Tomie's Anomaly

As the morning passed,

The preliminaries were nearing their end. Chong Ying advanced to the next round of the Hundred Man Ranking's "challenger" selection with three straight victories, while Lian Yuxin entered the next round with two wins and one loss after a close call.

In her second preliminary match, Lian Yuxin encountered a very unusual male Hell Envoy. He was dark-skinned and nearly thirty years old. She sensed the energy of three different Soul Stones within him. The match ended quickly; he was absurdly powerful and immune to all of Lian Yuxin's mental attacks.

The two women were waiting for Zhang Chen at their agreed-upon spot, yet even as nearly everyone in the venue had left, there was still no sign of him.

"Brother Zhang Chen wouldn't deliberately keep us waiting, given his personality. Sister Yuxin, do you know what happened?"

"There were two people in our group who never appeared after the preliminaries ended. I don't know whether something special happened, but the staff here haven't asked us to leave, so let's sit here and wait a little longer."

Neither woman knew that Zhang Chen was currently facing a hidden event within a virtual scenario.

Inside the Central Information and Intelligence Division of the Floating City,

Shenhou stood with his hands behind his back, inspecting the work. His department was responsible for arranging and monitoring the preliminary scenarios.

"There are thirteen Hell Ministers who triggered hidden events. One chose to give up, while the remaining twelve are carrying out their events. Ten of them should pass and form a special group."

A staff member reported the details to Shenhou.

"Testing the Hell Ministers' actual combat capabilities is also a new regulation this year. However, the technology is not yet mature and the risks are considerable. There may