Chapter 68: Gap, Scoring

Zhang Yu listened to the rules of this scoring competition for a while and roughly understood what was going on.

"They stick sensor patches on various parts of my body and also on the Yellow Turban Warrior, then every time a sensor patch is hit, it gets recorded."

"For example, hitting the sensor patch on the Yellow Turban Warrior's back scores 5 points, hitting the chest scores 3 points, and hitting the arm scores 1 point."

"Conversely, for the sensor patches on my body, if my back is hit, 5 points are deducted..."

"Finally, the total score is calculated over one minute of combat."

"Of course, there's also another method: directly knocking the Yellow Turban Warrior out of bounds, which instantly adds 300 points."

Zhang Yu understood that the purpose of this scoring competition was to avoid grouping high-scoring contestants together in the subsequent group stage, so that strong contestants wouldn't be eliminated too early.

"That way, there shouldn't be any powerful contestants deliberately hiding too much of their strength, because that might put them in the same group as another strong competitor."

Thinking this, Zhang Yu nodded slightly and turned his gaze to the Yellow Turban Warrior.

It was a humanoid figure over two meters tall, clad in golden armor and a golden face mask; its exposed muscles looked like marble and were densely covered with runic inscriptions.

"Hmm... something still feels missing..."

Just as Zhang Yu was thinking this, a staff member sprayed advertisements onto the Yellow Turban Warrior—on the chest was "Oasis Food: For Healthy Eating for All of Kunxu," and on the back was "Weilan Pharmaceuticals: Super Powerful, Unrivaled, Overlordly."

Seeing this, Zhang Yu finally nodded and thought to himself, "I knew something was missing; now it feels right."

He still remembered that Oasis Food was a company promoting synthetic food, backed by the Netherworld Palace, one of the Ten Great Sects.

Meanwhile, Weilan Pharmaceuticals differed from Ziyun Pharmaceuticals; it focused more on combat drugs and was a sponsor of this martial arts tournament.

At the same time, Bai Zhenzhen, standing nearby, looked at the Yellow Turban Warrior and commented, "Songyang High is just worse than Bailong High. Look, they can use Yellow Turban Warriors in exams and competitions, while at our school they still make students fight each other."

Zhang Yu nodded and said, "This Yellow Turban Warrior has such high realism; it looks just like a real person."

Bai Zhenzhen, seeing a Yellow Turban Warrior in real life for the first time, agreed, "That's just how rich people's hobbies are—they like to turn expensive things into something that looks cheap."

"Like making designer clothes look like trash bags, or making a Yellow Turban Warrior look like a human."

Zhang Yu suddenly had an idea: "So, do you think our school could hire someone to play the Yellow Turban Warrior?"

Just then, Lei Jun, who stood behind the two of them as a martial arts practical instructor and organizer of Songyang High's practical exams, said with a dark face, "Can the labor cost of someone who can play the Yellow Turban Warrior be cheap?"

"Who do you think will pay for hiring that person? Do you want to pay extra every month for the monthly exam?"

Having said that, Lei Jun snorted and jerked his chin toward the arena: "The first round of the scoring competition is about to start. Watch and learn properly; when it's your turn, don't embarrass me."

When the contestants had gathered earlier, Bailong High, as the host, had already issued contestant numbers and badges to each participant; they would take turns going up against the Yellow Turban Warrior according to their numbers.

Under everyone's gaze, the host walked onto the arena and stood next to the Yellow Turban Warrior.

"Welcome everyone to this year's Songyang City Freshman Martial Arts Tournament, jointly sponsored by Oasis Food and Weilan Pharmaceuticals."

"Delicious and all-natural, nurturing life in harmony with nature—all meals in this arena are provided by the Oasis Group."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen both spat in disgust.

Synthetic food? Not even a dog would eat it.

The host continued, "A millennium of heritage, a must-have when going out—whether in arena matches or street brawls, Weilan Pharmaceuticals is your caring assistant... Any contestant in need of medication can purchase it at the pop-up pharmacy beside the arena."

Finally, after the host finished reciting all the sponsor advertising slogans, the first round of the scoring competition was about to begin.

"Now, let's welcome the first contestant to the stage!"

