He sped along that road, Name Really Hard to Come Up With, having been running for seven or eight minutes without realizing it.

During his retreat, he did not forget to use various special ammunition to destroy the surrounding terrain in an effort to slow down his pursuers.

However, his efforts… did not buy him much time. In the end, Sashimi managed to close the gap to within thirty meters of him in less than ten minutes.

Xiao Ming knew very well that as soon as the distance narrowed by a few more meters, his opponent might start using skills. If he continued to run with his back to the enemy like this, he would be preemptively attacked sooner or later.

Therefore, at what he considered to be an opportune moment, he suddenly pulled a smoke grenade from his knapsack and hurled it violently to the ground…

The gray smoke suddenly spread, instantly covering a radius of more than ten meters and continuing to expand.

“So, he’s decided to fight me…” Sashimi thought as he plunged into the smoke without hesitation, “But ‘smoke grenades’ have virtually no effect on me…”

[Name: Bass Zone]

[Skill Card Attribute: Passive Skill, Permanently Learned]

[Skill Category: Spiritual Art]

[Effect: When this skill is equipped, a spherical area with a radius of 7.4 meters centered on the player will be regarded as the “Bass Zone”; the effective range of the Bass Zone can be limited by solid walls (such as walls, floors, ceilings, etc.); non-solid attacks and negative effects (such as flames, cold currents, beams, toxic gases, etc.) entering the Bass Zone will be buffered and eliminated, unless their power exceeds the Bass Zone's limit.]

[Learning Requirements: Spiritual Art Specialization A]

[Remarks: It was probably a few years ago, on a weekend night, I went to the Superheroes Bar for a drink. I overheard the bartender saying that there was a guy on Earth called the Flash who could escape from being frozen by vibrating his body at a high frequency. I bet him that if it were me, I could even shatter concrete. You all know what happened after that. That’s right, I’m Vibration Man, whose whole body turned gray from cement poisoning. My special skill, “Bass Zone,” can even shatter cement.]

Although the remarks for this skill seemed to describe a rather sad story, that was not the point…

The point was that, thanks to the special effect of [Bass Zone], Sashimi could move freely through the smoke without wearing a breathing mask. In addition, his ability to identify sounds made visual obstructions almost meaningless.

“As expected… he jumped into the air…” Two seconds later, Sashimi stopped because he had determined Xiao Ming’s movements through the sound of his feet hitting the ground and the sound of his body cutting through the air. “He’s planning to use the smoke to buy himself a few seconds, and then launch a non-differentiated attack with a wide range and considerable power from the air…”

After thinking for half a second, Sashimi’s mind came up with a term he had read in an analysis report – [Ice Crystal Bombardment].

“Not a bad idea…” Sashimi thought to himself, “Even if this move doesn’t kill me, it can give me a slowing deBuff, which will give him an advantage in the upcoming battle.” Thinking of this, he steadied himself, raised one hand to the sky without even looking up, “Too bad… you won’t have a chance to use this move…”

Buzz—

The next second, an invisible force was released from Sashimi’s fingertips and shot into the sky.

Although he did not use his sight to confirm, his [Subsonic Finger] accurately hit Name Really Hard to Come Up With’s torso, causing Xiao Ming, who was charging up his attack, to spit out blood and fall backward.

Before long, the smoke dissipated. Name Really Hard to Come Up With could be seen kneeling on one knee, frantically dealing with his wounds; while ten meters away, Sashimi stood there unharmed, looking at his opponent with his usual calm gaze and sighing softly, “Alas… although your personal skill is first-rate, your studio’s logistical support is still too poor.” He shook his bowl-cut head and continued in a regretful tone, “Judging from your reaction, your pre-match intelligence gathering is completely unequal to ours.”

As he spoke, Sashimi took a silver, hand-held megaphone from his knapsack and put it to his mouth, “Sorry… see you later.”

This… was undoubtedly Sashimi’s “killing declaration.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he opened his mouth and roared, launching a sonic attack skill through his special weapon, [Throat Destroyer] – [Roar That Gets Restless When the Enemy Has Less Than Fourteen Health].

However, this move did not end Xiao Ming’s life as expected.

