The main competition begins
On the day of the competition, after everyone arrived at the venue, they discovered three anomalies.
First, the live broadcast that was supposed to be opened to the association after the start of the main competition was opened in advance.
Second, there were only 7 teams left in the venue.
Third, there are more injured people than three days ago.
Christopher looked calm, as if he had anticipated this. He announced to everyone, "Wait ten more minutes. If anyone doesn't show up after ten minutes, it will be considered a forfeit."
After all, the live broadcast to the entire association has already begun, and it is impossible to let everyone wait endlessly. As the initiator of the Orb selection, he must make a decision.
In order to conserve his energy for the main competition and emergencies, Lin Zhouze did not choose to open the mind sharing, but said: "Mai Er, how many people are left in that team?" He was naturally referring to the team that came out of Area D and fought back.
Mai Er looked around and said, "There were only two people following that woman. I didn't see their captain."
Lin Zhouze: "It seems that besides us, they also suffered losses at the hands of another team."
Lu Zhiqi moved his position and stood in front of Lin Zhouze, saying, "That woman was staring at you. She must have guessed something."
Lin Zhouze patted Lu Zhiqi's arm and said, "It's okay, let her watch. There are only two team members left to participate in the main competition. I don't believe she can make any waves."
Pei Chanbai felt sleepy and simply closed his eyes and pretended to take a nap.
Luo Zhao looked at Lin Zhouze with some concern, but ultimately chose not to speak.
Labrier is different from them. He was forced to join the team and was forced to participate in the competition, so he has a lot of resentment towards Ying Yungui, but he has never dared to show it.
But things are different now.
"Has Ying Yungui not arrived yet?" He asked the question that everyone was concerned about directly.
Lin Zhouze knew that his worries might have come true, because Ying Yungui had disappeared since leaving the venue that night.
During these three days, he combined the clues he had collected previously and developed dozens of battle plans for the team. He picked out several of them with the lowest error rate and the highest coverage, and analyzed them one by one in detail to everyone, in order to stabilize the morale of the team. Even if the worst case scenario happened, there would not be too much panic during the main competition.
But now the worst-case scenario had really happened. Ying Yungui hadn't been able to return to give them one-on-one training and had disappeared without a sound. However, he had only told Lin Zhouze where he was going.
How Lin Zhouze talks about this now will determine the overall momentum and direction of the team.
Unlike the worry on Luo Zhao's face, Labriel's expression was mostly relaxed and carefree. He certainly had no idea how much had happened in the past three days, and simply assumed Ying Yungui had gotten into some trouble, which was why he hadn't shown up.
Lin Zhouze thought about it and said, "He had something urgent to do, so we don't have to wait for him at the opening ceremony of the main competition. He will be back later." His expression and tone were flawless, but except for Labrier who really believed it, everyone vaguely realized that something was wrong.
Because they all knew how much Ying Yungui valued this competition.
There is absolutely no way anything could be more important than winning the qualifiers right now.
Just when Luo Zhao wanted to ask further questions, the agreed ten minutes were up. Christopher was about to make an announcement when he was interrupted by a figure standing up in the crowd.
It's 07 in disguise as a white-haired old man.
07 gestured to Christopher, then turned to the Association members on the other end of the live stream and said, "Everyone, in the three days since the qualifiers ended, several members of my team have been subjected to varying degrees of backstabbing. I'd like an explanation. Is this set of rules truly permitted by the Association?"
There was an uproar in the venue and in the association over there.
Christopher was somewhat dissatisfied with his behavior. "Leader, I told you during the first qualifying match that your team didn't withdraw. Doesn't that mean you accepted the rules of the game by default?"
07 glanced at him and said, "Yes, players can kill each other during the competition, and we accept that. But does the preparation period before the main competition also count as in-game? If so, then forget I mentioned it."
The reasons for the uproar among all the participating teams in the venue were completely different from those on the association's side.
Because everyone actually knew the truth, and more than one team took action, otherwise why would so many people be injured today.
But knowing it in your heart and exposing it in public obviously have different meanings.
On the association's side, in addition to the members of the headquarters' management team who are responsible for contact, there are also many people with special abilities and staff watching. However, only the headquarters' decision-making group is qualified to respond and make suggestions.
The current head of the decision-making team is Ying Xiangze's former deputy, but in reality, all decisions are controlled by another person——
"Captain Luan Jiang, we understand how you feel. How about this? Since we're seeking fairness, why don't we investigate everyone together and see who made the move and who didn't? How do you say that?"
The speaker was a feminine-looking man with long hair. His voice was so soft that people couldn't help but follow his meaning.
