A topic that caused a sensation

Although he knew how she intended to use it.

The superhuman's expression twisted. "Do I need to return it?"

He couldn't guess how the woman intended to use the Polluted, but he could roughly guess why she wanted to return Polluted to them.

That's not necessary!

Because it wasn't them hunting the eagle-men, it was the eagle-men hunting them—the roles of subject and object were reversed!

The superhuman stared intently at Ye Jiang.

He wasn't very close to the Polluted, yet he still received some of Pollution effects. In contrast, Ye Jiang, who was standing on the Polluted Polluted's back and in direct contact with it, was completely unaffected, making him utterly unfathomable.

A hidden A-Rank player?

The superhuman swallowed hard.

Ye Jiang asked in surprise, "You don't have to pay it back?"

The superhuman quickly shook his head, and his companion did the same.

Ye Jiang looked down at the Polluted she was stepping on; it seemed to be a low-class creature that no one else cared about.

Ye Jiang said, "Oh, then I won't return it to you after I've used it."

The superhumans nodded in unison, "Please do so!"

She was just a low-scoring Polluted, not worth arguing about. Once that was cleared up, Ye Jiang rode off on the Polluted. The eagle-man carried her and soared into the air, quickly becoming a small black dot. The ability users who witnessed this scene were stunned for a moment, finally understanding how the eagle-man was being used. So that's how he was being used!

The superhumans were speechless. To be honest, it seemed a bit unfair that a dominant force in the skies was being used like this by humans.

The eagle-man carried the contestant away, and the superhumans' legs went weak, their stamina reaching its limit.

Really...

That was close.

They almost lost their lives there, but luckily they encountered a... well, a rather strange expert.

Ye Jiang returned to her original spot with her flying vehicle. When she jumped off the eagle-man's back, the boy exclaimed "Wow!" Ye Jiang said to the boy with a blank face, "Get on, we'll take the air route."

"Wow!!"

The boy was amazed again and couldn't wait to climb onto the eagle-man's back.

A hint of smugness flashed in Ye Jiang's eyes; she was pleased with the boy's reaction. Ye Jiang believed that the eagle-men were low-level Polluted, so it was perfectly normal for the boy to not show Pollution reaction upon contact with them. The two of them switched from land to air, and their efficiency indeed increased significantly.

Every time the eagle-man swept over the heads of the superhuman contestants, they panicked and dodged, only to find that the eagle-man had no interest in them at all, instead relentlessly plunging into the group of Polluted.

On this day, many superhumans noticed the eagle-man's unusual behavior, but they didn't notice what was on the eagle-man's back. The eagle-man was too big, obscuring the secret on its back, and the superhumans couldn't possibly stop and observe the eagle-man properly; they were too busy hiding!

On the other hand, Ye Jiang and her young partner are working together more and more seamlessly.

"Hey! Sister, hit the one with the long legs!"

"Sister, that Polluted with the much longer claws is B-Rank!"

"Sister, sister..."

Ye Jiang had a very fruitful harvest. While she was fighting off the Polluted, the boy was helping her cut out the characteristic tissues on the other side. With the two of them working together, their efficiency doubled, and her backpack quickly became bulging.

With her backpack bulging, Ye Jiang's mood improved. As the eagle-man flew over an area teeming with Polluted, her partner remained silent. After waiting a while, Ye Jiang looked over and saw the boy staring blankly at the distant jungle, a lush and vibrant forest— Green Forest Exclusion Zone.

"What's wrong?" Ye Jiang asked her partner.

The boy, Dong Zhen into the jungle, his straw hat pulled down, obscuring half his face and the emotions in his eyes.

"Sister, the sunset is so beautiful," the boy said.

The gentle sunset cast its glow on the forest, softening the overly lush green and transforming the dangerous jungle into a magnificent spectacle.

Ye Jiang glanced at it, sat down, and said, "Then I'll watch for a while."

Upon hearing this, the boy paused slightly. After a moment, he relaxed, a slight smile playing on his lips. He lifted the brim of his hat to reveal his eyes, which shone brightly in the warm light of the setting sun.

When Ye Jiang left the wilderness, she didn't touch her flying vehicle. A low-level Polluted wouldn't give her many points, so she might as well save it for tomorrow. Ye Jiang didn't even consider the possibility that she wouldn't be able to find the eagle people tomorrow; she was confident that she could find them if she wanted to.

The eagle-man, once released, didn't immediately run away, whether out of habit or something else. He followed Ye Jiang for a few steps before realizing he was free, and then flew away in a flurry, behaving hastily and awkwardly despite being the king of the skies.

Neither Ye Jiang nor the boy paid any attention to the Polluted. Dong Zhen, carrying a backpack and beaming with joy, exclaimed, "Sister, we've killed so many Polluted! Our backpacks are almost overflowing! I have a feeling you'll be number one tomorrow!"

Ye Jiang remained silent, keeping a low profile, but secretly glanced at her backpack and inwardly agreed.

So she said to him, "I'll treat you to dinner tonight."

