107: Chapter 107 Spatial Collapse

The combat footage from the Chaotic Battlefield was transmitted in real-time to the Federation's highest-level surveillance hall. Rows of massive screens displayed the combat situations in various strongholds, and the high-ranking officials and combat analysts in uniform mostly kept their eyes fixed on the footage of the top ten Contestants.

Seeing Karen Walker's Nether Domain, "Eternal Night Descends," low murmurs of admiration echoed through the hall from time to time. Everyone tacitly agreed that he would certainly secure a spot in the top three of the leaderboard once this Dungeon ended.

"Karen Walker's Super A-grade Nether Form is in a league of its own. He can rewrite the environment of an entire area; it's hard for anyone else to contend with that."

Analysts kept recording data, and the high-ranking officials nodded slightly. But just then, a shrill alarm suddenly rang throughout the hall. The central main screen forcibly switched its display, locking onto the combat replay of The 23rd Stronghold.

"Alert! Overflow-level single-hit damage value detected. Automatically retrieving complete combat footage!"

The footage of The 23rd Stronghold was automatically enlarged by the system to the main screen.

Everyone subconsciously turned their heads to look at the main screen. In the footage, a blood-red figure leaped into the air and slashed horizontally with a long blade. The thirty-meter-long Dark Rhinoceros Lord's body was split in two on the spot. A glaring damage number hovered in mid-air, clearly visible to everyone—1,678,432.

In one second, he had slain a Lord-level monster with one million HP.

The air in the entire surveillance hall seemed to have been sucked out. The massive hall fell instantly silent, so quiet that a pin drop could be heard.

After a few seconds of deathly silence, the entire hall erupted into chaos, and almost everyone stood up at the same time.

"Are you kidding me!!" "That's a Lord-level BOSS, not some ordinary monster!" "1.67 million single-hit damage?! Did I misread the display?!" "A Lord-level monster with a million HP, killed in one slash? What kind of absurd damage output is this!" "The system must be malfunctioning, right?!"

A technician responsible for combat records turned pale, his fingers frantically tapping on the panel. But the screen only showed continuously flashing red warnings. [Target unit has been completely destroyed] [Damage structure exceeds model analysis limit] [Unable to perform standard attribution]

His voice trembled: "It's not a system error..."

The hall fell silent again. It was even more oppressive than before. In an instant, someone recognized him. "That person is Lin Yan. How did he suddenly appear?"

The high-ranking officials present stared intently at the screen, letting out a sigh of relief. Thankfully, he had returned alive. "But what's going on with his damage? What level is he even!? How could he possibly deal such high damage?" "Even if it were a zero-armor target dummy, it's impossible to deal that much damage! Let alone a high-tier BOSS!"

In the footage, Lin Yan did not stop. He didn't even look back at the corpse, continuing to push deeper into the beast tide. The blood-red blade light flashed again, and another swathe of monsters fell. In the hall, someone murmured: "This doesn't look like fighting at all..." "This is clearing out weeds."

--- Real World · Jiang Family Main Residence

Deep within the Jiang Family mansion, the conference hall had soft lighting, but the atmosphere was exceptionally heavy. Jiang Haichao, Head of the Jiang Family, sat in the main seat, his gaze fixed on the holographic projection. On the screen, the leaderboard was refreshing in real-time. [19th Place: Lin Yan] [Points: 2,185,000+]

He tapped his fingertips lightly against the table. The rhythm was slow, but every tap felt like he was confirming some fact. An elder said in a low voice: "Nineteenth place... He has already entered the top twenty tier." "This position basically locks in his qualification for the Genius Training Camp." Another person added: "And his point growth rate is still accelerating." "If he keeps this pace, he might even have a chance to challenge the top ten."

Jiang Haichao was silent for a moment before nodding slowly. His tone was low but firm: "My initial judgment was not wrong." "He is not an ordinary genius." He looked up at the battlefield footage. Lin Yan was single-handedly pushing through the beast tide, his blood-red blade light piercing the heavens. "He belongs to that kind of person..." "The kind who can change the rules."

After saying this, he paused slightly. His eyes suddenly fell on another screen. [Jiang Ruoxue: 293rd Place] The atmosphere in the conference room stagnated slightly. An elder sighed: "The Young Miss's ranking... has already fallen too far behind." "The gap is too large."

Jiang Haichao did not rebuke her, nor did he look disappointed. He simply watched in silence for a long time. Then he said softly: "It's not her issue." "It's that this battlefield has seen too many off-the-charts variables." He leaned back slowly in his chair, his tone low: "Furthermore, people like Lin Yan will cause everyone of the same generation to lose their frame of reference."

--- Chaotic Battlefield.

Lin Yan had just sheathed his blood-red long blade, and the baleful energy surging around his body slowly receded. Wen Xiaoyou ran in small steps to his side, her small hand gently tugging on his sleeve, her bright, sparkling eyes gazing at him with pure adoration.

The twenty-four Contestants within the stronghold were still immersed in the shock of him killing a Lord-level BOSS in one slash, unable to regain their senses.

Boom—!!! The sky suddenly shook. The entire Chaotic Battlefield seemed to be forcibly torn apart by some power; cracks spread from the high sky, diffusing like a spider web. The spatial structure began to collapse.

All Contestants received a system prompt simultaneously. [Global Announcement] [The Chaotic Battlefield has entered Collapse Mode; the Space Collapse mechanism has been activated!] The voice was cold, devoid of any emotion. But it caused everyone's heart to sink.

[Regional Division Initiated] [Battlefield Regional Division Rules: 1. Collapse Zone: The periphery of the battlefield is undergoing continuous spatial collapse; any Awakened who remain here will be directly swallowed by spatial rifts and forcibly eliminated; 2. Danger Zone: The transitional middle zone of the battlefield is under continuous spatial erosion; a large amount of points will be deducted every minute, and the longer one stays, the more exaggerated the point loss; 3. Core Safe Zone: The only pure land in the very center of the battlefield; staying in this area grants additional points steadily every minute.]

[Supplementary Mechanism: The battlefield space will continue to shrink inward. The collapse range will expand inward by one circle every four hours. All Contestants will ultimately be forced to converge in the Core Safe Zone, with no way to avoid it, and all resources will be concentrated in the Safe Zone.]

The next instant, the entire battlefield erupted into a frenzy. "The circle is shrinking!!" "This is forcing everyone to hunt each other!" "Quick, confirm the location of the Safe Zone!" "Run!!!"

Above the sky, dozens of beams of light descended simultaneously. Space began to divide, regions were redefined, and the structure of the Chaotic Battlefield underwent drastic changes. From this moment on, the Chaotic Battlefield had completely turned into a survival slaughterhouse.

"We're about to be in the middle Danger Zone right here! If we don't leave now, our points will be drained!" "Large areas on the periphery are about to become Collapse Zones; if we delay any longer, we'll be eliminated directly!" Everyone stopped lingering and scrambled to run toward the center of the battlefield.

Lin Yan looked up at the distant horizon, where large swathes of space could be seen visibly shattering and collapsing. Black spatial rifts spread across the heavens and earth, and the outer regions were continuously dissolving and dissipating. "Now this is interesting." He stepped out of the ruined stronghold and sped toward the core of the entire Chaotic Battlefield.

"Hey, hey... wait for me!" Wen Xiaoyou trotted after him in small steps, her two braids bobbing up and down, her skirt fluttering in the wind, as she waved her hand gently toward Lin Yan's retreating back.