Boiling Excitement, A Great Joyous Event

Ling Zhan, with only 10% of his total attributes remaining, barely managed to stand by leaning on his sword with both hands.

His health, speed, base four-dimensional stats, status resistance, and so on, were all reduced to 10%.

In other words, if any monster were to appear right now, it could easily finish Ling Zhan off.

Fortunately, this feeling of weakness only lasted for a short while before rapidly fading away.

This was thanks to the "Trial Blessing" that triggered after clearing a stage, which instantly restored all of the challenger's health and mana.

Debuff effects were also cleared instantly.

Ling Zhan glanced at the corpse of General Kevil lying in a pool of blood and stood in place for quite a while.

Strange, I've already killed the third-stage boss, so why hasn't the clearance announcement sounded yet?

What about the clearance reward?

Ling Zhan looked bewildered. Could there be an error in the trial?

Damn it! You can't be this much of a scam, right?

The next second.

The stage clearance announcement arrived fashionably late.

[Congratulations to challenger Ling Zhan for slaying the boss and successfully clearing this stage!]

[Clearance time: 4 hours and 56 minutes.]

[Clearance reward is currently being held...]

Facing this notification, Ling Zhan was dumbfounded.

Clearance reward being held? What the hell?

In the previous two stages, the clearance announcement and rewards had basically arrived the moment Ling Zhan completed the stage objectives. Even if there was a delay, it never exceeded a few seconds.

This time, the clearance announcement was delayed by a full hour.

Was the clearance reward simply swallowed up?

"Damn it."

Even with Ling Zhan's usually steady temperament, he couldn't help but curse at this moment.

This arrangement was somewhat abnormal.

As for whether the clearance reward would actually be swallowed, that wasn't particularly worrying. After all, this was a province-wide Job Transfer Trial Entrance Examination involving nearly a million people; a few errors were normal.

Even King Yama Zhou wouldn't dare to be so unscrupulous as to swallow a challenger's rewards.

It was just plain annoying. He had worked himself to the bone to finally take down the third stage, only to end up... not getting a single thing.

Just as he was about to start complaining, the cold voice of the stage announcement rang out once again.

[Warning! Warning! Warning! The challenger has successfully triggered the Endless Trial mission.]

[Warning! Endless Trial: SSS-rank difficulty mode. (Challenger mortality rate: 99%)]

[Warning! The Elite Stage reward and the Endless Trial reward will be issued together.]

Three consecutive warnings, shocking to the core.

Outside.

The crowd was in an uproar.

"SSS-rank difficulty mode, 99% mortality rate!"

"This is murder!"

Public sentiment was inflamed.

No one had expected King Yama Zhou to take things this far.

"The rewards for the second and third stages are being issued together. Giving up on the Endless Trial means the challenger won't be able to receive the third-stage reward, and the third-stage score will be wiped."

"Protest!"

It wasn't just the students; even the school leaders and teachers on the podium cast angry glares at King Yama Zhou immediately.

"This approach is simply unreasonable."

"A 99% mortality rate—is he forcing the challengers to go to their deaths?"

Click, click...

Camera flashes went off in King Yama Zhou's face.

Official stations, local stations, and countless reporters—a sea of people rushed toward the podium.

What was a reporter's job?

To watch the chaos and hope it gets bigger.

"Explosive."

"Tomorrow's headlines are set."

Long lenses and microphones were shoved almost into King Yama Zhou's face.

"The public demands an explanation!"

"Director Zhou, are you aware of the consequences of doing this?"

"Unbelievable! For the 234th Job Transfer Trial Entrance Examination, the chief examiner is treating the professional lives of a million challengers like a joke."

"May I ask, Director Zhou, did you have a physical exam before setting these questions? I mean... a mental one!"

On the podium.

King Yama Zhou's eyes were cold and indifferent.

"School guards."

He shouted once.

Immediately, countless school guards surrounded him, forming a wall of copper and iron a few meters in front of King Yama Zhou.

The reporters were dispersed.

But the school guards, acting as protectors, were equally conflicted and struggling.

"A million people, the professional lives of a million challengers, treated as a joke by King Yama Zhou."

"Is such a person, such an executioner, such a butcher, really worth protecting?"

In the audience.

Many female students were filled with grief and indignation, unable to accept a trial arrangement that was essentially no different from murder.

The boys didn't understand it either.

But they... couldn't do anything.

"Those seniors who cleared the stage are too pitiful."

"I hope Senior Ling Zhan doesn't fall for it and gives up on the Endless Trial."

"But giving up means Senior Ling Zhan not only loses the qualification to compete for the provincial first place, but even his ranking on the city-level trial leaderboard will be wiped."

"Then what can we do? Let the senior go to his death?"

"King Yama Zhou, f*** you!!!!"

This move of pulling the rug out from under them, cutting off all paths for the seniors, was nothing short of vicious.

The students were angry.

The reporters were equally indignant.

Even the teachers found it deeply difficult to understand the point of such an arrangement.

Now, it was just a matter of seeing... how the seniors would choose...

Inside the stage.

Ling Zhan held his heavy sword, panting, and was currently... dismembering the body!

General Kevil's corpse had been hacked to pieces.

Crab Legs, Poison Crab Eye, Beast Crystal, Crab King Fang Spear...

Ling Zhan was most pleased with this spear, which had been formed from General Kevil's fangs; its quality was quite decent.

[Equipment: Scorpion King Tail Needle Spear.]

[Grade: Purple.]

[After equipping: Strength +10, Agility +10.]

[Level requirement: Level 12 or higher.]

[Class restriction: None.]

[Attack effect: When attacking an enemy, the enemy can be inflicted with a poisoned state. The poisoned state can stack up to three layers; once fully stacked, the enemy will enter a 1-second stun state. The stun effect has a 5-second cooldown.]

[Set effect: None.]

The grade of the equipment matched the color of the monster's name.

From low to high: White, Blue, Purple, Red, Gold.

Of course, weapons also depended on level requirements.

A level 10 gold weapon, when facing those level 40 or 50 white weapons, would still fall short in terms of stats.

"For someone at my level, this spear is indeed a top-tier weapon."

Ling Zhan smiled as he tucked the spear into his backpack.

He didn't let the other items go, either.

The Crab Legs and Poison Crab Eye were categorized as utility items.

Although their quality wasn't as good as the spear, Ling Zhan, adhering to the principle that a thief never leaves empty-handed, didn't let them go and collected them all.

"There's also the heart, the blood..."

"Forget it, internal organs are too disgusting, and they aren't worth much."

Ling Zhan looked disgusted. By now, the once-majestic General Kevil (Boss: Great Emperor Shanli) from an hour ago was reduced to nothing but a pile of minced meat and liver.

He took everything he could!

"It's time to leave."

Ling Zhan spread his hands. Not far away, a teleportation array glowed with white light.

Teleportation array—Endless Trial.

The next second.

Ling Zhan stood on the teleportation array, and his body vanished.

Trying to swallow his clearance reward?

No way!