Chapter 145: Back to Jingda! The University's Collapse

Chapter 145: Back to Jingda! The University's Collapse

"Oh, right! Commander!"

Zhao Zheng approached the female commander and politely asked, "May I ask how I should address you?"

"I am Wei Mei!" The female commander quickly replied.

Wei Mei, a term of self-deprecation, was typically used by those of lower status when addressing their superiors in ancient times.

By calling herself 'Wei Mei' in front of Zhao Zheng, she was showing utmost respect and placing herself in a subordinate position.

Zhao Zheng's punch had truly changed many things.

"Commander Wei."

Zhao Zheng addressed her politely and then said, "Let's go!"

Commander Wei Mei, seeing that Zhao Zheng wasn't riding a horse, asked in confusion, "Aren't you going to ride a horse?"

Zhao Zheng waved his hand dismissively, "I don't need to ride a horse... You lead the way, and I'll catch up."

The truth was, he didn't know how to ride a horse!

However, with his current speed, catching up to a galloping horse would be a piece of cake.

Hearing this, Wei Mei didn't ask further. She immediately controlled the horse she was riding and headed towards the dark distance.

Zhao Zheng, with his nimble feet, easily kept up.

...

As they left, the other extraordinary beings on the city wall panicked.

"Where are they going?"

"Do you even need to ask? We're following the natives to hunt down the monsters, of course!"

"Shit! I just remembered, the monsters are too scared to come near us because of that guy..."

"So what should we do?"

"What else can we do? If we want to get a high task evaluation, we have to follow them!"

And so, a large number of extraordinary beings jumped off the city wall and ran towards the dark distance.

Only those who chose to lie low remained unmoved.

Region 17.

Jiang Hebin and the others didn't move.

They kept in mind the task assigned by Zhao Zheng and surrounded Song Haitang, staying vigilant against the others.

Song Haitang noticed the grave expressions on their faces and calmly said, "You don't need to be so tense. I'm sure you've realized that the reason we've consistently achieved SSS-class task evaluations is entirely thanks to Zhao Zheng. Between us, the most important person is Zhao Zheng! I'm just a decoy, drawing attention, while the rest of you, as long as you're not fools, would never cause trouble for me at a time like this."

The group found her words reasonable.

However, they still didn't dare to relax.

What if there really was a fool among them? At that moment, a commotion came from the top of the wall.

Everyone looked up and saw the female general, accompanied by her subordinates, arriving at Region 17.

The female general had come to offer her support.

After some pleasantries with Jiang Hebin and the others, she ordered her people to bring various foods and warm clothing.

This side of the wall was in the north, and it got cold at night.

Although Song Haitang and the others were extraordinary beings who weren't very afraid of the cold, having clothes to wear, would undoubtedly be more comfortable.

And so, the time that followed was like a vacation for Jiang Hebin and the others.

They lit a bonfire on the wall, wore cotton-padded clothes, roasted food, and drew envious glances from the others.

Unfortunately, only Song Haitang and her group received such treatment.

The female general did this to curry favor with Zhao Zheng.

She didn't want Zhao Zheng to return and find his teammates hungry and cold, blaming her for inadequate hospitality.

...

At that moment, Jiang Hebin and the others gathered around a bonfire, chatting as they warmed themselves.

"This task... is truly too enjoyable."

"Yeah! They say that the Spirit Realm is a perilous place, but what's the difference between this and a vacation?"

"We're able to enjoy this because of Brother Zhao! If it weren't for Brother Zhao and Sister Haitang leading us this time, we'd probably be facing a life-threatening situation."

The group nodded in agreement, recalling the massive monster from before.

Without Zhao Zheng's intervention, that giant monster would have been unstoppable.

What else could their situation be described as if not life-threatening?

"Venturing into the Spirit Realm with Brother Zhao is so exhilarating!" Zhou Junjie exclaimed.

As Zhou Junjie's words echoed, a blinding flash of light suddenly illuminated half the sky in the distance, followed by a deafening explosion.

The group, however, remained calm, knowing that Zhao Zheng was unleashing his might at the monster's lair!

From that moment on, their side remained undisturbed.

No foolhardy extraordinary being dared to cause trouble, even in Zhao Zheng's absence, as Song Haitang was the strongest among the newcomers. She was a natural-type devil fruit ability user with powerful area-of-effect attacks.

As newcomers themselves, it would be extremely difficult for them to kill Song Haitang.

It would likely require a swarm of attackers to have a chance.

Even if they succeeded, Zhao Zheng, upon his return, would be enraged and undoubtedly kill everyone here! Zhao Zheng had that kind of strength!

