As Zhao San counted down, Sun Yu hurtled towards Lin Huang without waiting for him to summon his monster. Sun Yu thought it was impossible for Lin Huang to have gotten to the 21st checkpoint on his own since he was only a blue flame-level. He had experienced it himself, and he knew how difficult it was to get through the 20 checkpoints. It was impossible for a holy fire-level to get there on his own.
Among the active members of the Genius Union, the last holy fire-level who managed to get there was a golden flame-level seven years ago. It was a supreme genius from Division 1. Now that seven years had passed, the person had already got to the 63rd checkpoint, and he was now an immortal-level rank-9. Sun Yu did not think that Lin Huang was on par with the man. He thought Lin Huang must have depended on the triple mutated immortal-level rank-2 gigantic ape. To him, most of the Imperial Censors were merely adequate. Without their powerful summoning monsters, they were just garbage.
As soon as the countdown ended, Sun Yu attacked first so that he could kill Lin Huang before Lin Huang could summon his monster. He was sure that Lin Huang was incapable of fighting without his summoning monster. Many onlookers who bet on Lin Huang were concerned as they watched Sun Yu advance before Lin Huang did. They did not have faith in Lin Huang, but they believed in his Mighty Ape. To them, Lin Huang's combat level was too low as an Imperial Censor. He could not fight Sun Yu even though he was a genius.
After all, everyone who got to this virtual world was a genius. Although Sun Yu was only an immortal-level rank-1, his ability was actually on immortal-level rank-4. Even though Lin Huang was a supreme genius who was able to fight someone one level above him, he as a blue flame-level could only fight an immortal-level rank-3. He definitely could not fight Sun Yu. In this battle, the only way for Lin Huang to turn the tables around depended on whether he had the time to call for his summoning monster.
If Lin Huang managed to summon the ape before Sun Yu killed him, the battle would be a great show with unpredictable results. However, if Lin Huang did not manage to summon the ape, there was nothing to watch in this battle as Lin Huang would definitely lose! All of the onlookers assumed that Lin Huang was incapable by himself as an Imperial Censor. Many of them smiled and shook their heads when they watched Sun Yu dash towards Lin Huang before he could summon his monster. The poor kid's points would go back to zero soon. Those who had bet on Lin Huang felt their hearts skip a beat as they realized they would lose their wager.
However, a silver glow flashed in the air. Some of the onlookers were shocked by the sight of this. Sun Yu brushed shoulders with Lin Huang while the latter stood where he was without moving. Sun Yu was appalled as he spat a mouthful of blood. They then noticed that there was blood blooming out of his left chest.
"So, you've been hiding your abilities…" Sun Yu clenched his teeth as he glared at Lin Huang.
"You're the one who asked for this." Lin Huang turned around and smirked at Sun Yu. "I shall take your 6,000 points then."
As soon as Lin Huang said that, Sun Yu's body faded into sparks and disappeared entirely within seconds. A notification from the virtual system came to Lin Huang's ears.
"You've obtained 6,102 points from killing Sun Yu!"
Those onlookers were shocked to see that Sun Yu was killed in an instant. Although some of them noticed the silver glow, they had no idea what exactly it was.
"What exactly happened?"
"Did that guy cheat?"
"What was that silver glow that came out of nowhere? Is that the new kid's technique?"
"How could an Imperial Censor be so powerful? I thought he's just a blue flame-level.
The people started discussing among themselves, most of them not knowing how Lin Huang managed to win.
"Alright, stop guessing among yourselves. This new kid is a powerful psychic. The silver glow was a flying dagger. As Sun Yu rushed towards him, the flying dagger pierced through his heart. That was how Lin Huang killed him," a tall, bald, middle-aged man among the crowd spoke. He was an immortal-level rank-4, and it was clear that he knew what Lin Huang did just now.
"I'm sure some of you recorded the battle just now. Just play the video at a slower speed, and you'll see."
Some of them who had recorded the fight then played the video. Zhao San, who started the bet, played the video ten times slower and saw the flying dagger that appeared before Lin Huang piercing through Sun Yu's chest. Many of them underestimated Lin Huang, so none of them expected such a result. The blue flame-level newbie standing in front of them was not only an Imperial Censor but also a psychic who managed to kill the immortal-level rank-1 Sun Yu in a flash.
"He's a supreme genius!" Someone exclaimed after a moment of silence. Besides fear, they now looked at Lin Huang with respect. It was rare to find a supreme genius outside of core zones, and they were lucky to see one or two occasionally. There were not many supreme geniuses in the core zones. There were only 50 supreme geniuses in the Genius Union in Division 3. All those people who were stuck on the 21st checkpoint were mostly geniuses outside of the core zones. To them, supreme geniuses were hard to come by, so it was natural that they would hold such respect for Lin Huang.
Lin Huang ignored the people's discussion about him, and he walked over to Zhao San.
"You're giving me the 2,864 points that I bet on, right?" Lin Huang asked Zhao San.
"Yes… Yes!" Zhao San nodded immediately. His ability was just slightly more powerful than Sun Yu. If he denied what he promised, this newbie would definitely send him to the bottom of the Stairway Tree.
"Five times of 2,864 will be 14,320. Deducting the deposit that you haven't paid, I'll need to give you 11,456 points."
Zhao San transferred the points immediately after he had done the calculation. Lin Huang was thrilled to see the 6,000-odd points from Sun Yu being added to his 5,000-odd points, together with more than 10,000 points that he had won from the bet.
The sky was getting dark. Lin Huang looked at the time and thought he should log out now. Zhao San noticed that Lin Huang was opening the log out page, then he quickly went to him.
"Mr. Lin, are you interested in joining our hunting team?"
"Hunting team?" Lin Huang looked skeptically at Zhao San.
"It's a temporary team that we formed to hunt at night," Zhao San explained to him since he was new. Lin Huang understood what he meant after Zhao San clarified. Usually, many monsters came out to look for food at night, so it was difficult for people to climb the tree. However, it was the golden hour to kill monsters for points too.
The people could hunt for monsters from sunset to just before midnight when the number of monsters had yet to reach a peak. Therefore, many people would form hunting teams on their own at the 21st checkpoint to kill the monsters together. The points would still be the same as usual, but creating a team made hunting easier, and they could look after each other.
"We'll leave to the isolated space when the monsters get out of hand during midnight, and we'll leave the virtual world. It's pretty safe if we stick together," Zhao San explained further.
"Thanks for your invitation, but I don't plan to stay any longer below the 30th checkpoint. However, I'll stay together to hunt together just for the experience." Lin Huang rejected Zhao San's invitation, but he decided to join them for the night.