13: Chapter 13 Decapitation, Ghost Soldiers Formation

On the arena stage, the battle continued.

Zhao Gang grit his teeth, no longer hesitating: "All units charge! Bypass the one in white and strike the main body directly! The one in the school uniform!"

The Orc Warriors changed direction, bypassing Sadako and lunging straight for Su Bai.

Of the one hundred and twenty Orc Warriors, Sadako had killed twenty-three, leaving ninety-seven.

As ninety-seven Orc Warriors charged simultaneously, the entire arena trembled.

Exclamations of alarm rang out from the stands.

"It's over, it's over! Zhao Gang is going for a direct decapitation strike!"

"Why isn't Su Bai dodging? He's just standing there without moving?"

"He only has that one hero. With Sadako at the front killing enemies, his main body is wide open! With ninety-seven Orc Warriors charging in, how can he possibly block them?"

Su Bai stood in place, motionless.

His expression was as calm as if he were watching a movie that had nothing to do with him.

The ninety-seven Orc Warriors drew closer and closer.

Fifty meters.

Thirty meters.

Ten meters.

Su Bai raised his hand.

"Yin Soldiers."

The moment the words fell, a greyish-white mist exploded in front of him.

One hundred and eighty-eight Yin Soldiers appeared out of thin air.

They wore tattered armor and held rusted spears, their faces so blurred that their features were indistinguishable.

But their formation was so orderly it made one's scalp tingle.

Three horizontal rows, sixty-two men per row, spear tips pointing diagonally forward, with spacing precise to the centimeter.

There were no slogans, no orders, and no unnecessary communication.

They simply stood there in silence, like a wall built of steel and death.

The Orc Warriors in the lead couldn't brake in time and slammed headlong into the spear array.

Spears pierced through chests and out through backs.

The Orc Warriors screamed in agony, falling into pools of blood.

The second, the third, the fourth.

One after another, the Orc Warriors crashed into the spear array, and one after another, they fell.

The Yin Soldiers' movements were mechanical and precise.

Thrust, retract, then thrust again. There were no fancy techniques, no complex moves—only the simplest repetition.

But it was this very repetition that formed the most lethal defensive line.

A deathly silence fell over the stands.

Over three thousand students, three thousand pairs of eyes, stared fixedly at that greyish-white wall on the arena.

One hundred and eighty-eight Yin Soldiers against ninety-seven Orc Warriors.

The outcome was without suspense.

Three minutes later, the last Orc Warrior fell into a pool of blood.

The arena was covered with the corpses of Orc Warriors.

Meanwhile, the Yin Soldiers still stood silently in place, their spears stained with green blood, yet without a single scratch on their bodies.

One hundred and eighty-eight Yin Soldiers, zero casualties.

Zhao Gang stood on the other side of the arena, his face pale, his lips trembling, unable to speak.

In his Orc World, all one hundred and twenty Orc Warriors had been killed.

His civilization, his foundation, everything he had painstakingly evolved over a day and a night, had vanished into nothingness in just five minutes.

"I... I concede."

His voice was as raspy as sandpaper rubbing together.

The presiding teacher glanced at him and raised the flag in his hand.

"First match: Su Bai, victory!"

In the stands, over three thousand students stood up simultaneously, erupting into deafening cries of shock.

"Holy crap, holy crap! One hundred and eighty-eight Yin Soldiers? Didn't he only have 100 Faith Points? Where did one hundred and eighty-eight Yin Soldiers come from?"

"Are you stupid? He must have received a reward after yesterday's evaluation! The top prize was ten thousand federal credits, which is 100 points when converted into faith crystals! Adding that to his original 100 points, 200 points is more than enough to create one hundred and eighty-eight Yin Soldiers!"

"That's not right! Didn't you see? Besides the Yin Soldiers, he has two more heroes! That Sadako is four-star! A four-star hero costs at least 200 Faith Points! Where did he get so many Faith Points?"

