Topping the Charts After a Nap

Rather than searching everywhere, it was better to besiege the enemy and wait for reinforcements.

That was the good idea Lu Chong had just come up with after seeing the Shadow Cat beside Sun Ze.

The Fifth Stage Shadow Cat before them clearly had some intelligence and caution, knowing that facing three opponents alone gave it little chance of victory.

So it hid on the beam, biding its time while using its unique method to summon allies for backup.

Lu Chong figured he could turn this to his advantage, saving himself a lot of time in the process.

But those two unfamiliar students clearly didn't trust Lu Chong.

A single Shadow Cat in the dark of night had already made them tremble with fear; how could they dare to lure in more?

"We should get out of here as fast as possible, or finish this quickly and take down this Shadow Cat—maybe there's still hope," one student said urgently.

"Yeah, if we end up calling in a whole pack, the three of us will be eliminated tonight," the other chimed in.

Lu Chong said nothing, looking instead at Sun Ze, who hadn't voiced an opinion.

Sun Ze had calmed down by now. He glanced at Lu Chong again before saying, "I trust you."

"But Brother Chong, could we form a temporary team?"

If Lu Chong agreed, they could at least gain something from this.

Lu Chong thought it over. Since he was planning to use these people as bait anyway, handing over a few points didn't matter, so he agreed.

"No, no, we're not on board." The two students quickly shook their heads in refusal.

"If you want to team up, you two go ahead. We're leaving first."

With that, they exchanged a look and moved to leave, clearly intending to leave Lu Chong and the others as cover.

"You—" Sun Ze started to call them back, but Lu Chong stopped him.

"It's fine. Let them go." Lu Chong gave a faint, knowing smile.

He had already caught the scent of several familiar presences, closing in from all directions.

Now it didn't matter whether they left or stayed.

Sure enough, the two students had barely made it down to the third floor when they saw a full six pairs of glowing green eyes staring at them, baring their fangs.

"They're here! They're all here!"

The two nearly jumped out of their skin and scrambled back upstairs.

But by then, three more had appeared on the third floor as well, making a total of ten Fifth Stage Shadow Cats between the floors.

They must have summoned every Shadow Cat in the area.

Meow!

With the reinforcements here, there was no more talking.

The four Shadow Cats on the third floor lunged at each of the four people.

At the same time, the six on the second floor didn't hesitate, darting up from all angles to besiege them.

"Perfect timing."

A grin spread across Lu Chong's face. With a single Monument-Splitting Palm, he knocked one Shadow Cat unconscious, then reached out and grabbed the Tracking Monitor from its neck.

A second Shadow Cat struck from behind, aiming for the back of Lu Chong's head.

The swipe was vicious, targeting a vital spot.

But when its claws passed through, they only hit empty air, slicing straight through Lu Chong's figure.

An afterimage!

With Lu Chong's footwork, an attack of this level was far from a threat to him.

Instead, the Shadow Cat that had passed through him panicked and tried to flee, only for Lu Chong to grab its tail, fling it against the wall, and knock it out.

Casually taking its monitor, Lu Chong used his footwork to reach Sun Ze's side, quickly resolving his predicament and collecting three more monitors.

"Help us!"

By now, the two students were in dire straits, facing five Shadow Cats at once and barely managing to defend themselves. It looked like their Amulets would be triggered any moment, eliminating them.

"Brother Chong, please help them." Sun Ze, clutching his freshly scratched left arm, pleaded.

Even without Sun Ze's request, Lu Chong would have gone—not to help those two, but for the monitors.

Without a word, Lu Chong used the Nine-Shadow Step to close the distance, once again relying on the Monument-Splitting Palm to take down the remaining Shadow Cats one by one.

By the time all the Shadow Cats were knocked out and silence returned, the two students were still in a daze.

That was it?

What kind of god-tier classmate was this, casually handling a siege of so many Shadow Cats?

And the key point—Lu Chong was completely unharmed, not even a speck of dirt on his black training clothes.

"These five monitors are yours."

Ignoring the two shaken, regretful students, Lu Chong tossed five monitors straight to Sun Ze.

"Brother Chong, that's too much. I didn't really do much." Sun Ze waved his hands repeatedly.

"Since we teamed up on the spot, I can't shortchange you. Take it—I don't lack for a little bit." Lu Chong smiled.

"Besides, this is just the Mock Exam."

With that, Lu Chong didn't give him a chance to argue. He put away his own locator, turned, and leaped down from the third floor, vanishing into the silent darkness.

"Thanks." Sun Ze put away the locator, muttering quietly to himself.

"Sun Ze, who exactly is that guy? Why is he so strong?"

Only after Lu Chong had been gone for a while did the other two students snap out of it and press for answers.

They didn't dare bring up the team-up offer again, nor did they envy the locator in Sun Ze's hand.

Envy was useless anyway—you couldn't just snatch it. Grabbing it would be pointless, and there were cameras everywhere.

Besides, they had already verbally confirmed they wouldn't team up with Lu Chong and the others, and that was all recorded.

Still, they were extremely curious about the identity of that impressive classmate.

Sun Ze said absently, "He's my classmate, Lu Chong. He's also the strongest in our class."

"Lu Chong?" one of the students muttered. "I don't remember seeing him on the Scoreboard during the day."

Just then, the other student opened the Scoreboard for a look and gasped. "Lu Chong?!"

"What the hell... he's the number one? When did that happen?"

Sun Ze was startled too—he had been resting and hadn't checked the rankings.

He quickly looked at the updated Scoreboard on his emergency beacon and saw the eye-catching name at the top.

First place, Lu Chong, 431 points.

Second place, Xiang Yueya, 356 points.

"Damn, he's nearly 80 points ahead of second place."

"Too bad we didn't get to latch onto that ride."

"All I can say is four words: the big shot's a beast."

On the other side, probably because he had drawn all the nearby Shadow Cats over earlier, Lu Chong didn't encounter any more on his way and smoothly reached the territory of the Six-Stage Shadow Cat.

It was only three in the morning—he could still keep harvesting.

Inside the Monitoring Hall outside the Hunting Ground, Wang Tong's eyes were bloodshot from staring at the big screen. The moment that name shot to the top of the rankings, he slapped Li Chengjun's thigh in excitement.

Li Chengjun had been cultivating with his eyes closed. The slap nearly sent him into qi deviation, and he snapped angrily, "What are you doing?!"

"Check the rankings!" Wang Tong said with a grin.

Li Chengjun frowned and looked over, then his eyes went wide. "First place... Lu Chong?!"

"Damn, I took a nap—how did he get to first?"

Wang Tong said smugly, "This is nothing. Look at second place—he's 75 points behind. The gap's only gonna get bigger."

Li Chengjun turned his head away, unwilling to look at Wang Tong's smug face, and simply closed his eyes again.