Standing on the arena platform, listening to his other code name echo through the venue, Lin Yu looked perfectly posed.
On the other side of the platform, A-Yin also stepped up.
He wore simple, ordinary clothes, and his whole being radiated energy.
The two faced each other across the platform, and A-Yin called out loudly.
"So you're 'Clozapine'... a pleasure."
"Even though I don't really like fighting women, since this is the arena, I'll give it my all."
He cupped his hands in a polite salute.
This unique opening left Lin Yu somewhat unsure how to respond.
Staying in character as Zhu Ming, Lin Yu could only nod slightly and reply with a light chuckle.
"Then you'd better hold back a little."
Their brief exchange ended as Earl's voice rang out.
"Both contestants, are you ready?"
"Ready!"
A-Yin answered with booming energy.
Lin Yu also nodded slightly. "Ready."
"Then—begin!"
Earl gave the mand, and the ground let out a low, rumbling roar.
Stone tiles quickly rose into narrow, winding pathways, and the "Falling" venue theme took shape again.
Without hesitation, the moment the stone paths lifted, A-Yin charged straight toward Lin Yu.
"Whoosh—!"
Though only a Second Tier, his speed wasn't much slower than Snowy Owl's normal pace.
And...
A-Yin didn't follow the winding stone paths around the bends. Instead, he chose to go... straight!
Whenever he hit a turn, A-Yin leaped high into the air.
His superb body coordination and a lightness skill clearly from Prison Mountain Realm allowed him to easily clear those long gaps.
"He's really aggressive. Isn't he worried the opponent has some ranged attack?" Snowy Owl frowned, confused.
As someone who had also played the "Falling" venue and was similarly fast, she knew she could do what A-Yin was doing.
"He has a way to deal with it. Relying on Prison Mountain's lightness skill is different from just pure speed like yours," Bi Fang analyzed. "And... didn't he say before stepping on stage that he had prior intel on his opponent?"
Snowy Owl remembered.
"Oh right, so the Director told him that the woman in front of him doesn't have any ranged attacks... But that's still way too bold. What if the opponent recently got some new ability the Director doesn't know about?"
As Snowy Owl frowned and spoke, Li Hua cut in.
"That's just A-Yin's nature... He always tends to pick aggressive strategies."
"While he won't gamble on low-probability outes, if a plan has a seventy or eighty percent success rate, he'll ignore the remaining twenty to thirty percent risk—and if that low-probability worst case actually happens, he'll rely on his real-time reactions to deal with it. That's always been A-Yin's thinking and style."
As Li Hua spoke, A-Yin had already made it to Lin Yu's vicinity without incident.
The straight-line distance between them was only five meters—though they were separated by a gap between two stone paths, based on the body technique A-Yin had just displayed... he wouldn't care about such a small gap.
And Lin Yu made his own move.
Operating under the "Zhu Ming" identity, he could finally release his helpers.
"Whoosh!"
A pitch-black figure in a bat suit appeared before Lin Yu—Stiller, who hadn't been let out for fresh air in a long time.
Standing on the narrow stone path, Stiller turned to look at Lin Yu.
"Boss... who do we need to take care of this time?"
"The kid up ahead, of course."
Lin Yu said. Stiller nodded, then pulled an electric baton from his waist, holding it upright in front of him with his feet set apart and his body slightly crouched.
A-Yin also stopped, sizing up Stiller before him, squinting his eyes.
"Wasteland Realm, Sleepless City, Truth Corporation... tch, just like May May said, even your summons include humans—that's really something."
"Since he's a Truth Corporation expert with what looks like a Pioneer Team background," A-Yin said, as a huge wooden chest over a man's height appeared in his hands, "I can't get into close-quarters grappling."
He slung the chest onto his back, then patted its side.
"Click! Click!"
Two crisp metallic sounds rang out as several metal parts flew into A-Yin's hands.
He caught them one by one and assembled them in a blur. Soon, a gleaming long halberd took shape in his hands.
Lin Yu squinted.
Although A-Yin had obtained some intel on "Zhu Ming," in their repeated exchanges, Lin Yu had gathered no small amount of "intel" himself!
And his wasn't vague hearsay—it was genuine, first-hand information.
That chest before him—Lin Yu knew exactly what it was.
The Master of Demon-Subduing Martial School had specially missioned a Prison Mountain Realm grandmaster to craft it for A-Yin, and the Supreme Elder of Hunyuan Dao Palace had personally inscribed talisman formations to empower it—the Hundred Blades Case!
Inside were twenty-two ponents that could transform at will into thirty-six kinds of Daoist ritual implements and seventy-two types of martial weapons!
This allowed A-Yin to always pick the optimal weapon for any opponent.
After taking the halberd in hand, A-Yin looked at Stiller and let out a long breath.
The Xuanji Transformation technique activated, his breathing and pulse being deep and powerful. The true energy in his meridian channels began flowing, adapting to the halberd in his grip.
Stiller's expression turned grim.
"Boss, this guy's not easy to deal with."
Lin Yu spoke calmly. "Relax, I'll support you."
Hearing Lin Yu's reply, Stiller nodded.
"Got it."
"Crack—!"
The instant Stiller finished speaking, he charged forward at A-Yin.
Both of them leaped high from their respective positions, meeting in midair—electric baton and halberd clashing.
"Clang!"
A crisp sound rang out, and Stiller let out a low roar. His emotions surged, and with his bat suit and modified body, he unleashed tremendous power.
He exerted force again at an impossible angle midair, using one hand to brace the halberd with his baton while sliding forward along its iron shaft. His free hand drew a dagger and stabbed toward A-Yin's vital point.
"Whoosh!"
In the blink of an eye, A-Yin kicked high, his toe striking Stiller's wrist with pinpoint precision, deflecting the stab into empty air.
But...
Seeing that the dagger hadn't left Stiller's hand, A-Yin was slightly surprised.
"No acupoints?!"
Then he realized.
"I see. This guy isn't just a Truth Corporation Security Department member—he's a... heavily modified cyborg!"
"So his body structure looks the same as an ordinary human's, but there are actual differences under the surface."
Thinking this over, A-Yin made a snap judgment.
"I can't treat him as a near-human martial artist opponent anymore. I need to see him as a human-shaped demon!"
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