Chapter 57: The Exam Ends

"Brother Zhou, don't leave! Didn't you say you wouldn't abandon us?!"

Watching the human torch burn toward mid-air, the other examinees, still struggling desperately below, finally understood Zhou Yu's intention and broke into mournful pleas.

"Damn it." Approaching the safety zone at high speed, Zhou Yu clenched his jaw and remained silent.

Of course he wanted to be like the protagonists in stories—holding off ten thousand men single-handedly, rescuing people from dire straits, and winning both fame, fortune, and thunderous applause.

But it was impossible!

Life doesn't always give you what you want.

"I'm just trying to survive, right, I'm just looking out for myself. No one could save them in this situation. It's not a question of my ability; absolutely not my ability."

Just as Zhou Yu lowered his face to comfort himself, a wisp of aloof, cold wind drifted past him.

Moving in the exact opposite direction of his run toward the safety zone, this person was heading right out of it.

"Are they insane?! Can't they see how many freaks are out there?!" Zhou Yu turned back with disdain, but abruptly froze.

The newcomer had a wolf-tail hairstyle, dressed almost entirely in pure black. It didn't look gloomy, but rather exuded an aloofness that felt completely out of place in the mortal world.

In particular, the thin lips on her pretty face were pursed downward, highlighting a sense of cold detachment and sharpness.

"Su Mumi?!" Zhou Yu was so shocked he almost tripped.

Su Mumi acted as if she didn't notice anyone passing by, her expression as cold as an ancient, unmelting iceberg.

With gravity clinging to her form, stepping on the empty air was no different from walking on solid ground. The freaks all raised their heads to gaze up, instinctively lifting their arms.

The scene resembled devout believers fanatically yearning for a deity's grace.

Yet the only thing this deity bestowed was divine punishment.

"First Axiom: Newton's First Law."

Su Mumi lifted her slender wrist, and an invisible domain expanded outward.

*This is the dawn of stars, this is the creator of the universe, this is the primordial hand that sets all things in motion and brings all things to rest.*

Before anyone could react, the freaks' movements stiffened and halted, even their agape, bloody mouths freezing mid-open like a series of captured photographs.

Some freaks who had been lunging forward continued in a uniform, straight-line motion without end in the direction of their leap.

Splashes of blood in the air turned into perfectly round, translucent beads, hanging suspended in mid-air.

"W-What's happening?"

"Why aren't the freaks moving anymore?"

"Could it be that I'm already dead, and this is the afterlife?"

The examinees within the domain who remained unaffected recovered from their confusion and shock, looking around in disbelief at the static world.

[Newton's First Law: Every object persists in its state of uniform motion or rest unless compelled in that state by external forces.]

Within the domain deployed by Su Mumi based on her *Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica*, all macroscopic "forces" acting upon things were nullified.

Such a massive range and high-computation manipulation gave birth to a static world.

This technique caused not a shred of physical damage, yet it forced anyone who rashly stepped into this realm to watch helplessly as they turned into immobile wax figures.

The drawback, however, was equally obvious: it dealt no damage.

"I'm done," Su Mumi said coldly.

Her fair cheeks bore a trace of pallor. The [First Axiom] consumed very little aether, but demanded an extremely high load on brainpower.

Especially since she had to isolate the examinees who needed rescue, the calculation volume was immense.

"Great job, Miss Su. Leave the rest to us!" Tang Hongning responded from the edge of the safety zone.

She energetically waved her arms, calling out to the examinees inside the safety zone whom she had previously organized, "Please, lend me your aether for a moment."

"No problem at all, Big Sis Tang!"

With everyone nodding in supportive consensus, Tang Hongning smiled brightly, cupping her hands at her sides, sinking her knees, and mimicking the stance of the Kamehameha.

"First Axiom: Yin and Yang Harmonization!"

A massive amount of aether voluntarily flew out from the bodies of those examinees, gathering entirely in her palms, where they blended into the whiteness of rice paper and the blackness of inkstone.

The two colors entangled endlessly, swirling without stop, ultimately converging into the image of the Taiji.

*Yang is the foundation of life; Yin is the basis of death. Those who attain Yang live; those who attain Yin die.*

The 'Sage Hands' Hua Tuo believed that all energy has two sides, and aether is no exception. Normally, the Yin and Yang attributes are in equilibrium, maintaining a harmonious rhythm.

[Yin and Yang Harmonization] was the active disruption of that Yin-Yang balance.

Yang is positive energy; Yin is negative energy.

An excess of Yang attribute in aether produces restoration and healing for living organisms.

An excess of Yin attribute in aether leads to biological aging and decay.

At this very moment, the black ink between Tang Hongning's palms grew increasingly thick, while the white portion gradually diminished.

When her charging exceeded ten seconds, reaching the peak of what she could currently control, a torrent of aether comprising sixty percent Yin and forty percent Yang was instantly unleashed!

Boom—!!

The mixed-color pillar of light surged like a spring. Contact with the static bodies of the freaks caused no explosion, but rather a certain kind of erosion.

One could clearly see terrifyingly large craters caving in wherever they were struck, yet not a single drop of blood flowed out.

It resembled the carbonization caused by splashing concentrated sulfuric acid, though with vastly greater power.

The beam of light lasted less than two seconds, yet it practically wiped out the freaks across an entire street.

A massive path paved with corpse debris, leading straight to the safety zone, appeared before the examinees who had previously been in absolute despair.

"What are you waiting for?" It wasn't until Su Mumi sternly urged them that they snapped back to reality, scrambling frantically toward the safety zone.

Ten uneventful minutes passed.

As a dazzling white light flashed, all examinees were returned to the real-world exam site.

Some were wrapped in bandages seeping with blood, some had tear-streaked faces, and some had both.

Ignoring the sandy ground, every single one of them collapsed and refused to get up.

Given a second chance, they would definitely never sign up for this damned Mage Examination. That was simply no place for a human being!

"Ahem." On the chief examiner's platform, Whale Eye stood up, his expression solemn as he spoke, "First of all, I must apologize to everyone."

"Due to internal personnel issues among the proctoring staff, a major accident occurred during this Mage Examination."

"On behalf of the [Magic Association], I feel deeply apologetic and regretful toward the examinees who encountered accidents during the exam. We will take responsibility for any subsequent investigations."

"Furthermore, we promise that the examinees who were rescued by the proctors during the final wave of the freak siege will still retain their examination qualifications, and their points will remain valid."

With that, ignoring the buzzing discussions among the examinees below, Whale Eye sat back down.

His expression remained heavy. On one hand, the accident had caused a casualty rate far exceeding previous years; on the other hand, he was already imagining how many days of overtime he would have to work just to clean up this mess.

Liu Xishu gave a dry laugh, not daring to provoke Whale Eye while he was in a bad mood, and spoke instead:

"The points leaderboard will now be announced."