In a small town in the southern region of Holy Grail Island, occasional figures darted through the streets.

Sometimes, even when two teams ran into each other head-on, they wouldn't immediately start fighting. Instead, a tense standoff would occur—you staring at me, me staring at you—before everyone backed away.

The chaos was at its worst right after people were first dropped onto the island. As time passed, the teams that hadn't been eliminated yet became exceptionally cautious.

Aside from a few teams whose overall strength far outstripped the others, most teams now adhered to the principle of "avoid fighting if at all possible."

Because no one knew what items or abilities the other side possessed. Just when you thought your team had a guaranteed win, the opponent might suddenly pull out some bizarre item and reverse the situation.

Therefore, many teams now simply went around other teams when they encountered them. Only when competing for discovered supply crates would they truly engage in a real fight.

Even then, they couldn't get too engrossed in the fight, otherwise a situation of "when the snipe and the clam grapple, the fisherman profits" could occur. It was far from uncommon for two teams to fight to the death over a supply crate, each suffering casualties, only for a fully-staffed third team to pop up and snatch the spoils.

However, among these teams, there were also some that went against this trend, carrying out extremely domineering "clearance" operations.

"Pfft!"

Inside a stone house, a sharp curved blade pierced through the chest of the last member of a small team, declaring this team's complete elimination.

The man holding the curved blade snorted coldly. "Only 4 points? What a waste."

Defeating a team gave a fixed 1 point. The other 3 points were plundered from the defeated team's points, indicating the latter had only defeated three people so far.

"Captain, this area has been cleared. No other teams remain," a man reported as he entered the room.

The man holding the curved blade nodded, his tone betraying a hint of barely concealed anxiety. "Move to the next area!"

If Guan Tong were present now, he could recognize this guy just from that curved blade. He was the squad captain who had confronted him that day in the industrial park.

His name was "Gu Fei".

The Doomsday Rules Countermeasures Research Office had invested resources to create five Doomsday teams. Gu Fei was the captain of Squad Three.

Ever since the failed mission to eliminate the "Shrieker", he had been extremely frustrated.

It wasn't just because they failed to kill the "Shrieker", but because after the rule ended, the local armed soldiers in Yunhua filed a collective complaint against him. They accused him of abusing the authority granted by the Countermeasures Research Office, forcing soldiers to carry out non-compliant actions.

This collective complaint from the soldiers was no joke, especially since the head of the Countermeasures Research Office, Gao Liangwei, was himself a former military Senior Colonel who took such incidents extremely seriously.

Although Gu Fei hadn't heard it personally, Dr. Zhang, who was in charge of selecting them, relayed to him that because of this complaint, Gao Liangwei was deeply disappointed with Squad Three and had already considered disbanding them.

Upon learning this, Gu Fei was utterly panicked inside.

He knew he absolutely could not accept being disbanded, especially after enjoying the many benefits of being an "official team". It was easy to go from frugality to luxury, but hard to go back.

Just imagine, if he were no longer the captain of Squad Three, would multiple professional researchers still study item combinations for him? Would there still be tens of thousands of Ascension Coins invested in him?

The mere thought filled Gu Fei with terror. He absolutely could not fall from grace. Therefore, in this challenge tournament, he had to secure a spot in the top three! Even first place!

Gu Fei calculated. Since landing, his team had been heading straight for areas with high population density. During this time, they had already eliminated over twenty teams, accumulating a total of over 300 points.

But that wasn't enough! He had to eliminate more, preferably eliminate everyone except his own team!

The other members of the team understood Gu Fei's mindset, and they felt the same way. If the higher-ups were to disband the team, they would disband the entire squad. So everyone had a stake in this.

After Squad Three completed their small-scale clearance, they immediately headed to the next area of the town.

Upon arrival, the team members fanned out, each taking out a [Small Reconnaissance Drone] item and activating it.

Several drones flew into the air, scanning for human targets within a hundred-meter radius.

As a team funded by the authorities, whether it was drones or lockpicks, everyone carried a bunch of them. Especially drones—the entire team had dozens combined, all for the purpose of finding people to fight as quickly as possible.

Soon, several team members returned with scan results to report to Gu Fei.

"The eastern scan detected over a dozen people. The southern scan only picked up one person."

"Quite a few people to the east," Gu Fei licked his lips. "I'll take three people to clear the east. Jianming, you go take care of that lone individual to the south."

"Yes, Captain."

The two groups split up. The team member named "Jianming" quickly arrived outside a three-story earthen building. According to the drone scan results, the target was inside this building.

He took out his Mind Power item—a crossbow.

Before the Doomsday Rules descended, he was a senior member of an archery club, quite skilled in marksmanship. After the rules descended, he obtained this crossbow. It could consume Mind Power to generate bolts and had considerable power.

It was precisely with this crossbow that he served as the team's second attacker, a sort of secondary carry.

Now, Jianming quietly approached the entrance of the earthen building with his crossbow. He used another scanning drone, just to pinpoint the target's exact location in real-time.

The scan results showed the target was on the second floor. Seeing this, he immediately stepped into the first floor.

However, the moment he stepped inside, a figure pounced out from the left side of the doorway!

Roll!

Although caught off guard, Jianming's reflexes were not slow. He performed a ground roll, dodging the sudden ambush.

Crouching and rising, he focused his gaze. The one who had ambushed him from inside the doorway was actually a human with red eyes.

