# 168
**Chapter 168: Checkmate**
"So, we need to make a choice now." A Zi slowly stood up, her expression extremely serious.
"Do we go after the mysterious entity that manipulates the spatial distortion first, or... do we kill the 【Sound Hunter】!"
There weren’t many female soldiers present, and some, like A Zi, weren’t suited for combat at all. Splitting up wasn’t an option—they had to take them down one by one.
That made the order of operations crucial.
"Of course we go after the 【Sound Hunter】 first!" an angry voice rang out.
"That’s right! It killed little Ya! I’ll avenge her!!"
"Kill the 【Sound Hunter】!! It’s slaughtered so many of our sisters! It has to die!"
"Yes! Kill it!!"
"……"
Voices rose one after another, unanimous in their fury. Battle intent blazed in every pair of eyes. Though they looked delicate and small, the fire in their hearts burned no less fiercely than anyone else’s.
They, too, were Night Watch!
"Alright." A Zi nodded, lowered her head to look at the newly drawn blueprint in her hand, and began scribbling calculations rapidly. "I’ll run the next two spatial distortion simulations in advance, to prevent the second mysterious entity from manipulating space again and letting the 【Sound Hunter】 escape..."
"When the next distortion begins, that’ll be our chance to hunt the 【Sound Hunter】!"
……
Lin Qiye pondered for a moment. Instead of rushing through the two rooms to kill the 【Cube】 in the hollow space, he sat down and began drawing something on the white wall with a flicker of darkness at his fingertip.
Though he seemed close to the 【Cube】, there was no direct path—only four consecutive walls blocked the way. The 【Cube】 was far smarter than he’d expected. By rotating the rooms, it had sealed off every side that approached it with walls.
In other words, to reach the hollow, he had to break through all four walls. That wasn’t difficult for Lin Qiye, but the problem was—while he was doing it, the 【Cube】 would definitely sense his intent, realize its location was exposed, and scramble the space again.
By then, Lin Qiye would be thrown who-knows-where.
"If only I had a Forbidden Ruins that lets me phase through walls," Lin Qiye sighed.
For now, he had to rely on his wits to find a way past the blockade and reach the hollow...
At this moment, he finally understood the instructors’ purpose in setting up these mysterious entities.
The strange spider outside Building Three tested "strength" and "spirit."
The headless man wielding a beheading blade tested "observation" and "mental fortitude."
And this cube in front of him tested "wisdom."
The spider roaming the campus could theoretically be killed with enough combat power. But the situation in Building Three was different. To kill the headless man, one had to overcome the fear of being cut in half—and figure out its killing mechanism through observation...
To kill the 【Cube】, one had to decipher the entire operational pattern of Building Three!
In a sense, killing the 【Cube】 was the hardest of all.
After a long time, when the wall was almost completely covered in his scribbles, Lin Qiye finally exhaled and stepped back. A faint golden light flickered in his eyes.
Success or failure—it all came down to this!
He crouched slightly, and the Darkness God’s Ruins erupted outward, rapidly expanding until it covered a 30-meter radius. He didn’t dare stretch it to 50 meters—that would envelop the 【Cube】 and alert it.
Thirty meters was just enough to cover the four walls ahead. His goal was simple: enter the hollow in the shortest time possible!
Once inside the hollow, the 【Cube】 wouldn’t be able to shift him away with spatial distortion!
Lin Qiye took a deep breath and shot forward like an arrow!
At the same time, his gaze sharpened. In the area covered by the Darkness God’s Ruins, four vicious cracks tore open in the centers of the four walls, as if an invisible hand had ripped them apart.
Lin Qiye flashed to the first wall!
Twin blades drawn!
The two Straight Blades easily slashed through the cracked first wall. Lin Qiye didn’t pause for a second, charging straight at the second wall!
Slash! Slash!
Two more strikes—second and third walls exploded. Though it seemed slow, only a second had passed since he began!
Just as Lin Qiye was about to reach the final wall, the 【Cube】 finally reacted. The three-tier silver cube instantly morphed into a forty-plus-tier irregular shape and began twisting rapidly!
Lin Qiye’s pupils shrank. Instead of slashing the final wall, he kicked off a nearby cabinet and shot backward the way he came!
Just as he barely retreated into the previous room, the surroundings shifted violently. The room closest to the hollow was spun to the farthest edge!
And the room Lin Qiye now stood in gradually stopped rotating...
A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
He turned to the wall on his right, stepped forward, and slashed twice with his Straight Blades, tearing a large hole in it!
Behind the wall was a spherical hollow over three meters in radius.
At its center, a silver cube hovered quietly, the glow around it noticeably dimmer than before.
"As expected—you can’t scramble space twice in a row..." Lin Qiye said calmly, looking at the silver cube.
From the start, he’d never planned to break all four walls in one go. That race against time was too risky. So he’d staked everything on the second spatial distortion!
Using the rotation patterns he’d observed, he’d calculated in advance which room would end up closest to the 【Cube】 after the next scramble—the second-to-last room.
His aggressive blitz had been a feint to scare the highly intelligent 【Cube】 into triggering a second distortion. That would leave it temporarily unable to scramble again—while Lin Qiye was already right in front of it.
In chess terms...
"Checkmate." Lin Qiye murmured, twin Straight Blades in hand, leaping into the hollow!
……
Meanwhile, in the boiler room.
Space distorted once more. The layout of the rooms shifted rapidly. All the girls’ eyes lit up as they sprang to their feet.
"The time has come..." Molly slowly clenched her fists, the air around them warping from the pressure.
Their eyes burned with battle intent!
"Operation: Hunt the 【Sound Hunter】—begin!"