Chapter 1 “Ha… This is really…” Facing the palm slamming towards his face, a smile actually appeared on Link’s face.

Boom—

The next second, his head was crushed by Xiao Wen Cangtian’s palm, his skull exploding like a watermelon.

If this were a battle between players, the fight should have ended here.

But a Derivative… especially a Super Derivative like Link, things certainly wouldn't be over until he was completely annihilated.

Xiao Wen Cangtian knew this, so his offensive didn't stop.

In terms of hand-to-hand combat ability, he was undoubtedly a top expert in the game, able to tear apart a Gundam with his bare hands, let alone a standard-sized humanoid creature… that would be even easier.

In an instant, palm shadows filled the sky, and Dou Qi surged.

Xiao Wen Cangtian quickly disassembled Link's body into hundreds of meat chunks about the size of tennis balls, and while those chunks scattered and fell, he spun and leaped back, withdrawing a distance.

Kuang Zong Jianying cooperated with him very tacitly. Seeing that the Guild Leader had left him room to attack, he immediately followed up with three moves without hesitation.

As the saying goes, the eternal edge, the shadow of the sword follows the mad track, the ultimate move is like fire, Yang burns the celestial palace.

The three moves of [Four Suns Burn the Field], [Five Suns Scorch the Plains], and [Six Suns Burn the Night] were unleashed in succession, instantly burning Link's pieces of flesh to ashes, leaving no residue.

“Phew… Did it work?” Kuang Zong Jianying muttered while panting.

He had used six moves of the Nine Yang Heaven Technique in a short period, and at the same time had to use light body skills to maintain his position in the air. Physically, he was obviously a bit strained; however, after this round of attacks, he did not immediately cancel the skills.

Xiao Wen Cangtian on the other side was the same, not intending to return to the ground.

Because both he and Jian Shao were asking the same question in their hearts: “Would it be that easy?”

“Hehe… Are you thinking…” Sure enough, after a few seconds, Link's voice sounded again, “‘Would it be that easy?’”

“There!” Xiao Wen Cangtian and Kuang Zong Jianying reacted with surprising consistency, both channeling a surge of Qi towards the direction from which the voice came the moment they heard it.

However, when they looked up, preparing to attack upwards, they couldn't help but be stunned.

They saw five figures floating seven or eight meters above their heads; five identical Links, and the one speaking to them… was one of them.

“Indeed, it won’t be that easy.” Two seconds later, Link answered himself with a smile, “Let me be clear… You can’t kill me.” He spread his hands, explaining with interest, “Among the ‘Big Three’ of Origin, in terms of data strength, I should be the weakest, but even Ed cannot eliminate me.” He spoke unhurriedly, his leisurely attitude giving people a creepy feeling, “Just as my name ‘Link’ suggests, the me you ‘see’ is just one link in a chain. You cannot imagine how long this chain is.”

“The ability to create clones…” Xiao Wen Cangtian muttered after seeing this, “So, the one we just eliminated was fake.”

“These five may not be real either.” Kuang Zong Jianying replied, “Just don’t know what percentage of the main body’s strength the clones possess.”

“Clones?” Link laughed, “Hehe… You think of my abilities so superficially, it's very disappointing.”

After saying that, the “five Links” moved in response, rushing back towards Xiao Zhu and Jian Shao at the same speed.

These Links were still using simple punches and kicks, with nothing special about them. However… each of them possessed the power and speed of a first-tier Derivative of the martial arts faction.

“What’s going on?” Xiao Wen Cangtian fought against three enemies, and was shocked, “These three have the exact same physical skills. This… is just a clone?”

Not far away, Kuang Zong Jianying fought against two enemies, and after only three or four moves, he also discovered this problem.

“Could this guy’s ability be self-replication?” Jian Shao thought of this.

They were not troubled by the questions before them for too long, because they soon had no energy to think about those other things…

Even top players are not much stronger than first-tier Derivatives in terms of pure physical skills. In this one-on-two or three situation, they were bound to fall into a disadvantage.

“This won’t work! Return to the ground quickly!” Before ten moves had passed, Xiao Wen Cangtian quickly shouted at Jian Shao.

