Chapter 27

Then he said, "Move him over to Tianyi's place first."

After a few seconds of silence, an incredulous cry came from the other end. "Tianyi? Your little nephew?"

"He's only five! You're so vicious!"

Shen Tingyu ended the call.

He really didn't want to be bound to anyone as a partner, but there was something odd about his match result with Xu Qingran, who was also a prospective E-Type candidate he had in mind. So he thought he could keep Xu Qingran under his watch for the time being, before they underwent soul matching again, and investigate what had caused it.

During the days Xu Qingran had been in the Evil Tower, another huge piece of gossip broke out on the forums outside.

It started with an anonymous post on a forum called Star Horizon. The title was blunt: Good news for the Kaian Empire: a match made in heaven with a soul compatibility of over 98% is coming soon.

The opening post was a classic, too.

—One of my relatives is on the team in charge of the empire's S-M System. He told me about this, and it's real. If you don't believe me, just wait and see.

[35th floor: A classic among classics. Another "one of my relatives" story.]

[907th floor: Seriously? Don't posts like this come up practically every year? There's always one, and every year they're proven wrong. I don't know what they get out of it.]

Then the original poster chimed in with more:

[I can't say much more, but I can give you a hint: the two might not be from the same faction.

Unfortunately, they're not exactly an ideal couple, either. One of them has a terrible reputation and is extremely controversial. He just has a little money and some backing. Everyone thought he'd be alone for the rest of his life, but somehow he really did get a match. His ancestral graves must be sending up smoke.

As for the other one, I can't really comment, but he's a prominent figure lately.]

In no time, the thread racked up tens of thousands of replies.

[3977th floor: Which internet celebrity is this, or whose fan is pushing their favorite star this time? Are they trying to hype up a CP for popularity again?]

[7613th floor: All right, I'm getting a stool and waiting right here. If what the OP said is true, I'll livestream myself eating poop!]

[12733rd floor: Wait, am I the only one who thought of Silver Dragon's biggest scandal a while back when the OP said "prominent figure"?]

[13722nd floor: I remember Xu Qing'an and Lu Cheng's compatibility was 88%, right? So it definitely can't be them?]

[18888th floor: Bullshit. Different factions? Being in different factions already proves how incompatible they are. They can't agree on ideas, interests, or even conversation topics, and they're supposed to have a perfect compatibility score?]

[29210th floor: Yeah, yeah, that's right. We just think you Golden Wing people bring bad luck. How can you have the nerve to fantasize about dating someone from Silver Dragon?]

[30008th floor: Where did that dumbass on floor 29k come from? Who said anything about your faction? We haven't even complained about Silver Dragon producing nothing but trash!]

As the replies piled up, the thread suddenly went off track.

What began as complaints about the OP spreading rumors ended up as a flame war between the two factions.

Xu Qing'an sat in a bar with his legs crossed, happily browsing the forum on his phone. His beautiful fox-like eyes curved as he read the exchanges between the users.

A few friends who had finished dancing on the dance floor swayed their hips as they came back. They picked up the drinks on the table and asked him, "Hey, Qing'an, I heard one of that couple everyone's talking about online lately, the ones with the super-high soul compatibility, is your older brother?"

"Have you heard anything about it?"

Xu Qing'an put down his phone, his expression troubled. "I don't know either."

"My brother was taken to the Evil Tower a while ago, and he still hasn't come back. Everyone at home is worried."

Holding his phone, he fluttered his eyelashes a few times and added, "Besides, I heard the people District 1 Hospital sent over for matching last time were all lowlifes like Boss Chen. My brother is so wonderful, so he definitely couldn't be someone with a high-compatibility match among people like that."

The friends wore different expressions as they listened, looking thoughtful.

Xu Qing'an took a sip of juice and lowered his eyes, hiding the scornful smile in them.

He really couldn't wait to see what his dear older brother would have to face when he came out.

By now, nearly two days had passed since Xu Qingran had been sent into Tower No. 3's arena.

The staff of Tower 3 were all watching for the outcome in the arena.

To avoid the negative effects of bloody scenes and the like, even the tower's guards had no live feed to watch. So until the final survivor came out, they wouldn't know who had been the last one standing.

They were paying even more attention this time because they had heard that the prospective E-Type, who wasn't afraid of death, had actually charged in without a protective wristband.

When Admiral Shen Tingyu had gone in before, at least he had already been confirmed to have top-tier E-Type aptitude. This one was only an ordinary B-rank, and judging by his background, he was the pampered young master type—

Could he even fight? Huh?!

The matter had even drawn the tower warden's personal attention.

On the afternoon the warden came over, an excited report rang out from the arena control room. "It's over, it's over!"

"The system shows only one life sign left in the arena. Should we... open the door?"

Everyone was on edge.

Although the Evil Tower arena was an activity the empire tacitly permitted, if someone who hadn't been sentenced accidentally died inside and the royal family found out, all of Tower 3's staff, even the warden, could be punished.

"Open it," the warden said, clasping his hands behind his back and narrowing his eyes.

The thoroughly dignified warden could never let his subordinates discover that his hands were already coated in sweat!

As the red button was pressed, the arena's largest door slowly split open.

A crowd of armed guards was already standing at the entrance, fully on alert.

Everyone sent to the Golden Evil Tower was more ruthless than the last. There was no telling whether, after winning with a weapon in hand, they might have gone mad with bloodlust and would continue attacking people once they came out.

There had been plenty of such cases in the past.

In the silence, with everyone holding their breath, footsteps finally came from inside.