Chapter 100
At this moment, Jiang Shiyi took a break and launched an attack carrying a rocket launcher.
Several loud explosions rang out.
Thick smoke billowed up, enveloping Xue Zhongqi's position.
Lost and disoriented, Gu Nianwei was forced to stop. In the blink of an eye, she saw Jiang Shiyi rushing over.
Without uttering a single wasted word, Jiang Shiyi grabbed his weapon and got to work.
Jiang Shiyi relied entirely on firepower, was incredibly powerful. Gu Nianwei was forced to retreat repeatedly and had to temporarily abandon her plan to deal with Xue Zhongqi.
Song Tianqi and Yan Yuting gritted their teeth and withstood the attacks from the remaining two.
The array patterns floating in front of Xue Zhongqi shone brighter and brighter, and the power gathering in the air became exceptionally terrifying.
"Wow. This array's power is four or five times stronger than the one he used before." Yan Yuhang's tone turned surprised.
A deeper look appeared in Zhuang Silin's eyes. "Hmm, more or less."
Time ticked by, second by second.
Faced with Gu Nianwei and Lan Beijia's fierce counterattack, Xu Jintang's side began to falter.
"Beijia, quickly interrupt Xue Zhongqi!" Gu Nianwei unleashed her full power, directly repelling both Jiang Shiyi and Xu Jintang.
Lan Beijia made room and rushed directly towards Xue Zhongqi behind him without any hesitation.
But it was too late.
At the last second, Xue Zhongqi withstood the pressure and completed the mental connection of the final Inscription Talisman.
A burst of intense white light erupted from the array patterns.
Xue Zhongqi's face lit up with joy, "It's a success!"
For the past few days, he had been trying to create level two array patterns on his own, but the success rate was not high. Today, he just wanted to try out this tactic.
But unexpectedly, under pressure, he succeeded.
Xue Zhongqi's lips curled slightly as he raised the array patterns with both hands and shouted in a loud voice, "Let me do it!"
As soon as the words were spoken, Xu Jintang and Jiang Shiyi exchanged a glance and moved aside in unison.
Song Tianqi and Yan Yuting quickly moved aside.
Before they could react, Gu Nianwei, Lan Beijia, and the others were exposed to the public eye.
Xue Zhongqi's expression hardened slightly, and he forcefully pushed the array patterns toward the opposite side.
After the array pattern was triggered, a powerful suction force quickly gathered.
By the time Gu Nianwei and the others came to their senses, the array patterns had already rushed in front of them, their irresistible power overwhelming them.
"Get out of the way!"
Gu Nianwei rushed forward, determined to withstand the array pattern on her own.
At this moment, Zhuang Silin, who was below the stage, raised her hand and sent out a wave of mental energy, forcibly neutralizing the attack of the array pattern power.
"No need to fight anymore, the experimental class wins this match."
Chapter 100
On the arena, Gu Nianwei frowned and retorted, "But if I can withstand this attack..."
"This is already the power of a level two array pattern, enough to completely suppress you," Zhuang Silin explained.
Gu Nianwei hesitated for a moment, "But even if I'm eliminated, I still have my teammates."
Zhuang Silin glanced at her, "Have you forgotten that Xue Zhongqi's Soul Sharing skill is off cooldown? With you out of the game, plus Xue Zhongqi's Soul Sharing, are you sure the others can withstand the combined attack of Xu Jintang and his five teammates?"
Gu Nianwei swallowed back the words that were on the tip of her tongue.
She glanced at Xue Zhongqi with a complicated expression, then resignedly said, "Alright."
I should have eliminated Xue Zhongqi earlier, but I dragged it out until he turned the tide of the battle all by himself.
Yan Yuhang, looking utterly remorseful, confessed from below the stage. "I should have known better than to hold back!"
After winning the match, Xu Jintang jumped off the ring, walked over to Yan Yuhang with a relaxed expression, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "Thank you for your help, senior."
She could naturally sense that Yan Yuhang had been lenient with her earlier.
This was actually something Xu Jintang had in mind. If Yan Yuhang and his four companions didn't hold back at all, they would have virtually no chance of winning this battle.
So before today, Xu Jintang was betting that senior Yan Yuhang and his team might not go all out.
Secondly, if the senior students are truly heartless and don't give them any chance, then they will immediately go back and challenge again using the second set of tactics.
Anyway, they have a lot of tactics prepared, and with each challenge, there's still a chance of winning, so it's not a big problem.
"We actually won!!" Yan Yuting snapped out of her daze and immediately opened her arms to hug Jiang Shiyi.
Song Tianqi realized what was happening and quickly rushed over to hug the two of them, "Count me in!"
Xue Zhongqi stood alone, basking in the joy of victory.
To be honest, Zhuang Silin was quite surprised, "You five must have prepared more than just this one tactic, right?"
Xu Jintang chuckled, "Yes."
After receiving the reply, Zhuang Silin looked at Gu Nianwei and said, "You didn't lose unjustly."
With things having come to this, Gu Nianwei could only accept her fate. "I admit defeat, I admit defeat. It's true what they say, the younger generation in Zhangjiang is pushing the older generation aside."