...

Time passed quickly, and it was already the latter half of the night.

The group initially thought Zhao Zheng might only return at dawn.

But to their surprise, he came back unharmed with Commander Wei Mei as early as one or two in the morning.

"Brother Zhao! You've worked hard."

"Brother Zhao, come and sit over here."

"Brother Zhao, have a bowl of hot soup first to warm up."

When Zhao Zheng arrived at the city wall, everyone stood up, competing to show their goodwill.

Zhao Zheng immediately waved his hand. "We're all classmates, no need for all this!"

Then, he saw the items on the ground and laughed.

"You guys are living a pretty good life! Even having a barbecue?"

Jiang Hebin hurriedly replied, "It's all thanks to you. These things were sent by that general. No one else has them, only us."

"Brother Zhao, this food is all for you," Zhou Junjie added from the side.

Zhao Zheng nodded, not being polite, and sat down, then started eating.

After a night of monster hunting, he was indeed a bit hungry.

"Many freshmen followed after you left," Song Haitang asked curiously. "Didn't you run into them?"

"I did, they're still looking for monsters to kill," Zhao Zheng replied.

His teammates noticed that Zhao Zheng used the word "looking"!

The fact that he used this word suggested that the number of monsters was now extremely scarce.

Song Haitang immediately asked, "You didn't kill all the monsters, did you?"

"Not at all," Zhao Zheng replied. "Those monsters are too cowardly, all hiding in the Abyss, afraid to come out. I heard the Abyss leads to another world. I thought about it carefully and decided not to go in."

"It's right not to go in. We just need to complete the task," Song Haitang said.

"Right!"

Zhao Zheng nodded, took the roasted meat from Chen Kai, and started eating with large bites.

Chen Kai couldn't help but ask, "Brother Zhao, how many monsters did you kill just now?"

"I can't remember the exact number..."

Zhao Zheng thought for a moment and said, "Definitely in the hundreds of thousands."

Hearing this, everyone drew a sharp breath.

Hundreds of thousands of monsters in one Spirit Realm?

That was too outrageous!

Yet, it was happening so realistically right now, and they were the beneficiaries.

They all believed this would definitely result in an SSS-Class Task Evaluation.

Thinking of this, everyone was very excited.

"Brother Zhao, you're really amazing!" Wang Fei couldn't help but say.

The others nodded in agreement.

Zhao Zheng shook his head and didn't say anything.

If he hadn't been afraid of being too conspicuous, he could have killed through the Abyss, stacking the monster count to millions.

But that would be too attention-grabbing. Even in the Amnesia Realm, once they got out and the super announcement was made, seeing that they had killed millions of monsters would shock the world.

Anyone would know that just relying on Song Haitang's Burn Burn Fruit wouldn't be enough to kill millions of enemies.

At that point, he might be exposed.

This was a case of going too far!

"Brother Zhao, the general is here with people," Zhang Chenggang spoke up as a reminder.

Hearing this, everyone stood up and looked in the direction Zhang Chenggang indicated.

At this moment, the female general had already received the news of Zhao Zheng's safe return and was leading her subordinates toward them.

Jiang Hebin and others noticed that the previous female commander was also following behind the female general.

Not long after, the female general led her people to Zhao Zheng.

"This general represents all the soldiers in thanking you for your bravery in killing the monsters and resolving the disaster of the Abyss!"

After saying this, the female general bowed deeply to Zhao Zheng.

Zhao Zheng quickly supported her. "No need to be so formal!"

They exchanged pleasantries for a while.

Then, the female general invited Zhao Zheng and his team to return to the barracks to rest.

The monsters that came out last night had been thoroughly intimidated and probably wouldn't come back.

Even if they did, it wouldn't be a problem. There were always people on duty on the city wall.

If any monsters were spotted, Zhao Zheng could come to assist in no time.

Faced with the female general's invitation, Zhao Zheng gladly agreed.

Standing on the city wall in the wind wasn't pleasant.

...

As the sky was about to brighten,

Jiang Hebin and others finally saw the people who had chased after the monsters returning from the Abyss.

Looking at their sullen faces,

It was clear they were dissatisfied with their harvest.

Especially Ma Jun, his face was as dark as a pot bottom, looking very unpleasant.

Seeing this, Jiang Hebin smiled slightly.

He actually wanted to stop Ma Jun and ask about his harvest, whether it could surpass True Martial University.

But after thinking about it, he decided against it.

It was too childish.

