Chapter 155

The woman remained silent for a moment, but ultimately did not offer any further advice.

A few minutes later, something in the pocket vibrated slightly.

Lachlan pulled out a black cell phone and answered it.

"Lachlan, the operation is canceled." An aged voice rang out.

Upon hearing this voice, the calm and composed expression on his face vanished, replaced by one of bewilderment.

"The operation is canceled? Why?!" he demanded, struggling to suppress his anger.

"Because a photo was sent from Heavenly Star Nation." The voice on the other end of the phone was calm.

"A photo?" Lachlan asked, puzzled. "What kind of photo could scare you like this?"

"See for yourself."

The other end of the call ended after they finished speaking, and then sent a photo.

When Lachlan opened the message and saw its contents, his pupils contracted instantly.

The photo is taken from an aerial perspective, showing a vast expanse of water in the lake, amidst torrential rain and thunder.

Among them, a solitary island stood out prominently—the very artificial island where they were located.

Furthermore, the shooting time was shown as five minutes ago.

The photographer also extended his middle finger, making a provocative gesture towards the camera.

At this moment, Lachlan was unable to utter a single word, and cold sweat beaded on his forehead.

At the same time.

The top leaders of various factions all received a photograph one after another.

The shooting angles were similar, both being aerial views, with a hand reaching out from the side and giving the camera the middle finger.

But their backgrounds are all different.

Among them are ancient castles hidden in the forest, military bases lurking in the desert, and even secret underwater facilities.

Each photo was accompanied by the message: "You guys aren't the only ones who use these tactics. If you want to play, we're all in."

At this moment, all the major powers fell silent.

Time passed slowly.

Around the world, countless eyes are glued to the rankings, especially the top three names.

Everyone could feel that the rate at which these individuals' points were increasing had significantly accelerated.

Lachlan and Dolores used to gain about 100 points per hour, but now they gain at least 200 points per hour.

But compared to him, Shen Xing from Heavenly Star Nation was even more monstrous.

Almost every few minutes, his points would increase significantly.

They regained first place in just two hours.

They also led Lachlan by a full 500 points, with a margin of 15,500 points.

At this moment, Pioneer Forum in various countries are engaged in heated discussions, speculating about who will win the championship this time.

"The competition for the top three this time is really fierce."

"Yes, these three seem to be fairly evenly matched, but it's impossible to tell who will emerge victorious."

"I think the first place should go to Lachlan or Shen Xing; Dolores probably has no chance."

"Bullshit! Dolores still has many trump cards up her sleeve; she'll definitely take second place."

"Stop arguing, Shen Xing is definitely number one."

"Impossible! Lachlan will win!"

[Ding! Your ranking has risen to number 1. Keep up the good work and maintain your position.]

Inside the underground lava cave, Shen Xing sat on the back of Hippogryph, circling in mid-air.

After hearing the system notification, he opened the leaderboard and took a look.

I am currently in first place and am widening the gap with Lachlan, which is now nearly 700 points ahead.

"At this rate, by midnight I should have a lead of over a thousand points, and first place seems like it'll be mine for the taking."

"However, it's hard to say. If something goes wrong with the Hell Portal, or if Lachlan pulls out a new trump card, we could still be surpassed."

"We must continue to proceed steadily and surely, and not be too hasty."

Shen Xing remained calm and did not rush into anything just because it was the last day and the last few hours.

At that moment, his physical body in the real world suddenly sensed several terrifying auras sweeping over his head.

Shen Xing tensed up almost instinctively, ready to run away at any moment.

Fortunately, these few auras only flashed by and then disappeared again.

He breathed a slight sigh of relief.

"Those auras just now... seemed quite powerful, and it looked like they were preparing to attack me."

"It seems a lot of people don't want to see me take first place."

Shen Xing's gaze turned slightly cold, his mind churning with thoughts.

He knew that the reason these auras appeared and disappeared was because the Jiangcheng authorities had sent people to protect him.

However, Shen Xing was not surprised. He had anticipated this situation when he chose to enter the top ten and compete for a spot on the leaderboard.

The path to becoming a lord is inherently like this: in order to compete for more resources and become stronger, one will inevitably infringe upon the interests of others, thus attracting the attention of many.

It's not just this ranking list.

As the territory continues to develop and expand, conflicts of interest will inevitably arise with other lords and forces.

Unless you truly choose a passive, detached approach, quietly developing your own little corner of the world without engaging in any struggles.

Even so, it's inevitable that other forces will set their sights on you for their own interests, such as people like Gideon.

So, in short: the strong will fight, and lords will fight!

"Fortunately, I have the protection of the Jiangcheng government now, so there are no problems in reality."

"But you have to be strong yourself to succeed. They can't protect me forever, so I still need to work hard to improve myself."

"I hope that one day in the future, I can travel freely to every corner of Blue Star and the Land of Mist without anyone's protection."

Shen Xing made up his mind and then looked back at the battlefield below.

"Keep pushing forward!"

At the lord's command, Black Arrow, standing in the center of the ranks, immediately drew back his cold iron longbow.

The pure, cold air gathered in the bowstring, transforming into a crystal-clear ice arrow.

"Call out!"

The Arrows shot out and landed in the center of the monster horde, exploding instantly!

"Snap!"

It was as if a flower of ice had bloomed, and terrifying cold air swept outwards, freezing the hellish creatures within dozens of meters on the spot, turning them into ice sculptures.

The raging orc army swarmed forward, hacking the frozen monsters to pieces, turning them into shattered ice shards.

After instantly killing a large number of monsters with Jian Yi, it didn't pause for a moment, and charged forward with its thick bone legs.

"Whoosh..."

A tangible chill rapidly emanated from it.

The scorched earth was quickly covered with a layer of ice crystals, and ice crystal snowflakes drifted down from the air.

The temperature of the entire cave seemed to drop by tens of degrees in an instant.

[Frost Yin Qi] — Activated!

At this moment, the Black Arrow seemed to transform into a moving source of ice.

Wherever they passed, the ground froze, and all the monsters were covered with a thick layer of frost, their movements visibly slowed down.

Friendly units within the area of cold air felt unusually cool, and even their weapons were covered in a layer of ice.

"Bang! Bang bang! Crack!"

The sounds of battle axes striking and ice shattering were incessant.

Large numbers of monsters were frozen by the Black Arrow's chilling aura and then instantly hacked to pieces.

With Black Arrow's talent boosting their abilities, the team advanced relentlessly, unstoppable.

Soon, they reached the end of the cave, beside the huge pool of lava.

At this moment, the flaming greatsword was still slowly rotating in mid-air, radiating powerful energy.

The magma boiled and surged, slowly moving in the direction of the greatsword's rotation.

Viewed from above, it resembles a giant pot of sweet potato porridge, being slowly stirred by an invisible spoon.

Shen Xing vaguely sensed that a terrifying energy seemed to be accumulating at the bottom of the pool.

"This aura... is the Hell Portal at the bottom of the pool about to advance to the Three Eyes level?"

He muttered to himself, a sense of unease rising within him.

After all, once the portal evolves to have Three Eyes, Tier Three monsters will appear.

However... he glanced at the contents of his backpack and gradually felt relieved.

Shen Xing continued to command the troops, clearing out the monsters that crawled out of the lava.

Time passed slowly, and his points continued to increase.

16000 points...

17,000 points...

18,000 points...

Around 10 p. m., he was already leading the second-place player by nearly a thousand points.

With such a large gap, given Lachlan's rate of point accumulation, it would take at least half a day to catch up.