Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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Sikong Xing left with this challenge, leaving Bai Yue standing there… and Xu Chengdong.
He was originally in a group with Mu Sihan. However, Mu Sihan hadn’t returned yet, and Bai Yue felt he couldn’t find him either, so he stayed behind.
That’s why he was a bit confused when he heard what was just said.
Who exactly was that guy? Judging from the school badge, he seemed to be from the Dark Flag group. How come he was with the group leader?
And he even made that kind of declaration before leaving? At this moment, Bai Yue had already turned around and walked into the depths of the dense forest. Xu Chengdong quickly followed: “Group leader, that person…”
Bai Yue said, “I heard that the Dark Flag group also has an S-level contestant.”
Xu Chengdong suddenly realized: “You mean that person was…”
He stopped mid-sentence and suddenly came to his senses.
“Wait a minute, if he rushes back to participate in the competition, and you’re not there, isn’t that disadvantageous for us!”
Bai Yue smiled: “Even if I’m not there, I believe the seniors can handle it well.”
However, that didn’t happen.
In the Imperial First rest room, everyone was nervously staring at the electronic screen.
Just a dozen minutes ago, the intermediate selection competition had already begun. They sent out their first contestant to face off against Dark Flag. The two were evenly matched, fighting neck and neck.
In the end, Imperial First had a slight edge, winning the first round.
However, although they won, it wasn’t an easy victory. The contestant was panting heavily, clearly having expended a great deal of energy, and could barely stand.
There was a ten-minute break after each match. But this was far from enough for the contestants to recover their strength. At most, they could use the restroom.
“Here, have some water!”
A member of the support team helped the contestant down.
The contestant gulped down several mouthfuls, finally exhaling, “I probably won’t make it to the next round. Who’s going second?”
The support team members exchanged glances.
The team leader encouraged him, “It’s okay, don’t put too much pressure on yourself. The second round is mainly about wearing them down. As long as you get through the final round, the final will be easy!”
The contestant nodded.
He felt he had regained some strength. Hearing the referee’s whistle, knowing the second round was about to begin, he put down the water and stepped onto the stage.
The five arenas were spaced dozens of meters apart. To prevent the chaos of the battle from affecting the audience, a transparent protective barrier was erected after the battle began.
Therefore, even adjacent arenas would not affect each other.
As soon as he stepped onto the stage, the contestant felt a gust of wind blowing in his face. He suddenly felt his whole body filled with endless power, more than enough to fight another round.
“Bring it on!”
A moment later, a young man with flaxen hair leaped onto the stage. The opponent’s face was unfamiliar; he probably hadn’t competed last year.
The moment he appeared, screams erupted from the audience.
“Ahhh, Xing Xing!”
“Xing Xing is here, awsl!”
“He smiled. Waaaaah, I don’t care, he’s smiling at me.”
The contestant from Imperial First looked at the handsome alpha in front of him and couldn’t help but swallow.
Why is this guy causing such a big fuss? Is he some kind of idol star?
“Go for it!”
Hearing the shouts from the audience, the contestant steadied himself and faced the young man in front of him.
He should be able to hold out for at least five minutes.
Five seconds later, he was blasted off the stage.
As the contestant crashed into the dirt mound in a headfirst manner, he couldn’t help but wonder how he had been defeated.
Before he could even react, a strong gust of wind blew him off the ground.
With the help of the support staff, he stood up, covered only in dust. Then he heard concerned greetings from the stage.
“Sorry, are you alright?”
The contestant looked up and saw the alpha smiling at him. “I didn’t expect you to be so weak. I should have held back.”
The Imperial First contestant: “!!!”
He had used too much energy in the previous match! If he were at his peak, he could easily last five minutes!
Probably.
When the contestant was helped into the rest room, he saw his teammates looking even more dejected than him.
“S-rank, and it’s innate…”
“I clashed with an S-rank once before, and even two against one couldn’t win.”
“Gene level suppression is just too cheating!” Someone scratched their head. “If we could restrict the use of pheromones, I would—!”
“Alright, enough of this useless talk.”
One person stood up. “Let’s do something more meaningful.”
With that, all the contestants in the rest room stood up together, clasped their hands together, and bowed in one direction.
Junior Bai Yue, please come back soon! They really can’t compete with an S-rank one-on-one!
With a “crack,” Bai Yue snapped a tree branch.
The area here had been searched, but no more clues were found.
As for the interrogation of the vice-captain, he didn’t know how it was going and hadn’t received any news yet.
In short, he reported that there were “no abnormalities.”
The girl with the ponytail quickly sent a message, telling him to stand by.
Xu Chengdong: “Team leader, where are we going now? Should we go back to the arena first?”
To be honest, he was also a little worried about the situation there.
Bai Yue nodded: “Let’s go back.”
