Chapter 160.1 – Key (3)

◎ Hello, let’s settle the points first ◎

Fujita Hiro was provocative, provoking the anger of the entire audience in just a few words.

A vigorous figure sprinted past V587, stepping on the railing and about to jump down. Bang! Numerous faint lights appeared, and he was bounced out by the isolation barrier. The cold prompt sounded: “Non-challengers, please do not disturb the order of the arena.”

“I #%! Dog! Tokushima, you daredevil, today, I’ll make you search the ground for your teeth!”

It was a young awakener, wearing torn jeans, a diamond lip stud at the corner of his mouth, and boldly dyed pink hair. He looked like a typical well-off, impulsive, and righteous local resident of District B, scolding Fujita Hiro.

Awakener had a special way of communication. As long as a bit of awakened energy was added, the voice could travel far. This young man was probably so angry that his awakened energy was scattered everywhere. The large silver ring arena echoed with his loud curses. Unsatisfied after scolding, he repeated it in fluent Tokushima dialect.

Fujita Hiro’s face was tightly covered, revealing only a pair of sinister eyes. He gestured towards him with a hooked little finger, “Don’t bark down there, come up if you have the guts.”

“Sure, I’ll come up! Grandpa is not afraid of you!”

The cursing young man’s face turned red with excitement. He rolled up his sleeves and was about to brush the terminal to enter, but his companion beside him quickly held him back, “Are you crazy? Fujita Hiro is A9 level! This is a damn life-and-death situation; you can bet on any damn stakes. Are you going to offer your damn head?”

“I can’t stand it anymore! One can be killed but not humiliated!!”

“Even if you can’t stand it, you have to endure it. Otherwise, being humiliated as a little B7 will be your fate! By then, that bastard will mock our Northern Base for having no one!”

The young man was awakened by a cold splash of water on his head. The punching and kicking gradually stopped, but he was unwilling. In a fit of rage, he kept tapping on the terminal. If he couldn’t beat him, then maybe he could manipulate others? He was willing to use all his points. That bastard must roll off the arena!

A few seconds later, everyone in the area received an update on the C-rank commission: the reward was increased to 800,000 points, quickly approaching the reward for an A-rank mission distributed by the system.

V587’s five members found seats and gradually pieced together the situation from the surrounding discussions:

“Do you not know Fujita Hiro? He’s quite famous, the captain of the ‘Kirigakure (Hidden Mist)’ team, ranking in the top ten in Tokushima.”

“Why would someone from Tokushima come to our territory?”

“Revenge, I heard that our newcomer S7 had messed up Lei Zhao and Noguma Yuko before, intentionally coming here to stir things up.”

Xu Xing perked up his ears to eavesdrop and nodded with satisfaction, “That’s right, it was my sister who did it.”

“He has won four consecutive matches, why not find an S-level to take him on!” someone enthusiastically shouted.

“…Bullying our S-levels, is that it?” another awakener said dejectedly.

With Zhigler and Xi Ze heavily injured, the number of top-level awakeners in the Northern Base had sharply declined, making them the bottom feeders in District B.

At this moment, Tokushima sending an A9-level here was clearly an intentional attempt to step on them.

“Using an S-level against A9? Even if we win, it’s just level suppression. How embarrassing would it be if word got out?” The first speaker looked serious, “Besides, Fujita Hiro’s awakener ability is too dominant on the arena… you’ll see when you watch.”

The boos from all directions grew louder, with a faint trend of overturning the roof. Fujita Hiro remained unfazed, sitting arrogantly on the throne with crossed legs.

Although most of the awakeners in the Northern Base were sheltered or joined after the apocalypse, they considered this place as their second home. What is a hometown? It’s a place where we can criticize it ourselves, but outsiders have no right to insult.

“I’ll go meet him.”

A man wearing glasses, with a refined appearance, walked down from the audience. His appearance seemed freshly arrived, dust still clinging to him.

