Chapter 237 A Change in the Situation

At the same time, on the other side of the city.

Honghu and Zhao Yingwang, who were engaged in battle, naturally felt the sound wave that swept across.

"What's going on?" Honghu's longbow trembled, scattering a rain of light arrows. He took advantage of the momentum to retreat, jumping out of the battle circle.

Standing behind the Stone Demon, Zhao Yingwang tilted his head and replied, "You mean that sound wave just now?" He continued in an indifferent tone, "It's not a big deal, probably just a big move released by other players during a fight."

"No..." Honghu adjusted his glasses, "I mean... why did the commentary stop..."

"Huh?" Zhao Yingwang was stunned when he heard this. "That's right." He touched his chin and said, "But... that has nothing to do with our fight, does it? Weren't you complaining about the commentary being verbose before?"

"My personal preferences for this setting are not important." Honghu stated in a very calm tone, "According to my observations, in this script, as long as there are players involved in the fight, there will be commentary." He paused for a moment. "Considering that this Pinnacle Battle is a free-for-all, there must be multi-perspective broadcasts. I speculate... this commentary is very likely the official commentary provided by the system."

Zhao Yingwang pondered for a moment and replied, "Hmm... Since it's official commentary... there's really no reason for it to stop."

Honghu said, "We've been in a state of combat all this time, so we can clearly know the dividing point from when the commentary was there to when it wasn't..."

"It's the time right before and after the sound wave hit." Zhao Yingwang continued.

Honghu turned his gaze to the direction from which the sound wave spread and pondered, "Something must have happened over there..."

"Even if your analysis is correct... so what?" Zhao Yingwang said. "Don't tell me you want to suggest... that we stop fighting right now and go check out the situation over there together?"

"Why not?" Honghu said. "We've been fighting to a standstill, so will stopping really have any impact?"

"Hmph... that's true." Zhao Yingwang snorted coldly. "At least on the surface, no one is at a disadvantage." He only said half of his words; the other half, which was inconvenient to say out loud, was that "As for how much hidden strength each side has, only the parties involved know for sure."

...

Beside the Blood Lake.

The twelve players in groups of three didn't notice that the commentary had stopped because their attention was focused on the giant creature in front of them.

The experts from the four guilds almost simultaneously reached a consensus: "This is not a place to stay for long."

However, before they could leave, another change occurred.

"Heh... finally, there's someone who looks a little decent." A gloomy voice suddenly rang out. Although the voice was not loud, everyone around the Blood Lake heard it clearly.

"Hey, hey... another pretty vicious-looking guy popped up behind us." Xiao Ming, who was charging at the forefront of the retreat, spotted the newcomer at a glance.

A monster with a blue face, fangs, three heads, six arms, a human body, and a snake tail, and whose entire body was scarlet, was squirming forward...

The Taking Names trio was the fastest and most decisive of the four groups to retreat, but their luck was also the worst... because the Bloodthirsty Demon, one of the Nine Dead Souls, happened to be coming from the direction behind them.

"Wolves in front and tigers behind..." Lao Qu said. "Fortunately, this one behind us isn't so exaggerated in size."

Zhen Ge continued, "No, no, no... size doesn't represent strength. Judging from the arrogant attitude of this half-snake monster, he's likely stronger than the giant blood corpse in the lake..."

Just as the three of them were hesitating about whether to charge past him, in an instant... a strange shadow flashed past them.

"Travelers from another world..." The Bloodthirsty Demon thought disdainfully as he passed by the Taking Names trio, "Although they're much stronger than the monsters in the city, in front of me... they're still as slow as if they're standing still."

As for the three from Bingdi (Ice Emperor), they didn't react until the Bloodthirsty Demon brushed past them.

"What is that thing..."

"So fast."

"Luckily, it didn't attack us, otherwise..."

A chilling feeling rose within them, and the three of them broke out in a cold sweat, feeling extremely afraid.

They should indeed be thankful. The Bloodthirsty Demon's nature was very belligerent and ferocious. If Duo Ling hadn't given it prior notice, it would have likely dealt with all the players and monsters it encountered along the way. Even if it encountered a Derivative, it wouldn't mind a fight.