A contestant wearing Bailong High's uniform stepped onto the arena, and with the countdown of 3, 2, 1, he immediately engaged in battle with the Yellow Turban Warrior.

Zhang Yu could see that this Bailong student's strength and speed were on par with the Yellow Turban Warrior's physical strength of 1.98.

Every punch and kick followed a path of sheer ferocity, directly blocking the Yellow Turban Warrior's strikes while hitting its sensor patches to gain points.

From afar, it looked like two giant bears grappling and fighting on the arena; every impact sounded like metal clashing, shaking the heart.

After one minute passed, this Bailong student scored a total of 128 points.

Among the next several contestants who took the stage, some were from Bailong High, some from Ziyun High, and some from Redtower High.

The more Qian Shen watched, the more shocked he became: "These top students from the three major high schools each have physical strength that would be absolutely number one among Songyang's freshmen. Is the gap really that big? Are Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen going to have to face people like this today?"

He Dayou, however, was not at all surprised by this: "Unless they can join our school's sports competition team and undergo a special training program, there's no way to surpass the physical strength of those freaks from the three major high schools."

[]

"Not to mention the gap in other aspects like mana, martial arts, spiritual roots, and so on—when all that is combined into actual combat... it's even more despairing."

As the son of a school board member, He Dayou knew all too well the gap between Songyang High School and the three major high schools.

Take the annual quota for the top ten elite universities, for example: for the top students of Songyang High School, they could only compete with the secondary elites of White Dragon High School after the cream of White Dragon's crop had taken their pick.

Just then, a White Dragon student who stood over two and a half meters tall, like a Titan giant, slowly walked onto the arena stage.

Standing before this student, even the Yellow Turban Warrior looked comparatively delicate.

As this student made his entrance, the White Dragon students who had been sitting upright in the spectator stands suddenly all stood up to applaud and cheer.

Zhang Yu, however, was more focused on the other's current hairstyle: "Isn't that Song Hailong? Why did he change his hairstyle?"

Song Hailong was the top student of his year at White Dragon High School, the contestant whose uniform displayed a large '1' on both the chest and back.

Zhang Yu still remembered that during the last magic competition, he had long hair that stuck straight up. Today, it had been turned into a short hedgehog cut.

Song Hailong gave a slight smile and reached a hand toward the stands, pressing down gently. The next moment, the cheering and applauding White Dragon students immediately sat back down, silent and not uttering a word.

Watching this, Zhang Yu suddenly recalled a legendary low-score slave system at White Dragon High School—those White Dragon students in the stands truly obeyed Song Hailong's commands without question.

Bai Zhenzhen, eyeing Song Hailong's new hairstyle from the side, said, "He must have switched to an external spiritual root again!"

"Last time, that external spiritual root clearly affected spiritual energy flow, designed for mana cultivation."

"Since this competition is about practical martial combat, Song Hailong must have swapped to a combat spiritual root."

With that, Bai Zhenzhen turned to look at Zhang Yu beside her and urged, "Yu, Yu, quick, take out your ten-thousand-credit talisman book and use a Heavenly Eye Talisman to see Song Hailong's details."

Over the past two weeks, apart from focusing on martial arts, Zhang Yu had been familiarizing himself with the talisman book from time to time.

But he dared not touch any of the paid features, only using the daily free allowance to practice talismans.

The two types of talismans he practiced the most were the Detainment Talisman and the Heavenly Eye Talisman taught at school.

At this moment, Zhang Yu carefully took out the talisman book, his fingertip swiftly swiping across the screen. As the Heavenly Eye Talisman activated, he immediately felt the whole world change.

!

For non-clergy, this was like a vision after topping up.

For a period of time, an evaluation of each person's composition appeared above their heads. Having practiced this several times, Zhang Yu was now used to this vision and focused on Song Hailong on the stage.

Elephant Tendon Physique (Expand Details)

Elephant Tendon Physique | Demon Slayer | Heavenly Spirit Nurturing Physique | Unyielding Fighting Spirit | White Dragon Slave Master | Family Prodigy Son

At the same time, Song Hailong on the stage let out a wild laugh, grabbed the Yellow Turban Warrior's large hand, and in front of the shocked crowd, threw the Yellow Turban Warrior flying with a bang.

