“Tch… so it really is Order Team One… even their captain is down.”

Shortly after, Doomsday Assault and Final Assault, at another location in the Stone Gorge, learned of Xian Ye Wei Wang's death through the game menu.

“Counting Fei Kou, who died five minutes ago…” Doomsday Assault muttered, “We’ve already lost two on our side. The situation isn’t looking good…”

“Mm… I wonder if the captain and Fei Kou managed to take down any of the enemy before they died,” Final Assault replied. “If the other three are still alive, then the two of us…”

“Don’t worry, they did kill one.” At that moment, a third voice joined their conversation.

The Assault duo knew that their teammates were all dead in this script, so the speaker was most likely one of their opponents. Hearing the voice, they reacted swiftly, leaping sideways to create some distance between each other and assuming a defensive stance.

“Quick reactions,” Tun Tian Gui Xiao said, descending from the sky and landing in front of them. “And… more composed than I expected.”

In Thriller Paradise, this teenager with wild, unkempt red hair, a frenzied expression, and the aura of a living Yaksha was already a well-known figure.

However, for the Corpse Blades duo, this was their first time meeting Gui Xiao himself in a script.

“Judging by your imposing presence…” Final Assault said gravely, looking at Gui Xiao, “You must be the legendary…”

“Alright, alright…” Gui Xiao didn't let him finish. “I’m just a dropout working at a game studio.” His gaze swept over their expressionless faces. “If I have any outstanding qualities… it’s just that I’m a little better at gaming.” He paused. “At least I don’t need drugs to stabilize my emotions and boost my reaction speed.”

“We don’t know what you’re talking about,” Doomsday Assault said in a deep voice.

“Oh… so this is the excuse your studio’s PR department came up with? Don’t know?” Gui Xiao replied with an ambivalent tone. “Heh… I guess I know why your studio has such a bad image and reputation.”

“Enough with the nonsense!” Final Assault didn't want to discuss this topic further and immediately shouted, “Let’s fight!”

“That’s right…” Doomsday Assault also wore a fierce expression (at least he tried his best to). “Don’t think that just because you’re ranked number one on the player leaderboard, you can take on…”

“Are you misunderstanding something?” Gui Xiao interrupted again, his eyes sharp as he coldly replied, “I never said I was going to fight two of you alone.”

“What did you say?” Final Assault seemed to catch some information from his words and immediately shifted his gaze, scanning the surroundings warily.

“My teammates aren’t here, and that’s not what I meant,” Gui Xiao saw through his thoughts and continued, “Let me explain the current situation to you…” He paused briefly. “First, your team's Fei Kou Wei Wang used some means… to successfully take out our team’s Zui Wo Chang Ran in a mutual kill. Second, your Xian Ye Wei Wang was just killed by our team’s Meng Jing Chan. Counting Sheng Yu Pian, who you two worked together to eliminate not long ago, the current combat strength on both sides is exactly two-on-two. However, Chan-ge is very far from here, so you two don't have to worry about him suddenly ambushing you.”

The Assault duo listened to Gui Xiao's explanation with a mixture of belief and doubt… because they couldn't understand how he had obtained this information.

According to the rules, in this preliminary round, players could only see the status of their own teammates in the team panel, and regarding the enemy team's information… apart from the team name (assuming they hadn’t used the privacy protection function to hide their team name), nothing else was known.

But now, Gui Xiao accurately reported the IDs and death times of the other two deceased members of Corpse Blades First Team, and even knew who they had fought. This situation usually meant two possibilities: first, Gui Xiao's reconnaissance abilities were very strong; second, Gui Xiao's ability to deceive was very strong.

“You two don’t seem to believe what I’m saying, do you?” Gui Xiao continued when he saw that they didn’t respond. “Indeed, normally, there’s no reason for me to tell you this. Reporting my own teammates’ deaths like this makes it seem like I’m playing some kind of trick.” He smiled. “Heh… of course, you can think whatever you want. My ‘frankness’ isn’t the point.”

