In the mall, the screens in each broadcast area had already begun showing the fights. The commentary, with its Pili-style narration and subtitles, was much more engaging than that of Pan Feng and Hua Xiong... The system's built-in commentary was perfectly synchronized with the events, vividly describing them, and was truly excellent.

Among the many broadcast areas, [Feng Bujue]'s exclusive broadcast area was surprisingly the most popular. He didn't have that many fans of his own, but he attracted many neutral players who didn't have specific favorites to watch. And... Xu Huai Shang's fans had all gone to watch Jue-ge's matches as a group.

There were two lines in a song that went, "Laughter and tears stand back-to-back. Love and hate, a turn of the head and they see each other."

After Xu Huai Shang was eliminated, who else could her fans watch in the finals? Since their admired goddess was out of the picture, they might as well go and see that detestable fiend... and see how he dies.

So, in Jue-ge's broadcast area, you could see a strange scene: a small group of people holding up "The Maddest" signs stood in one place; another group stood a good distance away with disgusted expressions; and in the middle was a large crowd of curious onlookers.

In addition, many players were watching Jue-ge's performance in conference rooms. For example, the people from Hong Ying and Dao Feng Studios were watching Hell's Frontline...

...

Back in the script.

Because the city was filled with various mutated monsters and undead, the chances of players encountering combat were quite high.

Only five or six minutes into the finals, sounds of battle were already erupting frequently throughout the city. However, there were no battles between players yet. This was naturally arranged by the system to increase the watchability of the match and reduce random factors, so the players' starting coordinates were all scattered in different locations.

Of course, the players' performance when encountering monsters was also crucial. After all, the more battles, the greater the consumption. In the finals, survival value supplements were still unusable, which would test the players' strategies. If they wanted to lose less health, they generally had to expend more stamina or use skills to solve the problem; if they wanted to save stamina and ensure that certain skills didn't go on cooldown, they would likely have to expend more survival value.

In short, there were many things to consider, unless...

...

"If I keep moving forward, I'll encounter one or two monsters every five minutes on average..." Shiva muttered as he manipulated the stone disc of the [Heavenly Dance Hourglass], crushing the monster in front of him.

For a player of his level, killing a monster of this level was easier than breathing (and he had to endure a strange smell when breathing), so there was no consumption to speak of.

Shiva's level was currently forty-four, ranked third on the level leaderboard. Six of his spiritual energy weapon's eight special abilities had already been unlocked: "Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Sun, and Moon." Only the "Wind" and "Annihilation" discs remained sealed.

In addition, during the [Butterfly War] five days ago, he had finally comprehended the [Soul Intent] ability. Therefore, after that day's ranking update, he regained the second spot on the combat power leaderboard.

Compared to the cloak battle, Shiva's strength had undoubtedly reached a new level.

However, this only made him feel more uneasy... because he was still in second place.

"Traveler from another world..." a muffled voice suddenly sounded behind Shiva, "I advise you to stop here."

Shiva hadn't noticed the other party approaching at all, which startled him. However, the narration hadn't kicked in, which meant it wasn't a combat situation yet, meaning... the owner of this voice wasn't hostile for the time being.

Shiva immediately turned his head. What came into his view was a tall, humanoid creature. The thing was two meters tall, its torso was shaped like an inverted triangle, its entire body was covered in yellow and black armor, its limbs were much thicker than those of ordinary humans, and the most bizarre thing was its head. It was a huge... wasp's head.

"You are..." Shiva tentatively asked. Since the other party had taken the initiative to communicate with him, it was likely an NPC.

"My name is Xie Hate," Xie Hate replied. "I am one of the Twelve Temporal Officers, a servant of the Lord of Time."

Shiva was naturally familiar with the Four Pillar Gods' settings, so he continued, "Why do you advise me to stop?"

"Because the area ahead has been sealed off," Xie Hate said.

"By whom?" Shiva asked. "You?"

"I, and three other Temporal Officers," Xie Hate said. "You can detour, but do not enter..." As it spoke, it stretched out its long, jointed, and twisted arm and gently drew a line in the air with its fingertip.

Instantly, an area about several blocks ahead of Shiva was covered in a layer of orange-red, hazy mist.

"...do not enter this area," Xie Hate said.

"What's inside?" Shiva continued to press.

Xie Hate was silent for a few seconds before replying in a solemn tone, "Only danger, nothing else."

