As they reached the final stretch, Emperor One's starting position had jumped back to eighth place. Even compared to the second-place finisher with the shortest time, he had opened up a considerable gap.
Now, Emperor One's first place in the preliminary qualifiers was basically secure. The attention of the crowd was no longer on the battle for first and second place, but rather on anticipating Emperor One's leapfrog over the eight contestants ahead of him, running to first place.
This also meant that there was a 38-minute gap between just the first and second places. If he could achieve this, it would be the highlight of this preliminary qualifier.
At this moment, the large screen projected the scene inside Training Ground Six. Continuing the style of the previous stretch, there was still a sky full of sand and a sky so murky that the sun couldn't be seen clearly.
The track for this stretch was even more unclear, coupled with extremely low visibility. If you didn't get close, it was hard to see where the edge of the track was.
This time, it even affected the spectators outside the field.
"I can't see clearly. How can they run in this weather?"
"Speaking of which, where is Emperor One?"
As if hearing the audience's calls, the camera deliberately lingered on Bai Yue for several seconds.
Sensing the filming, Bai Yue raised his head and smiled at the camera.
The whole audience was silent for half a second, then erupted.
"Wait, this is an Alpha, right? It's Alpha, right?"
"I never thought that one day, I could shout loudly for the same sex—I can!"
The members of the support team were even more excited: "Ah, Bai Yue!"
"Bai Yue's husband smiled at me, ahhhhh."
Due to the outstanding performances of the previous few contestants, coupled with the fact that the first contestant of Emperor One is also a student who looks like omega,
After seeing Bai Yue's appearance, no one raised any further questions. Instead, they were looking forward to him bringing even greater surprises.
At the same time, in the Dark Flag rest area.
As the qualifiers reached their final stages, all attention was stolen by Emperor One. Although they felt disgruntled, they had to admit that those contestants' performances were truly outstanding.
However, patience was only temporary. Once their coach sent out their ace, everyone's attention would naturally shift to Dark Flag.
It's just that ace...
Everyone turned their heads, their gazes converging on him.
He had been sleeping since the start of the match, and no matter how excited they were, they couldn't wake him up.
It wasn't until the final stretch began that the ace turned over, sitting up. The coat covering his face fell off.
His youthful, flaxen hair was messy, and his eyes fell on the electronic screen, coincidentally seeing Bai Yue smiling at the camera.
He seemed to finally take some interest, crossing his arms and watching the screen.
The coach was somewhat helpless. "You, you can't take your eyes off a good-looking omega, can you?"
"Omega?" Sisk Xing lazily glanced at the coach.
"Open your eyes wide and take a good look. This is that S+ level alpha."
At these words, the coach was stunned.
Unable to care about being impolite, he looked back at the electronic screen.
This seemingly harmless beautiful youth was actually Emperor One's proud special admission student? They didn't expect him to be sent out in the qualifiers.
The other team members also looked incredulous.
Sisk Xing rested his chin on his hand, watching the youth on the screen.
He was actually quite curious about what this seemingly ordinary S+ could bring out.
Player 1 smoothly arrived and passed the baton to the next runner. However, he didn't run far before becoming confused, seeming to not recognize the path. Someone noticed this and said, "The sandstorm is too strong. If he continues at the previous speed, he's likely to get lost." The player looked up at the camera, as if determined, and stopped. He cautiously began to explore the path ahead. Someone commented, "It looks like it will be a tug of war." Footprints were left in the sand where he walked. But a few seconds later, they were covered by sand carried by the strong wind. Even if later runners wanted to follow the previous runner's footprints to find the way, it was impossible.
A few minutes later, the second-ranked player caught up. He glanced at the flags marking the path, recalling the splendid performance of Emperor One in the previous segment, and a hint of mockery appeared at the corner of his mouth. He turned around and continued forward at a fast pace.
The time taken by the dark flag player dropped to third place. Before the audience could even sigh, they saw the dark flag return to second place. "Huh, what's going on?" Even though the dark flag in the video was still cautiously exploring the path, how did its ranking rise?
Some people noticed the changes in the rankings on the big screen and found that the school that had just temporarily ranked second had suddenly fallen to the bottom, with two big red characters next to its ranking: "Eliminated."
"As expected, they were too aggressive and fell into a trap."
The audience discussed it indifferently. The people from the eliminated school were not so calm; everyone was wailing in despair. They had worked so hard, barely maintaining third place all the way to now. How did they get eliminated in an instant? Although based on their previous results, they probably wouldn't have made it to the finals, being eliminated in the preliminaries was truly rare. Player 2 was lost in the sandstorm, looking confused.
"Position 8, Emperor One, prepare to depart!"
