……0.

The countdown ended.

Shen Mo’s score became 2, while Jefferson’s score — along with his holographic display — disappeared.

Shen Mo stood on the stage and glanced at the clay in his hand, his brow furrowing slightly.

The clay had been used multiple times now, and its color had shifted from its original dark grey to a pale, ashen grey — it sat in his hand like a lump of dough. Only one use remained.

But……

He raised his head, his narrow eyes half-closed as he squinted against the blinding lights and looked toward the audience.

——If he could win this match, he’d receive an even split of the other twenty-five players’ items. Among them, there might well be items with healing abilities.

“That was incredible!” Tan Xiao shouted excitedly from below the stage. “Absolute insanity, Boss! Let’s see who still dares to come up now…”

Before the words were even out of his mouth, a lanky figure leaped onto the stage!

Tan Xiao: “???”

The lanky man said nothing, skipping any sort of preamble, and swung his fist straight at Shen Mo the moment he arrived!

Tan Xiao stared in shock. “What’s going on?! Is this a revenge attack?!”

Su Man’s expression darkened as she said gravely, “It’s not revenge… These players know that Mo-ge just went through a tough fight with that big guy. He’s injured and his stamina is heavily depleted. Right now is their best opportunity to score.”

“Son of a —” Tan Xiao glared at the lanky man on stage. “That’s pathetic! How can you call yourself any kind of hero with that behavior?!”

“Hero?” the man answered with a cold laugh, still pressing his attack against Shen Mo as he replied, “I didn’t enter the Maze War to be a hero!”

With that, his assault grew sharper and faster! His punching speed was extraordinary — clearly he was a professional boxer!

Shen Mo dodged repeatedly, retreating seven or eight steps, then swung the iron hook from before at him!

The man had no time to react — the fist he’d thrown was instantly snagged by the hook!

Before he could process it, his wrist was caught in the chain, his expression shifted with alarm, and he hastily pulled back his attack to try and free himself. But Shen Mo pulled the chain and yanked him forward, simultaneously throwing a punch——

Bam!

Dead center in the face!

The man went straight down.

That single punch from Shen Mo carried full, raw force. The lanky man’s vision went dark. Seven or eight seconds passed before he managed to fight his way back up — and then, just as he was almost on his feet again, he collapsed back to the ground with a thud. He couldn’t get up.

At that point, Shen Mo’s score rose to 3. The lanky man’s score didn’t change.

“My god, that was incredible!” Tan Xiao marveled. “One punch! One punch and he’s done! It’s such a shame Weiwei-jie isn’t here to see this in person…”

Su Man was equally stunned.

She knew Shen Mo was skilled — but she hadn’t expected him to be this skilled. Just one punch? One punch to knock down someone who’d been through the maze?

At that moment, the lanky man on the stage got back up, his expression cold, and stepped down.

Tan Xiao and Su Man were even more surprised — he’d been unable to move just a moment ago. How could he walk as soon as the countdown was done?

Shen Mo said flatly, “He knows he can’t beat me, so he chose not to get up. On one hand, he conserved his own strength; on the other, he’s waiting for other players to drain more of my stamina first, so the next time he challenges me he’ll have an easier win. As for now… at zero points, losing costs no points anyway.”

Tan Xiao and Su Man both came to the same realization.

Less than two minutes later, another man stepped onto the stage — not as absurdly built as Jefferson, but still notably tall and broad.

Tan Xiao howled from below: “Another one?!”

Su Man, drawing on her remaining rational brain cells, said, “Probably because… he knows Mo-ge just had a brutal fight with the big guy and then another with the lanky man. Two consecutive brawls must have used up a huge amount of stamina. So right now is the best opportunity to score.”