

The cat-shaped energy veil lingering around her body vanished, and a pair of cat-shaped vertical pupils likewise reverted to their original state.

"12th place, Tang Qi, 567 points (Jiangcheng No. 1 High School)."

Opening her smartwatch and seeing her ranking, Tang Qi's delicate brows furrowed: "My ranking dropped by one."

She instinctively looked upward, wanting to see who had pushed her ranking down.

However, she didn't expect to see a familiar name in the ninth-place position.

"Second High School's Xu Jingming, 607 points, ninth place?!"

Tang Qi was slightly stunned, took a good while to come back to her senses, and the image of that upright figure carrying a long spear on his back surfaced in her mind.

"As expected, the one who delivered that strike yesterday was you, Cousin Jingming..."

It wasn't that she hadn't suspected the name on the ranking and her cousin were merely the same name.

But both at Second High School, and with the same name — how could such a coincidence exist in this world?

Combined with the suspicion that arose yesterday at Lei Ting Martial Hall.

It made her all the more certain that the Xu Jingming on the ranking was her own cousin.

"But you, with only an E-rank ability, how did you manage all this?"

A hint of curiosity flashed across Tang Qi's pretty face. "Looks like my cousin isn't as honest as he appears on the surface..."

"Holy crap, Ah Ming is that fierce?!"

"If I'd known, I should've called him 'daddy' and just clung to his thigh!"

Ruined town outer district, Liu Jie — enlarged to twice his normal size — stared at Xu Jingming's ranking on the virtual projection, full of regret.

Compared to the Wu Ke Gaokao results, what's calling someone 'daddy'?

"Xu Jingming made the top ten!"

"Too fierce!"

"In our Second High School, the one with the highest ranking right now is him!"

"......"

Lin Qingyuan's squad, ever since discovering Xu Jingming's 46th-place ranking, had been keeping an eye on him.

Seeing Xu Jingming enter the top ten now, each and every one of them was full of emotion.

How on earth did this guy manage it?

"Xu Jingming made the top ten — we have to work hard too, and strive to enter the top 300!"

Looking at the ranking list, Lin Qingyuan's pretty face was also full of emotion.

Although she didn't know how Xu Jingming had done it, they were different from Xu Jingming.

Being able to enter the top 300 was already very satisfying...

When Xu Jingming's ranking hadn't yet entered the top ten, his position wasn't all that eye-catching.

But once he entered the top ten, virtually everyone in the examination hall noticed him.

Those who knew Xu Jingming reacted in various ways.

However, he was unaware of all this — at this moment, he was sprinting at full speed toward the core district.

With his physique strengthened, Xu Jingming's sprinting speed was much faster than before.

Moreover, his position in the central district wasn't all that far from the core district.

Thus, in just over thirty minutes, Xu Jingming stepped into the core district's range on the map.

The core district of the ruined town was the original downtown of Weiyuan Town, once its most prosperous area.

Compared to the central district, the buildings here were taller, and from the long-decayed décor on their surfaces, one could faintly glimpse the refinement of those years.

More importantly, the fierce beasts in the core district ranged from Tier-1 lower-rank to Tier-1 mid-rank — no more unranked beasts!

Examinees confident enough to enter the core district were at least among Jiangcheng's top five!

Of course, he was the exception.

During the journey, he hadn't deliberately sought out fierce beasts, which led to him slaying only four or five beasts in those thirty-plus minutes.

His ranking went down instead of up, dropping to 10th place.

"As long as I can find a large pack of fierce beasts, my ranking will quickly climb back up.

This time, I'm going to grab first place in one go!"

Xu Jingming's gaze hardened — same strategy as before: wherever the fierce beasts' roars were densest, that's where he'd go!

"Roar—"

"Awoo—"

In the ruined city, the roars of fierce beasts rose one after another—this place was a fierce beast's paradise.

Xu Jingming listened carefully, then finally chose the direction where the roars were loudest and densest—the southeast—and sped off in that direction.

Most examinees moved through the examination grounds with extreme caution, terrified that too much noise would draw the fierce beasts' attention and lead to being surrounded.

Yet Xu Jingming charged through the city like a lithe, powerful leopard.

The Black-Glare Spear strapped to his back, weighing a full fifty kilograms, did not hinder his movement in the slightest.

Xu Jingming raced along the broken road, the wind whistling past his ears, the scenery on both sides flashing by in a blur; here and there he could faintly make out one or two fierce beasts prowling among the ruins.

For these scattered beasts, he didn't even have the desire to strike.

Soon, the source of the dense roars drew closer and closer—a rusted, battered bus lay sideways, blocking the end of the road.

Yet Xu Jingming did not slow down at all; only when he was about to crash into the bus did his legs explode with force, and he leaped five or six meters into the air.

"Boom!"

Xu Jingming's combat boots landed on the roof of the bus; he looked down, and the scene below unfolded in full view.

It was a fitness plaza. Apart from various broken fitness equipment, the plaza was occupied by fierce beast after fierce beast at rest.

The beasts were numerous, so the air carried not only a bloody stench but also a distinctly animal odor mixed in, causing Xu Jingming's brow to knit slightly.

"One, two, three… there are a full ten fierce beasts here, and they're all Arm-Blade Tigers. Looks like I've run into an Arm-Blade Tiger pack."

Fierce beasts were divided into pack-type and solitary-type, and the Arm-Blade Tiger belonged to the pack-type.

Ordinary examinees, upon encountering such a beast pack, would all go around it.

Yet in Xu Jingming's cold, black-and-white eyes burned a scorching battle intent.

This was exactly what he wanted!

"To make Arm-Blade Tigers gather as a pack, there has to be a king whose strength can suppress them all."

Xu Jingming looked toward the center of the fitness plaza, where the half-devoured, blood-soaked carcass of a one-horned rhino lay.

And beside that carcass crouched an Arm-Blade Tiger King, its build visibly larger than the other Arm-Blade Tigers!

Its four limbs were immensely thick, and the bone blades on its forelegs were especially massive and razor-sharp.

"A mid-tier first-stage Arm-Blade Tiger—looks like it's the king of this pack."

The corner of Xu Jingming's mouth lifted slightly.

If he killed all these beasts, he would once again gain quite a few Ability Points.