At this moment, everyone was horrified. They finally understood what Lin Xinghai’s third shot had actually hit.

After the first two shots pierced the Water Shield, the third shot had shattered the Water Ability User’s Communication Wristwatch.

Although this shot hadn’t caused much physical harm to the examinee, it had just destroyed his future. That was undoubtedly more agonizing than being sliced by a thousand cuts.

However, before anyone could react, Lin Xinghai continued to fire.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Another three shots. Using the same method, he pierced the Water Shield and shattered another examinee’s Communication Wristwatch, which had been hidden on his body.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Lin Xinghai had no intention of stopping at all, firing three shots after three shots.

One by one, the examinees’ Communication Wristwatches were shattered.

By now, the examinees understood that they weren’t safe at all, even with the protection of these Defense Superpowers.

Some members dropped to the ground, hiding their Communication Wristwatches beneath them. Others immediately scrambled for cover, all terrified of being the next examinee to be eliminated.

In an instant, the Canglang Brigade’s formation fell into chaos. Even the few Defensive Superpower Users felt that they were in peril.

It was then that Lin Xinghai’s voice drifted over coolly. "Do you still think I’m not capable of eliminating all of you, one by one?"

The moment Lin Xinghai’s voice fell, a rescue team on single-person flight devices swooped down from the sky. As everyone watched, the five examinees whose Communication Wristwatches had been destroyed were taken away, their faces full of despair.

Lin Xinghai’s words had already shaken them, but combined with the rescue team’s actions, it dealt a double Mental Shock to the members of the Canglang Brigade.

"Surrender! We surrender!"

"Captain, just give them the Energy Ball! We can’t protect it."

"Yeah, Captain! If we get eliminated, we’re finished."

Before Qian Haoran could even speak, the other members of the Canglang Brigade all started shouting at once.

Faced with this situation, Qian Haoran knew the circumstances were irreversible. The moment Lin Xinghai had proven he could eliminate his team members, the outcome had been sealed.

"You win," Qian Haoran said as he took the Energy Ball from his combat backpack and placed it on the ground. He was about to lead his men away.

"Wait!" Lin Xinghai said suddenly, looking at them. "Aren’t you forgetting something?"

"What?" Qian Haoran stopped in his tracks, speaking with a mix of vigilance and panic.

He was terrified that Lin Xinghai would go back on his word.

"You also have to leave 200 rounds of ammunition," Lin Xinghai said.

Qian Haoran sighed in relief. He quickly had his team members pool together 200 rounds and place them on the ground.

He had originally planned to leave immediately, but he couldn’t help but ask, "May I know who you are?"

At this, the rest of the Canglang Brigade perked up their ears. They all wanted to know who this person who had so easily defeated them was. With such terrifying strength, he should have been a well-known figure.

So why had they never heard of such an expert proficient in Speed before?

"Lin Xinghai!" Lin Xinghai saw no reason to hide it and stated his name directly.

Qian Haoran was momentarily stunned, and the other members of the Canglang Brigade were also taken aback.

They had never expected the person before them to be the famous Lin Xinghai. This was completely different from what they had imagined.

But soon, their gazes toward Lin Xinghai filled with even greater reverence.

Without a doubt, he wasn’t just someone with high Speed and good Gun Technique. His close-quarters combat ability was surely terrifying as well.

In other words, he hadn’t even used his full strength to deal with them!

Qian Haoran cupped his hands in a fist-to-palm salute toward Lin Xinghai, then led his men away without any further hesitation.

At that moment, he didn’t feel much resentment. After all, it was perfectly normal to lose to such a Demon.

Besides, he knew his team definitely wouldn’t be the only unlucky ones.

Thinking of this, he suddenly ordered his team members, "At the intersection ahead, turn into that alley. Don’t let the teams rushing over see us."

The others were confused at first, but they quickly understood, and looks of realization dawned on their faces.

They instantly grasped Qian Haoran’s meaning. If other teams saw their miserable state, it was one thing if they got any funny ideas, but more importantly, those teams would learn of Lin Xinghai’s strength and might retreat to escape the same fate.

They were incredibly frustrated, but if someone else shared their misfortune, they wouldn’t feel so dejected.

Lin Xinghai, of course, noticed this small maneuver, and the corners of his mouth curved into a slight smile.

After confirming that the Canglang Brigade had retreated, he casually walked over and picked up the Energy Ball and the 200 rounds of ammunition from the ground.

As for why he only asked for so few rounds this time, it wasn’t because the other team was low on ammunition, but because his combat backpack couldn’t hold any more.

After stowing the items away, Lin Xinghai’s expression suddenly shifted. A team with an Energy Ball had entered his Perception range.

He had no intention of waiting. He immediately took the offensive, deciding to grab the Energy Ball as quickly as possible before other teams could react.

Ten minutes later, the three approaching teams had all been routed by Lin Xinghai one by one. He had acquired another three Energy Balls, bringing his total to a staggering nine.

"Not bad. I’m almost one-fifth of the way to my goal." A smile touched Lin Xinghai’s lips. However, finding more teams from now on wouldn’t be so easy.

After all, the other teams weren’t just going to wait around for him to find them.

But he couldn’t just wait for the Military Department to release the next Energy Ball location update in an hour—that would be too slow.

After opening his map and considering for a moment, Lin Xinghai instantly set off in a specific direction.

He remembered that the teams with Energy Balls had been most densely concentrated in that direction just a moment ago, which meant he had the highest chance of finding one there.

Besides, compared to the other teams, his 600-meter Perception Ability was like having a personal small-scale detector. His ability to search was on a completely different level.

Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, an hour had gone by.

During that hour, the fighting in the city center had grown several times more brutal than before. The battles between examinees, in particular, produced a large number of casualties.

If they were only lightly injured, the examinees could perhaps use their medical kits for some simple bandaging and carry on.

But if their injuries were severe, staying to continue the assessment would be suicide.

Thus, in just one hour, the number of examinees had plummeted by 2,000—a truly terrifying rate of attrition.

At this point, just over 21,000 people remained on the Points leaderboard, a full 10,000 fewer than at the start.

However, this was within many people’s expectations, and few paid it much mind. After all, they were all fellow examinees, which made everyone else a competitor. Fewer people meant less competition.

Of course, that was assuming they could last until the end themselves.

And when the time reached 1:00 PM sharp, nearly all the examinees, as if by unspoken agreement, stopped what they were doing, took out their Communication Wristwatches, opened their maps, and waited for the military to sync the locations of the Energy Balls.