Chapter 87: A Successive Awakenings

“My dear Xi Bao—ah ah ah—”

“Lao Xi is really so pitiful.”

“She looks just like a porcupine with all those weapons stuck in her back.”

“Damn, my tears were about to fall, but that comment just made me laugh out loud.”

“I thought she was about to be beheaded—Is Lao Xi about to do a Da Qiao now?”

“Is this Xiao Ai’s awakening?”

The barrage of comments rained down like a storm, covering the entire screen.

The downward swing of the giant axe collided violently with the boiling blood ring, unleashing a metallic screech that made one’s teeth ache.

The trainee holding the axe felt the skin at the base of his thumb split, and stared in shock as the blade shuddered madly in the crimson ripples.

“What is thi…”

He mumbled, but before he could finish, a force like a collapsing mountain surged up the axe handle!

Bang!

He was sent flying in an instant.

His body, like a severed kite, crashed through the crowd and tumbled and rolled across the Alloy Ground.

At last, he slammed hard into the Labyrinth Wall.

His whole figure slid down like a puddle of mud.

Immediately after—

The blood-red aura continued to spread, and the trainees around were also sent flying with miserable screams, as if struck by heavy hammers.

The closer they were to Yun Ruoxi, the more terrifying the impact!

And for 319, who was closest to Yun Ruoxi, the shock she endured was second only to that of the male trainee.

She was flung up more than twenty meters high.

Then, out of control, she plummeted headfirst, crashing brutally onto the hard Alloy Ground.

Crack!

Her neck bent and snapped at a grotesque, unnatural angle.

“Ugh… ugh.”

319 clutched that lock of sapphire blue hair with all her might, her bloodshot eyes fixed fiercely on the figure not far away, whose back bristled with weapons.

She seemed to want to say something.

But her body kept spasming.

Blood streamed endlessly from her eyes, mouth, nose, and ears.

Not a single word could escape her lips.

A fresh pool of blood rapidly formed beneath her, within which a new blood ring slowly began to rise.

Deathly silence shrouded the entire chamber, broken only by the wails echoing between the Alloy Walls.

The camera slowly panned into the distance.

Aili gasped violently, her once emerald green eyes now wholly blood red, her small melon-seed face marked with two savage blood trails running from the corners of her eyes.

She slowly lifted her right hand; in her palm hovered a finely wrought blood ring, spinning gently.

“Holy crap, Ai!”

“Xiao Ai actually exploded! Unbelievable!”

“Xiao Ai, just say the word and we’ll crown you as the First Female Lead of ‘Stars’ right now!”

“Lao Xi, stop testing her.”

“Wait—if Xiao Ai goes berserk now, what if Xiao Xi doesn’t get her chance later? Won’t she be written off?”

“No way, it’s only the fifth episode! There’s no way such a well-crafted female lead will be axed this soon. Relax and keep watching.”

“I’ll make every single one of you… die with me!”

Aili roared, her face contorted.

She clenched her right hand, crushing the blood ring in her palm.

This blood ring, condensed by her ability, was razor sharp—just gripping it left a deep gash to the bone in her palm.

Yet she seemed not to feel the pain, holding on with deathly determination as she began to force the blood ring to spin!

Buzz, buzz, buzz!

As Aili twisted the blood ring with brute force, every newly born blood ring in the pools of blood across the chamber exploded outward at once, transforming into dozens of crimson ripples.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Trainees still struggling to rise were slammed to the ground once again.

Like dolls tossed into a washing machine, they crashed madly against the Alloy Walls!

This second eruption of crimson waves instantly claimed more than a dozen trainees’ lives.

But Aili was never the protagonist. She wasn’t even a genius.

She was just an ordinary person—one who awakened her powers under extreme agony!

If she could awaken, so could others!

Accordingly, some trainees, pushed to the brink of life and death, began to manifest new strength.

Star Energy in the chamber fluctuated wildly and repeatedly.

Aili suddenly scanned her surroundings.

All sorts of strange phenomena appeared in her sight.

Her breathing quickened, as if she realized something, and she gritted her teeth to force the blood ring to spin again.

But such a massive attack, even if one’s ability grows during initial Star Energy awakening, was still far beyond her limit.

The Star Energy she’d spent a year nurturing, forced out in a constant stream, simply couldn’t keep up.

As she continued to strain her ability—

A bone-chilling, hollow weakness surged through her whole body.

At the same time, the blood ring in her palm began to flicker.

Splat!

Like bubbles popping, sharp sounds burst one after another.

Every newly risen blood ring shattered, dissolving into sticky pools of blood.

“This is bad—really bad!”

Aili’s heart sank as she realized she had overreached herself.

She forced herself to concentrate, trying to gather a fresh blood ripple from the nearest blood pool.

But just as the ripple rose—

A trainee radiating a red glow seized it in his hand and crushed it instantly.

Swish!

Two red streaks flashed through the air; that blood-red trainee whipped his head around, locking his gaze on Aili.

Aili’s heart skipped a beat. Gritting her teeth, she raised her right hand once more.

But a strange tugging sensation suddenly dragged at her calf, and strength seemed to flood from her body through her lower leg.

She looked down in alarm.

Her shadow had silently spread beneath her, becoming a one-meter-wide circle of darkness at her feet.

Within the black circle, the shadow boiled as if it were water, twisting to sprout a dozen tentacles lined with suckers, all latching onto her calf.

A distorted head rose out of the shadow, its neck cocked at an unnatural angle, glaring at Aili with vicious, hateful eyes.

319!

The one who betrayed her sister’s trust, stabbed her in the back, and caused all of this— the true culprit!

She had fallen over twenty meters, snapped her neck, been flung another ten meters—yet she had not died.

Instead, in her resentment, she had awakened an ability of her own!

“Damn it, you’re still alive?!”

Aili panted hoarsely, her eyes wild with murderous rage and fury.

Even the onrushing male trainee in the distance, and her own growing weakness, no longer registered.

She bent down, and with a violent flick of her right hand—

Swish, swish, swish!

The razor-sharp blood wheel in her palm instantly severed the ugly tentacles clinging to her leg, flying straight for 319’s face.

But faced with this lethal attack, 319’s eyes held not a hint of fear.

Instead, she opened her mouth and spat out an inky-black shadow wheel identical to the blood wheel, only a size smaller.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle!

Blood wheel and shadow wheel collided fiercely in midair, crimson and pitch-black energies gnawing at each other, filling the air with grating sounds.

Aili’s pupils contracted.

She tried to stomp down, but 319 gave a chilling grin.

More shadowy tentacles shot from the ground, instantly ensnaring Aili’s descending right foot, then yanking her upside down.

Glug glug glug—

The suckers on the tentacles writhed wildly, and lumps pulsed along their length, drawing power into the shadowy mire below.

At that moment, Aili could feel it clearly: her strength was being drained away, flowing out through her right leg, ceaselessly.