It seemed that Shang Yufei had reached the finish line. Bai Yue snapped back to attention and walked up to the starting line. After a command, he rushed out. Soon, he noticed something was off. With this visibility, it was easy to lose direction when running too fast.
"..."
Anyway, as long as he didn't deviate from the track, he should try to maintain his speed. He ran at a steady pace. Outside the field, the spectators who expected to see a stunning performance couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. According to common sense, the most impressive participant should be the last one.
However, while this participant wasn't exactly weak—on the contrary, if judged solely by appearance, they would be surprised by his strength. Yet, compared to the outstanding performances of the earlier runners, this level seemed a bit lacking. In this visibility, a conservative approach was understandable.
But since he was a student of Emperor One and bore the heavy responsibility of the final leg, wasn't it natural to break the deadlock? After watching for a while and seeing no change, the crowd couldn't help but urge, "Change the person, it's not interesting to watch someone so slow." The organizers quickly switched the screen to the fifth segment of the course.
Except for the top eight who had already started the final segment, the other participants were still on the fifth segment, almost turning it into a big melee to compete for the tenth place. The audience's attention was quickly drawn to it. Sure enough, they preferred this kind of thrilling content to simple running.
After Shang Yufei reached the finish line and came out of the virtual training ground, he didn't see Bai Yue on the big screen. He frowned and was about to look at other small screens when a volunteer approached him. "Your segment has ended, you can go back to the rest area."
Shang Yufei glanced at the person. The volunteer was a male omega, who had just seen Shang Yufei on the big screen. Now, meeting him up close, he blushed subconsciously.
Shang Yufei lost interest and averted his gaze. "I'll wait here."
The volunteer was somewhat disappointed, nodded, and went to remind other contestants who were coming out.
A gust of wind struck head-on.
Bai Yue closed his eyes. When the sandstorm passed, he opened them again, only to find that the edge of the track had disappeared.
But he remembered the location and walked over, brushing away the fine sand to reveal a red line.
After confirming the direction, he continued to run forward.
There was no one around, no living creature in sight in any direction.
It felt like the end of the world, with only the sound of the howling wind and the scraping of shoes on the ground.
And, faintly, there was a strange whale-like moan. The sound was intermittent.
After several times, Bai Yue confirmed the direction of the sound source.
Just as he was about to turn to look, another gust of wind came.
He instinctively closed his eyes. When the wind passed, he could no longer hear anything.
The world returned to tranquility.
Bai Yue had no choice but to give up and turned his head forward.
Not long after, a dark figure appeared not far away, stopping in the middle of the track.
As he approached, he found it was a contestant who had been in the lead earlier.
The other person, not knowing what he had seen, looked surprised. Upon hearing footsteps, he suddenly looked over.
Seeing that it was a contestant who had come later, he seemed to come back to his senses, quickening his pace and continuing forward.
What's wrong?
Bai Yue was puzzled.
Before long, the desolate land once again produced the strange whale-like moan.
Each moan brought a gust of wind.
Bai Yue, sensing something, raised his arm to shield his face. At this moment, he heard panic in the voices ahead.
"Did you hear that! The sound just now!"
Bai Yue was about to answer when the wind came again. He had to keep his mouth shut.
However, this time, he didn't close his eyes but looked ahead, trying to determine the identity of the sound.
Then, he saw it.
In the swirling yellow sand, there was an incredibly huge black shadow. It had a fish-like shape but was almost half the size of a giant egg.
A person standing in front of it looked as small as a grain of rice.
The huge black shadow rose up and leaped into the air, then plunged deep into the ground. It was like swimming in the deep sea, at ease.
After the black shadow disappeared, the strong wind weakened.
Bai Yue lowered his hand but didn't slow down.
The person in front suddenly stopped, but he didn't notice and bumped into him.
"It's coming again, that monster!"
The contestant grabbed his head. "It's so big. Clearly, it was all terrain obstacles before. Why did something like this appear this time?"
Although there hadn't been any attacks so far, every time the whale-like moan sounded, it would bring a gust of wind. Then it would cover the track, severely affecting their speed.
In order to proceed smoothly, it was imperative to eliminate the creature; otherwise, they would be constantly hindered, moving forward at a sluggish pace.
If only that were the extent of it. What was most concerning was that, as they reached the latter part of the journey, the dark shadow suddenly attacked.
Perhaps due to fear, their speed slowed down. Bai Yue overtook them, gradually increasing the distance between them.
A few minutes later, the whale's lowing resounded again.
Gale, fine sand, dark shadow, rolling.
It was almost a repeat performance. However, after getting used to it, Bai Yue noticed some changes.
For example, the dark shadow was growing larger.
