Chapter 49 : Chapter 49
Chapter 49. Huh?! Why Won't This Monster Die?!
"Huh? Half an hour has already passed, so why hasn't Young Master Jiang's ranking dropped yet?"
"Not only that, ever since Young Master Jiang entered 9,999th place, the entire scoreboard hasn't changed at all for half an hour. It's like everyone stopped killing demonic beasts."
"Something's wrong. No, more than wrong. The ranking board is definitely broken. Host, host, hurry and check it!"
"..."
The livestream audience immediately flooded the chat, urging the host to check the ranking board.
After briefly coming back to her senses, she immediately pulled up the backend data, but the computer showed that everything was normal. There were no issues whatsoever.
Seeing that, both the host and Professor Ma slowly frowned.
"Get the technicians over here right now. Have them run a full system check," the host said, unwilling to believe it.
Not long after, the technical staff came in. After personally checking for several minutes, they shook their heads. "The scoring system is functioning normally. There are no problems."
At once, the entire livestream filled with question marks.
"No problem? How is that possible? This is a martial exam with thirty thousand people, and the score hasn't changed at all in half an hour, and you're telling me there's no problem?"
"Are these technicians even competent? The issue is this obvious, and you're saying everything's fine? Replace them already."
"Host, host, just check the exam footage directly. If the examinees kill demonic beasts and don't gain points, then that proves something is wrong."
"..."
The host watched the rapidly scrolling comments and accepted the viewers' suggestion, clicking into Jiang Feng's martial exam footage.
Jiang Feng was still in the swamp, still trying to kill that female Ironhide Crocodile.
His brows were tightly furrowed, and fine beads of sweat had seeped out across his forehead. He repeatedly drove the sixth-rank Magical Artifact dagger in his hand into the Ironhide Crocodile's brain.
Yet what baffled him was that the moment the dagger was pulled out, the wound healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"How is this possible? Half an hour has passed, and I still can't kill even a single third-rank Ironhide Crocodile!"
Bloodshot veins filled Jiang Feng's eyes. The veins in his arms bulged, and he said with a terrifying look, "I'll give you three minutes. If you still refuse to die, I'll make every crocodile here join you in burial today!"
The Ironhide Crocodile: ?
Jiang Feng stabbed it several more times, but the wounds still repaired themselves before his eyes. It simply would not die.
"So you dare disobey me. Very good. It seems that unless I teach you a lesson, you won't understand who the master is!"
Jiang Feng was visibly breaking down. He turned and began wildly stabbing the motionless Ironhide Crocodiles around him.
The viewers in the livestream were stunned by the sight.
"Ironhide Crocodile: You can't kill me, so now you're blaming me? Wuwuwu!"
"So it isn't that the ranking board is broken. It's that the demonic beasts in the Monster Battlefield can't be killed anymore? That's ridiculous!"
"Host, host, check the other examinees. Are they dealing with the same thing?"
"..."
The host and Professor Ma were both staring blankly now. What exactly was going on?
Every strike Jiang Feng made landed on the Ironhide Crocodile's weak point, so why would it not die? Why were its wounds healing automatically?
Ironhide Crocodiles did not possess regenerative abilities.
"Check whether the other examinees are facing the same situation," Professor Ma said in a grave tone.
The host dared not delay, because both of them still had the assignment Principal Zhou had given them.
The next feed switched to Lin Wan, who was in sixth place.
She was gasping for breath as she faced a fourth-rank Gale Wolf with terrifying speed, her eyes full of fear.
Awooo—
The Gale Wolf let out a roar, and its body turned into an afterimage.
Lin Wan's pupils contracted. She activated her S-grade talent, Lord of Wood Spirits, and thick vines immediately burst out from beneath her feet, wrapping around her.
The Gale Wolf extended its sharp claws and tore through the vines' defense with little effort, sending Lin Wan flying. She slammed heavily into a nearby tree.
Pfft!
Lin Wan coughed up blood. She felt as though her internal organs had been shattered by the blow. As she looked at the Gale Wolf stalking her, her eyes were full of disbelief.
With her strength, killing a Gale Wolf should not have been difficult.
She had pierced its heart with wooden vines. It should have died beyond any doubt.
