That unlucky guy died under the feet of a King-level BOSS. While the BOSS was swinging the giant tree, Jiang Kai took advantage of his position being close to the corpse and used the God of Hell's Decree to snatch the Redemption Card the guy left behind.
'Five cards now!'
Right now, those two teams had attracted the attention of the Commander-level and King-level BOSSes, making it the perfect opportunity to escape.
Thinking of this, Jiang Kai didn't hesitate and directly used the five Redemption Cards.
[Redemption Card used successfully. You have lifted the imprisoned state.]
Just as Jiang Kai breathed a sigh of relief, the system rang again.
[Global Domination Match (Beginner) Phase One has ended. Phase Two has begun.]
[A Place of Redemption has appeared within the map. Functional items can be exchanged using Redemption Cards.]
[Each team will have one non-imprisoned member newly imprisoned.]
As the words fell, Jiang Kai found himself unable to move again.
He clung tightly to the tree trunk, eyes wide in disbelief, exclaiming, 'What the hell, me again? Is there no justice anymore!'
If he had been a bit slower in lifting his imprisonment, the one getting imprisoned now might have been Zhuzi.
"I'm done playing this damn game!"
———
The scattered contestants across various locations also received the news about the second phase of the Domination Match starting.
Hu Yan and Su Nuannuan had quite the headache.
Ruan Yu and Zhuzi had fallen into deep sleep, and they still hadn't found Jiang Kai, yet Phase Two had already begun.
The two looked at each other nervously. After a moment, Hu Yan moved his palm, then said to Su Nuannuan, "It's not me."
"I'm not imprisoned either," Su Nuannuan said, then looked at Zhuzi and Ruan Yu. Though they were asleep, their limbs were restless, clearly not imprisoned.
Su Nuannuan furrowed her brows, looking at Hu Yan in disbelief, "None of the four of us are imprisoned, could it be..."
"Captain Kai...", Hu Yan looked confused, "That's not right, didn't the system say the second round would pick one of the previously non-imprisoned members?"
"Could Captain Kai have been rescued?"
Su Nuannuan pondered for a long while and said, "Maybe Brother Lu and the others saved him. But for it to be him getting imprisoned again, that guy should go buy a lottery ticket."
While they were talking, the two noticed a faint purple mist emerging from the forest ahead.
Because of Zhuzi and Ruan Yu's sleep, they had picked a secluded spot in the forest to rest. They had just checked the surroundings earlier, and there had been nothing unusual there.
Hu Yan stood up solemnly, "Nuannuan, I'll go check it out."
"Be careful, Brother Hu!"
Hu Yan nodded and cautiously walked toward the source of the mist.
The source of the mist wasn't far from their location. Soon after, Hu Yan returned and waved to Su Nuannuan from not far away, "Nuannuan, come quickly! It's the Place of Redemption! The one that just appeared in Phase Two!"
Su Nuannuan immediately followed.
There was nothing unusual around the source of the mist. The land and plants were untouched.
In the center of the purple mist stood five rectangular stone monuments, arranged in a five-pointed star formation. Each was about 1.5 meters tall. In the middle of the area encircled by the five monuments stood a small stone tower, about 2 meters tall, faintly emitting purple energy.
As Su Nuannuan entered the monument zone, a system prompt appeared.
[You have entered the Place of Redemption. You can use Redemption Cards at the stone monuments to exchange for functional items. Special Redemption Cards can be used at the stone tower to exchange items.]
[Special Redemption Cards drop from beasts within the competition zone.]
"Beasts in the competition zone? Those are all Commander-level or King-level," Hu Yan also received the system prompt and exclaimed, eyes wide, "Nuannuan, let's see what we can exchange."
Nuannuan nodded and went with Hu Yan to the nearest monument.
Words appeared on the stone slab.
[Positioning Map Card: Allows you to locate the positions of all surviving team members, beast locations, and the Place of Redemption on the map.]
[Exchange cost: 6 Redemption Cards.]
"Hiss... we really need this," Hu Yan said immediately, "But it costs six Redemption Cards. If we buy this, we'll have none left!"
Su Nuannuan frowned, "Brother Hu, let's check the others first and decide afterward."
The two continued to check the other monuments.
Second monument.
[Target Lock Card: Allows global tracking of a designated target (any unit), locking onto them for two hours.]
[Exchange cost: 4 Redemption Cards.]
Third monument.
[Global Info Card: Every ten minutes, obtain one round of global intelligence on competing teams and zone beasts. Up to three non-own teams or three beasts can be selected to reveal their specific info.]
[Exchange cost: 3 Redemption Cards.]
Fourth monument.
