Two minutes later, the battle ended. All of Li Yi's opponents had been decisively defeated.
Most of them were taken down with a single strike. For the more agile ones, it took two blows—the first to immobilize them, the second to deliver a fatal hit.
Clean, efficient, and direct.
The only exception was Shi Zijun, who managed to escape after spitting a jet of flames at Li Yi as he turned to finish the job. The sudden burst of fire bought Shi Zijun a few seconds to flee.
Everyone else, including the burly man whose kneecap had been shattered by Li Yi, was cleanly eliminated.
By the end of the battle, Li Yi had gained 9 points, bringing his total to 12.
Li Yi evaluated the fight. The reason he was able to easily dismantle the two makeshift five-person teams boiled down to his decisive early actions.
First, his brutal takedowns of two individuals demoralized the others, shattering their will to fight. Then, by swiftly targeting the weakest links, he broke their cohesion and made the rest easy pickings.
It wasn't that his opponents were weak.
Everyone here had undergone multiple rounds of screening to even qualify for the Deep Space Fleet, and they all had solid foundations in combat.
In particular, Shi Zijun, currently ranked seventh, displayed a genetic skill—a powerful ability likely passed down from his Quanzu lineage.
As far as Li Yi knew, the Quanzu were descendants of the earliest humans to pilot Divine Mechas and undergo evolution. Over generations, they had established vast, intertwined power structures, controlling one or more human bases.
Their unshakable dominance wasn't just due to technology or industry—it also stemmed from genetic skills and family techniques.
Genetic skills, as the name implied, were extraordinary abilities inherited from ancestors who had evolved. Shi Zijun's skill, for example, appeared to be flame projection.
While it might seem mundane—akin to a flamethrower—it would become exponentially more formidable if Shi Zijun reached the ranks of evolutionaries. Even now, its destructive potential was significant.
Li Yi knew that facing more potent genetic skills in the future could prove troublesome.
For now, though, his early momentum had given him a lead.
He glanced at the electronic display board in the distance.
His name now topped the leaderboard with 12 points.
Second place was Liang Shaocong with 8 points, followed by Lin Qin with 6 points.
Other notable rankings included Miao Wanwan in sixteenth place with 2 points and Liang Xing from Base 11 in eleventh place with 3 points.
In just half an hour, the leaderboard had already thinned considerably. Each point represented someone's elimination.
Meanwhile, in the control room, Luo Cheng was no longer calm.
"12 points? In most past tournaments, that score would place someone in the top sixty at the final tally. Could this kid really make the top ten as an impoverished recruit?"
"If he performs too well, Lin Guotao won't be able to shield him, and I'll be held accountable for not implanting the mental imprint as required. What then?"
Initially, Luo Cheng hadn't seriously considered Li Yi a contender for the top ten.
Yes, Li Yi had defeated him with a single punch, but that had been a one-on-one fight, and Luo Cheng believed his own carelessness had contributed to the loss.
Moreover, the thousand recruits selected from the Eastern Continent of Mars were all exceptional combatants. Even Luo Cheng, as their instructor, doubted he could break into the top ten of the tournament.
Achieving 12 points in just half an hour was unheard of.
In the Yaochi's century-long history, no impoverished recruit had ever cracked the top ten. The rare exceptions from non-Quanzu backgrounds were usually from the Merchant, Worker, or Scholar classes.
If Li Yi set a historical precedent, it would draw enormous attention—and scrutiny.
Luo Cheng felt the weight of his oversight grow heavier by the second.
Finally, he picked up his communicator.
"Luo Cheng? What is it?"
"Lin Guotao, have you seen it? Li Yi scored 12 points in less than half an hour!"
"Hello? Are you there? Lin Guotao, can you hear me?"
"…Yes, I hear you," Lin Guotao replied after a pause, his tone composed but distant.
"12 points in half an hour—averaging one opponent every three minutes. That's unprecedented, especially in the tournament's early stages when scoring is hardest due to the randomized starting locations. This breaks a thirty-year record."
Wiping a bead of sweat from his brow, Lin Guotao spoke evenly. "Got it. Don't panic. The less noise you make about this, the less trouble it'll cause you."
"Got it? Lin Guotao, I'm asking—can you handle this?" Luo Cheng's voice rose, uncharacteristically urgent.
He wasn't exaggerating his concerns. The Investigation Department had a fearsome reputation, and losing rank or privileges within the fleet could ruin not just his career but also his ability to support his family.
If mishandled, Li Yi might even be labeled a potential cult infiltrator and face indefinite monitoring—or worse, imprisonment.
"Relax," Lin Guotao said firmly. "As long as Li Yi makes the top ten at the final tally, I'll ensure everything falls into place. Minor issues like your delayed mental imprint implementation can be rectified after the fact."
"You have a plan for all this?" Luo Cheng asked, his voice uncertain.
"Absolutely. So long as Li Yi doesn't crush the competition with an overwhelming lead—say, finishing in the top five or top three—we can spin this. A modest top-ten finish leaves room to address any concerns."
With no better options, Luo Cheng begrudgingly accepted Lin Guotao's reassurances.
"Keep monitoring Li Yi's performance closely," Lin Guotao instructed. "Request Yaochi Qingguo AI to allocate 1% of its processing power to reassess Li Yi's combat proficiency, behavioral patterns, and psychological profile. I want a detailed report on any risks, especially cult affiliations."
"Understood."
Elsewhere in the simulation, Li Yi continued hunting for opponents in the virtual replica of Base 11.
After more than half an hour, he had only managed to find and defeat a single straggler, earning 1 point.
"Looks like most people are playing cautiously, leaving the core area of Base 11 early on."
The low efficiency was frustrating.
With only three days to accumulate points, wasting time searching for opponents would jeopardize his chances of claiming first place.
Given his low compatibility rate, merely scraping into the top ten might not be enough to secure the most suitable Divine Mecha.
"Maybe I should rest and try to access new
.memory fragments," Li Yi mused. "Or revisit old ones to see if there's a strategy for breaking this stalemate."