Floor 6: The Ruined Sect.
The world shifted. The golden hall dissolved, replaced by the howling wind of a desolate wasteland.
It was a map of urban decay. Crumbling stone towers, collapsed walls, and a maze of narrow alleyways filled with grey fog.
At the north end stood the Blue Base (Team Ye Qingyu).
At the south end stood the Red Base (Team Lin Fan).
[Objective: Seize the Opponent's Dragon Banner.]
[First to 3 Captures Wins.]
Red Base (Team Lin Fan).
Lin Fan stood by the Red Dragon Banner, looking at his "army."
Fatty Wu was shaking so hard his wok lid was rattling like a tambourine. The two cannon fodder disciples—Disciple A (Broken Leg) and Disciple B (Coward)—were huddled together, praying. Zhang Wei was checking the straps on his sister's box.
"Listen up," Lin Fan said, his voice distorted by the shadow of his Mantle of the Villain.
"We can't win a fair fight," Lin Fan stated bluntly. "Ye Qingyu has a tank, a healer, and high DPS. If we clash head-on, we die in ten seconds."
"So what is the plan, Captain?" Fatty Wu squeaked.
"The plan is Operation: Meat Shield," Lin Fan pointed to Disciple A and Disciple B. "You two. Run down the center lane. Scream. Make noise. Draw their fire."
"But... we'll die!" Disciple B cried.
"Yes," Lin Fan nodded. "But you'll buy me thirty seconds. Go."
He kicked them out of the base. Weeping, the two disciples ran into the fog.
"Fatty," Lin Fan turned to Wu. "Sit on the flag. Use your turtle shell. Do not move. Even if they stab you. Just sit there."
"I... I can do that," Fatty Wu nodded. "Sitting is my specialty."
"And you," Lin Fan looked at Zhang Wei. "Woodcutter. You stay here and guard the Fatty. If anyone comes close... shine your light in their eyes."
"And you?" Zhang Wei asked.
"I," Lin Fan pulled his hood down low, activating the stealth enchantment of his cloak, "am going hunting."
Blue Base (Team Ye Qingyu).
Ye Qingyu stood tall, his sword gleaming. His team was disciplined.
"Formation A," Ye Qingyu commanded. "Shield Warrior in front. Healer behind. Spear and Wolf on the flanks. I will take the center."
They moved out like a machine.
Within minutes, they encountered Lin Fan's distraction.
"Don't kill us!" Disciple A and B screamed, running blindly down the main road.
"Pathetic," Ye Qingyu scoffed. "Spear, take them out."
Swish. Swish.
The Azure Elite with the spear moved like lightning. Two thrusts. The two disciples from Team Lin Fan were instantly eliminated (teleported out of the arena with "Critical Injury" status).
[Red Team: 3 Members Remaining.]
[Blue Team: 5 Members Remaining.]
"It's a trap," Ye Qingyu analyzed. "Lin Fan is sacrificing pawns to flank us. Wolf Scout! Sniff him out!"
The Beast Tamer whistled. His massive Spirit Wolf lowered its nose to the ground.
"He went... Left!" the Tamer shouted. "Through the ruins!"
"Intercept him," Ye Qingyu ordered. "Shield and Healer, push to their base and take their flag. Spear and Wolf, come with me to hunt the rat."
The West Ruins.
Lin Fan was moving fast. The Mantle of the Villain made him blend into the grey fog. He wasn't running toward the enemy flag; he was camping.
He crouched on top of a broken archway, overlooking a narrow chokepoint.
"Come on..." Lin Fan whispered, aiming his Desert Eagle.
He saw them. Ye Qingyu, the Spear User, and the Spirit Wolf.
"Three targets. I have seven bullets in the mag."
He aimed at the Wolf first. The Wolf could smell him. It was the biggest threat to his stealth.
Sniff. The Wolf stopped. It looked up directly at the archway. It growled.
"Found you!" Ye Qingyu roared, leaping into the air, his sword glowing with azure light.
"Damn!" Lin Fan cursed. He abandoned the shot and rolled backward off the archway just as Ye Qingyu's sword beam cleaved the stone structure in half.
BOOM!
Lin Fan landed in the rubble. The Spear User was already rushing him from the right.
"Die, villain!" The spear thrust toward Lin Fan's heart.
Lin Fan didn't dodge. He used Phantom Step to step into the guard of the spear, grabbing the shaft with his left hand.
"Point blank," Lin Fan hissed.
He jammed the barrel of the Desert Eagle into the Spear User's stomach.
BANG!
The recoil blew the Spear User backward. His defensive Qi shattered instantly. He flew into a wall and vanished in white light.
[Blue Team: 4 Members Remaining.]
"One down!" Lin Fan grinned.
But then, a shadow fell over him. The Spirit Wolf was mid-air, jaws open, aiming for his throat.
Lin Fan couldn't aim fast enough.
FLASH!
A beam of blinding white light cut through the fog, striking the Wolf directly in the eyes.
YELP!