When I first met Xu Jintang and his group of five, they were just a group of well-behaved and adorable junior students.
Now, they've grown so much that even they can't handle them anymore.
After successfully passing the assessment, Xu Jintang and his group of five enjoyed a two-day relaxing vacation.
Taking advantage of the lull in the crowd, Xu Jintang led his men to an underground black market casino to exchange chips.
"Congratulations on your successful bets. Here's your winnings." The casino owner forced a smile and handed over five bank cards.
Just Xu Jintang and his group of five each won 200,000 yuan.
Adding in the bets placed by other individual bettors, he lost at least several million dollars from the Mask Squad's advancement to the quarterfinals.
Xu Jintang accepted the star card, smiled with satisfaction, and said, "Thank you, boss."
Yan Yuting and the others quickly accepted the star cards and thanked them sweetly.
Because they were carrying a large sum of money and the black market was a mixed bag, the five men were afraid of being targeted, so they exchanged their betting chips and left the black market immediately.
Back at the villa, Xu Jintang locked herself in her room and began preparing to create the Inscription Talisman for the array.
The two-day break passed in the blink of an eye.
The Ability User Competition is about to enter the semi-finals, with the final four elimination rounds taking place.
[I recently chatted with some staff members from the tournament about some gossip, and guess what I heard? It seems like the Mask Squad's bye to the quarterfinals was rigged.]
[Is this for real? Isn't the lottery for drawing lots done on-site? How could there be any behind-the-scenes manipulation in front of everyone?]
[Sigh, if there were really staff members cooperating, wouldn't it be a piece of cake for the Mask Squad to get a bye?]
[This is malicious slander, right? I actually quite like the Mask Squad. Judging from their demeanor and personalities, they don't seem like the type to do something like this.]
[You can know a person's face but not their heart; don't think things through too absolutely.]
It's unclear where the rumor originated, Mask Squad drew a bye and advanced has become a hot topic of discussion.
Before long, the news reached the person involved.
The incident began two minutes earlier when Yan Yuting suddenly forwarded a post to the group with righteous indignation.
Yan Yuting: [I'm speechless. Look at the extent to which outsiders have spread rumors about us.]
Song Tianqi was the first to reply: [Who posted this? Give me their Star Network ID, I'm going to curse them out!]
Then Xue Zhongqi said: [Outrageous. How come I didn't know we were colluding with the tournament organizers?]
Jiang Shiyi calmly replied, "The innocent are innocent."
After reading through all the comments on that post, Xu Jintang returned to the group chat and said: [Let's shut them up with our performance in the next match.]
He then exited the chat interface, turned off the communication screen, got up, pushed open the door, and walked out of the room.
As I went downstairs, I saw Yan Yuting frantically banging on the light screen and cursing.
Xu Jintang didn't disturb her. He went into the kitchen, got a glass of refreshing juice, and then sat down on the sofa.
"Squad leader, you've come at the right time. The guy I'm arguing with is using really foul language. Could you get me a glass of water? I can't leave right now." Yan Yuting rolled up his sleeves, frantically pounded on the light screen with both hands, and started cursing again.
Xu Jintang glanced at her, said nothing, and got up to pour her a glass of water.
"I'll put it here." She placed the water glass on the coffee table beside her.
Yan Yuting gave an OK sign, picked up his water glass and took a big gulp, then continued to bang on the light screen and curse back.
It wasn't until the afternoon that Ruan Tao arrived at the villa on time to prepare dinner.
Seeing Yan Yuting, who looked like she'd gone mad in the living room, Xu Jintang hesitated for a moment before turning to her and asking, "What's wrong with her?"
Xu Jintang took a sip of juice. "I'm angry because of the online comments."
Ruan Tao paused, then seemed to remember something, "You've already seen those messages online?"
Xu Jintang nodded, "She's been like this ever since she found out about it this afternoon."
Ruan Tao cleared her throat, smiled slightly, and put on her apron. "I'll go prepare dinner."
A short while later, Song Tianqi and Xue Zhongqi also came downstairs.
Seeing Yan Yuting's drastically changed appearance, the two paused, then exchanged a hesitant glance.
"Yuting, this is..." Xue Zhongqi asked hesitantly.
Song Tianqi ignored him and instead rolled up his sleeves, excitedly squeezing next to Yan Yuting, "Finally found teammates! I'll curse with you!"
Xu Jintang took another sip of juice with a subtle expression, then silently sat down and began to observe the two of them.
Xue Zhongqi poured himself a glass of water and sat down to watch, remarking without looking away, "This is the first time I've ever seen Yuting curse so fiercely."
"As it turns out, a person's potential can always be unleashed at crucial moments," Xu Jintang concluded, putting down his juice.
As time went on, rumors circulating online about the Mask Squad's missed rotations being manipulated behind the scenes grew increasingly rampant.
In order to quell public anger, the organizers of the Ability User Competition had no choice but to issue a statement:
[The recent rumors circulating on Star Network alleging that the Masked Mask Squad's bye advancement was rigged are purely malicious fabrications. Since its inception, the Ability User Competition has always adhered to the principles of fairness, impartiality, and transparency, and has never engaged in any behind-the-scenes manipulation. We hereby solemnly declare this.]