Han Zixi could no longer sit still.
Although he supported Lin Ran and was unwilling to go along with the mainstream voices of the event organizers, he was, after all, a member of the organizing committee. At a time like this, he couldn't just stand by and do nothing.
"I'll go see what's happening!"
After saying this, Han Zixi immediately left, leaving Lü Qiufeng and Lin Miao utterly bewildered.
"It wouldn't have gotten out of hand, would it..."
Lin Miao glanced at the black screen, her voice laced with worry.
"Logically speaking, the equipment for the Freshman Exchange Tournament has been passed down from year to year. It shouldn't have malfunctioned solely this time."
"Moreover, the Supreme Council is involved this year, and Xiangchu has definitely placed a special emphasis on it. The safety should have been further enhanced."
"If there were a fluctuation of one or two seconds, it would be understandable. But now it's been black for almost a minute..."
"No matter how you look at it, it doesn't seem like an accident!"
Hearing Lin Miao's words, Lü Qiufeng's heart sank:
"You mean... this is a man-made incident?"
Lin Miao nodded:
"Most likely!"
"To make the entire system go black, one must completely infiltrate Xiangchu's entire event network."
"Otherwise, such serious consequences would be impossible."
"But attacking Xiangchu's event network from the outside... it's very difficult to avoid giving the Xiangchu event organizers a chance to react..."
"From the current situation... it's probably..."
Lü Qiufeng immediately understood and frowned:
"So, that means... there's an inside job in Xiangchu?"
Lin Miao sighed:
"Basically, yes..."
"Regardless, Xiangchu is a top-tier, top-10 school. Their event network can't be this fragile."
"Without help from an insider, I don't know how anyone could have broken in..."
Lü Qiufeng took a deep breath:
"Then, what is the purpose of these people who infiltrated the network?"
Lin Miao shook her head:
"I'm not them, how could I know the details..."
"However, judging from the possible targets, it's quite obvious."
"There are only two groups of people related to this event."
"One group is the students currently competing, and the other is... us."
"Their reason for infiltrating the network must be among them."
Lü Qiufeng's heart tightened as he looked at the students who had already appeared on stage.
Due to the constant encirclement and suppression by the non-prestigious school alliance, the elimination rate of students from prestigious schools was abnormally high.
At this moment, only Lin Ran, Luo Qingyan, Bai Ziye, and Xu Sheng from Yanda remained on the field.
The other six had already gone to the waiting area.
However, to ensure fairness and rigor of the competition, even students who had been eliminated were not allowed to contact their mentors until the survival competition was completely over and could only remain in the waiting area.
Lü Qiufeng could only watch them from across the cordon.
"I'm definitely not worried about Lin Ran..."
"He has too many tricks up his sleeve. It's almost impossible to cause him any unexpected trouble."
"But what about the other three?"
"The event network is already paralyzed, and the teleportation capabilities must have also failed..."
"Are we just going to wait here for the Xiangchu people to fix the network?"
Lü Qiufeng's expression was somewhat anxious.
As Lin Miao was about to say something, she was interrupted by Han Zixi, who had walked to the center stage.
Han Zixi looked very anxious but still tried to calm himself and announced to everyone:
"Please remain calm! Everyone, please remain calm!"
"Our network has been attacked and is currently in a semi-paralyzed state, temporarily losing some functions."
"But there's no need to be overly anxious. Our network engineers still firmly hold the core initiative."
"As long as we have some time, we will soon drive out all the illegal intruders!"
"Furthermore, we are already working on sending messages to the students in the arena from outside the venue. I believe..."
Before he could finish speaking, a thunderous clang suddenly echoed from the entrance of the fortress.
Simultaneously, a thick black light barrier appeared, engulfing the entire fortress.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
The soldiers, who were already on alert due to the unexpected situation, instantly reacted. They urgently sounded the alarm and rushed towards the entrance.
The mentors present were also greatly alarmed, and they all unleashed their talents, surging in all directions of the fortress, preparing to secure a good position for the possible defense.
Lü Qiufeng, along with Lin Miao, rushed towards the main entrance where the clang originated.
As eighth-level awakened individuals and proud students of Matt, why would they fear any danger?
At this critical juncture, gathering intelligence was clearly more important.
However, upon exiting, both of their expressions changed drastically.
The object that had just caused the explosion was none other than a Silent Meteorite!
The clang meant the activation of the Silent Meteorite.
The so-called Silent Meteorite is a special rare mineral, extremely rare in the human world.
Let alone one as large as a coffin, even a fist-sized Silent Meteorite is very difficult to find.
It can only be glimpsed in spatial rifts where countless alien races hide.
But there aren't many of them.
After all, the effect of the Silent Meteorite is too overbearing. It can directly form an invincible confinement barrier for a certain period – it also weakens people within the barrier and seals off all spatial effects.
Furthermore, not only is the barrier despairingly strong, but it also has powerful self-healing capabilities, making it impossible to break through by slowly grinding it down!
However, the Silent Meteorite is not perfect; it still has three very obvious weaknesses.
First, it does not distinguish between friend and foe.
As long as one is within the activation range of the Silent Meteorite, even the caster will be affected by its weakening and sealing effects.
Second, it has a time limit.
The duration for which the Silent Meteorite can last is not long, even if it is large.
Once the energy within the meteorite is depleted, unless external forces supplement it, it will enter a very long recharging phase.
Third, the exterior is relatively fragile.
The sealing effect of the Silent Meteorite is invincible from the inside, but it's different once you're outside the circle.
It is not difficult to break through the defense of the Silent Meteorite from the outside. Once it is breached, the internal seal will naturally disappear.
But now, Lü Qiufeng and the others saw no enemies within the fortress;
Secondly, they urgently needed time to rescue the students in the arena;
Third, they could not contact anyone from outside the meteorite...
Could it be that they would be controlled by this Silent Meteorite until time ran out?
Lü Qiufeng's face turned ashen.