Chapter 1 In This World

In this world, some stand on stages, watched by all, fighting and bringing glory to their hometown, while others stand beneath, cheering them on.

During this high school phase, Jiang Xiao and his team represented BeiJiang Province in the national league, reaching the peak for high school students.

Representing an entire province in a competition? That's already remarkable enough.

But some take a different path, developing thriving careers in other fields, equally impressive.

For example, the live-streaming Miss Su Rou.

While most students are still unsure about their future after graduation, Su Rou has already carved out her own niche.

Of course, no one succeeds easily.

As early as 6 a.m., Su Rou, also known as Meatbun Su Rou in Jiangbin City, was already live-streaming. Fueled by the virtual gifts from her bored, bedridden viewers, Su Rou ate four side dishes and two steamers of buns at a breakfast shop before heading home.

Despite the approaching college entrance exams, Su Rou took a leave of absence. In fact, many awakened students had done the same. While schools mostly granted the leave, there wasn't a unified vacation.

The National High School League is an annual event, undoubtedly the top competition for high schoolers in China. Although Su Rou didn't have the skills to participate, she wanted to seize this opportunity to watch the matches with her fans.

At this time, Su Rou had over 4 million followers. While that couldn't compare to the top streamers on various platforms, Su Rou was already considered a first-tier big-name streamer.

Su Rou knew how to avoid certain problems. She dared to broadcast the semi-finals but would never broadcast the preliminaries.

Why?

Because the preliminaries involved fighting interdimensional creatures, inevitably leading to elements of bloodshed, violence, slaughter, and death. Although it was a very legitimate competition, she would likely be banned by the platform if she dared to broadcast it.

The National High School League preliminaries weren't broadcast on national public channels either, but rather on paid channels.

Although Su Rou was watching the paid livestream on her home computer, she didn't rebroadcast it in her streaming room.

At this moment, her streaming room was titled: Watching the Matches With You.

But what matches were there to watch upon entering her streaming room?

Only her girlish computer desktop and, in the lower right corner, a view of her live-streaming from home.

In the vast sea of people, when the camera focused on the young man wielding a giant blade, Su Rou excitedly shouted, "Wow, Little Pi's here! The way he holds his blade is so cool, just like Xia Yan. These two are such a perfect match..."

The screen was immediately filled with question marks.

"???"

"Where's my Poison Milk King? Poison Milk Powder reporting in!"

"It's been so long, the provincial newspapers and various media outlets have been hyping it up every day, saying this year is the most promising year. Pi-god, please don't let us down."

"Why can't I see my brother-in-law? Brother-in-law fan here!"

"Pi-god! Go go go! Daddy fan reporting in!"

"It's starting, it's starting, Pi-god and Yan-god are going to chop people up~"

"Liar streamer, followed."

"The barrage is full of shills, where's the footage? Penguin isn't even managing it."

"Stop talking nonsense, go pay to watch the livestream yourselves, this is a place to chat..."

At the same time, in a military camp far away in the suburbs of Chang'an City.

Jiang Xiao and the others put on their soft headbands, adjusted the position of the miniature cameras in the headbands, and put on their invisible earpieces.

Jiang Xiao also took the Star Bead of the Fallen Shadow Witch from Han Jiangxue, put it in his pocket, slung the large military backpack on his back, and carried the giant blade. Everything was ready.

In fact, for some teams, just being able to last 72 hours and come out alive would be a pretty good achievement.

"Attention all members, enter!" With an order from the commander's platform, the staff members in front of each team strode out.

Jiang Xiao and the others hurriedly followed, turning back to see Hai Tianqing standing in place, constantly waving to everyone, with a maternal expression of worry and reluctance on her face...

Maybe... we shouldn't compete for any honors, shouldn't think about standing out, shouldn't go to that distant place to struggle.

Turn around, go home, stay by her side, find an ordinary job, and live a peaceful life, wouldn't that be nice?

Well...

At this moment, Jiang Xiao turned into a drama queen, adding scenes for himself like crazy!

If Jiang Xiao could read Hai Tianqing's mind, he would read this sentence from Hai Tianqing's head: 72 hours! You must survive!

The 200 participating teams moved quickly and orderly, led by staff members, queuing up to enter the ancient imperial mausoleum.

As soon as he entered this special interdimensional space, Jiang Xiao had two direct feelings: darkness and dampness.

The air was filled with a musty smell, mixed with a faint smell of blood, making people nauseous.

Just like the last time on New Year's Eve when he accidentally entered the interdimensional space of the Ugly Stone Monster, Jiang Xiao once again had the feeling of entering the territory of an intelligent race.

Why?

Because this interdimensional space was a mausoleum, and not just any small grave, but a huge imperial mausoleum!

