Only now did she realize that Huomu and the others had gradually caught up.
"No, no... Huomu... what the hell is this?"
Huomu was engulfed in raging flames, which even engulfed Bai Lili and Setsuna.
Wherever the flames reached, the seawater avoided them, creating a dry passage on the seabed!
The scene was simply unbelievable!
The three of them ran wildly along the seabed, and before they knew it, they had caught up to the area directly below them.
"???"
A series of question marks appeared on Liuli's forehead.
Knowing the plot, Qiji had anticipated this scene.
That's why he remained completely calm even though he was physically weak.
There's a cheater in the team!
He also got on the trailer...
For Qiji, the most difficult part of this competition was not anything else, but rather the first hurdle in the preliminary rounds.
However, this hurdle was a complete relief for Huomu.
Qiji is the best at capitalizing on situations, and thus, he already had a plan in mind.
Once this hurdle is overcome, the subsequent battles will be a breeze for Qiji, a breeze he can conquer with his eyes closed.
Liuli looked at Huomu and the others. Huomu just then jumped out of the sea and shouted at her, looking up at her:
"Liuli -kun, keep up the good work!"
Liuli understood what Huomu meant. She looked down at Qiji, Qiji nodded affirmatively at Liuli.
Finally, the girl stopped hesitating and swooped down towards Huomu and the others, completing the "baton handover" with the three-person team.
In that instant, Huomu took a deep breath, his cheeks flushed red, and the flames on his body surged again, engulfing Qiji as well.
"I'll do it!" Setsuna took Qiji's hand.
Among the trio racing underwater, Setsuna is the only speed-type and has the highest Echo rank, so she is naturally the one to take the lead.
In Setsuna, it propelled Qiji to race across the seabed, its speed undiminished.
After leaving Liuli Qiji, Liuli went solo, her speed increased dramatically, and her ranking began to climb rapidly.
Watching this "passionate relay" scene, the comments section was filled with pride:
"The child has grown up!"
This is our bond!
"Finally, it's not Prisoner Ji dragging everyone down alone."
"Hilarious! This time, you, Hajiqi, are the one being dragged along."
Of course, the comments section is never completely harmonious:
"Speaking of which, while I don't deny your previous contributions, things are like this now. Can't you face reality and withdraw from the competition? Don't drag the team down."
"What the hell? We didn't complain about the characters you promoted dragging the team down before, but now you're complaining about Prisoner Ji?"
"No, does anyone really think Prisoner Ji will be a hindrance? I'll say it right here—even if Prisoner Ji is in a wheelchair, coughing up blood, and on his last breath, if I had to choose the person I can trust the most, I would still choose him!"
As time went by, advance teams began to successfully land on the island.
First place: Charles.
Second place, Suyo.
Third place: Liuli.
The fourth to eighth places were all taken by exchange students from Kalentia.
Dorian, looked at the two female students from the City of Kindling on the ship with great reluctance:
"I'm sorry, ladies, but fate is like the blooming season."
It blooms with great fanfare, but its withering signifies parting.
He bent down, took the hands of the two female students, and placed a light kiss on each of their fingertips.
"If you ever meet me again, remember to pretend you don't know me. I can't stand seeing old ties."
As soon as he finished speaking, Dorian released his grip, took a step back, and before the two female students could react, he lightly snapped his fingers.
In an instant, the flower boat scattered petals like snowflakes, carrying Dorian gracefully ashore.
The two people on the boat fell into the sea amidst screams of alarm.
Dorian didn't even turn his head, casually tossing his hand—
The petals swept across the sea like flying knives, piercing through the spirits of the two people in the blink of an eye.
The two women's names were instantly and ruthlessly erased from the leaderboard by the Sea of Consciousness.
Seeing this, the audience of the City of Kindling couldn't sit still:
"Holy crap! That was brutal?!"
"Given his good looks, I thought this guy would at least have some gentlemanly manners..."
"Gentlemanly conduct? Hilarious! And now they're fawning over Kalentia? When have they ever shown any mercy to the City of Kindling?"
"Those two women... sigh!"
"My assessment is that they've lost their mind, actually hoping that an exchange student from Kalentia will help them pass the test?"
With Dorian making the first move, the rest of Kalentia's group naturally didn't stand idle either.
Various Echo hurtled towards the contestants who were still struggling on the sea.
At the same time, Charles and the others couldn't help but look towards Suyo had already landed on the island.
