Chapter 1 The “Lieutenant General” Battle

After winning the first two matches, the pressure on the members of Hell Front had basically dissipated. Barring any surprises, they would advance from the first round with a score of three to zero after this "Lieutenant General" battle.

On the other side, the members of the Super Monster Team looked quite nervous...

The reason for their nervousness wasn't concern that their team would lose the next match, but rather worry that... until they lost, Xu Huaisang wouldn't play.

A large part of the reason the Super Monster Team hadn't forfeited today was because... the entire team were fans of Xu Huaisang.

While they couldn't be considered "Xu Huaisang Guard" level stalker-fans, they were definitely qualified to be called "die-hard fans"; to have the opportunity to play against their idol in a competition of this caliber, the Peak Tournament S3... they naturally didn't want to miss it.

Indeed, judging from the content of the first two matches, the seven members of the Super Monster Team felt despair at the difference in strength, but that was something they had expected... they had long been prepared to be swept three times.

However, if they lost without even seeing Xu Huaisang, they would find it very difficult to accept.

For the sake of fairness, the Super Monster Team had even deliberately used rock-paper-scissors before the match to determine their own lineup, so that... no matter who Xu Huaisang became the opponent of, the others would have no complaints, since it all depended on luck.

However, right now, the first two matches had already ended...

In the first match, after Red King stepped onto the stage, his enthusiasm for battle was extinguished by more than half when he saw that the opponent was Snow. Under the same conditions, if Xu Huaisang had been his opponent, let alone riding a motorcycle to escape... even if she took off in a rocket, Red King would have chased after her regardless of stamina; but against Snow... he'd rather not.

Then, in the second match, Jetton and Bemular stepped onto the stage and discovered that Hell Front still hadn't sent out Goddess Xu, but instead sent a husband-and-wife combo; they truly felt... "How much sorrow do I have, just like two single dogs"... In any case, they fought with all their strength and were quickly killed.

In the blink of an eye, they were at match point. According to the lineup submitted before the match, the Super Monster Team sent out a player specializing in reconnaissance for the "Lieutenant General" battle – [Baltan].

Everyone knew in their hearts that this was likely to be the last contest of the night, so for the Super Monster Team, this was also their last chance to see Goddess Xu play.

...

"My name is Lin... never mind, the name doesn't matter.

"I'm just a supporting character, an extra.

"My mind and appearance are both very ordinary, I'm destined to be born ordinary and die ordinary, that's my life.

"However, because of a game of rock-paper-scissors, my world has become radiant!

"To have a one-on-one duel with Xu Huaisang on the S3 stage, with this memory... I can live out my life in peace."

The above was the inner monologue of the Baltan guy after he was teleported to the arena and saw Xu Huaisang standing across the barrier.

Since there was only thirty seconds of preparation time, by the time his psychological activities ended, the system was almost starting to count down.

And Xu Huaisang, facing the fanboy-like gaze, appeared very calm. After all, being looked at with this kind of gaze could be said to be her daily routine...

As one of the strongest fighting specialists in the game, Xu Huaisang naturally didn't need to retreat at the start... she just stood in place, quietly waiting for the barrier to disappear.

[Five... four... three...]

Just as the system counted down to "three", suddenly, Ruo Yu, who was in the viewing space, gazed at the battlefield and said three words: "It's over."

When she said this, even Feng Bujue didn't understand... why Ruo Yu would use such a confident tone to predict that the opponent would be instantly killed before the official start of the fight.

But three seconds later, when the isolation barrier disappeared with the system's "fight", things... did happen as Ruo Yu said.

In that instant, Xu Huaisang's position on the arena suddenly changed.

Her movements were swift, nimble, light, and rapid...

While people's gazes were still lingering on the place where she originally stood, looking at her afterimage, she had already arrived at another place, standing silently.

The wind blew.

Xu Huaisang's sleeves fluttered in the wind, and her beautiful hair also fluttered lightly.

Her jade-like hands quickly moved away from the hilt of her blade.

This... was not something to be amazed at; what was puzzling was not when her hands left the blade, but when her hands grasped the blade.

Was it during the system countdown? Was it when the barrier disappeared? Or was it during her movement?

At least no one in the Super Monster Team had the dynamic vision to see it.

Of course, this answer was already secondary.

What was truly terrifying was that – since she had now released the hand holding the blade, it meant that she had already... drawn her blade.

*Poof—*

*Hiss—*

A second later, two strange sounds were heard.