[Single Teleport Card: Allows one precise teleport across the entire map.]
[Exchange cost: 7 Redemption Cards.]
Fifth monument.
[Abnormal Status Removal Card: Can remove abnormal status from one unit. Maximum of four uses.]
[Exchange cost: 3 Redemption Cards.]
The central stone tower displayed no items. Maybe it requires a Special Redemption Card to activate.
The five stone monuments offered five types of exchangeable items, all highly useful.
"These are all great," Hu Yan had a troubled look, "Nuannuan, which one do you think we should exchange for?"
Nuannuan thought for a bit and said, "To find Jiang Kai, we need the Positioning Card or the Search Card. But Zhuzi and Brother Ruan are still asleep. If we run into another team, we stand almost no chance. Even if we get Jiang Kai's location, we might not be able to reach him."
Hu Yan nodded, "Even if we got there, we couldn't save him. If we run into other teams, we'd be wiped out."
"And now that the Place of Redemption has appeared, I believe all teams will want Redemption Cards even more. Battles will become more frequent... with just the two of us, we hardly have a chance."
"So, we must first remove Brother Ruan and Zhuzi's drunken status to restore Fire God's combat power," Nuannuan said, "The Abnormal Status Removal Card costs 3 cards. Then we'll have 3 left. That Global Info Card can help us understand the enemy. If Jiang Kai is with Brother Lu or Team Zuo, we might even find his info, let's get one of those too."
"Yeah, I agree. Let's go with those two."
After exchanging the two cards, Nuannuan first removed Yuan Zhu and Ruan Yu's drunken status.
Upon learning that Jiang Kai had been imprisoned again, Yuan Zhu burst out laughing.
Seeing everyone looking at him, Yuan Zhu quickly straightened his face, "Sorry, I couldn't help it. But you have to believe me, I feel very heartbroken inside."
"Honestly, Captain Kai really made a huge sacrifice for the team."
Hu Yan suppressed a smile, trying to keep a serious expression, "Ahem, understood, understood! Uh, earlier I did some calculations and noticed Captain Kai's position changed. That confirms Nuannuan and I's earlier guess."
"Captain Kai was probably rescued by another team from Huaxia."
"It's just... now that he's imprisoned again, even if Brother Lu or Brother Zuo brought him, they probably can't free him anymore."
"So, our next task is to get more Redemption Cards. Nuannuan, use the Global Info Card now to get a view of the situation."
Nuannuan took out the Global Info Card and activated it.
A map projection was cast from the card, and a voice rang out.
[Current number of surviving contestants in the Domination Match: 1206 people, 267 teams. Beast invasion progress: 327 Commander-level beasts, 43 King-level beasts, currently active within the outer 17-kilometer perimeter of the competition zone.]
On the map, the outermost zone of the competition area had already been filled in red, representing that the beasts had occupied it.
"Almost 300 people have already been eliminated!", Zhuzi exclaimed.
Nuannuan said, "The first phase was probably just small-scale encounters. Most people probably tried to avoid fights. But now that the Place of Redemption has appeared and the beast invasion area has grown, battles will get more and more intense!"
At this moment, Ruan Yu suddenly said, "You guys remember the Search Card from the Place of Redemption... That Simon Saier said earlier that the allied teams all want to kill Captain Kai. If they get the Search Card and lock onto Captain Kai, then won't he be..."
After Ruan Yu finished speaking, the other three tensed up.
Previously, no one knew Jiang Kai's location, so he was relatively safe. But now that the Search Card exists, Jiang Kai's location could be exposed to all enemies.
"I wonder how long Brother Lu and the others can hold on. Nuannuan, check the status of Team Lu and Team Zuo," Hu Yan said immediately.
Nuannuan quickly retrieved the info of the two teams.
On the map, the projections of the two teams appeared one after another.
Mountain River Team: currently three members alive, located in the northwest, slowly moving toward the center of the competition zone.
Red Team: only two members remaining, in the southwest, also heading toward the center.
"Captain Kai isn't with them?", Hu Yan looked confused.
Nuannuan was also puzzled.
Could someone else have rescued Jiang Kai?
But the Global Info Card can only check three teams or three beasts at a time, and they had already used two slots without finding Jiang Kai.
Everyone fell into deep thought.
After a while, Hu Yan stood up and said urgently, "Something feels wrong. Let's quickly get more Redemption Cards and find Captain Kai!"
[T/N: Hey everyone! If you're into mystery, magic, and a whole new twist on the wizarding world, check out my new fanfic "Harry Potter: Transmigrated Detective Link." A sharp-minded detective finds himself in the world of Hogwarts, and things are about to get interesting. Give it a read and let me know what you think!]
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