Chapter 3066: Team Match
An eight-person team was indeed rare. A team of over ten people like the white-haired man's was practically unheard of, not just because players refused to submit to one another, but more because no matter how many people you called in, they would end up turning on each other and drastically reducing the numbers. Thus, teams close to ten were very few; teams of four or five were more common.
Four or five people could both defend themselves in time when danger struck and make it easier for members to keep an eye on each other, without being overwhelmed by too many people.
Xu Huo and his group set off.
At first, they would walk for a stretch, then let Xu Huo use his space power to carry them a bit further. But as time passed, everyone showed signs of fatigue. Under the scorching heat, their bodies lost water too quickly, and since the sky showed no sign of darkening, they had no choice but to stop and rest.
Using their backpacks to build a shaded spot, the group crouched nearby to rest.
There was no other option. The entire area was covered in such flatlands, with almost no undulations, let alone caves. The ground was scorching hot, so they could only squat.
"Lesson learned. From now on, I'm only wearing protective suits with temperature regulation functions," Double Head said, tugging at his suit, which had several tears.
Loving Orange chewed on a small piece of root vegetable. After spitting out the residue, he said, "If it never gets dark, will the players ahead have enough water and food?"
Definitely not. Even if they didn't get lost, walking in a straight line without the help of instruments, the supplies they'd exchanged for their meager points wouldn't be enough.
"Maybe there are people who got sunstroke up ahead..." Double Head hadn't finished speaking when the sky suddenly darkened.
Everyone thought it was clouds, but when they looked up, the sunlight was slanting down, and it quickly lost its heat.
"It feels like being on a Dimension Train track," Nave said, putting on another protective suit she had brought.
Sure enough, it wasn't long before it started getting cold. The flatlands, which had appeared a hazy yellow under the intense sunlight, now seemed to freeze solid, even the dust settling down.
The group exchanged glances, immediately grabbed their packs, and started moving. The long-distance teleportation instruments were single-use and could only be used by one person, so they were useless here. They could only run while Xu Huo carried them along, but it was futile because soon it began to snow.
Cumulus clouds appeared from nowhere, covering the sky in two patches. As far as the eye could see, there were such clouds everywhere. Large snowflakes fell, mixed with icy drizzle. When it hit them, it stuck to their bodies and couldn't be shaken off.
Xu Huo's group had to stop every so often to dump the snow from the leaf hats on their heads. But no matter how fast they pushed forward, they couldn't escape this vast, swirling snowfield. Even for Xu Huo, the limits of his perception still showed nothing but heavy snow.
They were trapped in some kind of space.
The protective suits had some insulation, but once torn, they weren't as effective. Everyone's body temperature plummeted, and frost quickly formed on their eyebrows.
The heavy snow came with strong winds. None of the group wanted to talk, so they trudged forward in silence. But as their bodies grew stiff, their pace slowed.
Just as they were thinking of building a temporary shelter to wait out the storm, Nave suddenly pointed ahead and said, "Someone's up there!"
Everyone looked up. A person was suspended in midair, arms and legs dangling, body frozen solid. They looked like they'd been dead for a while. There was nothing visible in front of or behind them; they seemed to be hanging there in empty space.
Xu Huo could see clearly. The person had been pierced through by a space power and pinned in the air. The wind and snow raged on, but a patch of Space Ray Blades had appeared abruptly in the space, skewering the person in midair without disappearing or shifting.
They were all A-rank players and could sense it somewhat. Double Head looked at Xu Huo. "Are there more Space Blades like that ahead? We're not going to suddenly get hit by one while walking, are we?"
Xu Huo shook his head slightly. "This person has been dead for a while."
At least before this, there had been no fluctuations within his perception range.
As they spoke, a light screen suddenly popped up in front of them:
"Challenge Island has randomly matched you with an arena team. Congratulations on being selected."
"The Wasteland Zone Arena uses a round system. Regardless of numbers, the first round is team versus team. The losing side will have all their points deducted except for the 100-point Challenge Island kill baseline. These points will be split equally among the winning team. Deceased players are still calculated under this rule."
"In the first round, there is the right to surrender. The winning team may not continue killing after the losing team surrenders; doing so will be considered a violation of arena rules."
"If members of the losing team survive the first round, one member of the losing team may challenge the highest-scoring member of the winning team. If the challenge fails, the remaining points of the losing team go entirely to the victor. If the challenge succeeds, the winning team will have all their points deducted except for the 100-point Challenge Island kill baseline, and these points will be split equally among the losing team."
"In the second round, neither the winning nor the losing side has the right to surrender."
As soon as they finished reading the content on the light screen, a circular blockade barrier appeared around them, locking them and another player team within a range of nearly three thousand meters. At the same time, the bright light from the barrier somewhat illuminated the area. Amidst the swirling snow, Xu Huo and the others saw the numbers of both teams displayed on the screen.
"Team A: 8 people."
"Team B: 6 people."
Each person had their points displayed above their heads. Though the light was faint, it was barely visible at this distance.
On Xu Huo's side, only Xu Huo had over two thousand points; the others had only a few hundred. But the six people on the opposing side all had over three thousand points.
The other team wasted no time. The leader shouted as he approached, "First round, leave no one alive!"
Team arena matches were no different from solo arena matches. The second round seemed to give the losing team a chance to turn things around, but in reality, the chance was slim. Even if they won, they wouldn't have the strength left to kill the winning team. Meanwhile, the winning team would have only lost one person in the second round, preserving the strength of the others, and could still kill off the losing team to reclaim the points after their companion's death.