Chapter 51: Unparalleled Strength

“Ling Yao, can you hear my voice? It’s Chu Xihen. Can you change back first?” Chu Xihen slowly approached the white tiger.

The white tiger’s snow-white fur bristled, its body poised to pounce at any moment. Yet, upon hearing Chu Xihen’s gentle voice, it hesitated and remained still.

Chu Xihen walked up to the white tiger and placed his palm on its head, gently stroking it.

“Don’t be afraid, Ling Yao. We’re here to help you,” Chu Xihen continued softly.

As he did this, Lou Su behind him kept a wind blade ready in his hand. If the white tiger attacked Chu Xihen, he could kill it in an instant.

Fortunately, although Ling Yao had transformed into a white tiger and his rationality was overwhelmed by his beastly instincts, Chu Xihen was different to him.

Under Chu Xihen’s soothing words and touch, Ling Yao’s rationality gradually returned. His body swayed before collapsing sideways. The moment he hit the ground, his tiger form faded away, revealing a naked boy covered in white fur.

Chu Xihen quickly took out a new cloak and draped it over the boy.

Ling Yao opened his eyes and, upon seeing Chu Xihen, immediately spoke with grievance in his voice: “Brother Chu, I… ugh!”

The moment he opened his mouth, he felt something sticky and foul-tasting inside. The strong scent of blood made him gag uncontrollably.

“Brother Chu… I didn’t eat Hu Gang, did I?” Turning away from Chu Xihen, Ling Yao retched as he asked. He didn’t dare look at Hu Gang’s current state.

Chu Xihen stood up to check on Hu Gang’s condition. His neck and half of his head had been bitten to pieces—a gruesome sight. However, the chunks of flesh that had been torn off were piled nearby. It seemed that even in his white tiger form, Ling Yao instinctively knew human flesh was inedible and had spat it all out.

“Is… is he some kind of white tiger demon?” Wang Heng finally recovered from the shock of seeing the white tiger transform into Ling Yao—a boy still covered in white fur.

Ding Hui clung tightly to Wang Heng, feeling an inexplicable fear of having such a person in their group.

Lou Su explained calmly to Wang Heng: “It’s his special ability.”

Wang Heng seemed skeptical but chose not to press further. He simply resolved to keep his distance from Ling Yao during the remaining hours.

“Did you kill all of them?” Ling Yao asked after dry-heaving for a long time. Having not eaten anything recently, nothing came up. He tried to distract himself by changing the topic so he wouldn’t keep thinking about vomiting.

“They’re all dead. Hu Gang was the last one—we thought he’d escaped,” Chu Xihen replied.

They had killed everyone only to find that Ling Yao wasn’t hiding in the bushes as they’d initially thought. Remembering Ling Yao’s personal grudge against Hu Gang, Chu Xihen had rallied the others to chase after him.

Ling Yao glanced up at the leaderboard displayed in the sky. “That’s odd… we didn’t get their points.”

The others also looked up. Team 12 was still ranked first with over 100,000 points, while their own Team 15 had jumped to second place after absorbing Team 10’s 30,000 points.

Currently illuminated on the leaderboard were Teams 2, 5, 9, 12, 15, and 20—each with over 50,000 points.

“Forget about that for now. Wash your face—we’ll wait outside for the final score tally,” Chu Xihen said as he handed Ling Yao a large bottle of mineral water and a towel.

Ling Yao’s current appearance was truly unsightly.

“Brother Chu… my mental energy is completely drained. I can’t use my abilities at all right now,” Ling Yao whispered to Chu Xihen while washing his face with his back turned toward Wang Heng and Ding Hui.

With time still left on the countdown clock, they were far from safe. Ling Yao felt compelled to inform Chu Xihen so as not to drag down the entire team.

In truth, even without being told, Chu Xihen had already guessed as much. Ling Yao wasn’t Hu Gang’s match under normal circumstances; it was nothing short of a miracle that he’d managed to kill Hu Gang by exhausting all his mental energy while remaining unharmed himself.

When they exited the forest at six in the morning, daylight had already broken. Two hours remained before the instance would end.

During this time, there was little change in the leaderboard rankings:

1st: Team 12

2nd: Team 15

3rd: Team 5

4th: Team 2

5th: Team 9

“The other teams having over 50,000 points makes sense—but how did Team 9 manage it? There’s only one person left on their team!” someone exclaimed as they sat on rocks outside the forest eating while analyzing the leaderboard.

Team 9 belonged to that blue-haired man who had previously sought revenge against them but lost four teammates in the process—leaving only one survivor behind. At that time, their team had just over 20,000 points. How could one person have gained more than 30,000 points in such a short period?

“All we can say is that he’s extraordinarily powerful,” Ling Yao said weakly as he lay sprawled on a rock. “Whether by killing people or mutants for points… it’s terrifying!”

“What about that arrogant guy from Team 2? How is he second-to-last after all this time?” Wang Heng sneered as he skipped over Team 9 and began mocking Team 2 instead.

Ding Hui replied matter-of-factly: “Second-to-last is still better than being dead.”

This was undeniably true—surviving was more important than anything else as long as they had enough points.

“What are you thinking about?” Lou Su asked when he noticed Chu Xihen staring intently at the leaderboard without reacting to Wang Heng’s comments.

“I feel like something isn’t right… don’t you?” Chu Xihen replied without looking away from the rankings.

Lou Su nodded slightly. “It’s strange how there hasn’t been any change in rankings for so long.”

Ling Yao overheard their conversation from nearby and chimed in: “Maybe everyone left is just like us—hiding out until it ends?”

“Maybe…” Lou Su began but trailed off as five figures emerged from within the forest.

Wang Heng tensed up immediately. “It’s Guan Yu! His whole team is still intact!”

“They’re all here but still second-to-last? Looks like his skills don’t live up to his arrogance,” Ding Hui remarked with disdain in her tone.

Chu Xihen watched Guan Yu lead his four teammates toward them with an air of casual confidence. The unease in his heart grew stronger by the second.

“Weren’t they not wearing cloaks before?” Ling Yao whispered softly.

Now Guan Yu’s team appeared different—aside from Guan Yu himself boldly displaying his number badge on his chest as before—the rest of his teammates had hidden theirs beneath cloaks.

“Hello again!” Guan Yu greeted them warmly with a smile as if they were old friends meeting by chance. “It seems great minds think alike—we all decided it’d be best to wait out these final moments peacefully.”

His tone was calm and unhurried; paired with his serene smile, it created an unsettling sense of dissonance.

With half an hour left until the instance ended, two fully intact teams sat together on rocks outside the forest—an oddly harmonious scene for what should have been a cutthroat competition.

“What are you doing?” Lou Su suddenly asked Chu Xihen after noticing him rummaging through supplies distractedly.

“Give me two bottles of water,” Lou Su requested directly when he saw what Chu Xihen was holding onto next—a faint glimmer of understanding passing between them both silently before any words needed saying aloud between trusted comrades who knew each other too well already inside-out beyond measure entirely altogether forevermore always infinitely eternally…