Click!
With a gentle wave of her hand, Xiaoxue instantly froze the three-headed straw beetle into an ice sculpture.
The silk thread binding the tree snapped, and the ice block fell heavily to the ground, shattering into countless ice shards with a crack.
Lin Ze glanced at the back of his hand.
The number above has now become 9.
Clearly, those three raincoats were all mature, first-stage, seventh-level insects.
Each head is worth 3 points.
Looking at the ranking list again, in just a short time, it has been filled with countless names.
Tan Yong is in first place with 21 points.
The second place went to Guo Xinyi, with 18 points.
The third place went to Li Pengyun, with 15 points.
The top three were all candidates that Zhou Hong had mentioned, those who possessed third-tier pet beasts.
Lin Ze ranked 234th.
There are at least a hundred people with the same score as him.
"The pace is quite fast; it seems everyone is very enthusiastic."
Lin Ze smiled, his expression completely calm, and continued walking forward.
More ferocious beasts emerged along the way.
It could be a sneak attack or a frontal assault.
Man-eating flower, withering beast, wind-cutting mantis, striped spider, thunder-patterned beetle, Fermi soldier ant...
Just as Lin Ze had guessed, almost all the ferocious beasts that appeared were plant-based or insect-based.
Moreover, as they ventured deeper, the strength and level of the ferocious beasts they encountered along the way gradually increased.
From the initial first-level seventh stage to the now ubiquitous second-level stage, the difficulty of traversing it has increased dramatically.
However, this was clearly not a problem for Lin Ze.
Whether it's first-tier or second-tier, it's a matter of a single, casual strike for Xiaoxue.
It couldn't stop them in the slightest.
Aside from dealing with the ferocious beasts they encountered along the way, the man and his pet had no intention of deliberately searching for them; they simply focused on moving forward.
More than an hour later.
Lin Ze finally stopped and squinted at what was ahead.
Just over ten meters away, beyond the outermost row of trees, lies a vast, boundless plain.
In the center of the plain, a giant stone monument, resembling a pillar reaching to the sky, stands tall and is extremely conspicuous.
It's the first thing anyone stepping onto the plain can see.
"So that means touching the stone tablet that gives 500 points?"
Lin Ze muttered something to himself, shrugged, looked away, and turned to walk back the way he came with Xiao Xue.
"The exit has been found; now it's time to hunt to our hearts' content."
...
Outside the virtual world, on the square of Ningjiang College.
Gao Wenbai and the other teachers stared intently at the huge light screen in the void.
The screen displays a leaderboard showing the assessment scores.
The scores of the top 1,000 students are clearly displayed.
Almost every second, the rankings of more than a hundred students change.
The closer you get to the bottom of the list, the more drastic the changes in rankings become.
"That's right, the overall strength of this year's candidates is much higher than in previous years."
One of the teachers nodded in satisfaction.
"Yes, in less than two hours, the top 100 students have all scored over 300 points."
"At this time in previous years, the 100th ranked student would only have a little over 200 points."
"Moreover, the top four candidates all performed amazingly, leaving the rest far behind in points."
Many teachers nodded and smiled.
Tan Yong, Li Pengyun, Guo Xinyi, and Lü Gang.
All four players have over 700 points, and they are very close in score.
Every now and then, their rankings would change.
Regardless of the changes, these four players firmly held the top four positions, with their scores exceeding those of the fifth-place player by more than 400 points.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, this year's top freshman will likely be chosen from among these four.
At this moment, a teacher suddenly spoke up in confusion:
"Speaking of which, weren't there supposed to be five candidates with Tier 3 pets this year? There are only four listed here. Where did the other one go?"
The teachers were stunned.
Only after being reminded like this did they realize what was happening.
Yeah, where did the fifth person go?
As fellow genius students with third-tier pet beasts, their rankings should theoretically be similar to those of Tan Yong and the other three.
Why didn't we see him in the top five, or even the top ten?
"I remember... the remaining person's name is Lin Ze, right?"
"That's right, they are students from Pinghai No.1 Middle School."
"I remember now, it's that peerless genius who passed the extremely difficult internship assessment and was even singled out by the dean!"
"How come someone like this isn't in the top ten? That shouldn't be the case."
The teachers were greatly puzzled and immediately began to search carefully on the leaderboard.
soon.
They then discovered Lin Ze's location.
125th place: Lin Ze, 296 points.
The teachers were all taken aback when they saw Lin Ze's ranking.
"What's going on? This ranking is way too low!"
"Not even 300 points!"
What on earth is he doing?
"Could something unexpected have happened?"
Exclamations of surprise rose and fell.
It's no wonder they were so astonished; the situation before them was simply too bizarre.
A candidate with a Tier 3 pet beast couldn't even make it into the top 100?
This is absolutely unbelievable!
Could it be that Lin Ze is merely a figurehead, and his strength is not as great as rumored?
In a short time.
Many teachers had the same thought.
Just then, Gao Wenbai, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up.
"Retrieve Lin Ze's assessment video."
His words immediately silenced the teachers' chatter.
The staff member waiting nearby immediately responded respectfully.
Not long after.
Lin Ze's assessment video appeared in the center of the screen.
The scene begins with him stepping into the forest and is played at five times the speed.
As they watched, the teachers gradually realized what was going on.
"I understand, this kid wants to find the forest exit first."
"No wonder he has so few points; he hasn't hunted many ferocious beasts."
"This approach is quite prudent, but it will create a significant gap in scores between him and the others. Will he be able to catch up later?"
"Yes, it's one thing for the others, but the top four are already more than 400 points ahead of him. It won't be easy for them to catch up in the remaining three hours!"
Many teachers couldn't help but secretly shake their heads.
Playing it safe is a good thing, but if the cost is a huge score difference, then it's not worth it.
Judging from the current situation, even if Lin Ze tries his best to catch up, he won't be able to catch up with Tan Yong and the other three.
Let alone being the top freshman this year, he probably won't even make it into the top three.
"It would be better to do what Tan Yong and the others did, searching for the ferocious beasts as we go; that way we'd get more points."
A teacher sighed softly.
His words perfectly expressed the sentiments of everyone present.
Even Gao Wenbo couldn't help but frown slightly.
He didn't care what methods Lin Ze used to pass the assessment.
As long as the final result is good enough, that's fine.
This is also the principle followed by Ningjiang College.
Don't ask about the process, only look at the result.
If Lin Ze ultimately fails to even make it into the top three, then this legendary genius will be far too disappointing.
When that time comes, he might have to tell the dean that this student is not worthy of such high regard from the college's higher-ups.
Thinking of this, Gao Wenbai's eyes flashed, and he had already made up his mind.
However, in the next second, Lin Ze's ranking on the leaderboard suddenly changed dramatically.