Chapter 427 - 206: Deep into the Labyrinth, a Fierce Battle with the Corrupting Eye
Chapter 427: Chapter 206: Deep into the Labyrinth, a Fierce Battle with the Corrupting Eye
The descent wasn’t fast. This planet was too small, so its gravity was naturally pitifully weak.
His gaze sharpened, and he soon spotted a small point of light on the desolate gray surface below.
It was a temporary camp that had already been set up. Someone was standing at the edge, waving vigorously in his direction.
It was Qin Yue.
With a thought, Lin Ye enveloped himself in his Gravity Field, adjusted his trajectory, and flew toward the temporary camp.
As he drew closer, Lin Ye felt himself pass through some kind of barrier. Instantly, he could breathe again.
The camp was likely projecting some kind of invisible field that could contain manufactured air.
Finally, the entire camp came into clear view.
The entire camp was divided by a simple line into two clearly distinct areas. On one side flew the scarlet banner of Xinhuo, and on the other, the blue-black banner of Kunlun.
Just as he landed, he saw two personnel in logistics uniforms take a few palm-sized cubes out of a metal box and casually toss them onto an empty patch of ground.
The next second, the cubes rapidly inflated like balloons, expanding and transforming within a few short seconds into fully functional living pods and life-support facilities.
Lin Ye was stunned.
He had been wondering how the support staff and referees, who had arrived only a few minutes before the contestants, had managed to erect a camp so quickly on this barren wasteland.
It turned out the camp had been built using some kind of space-folding technology.
He couldn’t help but be impressed by this level of technology.
Just then, he instinctively looked up, back in the direction he had come from.
The purple light at the edges of the massive spatial rift hanging in the cosmos, the one connecting back to Earth, was slowly receding. The entire fissure was closing at a speed visible to the naked eye!
This wasn’t the military’s doing.
Instead, just as Dongfang Zhen had said, the rift seemed to possess a will of its own, closing automatically after the number of entrants reached a certain threshold.
Immediately after, dozens of battered figures tumbled out of the rapidly closing rift.
They wore Kunlun Martial Hall uniforms, but the S-2 Exoskeleton Armor on many of them was in tatters, showering electric sparks.
They crashed to the ground in a scattered heap. When they looked at Lin Ye, their eyes held not only unrestrained fury but, even more so, a deep, visceral terror.
BZZT—BZZT—
After a burst of ear-piercing static, a voice that Lin Ye knew all too well—one with a distinctly lazy air to it—blared from the camp’s loudspeakers.
"Ahem, can you hear me?"
"Celestial Abyss Rift CN-51479 closed thirty seconds ago. The final number of participants for these qualifiers is now confirmed."
"Firewood Martial Hall: forty-seven participants. Kunlun Martial Hall: fifty-one participants."
"This is a temporary safe zone. You have ten minutes to rest and regroup. Afterward, find the person in charge of your respective Martial Hall to receive your spatial-folding equipment and anti-toxin gear."
"There is no time limit for this competition. Your primary objective is to search for the Ark Fire Seed Source. Your secondary objective is to hunt as many of the local Celestial Abyss Race as possible. Your kill data will be recorded in real-time by your wristbands and added to both the individual and team scoreboards."
"In the end, the Martial Hall that leads the team scoreboard will secure more slots to advance to the main event of the Peak Competition."
"Ugh... I’m so tired. Just ask your supervisors about the rest. I can’t be bothered to say any more. Anyway, let the competition begin."
As the voice faded, Lin Ye saw a slender figure in a military combat uniform at the camp entrance lower a loudspeaker. She yawned, turned, and started walking back to her private quarters.
It was Yin Liulan.
"Hey! Mr. Yin! What are you doing here?!"
Dongfang Zhen’s eyes lit up. He waved, shouting at the top of his lungs.
Yin Liulan stopped in her tracks but didn’t even bother to turn her head. She just waved a dismissive hand and tossed back, "Don’t call me Mr. Yin. I’m not your instructor anymore. The sight of you guys is annoying!"
Lin Ye watched her retreating back, lost in thought.
Although this rift had changed hands several times between the Dongfang Family and the two Martial Halls, ultimate control had always remained with the military.
Yin Liulan herself held a high rank. As a colonel, it was perfectly reasonable for her to be invited to serve as the chief referee for these qualifiers.
With Yin Liulan’s announcement, the competition officially began.
On the Kunlun side, the members who had just scrambled up from the ground didn’t even take the time to repair their armor. They set off in twos and threes, wordlessly heading toward the massive chasm on the planet’s surface before quickly disappearing into the darkness below.
"Lin Ye, come here."
Qin Yue walked over and handed Lin Ye a black wristband.
"The rules are more or less what your Mr. Yin said. It’s generally similar to the system you had at the training camp: hunt the aliens, get points."
"For these qualifiers here in Ninghai, there are only twenty slots in total to advance to the main event of the national Peak Competition."
"If our team score for Xinhuo surpasses Kunlun’s, we’ll get a larger share of those twenty slots. And vice versa."
"So, this is both an individual fight and a team fight."
After Qin Yue finished his explanation, Hu Dahai came over from the side. He handed Lin Ye a neatly folded, dark gray combat suit in his size, along with a matching anti-toxin mask.
"Mr. Lin, put this on."
"This is a real Celestial Abyss Rift. Beneath the surface, there are exposed Source Crystal Veins everywhere."