"Did you forget? He went to see the Old Principal after the evaluation yesterday!"

"Holy... The Old Principal really went all out?"

"It's not that the Old Principal went all out, it's that Su Bai was worth it! Didn't you see just now? Sadako alone killed twenty-three Orc Warriors, and the Yin Soldier formation blocked ninety-seven charging Orcs with zero casualties. Have you ever seen this level of tactical literacy and coordination in a Rank 1 world?"

On the judges' panel, the nine teachers looked at each other in bewilderment.

The teacher with glasses took them off, rubbed his eyes hard, put them back on, and stared at Su Bai's world data on the holographic projection, remaining silent for a long time.

"One hundred and eighty-eight Yin Soldiers, three hero units, one of which is Rank 2 and one four-star..." His voice trembled slightly, "Is this the strength one should have on the second day of awakening?"

The female teacher beside him crossed her arms, a hint of pride in her tone: "I told you yesterday, although the path he's taking is untrodden, it's viable. Do you believe me now?"

The glasses-wearing teacher remained silent.

The Old Principal still had his eyes narrowed, holding his thermos, but the corners of his mouth curled up in an almost imperceptible arc.

Su Bai stood in the center of the arena, calmly accepting the gaze of the entire audience.

His internal state was far from as calm as it appeared on the surface.

In that battle just now, Sadako had killed twenty-three Orc Warriors, absorbing a massive amount of fear and resentment. He could feel Sadako's aura rising rapidly; she was just one step away from Rank 2.

Although the Ghost Bride hadn't made a move, she had been floating above the Yin Soldier line, passively absorbing the resentment permeating the battlefield, and her aura was also steadily growing.

The Slit-Mouthed Woman was the same.

This battle wasn't just about winning the match; it was also about providing a feast for his three hero units.

Su Bai withdrew his gaze and turned to walk toward the stands.

Zhao Gang sat slumped on the other side of the arena, staring blankly at the corpses of the Orc Warriors. All his world units had been killed and needed to be re-evolved; it would take at least three days to return to pre-war levels.

For a Creator who had only been awakened for a day, this was a nearly devastating blow.

But such was the cruelty of the combat evaluation.

Losing here wasn't just a matter of losing face; it meant falling behind others by a solid three days.

Su Bai sat down in the stands, and the students around him instinctively cleared a vacuum zone for him.

No one dared to sit next to him.

That thin, calm youth in the school uniform had already become a monster in everyone's eyes.

...

The evaluation continued.

The second match, the third, the fourth...

Match after match played out on the arena; some were exciting, some were dull, but none could stir the passion of the three thousand-plus students in the stands again.

Everyone's gaze would drift from time to time toward the youth sitting quietly in the corner of the stands.

He was watching the matches.

He wasn't dazed or distracted; he was seriously watching every single match, observing every opponent's tactics, unit configurations, and combat styles.

His eyes were very bright—bright to a somewhat frightening degree.

"This guy is studying his opponents," someone whispered.

"Duh, he's definitely studying his next opponent. This kind of person is the most terrifying; instead of celebrating a win, he immediately starts preparing for the next round."

"Who do you think he can beat in the next round?"

"Who knows? But I think he could take first place."

"First place? No way, right? Lin Qingxue hasn't even made her move yet. Her Elf World is A+ rank, and she supposedly has a two-star hero plus fifty Elf Archers. Her tactical system is very mature."

"A two-star hero? Su Bai has a three-star and a four-star, plus one hundred and eighty-eight Yin Soldiers. Do you think a two-star hero is enough?"

"...Point taken."

Time passed minute by minute.

At 11:00 AM, the first round of evaluations concluded. Thirty-two winners advanced to the second round.

On the holographic projection screen, the match list for the second round refreshed.

[Second Round, Match 1: Su Bai (Class 3-8) VS Li Hao (Class 3-10)]