Chapter 211 - 105: Dominant Breakthrough! Breaking a 100-Year Record

Chapter 211: Chapter 105: Dominant Breakthrough! Breaking a 100-Year Record

All eyes were fixed upon it, the air thick with tension and anticipation.

[Student Lin Yi, Stage Five cleared. Points +1000.]

The clear, pleasant synthesized voice was like a giant stone dropped into a placid lake, instantly detonating the noise in the corridor!

"He passed! Lin Yi passed Stage Five!" someone exclaimed, pointing at the screen.

"Isn’t that obvious?" someone next to him said with his arms crossed, his tone dismissive. "Even if he’s been in a slump for ten days, with his previous strength, clearing Stage Five should be as easy as drinking water for him." But his eyes were glued to the screen, revealing that he wasn’t nearly as calm as he sounded.

"So what do you guys think? How far will Lin Yi get this time? How long can he last in Stage Six?" someone asked, raising the crucial question.

"Stage Six? That’s a ridiculously difficult level where even Li Hao could only last for 58 minutes! As for Lin Yi... I reckon, even if he goes all out, thirty minutes is the absolute most he could manage!" a student who clearly favored Li Hao said confidently.

"Exactly! Thirty minutes is his limit! Break Li Hao’s record? Dream on! Brother Hao is the undisputed number one in our training camp right now!" someone immediately chimed in, their voice filled with reverence for Li Hao.

In the center of the crowd.

Surrounded by his admirers, Li Hao watched the notification of Lin Yi clearing Stage Five. An imperceptible sneer curled his lips, his eyes filled with condescending contempt.

’Stage Five? Good that he passed,’ Li Hao mused, a flicker of greed in his eyes. ’That gives him 1,000 points! Just enough for my wager!’

He had been worried that Lin Yi would have too few points for him to win.

And now, the fat sheep was serving itself up on a silver platter.

He could already picture it: Lin Yi, crushed beneath his foot in the ring, all his points forfeit to him. The sneer in his heart grew colder.

’Lin Yi, go ahead and clear your stages! Once you’re out, I’ll be waiting in the ring to show you the true gap between us! I’ll take every last one of your points and leave you with nothing but the pants on your ass!’

However!

The sneer had barely formed on Li Hao’s lips, not yet having the chance to fully blossom—

BZZT!

[Student Lin Yi, Stage Six cleared. Points +2000.]

The cold, mechanical voice, like a thunderclap from the heavens, boomed again without any warning!

Its sound echoed with crystal clarity down the entire corridor.

It also struck Li Hao’s eardrums and his very soul like a lightning bolt.

"Wh... What?!" The smile on Li Hao’s face froze instantly.

It was as if he’d been flash-frozen by the hardest ice, rendered completely rigid.

His eyes flew wide open, staring fixedly at the screen. His pupils shrank to pinpricks, as if he was witnessing the most impossible thing in the world.

"Impossible! This is absolutely impossible!" he hissed, his voice strained and carrying a sharp, trembling edge he didn’t even notice himself.

The color drained from his face in an instant.

He was Li Hao! The great Li Hao, the training camp’s universally acknowledged number one, the record holder for the combat room!

He knew better than anyone just how terrifying the mechanical puppet in Stage Six was.

It wasn’t something a Second-Grade Martial Artist should be able to fight at all!

Even he, using every trick up his sleeve and exhausting all his strength, had only managed to endure 58 grueling minutes against that monster before collapsing in defeat.

He hadn’t even come close to clearing the stage.

How long had Lin Yi been inside?

From the start of Stage Five until now... had it even been two minutes?!

Two minutes!

Clearing Stage Six?!

How was that possible?!

This completely overturned his understanding of the Martial Dao!

This was more absurd than a fairy tale!

Outside the combat room.

As that second, thunderous announcement faded, the entire corridor erupted.

It was like pouring cold water into a vat of boiling oil.

"HOLY SHIT!! He passed! Lin Yi cleared Stage Six too!!"

"My god! He broke Li Hao’s record! No, he *crushed* Li Hao’s record!"

"He didn’t just break Li Hao’s record! Look at the time! Two minutes! It only took him two minutes! He broke the fastest clear time for Stage Six in the entire hundred-year history of the training camp! And he didn’t just break it, he obliterated it!"

"Clearing Stage Six in two minutes?! D-Does that mean... for him, Stage Six was... a piece of cake?!"

"This is insane! Lin Yi... is he... is he going to challenge Stage Seven next?!"

"I thought they said Lin Yi was in a slump for ten days, that he was washed up? You call this fucking ’washed up’? This is more like he ascended on the spot and became invincible!"

"A monster! That’s what a true monster looks like! Have we all been blind this entire time?!"

The spectating students were in a frenzy.

Discussions, exclamations, and sharp intakes of breath merged into a sea of clamor.

Utter shock and disbelief were written on every single face.

It was as if they were witnessing the birth of a legend.

And as if to answer everyone’s unspoken hopes, to push their shock to an even greater height—

BZZZT!!!

[Student Lin Yi, Stage Seven cleared. Points +3000.]

The third mechanical announcement, like another thunderclap from the heavens, hammered down on everyone’s hearts.

In that instant, the very air in the corridor seemed to freeze solid.

"S-Se... Stage Seven... he cleared that too?!" someone stammered, pointing at the screen with a trembling finger, their voice shaking uncontrollably.

"A miracle! A true miracle has been born!" someone shouted, their face flushed red with excitement as they pumped their fist.

"Look! The indicator light for Stage Eight is on! Lin Yi... he... he’s chosen to challenge Stage Eight!" someone shrieked, their voice cracking.

"Stage Eight?! In the camp’s hundred-year history, only three legendary upperclassmen have ever managed to clear it! And the fastest of them only did it after 47 straight days of brutal training!"

"And Lin Yi... he’s only been here for ten days! Ten days!!"

"God! Are we... are we really about to witness a super-miracle that will eclipse a century of history?!"

"Lin Yi... that guy... is he even human?! What kind of monster was he in a past life?!"

The crowd went absolutely wild.

All eyes were locked on the flashing words "Stage Eight" on the screen, their hearts pounding and their blood boiling.

Shock, fanaticism, anticipation, disbelief... a whirlwind of emotions intertwined, pushing the atmosphere in the corridor to its absolute peak.

They felt as if they were standing at a turning point in history.

About to witness the rise of an unprecedented legend.

And amidst the frenzied crowd.

Li Hao, who just moments ago had been so triumphant and surrounded by admirers, now looked as if his spine had been ripped out. His face was white as a sheet, his body swayed unsteadily, and his gaze was vacant and unfocused, as if his entire world had collapsed.

’Lin Yi... was actually challenging the legendary Stage Eight...’

’And he, Li Hao, couldn’t even clear Stage Six...’

’Just a few minutes ago, he had been so sure he could crush Lin Yi under his heel. He’d fantasized about taking all of the man’s pathetic points and utterly humiliating him...’

The immense disparity between fantasy and reality was like the coldest abyss, swallowing him whole.

An intense sense of defeat and absurdity battered his psyche.

"Heh... heheh..." He suddenly began to chuckle, a low, neurotic sound. His eyes were hollow, his lips twisted into an ugly arc. He muttered to himself, his voice as faint as someone talking in their sleep, "Right... it has to be a dream... I’m definitely dreaming... How could this be possible... heheh..."

The smile was pale and weak, like that of a complete... idiot.