"Have you given up struggling?" Goat Head's voice came from the dark, its goat's teeth bared, eyes glowing with malicious delight.
"No." Chen Xiao's answer was a single word.
"I only want to kill you." It laughed—low, savage.
Hum—boom—
A torrent of magic erupted like a collapsing waterfall, colors and elements clashing so violently the corridor blurred. Chen Xiao closed his eyes.
He breathed in and activated Dragon's Breath. Focus. Focus. Focus.
The world's chaos dimmed until, in his perception, only Goat Head remained—only those physical elements that moved differently from ordinary magic. The energy howled past him, but his Black Goat bloodline steadied him; the assaults no longer tore at him. From Goat Head's point of view, the mad cascade of power slammed into Chen Xiao and should have shredded him—but Chen Xiao simply blinked, unharmed, and kept advancing. Even Goat Head felt constrained by some unknown rule.
"Chen Xiao? Chen Xiao? Chen Xiao?" The creature stuttered his name, as if language itself betrayed it.
"You… you're a Black Goat?" it managed.
"An anomaly," it spat. "You are the clan's ruin. A disaster."
Its words dripped disbelief. The being that called itself a god rarely showed retreat—but now it was rattled, shouting at air, at itself, at the concept.
Then a fist moved like a cannonball and slammed into the goat skull.
Boom.
A thunderous crack roared through the corridor. Explosions rippled; the shockwave shredded the space around them. Goat Head's face caved inward, half crushed, and it was hurled hundreds of meters into darkness.
Chen Xiao struck with equal speed: he rode Divine Wind down, landed on the fallen being, and began to rain blows. Each punch was full force—no choreography, no holding back. At close quarters his fists were deadlier than any weapon; a single one of these blows would carve a twisted crater in open earth.
"I am—" Boom.
"I am—" Boom.
"Goat Head—" Boom.
"YOU are—" Boom! Boom! Boom!
Punch after brutal punch, a flood of raw energy washed over Chen Xiao, but he felt no pain. In that brutal rhythm he became an executioner; beneath him Goat Head's face was crushed into an unrecognizable mass. Around them, an unnatural chant seemed to rise: "Black Goat… Black Goat… Black Goat has appeared…"
Goat Head's feral laughter broke loose—strangely delighted. Chen Xiao raised his hand for another strike, refusing to believe it could simply vanish.
Space stuttered. An invisible net wrenched the world. A huge hand reached from the void and grabbed Goat Head's leg.
Chen Xiao would not allow it. He seized a broken horn with his backhand and began a tug of war. The Tyrannosaurus strength surged through him, but the other side was immovable. As Goat Head was being yanked away, Chen Xiao poured everything into one sideways yank.
Crack.
The horn snapped clean off. Goat Head disappeared—no screams, no last sight—only a small shard of horn remained in Chen Xiao's hand.
A moment of unsatisfied triumph passed. He had not slain the god outright, but he was alive. The horn in his palm flickered with strange black light. When he tapped it, a burst of corrupt energy roared into the iron corridor; the wall corroded and rotted before the rules patched it back. He tried again—this time seven or eight pillars of flame sprang up, and he forced himself to stop. The horn was no mere trophy. It pulsed with stored, chaotic power—neither a simple opportunity nor a common artifact, but something far darker.
He slid the horn into the Mountain and River Map. Text scrolled into view:
[Animal Number: 230001][First Stage][Ghost Gate][Cleared][Calculating points based on performance][Points will be distributed uniformly later]
A blinding white light hit him. When his vision cleared he stood in a city in the sky—clouds drifting lazily behind him, the blue so pure it hurt. Before him spread a vast emerald forest, alive and breathing. For an instant the apocalypse felt like a distant dream.
Other figures gathered—members of the Huaxia team. They were alive. All thirteen were alive. Chen Xiao blinked; the idea that everyone had survived this stage so thoroughly seemed impossible.
"Zhou Xun! Why are you so slow?" A Yao leapt to his side, scolding with practiced impatience. "I was sure you were hiding and letting New Humans chase you. Don't waste our time—Cao's pissed."
Gu Liao and the two men chuckled behind her. Cao Linxuan also strode forward, displeasure on his face. "Zhou Xun, you have the bright lamp and great defense, but you can't keep delaying."
Chen Xiao smiled and ignored the reprimand. "A Yao, what level of opponent did you face?"
She made a face. "Don't mention it. I thought I was done for. The fourth was a huge cockroach—slimy, disgusting, and fast as hell."
"You died to a cockroach?" Chen Xiao raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah. It rammed me and that was it."
His theory held: the challenge distribution made sense—her fourth had been a monstrous cockroach while his fourth was the face-covered octopus. Different forms, similar ferocity.
"A Yao did well," Gu Liao admitted. "Only Captain Cao, Vice Captain Yan, and Duan Nanyang pushed past the fourth."
Before Chen Xiao could answer, a system message floated into view:
[First Stage][All members completed][Distributing points now][Global ranking][1st Place][Huaxia Camp: 18500 points][2nd Place][Euro Alliance: 3800 points][3rd Place][India Camp: 2500 points][4th Place]...
Chen Xiao let the numbers settle in. Huaxia had surged ahead—by a huge margin. He felt the quiet satisfaction of someone who'd cleared the door and claimed the spoils, though none of this diminished the fact that the game had just revealed a god-level threat and gotten away. The horn in his map throbbed, a reminder that in this world trophies came with teeth.