Chapter 88 Rest Space
The white light that had been transmitted dissipated, and the feeling of solid ground beneath one's feet returned.
The scene of the exclusive rest area for the Battle of Glory in the pure white world comes into view.
This is a huge platform suspended in the void, with star-like ribbons of light flowing along its edges.
The center is divided into several functional areas: a treatment light column, a tactical analysis table, a rest pod, and a huge holographic screen that displays the results and advancement information of each group in real time.
Several teams that had been teleported back earlier were already nearby, mostly bearing the marks of battle and exhausted, exchanging whispers.
When Gu Yunqing and Jun Xiangbei appeared hand in hand in the teleportation array, members of several nearby teams were visibly stunned. Their gazes lingered on their clasped hands for a fraction of a second before they casually looked away, though whispers inevitably broke out.
In the infinite world, the strong are respected, and their privacy and relationships are naturally shrouded in mystery and attract much attention.
Gu Yunqing could feel those gazes, but he had neither the energy nor the interest to pay them any attention at the moment.
He moved his fingers slightly, but Jun Xiangbei's grip tightened, showing no sign of loosening.
Gu Yunqing turned her head and glanced at him.
Jun Xiangbei's expression remained calm as he stared straight ahead, as if he had simply done something perfectly natural. Only his slightly reddened ears betrayed a hint of something more.
The subtle embarrassment that Gu Yunqing felt from their public intimacy suddenly dissipated.
He didn't try to pull his hand away again, letting Jun Xiangbei lead him towards the rest area where the other members of the Polaris and Wanxiang teams were gathered.
Su Meichuan had already helped Ayan sit down next to the healing light pillar, which cast a soft green light that slowly repaired Ayan's injuries.
Seeing the two walking side by side, hand in hand, Su Meichuan's beautiful peach blossom eyes instantly curved into crescents, filled with undisguised teasing and a knowing smile.
He gently nudged Ayan, who had just regained some consciousness and was still resting against the pillar of light, and teased him in a voice that was neither too loud nor too soft:
"Ayan, look! Our captain went out to fight and even settled his life's most important matter. He's really efficient."
Ayan was a simple, honest, and sturdy man. Hearing this, he looked up blankly, saw Gu Yunqing and Jun Xiangbei holding hands, hesitated for a second, then grinned, revealing a slightly silly smile, and said in a muffled voice:
"Great, really great. Captain Gu is amazing, and the captain is amazing too."
Upon hearing this, Wu Jueji chuckled, shook his head, and walked to a nearby bench, collapsing into it, looking as if he "couldn't bear to watch" but was also pleased with the outcome.
Qiu Zangxue and Yan Kongshan didn't react much; they could only obey and accept Gu Yunqing's decision.
Gu Yunqing's ears burned at the blunt teasing, but he was always good at controlling his expression. He just glanced at Su Meichuan and didn't reply.
Jun Xiangbei, however, tightened his grip on Gu Yunqing's hand almost imperceptibly, then looked at Su Meichuan expressionlessly, his cold voice devoid of emotion: "Ayan needs to rest."
Su Meichuan immediately raised her hands in surrender, but her smile deepened: "Okay, okay, I'll shut up. The captain is worried about his... well, his teammates."
He deliberately emphasized the word "teammates," his eyes darting between Gu Yunqing and Jun Xiangbei.
Just then, an excited voice came from the side: "Brother Gu, Brother Jun, you guys are so cool!"
Gu Yunqing turned her head and saw Xin Yuan'er running over from the spectator stands, his face full of excitement and admiration.
He formed a bond with Gu Yunqing in a previous instance, and he is also paying attention to their performance in this Battle of Glory.
"That final coordinated attack, and Jun-ge's breakthrough of the domain, was amazing." Xin Yuan'er's eyes lit up, but then he noticed the two holding hands. His voice stopped abruptly, his eyes widened even more, his mouth formed an "O" shape, he looked at Gu Yunqing, then at Jun Xiangbei, and finally slapped his thigh.
"I knew it! There's always a story between these big shots! Congratulations, Brother Gu! Brother Jun!"
His reaction was straightforward and enthusiastic, brimming with the youthful vigor unique to young people.
Gu Yunqing had a good impression of Xin Yuan'er and nodded, "Thank you. You're here to watch the match too?"
"Yeah, I'm learning from the pros." Xin Yuan'er nodded vigorously, then scratched his head a little embarrassedly, "Um... did I disturb you guys?"
“It’s alright,” Jun Xiangbei said, his tone slightly gentler than usual. “Let’s review everything together.”
