Xu Lingqu Must Die

On the fourth floor, Hu Li'an, who could identify others' skills, was on edge. He didn't know if his earlier actions had caught Xu Lingqu's attention and would lure her up. A tiny drone hovered behind him.

Dolanston had deployed three assets here: a teammate who could disguise themselves or others to transform into an NPC, Hu Li'an himself, who could identify skill information, and a micro-drone capable of both broadcasting and attacking.

Hu Li'an knew he was gambling his life to bait Xu Lingqu into killing him. In the current situation, although he couldn't directly identify and report Xu Lingqu's skill to Jia Xiangying, the drone would capture everything, letting Jia Xiangying see it later.

If luck was on his side, the drone and his companion could buy him enough time to finish identifying and reporting before he died.

In the past, Dolanston wouldn't have cooperated like this, but after two consecutive losses in the qualifiers, they'd matured. To win, they had to grow.

Moreover, this time they were up against Moye, and everyone knew how united this year's Moye cadets were. Although the map initially favored individual combat, cooperation would become essential as skills unlocked and people regrouped.

Hu Li'an regrouped with his teammate. The moment they met, several bullets flew—Shen Shouli, who'd escaped the crowd at the center of the first floor and made it to the third, was firing at them.

The two raised their weapons to return fire and ducked into a shop for cover, wondering why Xu Lingqu hadn't shown. Could she have avoided the area entirely?

They exchanged a glance, their hearts sinking. Had their efforts been in vain?

On the top floor, a Dolanston student reported to Jia Xiangying, "It looks like Xu Lingqu isn't coming. We should withdraw and have someone pick us up outside the mall." As he spoke, he used his drone to broadcast the mall's current status.

He had two drones: one following him for real-time relay to Jia Xiangying—more convenient than a comms earpiece—and one following Hu Li'an to record his movements.

Jia Xiangying had anticipated the possibility that Xu Lingqu might not fall for the trap—she was Xu Lingqu, after all. But getting intel on Shen Shouli's skill was still a win. She was about to agree to the withdrawal when the situation changed.

Xu Lingqu, having reached the top floor, caught the student off guard. Two shots, and he was down. The drone, now without its operator, hovered in place.

Xu Lingqu walked over and picked it up.

"Jia Xiangying, you're watching, aren't you?"

In the News Building, Jia Xiangying saw Xu Lingqu's face suddenly on the screen and started. Even Hei Yingzhi, usually unflappable, jumped.

"You want to know my skill, right? I'll tell you directly," Xu Lingqu said calmly. "You can still see what's happening on the fourth floor, can't you?"

Hu Li'an and his companion were cornered in a shop. Although the drone operator was dead, the drone remained hovering, still capturing their every move.

Shen Shouli and Guan Zhongli kept firing, but the two were hidden behind shelves, avoiding the shots. Stray bullets shattered the windows behind them.

"Let me demonstrate my skill now," Xu Lingqu said slowly, enunciating each word. "In the Sin City mall center, fourth floor, the two people inside Anni Teddy Bear Toy Store. Die."

As she finished, Hu Li'an and the man beside him—with no bullets flying—stiffened, then collapsed.

Dead.

Xu Lingqu placed the micro-drone on the ground and crushed it under her foot. Simultaneously, a bullet from Shen Shouli destroyed the drone still hovering inside the shop.

The screen in front of Jia Xiangying went black. Both she and Hei Yingzhi wore grim expressions.

Shen Shouli's marksmanship was good enough to kill Hu Li'an and the other man outright, and to shoot straight through the drone—but he hadn't. He must have been following Xu Lingqu's orders.

Xu Lingqu had known from the start what Dolanston was up to in the mall, and she'd spotted the drones the moment she entered. She decided to play along and directly showed her "skill" to Jia Xiangying.

"What is this? A death curse? The moment she knows your exact location, you're dead?" Hei Yingzhi said through gritted teeth. "Is Sky Network insane? Giving her such an overpowered skill?"

"Real or not, Xu Lingqu must die now," Jia Xiangying said, her expression dark. "Better to kill her by mistake than to let her live. Because if it's real, once she has my location after the second broadcast—when the decapitation mechanism activates—we're doomed."

They replayed the footage of Hu Li'an and the others just before their deaths several times. The two had simply collapsed, with no bullets flying and no wounds on their bodies.

Could Xu Lingqu really possess a skill that killed whoever she named?

Of course not.

Rewind to the moment of their deaths: through the comms earpiece, Liu Zheng, positioned in a building next to the mall, replied to Xu Lingqu.

"Mission accomplished, Commander."

What killed Hu Li'an and his companion was the toxin needle fired from Liu Zheng's gun.

"But why go to all this trouble to put on a show for Jia Xiangying?" Liu Zheng was puzzled.

"Jia Xiangying said she wouldn't fall for my taunts anymore, so I had to make her take the bait calmly," Xu Lingqu said as she left the mall. "I only hope that after all this acting, Dolanston's desire to kill me is at its peak."

Jia Xiangying hadn't set up an assassination squad here; she'd only sent people to gather intel on Xu Lingqu's skill. As soon as Xu Lingqu entered the mall and figured out the setup, her 90% suspicion became 100%—Jia Xiangying had indeed calmed down.

And in that calm state, once she realized Xu Lingqu was formidable, she would try to avoid her and keep the kill gap between Moye and Dolanston at its initial margin.

In that case, for Moye to win, the only option left would be to decapitate Jia Xiangying after the second broadcast.

But according to Xu Xiqin's reports, the News Building was secure, and they couldn't find an external weakness to exploit.

Putting all hope on decapitating her after the second round was too risky.

So Xu Lingqu staged an elaborate act to make it seem she possessed a deadly curse-kill skill. She had to show that her skill was strong—so strong it was freakish.

She needed Dolanston to feel a sense of crisis, compelling them to gather a large force to kill her before the second broadcast.

Xu Lingqu was making the entire Dolanston think: Xu Lingqu must die.