135: Chapter 135 Preparing for the Competition!

A golden humanoid Stand with broad shoulders and a narrow waist appeared behind Qin Ye. Two rows of metal teeth slowly parted, and its dark golden eyes burned in the cold light of the testing arena. Its build was larger than it had been at the gladiatorial arena last time. Its shoulder width had increased by at least thirty percent, and green gemstones served as kneepads on its joints, mirroring Qin Ye's pose.

At the same time, all the data on the holographic screen spiked!

The Mental Power density curve rose straight up, and the peak magic conductivity crashed into the red zone.

Stand synchronization rate: 97%.

soul gem corruption level: 0.12%.

Then, all the curves stopped at their high points.

No decay, no oscillation. They remained perfectly steady, like the hilt of a knife that had been plunged into a wooden board and remained motionless.

Researcher Yun Zhi's coffee cup froze at her lips.

"...Synchronization rate 97%, magic conductivity over ninety percent. Two systems running simultaneously. No rejection reaction." She put down her coffee cup. "My god, this is impossible!"

"You said it was impossible when you saw it last time, too."

"Last time it was just the Stand running alone; this time, it's two systems superimposed. Do you know what this means... The damage taken by the Stand synchronizes to the main body, right?"

"Correct."

"But Qin Ye is currently in her Magical Girl form."

Su Bai's mouth curved slightly.

"Correct."

Researcher Yun Zhi fell silent.

She looked back at the data. Her brain took about three seconds to complete the logical chain, and then she took off her glasses to wipe them.

"...The soul is no longer in the physical body."

"Mhm."

"The soul gem transformation extracted the soul. The physical body became a remote-controlled shell. Pain nerves, organ failure, heart load—none of it matters anymore. Damage taken by the Stand synchronizes back to the main body, but the main body is just a bulletproof shell without the ability to feel pain."

"Mhm."

"So the Stand can withstand infinite damage. Because the part responsible for feeling pain is no longer in the body."

Su Bai leaned back in his chair.

"Infinite heart load."

Researcher Yun Zhi put her glasses back on. Her fingers slid rapidly across the holographic screen, pulling up Qin Ye's real-time heart rate curve.

"For a normal Stand user during Time Stop, the pressure on the heart increases exponentially with the duration of the pause. Ten seconds is the standard safety threshold for a Tier 2 Stand. Beyond ten seconds, micro-cracks begin to appear in the cardiovascular system; beyond five seconds, there is a high probability of immediate rupture."

She pointed to the heart rate line on the screen that was almost completely motionless.

"During Time Stop, Qin Ye's heart rate only went from seventy-two beats per minute to seventy-three."

"Just one beat?" Su Bai was slightly surprised.

"Just one beat."

Researcher Yun Zhi took a deep breath.

"Her heart isn't bearing any load at all. The soul gem transformation completely severed the heart's perception from the actual damage. Note my choice of words—severed, not reduced. On a physical level, her heart is indeed bearing pressure, but to her, that body is just a remote-controlled machine. Machines don't need to fear pain."

Su Bai pressed the communication button.

"Qin Ye, go all out. Use Time Stop on the alloy target and let's see."

Qin Ye tilted her head.

"...How long?"

"As long as you can."

Qin Ye turned her gaze toward the target on the other side of the blast-proof glass. That special alloy target was extremely expensive, its surface engraved with dense anti-impact arrays. It was specifically used to test the limit of firepower output for high-ranking professionals.

She flicked her skirt back. This time, she just stood still, not using combat power. If someone with low Mental Power were to look at her, they would find that Qin Ye seemed to be wrapped in a faint golden battle aura, with endless pressure emanating from her petite figure.

But from the perspective of the observation room, Su Bai could see the Stand; that was the terrifying energy emitted by The World!

At this moment, Qin Ye's dark gothic-style pink skirt cast a long shadow on the ground, and the golden Stand rose from behind her. Its fists slowly clenched. Then, her voice echoed through the testing arena.

"ZA WARUDO!!"

Researcher Yun Zhi's fingers hovered above the control panel.

She didn't have time to press anything.

Because before she could press any button, a segment of the scene before her eyes had already been deleted.

No illusion, no hallucination. Pure, physical time had been deleted. One second, Su Bai had seen Qin Ye standing in front of the blast-proof glass in that exaggerated JoJo pose. The next second, the alloy target was gone.

Bang!! A sudden explosion echoed in the air, and it seemed something had turned into dust. Extremely fine metal powder, uniform as if it had been precision-ground, drifted slowly through the air.

The thirty-seven anti-impact arrays engraved on the target's surface didn't even have a chance to react; during those few seconds when time was deleted, they simply didn't exist.

Researcher Yun Zhi's mouth hung open, her eyes filled with shock.

"...Five seconds."

"What?"

