Chen Xiao chose not to reveal himself to Jiang Ling — she wasn't his target. Attractive though she might be, her talent held no value to his Dragon's Breath, and saving her would burn precious stamina. He'd intervened only because she had refused to surrender under Gubuta's threats; that stubbornness deserved a casual reward.
He drifted through the night above the forest, a shadow among leaves. Movement sapped his energy, but the Mountain and River Map quietly replenished him. All around, distant clashes flickered like lightning beneath the canopy — every player hunting the Underground Furnace — yet Chen Xiao ignored those skirmishes. His priorities were clear: find his teammates, and most of all, bring A Yao back safe. Nobody could match his speed; that gave him the luxury of tracking allies instead of enemies.
Around midnight his brow tightened. A signature he knew like an itch surfaced on his sensors: Cao Linxuan, the Thunderclap Divine General. Cao wasn't alone — two of his lieutenants, Zhang Longqi and Zhao Yuanhang, flanked him, praising him with obvious relief.
"Captain Cao, we owe our survival to you!" Zhang gushed. "Who knew you'd turn back and annihilate those foreigners?" Zhao chimed in. "If Zhou Xun hadn't sacrificed himself, you'd have been the only one left."
Cao's face darkened at the mention of Zhou Xun and the tale of sacrifice, but he let them talk. From the fragments they told, he pieced together what had happened in stage two — and realized that whoever 'Zhou Xun' now was, he was far more than he looked.
Then they saw a figure resting against a tree. It was Chen Xiao.
"Zhou Xun?!" Zhang Longqi froze as if staring at a ghost. Zhao rubbed his eyes. Zhou Xun was supposed to be dead — how could he be here, alive after the four-camp siege?
Cao forced a smile and stepped forward, voice tight with a false calm. "So you were the one who cleared the four camps. So you hid among us… the Mad Ghost Butcher."
Before he could finish, a lethal aura exploded. Chen Xiao moved like a snapping tide — a single strike sent Cao flying ten meters. The captain hit the ground coughing, blood welling in his throat. "Are you insane? We're both Huaxia! We should unite against the others!"
Chen Xiao didn't answer. He kept coming. Space fractured around him as he sliced through the air, conjuring icy blades of light that shredded the space around Cao. The lightning-born general tried to hit back, but his magic had no effect — it dissipated against something in Chen Xiao that shouldn't have been invulnerable to electricity.
Cao's panic sharpened into anger. He hurled concentrated lightning and slammed a blue arc barrier from his silver glove in front of him, locking to absorb the blow. Chen Xiao turned a water blade into a warhammer and smashed the barrier until the energy rebounded catastrophically; Cao retched blood from the backlash.
Realizing he could not win this exchange, Cao chose flight. He activated Thunder Charge and vanished in a streak of blue. Chen Xiao gave chase on Divine Wind, but the general's S-rank speed outpaced him — a reminder of a glaring shortcoming. Chen Xiao felt the need for true speed: A Yao's talent, or something like it, would have closed the gap.
Before Cao escaped, Chen Xiao hurled a cyan-blue halberd. Cao spun, reformed his barrier and — with a desperate pop of a candy that dulled the sealing rules' effect — absorbed the blow. The shockwave sent him coughing blood, but he still escaped, driven by the instinct to survive and the hope of awakening his second animal form.
Chen Xiao watched him go and let the chase die on the wind. For now the night was over. Cao had fled, the rankings had shifted, and Chen Xiao had confirmed one thing beyond doubt: if he wanted to control the battlefield, he needed speed. A Yao's lightning feet were no longer just a convenience — they were a necessity.