Plastic is resistant to penetration and difficult to corrode, but extreme temperatures can still overcome it.
High temperatures can melt holes through it, while low temperatures make plastic brittle enough to shatter at a touch.
“Gui” of the gaseous civilization had the ability to change its own density. After discovering that Satan was not made of flesh and blood but had a plastic body, it quickly devised a battle strategy.
All that dodging it had done was actually a way to build up strength, compressing its own density until it formed a high-temperature airflow powerful enough to pierce plastic.
Caught completely off guard, Satan was struck in the left cheek by the airflow. The pain of being melted through by such extreme heat was beyond words.
Overcome by pain, he collapsed straight onto the ground and reached up to cover his face. But the instant his palm touched the airflow, it was burned through as well.
“Do something, quick!”
“Use an item! Don’t tell me you don’t have a Defensive Item on you?!”
“Get up, now!”
The human spectators couldn’t accept that their overwhelming advantage had suddenly turned into a disadvantage. Panicked, they all started offering suggestions in their Myriad Sense Net Bubbles.
But Satan was in too much pain. His mind had gone blank, and all he could think about was how to ease it. He couldn’t focus on anything else.
It was true that the outer layer of his skin and some parts beneath it had been turned into plastic, but not all of his organs had.
He was currently in a “half-human, half-Plastic Person” state. He had retained the pain receptors of a human, and he couldn’t simply ignore them.
“Xiangxiang, this is what I meant. Gaseous life forms have far more survival strategies than other races.”
The commentator was pleased with how things were unfolding, speaking easily with a cheerful smile.
“For a civilization that struggles so much just to come into being and survive, simply staying alive makes it more resilient than most races. It also has a chance to grow into a high-level civilization... Thinking you can defeat one easily is just wishful thinking.”
As the commentator spoke, Gui successfully pierced Satan’s face with a high-temperature compressed airflow.
Using the hole as an entry point, Gui drilled its entire gaseous body inside Satan, then began wreaking havoc within him.
Heat, corrosion, dissolution, increased pressure... As long as it could damage Satan’s vulnerable inner organs, Gui could produce all kinds of destructive effects by changing its density and properties.
Satan was tortured mercilessly. He let out a string of ear-splitting screams, like a pig being slaughtered, and many human spectators couldn’t bear to listen.
Some thoroughly disappointed spectators couldn’t watch any longer and chose to leave Spectator Mode.
But Satan hadn’t given up yet. Driven by his will to survive, he forced himself to endure the pain, pulled all sorts of food out of his Storage Box, and gulped it down.
He swallowed plastic, metal, recovery items, and more. He relied on them to supply him with energy, then mobilized his Mind Power, trying to force Gui out of his body.
But his plan failed. In less than two thousand seconds, Gui had completely destroyed his vital organs from within.
Under the extreme internal pressure, his several-hundred-pound frame first began to swell, then exploded with a bang. In an instant, the ground was covered in a mixture of flesh and plastic.
“Ugh!”
Many spectators couldn’t help gagging at the sight. Even more wore expressions of disappointment and frustration.
They might not have liked Satan, but that didn’t mean they hadn’t hoped he would win. He represented the Tianshui Star Civilization.
Now that another one of their competitors had died, the Tianshui Star Civilization had another loss on its record.
“Let us congratulate Gui, the competitor from the Rongrong Civilization, on winning a loss! I’ll be receiving a lovely gift provided by the organizers!”
The commentator’s announcement settled the result of the match.
The Tianshui Star Civilization’s record now stood at two wins, one draw, and three losses. The situation was far from encouraging.
...
“It’s over. This time, it’s really over.”
“That useless fat pig wasted humanity’s only chance to make a mistake!”
“Two wins, one draw, and three losses, with three matches left. We have to win all three remaining matches for the rule challenge to succeed!”
“Even if Shadow God can guarantee one win, can Han Qiu and Gilal really secure the other two?”
“It’s too hard... I think we’d be lucky to win two and avoid losing the overall match...”
After Satan’s defeat, pessimistic voices swept through social media and forums once more, like a tsunami.
The hope Dragon Soul’s victory in the previous match had brought was snuffed out immediately by this defeat. Most people had lost faith.
Given the results of the first six matches, it was incredibly difficult to believe humanity could win all three of the remaining ones.
And it wasn’t just the Ascendants watching who felt miserable. The competitors and those who cared about them were even more weighed down.
“That fat pig really was useless. We should’ve brought someone else.”
Han Qiu had watched Satan die from start to finish, but his emotions hadn’t fluctuated much.
He only regretted that bringing someone else might have given them a chance to win.
As for feeling sad about losing a subordinate, not at all. Even if he felt anything, it wasn’t for Satan. He was upset about losing someone who could do things for him.
Meanwhile, Gilal, the competitor from Namelica, sat quite calmly in her Myriad Sense Net Bubble, waiting for the next match to begin.
It was hard to say whether she was confident in herself or simply strong-minded enough to accept the outcome either way.
As for Guan Tong, he was actually doing fine. It was the people who cared about him who were all growing nervous on his behalf.
“Xiao Tong...”
Shi Jingyi was deeply worried about Guan Tong, who had yet to compete.
Even though she had great confidence in his strength, she felt this tournament tested more than just strength. It also tested luck.
If Guan Tong had been in one of the earlier matches, he would have been able to win most of them with his strength. Even against a troublesome gaseous life form like Gui, he would have found a way to deal with it.
But he still hadn’t taken the field, and they didn’t yet know what civilization his opponent would come from. The unknown had always been the most frightening thing.
Ever since Satan died, Chen Na had been unable to sit still. She paced back and forth in her Myriad Sense Net Bubble, silently praying for Guan Tong.
“I hope Brother Guan gets matched against a weak civilization, with a weak opponent...”
The three Black Star siblings from the Trace Origin Travel Troupe, Black Star, White Star, and Aaron, were just as nervous.
Beyond their personal feelings, if anything happened to Guan Tong, the Trace Origin Travel Troupe, an organization centered around him, would surely disband on the spot.
Even Twin Stars Bar, an underground contact point in the Xisiya Empire, would lose its connection to Guan Tong and quickly be shut down by the Xisiya authorities.
And after suffering the devastating blow of seeing her country’s competitor, Lovska, instantly killed in the first match, Yelanka, the Xisiya Administrator, could only place her hopes in the others.
“Teacher Guan Tong... You’ll be all right, won’t you?” Yelanka wondered. Yet she felt inexplicably troubled and restless.
She didn’t think it was some kind of bad premonition, but she still grew more uneasy.
Meanwhile, in the Myriad Sense Net Bubble where Guan Tong was, he was waiting for the next match to begin when a searing heat suddenly struck his left eye again.
“Damn it, why is this happening again?!”
He raised a hand to cover his eye and looked outside through his right eye, trying to find something.
However, every Myriad Sense Net Bubble blocked the view from outside, making it impossible to peer inside.
But Guan Tong was certain: there was definitely someone from the Demon Race here! And that person was very likely connected to the source of the power in his eye, the same lineage as the Pain Dominator.
Especially since his left eye had only felt warm earlier, but now it was growing hotter and hotter. That likely meant the distance was closing... Could that person be in this spectator area right now?