The moment he heard "ranking matches," Fu Wanli looked like he'd been injected with steroid.
"Big Brother Qin! Second Brother Chu... Second Brother Hu, Third Brother Chu, Fourth Brother Gu, Fifth Brother Zhao! It's time for us to show what we can do again! Time to let everyone know the strength of the six brothers of the [Phantom Assassins]! Huh, Big Brother Qin, why are you leaving?"
Before Fu Wanli could finish speaking, Qin Siyang was already four or five steps away.
"Big Brother Qin, where are you going?"
"Back, obviously."
The moment Qin Siyang heard Duan Zhongfang say the words "ranking matches," he turned around and left without another word.
'A ranking match? Rank my ass. What a waste of time.'
When Hu Chan saw Qin Siyang leave right away, he thought about it for a moment and understood what Qin Siyang meant.
The points gap between them and everyone else was huge. Their strength spoke for itself.
Other than letting more people learn about their sequence abilities, participating in a ranking match had no benefits.
Showing off?
That was something Fu Wanli liked to do. It had nothing to do with them.
Hu Chan hurried forward and caught up with Qin Siyang.
"Boss Qin, want to go outside the safe zone and hunt again?"
"You have time?"
Hu Chan gave a flattering smile, "If Boss Qin has time, then I have time too."
To be fair, Hu Chan always knew his place.
He knew he needed Qin Siyang's drill cabin to gather enough secondary sacrificial disc armor pieces, so his attitude was as obedient as a lapdog.
Watching this made Chu Baxing feel miserable.
Qin Siyang's strength already bothered him enough, but Hu Chan's progress made things even worse.
The thought that Hu Chan could use Qin Siyang's drill cabin to quickly complete the disc armor needed for the Path of the Believer felt like being cut apart piece by piece.
'No. I have to change the situation.'
He also needed to use Qin Siyang's drill cabin to hunt gods.
Chu Baxing turned around as well. He activated conversation blocking and called Chu Xiaoang.
"Dad, can we move up the schedule for helping Qin Siyang build that military camp? Yeah, I want to be more proactive. Mm, yes. I do plan to use his drill cabin to collect sacrifices..."
Gu Yunpeng looked at Zhao Sifang.
"Staying or leaving?"
"I also think the ranking match is pretty pointless, but if we just leave like this, won't it look bad? We're really not giving Duan Zhongfang any face..."
"If the sky falls, the tall ones hold it up. The three of them aren't staying, so we don't have anything to worry about."
"True... Then let's keep discussing that plan? I think we might need Saint Son Hu to help with the planning."
"Hu Chan? That makes sense. He's really good at organizing and planning things. President Qin has too much on his plate. Let's discuss it some more and show him the draft later."
"Okay."
After saying that, Zhao Sifang and Gu Yunpeng also headed for the exit.
The five top freshmen of South Glory openly skipped class together.
Fu Wanli's beady eyes became perfectly round.
"Big Brother, Second Brother, Third Brother, Fourth Brother, Fifth Brother... they all left?"
"Then... doesn't that make me the big brother now?"
The moment that thought crossed his mind, the already excited Fu Wanli became even more restless.
Two red patches appeared on his face, and his forehead gleamed.
"Thank you, brothers, for giving me this opportunity! Today, I definitely won't let your expectations down! I will revive the [Phantom Assassins]!"
On the high platform, Ban Dingyuan watched the five leave and muttered, "Why did all five of them leave?"
Shi Tao shrugged.
"Senior Duan, Ban Dingyuan, I already told you. Qin Siyang and the others definitely weren't going to participate in the ranking match. You just wouldn't believe me."
Duan Zhongfang frowned, "They're freshmen. Why do they act like they don't care about anything?"
"Can they even be considered normal freshmen? They came straight into the second year. They're all monsters," Thinking about them made Shi Tao's chest hurt, "The top three are definitely getting Wolf Badges this year. As for Qin Siyang, that's even more certain. He might even rank ahead of me."
"I know. What I mean is, don't they care about rankings?"
Shi Tao shook his head, "Rankings? Zhao Sifang, who's fifth among the freshmen, has three times the points of Fu Wanli in sixth place. The gap is huge. The top five are already locked in. Everyone else can only compete starting from sixth place."
"As for how the top five rank among themselves, they already know."
"Participating in the ranking match only increases the chance of exposing their sequence abilities. It's not worth it."
Duan Zhongfang looked at the group that was about to leave the combat building and spoke softly, "If they leave during the first class, it'll affect the freshmen's morale. Oh well. Geniuses should receive special treatment."
Then Duan Zhongfang raised his voice, "The top five of this ranking match will each get one chance to spar and learn from teaching assistant Shi Tao on the combat arena."
The moment those words fell, Qin Siyang stopped and looked back at the platform.
As soon as Qin Siyang stopped, Chu Baxing and the other four stopped as well.
Fight Shi Tao?
That actually sounded somewhat worthwhile.
Shi Tao activated conversation blocking and looked at Duan Zhongfang in confusion.
"Huh? Fight me? Why not Ban Dingyuan?"
"Ban Dingyuan has already stepped onto the Path of the Believer. You haven't. If Ban Dingyuan fights them, they won't learn anything. They'll just have to surrender."
"..."
Seeing that Qin Siyang had stopped but still showed no sign of returning, Duan Zhongfang sighed, 'This kid is really hard to deal with. Looks like I need another condition.'
Then he had Shi Tao turn off conversation blocking and announced loudly, "This ranking match will have two stages. The first stage is the preliminary ranking round, which will determine the top ten."
"The second stage is the finals, held among the ten strongest freshmen."
"The top five freshmen by points may skip the preliminary round and directly take five spots in the finals, participating in the final ten-person competition."
Hearing this, Qin Siyang nodded.
Duan Zhongfang had given him every possible advantage and had shown enough sincerity.
If he still left and skipped class, it would be a bit too much.
Under Qin Siyang's lead, the five returned to the crowd.
Duan Zhongfang continued explaining the rules, "Everyone already knows their point rankings. Those are your starting rankings."
"Lower-ranked students may challenge anyone up to ten places above them. Higher-ranked students cannot refuse challenges."
"If the challenger wins, the two swap rankings. If they lose, nothing changes."
"After losing, you cannot challenge the same person again. Each person can lose at most three times."
"After three losses, you can no longer issue challenges and can only wait for others to challenge you."
"There are over a hundred medium-sized combat arenas in the combat building. Matches will be held on a first-come, first-served basis."
"Six hours from now, the preliminary rankings will be finalized. Then the finals will begin."
"Any questions?"
"No questions!"
Shi Tao took out a tablet and looked at the freshmen's information.
"Alright. The ranking match begins. Anyone who wants to challenge someone, come find me and choose your opponent."
As soon as the freshmen heard this, they rushed forward and surrounded him.
There were only six hours available.
Every minute counted.
Meanwhile, Qin Siyang and the others stood off to the side with nothing to do.
"Six hours until it's over... Boss Qin, why don't we go out for another trip? We'll still make it back in time."
"Good idea. Let's go. Leave early, come back early."
"Dad, let's continue what we were discussing... I think besides building the military camp, we should also see whether Qin Siyang has any other needs... Yes, no need to praise me. Staying around them has made me a little smarter too..."
"Brother-in-law, let's go back and discuss the plan. We'll come back in six hours."
"Alright."
The five of them left the combat building anyway.
Watching their backs disappear, Duan Zhongfang's mouth twitched twice.
'Why did they still leave?'
(End of the Chapter) ✅