Because…

“Don’t even think about it!” Suddenly, a loud shout came, and a figure arrived with it, blocking Sashimi’s skill’s trajectory.

In that flash of lightning, the newcomer had successfully used a large shield to withstand Sashimi’s skill, and he had not retreated a step and was calm and composed.

“How is that possible…” Seeing this, a look of surprise appeared on Sashimi’s habitually wooden face, and he could not help but think in his heart, “This is an A-level skill that has been enhanced with special equipment… and he blocked it so easily?”

Chi—

As the saying goes, just as Sashimi was still in shock, another figure suddenly appeared and swung a club down at the back of his head.

Sashimi immediately dodged to the side, but because his reaction was a little slow, the tip of the club still brushed his arm, scraping a contusion on the outside of his arm.

“Tsk… as expected of one of the Zui Sheng Meng Si, he can still dodge…” The person holding the club missed his sneak attack, but he did not chase after him. He just watched Sashimi’s figure flash away and muttered.

“You…” A few seconds later, Sashimi had flashed more than ten meters away. He stopped again and looked back at the three of them. “…When did you get so close?”

“Hahahaha…” [Name Really Hard To] holding the large shield, stood up straight, laughed a few times, and continued, “Since you sincerely asked…”

“We will answer you with great mercy!” [Really Hard To Name] poked the club on the ground, and then continued.

“In order to prevent the world from being destroyed.”

“In order to maintain world peace.”

The two of them said here, then stopped, turned to look at Name Really Hard to Come Up With.

Xiao Ming did not answer them, but asked with a rather strange expression: “Hey, hey… I also want to ask, how did you guys get here? Didn’t you and Jibu go to ambush the other members of Order?”

“That was a lie to you.” Lao Qu replied.

“The real plan is…” Brother Zhen continued, “To use you as bait to ambush Sashimi.”

“Huh?” Xiao Ming was shocked when he heard this. He was stunned for a full five seconds before he continued, “I don’t mind being used as bait, but you should have told me in advance!”

“If we had notified you in advance…” Lao Qu shrugged and replied, “There would have been a certain risk.”

Brother Zhen also nodded and said: “Sashimi’s reconnaissance ability allows him to ‘hear’ conversations from a very long distance. If you accidentally revealed our plan in an unintentional soliloquy, it would be troublesome.”

“Even if you don’t reveal any flaws in your language, your performance when you ‘know you are bait’ and ‘don’t know you are bait’ will definitely be different.” Lao Qu continued, “For the sake of safety, it’s better to use the strategy of ‘fooling our own people before fooling the enemy.’”

“Damn…” Xiao Ming was more and more shocked as he listened. “What’s going on? When did you guys come up with such a sinister plan?”

“In fact… we didn’t plan anything.” Lao Qu replied.

Brother Zhen continued: “We only found out after we entered the scenario… Three hours before the match, Feng Bujue asked our captain out and filled him with a stomach full of bad ideas…”

…………

On the other hand, in the Akakazura Forest Valley.

“Your problem… is overconfidence.” Jibu was saying to the three members of Order in a rather triumphant tone, “Since the preliminary round, you have known that every match you have played has a video recording, but you have not made any misleading moves in the match.” He looked at Swallow the Heavens Ghost Warrior, “For example, you… in the scenario, as long as you have a chance, you will definitely hunt down the ‘Time Official’; and in the rematch stage, all the match maps are generated in the main universe, so your behavior pattern is even more obvious…”

“Hmph… so what?” Gui Xiao snorted coldly, his eyes full of arrogance, “Don’t mention my action patterns… even if my data is completely and publicly displayed in front of everyone, who can beat me?”

“Hmph…” Jibu also snorted coldly, ignored the other party’s words, and continued, “It is because of your obvious behavior pattern that your teammates and you have fallen into the trap together.”

Don’t look at Jin Fugui’s glib tongue, but in reality… most of his lines were repeating Brother Jue’s original words.

