A night passed. As dawn's first light shone over the land, the silent hunting ground finally came back to life.
Most of the Shadow Cats that had roamed all night had returned to their little nests to sleep.
As long as no one trespassed on their territory or provoked them, the Shadow Cats rarely moved around during the day.
The hunting ground spanned a hundred miles in every direction. The students were scattered across it like little streams flowing into the Great River; they couldn't alert every Shadow Cat, and they had to search for their targets one by one.
By then, most of the students in the hunting ground had woken up and were preparing to begin their second day of hunting.
However, after the Shadow Cats had searched through the area all night, at least twenty percent of the students had been eliminated.
Although they had all hidden themselves away for the night, just like Sun Ze and the others, there was still a chance the Shadow Cats would find their hiding places.
Then, without anyone to help them, some students were eliminated, bringing their Combat Assessment to an end.
One side advanced while the other retreated; one retreated while the other advanced.
It was also a bit like a miniature version of the years-long struggle between humans and Exotic Beasts.
The first thing most students did after waking up was check the newly updated scoreboard.
Even those who knew they couldn't make the Top Hundred wanted to see how far they were from the rankings.
"Who's this?"
"Lu Chong from Class 5 at First High School. How did he suddenly reach the top of the rankings? I don't remember seeing him there before I went to sleep last night."
"Holy crap, 680 points? Am I seeing things? He's more than 300 points ahead of second place!"
"What kind of genius came out of nowhere?"
The students discussed it in amazement, hardly daring to believe their eyes.
How could someone go from being unknown to reaching the top of the rankings in a single night?
Did this guy not need to sleep at night to recover his strength?
Most importantly, according to their teachers, wasn't nighttime supposed to be the most dangerous? That was why the best strategy was to hide and rest.
Even students with high cultivation ranks rarely went out at night.
Without anyone to help them, it was easy to make a fatal mistake.
The teachers had explained many times in class how even a swarm of ants could kill an elephant.
"Is Lu Chong, who went all out at night, still in the hunting ground?" one student began to doubt.
"Sure, hunting at night might be more efficient, but it also greatly increases the chance of being eliminated. He's probably already out."
Meanwhile, at the Student Camp outside the hunting ground, more than six thousand eliminated students had gathered and were receiving treatment from doctors.
Most of them had simply been unlucky the night before: the Shadow Cats had found their hiding places and eliminated them.
Chen Yufei and five of his classmates were among them.
"Brother Chong is awesome!" Chen Yufei had seen the scoreboard too, and now he was so excited he could barely stand still, as if he himself had taken the top spot.
He hadn't been eliminated the previous night. Rather, when he had encountered two Stage Three Shadow Cats attacking him the previous afternoon, he'd called for help and withdrawn on his own, barely sustaining any injuries.
As for his Combat Assessment score, it was naturally pitifully low: just 25 points.
But Chen Yufei didn't care at all. He'd been keeping an eye on the rankings, waiting for his good buddy to show up on the list.
Unfortunately, he'd waited until he fell asleep at eight o'clock the previous night, but it still hadn't happened.
Who would've thought he'd wake up today to such a huge surprise?
"Who else could take the top spot overnight besides our Brother Chong?" Chen Yufei celebrated with his classmates.
"He's more than 300 points ahead of Xiang Yueya, too. Brother Chong is incredible!" his classmates chimed in excitedly.
They'd been eliminated early, sure, but having an awesome classmate was something to be proud of, wasn't it?
"Haha... They're still wondering whether Brother Chong got eliminated last night. What a bunch of frogs in a well."
Chen Yufei had seen eliminated students discussing it on some school forums and couldn't help sneering.
Now he was just waiting for Lu Chong to keep racking up points and shut those doubters up.
Meanwhile, inside the Monitoring Hall, which was under strict Military guard—
Li Chengjun's face was dark. He really didn't want to look at Wang Tong's smug expression.
Principal Fang of Third High School, seated in the middle of the front row, didn't look too pleased either.
He knew that the student Old Wei had taken an interest in hadn't been eliminated. In fact, he'd found a comfortable basement, closed the door, and was fast asleep.
By contrast, his own pride and joy, Xue Cheng, who ranked third, had only just passed 300 points.
"Old Wei, your student sure is confident, going out by night and sleeping by day like a Shadow Cat. Isn't he worried something might go wrong?" Principal Fang gave the seemingly drowsy Principal Wei beside him a sour look.
Principal Wei didn't even open his eyes. He replied lazily, "Don't worry about my student. You'd better get your Tiger Roar Skill ready."
Principal Fang was immediately left speechless. He stared fiercely at the big screen; every time he saw that kid's blissful sleeping posture, he felt his anger rise.
Colonel Huang watched it all, secretly amused. It seemed his teacher was confident in his student.
"Perfect mastery of both the Nine-Shadow Step and Monument-Splitting Palm. He's the only student in this year's cohort who's achieved that. My junior fellow apprentice really is impressive."
Then Colonel Huang thought there had to be more to it. After all, the Nine-Shadow Step and Monument-Splitting Palm were both low-grade Martial Skills, and even at perfection, their power was limited.
Against a mid-grade Martial Skill at the Microscopic level, he'd still be at a serious disadvantage.
It was like a pistol going up against a grenade. No matter how accurately you shot, the other side could kill you by tossing a grenade your way, even if it landed off target.
"Let's keep watching. Since my teacher thinks so highly of him, the kid must still have some tricks up his sleeve."
Deep in the hunting ground, within the territory of the Stage Seven Shadow Cat, Xiang Yueya, Zhao Longfei, and Huang Junyan had gathered.
In fact, they had already met up here the previous afternoon.
Although the hunting ground covered a hundred miles in every direction and the students had no way to contact one another, the deeper they went into the Shadow Cats' territory, the smaller the area became.
So the three of them had agreed long ago to meet up as soon as possible in the territory of the Stage Seven Shadow Cat, making it easier to hunt together.
At that moment, Zhao Longfei stared at the rankings on his distress beacon, his expression shifting uncertainly.
"He's probably been eliminated by now. His score hasn't changed in half an hour," Zhao Longfei guessed maliciously.
Huang Junyan beside him replied calmly, "Not necessarily. He was busy all night, so it's normal for him to rest now."
Zhao Longfei glared at Huang Junyan, but before he could retort, Xiang Yueya said coolly, "If he hasn't been eliminated, he'll come here soon."
Zhao Longfei's eyes immediately lit up. "That's right! Then we can surround him ourselves."
"Hmph! Losing 100 points is nothing. As long as we can drive him out, I don't care."
"I'm not interested in him." Xiang Yueya turned and walked toward the territory of the Stage Eight Shadow Cat.
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