A short while later,

As the dawn's light began to illuminate the land,

All the Extraordinary Beings in the Sixth Layer of the Spirit Realm received a notification in their left eye.

[Please note: This Spirit Realm has ended. You will be teleported away in 30 seconds...]



[29, 28, 27...]



Seeing the countdown, Zhao Zheng remembered that he still had a Superhuman Chest from the Fifth Layer of the Spirit Realm to claim.

Taking advantage of the remaining time, he hurriedly retrieved and opened the chest...

A thirty-second countdown began.

In an instant, all the superhumans disappeared from their original spots.

...

Bluesphere.

Jingda University Gymnasium.

Students gradually returned from their Spirit Realms.

The teachers and administrators in charge scanned the area, noticing a large number of returning students, and immediately wore satisfied smiles.

After the statistics were tallied, it was discovered that only one team of students had not returned.

The leaders of Jingda were already pleased with this outcome.

After all, the attrition rate for the sixth-layer Spirit Realm was usually quite high.

Most importantly, Ma Jun's team had returned in full force.

What did this indicate? That Ma Jun's mission had undoubtedly gone smoothly.

"Ma Jun!"

A teacher approached Ma Jun with a questioning look, "Do you feel any discomfort?"

"No!" Ma Jun replied, "I feel better than ever."

He had lost his memory and was unaware of what had transpired in the Spirit Realm.

However, Ma Jun's face displayed a proud expression.

He believed that with the endurance rune, even if he lost to Song Haitang in the Spirit Realm, his performance wouldn't differ too greatly.

"Next, we'll tally your scores,"

A leader announced loudly, "Students who received task rewards, report to your teachers!"

Many students immediately raised their hands.

The teachers went forward to record the results.

The first team's performance was impressive, killing 339 monsters and earning an A-class task rating.

As expected of Jingda University! Even a random team could achieve an A-class task rating.

Other teams either received A-class or B-class ratings! It seemed that the sixth-layer Spirit Realm was teeming with monsters.

As long as they didn't perish inside and returned alive, the rewards were substantial.

The teachers were also satisfied with the students' performance.

At the same time,

Everyone was even more eager to see Ma Jun's results.

Even these ordinary students could achieve A-class task ratings, so with Ma Jun's formidable strength, he should at least start from an S-class rating, right?

Perhaps, with the support of the endurance rune, Ma Jun could attain an SS-class or even a perfect-class task rating, surpassing Song Haitang of Zhenwu University in one fell swoop!

With this thought, the leaders' gazes towards Ma Jun were filled with anticipation.

And in the midst of this anticipation,

Ma Jun's expression suddenly changed.

Not only him, but his nine teammates also reacted similarly, and chaos ensued.

"How could this be?"

"Impossible, this can't be..."

"It's a mistake! The Spirit Realm must have made a mistake! How could these be our scores?"

Upon hearing these words,

The leaders were shocked.

The teacher in charge of Ma Jun's class immediately approached, "What's wrong? What happened?"

Ma Jun's face still carried a look of disbelief, and he seemed to ignore the teacher's words.

The other teammates were also stunned.

"Are these your scores?"

The teacher asked again.

A student couldn't help but raise their hand, glancing at Captain Ma Jun before saying, "Teacher, take a look yourself!"

The teacher immediately grabbed the student's hand to check their score.

Then,

The teacher's expression changed, clearly surprised..."

"Teacher Wu, what's going on?"

"If the scores are out, announce them loudly!"

Several leaders paying attention to this side chimed in.

The teacher hesitated for a moment but still shouted:

"Ma Jun, Wei Zhihong, He Chaoqiang..."

"Number of monsters killed in this Spirit Realm: 193."

"Overall Rating: B-class!"

"Overall Ranking: Not in the top 100."

"Basic Reward: 97 Spirit Energy Points."

...

As Teacher Wu finished,

The entire gymnasium fell silent.

Everyone who heard Ma Jun and the others' scores displayed looks of disbelief.

They all knew that to ensure Ma Jun and his team's success, or even surpass Song Haitang, the principal of Jingda University had personally provided Ma Jun with an endurance-type rune.

Unexpectedly,

Ma Jun had only achieved a B-class task rating?

This score was even lower than those of the surrounding students!!

Ma Jun's previous worst score was an A-class task rating!

In the first five Spirit Realms, he had even achieved S-class task ratings three times.

How could his performance worsen with the aid of a superhuman artifact? It was incomprehensible.

Truly incomprehensible!

By this time, Ma Jun had regained his composure.

Seeing the strange gazes around him, he wished he could find a hole to hide in...

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end