This didn't mean the creature's size was increasing; it meant... the "whale" was getting closer to them.
Perhaps their earlier concerns weren't unfounded.
It was feared that as time passed, the shadow would eventually reach the track. What it would do then was anyone's guess.
The conflict in the fifth leg of the journey had almost come to a close.
The main screen returned to the final track, and when the audience saw the screen, they were all stunned.
Wait, did they miss some incredibly exciting content?
It was still a sky filled with yellow sand. Without any reference points, it was almost impossible to gauge how long they had been running.
But what was up with the sudden appearance of the whale?! It had no eyes and its body was yellow. It looked like a sculpture made of fine sand, kicking up enchanting dust every time it leapt into the air and then plunged back into the sand.
And now, this whale seemed to be racing with the runner, closely following the track.
—This was a virtual creature that couldn't exist in reality, and only a virtual training ground could simulate it.
Bai Yue glanced sideways at the huge monster. After it floated up, it once again dived into the ground.
The surroundings returned to calm.
He withdrew his gaze. Sure enough, his earlier speculation was correct. Now he was in fifth place, and with each appearance of the whale, he was getting closer and closer. The last time was the closest.
Bai Yue wasn't too sure if, the next time it appeared, it would emerge directly from under his feet. It wasn't impossible. Due to the obstruction of the whale, the distance between several participants had not stretched far. It's just that due to the low visibility, he couldn't see the figures of the people in front and behind clearly.
Bai Yue silently counted the time in his heart. The interval was about 5 minutes. Every 5 minutes, this guy would resurface. The only problem now was that he didn't know how far it was to the finish line, nor did he know how to avoid being chased by this guy. The other party seemed to be sticking to him, following him closely.
Last 5 seconds. 5, 4, 3, 2... 1. Here it comes! The whale moaned. Because the distance was too close, even the audience outside the field could clearly hear this heart-piercing scream. Some people couldn't stand this ultra-high-frequency scream and involuntarily covered their ears.
Bai Yue kept an eye on the changes under his feet. But strangely, there was no terrain change as imagined. And this time, the whale didn't even appear. A gust of wind brushed past his ears. Even the originally turbulent hurricane seemed to have calmed down a lot.
He suddenly caught a glimpse of a dark shadow out of the corner of his eye. When he turned his head to look, he found that the whale had returned to several kilometers away. Looking from afar, only a vague black dot could be seen. Bai Yue was stunned. Looping back? If it's just that, it seems like there's no need to worry so much.
He realized his mistake. The enormous head of the whale, after emerging from the sea of sand, suddenly accelerated, charging forward like lightning.
As it passed, it stirred up violent waves, rolling the sand sea and splashing gray dirt. It seemed as if the earth was going to collapse from the shock and crumble.
The tremors quickly reached his feet, almost causing Bai Yue to lose his balance.
Then, the whale that had rushed towards him suddenly opened its mouth. Despite its outer appearance being covered in yellow sand, its mouth was incredibly bloody. With a gaping, blood-filled maw, it charged straight at Bai Yue—!
Bai Yue's pupils contracted.
"Ah!"
Some of the rear support members couldn't bear to watch and covered their eyes.
The other spectators didn't even blink, afraid of missing this thrilling scene.
If the contestant, Di Yi, were accidentally swallowed, he would definitely be eliminated immediately.
Shang Yufei stared intently at the screen, his brow furrowing tighter and tighter.
There was a loud bang, and smoke and dust billowed. Fine sand covered the lens, making it impossible to see anything for a moment except particles clinging to the screen.
Then, bit by bit, they disappeared.
The audience saw the whale's large mouth locked onto the track. Then, with a crack, it bit down heavily before submerging underground again.
However, the concern was still for Bai Yue's safety. The rear support members, who had covered their eyes, opened their fingers and secretly peered out from the gaps.
They only saw a large pit in the middle of the track. Bai Yue, however, had managed to dodge in time and was standing outside the track.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Not only one person was heavily impacted, but also the other contestants nearby.
Some who weren't prepared were directly blown away. Others lay on the ground, staring dumbfounded at the broken track.
Although Bai Yue was unharmed, his complexion didn't look good.
Just now, the whale had destroyed about fifty meters of the track. This meant that this section of the route could no longer be recognized through the track.
And this was just fifty meters.
If the whale were to appear again and again, it would eventually destroy the entire track. By then, all the contestants, including him, would be completely lost in this endless sea of yellow sand.
There were only two ways to reach the finish line smoothly.
One was to try to speed up and reach the finish line before the track was completely destroyed.
The other was to kill the whale completely.
Bai Yue turned his head and looked towards the spot where the whale had submerged, squinting.