367: Voluntarily surrender (two in one)

Universe No. 364 viewing area.

Unlike Starlight and the others who were excited, Xie Lin and his group all had gloomy expressions.

“Damn it, no wonder this guy targeted our people before. Turns out he’s connected to Yu Xia Universe!”

Xie Lin’s adjutant gritted his teeth and cursed in a low voice.

Xie Lin narrowed his eyes, first giving a cold glance at Starlight and the others who were now overjoyed, then turning his icy gaze towards Lin Yang in the arena, a strong killing intent rising in his eyes.

However, he didn't say much. Instead, he watched Yu Meng quickly leave, his eyes flashing, and suddenly followed him.

On Universe No. 657’s side, although Black Le and the others were also shocked that Lin Yang had chosen an ordinary Universe.

But they were, after all, supporting Lin Yang himself.

Seeing Starlight's nervous demeanor as he dealt with other Universe representatives after Yu Meng hastily departed, Black Le thought for a moment, then quickly walked over to help Starlight handle the situation... Inside the arena.

Lin Yang looked at his competition information displayed on the big screen, let out a soft breath, and glanced towards Starlight and the others' viewing area.

Seeing their surprised and shocked expressions, he couldn't help but smile.

This surprise was indeed quite significant for Starlight's people.

“Everyone must be very curious about my identity now.”

Lin Yang scanned the entire audience, observing the different reactions of various people.

Now that he was representing Home Universe, everyone would certainly be unable to determine his exact reasons for doing so.

Next, it was likely that everyone would frantically investigate his identity information.

However, he was not worried about all his identity information being exposed.

White Fatty Old Man had concealed it for him, so even Universe Alliance couldn't find it.

Therefore, Lin Yang no longer thought much about it.

Moreover, whether his identity information was exposed or not no longer mattered much.

Then, Lin Yang collected his thoughts and quietly waited for the second round of the competition to begin.

In the first round of the Top 100 Ranking Competition, winners advanced and losers were eliminated.

Although there were top seeded players from the three major Universe Countries, under the special rules of the first round, a total of only fifty players, including those seeded players from the three major Universe Countries, would ultimately advance to the Top 50.

The second round of the competition was still an elimination system, similar to the first round.

In the second round of the competition, fifty players would be matched against each other, and the winners would advance.

Similarly, in this round, if a player was directly matched with a seeded player from one of the three major Universe Countries, they would still have another chance to challenge.

Because there were nine seeded players from the three major Universe Countries.

In the second round, including these nine, there were only fifty people in total, which could be said to account for nearly one-fifth of the spots.

So naturally, other players would still be given a second chance to challenge.

Until all battles were completed, the top thirty would finally be determined.

After the top thirty, it would no longer be a simple elimination system, but would transition to a points-based system for advancement.

Each person had three chances to battle.

Winning earned one point, losing earned none.

The final ranking of the top thirty would be determined by the total points.

This was also the final round of competition before the Top Ten Ranking Competition.

The top ten individuals with the highest points would advance to the Top Ten, commencing the ultimate Top Ten Ranking Competition!

And the rules for the final Top Ten Ranking Competition completely changed.

It became a round-robin tournament!

That is to say, each of the top ten players had to compete against the other nine once, and the final Top Ten ranking would be determined by the points obtained from the number of victories.

This was also to ensure relative fairness as much as possible.

To give every player enough opportunities to showcase themselves.

At the same time, it was also to select the true strongest!

Therefore, it can be said that the biggest highlight of the entire Cosmic Competition was the round-robin battles of the Top Ten Ranking Competition.

Although the top ten were almost entirely dominated by players from the three major Universe Countries, each player in every session had their unique characteristics, so it was never boring to watch.

Moreover, by watching the round-robin tournament, players from other Universes could also learn a lot.

Therefore, the final round-robin tournament was also the most anticipated and watched... Half a day later.

All first-round matches concluded, and the second-round pairings began simultaneously.

Lin Yang received the match number from the competition's intelligent system.

No. 18.

At the same time, he also received a notification from the intelligent system that he still had half a day to rest and recuperate.

Half a day later, the second round of competition would officially begin.

This half-day period was to give the advanced players who finished their matches some time to recover and adjust themselves.

Although Lin Yang hadn't expended much physical strength in the previous battle, to ensure a more stable performance in the second round, he still closed his eyes and rested.

