At eight o'clock sharp, Xie Xingyan was already waiting in front of the official StarNet interface. She wasn't the only one—countless others across the galaxy had logged in early.
When the appointed time of 8:10 finally arrived, the entire audience held their breath, eagerly awaiting the mysterious guest who was supposed to appear.
To everyone's shock, it was none other than Marshal Nalis herself, personally announcing the finals' rules.
Her appearance nearly crashed the StarNet system. After all, this was the only female marshal in the entire interstellar era!
It wasn't an exaggeration to say that Marshal Nalis was revered by all, young and old alike. Even the most ruthless interstellar pirates would scatter at the sight of her legion.
She wore no makeup at all, clad only in a simple standard military uniform, her hair casually tied up.
Yet simply standing there—even as a holographic projection—her overwhelming presence as a supreme commander was unmistakable. Her eyes gleamed with sharp, intimidating light.
"I am honored to be the guest announcer for this stage of the competition. The finals will take place in a holographic simulation of the ancient Gulan Star Desert. In three hours, contestants will enter this world via the simulation pods we provide. The single rule—whoever slays the most Zerg while maintaining at least ten percent of their spiritual power will be declared the winner."
The host beside her raised a timely question: "If two contestants kill the same number of Zerg, what will be the deciding factor?"
Nalis's lips curved slightly, her tone resolute: "Naturally, we will compare their remaining spiritual power. I must remind contestants—inside the simulation, you will not be able to use spirit-recovery potions."
"Thank you, Marshal Nalis. May I ask if contestants are allowed to seize the final strike against Zerg that others have nearly killed?"
"This is permitted. We expect contestants to sharpen their awareness. As for further details, the rules will be delivered to you once you enter the simulation pods. For now, I wish you all an enjoyable competition."
With that, Marshal Nalis's hologram cut off.
But her brief appearance was enough to send the popularity of the Holographic Juvenile Mecha Tournament to unprecedented heights.
All across the interstellar worlds, people speculated about what her presence meant.
"Why would Marshal Nalis agree to announce the rules for a mere mecha tournament?"
"Rumor has it she's been close friends with Master Xu Yuan for many years. Perhaps he asked her."
"No, this feels bigger. What if the Marshal is using this tournament to scout for a successor?"
The remark was casual, but many found it convincing.
After all, Marshal Nalis was already 180 years old. In just thirty more years, she would enter her elderly stage—yet she still had not accepted a single disciple.
Her involvement also drew the keen attention of the Federation's legions. None of the shrewd old foxes believed for a moment that a marshal would involve herself in such an event without a hidden motive.
Once Xie Xingyan heard the rules, she immediately began searching StarNet for data on the Gulan Desert's terrain.
It was vastly different from the deserts she had encountered in her first life. Gulan's deserts had no towering vegetation to provide cover. Instead, they were plagued by storms, sand squalls, torrential rains, and fissures that split the ground apart.
In other words, with no natural shelters, contestants not only had to deal with swarming Zerg but also the desert's ever-changing, deadly climate.
In fact, Xu Yuan himself had once questioned the choice of battleground. But Nalis only gave a mysterious smile and said, "You'll understand when the time comes," before refusing to elaborate.
What few people knew was that the desert simulation had been personally designed by Nalis back in her student days. What she wanted to see was how humans would spark and adapt when faced with absolute peril.
Having experienced it firsthand, she could promise one thing—the desert would be far more interesting than anyone expected.
When Xie Xingyan finally lay inside the simulation pod provided by the organizers, her consciousness sank into the virtual world. Meanwhile, the interstellar audience gained access to live feeds from all fifteen finalists.
The moment she appeared, she found herself surrounded by nearly twenty Scythe Beetles.
These Zerg weren't particularly powerful fighters, but they had one obnoxious trick—they could emit a foul stench that lowered a human's spiritual value, causing victims to lose focus and become lambs to the slaughter.
Xie Xingyan recognized the underhanded tactic instantly. She held her breath, deployed her holographic mecha, and charged toward the weakest point in their encirclement.
Naturally, the Scythe Beetles weren't about to let prey slip through their claws. On the audience's screens, they saw a striking image: Xie Xingyan fleeing in front, a vast, seething black swarm chasing right behind.
The situation was dire. Even with her physique, she could only hold her breath for four minutes at most. She needed a way out—fast.
There! She spotted a massive fissure a thousand meters to the left and immediately steered her mecha in that direction.
Agitated by their "snack" constantly fleeing, the swarm followed without hesitation.
Of course, the maneuver was far riskier than it looked—one mistake, and she'd be the one falling to her doom.
When she was just ten meters from the fissure, she extended her mecha's arm, latched onto a solid boulder at the edge, and vaulted herself onto the opposite ledge.
The Scythe Beetles, caught in the momentum of their charge, plunged into the fissure one after another like dumplings into a pot.
As for the few that managed to brake, Xie Xingyan kindly "helped" them along with a push.
Well, bugs belonged together. She couldn't bear to leave any stragglers behind.
The audience stared blankly for several seconds before realizing what they had just witnessed.
Her maneuver had been flawless—but if even one step had faltered, she would have been forced offline in defeat.
In fact, another popular contestant caught in the same situation had just suffered exactly that fate: overwhelmed by the Scythe Beetles, his spiritual power collapsed, and he was forcibly logged out.
After escaping that crisis, Xie Xingyan finally had a moment to check the detailed rules:
1. In this tournament, mecha usage time is not unlimited. Each in-game day, contestants may only operate mecha for five hours. Manage your time wisely.
2. Each day, limited basic resource packs will be randomly dropped. Contestants must fight to seize them.
3. The finals will last one week. Contestants who log out early will be deemed to have failed.
Reading through the rules, Xie Xingyan quickly exited her mecha mode.
Too outrageous! An interstellar day lasted forty-eight hours, yet mechas could only be used for five.
Damn. She had already burned fifteen minutes. From here on, every second would have to be carefully calculated.
And with resource packs fewer than the number of contestants, competition would be brutal.
Even though this was a holographic simulation, hunger, fatigue, and pain felt completely real.
Viewers couldn't help but marvel: these rules were downright sadistic. That single time restriction on mecha alone was enough to drive most contestants insane.
They secretly sighed in relief—thank goodness they were only spectators.
As for Xie Xingyan, after putting away her mecha, she was left with only a laser sword. She began moving at full speed toward the nearest supply drop point, intending to camp it in advance.