"The first round begins!"
After the organizer left the field, the competition officially began.
The Contestants imdiately sprang into action. So who had taken an instant dislike to each other clashed directly, while others simply attacked whoever was closest. However, there were also two or three who chose to imdiately use defensive items and turtle up in a corner of the arena.
A free-for-all lee was different from a one-on-one duel. Unless one person was strong enough to completely overpower everyone else, there was still the possibility of being ganged up on and killed to death.
In this kind of fifteen-person lee, striking first could actually be a disadvantage, as one's abilities and item effects would be observed and countered by others.
It was clear that those three Contestants turtling in their respective corners had used their brains, wanting to wait for the others to finish fighting before picking up the pieces.
"Kill them!"
"Soone's ambushing from behind, dodge!"
"With skills this pathetic, you still dare to participate in the competition? So overestimating yourself!"
On the field, the chaotic battle raged, while the spectator stands were also filled with constant clamor.
Many spectators watched the Contestants being killed on the field, their eyes wide and their faces flushed red. It wasn't fear, but excitent.
The reason they were willing to spend hard-earned Ascension Coins to buy tickets and watch the event live was precisely for this kind of cruel slaughter, this blood-pumping spectacle.
Therefore, regarding those few who were dodging and hiding, unwilling to fight head-on and only thinking of surviving to the end, many people directly started cursing them out.
"Kill those slippery ones hiding and not fighting first! These sneaky rats are the most despicable!"
"That's right! I didn't buy a ticket to watch you cower!"
"Kill them first!"
The competition arena wasn't soundproof. The Contestants on the field could hear the audience's clamor and roars very clearly, which also tested their concentration.
Hearing the audience's shouts, those Contestants who had started fighting imdiately also noticed the few people hiding in the corners. The thought that these guys wanted to conserve their strength and pick up the pieces at the end instantly infuriated them.
So we're fighting life-and-death battles, and you're just waiting to pick up the pieces?!
One Contestant shouted loudly, "Let's join forces first and take out these despicable cowards!"
"Agreed!"
"Kill them first!"
The few who had been fighting chaotically imdiately united, turning to attack the Contestants turtling in the corners.
This scene also made the audience roar with delight.
"Good! That's how you should fight!"
The first round of the match lasted nearly twenty minutes before it ended.
And the result was quite dramatic. A fierce individual with formidable strength, who had single-handedly taken down seven or eight Contestants, was ultimately killed by soone far weaker than himself due to insufficient Mind Power.
That person ultimately succeeded in advancing to the next round. However, when the organizer announced his victory, the live audience booed loudly, clearly not liking this outco.
The young nobles in the high private boxes were not surprised by this result.
"In this kind of competition, those who go all out from the start are fools. Even if they have strength, they'll just be eliminated early."
"Indeed. No matter how strong you are, once your Mind Power is exhausted, you can only be slaughtered at will."
"To stand until the end and advance, managing your Mind Power consumption is crucial... However, the one who advanced this ti is too weak. He'll probably be eliminated earliest in the next round."
"To make it to the end, both strength and brains are indispensable... Oh? The cleanup of the arena is quite fast."
As they spoke, multiple cleaning robots quickly took to the stage, cleaning up the fourteen corpses and the bloodstains left behind from the slaughter.
"How many rounds are scheduled for today?" Yishan, sitting in the center position, asked casually.
Soone imdiately replied, "That's not fixed. Because the ti it takes to determine a winner each round isn't uniform, but the total ticket viewing ti is 3 hours."
"Is that so? Then I'll watch one more match before leaving." Yishan's interest waned. "Just killing each other back and forth isn't very interesting either."
"Haha, Miss Yishan is right..."
After the arena was cleaned, the organizer announced the second round of Contestants entering the field.
Once everyone was ready, it began directly.
The audience was looking forward to another twenty-minute, exhilarating battle like the first round, but the result greatly disappointed them.
The mont the match was announced to start, a white-haired youth among the fifteen raised both hands. Accompanied by a rumbling, muffled thunder, dozens of lightning bolts suddenly struck down, instantly electrocuting the other fourteen Contestants into steaming, charred corpses!
This astonishing scene plunged the entire venue into dead silence. No one could have imagined that a Contestant could instantly annihilate all other competitors in a single mont!
The young nobles in the private boxes were also greatly shocked.
"Manipulating lightning? That ability is impressive!"
"Dropping dozens of lightning bolts in an instant must consu a huge amount of Mind Power. Is he that confident he can achieve a one-hit kill?"
"It seems this kid might make it to the final few rounds."