Roar—

The giant blood corpse that crawled out of the Blood Lake also noticed the Bloodthirsty Demon's existence. It turned its face and let out a roar, seemingly wanting to scare away the approaching threat.

"Blood corpses of this size are rare." The Bloodthirsty Demon was not affected by the roar at all, maintaining the posture of a fearless expert as it continued to approach. "It's just right as the main course for dinner, hehe... that lake can be the soup."

...

Somewhere in the north of the city.

As a ray of white light scattered, a player was killed out of the script. And his opponent was Wang Tanzhi.

Xiao Tan was indeed a very lucky player. After the finals started, he had already encountered and successfully killed two players. Although neither of them were seeded players, they still sent him four points.

"Phew... pretty strong." Xiao Tan relaxed slightly after disengaging from the battle.

"You're the one who's strong, you're giving me the creeps." A voice suddenly sounded from behind Xiao Tan.

As soon as the words were spoken, the blade moved.

Before the words "giving me the creeps" could be finished, the military dagger in Xiao Tan's hand was already pressed against the speaker's neck.

But he didn't strike because the one who was speaking was just a semi-transparent holographic image.

The holographic image was that of a shapely blonde woman wearing a jacket and jeans; her face was beautiful, and her voice was very magnetic, with a bit of an older sister vibe.

"A simple projection wouldn't make a sound, right..." Xiao Tan's mind raced. "Could this be a summon? A ghost? Or... something else..." He retreated a few steps, watching in all directions, trying to find the controller of this projection.

"Handsome guy, I'm talking to you, why aren't you answering me?" The projection said again, "I've been watching you for a while now, you're not a mute."

Xiao Tan looked at the holographic image again, and that's when he realized that "she" had a guild logo on her jacket.

"Mountains and Rivers?" Xiao Tan's expression changed slightly. "Are you a player?" He wasn't too surprised. After all, Thriller Paradise had all sorts of skills. Maybe the other party was using some kind of clone technique or turning themselves into a semi-transparent spirit with a transformation skill.

"She is Matcha Su from Mountains and Rivers." At this moment, another voice rang out.

This was a very familiar voice to Xiao Tan: Feng Bujue's voice.

Almost at the same time that Brother Jue's words rang out, Matcha Su's projection disappeared.

Xiao Tan was a little confused by these strange situations one after another. He quickly looked in the direction of the voice and saw... a blonde beauty walking out of an alley not far away, and behind her was a man with messy hair.

"Brother Jue... what's going on?" Xiao Tan asked when he saw this.

At this moment, Feng Bujue was holding Matcha Su's shoulder with one hand and using a death poker card to hold Matcha Su's neck with the other, "escorting" her over.

"The situation is..." Feng Bujue said, "While I was on my way, I discovered that she was secretly following and monitoring you, so I secretly followed and monitored her." He paused and continued, "Just now, she probably felt that the time was right and was preparing to attack you. But she didn't expect... the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind."

"Uh... what I actually want to ask is..." Xiao Tan said, "Why are you still holding her hostage? Wouldn't it be better to just kill her?"

"Hehehe..." Feng Bujue smiled sinisterly, "Of course, taking her alive is because she's still useful..."

"Is it really okay for you to say this kind of line that's easy to misunderstand with a perverted expression..." Xiao Tan complained.

Matcha Su, however, seemed quite calm: "I'm not worried about you doing anything outrageous, but... are you sure you can control me?"

"Based on the information I investigated before the competition and the observations I've made for the past ten minutes or so..." Feng Bujue replied, "I can say with great certainty that you are a rare player who specializes in machinery. Your own combat ability is not bad, but it's also quite limited. To be frank, if your combat specialization isn't even a B grade... then it's impossible for you to escape my clutches."

"Okay, okay... I surrender..." Matcha Su shrugged helplessly and spread out her hands. Then, she turned her head slightly and winked at Brother Jue, "What do you want? Just say it."