Obviously, long before this match began, Brother Jue had already laid out a grand scheme both inside and outside the scenario—

First, through Billy (at the end of the *Ultimate Rescue* scenario), he contacted Zhuan Xie Zun and Dian He Wang, who had long been in cahoots with him (they had reached a consensus at the end of *Terror Nursery Rhymes*), so that these two大佬 who could travel freely in the main universe could be ready whenever he needed them.

Then, he used the power of the Illusory Demon Church to set up “regional-type magic arrays” similar to this one in many places in the main universe, ready for use at any time. Since this kind of magic array was specially used to deal with “travelers from another world,” the local natives would not care much even if they found it.

Then, it was waiting, waiting for Order’s team to meet a strong team in the knockout stage.

As a result… the team he waited for was Ice Emperor.

This can be considered fate. Brother Jue and Jin Fugui have a pretty good relationship. Compared to other large studios, he is indeed more willing to help Ice Emperor.

So, the day before the fourth round of the rematch, Feng Bujue solo-queued several ordinary difficulty single-player scenarios and successfully contacted his cronies in a scenario set in the main universe. He made arrangements up and down…

The next day, Brother Jue met with Jibu and told him… “I have set up a net in the main universe to help you,” and gave Ice Emperor the detailed information of each member of Order’s team, along with twelve mature response plans. After entering the scenario, Jibu only needs to choose one to implement according to the actual situation…

After some consideration, Jibu still accepted Brother Jue’s help. Now he is much more mature than when he first entered the game half a year ago. As a studio boss and the leader of a team, he can completely put down his stubborn self-esteem for the benefit of the team.

Of course, Jibu was also a little scared about this matter… because Feng Bujue’s twelve plans not only showed that he had done thorough research on Order’s team, but also showed that he knew Ice Emperor’s information like the back of his hand…

In short, after the two teams of players entered the scenario, Dian He Wang immediately contacted the members of Ice Emperor and informed them of Order’s movements. And Jibu also chose a corresponding plan according to Order’s troop deployment; after Xiao Ming, who was used as bait, was diverted, he told Brother Zhen and Lao Qu the real plan and Sashimi’s various weaknesses.

Then, there was that scene not long ago…

In fact, Lao Qu and Brother Zhen had already been waiting in the dark. They all understood that it was unlikely that Sashimi could be ambushed when he activated his wide-area [Heavenly Hearing]. Once he noticed that there were three enemies present, he would retreat immediately. Therefore, Lao Qu and Brother Zhen stayed put in the distance, and only after Xiao Ming began to run away did they tentatively make some noise.

About five minutes later, they completely determined… that Sashimi had locked his [Heavenly Hearing] ability on Xiao Ming. And when Sashimi did this, his capture of other sounds around him would be reduced to an average level. At this time, Lao Qu and Brother Zhen had the opportunity to approach… With a shield made of sound-absorbing steel (vibranium) material, coupled with the advantage in numbers, it was a sure thing to take down Sashimi.

“If nothing unexpected happens, your vice-captain will be killed soon.”

In the forest valley, Jibu’s words continued: “In this match… our Ice Emperor will be the first to take a city without ceremony.”

“Ah~ whatever…” At this time, Drunken Lying Regretfully rubbed the back of his neck, “I don’t care what you guys are doing, and I don’t bother to figure out these traps, tests, and other broken things…” He lifted his sleeves and raised his hand in a “please” gesture, “In short, if you want to win, just moving your mouths is not enough.” His demeanor revealed the ease and detachment of a master, “Come on, let’s see if we die here, or if you will be beaten to death by us.”

“Hmph… you’re thinking too much, right?” Dian He Wang sneered and glanced at Jibu, “Even if this kid doesn’t make a move, your chances of survival are slim…”

“Absurd.” Wu Si Can Xuan said this, and had already taken out his main weapons from his knapsack – two spray paint cans, “Do you think you are a Four Pillars God?”

“Maybe I’m not as strong as a Four Pillars God.” Dian He Wang said, “But you in the ‘array’ are probably not as powerful as you think…” He paused, “Also… have you forgotten something?”

As soon as these words came out, the expressions of the three members of Order changed.

“That’s right…” The next second, another unfamiliar voice floated from the forest valley, “Aren’t you here to kill me, this ‘Time Official’? How could you forget me?”