The Predator surged forward, kicking up clouds of dust and shattered concrete. Its forelimbs carved through the air, leaving streaks of warped space behind them—like invisible blades that could slice bone before the body even arrived.
"MOVE!" Instructor Zhao roared.
The frontline teams scattered just in time.A split-second later—
BOOM!
The creature's limbs hammered the ground, sending out a shockwave that shattered a row of abandoned vehicles. Metal twisted like paper.
Lin Yufan dove behind a collapsed pillar, breath ragged."Damn it, that wasn't just force—space literally folded when it hit!"
Chen Feier raised her staff, unleashing a barrier of soft radiance that absorbed the leftover shock."I—I can barely keep the shield stable. This creature… it's too strong!"
Instructor Zhao's expression hardened."All squads, maintain distance! No one engages alone!"
He turned toward Chu Tianxing—only to see the boy already stepping forward.
Composed.Focused.Unshaken.
"Chu Tianxing!" Zhao barked. "Fall back! This is not a one-person fight!"
"No," Chu said calmly."It's a numbers problem."
Zhao stared. "…What?"
Chu Tianxing lifted his hand slightly, feeling the tremors of the creature's movements ripple through the air. Every twitch of its muscles, every shift in its legs, every fluctuation of corrupted energy—
—all of it transformed into data.
"To kill it, we don't need more force," Chu said, eyes flickering with strings of invisible code."We need precision."
The Predator screeched and lunged again.
Chu spoke quickly, his voice sharp and measured:
"Yufan—sidestep left, 0.4 seconds after its center limb rises. Its blind spot opens for 0.3 seconds. Aim for the fourth joint segment."
Lin Yufan hesitated, wide-eyed."H-how do you know—"
"MOVE!"
Lin reacted on instinct.
He darted out, exactly as the creature's limb rose—and a narrow gap appeared in its defense exactly when Chu said it would.
Yufan's dagger flashed.A spray of black ichor burst from the joint.
The Predator shrieked, reeling backward.
Yufan staggered back, staring at Chu in disbelief."That— that timing— I didn't even see an opening!"
Chu didn't answer.There was no time.
"Feier!" he called."Your barrier will collapse in eight seconds. Shift its axis thirty degrees to counteract the next shockwave!"
Chen Feier gasped."Thirty degrees—? The energy flow isn't stable enough—"
"It will be. Trust me."
Her eyes widened—but she obeyed.
She redirected the glowing barrier—just as another shockwave exploded outward.
The adjusted shield absorbed it perfectly, dispersing the force instead of taking it head-on.
Instructor Zhao's jaw tightened with a mix of shock and awe.
"This kid…"He clenched his weapon. "He's reading the battlefield like a goddamn supercomputer!"
But Chu Tianxing was already moving again.
He slid forward, every step calculated, avoiding cracks in the ground that would destabilize his footing. His eyes never left the creature—because he wasn't observing it.
He was predicting it.
"Pattern confirmed," he murmured.
The Predator reared back, gathering energy for a massive frontal slam.
The air distorted violently.
Chu's voice cut through the chaos:
"Yufan—shadow step behind me. Feier—prepare a burst heal in 2.4 seconds. Zhao—strike its left flank the moment I say."
The creature roared, bringing its forelimbs down—
—and Chu moved.
Not away.Not back.
But through the narrow trajectory between its limbs—the one spot where the spatial distortion didn't overlap.
Zhao's eyes widened."That's suicide—!"
But Chu was already inside the monster's guard.
His blade glowed faintly with compressed spatial energy.
"Disassembly point located."
He plunged the blade into a tiny fissure between two armor plates—a point so small and so obscure no normal fighter would ever notice it.
A pulse of spatial force detonated.
CRACK—!
The Predator's entire left forelimb went limp, collapsing to the ground.
Lin Yufan shouted."WHAT THE—YOU CUT ITS NERVE CORE?!"
Chu Tianxing pulled his blade free, stepping back with cold precision.
"No. I severed the stabilizing node of the limb's spatial shell. It can't use spatial distortion with that arm anymore."
Zhao was stunned into silence.
Then—
"NOW!" Chu commanded.
Zhao roared and charged, driving his halberd deep into the exposed flesh.
The Predator screamed, staggering—
—and Chen Feier's burst heal washed over the frontline, stabilizing the team at the exact second Chu predicted.
Within moments, the creature collapsed, ichor spilling across the ground.
Silence fell.
Then—
Lin Yufan exhaled shakily."Tianxing… are you sure you're human…?"
Chen Feier looked at him with awe."You predicted… everything. Every movement. Every second."
Instructor Zhao approached, still processing what he'd witnessed.
He placed a hand on Chu Tianxing's shoulder.
"…Kid," he said quietly."You didn't fight that monster."
"You solved it."