Level 23, Stage 1

[Arrived: Global Slaughterhouse · Central Waiting Area]

It wasn't until this moment that Chen Yu's private message interface finally flickered.

[Zhou Zhenguo: Sorry Chen Yu, I overlooked the message Song Xingmian sent before she returned to the capital. But the Talent Awakened who can access these secret files isn't in Haicheng. I'm contacting them urgently!]

[Zhou Zhenguo: Aren't you from the Academy of Performing Arts? You should first...]

At the edge of his vision, the private message interface flickered frantically one last time!

Then, the entire interface vanished instantly!

[Warning: Signal interference intensity 100%, regional communication link forcibly severed!]

"Buzz—"

A dark red light curtain stretched out across the void, covering all ten people!

Chen Yu's lip twitched.

The Academy of Performing Arts doesn't fucking teach you how to lie, does it?!

[Survival Number: 230007]

[Welcome to the Global Slaughterhouse]

[This station is a global matching station; all participating regions will be randomly assigned to different missions]

[Current Region: Huaxia]

[Current Team: Haicheng]

[After the mission ends, the system will conduct settlements based on individual and team performance respectively]

[I. Team Rewards (The following buffs will determine the final settlement coefficient based on mission performance)]

[Reward 1: Increase in total resource acquisition for the affiliated region]

[Reward 2: Improvement in highway mission quality for the affiliated region]

[Reward 3: Reduction in Vehicle upgrade construction materials for the affiliated region]

[II. Individual Rewards]

[Obtain one Talent Release opportunity; the higher the individual performance ranking, the higher the medium resonance intensity]

"Buzz!"

"Buzz!"

"Buzz!"

Before Chen Yu could think further, a wave of intense dizziness hit him.

It felt like being struck on the back of the head with a club; his consciousness was being ripped from his body.

He instantly lost all consciousness.

"Whew..."

The moment his consciousness returned, the muddy feeling of the rainy ground vanished, replaced by a hard, solid sensation beneath his feet.

Chen Yu snapped his eyes open and scanned his surroundings quickly.

The torrential rain was gone, but he was still wearing his raincoat.

"This is..."

Before him was a massive circular arena.

Grayish-white stone walls rose from the ground, with tiers of spectator stands extending upward to the top, over ten meters high.

Rusted torch brackets were embedded in the stone walls, but the fires had long since died out, leaving only blackened remains.

The entire arena was shrouded in a hazy, grayish light, like a cloudy afternoon.

The arena's diameter was visually estimated to be over two hundred meters.

"One, two, three..."

"Ten?"

In the shadows at the edge, ten massive iron gates were spaced equidistantly, forming a perfect regular decagon.

Each gate was about three meters high, with a different embossed symbol carved onto the doorframe.

Chen Yu stood in place and slowly turned in a circle.

No Han Cheng.

No Song Xingmian.

No Zhang Lieyang.

None of them were there. The stands were completely empty and deathly quiet; it seemed only the sound of his own breathing remained.

Of course, 'no people' didn't mean there was nothing else.

"Gulu?"

Water Bubble's two small black dot eyes darted left and right, then it shared a dazed look with Chen Yu.

"What exactly is going on."

Chen Yu narrowed his eyes and took off the cumbersome raincoat.

But before he could think much—

[Cold]

[So cold]

[The smell of rust is seeping out from the walls]

[A ring of doors all around]

[But I can't see what's behind the doors]

[Is that another world?]

[They will open]

[They pounce over]

[One after another]

[I want to leave, I want to leave, I want to leave]

"Creeeak—"

That was an iron gate carved with a giant claw, letting out a dry sound of friction.

From the shadows behind the door, a stench of rot wafted toward him.

[Global Slaughterhouse · Stage One]

[Slaughter Register]

[Rule: This stage only calculates survival time. The longer you survive, the better the individual/team performance]

[Warning: There is only an <Exit> option on the panel. Please press it three seconds in advance to proceed to the second stage]

Then,

A figure stumbled out.

It was a zombie.

Its skin was grayish-white and ulcerated in many places, its eyeballs were cloudy, and its movements were stiff and slow.

The most ridiculous part was that as it walked out of the iron gate, it tripped over the threshold and nearly fell.

Chen Yu looked at it and paused for a moment.

"Uh..."

"Is this it?"

Chen Yu had imagined some extremely terrifying existence behind the door, but he never expected it to be this thing.

"Roar roar~~"

The zombie let out a low, raspy growl, spread its arms, and lunged at him.

"Get back, Water Bubble."

"Gulu!"

Chen Yu took a step forward, clenched his right fist, and with a short-range burst of power, smashed his fist right into the center of the zombie's face.

"Pfft!"

The head suddenly exploded, and the zombie's forward momentum came to a dead stop.

Chen Yu shook his hand and shook his head.

He was even a bit worried that with a mission of this level, he might not be able to create a performance gap between himself and others.

[First Gate · Defeat Complete]

[Current Survival Time: 13 seconds]

[Second Gate Opening Soon: 26...25...24...]

Twenty-some seconds later,

The second iron gate, carved with a fist, opened...

The moment the iron gate swung fully open, heavy footsteps first echoed from behind it.

"Thump."

"Thump."

"Thump."

Every step made the ground vibrate slightly.

"?"

Then, a massive foot stepped out from the shadows behind the door.

Followed by the body.

When it revealed its full form, it was a humanoid monster over three meters tall, its entire body covered in thick, grayish-white bone armor. Thick, short bone spikes grew from its joints, and its arms were extremely long, hanging down below its knees.

"This jump is way too fucking big..."

Chen Yu's lip twitched; this Slaughter Register was too abstract.

The first stage was a zombie, and the second stage was this behemoth?

"Boom..."

"Boom..."

"Boom boom boom boom boom!"

The earth-shaking noise was all because that giant was running toward Chen Yu!

It raised its right arm and smashed it down from above with massive force!

Chen Yu didn't dodge; he raised his left arm, holding it across his body to block!

"Bang—!!!"

The giant was clearly stunned because its massive fist hadn't knocked the opponent back even half a step!

With such snail-like speed, Chen Yu could obviously have dodged, but the reason he didn't—

On one hand, he was absolutely confident he could block it.

On the other hand, his right hand—

Holding a massive Boning Knife, had already plunged into the giant's chest!

"Pshhh—"

The Boning Knife was pulled out, bringing beads of blood with it, and the giant crashed to the ground!

[Second Gate · Defeat Complete]

[Current Survival Time: 1 minute 01 second]

[Third Gate Opening Soon — Countdown: 25...24...23...]

Chen Yu expressionlessly took off his gloves and activated the Grand Tutor Container.

Sure enough,

Free Attribute Point +1. This kind of elite monster was indeed different from other monsters.