Chapter 1 The Battle Begins

In the mall, the screens in each broadcast zone had already started playing the battle. The commentary and subtitles, with their thunderous style, were obviously much more engaging than the drivel spouted by Pan Feng and Hua Xiong… The system's commentary was perfectly synchronized with the events unfolding and was vivid and exciting.

Among the many broadcast zones, [Feng Bujue]'s dedicated zone was surprisingly the most popular. He didn't have that many fans of his own, but he attracted a lot of neutral players who didn't have a particular favorite to watch. Furthermore… Xū Huái Shāng's fans had all gone to watch Jue-ge's match as a group.

There were two lines in a song that went: "Laughter and tears stand back to back. Love and hate, you see each other as soon as you turn your head."

After Xū Huái Shāng was eliminated, who else could her fans watch in the finals? Since their beloved goddess was out of the running, they'd go and watch that detestable fiend… see how he died.

Thus, in Jue-ge's broadcast zone, you could see a bizarre scene: a small group of people stood together holding up signs that said "The Most Insane"; another group stood far away with expressions of disgust on their faces; and in the middle, there was a large crowd of curious onlookers.

In addition, many players were watching Jue-ge's performance in the conference room. For example, the people from Red Cherry and Blade Edge studios were watching Hell Front…

…………

Back in the script.

Because the city was filled with all kinds of mutated monsters and undead, the chances of players encountering battles were quite high.

Only five or six minutes into the finals, the sounds of battle frequently erupted throughout the city. However, there were still no battles between players. This was naturally arranged by the system. To increase the watchability of the competition and reduce chance factors, the players' initial coordinates were all scattered throughout the city.

Of course, the players' performance when encountering monsters was also critical. After all, the more battles, the more consumption. In the finals, survival value replenishment agents were still unusable, which would test the players' strategies. To lose less health, they generally had to expend more stamina or use skills to solve the problem; to save stamina and ensure that certain skills didn't go on cooldown, they would likely have to consume more survival value.

In short, there were many things to consider, unless…

…………

"If I keep going forward, I'll encounter one or two monsters every five minutes on average…" Shiva muttered to himself, while manipulating the stone disk of [Heavenly Dance Hourglass] to crush the monster in front of him.

For a player of his level, killing this kind of monster was easier than breathing (and when he breathed, he had to endure a strange smell), so there was no consumption to speak of.

Shiva's level was now forty-four, ranking third on the level leaderboard. He had also unlocked six of his spiritual energy weapon's eight special abilities: "Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Sun, Moon." Only the "Wind" and "Annihilation" stone disks remained sealed.

In addition, in the [Butterfly's War] five days ago, he had finally comprehended the ability [Soul Intent]. Therefore, after the rankings were updated that day, he regained the second spot on the combat power leaderboard.

Compared to the cape battle, Shiva's strength had undoubtedly reached a new level.

However, this only made his hair stand on end… because he was still in second place.

"Traveler from another world…" A muffled voice suddenly sounded behind Shiva. "I advise you to stop here."

Shiva hadn't noticed the other party's approach at all, which startled him. However, the narration didn't kick in, indicating that they weren't in combat status, which meant… the owner of this voice wasn't hostile for the moment.

Shiva immediately turned around. What came into his view was a tall, humanoid creature. The thing was two meters tall, with a torso in the shape of an inverted triangle, covered in yellow and black mottled carapace. Its limbs were much thicker than those of ordinary humans, and the most bizarre thing was its head. It was a huge… wasp's head.

"You are…" Shiva asked tentatively. Since the other party had taken the initiative to communicate with him, it was probably an NPC.

"My name is Xiehaite." Xiehaite replied, "I am one of the Twelve Time Officers, a servant of the Lord of Time."

Shiva was naturally familiar with the Four Pillar Gods' settings, so he immediately responded, "Why do you advise me to stop?"

"Because the area ahead has been sealed off." Xiehaite said.

"By whom?" Shiva asked, "You?"

"I, and three other Time Officers." Xiehaite said. "You can detour, but do not enter…" As it spoke, it stretched out its long arms, which had many joints and bends, and lightly swiped the air with its fingertips.

Instantly, the area about several streets ahead of Shiva was covered in a layer of orange-red, hazy mist.

"...Do not enter this area." Xiehaite said.

"What's in there?" Shiva continued to ask.

Xiehaite was silent for two seconds before replying in a solemn tone, "Only danger, nothing else."

