There was no surprise that Xu An ultimately won the match.
After the competition, Liu Qiang looked at Xu An. Although he was unwilling, he still admired him in his heart.
"You are very strong."
Xu An nodded to him in return, "You are not bad either."
After a brief exchange, Xu An waited for the next match to begin.
Zhou Haimei also finished her match and, as expected, won. Xu An looked at the score board nearby, and the rankings immediately changed.
Excluding those still competing, Zhou Haimei's score surged to first place. Xu An searched for her name and found herself in third place, with Chu Yu ranking second.
As she was thinking, the person she was thinking of walked directly towards them.
Chu Yu smiled, looked at Xu An, and quietly said "Congratulations" before sitting down beside her.
After their match, Xu An and the others officially entered the top ten. All the winning contestants were waiting here for the Lighthouse to announce the mission.
The matches proceeded quickly.
Before long, all matches were concluded. Xu An and Zhou Haimei's scores were surpassed by later competitors, pushing them down.
Currently, Zhou Haimei ranked third, Chu Yu ranked fourth, and Xu An ranked fifth.
The person in first place remained unchanged, a burly, muscular man with a square face named Zhou Hao.
Among the top ten contestants, besides Xu An and Zhou Haimei, there was another female contestant named Zhou Qian.
Judging by her name, she had some connection with Zhou Hao, the man in first place.
Zhou Haimei, being naturally gregarious, struck up a conversation with the girl. Zhou Qian generously admitted that Zhou Hao was her brother.
Everyone exclaimed, surprised by how formidable the siblings were.
After the event concluded, Xu An and the others were led away from the venue by soldiers sent by the officials.
The surrounding crowd erupted in excitement.
"We heard you were going to announce the Lighthouse mission, where are you going?"
"That's right, we've been waiting here half the day to know what mission they're going on. Why are you leaving secretly?"
However, the officials ignored the clamoring crowd and led the ten contestants away from the park through the rear of the venue.
It wasn't until they reached a special metal door that Xu An suddenly realized that this path seemed to lead to the elevator to the second floor.
Xu An had never been to the second floor. Her entire impression of it came from Xu Yan.
She lowered her head and quietly asked Zhou Haimei beside her, "Mei-jie, is this the way to the second floor?"
Zhou Haimei nodded with a solemn expression. She also seemed surprised that the officials had gone back on their word.
The original agreement was that the mission details would be announced publicly after the finals.
But the Lighthouse gave a vague excuse, citing an unforeseen emergency situation that made it unsuitable to announce the mission details, and they needed to depart immediately.
Of course, everyone was not foolish and knew these were just lies to fool children. However, the contestants had already been taken away by the officials, and there was nothing they could do to protest. Many people, finding it pointless, voluntarily left the venue.
Even as they boarded the elevator, Xu An felt a sense of unreality. Ever since she learned of the mystery of the Lighthouse's second floor, she had been wanting to find an opportunity to go up and see.
But not even a mouse could take her up there. Unexpectedly, her casual wish had come true, and she was now on her way to the second floor.
The moment she stepped out of the elevator, looking at her surroundings, the feeling of unreality intensified.
She even suspected she might be dreaming.
If the architecture of the basement and first floor was built upon the architectural styles of the old society combined with futuristic sci-fi elements, then the second floor had completely transcended current human architectural standards.
Cars flying back and forth overhead, hovering disc-like aircraft, and even virtual projection technology appearing arbitrarily in the air were technologies that current humans could not master.
In a daze, Xu An thought she had traveled to a future interstellar era.
Was this really still Blue Star?
No wonder the Lighthouse's control over the access between the first and second floors was so strict.
It was almost to the point of isolation.
As Xu An was still immersed in the splendor before her, the original guides were replaced by a new group.
To be precise, Xu An did not know if the group before her could still be described as "people."
Although they had appearances identical to humans, their stiff movements and dull pupils were undeniable evidence that these were not living humans.
Many people in the crowd gasped in amazement. Xu An suppressed her curiosity and followed the crowd forward.
Just moments ago, when she had tugged on Zhou Haimei's sleeve, the latter had subtly shaken her hand off. Moreover, she had made a subtle gesture towards Xu An.
But Xu An immediately understood. Following Zhou Haimei's gaze, she noticed that the group of androids were staring fixedly at the ten of them.
If not for Zhou Haimei's reminder, Xu An would have been startled by their movements upon looking.
"Please follow me this way," one of the short-haired androids said to them in a stiff tone.
Among the ten people, Zhou Hao, as the highest-ranked, naturally took on the role of leader.
"These things, they're not real people, are they?" Zhou Hao spoke in a low voice, seemingly afraid of alerting them.
The others' eyes were clouded, and they nodded slightly, as if answering Zhou Hao's question. Apart from Zhou Haimei, the rest were likely first-timers on the second floor of the Lighthouse.
"What do we do now?" Zhou Qian asked, her gaze clearly drifting towards her brother, as if asking him.
Zhou Hao looked at his sister, his expression unreadable. "Let's stay put for now and see what the mission is."
"Do you think we can refuse the mission?"
A short, slender man in the crowd suddenly spoke.
Xu An looked at him. She remembered this man. He looked exceptionally small, like a high school student who hadn't fully developed.
However, his movements were exceptionally agile and fast, earning him the moniker of "Thief."
He also had a youthful appearance. If he didn't speak, one would think he was an underage minor. But when he spoke, his hoarse, smoky voice was jarringly out of place and very recognizable.
Zhou Qian also frowned. At the time, she had plunged into the competition for the high rewards. Now that she was actually standing here, a sense of panic washed over her.
The technology on just the basement and first floors had already amazed everyone who first boarded the Lighthouse. Many people suspected that this might not even be the technological level of current Blue Star.
Consequently, many doomsday conspiracy theories began to emerge.