The clouds dispersed, and the moonlight returned.
Thanks to the healing power left behind by the tens of thousands of tiny flowers earlier, the resting contestants now wore peaceful smiles in their sleep.
What they dwelled on by day now surfaced in their dreams—strategizing how to team up and take down Fog Star and the Galan Empire the next day.
By the cliffside, the night watch was about to wake their teammates for the next shift. Just as they stood up, they suddenly froze and looked uncertainly in a particular direction. The next moment, their expression changed drastically, and they stumbled back several meters in a fluster, accidentally kicking a teammate in the process.
The kicked teammate reflexively reached for their weapon before their eyes even opened.
Their team had been lucky earlier. During a scramble for an emergency pack, they’d stumbled into a chaotic brawl between two other teams and snatched the prize while escaping with only moderate injuries.
Now, with Ji Tianjin and the white tiger closing in from both sides, that luck was about to run dry.
“Lunatic.”
As the contestant pulled the trigger, they couldn’t help but curse under their breath.
Even after suffering such heavy losses earlier, the Galan Empire’s contestant still had the strength to launch a counterattack.
Offense and defense traded swiftly. With both sides in motion, hitting a target was difficult. But the contestant kept firing, hoping to stir up enough commotion to attract others to join forces and eliminate the intruder.
Ji Tianjin wasn’t about to give them that chance. His spiritual power formed a barrier that dampened the soundwaves, interrupting the spread of noise.
Bullets stuck midair like spinning tops. The contestant sneered, “Three against one. You’re brave, I’ll give you that.”
Ji Tianjin usually didn’t waste words in a fight, but this time he corrected him: “It’s one and a half against one.”
Without their spirit companions, those two barely counted as one, and the other was injured. Even with their spirits, they couldn’t muster full strength.
As he spoke, the three opponents struck with lightning speed, hoping to land a surprise hit.
But just then, one of them suddenly screamed—
“AAAAAAHHHH!!”
The captain almost slapped him on instinct. “What the h*ll are you screaming for?!”
Screaming in the middle of a sneak attack—was he possessed?
“My spirit form is gone!” The contestant was genuinely terrified. He’d already tried summoning it three times, but it was like being ghosted—no response at all.
Hearing this, another teammate froze in place. “Mine’s gone too.”
It was the kind of horror akin to waking up and realizing your heart was missing.
And the next second, his chest nearly was split open.
The white tiger pounced without mercy. The contestant ducked, but blood sprayed from gashes torn by razor-sharp claws. His emergency device activated just in time, but he collapsed from blood loss.
This time, a medical aircraft arrived—it would’ve taken too long for a warship to descend.
“My spirit form… my spirit form…” he muttered as consciousness slipped away.
“Stop yelling already,” the medic groaned, especially since every word made him bleed faster.
“Doctor… am I done for? My…”
“Oh shut it already,” the medic snapped. “It’s already run off with someone else.”
“???”
After eliminating that team, Ji Tianjin grabbed the emergency pack and immediately went to look for the Craftsman Star contestants.
It took over an hour, but he finally located their position—only for one of them to step out first and cut straight to the chase: “Want to talk cooperation?”
The Craftsman Star contestant kept a cautious distance and asked, “What kind of cooperation?”
Ji Tianjin opened a bottle of nutrient fluid and calmly laid out the next phase of the plan.
The game was all about adapting to the situation.
When Su Cha had scattered his flowers to steal spirit forms earlier, he roughly indicated several directions. Ji Tianjin and Liu Xiqin then split up: weaker teams were targeted directly, stronger ones avoided, and those in the middle were approached for negotiation.
Unfortunately, Liu Xiqin had recently been spotted.
The Jialu Empire, known for its poisons, had set traps using toxic creatures. While killing a venomous snake, she made a bit of noise and was quickly surrounded.
Liu Xiqin raised her hands with a smile. “I come in peace.”
Naturally, the Jialu contestants didn’t believe a word of it—after all, they’d just seriously injured Su Cha not long ago.
“How about helping us backstab the Pritt team?” she offered.
The three contestants were stunned into silence. Was she out of her mind?
But her next words made two of them go pale.
“If you still want your spirit forms back.”
Spirit forms?
They tried to summon them. Looked around. Eyes widened in shock. The two turned toward her at once: “What did you do?!”
Liu Xiqin smiled. “We all know what happens when a spirit form is forcibly scattered. Su Cha told me to pass this on—behave, and he’ll be kind in return.”
Of course Su Cha never said that, nor would he shatter anyone’s spirit form. But brandishing his name worked like a charm. Su Cha was infamous—beating up the Federation President’s son, inciting beasts to go into heat and steal people away… there was no crazy stunt he couldn’t pull.
At that moment, even doubt seemed unnecessary. Who else but Su Cha could pull off stealing spirit forms?
What a monster.
…
“Stay together, don’t fall behind.”
Under the same moonlight, Su Cha sat astride a leopard, gently stroking a chipmunk perched on his shoulder, expression soft.
The spirit forms all looked dazed, as if tipsy on fake liquor.
Their senses were wrapped in a clean, calming energy. Floral fragrance soothed their restlessness. Their souls seemed entranced, and none of them could hear their masters’ desperate calls.
During this time, one of the lions briefly regained its senses due to its master being injured—but was quickly subdued again by the magnolia lotus.
The drone responsible for the livestream had been trailing him the entire time. Despite being accompanied by a group of animals, Su Cha was moving at an impressive speed. The leopard leapt over mountains and valleys, while Su Cha occasionally fed them bursts of spiritual power to keep them from tiring out.