Soon, half a day quietly passed.

The intelligent system's prompt for the competition sounded punctually throughout the entire central arena.

“Attention, all qualifying players, please enter your respective arenas immediately. The second round of competition is about to begin.”

Lin Yang immediately opened his eyes and then entered Arena No. 18.

He was still the first player to enter the arena.

Actually, in this round of competition, many players would choose not to rush in, but would wait for their opponent to enter first.

Then, based on the strength of both sides and the opponent's situation, they would make targeted arrangements to maximize their chances of advancing.

Because after each round of competition, there would be a period of intermission.

During this intermission, some mysterious merchants would sell personal information about all advanced players.

This included the advanced players' personal strength and their specialties.

There were also professional battle analysts who would provide targeted strategies based on the strength displayed by these advanced players in their previous matches.

It could be said that purchasing such information, as long as one's luck wasn't too bad and they weren't matched with an opponent of unequal strength, could indeed significantly increase the chances of winning.

Of course, the price of such intelligence was also very high, but almost every advanced player would choose to buy it.

After all, if you don't buy it, your opponent will, and then you'll be at a direct disadvantage.

It was precisely under these circumstances that everyone would almost certainly delay, waiting until the very last second to enter the arena.

The purpose was to observe the opponent first, or to prevent the opponent from observing oneself, thus preventing them from making the most precise targeted plans and preparations in advance.

Therefore, Lin Yang was the first to enter the arena in both rounds of competition.

Even the nine seeded players from the three major Universe Countries were still waiting.

While their strength was outstanding, they also had to prevent being matched with other seeded players and being targeted first.

So, as the five-minute countdown was nearing its end, basically only Lin Yang had entered the arena.

Lin Yang naturally noticed this situation.

He hadn't paid much attention in the first round.

But in this round, he noticed that, besides himself, almost no one in the arena entered directly as soon as the intelligent system prompted them, like he did.

“Strange…”

Your Excellency Lin Yang muttered to himself.

He was a bit confused but had no way to ask anyone about the situation.

Once inside the arena, one could not leave, and the arena space could block communication.

And seeing him like this.

Someone in the stands exclaimed.

“What’s going on with that Yu Xia Universe? Don't they even inform him of the basic competition situation? How could they let him just enter the arena so straightforwardly?”

“Haha, this competition really wasn’t in vain. All sorts of strange situations that leave one baffled.”

“Indeed, this person came from a Neutral Universe before, so it’s understandable if he doesn’t know some of the underlying rules of the competition. But now that he’s representing Yu Xia Universe, shouldn’t Yu Xia Universe actively inform him?”

“Is this perhaps too much confidence in one's own strength?”

“…”

Everyone was discussing.

On the other side, Black Le, who was helping Starlight deal with representatives from various Universes, suddenly felt a jolt in his heart and couldn't help but ask Starlight:

“Oh no! Didn’t you inform Your Excellency Lin Yang about these underlying rules of the competition in advance?”

“…” Starlight was stunned and hesitated, “The, the underlying rules of the competition?”

“Yes! Judging by your expression, you wouldn’t happen to not know either, would you?” Black Le was also stunned.

“Uh…” Starlight immediately felt a wave of embarrassment, “Your Excellency Lin Yang, I really don’t know. What underlying rules are you talking about?”

“…” Black Le fell silent, then said faintly, “Before the competition, your person in charge, did he not tell you anything? Besides the official rules of Universe Alliance, there are also some unwritten rules during the competition. If you don’t understand them, you’ll be at a great disadvantage!”

“…” Starlight also fell silent.

After a long silence, he said in a low voice, his face somewhat flushed:

“Your Excellency Lin Yang, Yu Meng said that we wouldn’t be able to enter the top hundred anyway, so he didn’t tell us too much…”

“…” Black Le was silent again.

Then, Black Le sighed heavily: “Alas, never mind, what’s done is done, and it’s no use saying anything now. I’ll tell you some things later, and you go prepare some items to give to Your Excellency Lin Yang.”

“Thank you, Black Le!” Starlight immediately said gratefully.

“When will your… Yu… Yu Meng return?” Black Le asked again.

“Yu Meng said he would be back before the second round of competition ends,” Starlight replied.

“Oh… then let’s wait for a bit. Perhaps he’s gone to prepare now,” Black Le said.