"Five seconds of time were deleted." She pointed to the time axis offset on the holographic screen. "The monitoring system recorded a time axis fault. From the moment Qin Ye finished shouting the last word until the target turned to dust, there was a five-second gap. The monitor couldn't capture any data—those five seconds simply didn't exist on this timeline."

She turned to Su Bai. Her eyes behind her lenses were wide, like an intern entering a laboratory for the first time.

"Su Bai, your Stand Card can manipulate time!"

"I know, but it should be more than five seconds, right?"

"How is that possible? Although saying five seconds of Time Stop while inside Time Stop is weird, five seconds is already a terrifying length. After all, this isn't five seconds in the real world..."

"I'm not talking about that, because an ordinary person's limit is five seconds, and Qin Ye isn't an ordinary person."

Su Bai thought of Jotaro. A young Jotaro could also use Star Platinum to stop time for five seconds. Since Qin Ye was a Tier 4 Magic Card Master + Magical Girl, wouldn't it be embarrassing if she could only stop time for five seconds?

He stared at the heart rate point pulsing steadily on the holographic screen. Seventy-two, seventy-three, seventy-two... It was as calm as a lake that had never been stirred by the wind.

This meant that Qin Ye hadn't felt any pressure at all!

Qin Ye walked out from behind the blast-proof glass.

There was some metal powder on her skirt, which she brushed off casually. Her breathing was a few beats heavier than before, but other than that, there were no signs of exhaustion. The dark golden gear pattern on the back of her hand was pulsing slightly faster, and that was all.

Su Bai pressed the communication button.

"...Thirty seconds?"

Qin Ye raised her eyelids.

"How did you know..."

The coffee cup in Researcher Yun Zhi's hand fell.

The porcelain cup hit the terrazzo floor, shattering into three pieces, and coffee splashed everywhere. She didn't pick it up, nor did she even look down. Her full attention was on Qin Ye's face.

"...How much?"

"Thirty." Qin Ye's tone was as flat as if she were reporting today's weather. "It can go higher. I haven't tested the limit."

Su Bai leaned back in his chair, unable to help but exclaim "Holy crap" in his heart—he had guessed right!

You have to know, Dio himself only had eight seconds!

But thinking about it, no matter how awesome Dio was, he was just a vampire, far inferior to the Pillar Men.

Ordinarily, a vampire's physical fitness far exceeds human limits, but compared to a Magical Girl, they are still a bit green. A Magical Girl... is simply not human.

This is a true weapon of war!

He couldn't help but let out a low laugh.

"The championship is in the bag."

"Wait a minute." Researcher Yun Zhi's voice suddenly cut in.

She finally looked down at the broken cup on the floor. She squatted down, picked up the largest piece of porcelain, and threw it into the trash can. Her movements were slow and methodical, creating a subtle contrast with what she was about to say.

"Su Bai. I have a question."

"What?"

"Your current combat system is a superposition of two card abilities. Stand Card plus magical girl card. Two independent systems, two independent causality frameworks. You are entering the tournament as a Card Creator."

She pressed a paper towel onto the coffee stain on the floor.

"The evaluation criteria for the National Competition are based on card creation. It's not a contest of firepower."

Su Bai's smile froze on his lips.

Researcher Yun Zhi stood up. The reflection on her lenses obscured her expression.

"Are you sure the judging panel will allow you to enter using the combined effects of two cards? What if they only recognize the ability of a single card?"

Su Bai fell silent.

He had thought about this question before. But during those two weeks, his mind was full of circuit architecture and data calibration; he simply didn't have time to carefully examine the loopholes in the rules.

"...We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Anyway, just relying on The World... in a one-on-one fight, Qin Ye shouldn't be afraid of anyone, ahem."

Researcher Yun Zhi sighed. She threw the coffee-soaked paper towel into the trash can and picked up a fresh cup of coffee.

"Fine. Anyway, you always just wing it. That's what you said last time when the Magical Girl was being boycotted by the entire internet."

"Didn't that turn out pretty well in the end?"

"You call that pretty well?" Researcher Yun Zhi raised an eyebrow. "Three Tier 9 monsters were vaporized, the head of the Ghost Guild had his head twisted off, and you occupied six of the top ten trending searches by yourself. You call that pretty well?"

"As long as we won, it's fine."

"...What exactly are you made of?"

Su Bai didn't answer.

He looked at Qin Ye. The dark gothic Magical Girl stood in front of the blast-proof glass, the dark golden gear pattern rotating in circles on the back of her hand. There was no pride or excitement in those eyes, only an extremely quiet, almost devout focus.

She flipped the Stand Card over. Then she flipped it back.

"...Are we preparing for the tournament?"

Su Bai nodded.

"It's tomorrow."

"Okay."

Just one word. The exact same answer as that day in the cage at the gladiatorial arena.