Shock

Lou Cheng was dumbfounded too.

Call it coincidence or not, he had indeed been careless.

He had not paid much attention to Li Yi and Lin Qin's duel just now, taking the opportunity to deal with other information.

He had only been distracted for that brief moment.

Then Lin Qin suddenly transformed into particles of light and vanished directly while her Inherited Skill was erupting!

Just look at that little expression in her final moments—how utterly stunned she had been.

Heh, hehehe...

He sprang straight out of his seat.

"Fuck!"

"How did Lin Qin lose?"

"The famed Dragon Soul Mech candidate, a direct descendant of an upper Power Clan, with an Inherited Skill activation rate of 5%, among the top three of her age group, and combat skills honed to the peak of non-evolved fighters—and she still lost?"

"Is Li Yi a monster?"

"What kind of monster did Boss Lin recruit?"

How Lin Qin had lost was no longer all that important to Lou Cheng.

Because with Lin Qin's "death," the 17 points she carried all went to Li Yi.

Once again, Li Yi had surpassed second-place Liang Shaocong by an overwhelming margin.

"Boss Lin, it's only the first morning, and the situation is already this clear. Can your script still work?"

Without another word, Lou Cheng placed a call.

"Old Lin, looks like the person you picked this time is something else. Congratulations."

"Old Lin, did you understand how Li Yi won at the end?"

"Old Lin, don't forget your brothers when you take off."

"Lin Guotao, I think those little frictions and minor disputes from before should be behind us by now, right?"

Listening to the flood of congratulations, Lin Guotao knew in his heart—

Things had gone out of control.

The script he had envisioned had already completely fallen apart.

He could no longer predict where things would go from here.

He could tell that Li Yi's combat skills were formidable, and he had given him an extremely high evaluation.

Yet he had never expected that even what he believed was an overly high evaluation had still underestimated him.

Defeating Lin Qin, a non-evolved fighter at the peak level with her Inherited Skill active, in under ten moves—what did that mean?

It meant Li Yi's combat skills had reached the pinnacle.

That could erase many unfavorable combat conditions for him.

Though he was only invincible among non-evolved fighters, this level of technique would still give him considerable competitiveness even after reaching the evolved stage.

It seemed he needed to visit the Fleet Captain early and sound him out.

"Perhaps it wasn't that Li Yi did anything special. Perhaps Li Yi's combat skills were actually more than a whole level above Lin Qin's."

When that comment appeared.

The chaotic barrage of comments suddenly went quiet.

"That makes sense. Lin Qin was stronger and faster, but if Li Yi's technique was superior, allowing him to predict her movements, effectively redirect her force, pull her into his own rhythm, and kill her in an instant, then it's entirely possible."

"So Li Yi had been toying with Lin Qin the whole time?"

"You're all wrong. Li Yi had been waiting for Lin Qin to reveal a flaw. The instant Lin Qin erupted was also the instant she neglected her body's defenses the most. For a super expert like Li Yi, catching that instant was enough."

"Heh, stop acting mysterious. I say there's something shady going on. How could my little sister Lin Qin possibly be that far behind in technique? Anyone with eyes could see that Li Yi was weaker than Lin Qin in both speed and strength."

The controversy flared up again.

But this time, more people agreed that Li Yi possessed superb combat skills and precise foresight.

After all, Li Yi was already 15 points ahead of second place, enough to prove his strength.

And among the ten-person group, there were still eight lambs waiting to be slaughtered.

"Anyway, Li Yi is fucking awesome!!!"

"He really is awesome. After watching the Newcomer Martial Tournament for so many years, Li Yi from this year's batch is practically the combat-power ceiling."

"Liang Shaocong still hasn't used his Inherited Skill. As long as Liang Shaocong remains, Li Yi's first place is still uncertain."

"The remaining eight could still hurt Li Yi, right? Why is no one talking about that?"

"Idiot, can't you see that among the remaining eight, only Liao Hang's fighting spirit hasn't been crushed?"

"Does anyone else think Li Yi is starting to show a bit of the momentum Zhang Shengfeng, Yang Ziliu, and Cai Guangxu had back then?"

"A little, but not much. This is only the arena for non-evolved fighters. The real starting point of the long race comes after piloting a Divine Mech."

After Lin Qin, the strongest member of the ten-person group, was eliminated.

Of the remaining eight in the back row, only Liao Hang had enough strength to barely withstand a few of Li Yi's attacks.

His fists and kicks carried a strange force that could redirect thirty percent of Li Yi's strength.

Moreover, Liao Hang was very skilled at defense.

Fighting him felt sticky and drawn-out, almost effeminate.

By the third punch, Li Yi, whose combat experience was exceptionally rich, immediately realized something was wrong.

If he kept dragging things out, the other seven would recover from their shock, regroup, and complete their encirclement. Once that happened, he would definitely be in danger.

So, to prevent any accidents.

Li Yi simply used poking and grabbing techniques to control Liao Hang's movements, then poked out his eyes.

He had not wanted to use that move in the first place. After all, it would probably leave the other man with severe psychological trauma.

But the situation was urgent, so he had no choice.

After all, Li Yi was not so invincible that he could fearlessly face the simultaneous siege of eight skilled fighters.

Mastery of combat skills was not truly omnipotent.

If their attack frequency exceeded the limit of his reactions, he really could be injured.

Fortunately, splitting apart their encirclement this time had been fairly easy.

After taking down Liao Hang, the fighting spirit of the remaining people basically collapsed.

He kited them a few times, threw a few attacks, and spent nearly seven or eight minutes.

Patiently wearing down the remaining seven.

But this fight had been rather unremarkable, and Li Yi found it exceptionally dull.

That duel with Lin Qin, if they were only talking about sheer exhilaration, had indeed been the best experience Li Yi had had recently.

"After spending so much time chewing through Lin Qin's ten-person group, I should be firmly in first place now, right?"

Li Yi let his thoughts wander.

But he still had a sense of vigilance.

Not even half of the first day had passed yet. Perhaps other teams were lurking in secret, watching coldly as they laid out plans to hunt their prey.

So he still had to keep searching for targets.

Otherwise, if someone really surpassed him and he failed to claim first place, it would only create more variables.

It was only because Lin Qin's Inherited Skill boosted speed and strength, and happened to be perfectly countered by him.

If it had been another Power Clan expert, it might not have gone so easily.

He still needed to be more careful.

Several hours passed.

In Base 11's central area, before an electronic display board.

A five-person group arrived and checked the rankings.

"Big Sister Wanwan, you've made it into seventh place! You're amazing."

The speaker was Chen Yuanyang, Miao Wanwan's friend from Base 23.

The two had happened to run into each other this time, so Miao Wanwan joined Chen Yuanyang's team.

Miao Wanwan froze. "So soon?"

She looked up at the display board and froze again.

Eleven points were enough for seventh place?

Looking higher, she saw Mo Qingcheng in sixth with 12 points, Shi Zijun in fifth with 21, Zu Dun in fourth with 28, Jiang Tianfeng in third with 30, Liang Shaocong in second with 46, and first place...

Wait... Li Yi?

"Oh my god, Big Sister Wanwan, this Li Yi is incredible! He got 67 points all by himself, a full 21 more than Liang Shaocong in second place."

Miao Wanwan's eyes widened in disbelief.

She remembered what her cousin had said and thought blankly, Could it be true what my cousin said about seeing Li Yi catch a Railcar barehanded?