I have to admit, that sly fox really had some skill; it's a pity he couldn't intercept him before he landed on the island...
But on second thought, it might not be such a bad thing after all.
If we just let him be eliminated without any screen time during the preliminary rounds, it would be too lenient.
—So you call yourself the hope of the City of Kindling, huh?
Then I'll tear you to pieces in front of everyone in the City of Kindling!
It's true that Qiji told Suyo about the Myth Fragment, but he didn't go into every detail.
Therefore, at this moment, facing the various resentful and venomous gazes cast upon him by the people of Kalentia, Suyo was truly at a loss.
Why do they all look at me like that?
It's like... I killed their father?
Especially Dorothy—
Of all the people in this group, Dorothy is the only one whom Suyo has some affection for, after all, she's a fan of her idol.
Suyo even wanted to go up and ask her for an autograph or something.
But now, it seems that Suyo has a kind of illusion—
If I were to be so tactless as to approach Dorothy now and start a conversation, Dorothy would bite me to death...
This caused Suyo to instinctively take a half-step back.
Chapter 111: Passing the Preliminary Rounds! The Decisive Stage! (3-in-1)
There are four islands in the east, west, south, and north, and fifty participants are allowed to log in to each island.
Because the first stage has a strict time limit, once an island is selected, there is basically no time to change the destination midway.
Therefore, the three minutes of preparation time before the start of the competition are reserved for the players to analyze the situation and select the island to land on.
Making the right choices based on one's own abilities and the distribution of competitors is undoubtedly a crucial part of personal strength.
Clearly, most people's first thought was to avoid the exchange students at Kalentia.
However, these people are on the first level, while Kalentia is on the second level.
They used a little trick—
At first, Charles and his companions pretended to choose one of the three islands—the south, the west, or the north—to land.
Just as everyone was rushing towards East Island, they suddenly turned back!
Five people were separated to compete for the spots on the East Island!
This is why, initially, the rankings of the Kalentia group were all quite low—
Because they essentially gave all participants almost ten minutes of their time.
At this moment, the objective has been achieved.
From the very beginning, the people of Kalentia planned to reduce their numbers in the first stage.
There are a full two hundred spots for the first round, that's too many.
The Tide Grand Competition doesn't need so much waste.
Led by Charles, the five members of the Kalentia activated their Echo and stood guard at the landing point, slamming the contestants who tried to come ashore into the sea and killing them one by one.
What, you're asking why Wuma Ling isn't included?
This was, of course, because this local from the City of Kindling had only transferred to Kalentia a few months prior, was not fully trusted.
She has now been exiled to another island, and her place is temporarily being taken over by Dorian.
As students from City of Kindling were eliminated one after another, including several students from Class 8, the situation became increasingly dire.
Liuli had already landed on the island, simply watched coldly, unmoved.
It wasn't until Qiji and the Huomu appeared, preparing to land on the island, that Liuli suddenly launched her attack!
The well-constructed Echo is suddenly released!
However, the moment her Mind Echo was activated, it was intercepted by Echo of the same lineage!
The people of Kalentia were naturally wary of this girl who ranked second only to Charles.
The person responsible for keeping an eye on Liuli Rina, who, like her, possessed knowledge of the Mind Lineage.
Liuli was slightly startled.
The Mind Lineage is not common; this is the first time she has seen it in someone outside the Kamishiro Family.
"Let me introduce myself. My name is Yagami Rina. Strictly speaking, we're actually distant relatives."
Rina clearly recognized Liuli's identity and spoke with a smile.
Three hundred years ago, the Kamishiro Family was nearly destroyed. Although they eventually recovered, some of their members betrayed the family and joined the Kalentia.
The Mind Lineage excels at exploiting others' shock and panic to take advantage of their vulnerability.
Rina revealed her identity for this very purpose.
However, Rina's smile froze slightly the next moment.
She never imagined that, having enjoyed the best educational resources in Kalentia since childhood, she would be inferior to this "distant relative" from a poor, remote area in terms of Mind Echo.
Both of them activated the third-order Mind Echo, but Liuli's Echo strength far exceeded her expectations!
He thought he could easily silence the opponent's Echo, but unexpectedly, he was the one who ended up at a disadvantage.
Of course, this is also because she didn't deploy her Armament Armament, while her opponent did and got serious.
Rather, Rina felt that this was the difference between them.