Without giving the advancing students much time, the next day arrived with the light of the sun... For various reasons, the Abyss Tower was as packed as it was yesterday... or perhaps even more so...
"Mei, Mei... why are there so many people here today?" Kiana asked Raiden Mei, looking at the sea of people in the stands with some confusion.
"Uh... about that, I'm not too sure either," Mei said, scratching her cheek in embarrassment. To be honest, even though she was the center of attention in middle school, she still felt a bit shy in front of so many people.
"Maybe it's because the academy is short on money?" Li Xuan, hearing their conversation, leaned over with interest and said.
"Huh?!" Kiana didn't understand what Li Xuan meant and looked at him with a bewildered expression.
In fact, the truth was not far from what Li Xuan had said... The reason so many students had come to the stands of the Abyss Tower today, sitting in the audience chairs as if watching a play... was because Principal Theresa was treating this competition like a performance, selling tickets to the entire student body for 1000 Schicksal Coins each...
While the principal made a hefty profit from selling tickets and various drinks and snacks, the second and third-year students, besides the first-years, also came to watch... As senior students, they knew better what the so-called second stage was all about.
"Student Yoruichi, please prepare to enter the arena!" Before Li Xuan and the others, who were late because they had played too much last night, could chat any longer, Principal Theresa, who was standing on a high platform looking down at everyone but still looking refreshed, stood on her tiptoes and shouted into the microphone.
By the way, which bastard set the microphone so high?!
"Yoruichi?..." Li Xuan muttered, his gaze following to a student in the line of advancing contestants... A girl with long black hair, quite beautiful but with a somewhat cold appearance, slowly walked out from the line, holding... a silver spear!
"Hey, hey, that's the person who snatched the coffee shop job last time!..." Kiana said, seemingly still holding a grudge about not being able to successfully recommend a job to Li Xuan.
"Oh, is that so..." Li Xuan, however, didn't feel any hostility. He glanced at the other person's obviously East Asian, delicate face and then withdrew his gaze, continuing to mind his own business... After all, he already had a peerlessly beautiful girlfriend; his immunity to beautiful women was already maxed out.
The appearance level of the girls in this world seems to be a notch higher than in his previous life... Why is that? Li Xuan suddenly fell into deep thought again...
"Student Yoruichi... are you ready?" Theresa stood on the high platform, looking at the cold-faced girl in the center of the room and said softly.
"Yes, I am..." Yoruichi nodded, standing firm on the spot with a determined look in her eyes, waiting for the 'Infinite Abyss' to begin...
"In that case, alright then..." Theresa looked at the girl standing in the center of the field with a hint of excitement and placed her hands on the 3D virtual control page that had appeared before her.
"Field deployment! Permissions unlocked! Simulation system activated!" As Theresa quickly entered passwords and continuously unlocked layers of security systems, a series of cold, electronic female voices sounded out, and the 'Abyss Tower' began to operate again...
Starting from the 'large-scale reactor' placed underground... the tower began to operate like a precision clock, with each component starting to perform its function under the power of energy... Around the girl standing in the center of the field, transparent walls, similar to glass, suddenly emerged from the ground, surrounding the girl in the center.
"Buzz buzz!~" A somewhat piercing sound came from the pillar on the ceiling, and waves of unusual fluctuations covered the space surrounded by the transparent walls...
"Alright, Student Yoruichi, good luck!" Theresa said with a smile and pressed the last button... As if by a miracle... the field surrounded by the transparent walls slowly began to deform like a pile of clay being kneaded by someone...
"Map random generation complete!" the cold, electronic female voice announced again....
In just a dozen seconds, the field surrounded by the transparent walls had transformed into a place resembling a plaza, paved with white stone bricks... The edges of the plaza even had green belts with large trees planted... The meticulously detailed scene made even the usually stoic Yoruichi, standing in the center of the field, show a trace of surprise.
"Abyss First Floor... Honkai Zombie generation complete!" the electronic female voice continued. As the voice fell... a figure appeared out of thin air opposite Yoruichi... White hair, beast-like eyes, clothes formed from red keratin, and a long, dark red scythe in its hand...
"Guardian Honkai Zombie?!..." Li Xuan could still clearly see the Honkai Zombie that appeared on the field through the transparent wall and couldn't help but exclaim in surprise. This was a Honkai Zombie that was even stronger than the ordinary ones... That scythe could even cut through metal!
As students of St. Freya High School, this was the first time they had come face to face with this monster, the 'Honkai Zombie', which had only existed in textbooks. Even though it was just a virtual figure created through 'technology', it still caused the first-year students sitting in the audience to cry out in alarm...
"..." The girl standing in the center of the field pursed her lips, raised the spear in her hand, aimed it at the seemingly slow-moving Guardian Honkai Zombie, and her eyes were firm...
The next moment, the girl brandished her spear and easily pierced the head of the only Honkai Zombie on the field, killing it instantly!...
"Theresa, isn't this abyss of yours a bit too easy?" Murata Himeko, sitting next to the main platform, complained. A single Honkai Zombie was killed so simply... This was too boring, wasn't it? In the past, there were at least several Honkai Zombies...
"Yeah, it is... but this is only the first floor..." Theresa said to Himeko beside her with a mischievous smile. "This time it's not like the small skirmishes of the past... Do you know how many more floors there are?"
"...Huh? I don't know." Himeko shrugged and spread her hands. Theresa had prepared all of this... How would she know?!
"A total of 33 floors..." Theresa blinked and said playfully. "What do you think will be in the later floors? How many floors do you think they can clear in one go?"
At this moment on the competition field, the girl had already fought through nine waves of Honkai Zombie hordes. When the tenth wave of Honkai Zombies appeared out of thin air again, a Honkai Zombie different from the Guardian Honkai Zombie stood behind the Guardian Honkai Zombies. It held a large bow, drew it, and shot an arrow into the sky...
(End of Chapter)