After Li Mengran's score tally concluded, the remaining students who took the stage failed to stir up even the slightest ripple.
Even the teacher in charge of tallying seemed to be just going through the motions.
The school leaders paid zero attention anymore, waiting only for everyone's tallies to finish so they could distribute the rewards.
"Look, Chu Han and Jiang Yan are back! I heard they ran into a large-scale fierce beast attack, and the military brought them back!"
The appearance of Chu Han and the others caused quite a sensation once again.
After all, encountering fierce beast attacks on the periphery of Black Stone Mountain was still a rare occurrence.
"I wonder if any of them have a high score?"
"Aside from Jiang Yan, what is there to look forward to in this team? Are we supposed to count on that good-for-nothing Chu Han? Plus, they all look injured, so it'll be hard for them to get a good score!"
Almost everyone held no hope for them and just wanted it all to end quickly.
Li Mengran swept her gaze over Chu Han and the others, a flash of disdain in her eyes.
She had also heard that Jiang Yan's squad had run into danger, so they definitely wouldn't have harvested anything.
It seems this time's first place belongs to none other than me.
Li Mengran felt smug inside, already starting to look forward to claiming her reward.
Chu Han and the others also saw the score board, with Li Mengran's name sitting right at the top.
155 points. Ranked first, huh.
Chu Han glanced at it, then lost interest.
Although he wasn't clear on the scoring rules, he was confident his own score would definitely be higher.
Soon, the few members of Jiang Yan's squad stepped up one after another to tally their scores, all landing around 10 points—belonging to the lower-middle tier of the school.
When it was Jiang Yan's turn to take the stage, she finally drew some attention, since Jiang Yan had awakened a B-rank talent.
Jiang Yan took a stab-proof cloth bag out of her backpack. Upon opening it, six Black Stone Scorpion tail stingers lay quietly inside.
"Report, six Black Stone Scorpion tail stingers."
The teacher in charge of tallying froze, thinking he had seen wrong.
Yet upon a closer look, they were indeed six Black Stone Scorpion tail stingers!
He immediately announced in a loud voice, "Jiang Yan, six Black Stone Scorpion tail stingers, 30 points!"
"Whoa—"
As soon as these words were spoken, the entire audience instantly erupted into a discussion.
"Six tail stingers! Her score jumped straight into the top five!"
"So impressive. Even Zhao Lei got pushed below her."
Although Zhao Lei had the same score as Jiang Yan, Jiang Yan had killed more Black Stone Scorpions, so naturally she commanded more respect.
"Not bad, Jiang Yan is also outstanding!"
The school leaders were likewise happy to see outstanding students make their mark, and none of them skimped on praise.
Only Zhao Lei's face was as dark as water, hard to accept.
Next up, it was Chu Han's turn to tally.
Before he had even stepped on stage, the crowd below was already whispering and discussing.
"He actually dares to go up? Could he have really hunted a fierce beast?"
"Chu Han isn't that weak. I heard Sun Liqiang provoked Chu Han out in the wild and was effortlessly killed by Chu Han instead. Maybe he's been hiding his strength all along."
"Is that true? Then Chu Han's results probably aren't simple either. Is there a chance he could threaten Li Mengran?"
"Threatening Li Mengran is impossible. No matter how formidable he is, he can't handle a 1st Rank fierce beast."
"Still, looking at how bulging his backpack is, he might have harvested quite a lot."
Chu Han removed the backpack from his back and placed it on the tallying desk.
The teacher in charge of tallying frowned. "We only tally parts with obvious fierce beast traits. Other materials will not be counted."
"I know. Everything in my bag is proof," Chu Han said indifferently.
"What did you say?"
Upon hearing this, the tallying teacher grew even more doubtful, fixing a hard stare on the bag in Chu Han's hands as if thinking he had misheard.
"Naturally."
Without wasting words, Chu Han opened his backpack, and one Rotten Dog fang after another poured out.
Clatter.
There were a good sixty-plus of these teeth, instantly covering the entire desk.
"Th-these are all Rotten Dog fangs!"
The tallying teacher stood up excitedly, his face filled with shock.
Then he quickly steadied his emotions and began to count them.
"A total of sixty-two, totaling 186 points!"
His voice trembled slightly, but it was loud enough for everyone to hear.
Instantly, all the school leaders stood up in shock.
"186 points? It directly surpassed Li Mengran's 155 points. How is this possible?!"
"Could there be an error in the tally? Those fangs aren't Rotten Dog fangs at all!"
"Right, that's extremely likely! I suggest a strict investigation!"
Some students outright called it impossible, demanding an inspection of the materials.