The Wolf, blinded and disoriented, missed its bite, crashing into the ground next to Lin Fan.
Lin Fan blinked. He looked across the alleyway.
Zhang Wei was standing there, holding the Sun Scepter steady.
"I told you to guard the base!" Lin Fan shouted, aiming his gun at the thrashing wolf. BANG! A bullet to the head finished the beast.
[Blue Team Wolf: Eliminated.]
"Fatty is guarding the base," Zhang Wei said calmly, turning off the light. "I thought you might need support. You are loud, Senior Brother."
"I didn't need help," Lin Fan lied, reloading his magazine. "But... fine. Good timing."
Ye Qingyu landed in front of them, his face twisted in fury.
"You killed my disciples. You killed the wolf."
Ye Qingyu raised his sword. His aura exploded, shaking the rubble. Qi Condensation Stage 8.
"But now you have nowhere to run."
Lin Fan aimed his gun. Zhang Wei raised his rusty sword.
"Two against one?" Ye Qingyu laughed. "A woodcutter and a coward with a toy? Come!"
Ye Qingyu charged.
"Run!" Lin Fan shouted.
He didn't fight. He turned and sprinted toward the Enemy Base.
"What?" Ye Qingyu paused. Lin Fan wasn't fighting; he was ignoring the duel to rush the objective.
"Coward!" Ye Qingyu turned to chase Lin Fan.
But Zhang Wei stepped in the path.
Zhang Wei knew he couldn't beat Ye Qingyu. He was Stage 1. Ye Qingyu was Stage 8. It was an ant versus a god.
But Zhang Wei had a box to protect. And he had a team.
"Move, trash," Ye Qingyu raised his hand to slap Zhang Wei aside with a wave of Qi.
Zhang Wei planted his feet. He didn't swing his sword. He pulled out the Bag of Spirit Rice he had bought in the shop.
He ripped the bag open and threw the raw rice into the air.
"Rice?" Ye Qingyu was confused.
"Sun Scepter: Strobe Mode," Zhang Wei whispered.
He pointed the flashlight at the cloud of falling rice and flickered the beam rapidly.
The white light reflected off the thousands of grains of polished white rice. It created a dazzling, chaotic wall of glittering light, like a disco ball exploding.
"My eyes!" Ye Qingyu flinched, blinded by the million reflections.
It only bought three seconds.
But three seconds was enough.
"I have the flag!" Lin Fan's voice echoed from the enemy base.
Ye Qingyu cleared his vision with a pulse of Qi. He looked at Zhang Wei, who was now standing calmly with an empty rice bag.
"You..." Ye Qingyu trembled with rage. "You wasted Spirit Rice... to distract me?"
"It worked," Zhang Wei said apologetically.
Ye Qingyu kicked Zhang Wei.
CRACK.
Zhang Wei flew into a wall, coughing blood. He slid down, clutching his chest. He was out of the fight.
But the notification rang out.
[Red Team Captures the Flag!]
[Score: 1 - 0.]
Red Base.
Fatty Wu was currently being beaten up by the Enemy Shield Warrior and Healer.
"Ow! Ow! Stop it!" Fatty Wu cried, curled under his glowing wok lid.
The Shield Warrior was smashing his shield against the wok. CLANG. CLANG.
"Break, you damn turtle!"
Suddenly, Lin Fan sprinted into the base, carrying the Blue Dragon Banner.
"Fatty! Move your ass!" Lin Fan shouted.
He slammed the Blue Flag into the capture stand.
ZING.
"We scored?" Fatty Wu peeked out.
Lin Fan stood over the exhausted Fatty Wu, panting. He looked back toward the ruins where he had left Zhang Wei.
He saw the notification.
[Teammate: Zhang Wei - Critical Condition. Still on field.]
Ye Qingyu was coming back. And he was going to kill Zhang Wei for real this time.
"We got the point," Lin Fan muttered. "We should regroup."
"But the Woodcutter!" Fatty Wu cried. "He's still out there!"
Lin Fan looked at the score. 1-0. He looked at the angry Ye Qingyu approaching Zhang Wei's position on the minimap.
"He was bait," Lin Fan said coldly. "He did his job."
But as he said it, his hand twitched over his gun. The Heaven-Devouring Art in his gut rumbled, not with hunger, but with... irritation.
"Damn it," Lin Fan cursed. "If he dies, who is going to carry the luggage?"
He reloaded his gun.
"Fatty, stay here. I'm going back in."
The Sovereign's Palace.
"And there it is," The Sovereign smiled, leaning forward.
"The Villain goes back for the sidekick," Unit Alpha noted. "Illogical. It risks the lead."
"It's not logic," the Sovereign tapped the screen. "It's ego. Lin Fan doesn't want Ye Qingyu to have the satisfaction of killing his teammate. To a narcissist, his minions are his property. And nobody touches the Sovereign's property."
He watched Lin Fan sprint back into the fog, cloak billowing, gun raised.
"This," the Sovereign declared, "is good television."