“Okay, you’ve really gone to a lot of trouble!” Starlight said from the bottom of his heart.

Yu Meng had left in a hurry earlier, leaving him alone to handle this big mess.

If it weren't for Black Le coming to help in time, he really couldn't have managed!

Black Le smiled and waved his hand: “It’s nothing. Your Excellency Lin Yang helped us a lot in the first two rounds of the competition. You are Lin Yang’s friends, so naturally, you are our friends. Friends helping each other is only right.”

...Inside Arena No. 18.

Lin Yang waited until the last second before the five minutes ended, and then his opponent entered.

“Your Excellency Lin Yang, hello, I am Songxi, a player from Universe No. 138.”

After this person entered, like the player in the first round, he politely greeted first.

“Hello to you too.” Lin Yang collected himself and responded.

“Alas, I really didn’t expect to be matched with Lin Yang right at the start of this second round. I was hoping that if my luck was good enough, I wouldn’t be matched with you or those freaks from the Universe Country, and maybe I could advance.” Songxi gave a wry smile.

Just now, when he discovered he was matched with Lin Yang, including himself and the people from his Home Universe, they all fell silent for a long time.

Because according to the information sold by the mysterious merchant, Lin Yang's strength was classified as a seeded player level.

And because Lin Yang was appearing in the Cosmic Competition for the first time, plus he had swept through the previous rounds without revealing too much of his personal strength, special annotations were made to Your Excellency Lin Yang's intelligence, indicating that he needed to be treated with extreme seriousness.

And he, although also a Medium Super Gene Warrior, was still far inferior to Lin Yang.

“Uh…” Lin Yang blinked, unsure how to respond to these words.

“Haha, Lin Yang, I watched the replay of your first round match just now. Your final three-punch burst of power far exceeded mine. I happen to know that guy, and although I am stronger than him, I couldn't eliminate him directly with three punches like you did.”

Songxi spoke again.

Your Excellency Lin Yang looked at him, somewhat unclear about what he was trying to express with these words.

Songxi smiled slightly and said, “Lin Yang, you are currently the most talked-about dark horse player, apart from those few seeded players. In fact, for us, we also very much hope that you can defeat the seeded players of the Universe Country and enter the top ten. For many competition years, no other Universe Country players have entered the top ten.”

Your Excellency Lin Yang's eyes flickered. This guy kept saying things he couldn't understand. He immediately frowned slightly and couldn't help but say, “Songxi, I don't quite understand what you're really trying to express?”

“Haha, Lin Yang, what I want to say is very simple: I hope you can enter the top ten, so we don't need to fight in this round. I'll just concede directly.”

Songxi laughed heartily, and after speaking, he directly submitted a request to the intelligent system to concede.

At the same time, Lin Yang also received a notification from the Cosmic Competition's intelligent system.

“Dear Lin Yang, hello. Since your opponent has chosen to concede, you will directly advance in this round.”

“…” Lin Yang was stunned.

He looked at the laughing Songxi, a little confused. This guy actually conceded directly?!

“Songxi, what… is the meaning of this?” After a moment of silence, Your Excellency Lin Yang slowly spoke.

He truly didn't understand why this guy would concede directly right from the start.

“Haha, Your Excellency Lin Yang, you are the most hopeful to break the monopoly of the three major Universe Countries' players in the top ten. They have monopolized the top ten for many competition years. This time, it’s not easy for someone like you to appear, so naturally, we want you to have the most vigorous energy to challenge them.”

Songxi smiled again.

“I’m not your opponent anyway. Instead of having you fight me and waste your physical and mental energy, it’s better to let you maintain your most vigorous state. So, Your Excellency Lin Yang, keep up the good work and strive to break the top ten monopoly of the three major Universe Countries!”

At this point, Songxi spread his hands:

“Although breaking the monopoly doesn’t benefit us either, we just haven’t liked them for a long time!”

“…” Your Excellency Lin Yang was stunned again.

“Alright, Lin Yang, I won’t say anything more. Good luck!”

Songxi smiled and waved at Lin Yang, then was teleported out of the arena.

The information on the big screen was also updated instantly.

“Winner of Arena No. 18: Lin Yang!”

“…”

In the audience, everyone fell silent at the sight.

Because… —

Apologies for the late revision.

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