Upon hearing this, a smile immediately bloomed on Dong Zhen's face. He exclaimed in surprise, "Really?"

"Um."

"Sister, you're so kind!"

"..."

The boy kept calling her "sister," and she was almost brainwashed into believing she really had a younger brother.

The next day, Ye Jiang got up early, set out breakfast, and waited quietly for a certain moment.

It's here!

[Congratulations Ye Jiang! You ranked 1020th in the Xingyi Technology Hunting Tournament with a total score of 693 points.]

The text message from Xingyi Technology arrived as scheduled.

Good news, her ranking has improved.

The bad news is that she only rose 45 places, still about a thousand places behind the first place she and her partner were assessed as the best.

Ye Jiang: "..."

This time she didn't resort to the whistleblowing tactic; she felt it was unnecessary, and she figured she'd get a similar result anyway.

She finally understood why the boy's evaluation criteria felt subtly familiar—because they overlapped with her own evaluation criteria by about 70-80%.

Humanoid detection bead?

Um?

Chapter 63's topic was a resounding success.

The city center was still bustling in the morning, with crowds thronging the square. It wasn't yet time for the competition rankings to be updated, and citizens were excitedly discussing their favorite players.

"Sun Liang has won the championship for two consecutive days. If nothing unexpected happens, he should be the first place again today. He truly deserves to be the man I've chosen! This is the one!"

The citizens who admired Qiang gave him a thumbs up, but were immediately questioned by those around him, "That's not necessarily true. His score is only slightly different from Xue Ping's. He might be overtaken. It's hard to say who will be first or second."

"Sun Liang so strong, how could he be overtaken? If Xue Ping is so good, why wasn't he in first place for the first two days?"

"Pfft, Qiang? Sun Liang?" A citizen laughed out loud upon hearing this. "Qiang my ass! Sun Liang's fans, don't bother waiting, you won't see Sun Liang today!"

His words caused a huge uproar.

"What? What?"

What happened to Sun Liang?

"Sun Liang's in trouble again? Why does he have so many problems?"

Since it concerned first place in the competition, the topic of Sun Liang spread immediately and became the hottest topic in the square.

Seeing Sun Liang's reputation tarnished again, Sun Liang fans were furious, shouting, "Why are there more rumor-mongers? Are strong people so envied? Is first place so offensive? Why are there so many people spreading rumors about him? If you're so capable of spreading rumors, why don't you step onto the field?"

The citizen who first broke the news was not intimidated at all, loudly confronting the accuser. "This is not a rumor, it's the truth! I know a contestant who witnessed it firsthand. Sun Liang led a group to rob a female contestant of her ' Polluted' status. When they failed, he became enraged and tried to attack her, but the female contestant killed him with a single blow from a stick. His eyes rolled back on the spot, and his lackeys surrendered without even putting up a fight. Sun Liang was eventually taken away by the Ability Control Bureau. He dared to try to kill a contestant; he's definitely going to be behind bars. Sun Liang's conduct was always questionable; this is the retribution he deserves!"

The crowd whispered among themselves.

Someone whispered in agreement, "I have indeed heard that Sun Liang has a questionable character; that guy has been involved in quite a few scandals..."

Some people cursed, "Saying he has improper conduct is already an understatement. He's just a disgusting pervert, the kind who can't resist women. He used his high-level superpowers to smooth things over, but now he's met his match. Serves him right! Heaven has eyes!"

"Saying that the guy surnamed Sun is a pervert is absolutely true. It's a true story. That bastard once tried to chat up my friend because she was pretty, and after being rejected, he actually showed off his superpower symbol, lost his temper, and yelled at my friend for having no taste and being a loser! Luckily, there were a lot of people around at the time, otherwise I would have suspected that someone like him would have actually attacked my friend!"

"A relative of mine was rescued by this man after encountering Polluted, and he immediately demanded that the man's daughter repay him with her body. The worst part is, he has no intention of taking responsibility. What a scumbag!"

I've heard that too...

One revelation about Sun Liang after another shocked those who didn't know Sun Liang, and even those who were simply following him out of admiration for Sun Liang strength were stunned.

"Bullshit, all of that is nonsense! You're all just jealous that he's a superhuman, a B-Rank superhuman, and the winner of the competition!" Sun Liang said.

The die-hard followers were furious and cursed, "The one who started this rumor, you said Brother Sun was defeated by a female contestant with a single stick? Listen to what you're saying! Brother Sun is B-Rank ability user, how could he be taken down so easily? Besides, which female contestant is that strong? Yu Wei? Miao Qiao? If it's them, just say their names! Are you afraid we'll go to Yu Wei or Miao Qiao to verify the rumors and they'll be exposed? Those baseless fabrications are even more ridiculous. A friend? A relative? Isn't that the template that rumor-mongers love to use? You're actually fans of Xue Ping, who came in second, aren't you? Xue Ping couldn't beat Brother Sun, so you use these despicable rumors to slander him!"

The die-hard fans launched into a passionate and impassioned speech, concluding with the statement. "The higher you climb, the colder it gets. No matter how much you slander him, Brother Sun is still number one!"