“It’s Zhao Zhe! Great, he’s also A9!” Some spectators recognized him from a distance and cheered.

Zhao Zhe took off his coat, swiped the terminal, and stepped into the arena with a steady pace.

The screen displayed the information of the current challenger: Zhao Zhe, A9-level light-type awakener, affiliated with the team ‘Blue Flame.’

The teams of awakeners between the two districts had clashed before. Fujita Hiro squinted his eyes, quickly recognizing him, and sneered disdainfully, “Oh, isn’t this the ‘Blue Snail’ that can’t catch up even if it eats shit?”

The Elderly People’s Nation incident stirred up a lot of commotion in District B. All teams accepting commissions were exposed. However, Blue Flame, due to transportation issues, took a full seven days for the outbound journey and had yet to reach the Endless Sea. Everything had settled, and they ended up making the trip in vain. Their rankings also dropped, falling out of the top ten in the Northern Base.

Zhao Zhe: “Stop the nonsense, sign the wager. If I win, you better get lost.”

One of the features of the Silver Ring Arena was the ability to legally bet anything, including the participants’ lives, through duels.

Fujita Hiro’s eyes rolled around as he stated his wager, “If I win, you guys have to change your name to ‘Blue Snail.'”

Unexpectedly, he didn’t bet his life; it seemed like he was just trying to provoke Zhao Zhe.

Under the witness of the AI referee, the two signed the contract. With a ding of the whistle, the fifth-round challenge officially began.

Zhao Zhe looked stern, sending countless light balls with a swift motion, leaping forward across the half-field.

Along the way, he snapped his fingers, and the high-altitude spotlights flashed rapidly. Hundreds of spotlights neatly shone on Fujita Hiro. Once locked on, the scorching heat would roast him!

Fujita Hiro smirked, smashing down a smoke bomb with a “bang,” covering half the arena. After the choking smoke cleared, large patches of grass and uneven wooden stakes appeared in the arena, and his figure quietly disappeared.

“Mu Dun Jutsu! (Wood Release Technique!)” The audience exclaimed from the stands, “He’s… a ninja!”

Fujita Hiro’s awakened ability turned out to be enhanced ninja techniques from the mystic category.

Zhao Zhe found himself waist-deep in tall grass, cautiously maneuvering through it. The light balls in his hands kept shining, illuminating the nearby shadows.

With one in the light and the other in the shadows, the two remained in a deadlock for about five minutes. Zhao Zhe’s expression gradually became serious. As a long-range awakener, he was more suited to open spaces. Facing a elusive ninja, he had to be extremely vigilant to avoid being ambushed.

Swoosh! A dark figure flashed behind, and Zhao Zhe quickly turned around, making a decisive decision. Since he couldn’t find him, he decided to dismantle everything!

Bang! Bang! The light balls smashed into the wooden stakes, instantly disappearing without a trace. Those were not real stakes at all; they were just illusions!

Whoosh! Whoosh! The sound of rustling through the air came, and Fujita Hiro’s shadow swiftly moved through the grass, throwing several shurikens.

Boom! Boom! Zhao Zhe’s light balls were pierced, and the spotlights chasing Fujita Hiro were all cut off by hidden weapons. The arena’s visibility suddenly darkened, and the sudden change in brightness and darkness made everyone momentarily dazed.

Zhao Zhe didn’t dare to stop for a moment, continuously launching attacks towards suspicious positions around him. Where was he? Where exactly was he hiding?

Suddenly, his footsteps came to a halt.

Fujita Hiro, clinging to a thin wooden pole, emerged from the grass between his legs with a sinister smile.

He held a bamboo flute, gently blew a dart, and tiny poisoned needles penetrated Zhao Zhe’s mouth.

Zhao Zhe fell straight down.

The audience erupted in a collective gasp, and the cursing guy angrily shook the railing, “Damn, this dog is really cunning!”

Fujita Hiro revealed a sinister smile and was about to finish off Zhao Zhe when a sharp alarm suddenly rang out on the Silver Ring Arena!