Yishan, who had originally lost interest, now looked at the white-haired youth in the arena, a flash of unusual brilliance in her eyes. "This person's ability is very cool. It seems future matches won't be too boring."
...
The site selection for the Xisiya competition arena was in a suburban abandoned factory.
This factory had enough area to accommodate a large number of Contestants. Moreover, its location was remote, with almost no residents nearby, saving the trouble of so many Ascendants coming and going potentially causing unnecessary disturbances to residents.
Since it was a closed competition, naturally there was no need to consider the viewing experience of a live audience like in Suroma.
Besides Yelanka, who represented the officials on-site, many other officials also went along.
Upon arrival, the factory's large courtyard already held quite a few people, divided into the Contestants participating in the matches and the soldiers maintaining order.
The on-site soldier commander was Sigaochin. As soon as Yelanka arrived, she called her over to inquire about the situation.
"Over two thousand Contestants have co today," Sigaochin said. "There are also so who registered but didn't show up. Probably after calming down, they decided not to take the risk after all."
"Over two thousand people... in the end..."
"In the end, only one can survive." Seeing Yelanka's expression turn unpleasant, Sigaochin added after finishing, "Administrator, these are the rules. Once you participate, you cannot give up midway... it's until death. Otherwise, it wouldn't be fair to the other losers."
Guan Tong listened nearby, also thinking to himself how cruel it was.
Using the lives of thousands to elevate that one strong individual—even if they obtained the high-ranking rewards, was it truly worth it?
However, these rules were open and transparent. The representatives of those who registered and ca to the site to participate in the competition had accepted them, willing to gamble for that single opportunity. Even if they died in battle, they couldn't bla others.
"Administrator, you don't need to dwell on it too much. Those who registered to participate are only the Ascendants who believe they excel at combat. But judging the strength of an Ascendant cannot be based solely on the dinsion of combat. Even if many Ascendants are lost due to the competition, the number of strong individuals in other dinsions won't be significantly affected."
Sigaochin's words were quite reasonable.
Many Ascendants simply had items or abilities unsuitable for combat, but that didn't an they were weak. So non-combat personnel had Upper Limits for Mind Power no lower than those skilled in combat. Judging an Ascendant's strength solely by combat skills would be far too narrow-minded.
Guan Tong himself understood this principle, which was why, even though others always flattered him, calling him the World Number One, he himself had never taken it seriously.
After listening to Sigaochin's words, Yelanka nodded, her expression improving sowhat.
She and so officials walked to the speaker's platform. As soon as the Contestants saw the Administrator arriving, they all showed surprise and looked over.
"Everyone participating in the competition should already know the rules. Before the official start of the matches, those who wish to withdraw may still leave."
None of the Contestants were swayed, all having resolved to succeed or die trying.
Seeing this, Yelanka didn't say more and stepped aside, letting other official personnel speak. The content was nothing more than encouraging everyone to fight hard, and so on.
Guan Tong watched from below when he suddenly sensed soone approaching. He turned his head to look; it was another female official personnel who had co along.
She walked to Guan Tong's side, discreetly placing a fingernail-sized piece of paper into his jacket pocket, then walked away without saying a word the entire ti.
Guan Tong did not stop this action, having a vague guess in his heart.
After the official speeches ended, the formal matches were about to begin. Yelanka didn't want to watch the Contestants slaughter each other on-site and chose to leave.
After returning, Guan Tong took out that piece of paper. A short line was written on it.
[Eleven o'clock tonight, 18 West Leaf Street. We await the honored presence of 'Shadow'—Valeri]
"So it really is this guy..."
Seeing the signature, Guan Tong wasn't surprised.
The Director of the Xisiya Security Bureau wanting to contact him at this ti, and naming his identity—the purpose was easy to imagine.
He thought for a mont, went to the study to see Yelanka, and also called Uenoshi over.
After the two saw the paper slip, their thoughts aligned with his.
Yelanka said seriously, "I don't know what thods Valeri will use to try and win Teacher over. Or, could this possibly be a trap?"
"Both are possible," Guan Tong said. "And we can't focus all our attention on . We can't rule out the possibility of a diversionary tactic."
Uenoshi: "On the surface, it's to win you over, but actually it's to lure you away from Yelanka's side so they can strike?"
"Both are possible, so we need to guard against both."
Guan Tong pondered for a mont. "Like this, Uen, you stay by Yelanka's side tonight. I'll go check it out. Both of you have my shadows nearby. If there's danger, I'll return imdiately."
"Okay."
"Then Teacher, you must also be careful. Since the other party already knows your identity, if they are determined to deal with you, they will definitely make thorough preparations."