But just as she was about to leave, the Gale Wolf had come back to life.
And every bit of damage inflicted on it healed instantly.
After struggling with it for half an hour, her spiritual power and stamina were both exhausted, yet the Gale Wolf was still as lively as ever.
"How can this be?" Lin Wan sat on the ground, panting heavily, her eyes filling with fear of death.
As she listened to the Gale Wolf's footsteps approaching one step at a time, even her powerful will to survive could not support her enough to stand.
Huff—
The Gale Wolf's hot breath blew across her face. Lin Wan trembled all over, terrified to the core.
Was she really about to die here in the martial exam arena? No! No! I haven't yet reached the peak of martial cultivation or seized power and authority. How can I fall here?
No! I can't die!
Lin Wan lowered her head in terror, cold sweat continually seeping from her forehead.
But what she received was not the tearing bite of the Gale Wolf's fangs. Instead, it was a stream of scorching liquid with a faint, acrid smell.
It drenched her from head to toe. Lin Wan raised her head in confusion, only to discover that the three-meter-tall Gale Wolf had lifted one hind leg and was urinating on her.
And the moment she looked up, the Gale Wolf turned slightly and sprayed her straight in the face.
Then it gave itself a shake and walked away.
As Lin Wan inhaled the pungent stench of wolf urine, she retched violently and fainted on the spot from sheer rage.
That scene happened to appear on the livestream as well.
"Holy hell! That Gale Wolf really has some character. It even learned how to humiliate people!"
"Haha, Lin Wan is killing me. She can't even beat a single Gale Wolf, yet she still dared to talk like that about Young Master Jiang at the graduation ceremony. She's a complete clown."
"True enough. Hopefully that mouthful of wolf piss will wake her up."
"But wait, that Gale Wolf clearly could have bitten Lin Wan to death. Why didn't it do that?"
"Hiss! That really is a little strange!"
"..."
The viewers all began speculating whether something had changed inside the Monster Battlefield.
By now, the host and Professor Ma were so anxious they were practically clawing at their scalps as they checked every instrument they could, yet they still found nothing wrong.
Professor Ma immediately said, "Dispatch a squad to the Monster Battlefield at once and investigate the situation. An event as important as the martial exam cannot tolerate carelessness."
The host nodded and staggered as she ran out.
The very next moment, Professor Ma's phone rang. When he saw that Zhou Mingyuan was calling, his heart immediately leaped into his throat.
"H-Hello, Principal..."
"What are you two doing? Are you trying to disgrace Huazhong University completely? Why haven't you cut away from that footage yet?!"
Professor Ma snapped awake like a man roused from a dream. There were hundreds of thousands of people watching the livestream. If this spread, it would have an extremely serious impact on Huazhong University's admissions, teaching reputation, and more.
In a panic, he switched through several different feeds, but every one of them showed examinees trapped by demonic beasts.
Only when he switched back to the scene of Jiang Yichen and Su Linyu idling beside a small stream in the oasis without killing demonic beasts did Professor Ma stop.
At the martial exam venue, Zhou Mingyuan also let out a breath of relief. Looking at Jiang Yichen's rank of 9,999th, his expression gradually turned grave.
He was confused. Why had the demonic beasts in the Monster Battlefield suddenly become impossible to kill?
"Principal Zhou, what exactly is going on?" Jiang Dongnian was anxious as well.
After all, if Jiang Yichen passed the martial exam, then all of their plans would go up in smoke.
Zhou Mingyuan frowned. "Do not worry. I have already sent people to investigate. There should be an answer soon."
"The martial exam is a serious matter. Principal Zhou, you had better handle it properly," Su Zhan said in a low voice.
Cold sweat gathered in Zhou Mingyuan's palm, and he immediately replied with a smile, "Of course, of course."
Of the four of them, Shen Qingyue was the only one whose eyes showed delight.
Once the martial exam began, it could not be paused. If this issue could not be resolved within four hours, then would that not mean Xiao Chen could pass the martial exam with his current ranking?
It might be a little questionable, but if it could stabilize Su Zhan for now, then it would still be a good thing for the Jiang family.
Looking at the livestream feed, Shen Qingyue silently prayed that the problem of the demonic beasts being impossible to kill would drag on until the martial exam ended.