Chapter 62: One Move Ahead
Translator: Strivon / Ash Editor: Geoffrey / Lancent
“Don’t be fooled! I’m his true target! It’s absolutely not Helian Lie!”
Gao Ye shrieked. His short figure curled up into a ball and rolled backwards on the ground in a completely sorry manner.
Upon hearing Gao Ye shriek, several large and strong Blue Team compet.i.tors immediately threw themselves towards him, disregarding their own safety.
Gao Ye had long since calculated the possibility of the Red Team executing the “Beheading Tactic”, thus he had his teammates practice Anti-Beheading Tactics since the start.
In less than half a second, a st.u.r.dy and robust meat wall appeared in front of Gao Ye. Seven to eight ordinary blades danced vigorously, crisscrossing to form an unstoppable blade formation!
And sure enough, Li Yao had stopped and changed directions in an utterly strange fas.h.i.+on while in the air, as if he had fiercely stomped on a transparent wall of air to throw himself towards Gao Ye, ignoring Helian Lie.
It seemed like Li Yao did not foresee Gao Ye reacting so quickly. He suddenly crashed into the blade formation!
Fortunately, the Blue Team compet.i.tors had yet to recover from their dazed state caused by the Flash Glyph Array. Their visions were blurred and unclear, and all they heard were “Ding Ding Dang Dang” sounds of colliding swords. Li Yao shouted a blood-curdling shriek and threw himself back into the forest to fade away without a trace.
He left behind only a sentence: “Just y’all wait. I’ll be back!”
Three seconds later, every Blue Team compet.i.tor recovered from their dazed state. Each of them had deathly pale faces, were sweating like pigs, and looked at each other in dismay. They all saw panic in the depths of each other’s eyes.
“What a fearsome fellow. He actually tailed us without making a single noise and infiltrated our command center, all without being discovered!”
A Blue Team scout member had spoken traumatized. He could not hold back from looking at the crisscrossing branches above, as if Li Yao was still concealing himself in the darkness amidst the branches.
“However, he’s still no match for Gao Ye. In the instant, he threw out the Flash Glyph Array, we all thought his target was Helian Lie. Only Gao Ye still maintained a clear head, forcing Li Yao to fail in the end. Gao Ye, you sure are a natural commander!”
A different male had spoken cheerfully.
Gao Ye’s expression was incomparable grave as he spoke, “This is an extremely formidable opponent. He does not possess as strong computational abilities as I do, but he possesses a certain innate beast-like keen intuition. He knew for certain the difference between himself and Helian Lie. He knew that even an ambush may not have instantly killed Helian Lie!”
“What’s more…Although Helian Lie possesses tyrannical combat strength, he is not someone who is key for determining victory and defeat. Even if he slays Helian Lie, he would be beheaded from the compet.i.tion a second later by our numerous blades. It would have been a mutual defeat between him and Helian Lie!”
“This… was something he absolutely did not want to happen!”
“I’m different, however. I follow the road of admin-type cultivators and my expertise lies in my computational and a.n.a.lyzing abilities. My combat strength is ordinary and mediocre. It would be very likely for him to slay me in a single blow!”
“And once I’m out of the compet.i.tion, the Blue Team would be reduced to a sheet of loose sand. Chaos would emerge for certain shortly. If the Red Team was able to seize this opportunity, they may have been able to turn the tides!”
“This fellow figured this out, so he purposely used Helian Lie as his pretense. He made it appear that there were personal grudges between him and Helian Lie on the surface, so he recklessly tailed behind to settle things. Actually, his true target had been me from the start!”
“Even more, I truly doubt this was all deliberately planned from the time when we first found him. I’m certain that once he first discovered Helian Lie from the shadows, he took the initiative to show himself for the sake of discovering the location of our Command Center!”
“Formidable! This fellow is way too formidable! If it weren’t for my computational abilities computing a move ahead, finding out his plan in the last minute, he might have successfully pulled this off!”
Gao Ye had spoken with lingering fear. His forehead was drenched with sweat.
“However, he’s still no match for you, Gao Ye. The layers of tricks that he schemed with all his might were all seen through by you. He’s already lost the initiative. Now, we’re the hunters and he’s the prey!” a Blue Team compet.i.tor had shouted with excitement.
Gao Ye forced a laugh and spoke, “That’s true. Today, things have gone this way, but our comprehensive strengths are still on par with each other. Today, I was just lucky. If it were another battlefield, I can’t say for sure whether he would successfully slay me or not.”