Gui Xiao's tone was relaxed from beginning to end, which put a lot of pressure on them. “The point is…” He shrugged and spread his hands. “To be honest… I haven’t fought ‘players’ in a long time.” He didn’t seem to be joking at all when he said this, and that… was what made it so chilling. “Since reaching max level, competing with players has become very boring for me. Let alone one-on-two, even one-on-ten or one-on-a-hundred… is the same to me. No matter how many small fries come… it’s meaningless. If you want to have an ‘equal’ match with me, you’d need at least seven players from the top thirty of the strength rankings to team up. And you…” He looked at the Assault duo with extreme contempt. “…obviously don’t meet that requirement.”

“Hmph… that’s the funniest joke I’ve ever heard.” After a few seconds, Final Assault forced a sneer and said, “One-on-a-hundred? Are you crazy… even if a professional player is fighting a noob at the same level, being able to 1v5 is already the limit; one-on-ten is bullshit!”

“That’s right!” Doomsday Assault chimed in. “Also… if a player is fighting two opponents of similar strength on the strength rankings at the same time (because the player base is huge, there are many people who are judged by the system to be close in strength; this ‘similar’ usually refers to the range of about twenty places up or down on the list), they’re usually already stretched thin. And you’re saying… you need seven players from the top thirty of the strength rankings to team up to fight you? Hmph…” He snorted coldly. “Kid… if you’re bluffing, then you’re exaggerating way too much; and if you’re serious… then I advise you—there’s a limit to how arrogant you can be!”

“Heh…” Gui Xiao smiled disdainfully after hearing their words. “Your reactions are the same as most people’s, but I don’t blame you…” As he spoke, a glimmer of light flashed in his eyes. “Human minds are always trapped by what they know and understand, and they self-righteously reject the unknown with a brutal refusal.”

As he said this, a stream of white data light gathered behind Gui Xiao and quickly solidified into a strange black creature.

It was a giant monster, two and a half meters tall, with a horse’s head and a human body. It wore a full set of black armor, a giant sword at its waist, and its exposed head and neck were the head of a black-maned horse; it had ten fingers on its gauntleted hands, but its lower legs were still a pair of giant hooves.

“So that’s it…” Final Assault said when he saw the monster, “Using a summon to make up for the disadvantage in numbers…”

“To be precise, it’s called a ‘stand’,” Gui Xiao corrected. “Let me introduce you…” He raised a hand and gestured toward the monster. “This is my stand—Ta Ye (Night Treader).”

“What ‘stand,’ it’s still just a summon,” Doomsday Assault said. “Even an S-rank summon can’t possibly be a match for professional players like us.”

“Is that so…” Gui Xiao said, simply sitting down on a rock and putting on a show. “Then you can try it out.” He put his hands behind his head, leaned back against the stone pillar, and looked up at the sky, muttering, “Although it was a little injured when it fought ‘Tian Shi’ earlier, it should be enough to deal with you two in this state.”

“Tian Shi…” Final Assault hesitated for a few seconds, then remembered the identity of that name. “Are you talking about Tian Shi (Celestial Stone), the First Time Officer under the Time Lord?”

By now, information about the Four Pillar Gods and their twelve Time Officers, the Nine Nether Sovereigns, the Jury, and the Chaos Demon Generals had already been compiled by players on the forums, and some had even speculated about the various plots and personnel changes that these NPCs had experienced in the main world, and had organized a corresponding timeline… so it was normal for Final Assault to know Tian Shi’s name.

“Ah… that’s him,” Gui Xiao replied weakly. “After entering this script, I noticed that a rather high-level entity was not far from our battlefield, so I went to visit him alone. I didn’t expect… that he would show obvious hostility as soon as he saw me.” He licked his lips. “This Time Officer is very strong and has nearly fifty Stone Soldiers assisting him. I had to summon [Ta Ye], [Undertaker], and [Water Demon] all at once to subdue him.”

“You… what did you say…” Even though he was on drugs, Doomsday Assault felt his hair stand on end after hearing this. “You used three summons to subdue the First Time Officer…”

“I’ll correct you one more time…” Gui Xiao interrupted. “I have one ‘stand,’ two ‘shikigami,’ and three ‘thought beasts,’ but they’re not the same concept as the ‘summons’ you know at all. You’d better not confuse them, or else…” He snapped his fingers. “…you’ll pay the price.”

At the moment his fingers snapped, “Ta Ye”… moved!

Who would have thought that this gigantic stand would have such astonishing speed? It raised its giant sword and charged straight at Final Assault. Its power was no less than that of a Grade A player specializing in combat.