He understood that continuing to stay in the sky was very disadvantageous for them. As the saying goes, power comes from the ground. Staying in the air not only required extra physical energy, but also made it very inconvenient to borrow strength. Continuing to entangle like this was a dead end.

“Okay!” Jian Shao's aerial combat strength was average, and he was already stretched thin. Hearing this, he took advantage of the situation to sweep out a sword energy and flipped straight down while the enemy was forced back.

“Hmph… You can be considered smart.” Link, or rather, the “Links,” didn't intend to pursue the two Jianghu fighters, because at this time he had a better idea.

Two seconds later, he turned his head and said to Infinite, who was confronting Xiao Tan, “Infinite… Let’s switch.”

His words were abrupt, with only one keyword, “switch,” but Infinite understood as soon as he heard it.

“I was just thinking the same thing.” Infinite responded with a smile.

After the two finished communicating, they immediately took action. The five Links stepped into the air and turned, flying straight towards Xiao Tan; while Infinite ascended again, casting his gaze down below.

“Attention! It’s coming again!” In less than half a second, Qiufeng Se in the crowd howled, reminding everyone around him to prepare for a new round of bombardment.

How could Pikachu not be considered a strategist-level figure? He immediately realized that Link’s earlier “switch” meant that he would deal with Wang Tanzhi, who possessed the Black Flame ability, while Infinite would continue to massacre the other players—this was undoubtedly a “more efficient” and relatively “reasonable” arrangement.

For most players, Infinite's instantly cast "Snapping Bomb" was simply a nightmare; to use a fighting game move as an example, this move belonged to the type that was launched in zero frames (damage judgment began when the action was performed), a ranged, large-scale ultimate move, and the attacked party had almost no reaction time.

Of course, theoretically speaking, there was still a time difference of a few tenths of a second from when Infinite "prepared to snap his fingers" to when he "snapped them," and during this process, players could judge whether he was going to snap his fingers by observing the subtle movements of his fingers, and then make some responses.

But… even if someone could perform the above-mentioned extreme operation, he would still have to "guess" where Infinite's snap was going to detonate in order to react effectively.

Simply put, the difficulty of achieving this hypothesis was outrageously high.

Bang—

A second later, the explosion occurred again.

Qiufeng Se's reminder was timely, but it could not change the grim situation.

Along with the sound of explosions, dozens more players gloriously sacrificed themselves. Fortunately, the crowd was now relatively dispersed, or this blast would have caused over a hundred casualties.

“Hehe… Old Brother Qiufeng ah…” While the smoke had not yet cleared, Yu Zhong Ji Chang, whose leg had been blown off, just happened to crawl next to the dying Qiufeng Se, he said with a miserable smile, “Don’t waste your energy.” He shook his head, “I can’t do anything about this situation… anyway, I’ve already run out of ideas.”

“Cough… Pfft…” Qiufeng, who was lying on the ground, spat out a mouthful of blood, and then also showed a wry smile, replying, “Yeah… Knowing when to give up is also one of the basic qualities of a strategist.”

“Hmph…” At this moment, Yu Zhong Ji Chang’s expression changed slightly, “It’s a little embarrassing to say… At this time, I suddenly began to miss those guys who don’t play by the rules, never give up, and can still complain and joke in desperate situations.”

“Yeah…” Before taking his last breath, Qiufeng Se said with melancholy, “Although I don’t really like that madman who mocks people at every turn… but at this moment, I sincerely hope that that guy can come out and punish that so-called perfect lifeform in the sky… that…”

Qiufeng Se was unable to finish his words, and died due to his injuries, turning into white light in the blink of an eye.

In that last moment, his mood was regretful… The large group of surviving players, led by him and Yu Zhong Ji Chang, who had successfully resisted the redundant soldiers, had almost been wiped out in the past ten minutes. The efforts of the two strategists had been turned to nothing with just a few snaps of Infinite's fingers.

“Ah… Brother Qiufeng ah.” Looking at the gradually dissipating white light, Yu Zhong Ji Chang shook his head helplessly, “You go ahead first… I guess I’ll be there soon too.”