In less than a single second, the battle was already over.

Song Hailong, score 300.

The White Dragon students in the stands immediately burst into fierce applause and cheers.

Watching Song Hailong slowly walk off the stage, many contestants felt they were not looking at a person but at a ferocious beast.

Qian Shen, witnessing this scene, gasped in cold air: "Song Hailong scored 683 on last month's exam… seeing him fight in person, it's just as shocking as that score."

Meanwhile, Zhao Tianxing had just entered the arena not long ago and was still searching for Qian Shen in the stands when he turned and saw this scene on the stage: "Too brutal—Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen have to fight a monster like this?"

He couldn't help feeling a pang of worry: "Will they really be okay? They won't get seriously hurt, will they?"

On the other side, Zhang Yu looked at the long string of composition evaluations above Song Hailong's head: "What the hell is all this?"

After hearing him list them out, Bai Zhenzhen explained, "I know the Heavenly Spirit Nurturing Physique—it should refer to a nurturing spiritual root, a combat-type among heavenly spiritual roots. The spiritual energy meridians formed by the spiritual root will wrap around the entire body, comprehensively increasing the user's strength, speed, stamina, and resistance to blows."

Zhang Yu couldn't help taking another look at Bai Zhenzhen: "That kid Zhen recognized the external spiritual root at a glance last time too."

"Clearly he can't afford spiritual roots, so how does he know so many?"

As for the other composition evaluations, Bai Zhenzhen wasn't too sure. Just then, Lei Jun behind them suddenly said, "Implanted elephant demon sinew, long-term combat with demonic beasts, extremely few negative emotions, top student at White Dragon, the ace son of the Song family this generation."

Zhang Yu was surprised: "Old Lei, you understand the Heavenly Eye Talisman too?"

Seeing their surprised looks, Lei Jun said flatly, "If Dao arts could be used for free like this, they'd be pretty useful too."

Old Lei! You've betrayed the martial path!

With Lei Jun's explanation, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen also gained more information from this round of evaluation matches.

And on the subsequent arena, more strong individuals began to display their strength.

First, Lian Tianji from Ziyun High School, with fists and feet like a storm, completely suppressed the Yellow Turban Warrior whose physical strength was maintained at level 1.98, wildly scoring 261 points.

Soon after, a student from Hongta High School who looked like a brown bear came on stage, instantly pounced the Yellow Turban Warrior to the ground, then threw it away, scoring 300 points.

Not long after, Le Mulan from Ziyun High School appeared, and with just one hand she pinned the Yellow Turban Warrior to the ground, completely suppressing it.

Then this woman kicked the sensor plate on the back of the Yellow Turban Warrior repeatedly, kicking until she reached 305 points, just surpassing Song Hailong's 300 points before stopping, then she glanced at Song Hailong and stepped off the arena.

And from the moment Le Mulan appeared, the Ziyun people in the audience remained completely silent, in utter stillness.

Zhao Tianxing found this strange.

Upon hearing this, Qian Shen explained as if reciting from memory, "Ziyun High School's scores are updated daily based on students' classroom performance, and the grade rankings are also updated daily. The top student of the grade for the day can set one grade-wide rule for all students in the grade that lasts for one day, as long as it does not affect the teaching order."

"As far as I know, ever since the first year of Ziyun High School started, Le Mulan has always been the top of the grade."

"The daily rules she sets have never changed."

"That is, all first-year students must remain silent in her presence, and plebeian students with scores below 650 are not allowed to speak to her without her permission."

Plebeian students with scores below 650? Hearing this, Zhao Tianxing immediately felt that he was also insulted.

But then thinking that the Qian Shen speaking in front of him also hadn't reached 650 points, he immediately calmed his mindset.

Zhao Tianxing asked, "How do you know so much?"

Qian Shen gave a faint smile and said, "I have done a bit of research on the affairs of the three major high schools."

Meanwhile, in the contestant area on the other side, Song Hailong, who had been provoked, laughed heartily and said, "Le Mulan, I'll wait for you in the finals!"

——

Will be released on the shelves this Sunday, hope everyone will support it then.