Chapter 37: The Battle to Defend the City (III)

It is strange; ordinary monsters disappear automatically upon death, while elite-tier monsters leave their corpses behind, as if to deliberately distinguish between the two.

The porcupine monster, which knew how to fire cold arrows and ambush its prey, was undoubtedly of the elite tier. Its back, covered in rigid, outward-pointing quills, possessed the power to pierce through solid rock, arching into a sphere of sinister, death-dealing menace.

The lone surviving honey badger monster, however bold, dared not block such an attack and scrambled desperately to retreat to a distance.

Yet, it failed to anticipate that a cunning gaze had already locked onto it, much like the demonic eye of a hellish abyss. Zhou Ke stepped aside, his wrist flexing as he prepared the momentum for a throw.

"Ah, trying to run now? Isn't it a bit too late for that?"

With a sharp, piercing whistle—at a speed far faster than when the quills were launched as arrows—the black-and-white spike pierced through the honey badger monster’s thigh in the blink of an eye, pinning it firmly to the pillar behind it.

Unable to dodge with its lower body trapped, the honey badger monster could only glare in terror as the black, spiked shadow in mid-air grew larger and larger, until its eyes were pierced and its brains were crushed.

"Hah... no matter where you go, exams are always such a chore," Zhou Ke complained, exhaling a breath of stagnant air and wiping the bloodstains from his cheeks with his sleeve.

All of these stains came from the monsters.

He stepped out of the shopping mall entrance, confirmed that there were no enemies nearby for the moment, and looked up at the sky. "109 points added. It seems the points for protecting citizens are calculated by the instance, not by the head count."

"Then capturing more citizens is useless, and guarding them is a hassle. Might as well let a few go," Zhou Ke muttered to himself as he returned to the mall.

As if they had heard his words, the innocent citizens, suspended by hemp ropes between the first and second floors, swung back and forth while begging for mercy.

"Help! Help me!"

"I’ll give you whatever you want, just let me down first!"

"Let me go first! I have elderly parents and young children—wait, no, that's not it! I have a family to support, I'm so pitiful!"

They were all mall employees who hadn't managed to evacuate in time. After Zhou Ke had saved them, they had barely finished exchanging polite thanks before they were subjected to the ordeal of being tied up.

The reason was that Zhou Ke had planned to keep several citizens hostage, lure monsters to them, and then reappear to play the hero, allowing him to rack up several hundred points at once.

However, it turned out that such unscrupulous little schemes were not permitted.

Zhou Ke thought about it again and again, but he couldn't decide whom to favor by setting them free. So, he didn't release anyone, instead finding a chair to sit down and attend to his own business.

"Crime and Punishment"

The black-red book, soaked through with the stench of death, was flipped to the third page, where dense text crawled filthily across the parchment.

[You have cruelly slaughtered the weak. Khorne points +1]

[You have cruelly slaughtered the weak. Khorne points +1]

[Current Khorne points: 131]

['Khorne' is weary of the blood of the weak. Go forth and harvest the skulls of the stronger.]

[You have parsed the first thesis of "Crime and Punishment": The Blood-Reaper.]

As his Khorne points increased, Zhou Ke’s physique underwent a radical transformation.

He felt it slightly. "The increase in strength and agility is particularly noticeable, followed by stamina. The ether volume, however, has basically remained unchanged, still lingering at the level of the seventh stage of Firestar."

"This so-called slaughter mechanism pursues pure physical combat and cares little for magical aptitude."

Zhou Ke then looked at the fourth page of Truth, where new guidance awaited.

[Name: Blood-Reaper]

[Grade: F]

[Effect: Killing the weak, whose strength is vastly inferior to yours, will no longer grant Khorne points, but it will restore your stamina and heal your wounds.]

[Note: 'Khorne' does not care if you bully the weak to purge them; He has never asked where blood and skulls come from, but you cannot kill only the weak.]

"Ah, so not only does the system refuse to let me take advantage of the points system, but it even wants to exploit the rewards for clearing out small fry. Are you even my Truth?"

The arrival of this new ability was not worth celebrating at all. Zhou Ke’s remaining enthusiasm for monster hunting was thoroughly extinguished; he had never liked doing manual labor in the first place.

[The first wave of the monster siege has ended. Please return to the safe zone to rest, Guardians.]

Just as Zhou Ke was hesitating over whether to give up entirely, a message from the sky popped up before his eyes.

The Mage Examination had been going on for two hours.

The open-air plaza within the safe zone no longer held the high spirits it had at the start; the examinees were either listless or lying on the ground, wailing in misery.

Examinees possessed ether enhancement, and they were indeed mostly stronger than the monsters, but they could not withstand the sheer number of them.

At the beginning, they were full of energy and dealing with three or four monsters was a breeze, but what about the fifth? The sixth?

Killing six ordinary monsters only rewarded 6 points.

While hunting, they also had to be careful not to be injured by the monsters; otherwise, without a healing-type Truth, they would have to continue fighting while wounded.

The exam had a twelve-hour time limit, meaning they had to dash around incessantly without a moment's rest, not only guarding against monsters but also competing against other examinees.

Yet, the harder they struggled, the more desperate they became.

They looked up at the ranking board for the City Defense Battle in the sky.

First place, Zhou Ke: 1063 points.

Second place, Su Wumi: 120 points.

Third place, Tang Hongning: 49 points.

There was no need to look at the fourth place and beyond; the gaps between them and the person ahead were minimal.

Only the first and second places stood like two Mount Tais looming before them, impossible to climb over.

Especially that first-place finisher, who had been unknown before the exam—over a thousand points? Even if they fought without resting until the very last second of the twelve hours, it would be impossible to reach that score! Are you kidding me!

They accepted Su Wumi's second place!

After all, everyone knew of Su Wumi’s brilliant talent. Her majestic figure as she manipulated gravity to crush monsters was seen by everyone, and no one dared to question it.

Zhou Ke, however, was different. Almost no one had ever seen him in action.

Consequently, more and more people suspected Zhou Ke of cheating and reported him to the proctors, only to be met with indifferent responses.

This did nothing to clear Zhou Ke’s name; instead, it caused his reputation to plummet even further.

Many rumored that Zhou Ke was the illegitimate son of a high-ranking official in a major guild, the only son of a corporate director who had been granted a guaranteed spot, or, even more absurdly, a gigolo kept by the beautiful lead proctor of the [Shennong Guild]!

The reason the lead proctor was absent was simply to avoid suspicion!

"Hey, look!"

"It's that cheater!"

"Look at him, there's not a single sign of fatigue from battle. He's definitely cheating!"

Zhou Ke, holding a bottle of cola, strolled leisurely into the safe zone, instantly drawing the indignant gazes of the examinees.

The sky displayed photos of the participants, so there was no way to hide. As long as one wasn't face-blind, they could recognize Mr. Zhou’s dejected face with its dead-fish eyes.