No, this wasn't a human. The drone hadn't scanned it at all! Pale red eyes... a living dead from the previous rule? Why was it here? Was it the effect of some item?

"Roar!"

Missing its first pounce, the living dead roared and charged again. Jianming snorted coldly, firing a Mind Power crossbow bolt that blew the living dead's head off.

Meanwhile, on the second floor, Guan Tong, who was searching for any supply crates, immediately realized someone had arrived when he heard the living dead's roar.

Earlier, after entering this earthen building, to prevent being ambushed from behind, he had specifically ordered the living dead to hide beside the door with the command to roar and attack anyone who entered.

Because the living dead was a "summoned creature", it couldn't be detected by drone scans, offering excellent concealment. This way, as soon as he heard the living dead's sound, he would know someone had entered.

Guan Tong didn't go down the stairs. He went directly to a second-floor window, leaped out while firing his grappling hook into the outer wall. His body swung through the air before landing lightly by a first-floor side window of the earthen building.

Peering inside through the window, he saw a person with a crossbow weapon approaching the staircase. The latter had no idea the person inside the building had already moved outside.

"That crossbow..."

Seeing the weapon, Guan Tong immediately recalled that bespectacled guy who, alongside the curved-blade man, had eliminated living dead back in the industrial park. The weapon he held then was this exact same crossbow.

Could it be a coincidence?

Unlikely.

Guan Tong could tell this person had come specifically for him. Currently, he was in the shadows while the enemy was exposed. Of course, he wouldn't be polite.

Silver Hunt aimed, Type 2 slug served!

"Thump!"

A shot rang out, the bullet instantly speeding towards Jianming, who was just stepping onto the stairs! The latter seemed to hear the gunshot. Sensing danger, he hastily threw something out.

"Thump—"

A rapidly generated shield appeared in front of him. The Type 2 round struck it as if its energy was dissipated, failing to explode at all.

But the shield also shattered into pieces the next moment, scattering across the floor.

A one-time-use defensive item?

Seeing this, Guan Tong directly switched to a Type 3 round and fired. Simultaneously, Jianming also spotted Guan Tong aiming his gun by the window and immediately counterattacked with his crossbow.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—several consecutive Mind Power bolts shot over!

BOOM—Silver Hunt's Type 3 high-explosive round landed at Jianming's feet.

Both attacks arrived. It wasn't until the erupting flames blossomed beside him that Jianming realized the other wasn't firing a gun—it was practically a cannon!

He frantically tried to pull out all the defensive items from his backpack, but it was too late. He only managed to retrieve a damage-reduction bracelet and put it on before being engulfed by the flames.

As for the several Mind Power arrows flying towards Guan Tong, they were all caught by a large black hand about a meter away from him and crushed. Then, the large hand rapidly shifted from solid to incorporeal, disappearing into Guan Tong's clothes.

It was Shadow. To provide timely defense or offense, Guan Tong had ordered it to hide in his clothes in an incorporeal state ever since entering dangerous areas. Because Shadow's Mind Power consumption in an incorporeal state was far lower than in a physical form, Guan Tong could sustain this.

After the explosion, a figure walked out of the dust.

Lying on the ground, half-dead, Jianming looked at Guan Tong, completely unharmed, with an expression of utter disbelief.

"You... how... my arrows..."

"Survived a high-explosive round at your feet? Seems you have quite a few defensive items," Guan Tong raised his muzzle, switching to Type 1 ammunition.

"Wai... wait!" Jianming hurriedly said. "My teammates are nearby, you—"

Bang!

Guan Tong didn't want to listen to nonsense. A blast of buckshot eliminated this guy.

[Points +27]

Guan Tong was somewhat surprised. "This guy had already eliminated 26 people before? Looks like I wasn't mistaken. He really is part of that 'official team'... and his teammates are probably all still alive. Hmm... should this be considered a narrow road for enemies?"

To be honest, Guan Tong had also been quite displeased after that previous confrontation. But since he had no further interaction with that squad afterwards, he let it go. But now that he'd encountered them in the challenge tournament, given the chance, he really wouldn't mind sending them on their way.

Especially the others, but that captain with the curved-blade weapon—Guan Tong rather wanted to eliminate him personally.

He took a reconnaissance drone from his backpack and launched it. The scan results showed four people rapidly heading his way from several dozen meters away!

Aside from these four, no other people were scanned. Probably all the nearby teams had been cleared out by them... Was this the strength of an official team?

"It seems they've received the notification of their teammate's elimination and are all coming for revenge... I don't want to risk one against four."

Guan Tong's mind was clear. He wasn't facing an ordinary team, but an officially funded team with heavy investment. Probably everyone was loaded with items.

The crossbow guy he just killed had already pulled out two defensive items, and who knew how many more he hadn't used... Engaging them recklessly in a fight to the death was truly unwise.

Moreover, his own target was the Holy Grail. He shouldn't get too entangled... I'll make my move first. If they keep chasing me relentlessly, then I'll pick them off one by one.

Having decided, Guan Tong immediately left. Not long after, Gu Fei arrived at the earthen building with his three teammates. Jianming had been eliminated, and the enemy was nowhere to be found, making him almost unable to suppress his anger.

"That waste Jianming, as the secondary damage dealer in my team, actually lost a one-on-one..." Gu Fei's face darkened. "Everyone, take out your drones. Keep scanning and pursue. The one who could take down Jianming must be an expert, definitely loaded with points. I want to personally eliminate him and take all his points!"