"Tch... so it's Order's First Team after all... even their captain got taken out."

Shortly after, Doomsday Onslaught and Final Onslaught, who were at another location in the Stone Gorge, learned of Xian Ye Wei Wang's death through the game menu.

"Including Fei Kou, who died five minutes ago..." Doomsday Onslaught muttered, "Two of us have already fallen. The situation doesn't look good..."

"Yeah... I wonder if the captain and Fei Kou managed to take down any of the enemy team before they died," Final Onslaught replied. "If the other three are still alive, the two of us might be..."

"Don't worry, they did kill one of them." At that moment, a third voice joined their conversation.

The Onslaught duo knew that there were no teammates left in this scenario, so the speaker was most likely an enemy. Hearing the voice, they moved swiftly, instantly leaping sideways in opposite directions, creating some distance between them, and assumed fighting stances.

"Quick reactions," Tun Tian Gui Xiao said as he descended from the sky, standing before them. "And... more composed than I expected."

In Thriller Paradise, everyone knew this youth with his wild, scattered red hair, arrogant expression, and the look of a living Yaksha.

However, for the Corpse Blades duo, this was their first time meeting Gui Xiao in person within a scenario.

"Judging by your aura..." Final Onslaught looked at Gui Xiao, solemnly, "You must be the legendary..."

"Alright..." Gui Xiao didn't let him finish. "I'm just a dropout working at a game studio." His eyes swept over the two emotionless faces before him. "If I have any special talent... it's just that I'm better at games." He paused. "At least I don't need drugs to stabilize my emotions and improve my reaction speed."

"We don't understand what you're talking about," Doomsday Onslaught replied in a deep voice.

"Oh... is that the line your studio's PR department came up with? Don't understand?" Gui Xiao said in an ambiguous tone. "Heh... I guess I know why your studio's image and reputation are so bad."

"Enough nonsense!" Final Onslaught didn't want to discuss this topic any further. He immediately shouted, "Let's fight!"

"That's right..." Doomsday Onslaught also looked fierce (at least he was trying hard to look fierce). "Don't think that just because you're at the top of the player rankings, you can take on..."

"Are you misunderstanding something?" Gui Xiao interrupted again, his eyes sharp as he coldly replied, "I never said I was going to fight two of you."

"What did you say?" Final Onslaught seemed to hear something in his words, and immediately shifted his gaze, scanning his surroundings warily.

"My teammates aren't here, and I don't mean what you think I mean," Gui Xiao saw through their thoughts and continued, "Let me tell you about the current situation..." He paused for a moment, then said, "First, your team's Fei Kou Wei Wang used some means... to successfully take our team's Zui Wo Chang Ran with him. Secondly, your Xian Ye Wei Wang was just killed by our team's Meng Jing Chan. Counting the Sheng Yu Pian you two teamed up to take down, our combat power is exactly two versus two. However, Chan-ge is far from here right now, so you don't have to worry about him suddenly appearing from somewhere."

The Onslaught duo listened to Gui Xiao's narration, with a mixture of belief and doubt in their hearts... because they couldn't understand how he knew all this information.

According to the rules, in this preliminary round mode, players could only see the status of their own teammates in the team panel, and information about the enemy team... other than the team name (if they hadn't used the privacy protection feature to hide their team name) was completely unknown.

But now, Gui Xiao accurately reported the IDs and death times of the other two dead members of Corpse Blades' First Team, and even knew who they fought. This situation... generally meant two possibilities: one, Gui Xiao's reconnaissance ability was very strong; two, Gui Xiao's ability to deceive was very strong.

"You two don't seem to believe what I'm saying, do you?" Gui Xiao saw that the two didn't respond and continued, "Indeed, logically speaking, I don't need to tell you this. Reporting my teammates' deaths like this makes it seem like I'm playing some kind of trick." He smiled. "Heh... of course, you can think whatever you want. My 'frankness' isn't the point."

