Chapter 2 A Flash of Understanding

The moment Dang Jin Chuan Yi transformed into white light and returned to the login space, apart from Oda Ai, who was still squatting in the corner drawing circles, the Warring States team… including Jin Chuan Yi himself, were all in a state of confusion.

They remained silent in this strange atmosphere for about ten seconds…

Ten seconds later, Jin Chuan Yi seemed to suddenly understand something, and his expression changed drastically in an instant. His face turned pale, and he broke out in a cold sweat once again.

Seeing this, Sasaki Ming, who had also just recovered, asked, “I say… what’s going on? How exactly did you die?”

“I…” Jin Chuan Yi’s voice trembled, “I activated the [Killing Intent Fluctuation Sealing Scroll]…”

“What?” When Takeda Tomokazu heard these words, he almost jumped up, “You actually used the secret weapon?”

“Hold on, hold on…” Sasaki waved his hand, signaling Takeda not to get angry yet. “Jin Chuan…” He then looked at Jin Chuan Yi again, his expression grave, and continued, “I completely understand your mentality in using the scroll. To be honest… it’s definitely worth using this item on Bi Lao Shi, but the problem is…” As he spoke, he glanced at the battlefield, “Why is it that you were the one who died in the end, even after using the scroll?”

“Hoo…” Jin Chuan Yi took a deep breath, as if trying to suppress the fear in his heart, but his voice was still shaking. “The principle of that scroll… don’t you all know it?”

As soon as these words came out, the faces of the Warring States team members all changed color.

They had naturally all read the item description of that secret weapon, and they had also seen the scene on the field just now—Bi Lao Shi simply walked up to Jin Chuan Yi at a leisurely pace, raised a hand, and threw a seemingly ordinary straight punch. As a result, at the moment Jin Chuan Yi was hit by the punch, a purplish-black energy suddenly appeared and devoured him completely.

“In other words…” Sasaki Ming thought for a few seconds and said, “Just as his fist was about to hit you, you activated the [Killing Intent Fluctuation Sealing Scroll], but… the ‘Killing Intent Fluctuation’ that was released ended up devouring you instead?”

“Ah… that’s right.” Jin Chuan Yi replied weakly.

“How is that possible?” Uesugi Ren questioned, “Could it be that the killing intent and aura released by Bi Lao Shi when attacking you were not as strong as yours, who was passively counterattacking?”

“Hmm… that’s indeed unreasonable…” Sasaki Ming also pondered, “Even if Bi Lao Shi somehow foresaw Jin Chuan’s intentions in advance and knew the effect of the scroll, but in order to use the power of the scroll to kill Jin Chuan in return… he would have to do something like ‘almost completely abandon the killing intent when attacking, and greatly restrain his aura’…” Sasaki shook his head, “Impossible, right… I can’t do it anyway.”

Hearing this, Akechi Nobunari also said, “I can restrain my killing intent deliberately… but in a life-or-death battle, to walk to a place so close to the enemy and lower one’s qi even lower than the opponent… that’s like putting your hand into a blender connected to a power source… Even if I force myself ideologically, my fighting instinct won’t allow my body to do that.”

“Could it be…” At this moment, the upright Uesugi Ren said a very dangerous line, “…is it because Bi Lao Shi’s combat power is extremely low, so the killing intent and aura when he attacks are not as strong as Jin Chuan’s, who is preparing to use an item to counterattack?”

After the words fell, silence descended again.

“Pfft…” After a few seconds, Takeda Tomokazu was the first to laugh, “Ren-chan, are you stupid from practicing swords? The hidden score of the kind of person you’re talking about must be below fifty, right? I’m afraid you can’t find even one such person among all the players participating in S3, can you?”

“Yeah, we’re talking about an unfathomable monster on the same level as Gui Xiao.” Akechi Nobunari echoed, “The guess that ‘combat power is extremely low’ is too outrageous.”

“Hmm… that’s right.” Uesugi Ren nodded. Although she was a very serious person in everything, she was very easily persuaded.

“Then…” At this moment, Date Makoto, who had been standing by and watching coldly without speaking, suddenly interjected loudly, “There is only one possibility…” He paused, looking at Jin Chuan Yi, “I don’t mean to offend you, but… judging from Jin Chuan-san’s expression, he should already know the truth.”

“Ah…” Jin Chuan Yi’s face was ashen as he replied in a deep voice, “Actually, things are very simple…” He looked up and swept his teammates, asking a question that didn’t need to be answered, “When you step on an ant, do you generate ‘killing intent’?”

As soon as he said this, everyone suddenly understood.

But what followed was an indescribable fear.

“Similarly…” Jin Chuan looked at Akechi Nobunari again, “When you step on an ant, you won’t have the feeling of ‘putting your hand into a blender connected to a power source’, right?”