"Eh? I..." Baltan, still standing in place and unaware of what had happened, suddenly felt the scenery in his sight spinning and moving, eventually stopping at a "horizontal" angle, with half of the ground tiles and half of the sky in his eyes.

Then, he saw a headless corpse dressed exactly like him, slowly falling down from a standing position...

It wasn't until he watched the recording later that Baltan suddenly realized that the legendary "sword technique so fast that you don't even feel yourself being cut" existed, and he had personally experienced it in the game...

...

At the same time, in the viewing space, Feng Bujue immediately turned his head to Ruo Yu and said, "Interesting... How did you know this would happen?"

"I naturally saw it," Ruo Yu replied calmly.

"Oh? Could it be that you've mastered the ability to... 'see a few seconds into the future'?" Feng Bujue asked again.

Ruo Yu shook her head, "I don't have that ability. I just saw Shang Shang's move and made a judgment."

"Oh?" Feng Bujue asked curiously, "Did she activate any skills before the barrier disappeared? I didn't see it. There were no changes in data or energy."

"It's not a skill, it's a technique," Ruo Yu replied, "At that time... she looked like she was just standing there, but in reality, she had already entered a special 'relaxed' state; unlike generally relaxing the body, this is an advanced technique that requires a lot of training to hone... After mastering it, the next action performed in the 'relaxed' state can be given amazing explosive power.

"A waiting situation like that was a good opportunity to use this move; considering that the opponent still hadn't moved with three seconds left and was standing within the range of the arena... I could naturally determine that once the barrier disappeared, he would be instantly killed with one strike."

Hearing this, including Feng Bujue, the others in Hell Front deeply felt the power of these two heroines in their team; to be honest, even if Feng Bujue were up there, he would be in danger against this kind of method that even "data vision" couldn't prevent.

"Well... there's still one thing I don't understand." At this time, Xu Huaisang spoke thoughtfully; she had been teleported back to the viewing space when Ruo Yu was halfway through her explanation, although she hadn't heard Feng Bujue's question, she could roughly guess the context.

"Hey hey... you're asking me, the person involved?" Ruo Yu narrowed her eyes and put on a "Feng Bujue face" to retort.

"The bystander sees the game," Xu Huaisang looked at Ruo Yu's expression, smiled knowingly, and continued, "I just want to ask... How did you know that my strike would definitely be an 'instant kill'? If the opponent also has S-level fighting specialization and is skilled in speed, there's still a chance to avoid a vital point, isn't there?"

"Hmm..." Ruo Yu thought for a while, "This... I can't explain it clearly. I just saw him standing there and knew that he definitely couldn't dodge."

"Oh, I know the reason for that," Feng Bujue said.

"I don't even know myself, and you know?" Ruo Yu also asked curiously.

"The bystander sees the game," Feng Bujue then imitated Xu Huaisang's tone and said with a smile to Ruo Yu, "But it's a bit complicated to explain, I'll tell everyone when we get back to the conference room later."

Feng Bujue really knew about this. As early as before S2 (Chapter 653 has relevant content), he had noticed that... Ruo Yu possessed an ability similar to the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception; this was not Soul Intent, not a skill... but a talent of her own, just like Feng Bujue's "Paradox of Truth", which could also be used in the real world.

Now, Ruo Yu's ability was obviously stronger than before, so she could even perceive things that Feng Bujue couldn't see through, such as the fact that Xu Huaisang used the "relaxed" technique just now, which only Ruo Yu could see.

...

[Match Over]

The system prompt finally arrived five minutes after Xu Huaisang completed the instant kill.

[Final Score: Three to Zero]

[Winning Team: Hell Front]

[Teleportation will begin in thirty seconds]

Just like that, Thriller Paradise, the first round of the Peak Tournament S3, Hell Front passed through safely and without any danger.

The score was a clean sweep, with zero casualties; apart from the first match, the other two... the mid-tier battle was finished in three minutes, and the "Lieutenant General" battle was an instant kill, setting the fastest kill record in the first round.

With such an impressive record, in theory, countless media outlets should have written news reports within two hours, adding a title like "Defending Champion Advances with a Crush" to seize various headlines.

However, that didn't happen...

Because, compared to this battle where the defending champion with overwhelming strength beat a casual player, there was a more noteworthy and extremely exciting match in the first round that hadn't finished yet.

Seeing this, perhaps some people have already guessed who the two sides in that duel were...

That's right, it's [Order] and [Deities].

Whether it was fate or the machinations of creation, these two teams were matched against each other in the first round of this S3.

Needless to say, this was bound to be an earth-shattering battle.