Dragon Lurking in the Abyss

"Pfft!"

In the virtual city.

Jiang Ye punched the head off the last illusory figure.

Whoosh!

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Three illusory figures, finally dealt with!

At this point, besides Jiang Ye, the other four members of his team were all seriously injured. Jiang Ye himself was also not lightly wounded.

"Huff, huff~"

From the shadows not far away, more illusory figures began to condense.

This time, there were five illusory figures!

"The third stage."

Tao Xiaogang and the others saw this scene, a hint of helplessness flashing in their eyes.

They were no longer able to fight!

Jiang Ye charged forward alone, wanting to kill another illusory figure before he was completely exhausted.

However, he had underestimated the difficulty of the third stage.

Half a minute later.

Jiang Ye and his four teammates exited the virtual city simultaneously, the system settlement page appearing before them.

[This group has completed the Virtual Starry Sky assessment and is undergoing settlement.]

[Best Cleanup: Tao Xiaogang]

[Best Damage Taken: Tao Xiaogang]

[.]

The two consecutive "Best" awards went to Tao Xiaogang, surprising even Tao Xiaogang himself.

[Best Damage: Jiang Ye]
[Best Vision: Jiang Ye]
[Best Martial Will: Jiang Ye]

[Killed four Shadow Clan members in 21 minutes, team average casualty rate 85%.]

[This group's MVP: Jiang Ye, 70 points]
[Tao Xiaogang: 50 points]
[Xia Qing: 45 points]

Seeing this, Jiang Ye breathed a sigh of relief. He had almost thought he would be carried to victory.

Tao Xiaogang, standing beside him, said apologetically, "Brother Jiang, I'm sorry, I took a few of your kills."

It was quite a coincidence.

Every time an Shadow Clan member was on the verge of death, they would run towards him. He couldn't just watch an illusory figure take a teammate down with it, could he?

Tao Xiaogang had inexplicably picked up three kills this way.

Only the last Shadow Clan member was killed by Jiang Ye's own hand.

"It's fine," Jiang Ye shook his head, not bothered.

After the system settlement was complete, the group exited the virtual space and returned to the metal hall.

Jiang Ye looked at his virtual assessment score.

[Jiang Ye: 330 points]

"330 points? Just 20 points shy of the Martial Arts University standard," Jiang Ye smiled.

He then checked the scores of Li Zhichao and Xu Sisi.

[Li Zhichao: 355 points] [Xu Sisi: 315 points]

"355 points?" Jiang Ye was a little surprised to see Li Zhichao's total score.

He remembered that Li Zhichao's combined score for the other three categories was 295 points. This meant that in this assessment, Li Zhichao had only received 60 points, which was lower than his own!

Did he not make it to the third stage? Jiang Ye thought.

The Virtual Starry Sky assessment was similar to a stage-clearing mode.

The more stages one passed, the higher the score.

Among the four Martial Arts categories, this assessment accounted for the largest proportion, almost half.

The higher the score, the more points one could earn in the Virtual Starry Sky assessment.

For Zhao Qingli to achieve a high score of 700 points, 300 of those points came from this specific assessment.

As for Li Zhichao, his low score indicated that his assessment ended before he could reach the third stage.

"So, for the fourth assessment, I should have the highest score in the entire class."

"It's a shame, I'm still second in the overall score."

"But it's not bad either, at least I'll get 10,000 yuan in scholarship money."

Jiang Ye was content.

In just one semester, he had improved from 25th place to this ranking, and only he knew the effort it took.

On the other side, Li Zhichao was also looking at the rankings.

"355 points." Li Zhichao stared at his score, but his eyes were not satisfied.

With his strength, he shouldn't have only received that score in the final assessment.

However, the roars of the Shadow Clan had affected him too much.

Just then, Li Zhichao suddenly noticed a name.

"Jiang Ye, 330 points?"

"His virtual assessment score is higher than mine?"

Li Zhichao looked in Jiang Ye's direction.

He remembered that Jiang Ye's score at the beginning of the semester was only 206 points.

In just one semester, he had gained over a hundred points?

This rate of progress had surpassed his own!

Li Zhichao seemed to have thought of something, and a thoughtful look appeared in his eyes.

"Damn it, I'm still third!"

Xu Sisi stared at her ranking, her fair fists clenched tightly.

"Jiang Ye is 15 points higher than me, he must have reached the third wave, and his average casualty rate was lower than mine."

Average casualty rate referred to the average frequency of injuries per minute for the entire team.

If a teammate died, this probability would increase drastically.

Although no one in her group had died, almost everyone was seriously injured, and the average casualty rate reached 90%.

After a long while, Xu Sisi slowly exhaled, glancing somewhat helplessly at Jiang Ye not far away.

"This guy, like me, seems to come from a poor family."

"Forget it, losing to him is better than losing to those hateful rich people."

Xu Sisi sighed.

Then she clenched her fist again: "However, it's only fifteen points. Next semester, I will definitely surpass you again!"

At the front of the hall, Zhang Jianwu said sternly, "Students who have completed the four Martial Arts assessments can go home. Next year, you will be in your third year of high school. You all need to work hard this summer and not drag the class down!"

As his voice fell, the students of Class Nine got up and left one after another.

Zhang Jianwu, however, looked in Jiang Ye's direction, a flicker of light flashing in his eyes.

"He actually got 70 points in the virtual assessment?"

"It seems his Martial Arts will is quite good."

He had already seen Jiang Ye's combat level before.

Based on his assessment of Jiang Ye's strength, this assessment should normally be worth 50 points, at most 60 points.

70 points? It was far beyond his expectations!

However, the virtual assessment not only looked at combat effectiveness but also at Martial Arts will.

The Shadow Clan would interfere with the mind, causing confusion.

Only those with strong Martial Arts will could mitigate this effect.

The reason Jiang Ye could achieve this score could only be due to his Martial Arts will.

Beside Zhang Jianwu, Wang Ziang said with a smile, "Director, you were just looking at that student named Li Zhichao, weren't you?"

"355 points, which has surpassed the baseline score for ordinary martial arts universities. It's indeed good for a student in a regular class to reach this level in their second year of high school."

Wang Ziang commented.

Zhang Jianwu did not reply.

After Class Nine had mostly dispersed, Zhang Jianwu said leisurely, "Class Nine might be producing someone remarkable."

Wang Ziang looked bewildered.

If anyone else had said this, he might have scoffed.

But coming from Zhang Jianwu, he had to take it seriously.

He couldn't help but ask, "Li Zhichao... he's not that capable, is he?"

Zhang Jianwu shook his head and said, "A dragon lies hidden in the abyss, biding its time in the marketplace. Sometimes, the unassuming ones can rise above the rest."

"A dragon lies hidden in the abyss?"

Wang Ziang was even more astonished. The director actually used the word 'dragon' to describe someone; that was rare.

Did Li Zhichao have some special talent I missed? Wang Ziang pondered.

"Idiot!" Zhang Jianwu cursed. "You thought I was talking about him?"

He shook his head and walked away, flicking his sleeves.

Wang Ziang's eyes widened.

Not Li Zhichao?

Then could it be...

He looked for the second-ranked student in Class Nine.

[Jiang Ye: 330 points]

"330 points?"

Wang Ziang muttered, "Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

Even if he only had one hand left, he couldn't score that low!

"I get it now."

Suddenly, Wang Ziang understood, his eyes clearing. The director was hinting at something. He seemed to be talking about the regular class, but was actually referring to the Key Class.

Could that hidden dragon be me?