Upon hearing this, Su Meichuan raised an eyebrow, and even the slumped Wu Jueji sat up a little straighter.
Does Jun Xiangbei mean to include Xin Yuan'er in this temporary small circle of tactical discussions?
It seems that he also places considerable trust in the people around Gu Yunqing who he approves of.
Xin Yuan'er was flattered and quickly nodded, "Okay, okay!"
The group moved to a relatively quiet area near the tactical analysis table.
The analysis station can retrieve public video recordings of battles that have ended and perform data tagging and simulations.
Gu Yunqing finally felt that her mental strength had recovered somewhat, at least her mind had regained its clarity.
He took the initiative to let go of Jun Xiangbei's hand, as it was indeed inconvenient to hold it while discussing tactics.
Jun Xiangbei's hand paused in mid-air for a moment before naturally withdrawing, his fingertips almost imperceptibly rubbing together, as if reluctant to leave that warmth.
Once the recap was complete, Jun Xiangbei closed the virtual screen, looked at Gu Yunqing with a serious expression in his eyes: "If we meet again in subsequent instances, we can form a temporary tactical alliance."
"Intelligence sharing and coordinated operations. In the final battle, it's all about individual skill."
This is a very formal and rational proposal.
As the battle for glory progresses, the opponents become stronger, and joining forces with strong opponents will undoubtedly increase the probability and safety of advancing.
But there can only be one champion in the end. By agreeing in advance that they would not be enemies in the final battle, they avoided potential conflicts of interest and the risk of betrayal.
Moreover, Jun Xiangbei also has his responsibilities. He didn't want to go up against Gu Yunqing at first, so he simply didn't participate in the Glory Battle. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, he ended up participating anyway, so naturally he had to fight for his own world.
Gu Yunqing nodded almost without hesitation: "Okay."
Such an alliance would be more beneficial than harmful to him.
The two made a pact with a high five, the movement swift and decisive.
"Alright, now that we've finished discussing the important matters, it's time to gather some intelligence." Gu Yunqing changed the subject.
"Zhuge, analyze which teams that have already advanced need special attention, especially those with hidden strength or strange abilities," Gu Yunqing instructed.
Using Fuxi's divine essence for large-scale deductions is costly, but it is a necessary investment now.
Zhuge Jin nodded slightly, without making any extra movements. He simply stood quietly, with faint Bagua phantoms flowing around him. His eyes behind the white veil seemed to pierce through layers of space and information barriers.
Inside the rest area, some perceptive players seemed to sense something and turned their gazes in this direction. When they saw Zhuge Jin, their eyes flashed with both fear and curiosity.
This silver-haired player, who obtained the divine status of Fuxi in "Ragnarok" and demonstrated his prophetic abilities in the War of Kings, has long been a focus of attention for many teams.
A moment later, the strange phenomena surrounding Zhuge Jin subsided, and he turned to Gu Yunqing, his voice calm: "Select two teams that require close vigilance."
"Firstly, they call themselves the Human-Machine Team, with the slogan 'Flesh and blood are weak, machines ascend.' All members undergo deep mechanical modification, retaining their brains or core consciousness, while the rest are creations of cutting-edge technology."
"They are not simply mechanical exoskeleton users, but rather they have perfectly integrated their own consciousness with the machine, possessing terrifying computing power, synchronization rate, and modular weapon systems that can be replaced at any time."
"Secondly, the team name is Setsuna. There is very little information about this team. Their only appearance was in the final stage of the group stage, where they eliminated another strong team in a near-instant kill. Analysis shows that they may possess rare abilities related to 'time fragments' or 'speed rules'. They are extremely threatening."
Zhuge Jin's deductions made everyone present look serious.
The name of the human-machine team is kind of funny, but nobody can laugh about it now.
After all, they were willing to abandon their bodies, which gives you an idea of how insane they were.
Two teams, one pursuing the ultimate in technology, and the other potentially manipulating time.
The waters of the battle for glory run deeper than you can imagine.
"Thank you." Gu Yunqing retrieved Zhuge Jin. The divine power consumed by the deduction needed time to recover.
Jun Xiangbei quickly entered the names and characteristics of the three teams into his analysis terminal, and said in a deep voice:
"We need to gather more detailed intelligence. The AI team may have connections with some top-tier tech guilds in the Pure White World, but we don't need to worry too much about this team."
Jun Xiangbei spoke with extreme confidence, after all, he was the top expert in the field of artificial intelligence.
"On the other hand, the Setsuna team is a bit troublesome in terms of time control, but it doesn't matter. I will have someone investigate their weaknesses."