Only when the sky began to pale with the first light of dawn did he pause to rest for a moment.
Most drones were concentrated in the central area, where the main stage of the competition took place. To keep filming Su Cha, the organizing committee had to dispatch a dedicated drone to follow him across treacherous terrain. With all the scenic footage being captured along the way, the drone’s red light started flashing—storage almost full.
Su Cha was firmly heading north, occasionally glancing down at the map on his smart brain interface.
“Hopefully, I can make it before the end of the match.”
The planet Dawn-Dusk Star was largely covered in rainforest. No one knew how long it would take to reach the border.
Back on the warship, the organizing committee staff were calculating the answer with precision.
“Seventeen hours and twenty minutes.”
Based on the current speed of the spirit forms and the remaining rainforest terrain, if they kept moving without pause, that’s how long it would take.
The committee lead inhaled sharply. “He’s not planning to earn any more points?”
Staff member: “The Galan Empire team is secretly marking them in his name.”
“…”
No one present could understand how, when planetary interests were at stake, players from different planets could build trust without fear of betrayal.
A suffocating night had finally passed.
The sun could never bring much light to Dawn-Dusk Star. Though the sky was already pale, it was not early. After a night of rest, many players had regained their energy.
Just as they were ready to embrace the new day, a horrifying realization struck: their spirit forms—where were they? Their massive spirit forms were gone!
“Don’t panic yet,” a player from Pritt said to one from Z804. “If it were a serious issue, the match would have been canceled already.”
Besides, they already had a prime suspect in mind.
To increase player anxiety, the organizing committee had originally planned to reveal the point rankings three days later—right around the first elimination checkpoint.
But at this rate, there was no need to wait. That morning, with one press of a button in the data center, all smart wristbands began displaying the current leaderboard.
Galan Empire and Fog Star were tied for first—proof that they’d been very busy the night before.
Most likely, the missing spirit forms were related to them.
While the Pritt players remained calm, others were losing their minds.
Losing a spirit form could ruin your entire future. Some of the more volatile players practically shouted loud enough to shake the forest.
“Who was it?! Who the h*ll stole my spirit form?!”
A Z804 player rubbed his temples. That yelling had to be from a Craftsman Star Person. They specialized in crafting all kinds of clever mechanisms and didn’t fear exposing their positions.
But why call it “stealing”?
The Z804 player narrowed his eyes. “Craftsman Star might be the only ones who give their spirit forms tracking devices. Let’s go pay them a visit.”
In the western part of the rainforest, Lien soared through the sky with his messy red hair blowing in the wind. “Who the h*ll is screeching? Nearly scared my wings off.”
After goofing off all day, the Zerg king was finally getting serious. His weapon was strange—crafted from beast bones, resembling a broken wing from a downed aircraft.
Lien was also heading toward the commotion, preparing to claim his first set of kills.
He wasn’t the only one rushing over.
Craftsman Star, known for their volatility, surprisingly showed no anger. One muscular player with foxlike eyes said, “Hope you keep your word.”
“Of course,” Ji Tianjin replied, hands in pockets, leaning against a tree. From the white tiger’s vantage point, he’d already seen what lay ahead. Just as expected, the first to arrive were players from Pritt and Z804.
The white tiger blocked their path. The two groups of players stopped cautiously, one after the other.
“You really went all out just to lure us here.”
They said that, but they were unsure of his intent. If it were an ambush, he shouldn’t have shown himself so openly.
“Let’s join forces for one big takedown,” Ji Tianjin stood straight. “Eliminate as many people as we can first.”
Pritt and Z804 exchanged a look. After a minute of silence, one of them finally muttered, “Fine.”
It had only been a day, yet there had already been so many incidents that they were spiritly exhausted.
The Craftsman Star player raised a brow. “If we’re all good here, I’ll keep drawing more people in.”
It wasn’t a secret that Craftsman Star could track spirit forms. If players wanted to find theirs, they’d surely come.
After forming this temporary alliance, the Pritt team leader asked with a grim face, “Now tell us—where the h*ll have our spirit forms gone?”
The Craftsman Star player’s face changed. “I’m a victim too.”
He shot Ji Tianjin a fierce glare. “Anyway, based on the tracker, mine is headed north.”
“…”
What’s in the north?
The Pritt players immediately thought of a possibility—and their faces turned darker. That’s where the strange beast nest was. Were their spirit forms being thrown into a den of monsters?
“Su Cha.” The name came out between clenched teeth.
Master thief Su Cha had become the agreed-upon culprit in everyone’s mind. Who else could have pulled this off?
Just as this new alliance was on the verge of falling apart, Ji Tianjin spoke, cold smile on his face: “You should be thanking him, actually.”
Su Cha was injured, which was why he was hurrying to end the match. Otherwise, the rainforest would’ve made a perfect hunting ground—a place to train in live combat, and slowly grind everyone to death.
In the tense silence, the Craftsman Star player actually said something fair: “Everyone calm down. If he really wanted to destroy them, it would’ve happened already.”
If something had truly happened to the spirit forms, they would have felt it themselves.
A player from Z804, who hadn’t spoken much until now, said coldly: “If it’s not killing them, what is it? Took them out to play?”
“Mm. Went sightseeing,” Ji Tianjin replied without missing a beat.
The delivery was so unexpected—and completely devoid of sarcasm—it sounded like a simple statement of fact.
Everyone around him was now staring at him like, Are you joking right now?
The Z804 player was ready to blow up, letting out a laugh of pure rage. “There’s nothing up north except strange beasts. What the h*ll’s worth sightseeing?”
“The aurora.”
