Chapter 40: The Battle to Defend the City (VI)
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Zhou Ke looked up and saw a hunched man dressed from head to toe in gray.
His complexion was sallow, the blood vessels in his eyes clearly visible. Even his dark circles looked more unhealthy and lifeless than Mr. Zhou’s. Atop his head sat a tangled mass of hair like seaweed that seemed not to have been washed in several weeks—filthy in the unmistakable way of a man.
“Your friend?” Zhou Ke asked casually. The man’s age and build were nothing like those of a candidate.
“Sigh. I suppose you could say that. At least, he used to be.” Wu Bai’s expression stiffened the moment he saw the man.
His eyes wavered, mottled with guilt, reluctance, and grief.
Zhou Ke took it all in and nodded inwardly. Got it. Ex-boyfriend. Ever since witnessing the case of Louis, whenever he encountered an unfamiliar man, he instinctively tended toward that conclusion.
Of course, Wu Bai had no idea what was going on in Zhou Ke’s deranged mind. In as gentle a tone as he could manage, he called out the man’s name:
“Jiao Hai, shouldn’t the candidates under your supervision be somewhere else?”
“I go wherever I please. What’s it to you?”
Jiao Hai showed not the slightest intention of indulging him. He raised his head and looked down at Zhou Ke with dark eyes, speaking with relish.
“I advise you to be careful. Captain Wu’s favorite pastime in life is giving bad advice, then luring you innocent, adorable candidates to their deaths.”
“Jiao Hai!”
Wu Bai shouted for him to stop, his face flushing red, yet he could not produce a single word of rebuttal.
Zhou Ke gave him another look. If Wu Bai could truly deceive him, Zhou Ke would not be angry in the slightest. He would instead have to admire and hold such a person in high regard. There were not many people like that.
“Why so unhappy? Did I hit a sore spot? Heh heh heh.”
Jiao Hai said no more. With a cold laugh, he passed between the two of them.
“One day, I’ll make you pay. One day!”
His gaze was as cold and sharp as an ice pick, yet he did not turn back. Only his low, solemn vow lingered in their ears.
What is this? Some melodrama where the lawful wife catches the mistress in the act?
Zhou Ke complained inwardly.
“Focus on your examination. Don’t dwell on what just happened,” Wu Bai said with a dark expression.
“Sure thing. Bye-bye, then.”
Zhou Ke had no intention of spending any more points for the time being, and he had no reason to remain there. He simply minded his own business and slipped away.
The second wave of the Freak Siege began soon afterward. The candidates and the remaining examiners all sprang into action. Some left, others dispersed, and Wu Bai—still standing rooted to the spot—became a black speck upon the White Brick Plaza.
His neck bent low, his face hidden in shadow, his lips murmuring ceaselessly:
“Jiao Hai, I’m sorry. I was the one who killed your brother.”
More than ten minutes into the second wave of the siege, someone finally deduced the hidden scoring rule and leaped like a carp through the Dragon Gate, vaulting straight into the upper ranks of the leaderboard.
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Once there was one, there were two; once there were two, there were three.
As the information spread from person to person, most of the candidates soon learned the rule. The points held by each individual began rising as rapidly as oil prices.
Looking across the leaderboard, every one of the top ten had more than one hundred points. Points had become practically worthless.
The candidates who had previously been injured fighting over single-digit scores nearly burst into tears. A small number even lodged complaints against the examiners, claiming that the rules had not been announced in advance.
Naturally, no one accepted their complaints.
The examination was the candidates’ own affair. Understanding the rules, conserving their strength, and responding to sudden developments were all matters they needed to consider for themselves. They had no one else to blame.
If they had to blame someone, they could blame themselves for being children who lacked the ability to think independently.
The Mage Guild, which had wandered along the cliffs of death for countless years, had no need for children. Nor did the Arcane Academy, which worshiped the education of prodigies.
Their proud gazes were forever reserved for the heroes who would lead humanity into a new era.
“Let go of my baby! Let go!”
A young mother beat desperately against the thigh of a bear-headed freak, but she was too weak and powerless to have any effect. She could only watch helplessly as her wailing infant drew ever closer to the bloody maw that exuded waves of rancid stench.
Two other freaks dragged at her legs from opposite sides, apparently intending to tear her neatly in half.
The surrounding candidates wanted to save her, but the sharply increased numbers of freaks in the second wave held them back, leaving them helpless.
“Bird Play: Form of the Shining Crane!”
All at once, a milky-white halo flashed and spun through the air, like a white crane spreading its wings, with faint feathers drifting in its wake.
Pure, soft, and beautiful—everyone’s eyes were irresistibly drawn to those half-real feathers. Yet the murderous intent concealed within them had already fully revealed itself.
Shriek—
A slender arm swept out with a sharp cry that split the air. The bear-headed freak suddenly felt its grip go empty. Lowering its head, it saw that the baby had vanished without a trace.
At the juncture between its arm and wrist, a thin line of blood grew increasingly distinct.
Only when its palm slid away along that blood-red line did the bear-headed freak barely realize that it had been attacked.
It opened its enormous, fanged mouth, preparing to roar in accordance with its beastly instincts. But another feather swept through the air.
This time, a blood line appeared across its neck.
This time, its head slid away along the diagonal cut.
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The severed palm and the bear’s head struck the ground in rapid succession. A spray of blood followed, stunning everyone present.
“It’s—it’s Tang Hongning, number two on the leaderboard!”
Someone in the crowd cried out, and an uproar immediately erupted.
“Auntie, your baby is fine. Don’t worry.”
With one hand drenched in hot, crimson blood, Tang Hongning gently gathered the now-silent infant with the other and returned the child to the young mother.
Behind her, the Truth—bound in Caihou paper—floated slowly in the air. Three archaic characters, meaning Five Animal Frolics, had been brushed vertically across its aged cover.
The Five Animal Frolics had been authored by the Saint-Hand Hua Tuo.
Following the principle that a sage does not merely cure an existing illness but prevents illness before it arises, this system of magical arts could greatly strengthen the body. It could also borrow the forms and powers of beasts through the human body, using magical principles to imitate life itself. Its subtlety was truly unparalleled.
What Tang Hongning had just used was the Bird Frolic, one of the Five Animal Frolics. Its wings possessed both the ferocity to cleave steel and the lightness of soft down, allowing offense and evasion to coexist.
In addition, there was—
“Roar!”
The tiger-headed freak that had been dragging the young mother released its grip. Its lower limbs drove off the ground, and its five-hundred-pound body lunged toward Tang Hongning with snapping jaws.
Its two forepaws, flecked with scraps of flesh, sprang out like hooked claws, sending a chill down the spine.
If it managed to pin someone down, the victim would either be crushed beneath its weight or torn to pieces.
Facing such a savage assault, Tang Hongning did not retreat even one step. She advanced with confidence, her neither-tall-nor-robust figure placing itself between the young mother and her baby.
“Bear Play: Form of Shaking Fortune.”
She breathed softly, and the aura surrounding her changed once again, transforming from the crane’s sharp beak into the bear’s massive solidity.
Her well-trained arms rose upward. Magical energy circulated through them as she met the tiger-headed freak’s descending charge head-on.
Everyone expected a contest of strength with no clear victor. No one anticipated that Tang Hongning, striking second yet arriving first, would seize both of the tiger-headed freak’s claws in a firm grip.
“I hate bullies like you most of all!”
With a quiet shout, she tore the tiger-headed freak’s ferocious body apart down the middle.
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