Li Mengran frowned slightly, losing a bit of color, yet she still put on a calm front.
She didn't believe Chu Han's score was real either; killing sixty-two Rotten Dogs was no less difficult than her killing a 1st Rank Gale Falcon.
No matter how formidable a talentless good-for-nothing was, there was still an upper limit. Chu Han's performance clearly exceeded normal cognition.
Therefore, it was definitely fake!
Even the school leaders got up and walked over to the tallying desk to inspect it in person.
They didn't believe Chu Han's results either, so they all wore stern, unsmiling faces.
Yet their solemn expressions very quickly began to turn to shock bit by bit.
"Look at their shocked expressions. Could Chu Han's materials actually be real?"
"That's extremely likely. It looks like Chu Han is going to astonish everyone this time and shatter the doubts!"
Though hard to accept, the truth was right before their eyes.
Soon, several school leaders nodded at one another, then announced, "Student Chu Han's materials are genuine, and the score is valid! A total score of 186 points—he is the school's number one!"
"It really is like this! First place has changed hands!"
"Chu Han is too amazing!"
An even more heated discussion erupted below the stage.
Li Mengran's face turned pale, her heart filled with a mixture of loss and shock.
Compared to losing first place, what she found even more unacceptable was that Chu Han had surpassed her.
She looked toward Chu Han, only to find him completely calm, as though such an outcome had long since been within his expectations.
At that moment, Chu Han on the stage said indifferently, "Report, my score hasn't been fully tallied yet."
A leader immediately asked, "Not fully tallied? What other materials do you have?"
Hearing this, everyone else also stared fixedly at Chu Han, not daring to believe their ears.
Could the good show not be over yet?
They watched as Chu Han unzipped the inner layer of his backpack and pulled out a stab-proof cloth bag.
When the cloth bag was unrolled, tail stingers of the Black Stone Scorpion, each radiating a chilling gleam, were revealed.
"There should be a total of 146 of them. You can check them, and you can also appraise their authenticity," Chu Han said.
Yet they saw that several leaders and the tallying teacher had all gone still, standing frozen in place like petrified statues.
"Th-th-this... How is this possible?!"
One leader recovered first, yet out of excitement, rattled off several stuttering words of disbelief.
146 tail stingers meant killing 146 Black Stone Scorpions.
Even a genuine 1st Rank martial artist couldn't pull that off!
No matter how formidable Chu Han was, he shouldn't have been able to do it.
Not only these leaders, but the students off stage were also struck too dumb to speak.
For Li Mengran to kill eleven Black Stone Scorpions was already hard to believe; for Chu Han to kill 146 was something they wouldn't even dare to dream of.
Soon, the students down below raised doubts.
"Is it possible these Black Stone Scorpion tail stingers were prepared by Chu Han beforehand, just to make a stunning impression now?"
"It's also possible he buried the Black Stone Scorpion tail stingers in Black Stone Mountain beforehand, and dug them up after entering the wild."
"I think so too. He definitely cheated!"
"But something like this is even more absurd than cheating. Who would spend money to buy so many venomous creatures? It defies all reason."
"Anyway, let's see how he explains it."
Seeing the venue filled with voices of doubt, Jiang Yan—who had remained silent until now—stood up and said in a loud voice, "Our team can prove that all of Chu Han's materials are real, and the Black Stone Scorpions were all killed by his own hands!"
"Right, we all saw with our own eyes the scene of Chu Han slaughtering the Black Stone Scorpions. It's completely trustworthy!"
The rest of the people rescued by Chu Han also spoke up in his defense one after another.
Yet someone immediately chimed in with sarcastic sneers, "You're on the same team as him, of course you'd help speak for him. Who knows, maybe you took bribes from Chu Han too."
"That's right, people on Chu Han's team can't prove this."
"For all we know, those sixty-two Rotten Dogs were fake as well!"
Soon, someone raised a fresh doubt, and the testimonies of Jiang Yan and the others suddenly seemed trivial.
On the stage, several leaders also said with stern faces, "Chu Han, this matter indeed requires verification. Unless you can prove you are capable of killing 146 Black Stone Scorpions, these cannot be counted toward your score."
Chu Han frowned slightly, not expecting that tallying a score would be this troublesome.
The crucial part was that neither the leaders nor his classmates believed him.
"Our people can testify that it was Chu Han who killed these Black Stone Scorpions!"
At that moment, another supportive voice rang out.
This voice was exceptionally resonant, carrying an unquestionable momentum that accurately traveled to everyone's ears.
Clearly, it belonged to a powerful martial artist.
Chu Han followed the sound and looked over, not expecting the speaker to be the military officer sitting alongside the school principal.
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