Gu Yunqing nodded and added, "We also need to recover and improve as soon as possible. The date of the next round of the competition is unknown, so we must hurry."
He looked at everyone: "Ayan, Su Meichuan, you two hurry up and heal the pillar of light to restore it. Zhuge Jin, you two go back and rest too."
They said they were letting them go back to rest, but in reality, they were putting them into card form so that Gu Yunqing wouldn't have to maintain four cards every day.
He then looked at Xin Yuan'er, "Yuan'er, thank you for coming to cheer me on. Please keep an eye on the upcoming matches, and if you have any useful information about those three teams or other strong teams, please contact me anytime."
Xin Yuan'er patted his chest and assured him, "Don't worry, Brother Gu, I've got it covered. If I get lucky, I might stumble upon some crucial information!"
After making the arrangements, Gu Yunqing looked at Jun Xiangbei: "I need to meditate deeply to strengthen my mental power."
“Okay.” Jun Xiangbei pointed to a private meditation room with basic soundproofing and protective features in a corner of the rest area. “Go there, I’ll stay with you.”
Gu Yunqing felt a warmth in her heart and, without further hesitation, headed towards the meditation room.
Entering the meditation room and closing the door shuts out the noise from the outside world.
Gu Yunqing sat down cross-legged, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes.
Consciousness sinks into the sea of consciousness.
The sea of consciousness, which had been somewhat dim due to overexertion, was slowly regaining its luster under the influence of the advanced mental repair agent and the user's own breathing adjustments.
Time slipped away quietly in deep meditation.
Gu Yunqing was immersed in building and optimizing her mental world, minimizing her perception of the outside world.
But subconsciously he knew that outside the meditation room, someone was quietly waiting.
Jun Xiangbei was indeed waiting outside the meditation room. He did not sit down, but leaned against the wall by the door, his posture still upright.
He brought up his personal terminal, where the screen displayed rapidly scrolling data and battle video analysis. There was very little publicly available information about "human-machine" and "moment," and he was filtering and analyzing it from a massive amount of battle records and fragments of information from player forums.
Jun Xiangbei's expression was focused and calm. Only when he occasionally looked up at the closed door of the meditation room would a hint of almost imperceptible tenderness appear in his cool eyes.
After helping Ayan complete the initial treatment, Su Meichuan walked over, saw Jun Xiangbei's appearance, and chuckled in a low voice:
"Captain, if your fans see you looking like that, your 'waiting for your husband' image will be ruined."
Jun Xiangbei glanced at him, ignoring his teasing, and looked back at the terminal screen, but her ears were starting to turn red again.
Su Meichuan shrugged, unconcerned, and walked to a nearby bench to sit down, where she began to organize her intelligence and network of contacts.
The captain has found someone he wants to protect, and as a teammate and friend, he naturally wants to do his best to support him.
After an unknown amount of time, the door to the meditation room slid open silently.
Gu Yunqing emerged from the crowd, her complexion now rosy, her eyes clear and sharp, her aura harmonious and restrained, more composed and profound than before.
The first thing he saw was Jun Xiangbei by the door.
Jun Xiangbei looked up almost the instant the door opened, pausing his analysis.
He looked Gu Yunqing up and down carefully, and only after confirming that he was in good condition did the worry in his eyes completely disappear, replaced by a calm sense of relief.
"How is it?" Jun asked from the north.
"Very good." Gu Yunqing smiled. "Quite a haul. What about you? Have you noticed anything?"
Jun Xiangbei turned the terminal screen towards him, which displayed a dense array of connection diagrams and keywords: "There are some fragmented clues, but they are not complete."
"When the Setsuna team eliminated their opponents, the frequency of spatial fluctuations in the scene was abnormal, which is suspected to involve local changes in the flow of time or ultra-high-dimensional movement, rather than simple acceleration. More examples are needed to verify this."
"You've worked hard," Gu Yunqing said sincerely.
Jun Xiangbei shook his head and put away his terminal: "Of course."
He paused, looked at Gu Yunqing, his tone still indifferent, yet carrying a barely perceptible question, "What's next?"
Gu Yunqing glanced at her teammates who were resting or tidying up, then looked at the huge holographic screen in the center of the rest area, which displayed the list of teams that had advanced and the countdown to the next round of the competition.
“Wait,” he said, his eyes gleaming with a calm yet expectant light. “Wait for the next round's matchups to come out. And then…”
"Then, let's go and meet the AI team and the Setsuna team together." Jun Xiangbei continued, his tone calm but containing a firm determination to fight side by side.
Their eyes met in mid-air, needing no further words.
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