Helian Lie remained silent and unspeaking to the side. Shame and anger were mixed in his heart; he felt the greatest humiliation and disgrace!
Li Yao’s target from the start hadn’t been him all along!
Li Yao absolutely did not pay a single ounce of attention to him. Li Yao only took him to be a pretense — to be bait!
Only Li Yao and Gao Ye were the opposing striving players in this chess match. He was nothing more than a mere chess piece being controlled!
Even if Li Yao was no match for Gao Ye, Li Yao still exceeded Helian Lie, a chess piece, by leaps and bounds. If Gao Ye had not laid things out clearly, he would have absolutely been unable to guess what Li Yao’s plot was. Just then, he even r.e.t.a.r.dedly adopted the tightest defensive stance!
It was as if Li Yao had ruthlessly slapped the proud and arrogant Helian Lie across the face. Helian Lie’s anger caused his eyes to turn bloodshot and his teeth to clench tightly. He wished with all his hate to tear and consume Li Yao’s b.l.o.o.d.y flesh bite by bite.
Through gritted teeth in anger, his voice hoa.r.s.ely sounded, “Gao Ye, then what are you waiting for!? Let’s mobilize ASAP! And hunt down Li Yao!”
“WAIT!”
Gao Ye’s entire face was entwined in a complicated knot. He looked as if he was considering every angle. He muttered, “Strange. I’ve factored in every detail in my calculations. I also succeeded in fending off his attack. Why do I still feel restless? It’s like I missed something… WHAT’S THAT!?”
Gao Ye’s expression changed and he pointed to a military pack amidst the center of everyone, letting out a shriek.
This military pack’s surface was smeared all over with mud, and even a few weeds and moss. It had been casually tossed in the core area of the command center.
It was like a rock at first glance. None had noticed when this pack had appeared.
“How is there a pack? Whose is it?”
All the Blue Team compet.i.tors were at a loss. They looked at each other with dismay. It seemed that none of them had ever carried a pack such as this.
In the eyes of Gao Ye, this commonly found pack transformed into a large demon egg, as if an incomparable fearsome existence was about to break through the coc.o.o.n and burst forth. Gao Ye’s face warped and he shrieked, “Do you all still remember when dealing with Li Yao? He would hold an explosive device composed of over twenty crystal cells connected in series. He would say its might is tremendous, enough to flatten an entire supply point, and he would threaten us with mutual destruction.”
When these words were spoken, everyone’s faces underwent enormous changes. They all remembered!
“We’re f*cked!”
Gao Ye’s, Helian Lie’s, and several dozen Blue Team compet.i.tor’s pupils shrank simultaneously to their minimum!
500 meters away in the forest.
Li Yao had his back leaning against a large tree. He stood unmovingly and extended 10 fingers. One by one, they bent down: “9… 8… 7… 6… ”
“Who is it!?”
Two Blue Team compet.i.tors had suddenly emerged from the forest. They never thought a Red Team compet.i.tor would actually appear in a location so close to their command center. They could not help but be shocked.
Li Yao glanced an eye at them faintly and didn’t reply. He continued being engrossed in his countdown: “5… 4…”
“There’s something weird with this fellow. I think he’s that Li Yao that the communication channel was talking about just now. Let’s quickly drop our artifacts, use ordinary weapons instead, and notify the command center!”
The two Blue Team compet.i.tors were on high alert as they maintained a distance of 10 meters between themselves and Li Yao. They gave not a hair of opportunity to Li Yao.
Li Yao continued as before doing what he was doing. He counted down leisurely: “3… 2… 1!”
When the number “1” was spoken from his mouth, a loud earth-shaking rumbling boom exploded 560 meters behind him in the forest!
The entire forest shook and swayed, and a large gigantic white mushroom cloud gradually rose. A surging heatwave rolled and spread at high speeds, soon reaching out over 500 meters.
The two Blue Team compet.i.tors’ pupils were captured by this mushroom cloud. The hair on their heads was roasted and scorched by the heatwave. Broken branches and crushed rock were mixed in the shockwave, cleaving onto their craniums and smas.h.i.+ng onto their bodies!
In a flash, the two were stunned and covered in dirt and grime, becoming like two clay statues.
Static came from the communication channel. Not a single person was still capable of answering their shouts.
“What... What the h.e.l.l did you do?” The two Blue Team compet.i.tors could not hold back from trembling.
“I’m terribly sorry. From now on, the Blue Team’s Command Center no longer exists.”
Li Yao slowly took out his black daggers and walked over to the two Blue Team compet.i.tors with a smile.