Hearing this, Shiva pondered for a moment, then said, "Alright, I'll take a detour." He didn't really have a reason to refuse, because he was just wandering aimlessly anyway. Moreover, the Lord of Time was a lawful good god, and his subordinates should be relatively reliable. At least this wasp-man hadn't directly attacked him like a monster.

"You'd better leave quickly." As Xie Hate said this, it had already turned around, facing away from the area covered in orange mist, and facing the fetid street in front of it. "Some troublesome things are coming..."

Shiva was still wondering what the other party meant when suddenly, a white pulse of light as thick as a bowl came from the far distance, slamming into Xie Hate's body. The latter reacted with lightning speed, extending its two long arms forward and intertwining them into a braid. Then, it opened its palms, and a lotus of light bloomed in front of its palms.

Xie Hate used the lotus as a shield to block the pulse. A second later, the light beam slammed into the energy-condensed lotus petals. Xie Hate stood firmly, without budging an inch. The pulse was blocked by the light lotus and scattered into seven or eight smaller beams, which scattered and ricocheted, sweeping across the surrounding buildings. For a moment, the walls of the buildings on both sides of the street collapsed as if they had been shelled, and a viscous, fishy yellow liquid flowed out of the corrupted walls...

Seeing this, Shiva couldn't help but gasp. His own [Heavenly Dance Hourglass] also used light beams to attack, but compared to the scene before him, it was simply a small trick.

"There are such strong creatures in this script..." Shiva's fright value quietly increased, and a strong desire to escape was igniting. "This place is not suitable to stay... No matter what that guy who launched the attack is, his target isn't me anyway. I don't need to get involved in their NPC battle." With that thought, he wanted to turn around and leave.

But...

"Oh... amazing." A boy with messy red hair and a smile on his face had unknowingly stood at the intersection to Shiva's side.

He wore a white suit jacket, and his guild badge was a white scale against a sea-blue background. On the back of his jacket were the words "Order."

"Tun Tian Gui Xiao..." When Shiva realized who this was, his fright value had already reached 70%.

"When did he get here... Why hasn't he attacked me? Is he wary of my strength?" Several questions flashed through Shiva's mind, but on the surface, he tried his best to remain calm and said calmly to Gui Xiao, "I didn't expect the first player I'd encounter in the finals would be you." He paused. "Well... we're going to have a fight sooner or later anyway, so why not..."

"Can't you say whatever it is later?" Gui Xiao interrupted rudely. His gaze had been fixed on another direction from beginning to end. "There's a super strong guy coming..."

Shiva was annoyed that this kid didn't take him seriously at all. But the battle on the side was indeed very concerning...

There, a figure slowly approached from the direction where the pulse had been fired.

Data identification:

-- Breaking through firewall...

-- Downloading data...

-- Initiating countermeasure strategy...

External shape identification database starting, downloading, writing, correcting.

[Name: Xie Hate]

[Faction: Lord of Time]

[Race: Hexapod Star Person]

[Level: ???]

[Height: 203 cm]

[Weight: 500 kg]

[Combat Style: Energy manipulation, ???]

[Skills: Light Lotus Shield, ???]

[Danger Level: Medium]

Voice recognition: Established.

Location: y-090.

Tracking and positioning: Unable to start.

Control status: Out of control.

Tactical control options: Calculating...

"This is a headache..." The derivative that was approaching, judging by its figure, was a male about 1.9 meters tall. His entire body seemed to be covered in glowing armor, and his voice had a chime-like rhythm. "There are twelve of these guys at this level..."

As he got closer, Shiva could see clearly that the person wasn't wearing glowing armor, but light-blocking armor... Every inch of this strange being's skin was glowing, a veritable "light person."

"A derivative..." Tun Tian Gui Xiao stared at the other party intently, muttering, "Looks like a Tier 2, but... something's weird."

"Oh? You know quite a bit," the light person said, turning his head upon hearing Gui Xiao's words. "Even though you're just a player..."

"Actually, I don't know much," Gui Xiao sneered. "I told you... I 'see' it."

"Hmph..." The light person glanced at Gui Xiao again, not saying anything more, because he was in a hurry. He then turned his gaze back to Xie Hate. "I suppose... you won't let me pass unless I kill you?"

"My Lord has ordered, do not let..."

Chi--

Before Xie Hate could finish speaking, a pulse suddenly struck.