This question… also didn’t need to be answered.

Seeing that no one spoke for a long time, Jin Chuan Yi continued, “That’s the thing…

“No matter how I consider it… ‘knowing the special effects of our secret weapon in advance, guessing that the item is on me, and also discerning my intention to use it’… these harsh multiple assumptions are not very realistic.

“Although I don’t want to admit it, the other party undoubtedly attacked me in a state of zero killing intent, without knowing anything about the [Killing Intent Fluctuation Sealing Scroll].”

“Wait, what about the ‘aura’?” Akechi Nobunari followed his teammate’s train of thought, interjecting, “Since he wasn’t guarding against the power of the scroll, at least the aura should be stronger than yours, right?”

“It’s ‘powerlessness’.” At this instant, Oda Ai, who was squatting in the corner, suddenly interjected. Although she didn’t turn her head back and her tone sounded very depressed, she still answered her teammate’s question, “Well… actually, calling it ‘powerlessness’ is not accurate either. It’s just a technique whose principle is similar to ‘powerlessness’, but whose realm is much higher; I can only understand the general idea… but I can’t do it like Bi Lao Shi, displaying it so leisurely.”

“That is…” Akechi Nobunari asked, “What kind of technique?”

Oda Ai paused for two seconds before saying, “Let me put it this way… you can imagine that, in battle, except for those brief moments when the attack makes direct contact with the opponent, you reduce the consumption of qi to almost zero for all the remaining time.”

“Wh… what?” Even the usually calm Akechi Nobunari rarely showed a look of astonishment, “That kind of thing… even in theory…”

“That man… is different.” Before she could finish her words, Jin Chuan Yi interrupted with the tone of someone who had been there, done that. “His strength… seems to have reached another dimension. That transcendent strength… can no longer be measured by moves or equipment. Applying common sense and theory to him… is meaningless.”

His words seemed to put a final conclusion to this discussion, and everyone no longer said anything more about this defeat.

At this moment, the score of 2-0 behind, and the great deterrence and frustration brought by Bi Lao Shi, brought the morale of [Warring States] to freezing point.

However, the "Lieutenant Battle"... is about to begin.

…………

[The match will begin in thirty seconds]

The break time passed in the blink of an eye. Accompanied by the system voice, the two players from [Warring States] and [Loser Alliance] participating in the "Lieutenant Battle" were transferred to the battlefield together.

The lineup for this match was not very surprising, and was within the expectations of the members of both teams.

For [Warring States], the one taking the field was [Uesugi Ren].

As in S2, Uesugi Ren was dressed in blue armor, with a white shirt underneath. Her long black hair was loose and reached her waist, looking heroic and valiant. Her weapon was still the legendary fire-attribute ultra-long katana - [Kuta Liangmu Sadamune], whose recognizability can be said to be very high.

On the side of [Loser Alliance], the one who took the stage was [Qisha].

Everyone must be very familiar with this fighting maniac. This time, because he was going to represent [Loser Alliance] in the battle, he took off the [Blade’s Edge] battle robe and simply changed to a new look, wearing a thick black jumpsuit that covered him from his neck to his feet.

This ["Tooth" Battle Suit] is just a "fashion", but the high price means that it provides quite significant additional effects; especially for melee fighters, the practicality of this fashion is extremely excellent…

The texture of the battle suit's surface is as solid and glossy as armor, but at the same time, it can closely fit the curves of the body and deform at will. After wrapping the parts other than the player's head, hands, and feet in one piece, it can not only reduce heat consumption but also physically prevent many "throwing techniques" from being grabbed.

It can be said that, in terms of performance, this fashion can at least be worth a fine-grade equipment; if there is a shortcoming, it is that this "ring fighting dedicated" costume is not equipped with shoes… This is not a big deal, Qisha put on his original shoes.

Of course, in the eyes of most players, as a fashion, the biggest drawback of the ["Tooth" Battle Suit] should be… that it is ugly.

This kind of overall shape is roughly equivalent to a "thickened version of a full black wetsuit with muscle contours", if it is not worn by someone with a lithe figure and distinct muscles, it will appear particularly wretched.

Fortunately, Qisha basically meets the above requirements, and he himself does not care much about his image… if necessary, he would not mind wearing classical wrestling attire to the stage.

[Five… four… three…]

Soon, the last five seconds of the countdown had already sounded, and a fierce battle was about to break out.

The two who came to fight in the "Lieutenant Battle" both belong to the type of combat style that is more "direct". Neither side has any intention of detouring, and they just want to face off head-on…

Therefore, during the thirty seconds of preparation time, they both stood in place, eager to try as they waited for the barrier to disappear.

Judging from past records, it is difficult to say who is stronger and who is weaker between these two…

Overall, this should be the most "normal" duel between the two teams so far…