Upon hearing this, Shiva pondered for a moment, then said, "Alright, I'll detour." He really had no reason to refuse, because he was just wandering aimlessly anyway. Moreover, the Lord of Time was a lawful alignment god, so his subordinates should be relatively reliable. At least this wasp-man didn't attack him directly like a monster.

"You'd better leave quickly." As Xiehaite said this, it turned around, facing away from the area covered by the orange mist, and toward the street in front of it, which was emitting a rotten smell. "Some troublesome things are coming…"

Shiva was still pondering the meaning of the other party's words when suddenly, a white pulse beam as thick as a bowl came crashing from a great distance, striking Xiehaite's body directly. The latter reacted with lightning speed, extending its two long arms forward and intertwining them into a twisted braid; then, it opened its palms, and a lotus of light bloomed in front of its palms.

Xiehaite used the lotus as a shield to block the pulse. A second later, the beam slammed into the lotus petals made of energy. Xiehaite stood firmly, not retreating a single step. The pulse was blocked by the lotus of light and scattered into seven or eight smaller beams, which bounced off in all directions and swept across the surrounding buildings. For a time, the outer walls of the buildings on both sides of the street collapsed as if they had been shelled, and a viscous, fishy-smelling yellow liquid flowed out of the corrupted walls…

Seeing this scene, Shiva couldn't help but gasp. His own [Heavenly Dance Hourglass] also used beam attacks, but compared to what he was seeing, it was nothing.

"There are such strong creatures in this script…" Shiva's scare value quietly increased, and a strong desire to escape was burning within him. "This is no place to stay for long… No matter what that attacker is, its target isn't me anyway. There's no need for me to get involved in their NPC battle." With this thought, he wanted to turn around and leave.

Unexpectedly…

"Oh… That's amazing." A youth with messy red hair and a smile on his face stood at the intersection on Shiva's side at some unknown time.

He wore a white suit coat, and his guild badge was a white balance scale against a sea-blue background. On the back of his coat were the two words "Order."

"Swallowing Sky Ghost Brave…" By the time Shiva realized who this was, his scare value had reached 70%.

"When did he get here… Why hasn't he attacked me? Is he wary of my strength?" Several questions flashed through Shiva's mind, but on the surface, he tried his best to remain calm and said calmly to Ghost Brave, "I didn't expect to encounter you as the first player in the finals." He paused. "Well… We're going to have a battle sooner or later anyway, so why not…"

"Can anything you have to say wait for later?" Ghost Brave interrupted him rudely, his eyes fixed in one direction from beginning to end. "A super strong guy is coming…"

Seeing that this brat didn't take him seriously at all, Shiva couldn't help but feel annoyed. However, the battle next door was indeed very concerning…

But then, a figure slowly walked out from the direction the pulse was fired from.

Data Identification:

——Breaking through the firewall...

——Downloading data...

——Starting counter-strategy...

Appearance identification database started, downloading, writing modification writing writing.

[Name: Xiehaite]

[Faction: Lord of Time]

[Race: Hexapod Star Person]

[Level: ???]

[Height: 203 cm]

[Weight: 500 kg]

[Combat Style: Energy Manipulation, ???]

[Skills: Light Lotus Shield, ???]

[Danger Level: Medium]

Voice recognition: Established.

Location: y-090.

Tracking: Unable to start.

Control Status: Out of control.

Tactical control options: Calculating...

"This is really a headache…" The derivative approaching, who appeared to be a man about 1.9 meters tall, seemed to be covered in glowing armor, and his voice had a chime-like rhythm to it. "There are twelve of these levels of guys…"

When he got closer, Shiva could see clearly that the newcomer wasn't wearing glowing armor, but rather armor that blocked the light… Every inch of this strange creature's skin was glowing, making him a true "light person."

"A derivative…" Swallowing Sky Ghost Brave stared intently at the other party and pondered, "Looks like level two, but… something's strange."

"Oh? You know quite a bit." The light person heard Ghost Brave's words and turned his head to say, "Even though you're just a player…"

"Actually, I don't know much." Ghost Brave sneered, "I said… I 'see' it."

"Hmph…" The light person glanced at Ghost Brave again and didn't say anything more, because he was in a hurry. He then refocused his gaze on Xiehaite. "I suppose… you won't let me pass unless I kill you?"

"My lord has ordered, do not let…"

Chi——

Before Xiehaite could finish speaking, a pulse suddenly struck.