He is the current patriarch of the Ryan clan and the father of Red Ryan. He possesses the ability of "Curse".
07 pretended to be guided by him and said, "What Chief Ryan said is very good. I think your family's supernatural power is very suitable. Why don't we ask Mr. Red and his teammates to help?"
They were family members, matched with the others, and one of the "victimized" teams. From the perspective of the Ryan clan leader, there seemed to be no reason to refuse.
Christopher tried to stop him: "If we do that, what about the energy consumed by Team Ryan? Isn't that unfair?"
07 generously suggested, "So what? Whether it's providing energy fluid or waiting for time to recover, I believe the association is fair and strict and will handle such a small matter." He looked at Christopher and said, "Chief Kalanka is so concerned. Is there some hidden secret?"
"Luan Jiang, you!"
Chief Ryan spoke up, "Alright, Chief Kalangka is concerned about the progress of the competition. Firstly, it's difficult to control the supply of energy liquid, and secondly, with so many spectators today, we're worried about negative rumors spreading. It's best to postpone the main event and allow for natural recovery."
Thus, under the watchful eyes of the public, the direction of this farce started by the 8th-level healing psychic "Luan Jiang" was decided.
"Red, you know what to do. Don't let everyone down." Patriarch Ryan said to his youngest son who was at the meeting. "One person is too inefficient. Make good use of your team."
Reid Ryan received the order and took two teammates to approach the graceful woman and the two team members she led.
"Why our team?" The graceful woman seemed very dissatisfied with this and pretended to refuse.
Lin Zhouze patted Mai Er on the back and said to the woman, "Then let my teammate go with you. After all, you suspect she's killing people indiscriminately in Area D, right?"
The woman looked a little embarrassed, her face turned from white to red and then to blue. She cursed inwardly and gave way.
Reid said, "Excuse me." This was the first time most people in the arena had heard his voice, and just like Ying Yungui had been, they were all extremely uncomfortable. Reid had two teammates stand behind Mai Er and the other two, and raised his hands to place them on their shoulders.
"'Unblocking' and 'revealing'"
"'Memory Retrieval' 'Memory Presentation'"
The first two of Reid's spells were directed at Michael and the other two, and the last two were directed at his teammates.
Following a series of incantations, Mai Er and the other three closed their eyes.
Red was indeed thoughtful, even considering the possibility of memories being sealed or tampered with, so the first spell he chose was 'unseal'.
The three's memories were revealed publicly. From the first day of the first qualifying round, when they each entered a portal and were transported to different areas, everyone witnessed the team setting an ambush, using dishonorable methods to deal with other espers and dissenting teammates in Area D, then encountering Mai Er, who then "faked his death" and escaped.
He even turned around and claimed that Mai Er was the killer after he left the house.
The graceful woman simply dropped her pretense and said, "This is a problem with the rules. If anyone wants to blame someone, they can only blame the association for deliberately passing such a rule. How can it be our fault? Besides, it's not just our group that's in this situation."
What she said was indeed correct, and the association could not do anything to her for this.
But the next memory shocked everyone.
Mai'er's memory was nothing special. She just woke up in the treatment room, explained the reasons and process of self-hypnosis, and then had three days of ordinary training and life. In fact, in the second half, no one else appeared except Lin Zhouze and Maya.
The two people next door were completely different. The first night after the qualifiers was nothing special, but the second night was very memorable.
Because it turned out to be the same memory from the perspective of different voyeurs.
One of the people being spied on was the leader of the group, the woman. Coincidentally, another person being spied on was also present.
07 looked at the livid-faced leader of the Philer clan team—Zhao Heng Philer, the younger brother of the current association president.
This middle-aged man and woman met secretly under the moon, and what they talked about was not love affairs, but a conspiracy to eliminate their competitors.
[Zhao Heng Feiler: No, that's too risky.]
Woman: Leave it to me. Just believe me, with the help of the Maintenance Bureau, those teams won't make it to the finals.
As all eyes in the venue focused on her, the graceful woman couldn't understand why these two people had seen that scene, while neither she nor Team Leader Feller had noticed it.
"Impossible, how could it be, they clearly..." the woman muttered to herself in shock.
07 pressed her, "Why? They clearly did something? Did you even attack your own team members?"
A more decisive message came from the association. Chief Ryan, representing the decision-making group, said, "Captain Bai Wan, you dare to collude with the Maintenance Bureau and even want to involve the Raphael clan."
The competition between teams is quite reasonable. It would be better to say that the association is more supportive of bloody matches.
But all the rules and unspoken rules of the association must give way to a bottom line -
The Maintenance Bureau must not be involved.
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