"Mm, I know."
The three discussed for a while. Yelanka also separately contacted Sigaochin.
If Valeri really made a big move, she also needed to be ready to launch a full-scale counterattack at any ti.
Evening.
Guan Tong first went to the Twin Stars Bar to retrieve the twice-recharged Mind Power Crystals.
Afterwards, he also obtained so information he wanted from Black Star in the form of a commission.
"18 West Leaf Street? That 'Night Ankang' place?"
Hearing Guan Tong's inquiry, Black Star looked very surprised.
The shop na was a bit strange. Guan Tong asked, "Is this place very famous?"
"Uh, that depends on which circle. The vast majority of Xisiyans have definitely never even heard of it, but this place is quite famous in Xisiya's noble circles."
"Noble circles..."
"If I weren't a middleman, I wouldn't know about this place either." As Black Star spoke, the expression on his face beca sowhat odd.
Seeing this, Guan Tong inquired, "What does that place do?"
Black Star scratched his head. "This... actually, I've never been inside either. I just once heard from a client that it's a paradise ordinary people cannot enjoy. I estimate it's probably..."
"I understand."
Guan Tong wasn't stupid. What kind of place an ordinary person couldn't enjoy was self-evident.
Black Star didn't ask Guan Tong why he was asking about this or if he was going himself. He adhered to his principles as a middleman, especially when facing Guan Tong—he never inquired about anything unrelated to the commission.
However, when Guan Tong tried to pay the commission fee, Black Star refused.
"No charge for this. It's just a piece of information without much value. Taking your money for this would be too much."
Guan Tong accepted this favor from Black Star. After leaving the Twin Stars Bar, he soon arrived at West Leaf Street.
Before the Doomsday Rules, this street was a bustling comrcial street in the capital, filled with luxury stores and high-end restaurants.
After the Doomsday Rules, the era of consumption ended, and the era of supply arrived. But no matter the era, people's need for entertainnt wouldn't disappear.
In fact, West Leaf Street had now beco even more prosperous. The high-end restaurants hadn't disappeared; those luxury stores had just been replaced by various service experience shops, with service personnel being uniformly Ascendants possessing different abilities.
Number 18 on this street was that shop nad "Night Ankang." Before coming, Guan Tong used shadow lines to investigate the surroundings and didn't find any signs of large-scale ambushes.
But this didn't an enemies couldn't set up an ambush. With the existence of teleportation-type items, ambush personnel could be deployed hundreds of miles away, using items to teleport over when they needed to act.
"Night Ankang..."
Guan Tong walked to the front of that shop. There was no sign, no staff at the entrance, only a lead-gray door standing there. The fine texture of the material indicated it was very expensive.
Before coming, he had talked with Yelanka.
Yelanka said she had never heard of this place famous in noble circles, but her brother must have known about it during his lifeti.
This further indicated that Xisiya's noble circles had previously all assud Lijeka would succeed as Administrator, never taking Yelanka seriously and completely excluding her from their circle.
However, Guan Tong felt this exclusion wasn't one-sided, but mutual.
Smart people knew how to hedge their bets on both sides, let alone so nobles. Even if everyone thought Lijeka had a higher chance of winning, there would definitely be so willing to gamble and bet on Yelanka.
It's just that with Yelanka's personality, she would definitely disapprove of certain things, thus rejecting contact with these people. With this mutual rejection, today's situation was not surprising.
Just as Guan Tong was thinking, the door opened.
A man and a woman, both wearing tailcoats and half-masks, walked out from inside. They bowed to Guan Tong and said, "Welco, honored guest. We are the attendants. Please allow us to guide you."
"...Lead the way."
The two attendants walked in front, with Guan Tong following.
After entering the door, inside was a long corridor with walls embedded with gemstones of various colors.
At the end of the corridor, facing them was a silver door, with a small door on each side, left and right.
The male attendant leading the way said, "Honored guest, before entering the night banquet hall, you need to change into more comfortable clothing. This left side is the n's changing room. Please follow
inside to change."
"I won't change clothes."
"This... Honored guest, changing clothes to enter the hall is a rule of Night Ankang, intended to help guests relax body and mind. Please rest assured, we will take good care of your clothing," the female attendant said gently.
Guan Tong ignored them and said to the two, "Go tell the person who invited
not to engage in these mystifying theatrics here, or I'll leave right now."
"This..."
The two attendants hesitated.
At that mont, the silver door in the center opened, and a hearty laugh rang out. "Haha, in this world, there are no rules that the renowned 'Shadow' needs to follow! Co right in!"
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