"I acted so convincingly just now. If there really are teachers watching from outside, they should be able to tell that I'm only strong on the surface, but actually quite fragile inside, right?"
Tang Jian sat on the ground and put on an act for a while, thinking smugly to himself.
At this moment, Tang Jian's ranking on the leaderboard rose again. From nearly falling to the bottom, he climbed directly back into the top ten.
Three points represented three kills.
At this early stage of the assessment, that was still quite rare.
Liu Kun had also just killed someone. After picking up the spoils, he subconsciously looked at the leaderboard to see whether he had made the rankings.
Before he could find his own name, however, he saw Tang Jian suddenly jump into the top ten. His eyelid twitched, and his expression darkened.
MMP!
Who exactly was the number one student in Senior Year Class 12?
Obviously, it was him, Liu Kun.
Yet Tang Jian had stolen all the spotlight now.
Liu Kun scanned the leaderboard. The lower-ranked students all had one point, but Liu Kun's name was nowhere to be seen. His expression became even uglier.
"Who is this Tang Jian? Which class is he from? I have no impression of him at all. How did he climb so fast?"
Hu Lingli had already joined up with the young man in red, Gu Du. She looked strangely at Tang Jian's name emerging on the leaderboard.
The two had just teamed up and killed only three people. Hu Lingli had earned one point, while Gu Du had earned two.
Top students with well-known reputations, such as Wu Chun, Wang Ba, and Liu Fei, had only barely reached three points. Yet Tang Jian, this unfamiliar figure, was actually on par with them.
"Maybe he just got lucky for the moment. He might drop back down later." Gu Du waved dismissively. "Hurry up. There are two more prey ahead!"
Hu Lingli shrugged and immediately followed him.
Her card energy was now 74, and her vitality was 7.6. Though she was not weak, Gu Du's card energy had already reached 105, and his vitality was 11.
Only by following Gu Du did she have any hope of remaining in the top thirty by the end of this assessment.
After Tang Jian finished collecting the spoils, he discovered two students approaching from the northeast, each of them extremely wary yet eager to make a move.
"More points delivered to my door."
He grinned. With another defensive card and a ranged attack card in hand, Tang Jian was full of confidence.
He now had the Energy Bullet Card for range, and the Stone Skin Card and Water Wave Shield Card for close combat. His only concern was whether his Energy Cards could sustain such intense consumption.
Especially the Energy Bullet Card and Water Wave Shield Card.
Each shot fired by the Energy Bullet Card consumed 10 energy points.
Each shield formed by the Water Wave Shield Card consumed 30 energy points.
Tang Jian currently had four Energy Cards. The one he got from the female student had only 10 energy points left, enough for just one Energy Bullet Card shot.
The one he got from the male student had only 40 energy points remaining.
Of the two cards he originally had, one still contained 70 energy points, while the other was full and unused.
But if his own card energy was included, he had enough energy for the time being.
"I wonder whether the energy in these Energy Cards in this virtual energy world can be absorbed by the Red Card Cheater?"
Tang Jian thought this as he shifted his feet. He rolled sideways, and the Energy Bullet Card he had just equipped was immediately activated.
Pff!
At the spot where Tang Jian had just been standing, a clump of earth suddenly shuddered as it was directly struck. Sand and stones flew in all directions, along with sparks of flame.
A fist-sized crater appeared in the ground, releasing thick smoke as the flames quickly went out.
"Fireball Card!" Tang Jian's heart tightened.
Whoosh—
A pale green energy bullet shot out from the card slot of his device, striking a student attacking him from not far away.
The student let out a scream. An energy bullet hit his right chest, punching a bloody hole through it. He screamed as he fell, startling another student not far to the east.
"So accurate?"
Sun Yiying, who had been secretly watching Tang Jian all along, along with several other teachers who occasionally looked over, were all taken aback.
But Sun Yiying quickly understood.
Tang Jian could achieve extremely precise hits even with a difficult-to-use card like the Sleeve Arrow Card. It was hardly surprising that his accuracy with the Energy Bullet Card was high as well.