The sunlight shifted, and it was past noon. Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the interlacing branches, dappling the grass with scattered light.
Passing the grassy area where the four people had been found again, the spot where they had sat by the tree was now bare.
He recalled his earlier conversation with the vice-captain.
His deduction was that these four students from another school, disguised as members of the Masked Organization, had stabbed a Dark Flag student. After being captured, they then used a ruse to pin the blame on the Masked Organization.
While theoretically, students from other schools shouldn’t be too aware of the internal conflicts within Imperial First, these individuals had somehow obtained information and deliberately impersonated the Masked Organization, which had a strained relationship with the disciplinary committee, to frame them for the assault.
Why?
Was it simply to arouse the disciplinary committee’s suspicion and disrupt the sports meet?
But what were the underlying interests?
The available information was too limited for Bai Yue to determine further possibilities.
He then recalled the initial events.
They had been drawn into the dense forest by a dark figure and quickly discovered four suspicious individuals.
If these four people were indeed the murderers, then the shadowy figure who led them there was likely a genuine member of the Masked Organization. They caught them red-handed because they were falsely accused, which was why they actively captured these people.
But if not…
“…”
Bai Yue fell into deep thought.
Come to think of it, he hadn’t found any earpieces on those people during the search.
Based on his initial guess, there should be a mastermind controlling those students who committed the crimes. But where was the communicator?
“Boss, the signal location is nearby.”
Wu Zihao stopped.
Those imposters weren’t familiar with the area and lacked skill. They were quickly found.
During the struggle, they seized the communicator from the other person, hoping to find the mastermind. However, the communication was quickly cut off, and they only managed to catch the last faint signal.
It took a considerable amount of time to finally determine the approximate coordinates.
Arriving here, they found it was within the Imperial First School campus, a relatively familiar location for them.
Imperial First Arena.
Inside the giant dome, the preliminary rounds were in full swing. The audience was in a frenzy, cheering for the contestants, completely unaware of what was happening outside.
Wu Zihao scoffed, “That guy is hiding here? That’s incredibly audacious!”
The most dangerous place was often the safest; hiding in a crowded area makes it harder to be discovered.
Suddenly, Wu Zihao realized something: “I get it! Since those people are from the South China Sea Naval Academy, the mastermind must be their principal!”
He felt he had made a very logical deduction.
Shang Yufei glanced at him.
“Stop talking nonsense, did you get the school uniform?”
Wu Zihao saluted: “No problem, I borrowed it!”
“Let’s go.”
Shang Yufei walked forward, putting on his mask, “Let’s go see for ourselves who’s playing tricks on us.”
At the same moment, the Imperial First’s rest room was deathly silent, almost deadly.
The situation was truly dire.
It wasn’t that they had lost. On the contrary, their second contestant was incredibly tough, holding out for a full twenty minutes.
Or, to put it another way, their opponent made him hold out for twenty minutes.
This battle… or rather, a one-sided crushing defeat. It was utterly pointless; their Imperial First was being completely played like a fool by the opposing team’s Dark Flag.
The second contestant to enter the arena wore a long face.
He couldn’t beat them in a fight, but he couldn’t compete in pheromone battles, and he wouldn’t even let him surrender. How much longer was this guy going to let him stand on the stage?
The Imperial First student felt he had done his best.
But the gap in their genetic levels was hopeless; no matter how hard he “tried” to unleash his inner power, he couldn’t beat this guy.
Sikong Xing stood at the edge of the arena, looking somewhat bored: “We won the championship last year, and you’re still like this this year. Planning to give up?”
Champion.
Upon hearing this word, Imperial First seemed to recall something. He remembered the helplessness and regret of failing at the last minute last year.
If he failed again this year, they wouldn’t even make it to the finals, which would be too humiliating.
Because of this shame, he once again felt a surge of power and charged towards Sikong Xing.
“Ahhhhh!”
He fought with righteous indignation, but the audience on the stage was getting a little bored.
A battle, of course, was only interesting when there’s a back-and-forth exchange. They were somewhat confused about the point of continuing the fight.
“Why not just finish it off quickly?”
In the Dark Flag’s rest room, the team members also didn’t quite understand Sikong Xing’s actions.
Did he enjoy the feeling of being on the stage and not want to come down?
“There’s still one round left! Come down and rest for a bit, then fight properly!” came the coach’s shout from below the stage. Sikong Xing dodged the attacks, ignoring them.
On the other side of the stage, Imperial First’s support team was ready at any moment. They would step in to support any fighters who were running out of energy.
At this moment, the team leader, who was waiting nearby, suddenly received a call. Upon hearing the message on the other end of the phone, he beamed with joy.
“Really? Bai Yue is back?!”
“Quick, quick, let him rest for a bit. We’ll send him into the ring in the third round!”
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