Chapter 184 – My heart is bleeding!

Amidst the ruins, tens of thousands of examinees from Ghost Mountain City sat like walking corpses, covered in dust and grime, their heads drooping, their spirits utterly drained.

Not far away, at regular intervals, examinees from Fenglei City stood guard, casting disdainful glances at the Ghost Mountain City examinees.

“If I were them, I’d have found a block of tofu to crash into and die long ago,” two Fenglei City examinees stood together, chatting as they watched the Ghost Mountain City examinees.

“They’re truly laughable. With their own lack of strength, they still want to team up with us? Even a three-year-old wouldn’t do something like this!”

“Haha, don’t put it that way. With a bit of luck, they might just scrape through the second round, right? Things will be better in the next round!” another examinee chuckled.

“Make it to the next round? They’re dreaming!” the examinee sneered coldly. “They’re just a bunch of noobs! When the second round is about to end, we’ll eliminate them all and take their points for ourselves! How could we possibly let them advance?”

As he spoke, he shook his head.

“Shh! Keep your voice down. Be careful they hear you. When people lose all hope, they’ll fight desperately!”

“What’s there to fear? These people are so stupid they can’t even grasp such a simple truth?”

“Well… that’s just how people are. As long as there’s even a sliver of hope, they’ll choose to keep going.”

The two stood in the distance, conversing while occasionally glancing at the tens of thousands of Ghost Mountain City examinees.

An Expert also hovered in the air, keeping watch. If anyone among the Ghost Mountain City examinees made any suspicious moves, he would not hesitate to suppress them.

…

In a corner, Han Liang glared furiously at the two chatting examinees. He had heard every word they said—they actually saw them as noobs to farm points, just waiting to be harvested!

“I really want to kill them,” Han Liang growled, his eyes bloodshot as a piece of rubble in his hand instantly crumbled to dust.

But what followed was an overwhelming sense of powerlessness!

Even if Ghost Mountain City fought with all its might, it was no match for Fenglei City!

A single 4th Stage powerhouse from the opposing side could suppress most of them.

“This can’t go on!” Jiang Hao leaned against a broken, crumbling wall, a vicious scar on his neck from a battle where an Expert had nearly severed his head. If not for Han Liang’s timely intervention, he might have perished.

As he spoke, he coughed violently, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

His injuries were severe, but he had no time to recover. Over the past few days, the Fenglei City forces had driven them into battle every half hour to fight against examinees from other cities.

The Fenglei City examinees only hid behind, reaping the benefits.

In just a few days, the accumulated injuries had become extremely serious.

Several classmates sat nearby, forming a small alliance to look out for one another, each in a similar state.

Zheng Gang lay to the side, breathing more heavily than he exhaled. As the weakest in cultivation, it was already a miracle he had lasted this long.

Upon hearing Jiang Hao’s words, the classmates exchanged uneasy glances. Everyone knew this couldn’t continue, but there was nothing they could do!

Zheng Gang struggled to sit up, forcing a bitter smile. “Everyone, I’ve made up my mind. The next time we go into battle, I’m going to withdraw.”

No matter how severe his injuries were, he could endure them, but the psychological torment was unbearable.

He feared that if this continued, his very backbone would be stripped away.

He had long given up on Fengdu University. If not for accompanying a few classmates, he would have already withdrawn from the Federation Grand Examination himself.

At that moment, a series of furious roars came from nearby, drawing the attention of all Ghost Mountain City examinees in the ruins, who instinctively turned to look.

“It’s that guy again,” Han Liang said angrily, glaring at a figure that had appeared in the distance.

In the distance, a burly figure could be seen striding through the air, surrounded by flickering lightning.

It was Ghost Mountain City’s High-Tier Super-Limit, ‘Raymond’!

He had just returned from the battlefield and was roaring at dozens of examinees who had barely made it back alive. “What a bunch of useless trash! You can’t charge forward, and you can’t even hold the line. What good are you?”

As he spoke, he struck out with a palm, sending the dozens of Ghost Mountain City examinees who had barely survived coughing up blood.

“What are you doing?” one examinee demanded angrily while coughing up blood. Wasn’t this just bullying? And to attack his own people at that.

“What are you looking at? So what if I’m bullying you?” Raymond sneered. “No wonder Ghost Mountain City is so pathetic—it’s because of trash like you! If any of you were even slightly useful, Wind Thunder City wouldn’t have thought we were worthless and turned against us!

Now look… dragging all us High-Tier Super-Limits down with you!”

As soon as he finished speaking, tens of thousands of Ghost Mountain City examinees glared at him with fury.

Raymond was actually pinning the current situation on them, even though they had all followed orders and acted under the command of the High-Tier Super-Limits.

Han Liang even stood up, clenching his fists, his eyes bloodshot. He had seen shameless people before, but never anyone as shameless as this.

The reason Ghost Mountain City had ended up in such a state was the lack of high-end Combat Power.

Coupled with Raymond’s poor decisions, it had led to the current outcome.

But now… Raymond was shifting the blame onto them, the examinees, with just a few words.

“Is this what a Great Aristocratic Family is like?” someone sneered, the laughter growing louder until tears even streamed down their face. “Even with the facts right in front of you, you’d rather twist them for the sake of pride? Unwilling to admit your mistakes?”

“Looking to die!” Raymond’s gaze swept over, and he immediately struck, eliminating this person and sending them out of the exam.

…

At that moment, in teahouses across Ghost Mountain City, many people witnessed this scene.

Thud… crack!

An Elder directly threw the teapot in his hand, trembling as he stood up and pointed at the television screen, his white beard nearly flying off in anger. “Shameless! Utterly shameless!”

“Raymond of the Lei family, what a fine example!” A middle-aged man’s hand gripping his teacup turned pale. He raised his head and drained the tea in one gulp, two lines of tears streaming down from the corners of his eyes as he choked out, “He single-handedly dragged Ghost Mountain City into the abyss!”

Another middle-aged man, his eyes also glistening with tears, added, “Yes, he single-handedly dragged Ghost Mountain City into the abyss!”

But more people in the teahouse remained silent.

Over the past few days, they had witnessed Ghost Mountain City’s tragic state firsthand.

From the initial anger, injustice, and unwillingness, to the point where every person watching the examinees’ suffering felt their hearts bleed with helplessness, and then numbness…

“This year’s Federation Grand Examination is the most tragic one I’ve ever seen…” someone sighed.

“Forget it, this year is already over. I’m going home. I’ll watch the next one instead!”

“This year’s examinees are completely ruined!” someone stood up and left the teahouse.

Once someone took the lead, others followed.

Gradually, the once bustling teahouse grew quiet, leaving behind a mess scattered across the floor.

The teahouse owner sighed as he looked at the scene.

He couldn’t blame these people for leaving. If he weren’t the owner, he’d have wanted to slam his cup down and walk out too.

…

In one bar after another, the colorful lights were switched off. The bar owner flicked on the main lights, flooding the entire space with a bright, daylight-like glow.

“Is this Raymond really that dedicated to being someone’s lapdog?” On a sofa, a wealthy second-generation heir sneered as he watched the scene on the television screen.

Though he was a playboy, even he couldn’t stand it anymore.

A group of young men and women around him were also watching.

The situation in Ghost Mountain City these past few days had long since killed their mood for revelry. Each of them felt stifled and frustrated—even the alcohol had become hard to swallow.

This had the bar owner deeply worried. These days, he truly couldn’t even manage to sell drinks.