Tang Jian got up and rapidly approached the student ahead of him in a zigzag pattern.
Two volleys of fireballs swept past him in succession, unable to hit him as he moved with such dazzling footwork.
He closed in at high speed. Rather than expend more energy on the Energy Bullet Card, he directly activated the Stone Skin Card, spent 5 energy points, and ended the severely wounded student with one punch.
To the east, the other student looked terrified and quickly widened the distance from Tang Jian. His device flashed, spraying a large amount of sticky, pungent oil onto the ground to create an obstacle and prevent Tang Jian from pursuing him.
"It's actually a Sticky Oil Card!"
Tang Jian picked up the Fireball Card and Energy Card that had fallen to the ground. Seeing the liquid covering the ground ahead, his eyes suddenly lit up.
The Sticky Oil Card was actually only an auxiliary card. The sticky oil it produced could be used to maintain machinery such as hovercars and biological chambers.
This sticky oil acted as lubricant on machinery, but once it coated the ground, it became extremely adhesive.
The opponent had now splashed it across the ground, and it had indeed formed a highly effective obstacle.
But that was all it could do. It was difficult for it to inflict any real damage.
However, if the Sticky Oil Card was combined with the Fireball Card, it could form a very simple Combination Card Set skill—Attached Flames.
Tang Jian did not hesitate. He quickly gave chase and attacked the fleeing student in the distance.
The cards he held now were far more varied and powerful than those of these students. The Fireball Card and Energy Bullet Card, both ranged cards, were most suitable for pursuing and killing targets from afar.
Less than ten seconds later.
Tang Jian swiftly ended the battle, gaining another point. His score had reached five points, and he had obtained the Sticky Oil Card, which could combine with the Fireball Card into a highly destructive combination skill.
At this point in the assessment, thick purple poisonous gas could already be seen rapidly spreading from the edges of the wilderness toward its center.
Some students near the outskirts no longer had time to fight. They cried out as they hurried toward the central area.
Whoosh—
A mass of blazing flames surged from the ground, directly engulfing a student. The scream abruptly stopped.
Black smoke rose from the flames, like a wall of fire summoned by a mage in some ancient game. It made quite a spectacle and drew everyone's eyes.
Points +2!
Tang Jian slowly approached the wall of flames. After the fire died down, he picked up four completely unscathed cards from the charred area scorched by the blaze.
Most of the students still alive at this point had already killed at least one person. Including Energy Cards, they possessed no fewer than four cards.
Tang Jian picked up the four cards and glanced at them. They were the Pet Card Star Baby, the Mechanical Card High-Powered Mechanical Arm, and two Energy Cards, one of which had already been drained dry.
After Star Baby was summoned, it could heal its owner at any time.
This pet belonged to the evolution-pet type. Combined with an auxiliary healing card, it could form Son of Stars, providing its owner with one full recovery to peak health and condition!
As for the High-Powered Mechanical Arm, it was a mechanical arm for cyborg equipment. Once activated, it transformed into a powerful mechanical arm worn on the body. A single punch could deliver at least more than 500 kilograms of impact force!
But against Tang Jian's wall of flames that kited from a distance, such a powerful close-combat combination could only leave its owner helpless, completely countered.
Though the Attached Flames Combination Card Set skill was simple, it lasted for quite some time and dealt considerable damage. No matter how frequently Star Baby healed, it was not a little water dragon. It could not save someone being burned alive in blazing flames.
Tang Jian casually equipped the Pet Card and summoned a Star Baby resembling a steamed meat bun to float beside him. Then he removed the Pet Card and switched back to the Fireball Card.
Among his current card combinations, only the Fireball Card and Sticky Oil Card combination possessed tremendous destructive power. It was the most damaging set among his cards, capable of dealing damage over an area and well suited for the upcoming battle.
This was also because he currently had too few card slots in his devices. They were all two-slot devices, unable to equip more cards.
However, he had also kept the Energy Bullet Card and High-Powered Mechanical Arm Card.
At critical moments, he could directly activate these two cards with his card energy, using them as trump cards to catch his enemies off guard.
Before you continue