Gui Xiao's tone was relaxed from beginning to end, which put enormous pressure on them. "The point is..." He shrugged and spread his hands. "To be honest... I haven't fought 'players' in a long time." He didn't seem to be joking when he said this, and that... was what was so chilling. "After reaching max level, competing with players has become very boring for me; not to mention one against two, even one against ten or one against a hundred... it's all the same to me. No matter how many small fries come... it's meaningless. If you want to have a 'fair' fight with me, you need at least seven players from the top thirty of the rankings working together. And you..." He looked at the Onslaught duo with disdain. "...obviously don't meet that requirement."

"Hmph... that's the funniest joke I've ever heard." After a few seconds, Final Onslaught forced out a cold laugh and said, "One against a hundred? Are you crazy... even if a professional player fought a noob at the same level, 1v5 would be the limit, one against ten is just nonsense!"

"That's right!" Doomsday Onslaught also chimed in, "Also... if a player is fighting two opponents who are close to their own strength on the rankings (because the player base is huge, there are many people who the system considers to be of similar strength; this 'similar strength' usually refers to a range of about twenty places above or below on the list), they're usually already stretched thin. And you're saying... you need seven players from the top thirty of the rankings working together to fight you? Hmph..." He snorted coldly, "Kid... if you're bluffing, you're blowing this way out of proportion; and if you're serious... then I advise you—there's a limit to arrogance!"

"Heh..." Gui Xiao smiled dismissively after hearing the two's words. "Your reactions are the same as most people, but I don't blame you..." As he spoke, a fleeting light passed through his eyes. "Human thinking is always imprisoned by what it knows and recognizes, and it self-righteously rejects the unknown with a crude disbelief."

As he said these words, a stream of white data gathered behind Gui Xiao and quickly condensed into a strange black creature.

It was a giant monster two and a half meters tall, with a horse's head and a human body. It wore a full suit of black armor, with a giant sword at its waist. Its exposed head and neck were a black-maned horse's head; its hands wearing gauntlets had ten fingers, but its lower legs were still a pair of giant hooves.

"I see..." Final Onslaught muttered when he saw the monster. "Using summoned creatures to make up for the numerical disadvantage..."

"To be precise, it's called a 'Stand'," Gui Xiao corrected. "Allow me to introduce..." He raised a hand, gesturing towards the giant monster, "This is my Stand—Ta Ye."

"What 'Stand', it's still a summoned creature in the end," Doomsday Onslaught said. "Even an S-rank summon isn't strong enough to beat professional players like us."

"Is that so..." Gui Xiao said, simply sitting down on a rock, striking a pose as if he were about to watch a show. "Then you can try." He put his hands behind his head, leaned lazily against the stone pillar, and looked up at the sky, muttering, "Although it was a bit injured when dealing with 'Tian Shi' earlier, it should be enough to take care of you two in this state."

"Tian Shi..." Final Onslaught hesitated for a couple of seconds, then recalled the identity of that name. "Are you talking about the First Hour Official Tian Shi under the Time Lord?"

By now, information about the Four Pillar Gods and their twelve Hour Officials, Nine Nether Wraith, Jury, and Chaos Demon Generals had long been summarized by players on the forums. Some even speculated on the various plots and personnel changes these NPCs had experienced in the main world and compiled corresponding timelines... so it was normal for Final Onslaught to know the name of Tian Shi.

"Ah... that's him," Gui Xiao replied listlessly. "After entering this scenario, I noticed a fairly high-level data signature not far from our battlefield, so I went to visit him alone. Unexpectedly... he showed clear hostility as soon as he saw me." He licked his lips. "This Hour Official was very strong, and had nearly fifty stone soldiers with him. I had to summon [Ta Ye], [Undertaker], and [Water Demon] all together to take him down."

"You... what did you say..." Even with the drugs, Doomsday Onslaught felt his hair stand on end after hearing this. "You used three summons to take down the First Hour Official..."

"Let me correct you one more time..." Gui Xiao interrupted. "I have one 'Stand', two 'Shikigami', and three 'Thought Beasts', but they're not the same concept as the 'summoned creatures' you know. You'd better not confuse them, or else..." He snapped his fingers. "...you'll pay the price."

The moment he snapped his fingers, Ta Ye... moved!

Who would have thought that this massive Stand had astonishing speed? It raised its giant sword and charged straight towards Final Onslaught, its momentum no less than that of a Grade A Fighting specialization player.