Bright red lights flashed, illuminating everyone’s faces. It was both a warning and a deterrent. Once a duel death event occurred, the safety level of this area would drop, and the Awakener Department would invite relevant personnel for a “chat.”

Fujita Hiro seemed to have some reservations, casting a discreet glance in a certain direction. Then, he kicked Zhao Zhe out of the arena. The Blue Flame team members rushed over to carry him away for medical treatment.

“District B10…” Fujita Hiro opened his palm, counting with each finger, “Beijun, Kongsang, Erjia, Askar, Northern Base. Tsk tsk, is this the strength of District B’s fifth place? Let me win five in a row?”

As long as he won seven consecutive matches, he could win the title of challenger in the Silver Ring Arena, gaining both fame and fortune. Before this, such an honor had never fallen to other districts.

“Blue Flame, oh no… now called Blue Snail, can this kind of trash still rank in the top ten? Also, there’s Tustan, and that team with numbers, V587. Taking a trip to the sea, finding a group of turtles to perform with, and thinking you’re someone?” Fujita Hiro exaggeratedly laughed, holding his stomach, “All these bragging lies! Who can’t set up a scene for a photoshoot! Hahaha!”

Boos echoed throughout the venue, and Fujita Hiro raised his middle finger, turning 360 degrees, provoking everyone.

The cursing young man was so enraged that he attempted to climb over the railing again. With numerous talented awakeners in the Northern Base, was it truly difficult to take down even one A9-level opponent? Of course not. Due to the last-place elimination system, most teams were away on missions, and there weren’t many top awakeners in the city area. This gave Fujita Hiro the opportunity to act arrogantly.

In the back rows of the audience, Lu Xiaoyu exclaimed in surprise, “Is he mocking us?”

“Clearly, yes,” Lin Youyou sneered.

Although Yang Xiaobo’s video was indeed flashy, did they really need to rely on staged scenes to promote their reputation? Specifically inviting a Level 5 ferocious beast as an extra? Fujita Hiro clearly had impure motives, intentionally distorting facts and humiliating the awakeners of the Northern Base.

“I don’t think he’s that impressive,” Xu Xing said innocently, supporting his chin with both hands. “He couldn’t last three minutes against my sister, could he?”

“How many in the entire Alliance can solo the team captain?” Fang Zhixu smiled knowingly.

“Too bad my sister isn’t here, or she would have flattened him,” Xu Xing lamented.

“Even if she were here, it wouldn’t work. Didn’t you hear them say he’s A9? If we go for S-level and win, it won’t be honorable,” Fang Zhixu sighed.

Xu Xing, displeased, pinched his rubber duck sunglasses. “I know, I know, can’t always rely on my sister to support me; we have to stand on our own feet.”

He repeated verbatim the words Zhuang Qingyan had taught him half a year ago.

“But it’s still frustrating.”

With a snap, the sunglasses were flattened.

Lin Youyou, with a hint of teasing in her eyes, said, “Oh, our A1 baby is angry. What’s wrong, do you want to go up?”

As soon as the words fell, someone next to them stood up. Lin Youyou looked up in surprise, “Are you going to the bathroom?”

“The two most handsome moments for a man are when he swipes his card to pay the bill and when he wins a duel.”

Su Cha’s mind suddenly recalled the words he heard in a high-end store.

There’s no chance to pay the bill now, but the latter could be tried. After all… he didn’t like that Fujita Hiro.

“I’m going to earn some points.” Su Cha lowered his baseball cap, walked down with a gust of wind, quickly swiped the terminal, and entered the arena.

The remaining people stared at each other, their expressions as if something supernatural had happened. What’s going on? This guy isn’t usually the type to seek attention, right?

Lin Youyou suddenly stood up, reached out but couldn’t stop him, so she could only remind anxiously, “Hey! Be careful!”

Fang Zhixu silently took out a first aid kit. “It’s fine. If he wants to go, let him. I’m prepared.”