How big exactly? Nearly a thousand people could easily line up in front of the supply point.

Jiang Xiao looked at the walls built of special dark stone, with some strange patterns faintly visible on them. This made Jiang Xiao think that this was a product left by an intelligent race.

Perhaps due to the principle of "when in Rome, do as the Romans do," the supply point guarded by the Guardian Legion was also built with stones with dark patterns, and was surrounded by torches. The flames crackled as they burned.

Jiang Xiao took out a high-intensity flashlight from his military backpack and shone it around. He could still see the wall far away on the right, and a row of torches was stuck on the wall, the flickering flames lighting up the dark imperial mausoleum.

And to Jiang Xiao's left and in front, it was completely dark, making it hard to imagine how big this place really was.

Jiang Xiao pointed the flashlight upwards and vaguely saw the top of the mausoleum. The location of the crowd was considered the first floor of the mausoleum, and the rules stated very clearly: floors 1-18 were the activity areas. Going beyond those floors would result in direct disqualification from the competition.

Otherwise, Jiang Xiao would really want to lift the roof tiles and see the scenery outside the mausoleum.

The students had different expressions, some marveling and some panicking. At this moment, the middle-aged man in the suit reappeared and shouted loudly: "The competition officially begins! Teams that are still near the supply point after 300 seconds will be counted as one request for help."

Instantly, the participating students became agitated, transforming from a large, organized, and disciplined team into a scattered mess, "fleeing" in all directions.

"Which way to go?" Xia Yan asked. In the current situation, there were people everywhere, and no one could tell which direction was which. No one knew which side was dangerous, where the Ancient Martial Legion was, or where the entrance to the lower levels was.

The 800 participating students were almost all here for the first time, and they were like headless flies, bumping around everywhere.

Han Jiangxue tilted her head slightly, gesturing towards the firelight in the distance, and said, "Let's walk along the wall."

The ancient imperial mausoleum is a special interdimensional space unique to Chang'an, and there is some information about the interdimensional creatures and terrain conditions here online, but it can't be said that this information is comprehensive.

The team had no idea what the terrain was like here, so walking along the wall was a clumsy method, but better than bumping around everywhere.

Even now, no one dared to say that there were only the publicly announced interdimensional creatures in the ancient imperial mausoleum.

After all, no one had yet explored the bottom level of the ancient imperial mausoleum... The authorities had not announced how far down they had gone. The only certainty was that they hadn't reached the bottom.

In other words, the Pioneer Legion had been constantly exploring downwards, and the Night Watch Legion was also in the process of moving in.

Each time the pioneers developed a new level, they would build a human supply point at the entrance to the stairs. It was worth mentioning that although they hadn't reached the bottom, it was enough to use as a competition venue for these kids. Aren't 18 floors enough for you to mess around in?

Don't even mention 18 floors, if you can get down to the 8th floor, you'll be considered one of the best in this year's competition.

Jiang Xiao and his team looked at the faint firelight and walked at least a hundred meters before reaching the wall on the right. This was after they walked to the right. If they went to the wall on the left, it would probably be even further.

"Little Pi, come down." Han Jiangxue was slightly startled by Jiang Xiao's actions. You're already destroying public property as soon as you arrive? What if you get punished?

Jiang Xiao took a running start, kicked off the wall twice, and leaped upwards. Finally, he stretched out horizontally in the air and yanked down a huge torch.

There was indeed a row of huge burning torches on the wall, but taking it like this...

"Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!" Just as Jiang Xiao took down the torch and turned off the high-intensity flashlight, he heard an alarm sound in his invisible earpiece.

The team was shocked. Oh no!

Jiang Xiao was also dumbfounded. No way?

"Team 3, Area A3! Area A3 requesting assistance! Move quickly!" A male voice suddenly came from the invisible earpiece. "Team 3, Area A3 requesting assistance!"

"Wrong channel! This is the student channel! You're on the Guardian Legion channel!" Another voice came, and then there was no sound in the team's earpieces.

The four looked at each other. That fast?

Had it even been three minutes?

That wasn't the point. The important thing was, they had encountered the Ancient Martial Legion so quickly? How close were they to the human supply point?

This was still the first floor with the best security, and the monsters were already so dense?

Just as the team was pondering, a series of anxious voices came from behind.

Among the 200 teams, there were quite a few who had the same idea as Jiang Xiao's team, and many had come for the wall full of torches.

If Jiang Xiao's facing direction was considered "front," then the rear was already in turmoil.

"Damn it! Moron!"

A curse filled with a local accent came from afar, accompanied by the roar of a red-scaled giant dragon with flailing claws, completely lighting up the dark ancient imperial mausoleum.