Instant Kill! The Final!
The voice from the raised platform was still echoing, but the atmosphere in the square had already been set ablaze.
Teachers and students from East Sea City's ten top Martial Dao Elementary Schools had gathered here.
School flags of every color fluttered in the wind, and the faces of every team were filled with longing for victory and scrutiny of their opponents.
"Silence!"
At the host's command, the enormous holographic screen flashed, and the competition rules appeared clearly.
"This exchange competition will use a one-on-one knockout format with random draws! Ten schools, fifty top students. The winners advance, and the losers... leave immediately!"
The rules were simple and cruel.
That meant half the contestants would end their journey with regrets in the very first round.
"The draw begins!"
The portraits and names on the screen began scrolling wildly. Every time they stopped, countless hearts hung in the balance.
"First match: Wei Zhe of East Sea Martial Arts Elementary School versus Zhang Tao of Fifth Martial Arts Primary School!"
Wei Zhe took a deep breath and strode onto the arena under the encouraging gazes of Liu Haifeng and Wang Zhen.
"Hmph, someone from East Sea Martial Arts Elementary School? Nothing special."
His opponent, Zhang Tao, had reached 12 calories of qi and blood and was one of the best fighters at Fifth Primary School. His face showed obvious contempt.
But the instant the whistle sounded to start the match—
Wei Zhe moved.
Without wasting a single word, he unleashed his qi and blood, which had reached a full 16 calories. Like a fierce tiger charging down a mountain, he struck with a ferocious Five Elements Fist, each blow accompanied by a muffled rush of wind. In just three moves, he blasted the still-stunned Zhang Tao straight off the arena!
Clean and decisive!
That victory instantly quieted the whispering schools around them, and their gazes toward East Sea Martial Arts Elementary School grew a touch more solemn.
In the next few matches, the other members of East Sea Martial Arts Elementary School also performed brilliantly. Though they had some close calls, they all defeated their respective opponents and advanced.
Liu Haifeng and Wang Zhen looked a little better, but their tightly clenched fists never relaxed.
Finally, the names on the holographic screen rolled wildly once more, then abruptly stopped.
Two names appeared before everyone, perfectly clear, as though illuminated by a spotlight.
[East Sea Martial Arts Elementary School: Chen Fan]
[Donghai Third Primary School: Lin Hu]
Whoosh!
The director's camera instantly locked onto the smallest figure in the rest area.
Chen Fan's youthful, eight-year-old face and his small, slender frame were magnified to the extreme and projected onto the giant screen in the center of the square.
Immediately afterward, the camera swung around to his opponent.
Lin Hu!
A boy nearly 1.6 meters tall, broad-backed and thick-waisted, with muscles knotted all over his body like a young bull.
The two appeared in the same shot.
One barely reached the other's chest; the other was as sturdy as an iron tower.
After a brief, deathly silence, the stark, almost comical contrast in their sizes instantly sent the entire crowd into an uproar!
"Pfft!!"
"Hahaha!"
"Are you kidding me? Is he here for the competition? Are you sure he isn't here looking for his daddy?"
"East Sea Martial Arts Elementary School really has run out of people! They actually sent a mascot up there to make up the numbers!"
Deafening laughter erupted from the stands. Countless mocking, pitying, and gloating gazes surged toward East Sea Martial Arts Elementary School's rest area like a tide.
Director Zhang of Experimental Primary School looked openly at Liu Haifeng, an exaggeratedly teasing smile on his face. "Old Liu, not bad! Your school's recruiting from kindergartens now? You really do... teach everyone without distinction!"
Faced with the grating mockery, Liu Haifeng's face was as still as water, and he said nothing.
But his fists, their knuckles white from the force of his grip, and the faces of Liu Haifeng and Wang Zhen beside him, which had instantly darkened, betrayed their towering fury and extreme tension.
"Boss..."
Wei Zhe was nearly grinding his teeth to pieces, a little worried.
Yet Chen Fan, at the center of the storm, seemed detached from it all.
He slowly rose and, amid the peals of laughter, walked step by step toward the arena where all eyes were fixed.
His retreating figure was calm and lonely, yet carried a composure entirely at odds with his age.
On the arena.
The referee felt a headache coming on as he looked at the scene before him.
Only after repeatedly checking Chen Fan's identity did he rather helplessly signal for both sides to get ready.
The tall, broad Lin Hu looked at the opponent who came only to his chest. There was no mockery on his face; instead, he looked troubled.
He had been born with a brute physique and boundless strength. He had no idea how many force-measuring devices he had broken during training.
And now they wanted him to fight a little squirt like this?
He scratched the back of his head and bent down with an honest expression. In what he thought was a very quiet voice, he said in a muffled rumble, "Um... little brother, it's dangerous here. This isn't a game."
"I'm afraid one punch from me will make you cry."
"Why don't you... walk off and admit defeat now? It's nothing to be ashamed of, really."
His words rang clearly across the entire square through the miniature loudspeaker on the referee.
The laughter in the square grew even louder.
On the raised platform, the principal of Experimental Primary School was already rocking with laughter, waving his hands again and again. "Nonsense, this is absolute nonsense!"
Director Qian's brow also furrowed almost imperceptibly, and a trace of disappointment flashed through his eyes.
He had thought that a trump card so highly valued by East Sea Martial Arts Elementary School would be someone remarkable.
He had never expected...
It was a farce.
Amid the clamor, just as everyone thought they were about to see a comedy—
"Beep!"
The referee blew the whistle to start the match!
Lin Hu was still bent over, trying to persuade him, his face even wearing a kind expression that seemed to say, Hurry and get down.
But 0.01 seconds after the whistle sounded—
The little squirt who, in his eyes, would cry from a single punch moved.
No warning, no wasted words.
Deep in Chen Fan's eyes, still as an ancient well, a flash of icy killing intent appeared and vanished.
The high-strength alloy arena beneath his feet gave a faint hum.
Like an arrow breaking free of its bowstring, he tore through the air in an instant, leaving an afterimage the naked eye could barely catch!
His speed was far beyond anything anyone had imagined!
One moment, he was still where he had stood.
The next, he was right in front of Lin Hu!
The laughter across the square cut off abruptly.
Everyone's pupils contracted sharply at that moment!
Before countless horrified eyes, a fair, clean fist utterly at odds with his size shot straight toward Lin Hu's face, which still bore an expression of shock and bewilderment. It struck in the simplest, most direct, most savage manner!
The shriek of the fist's wind tearing through the air and the crowd's roaring laughter reached their peak at the same instant.
Then stopped abruptly.
"Crack!"
The sound of a bone breaking was not loud, but it was unmistakably clear. Through the miniature loudspeaker clipped to Lin Hu's collar, it pierced all the noise in the square like the sharpest spike of ice.
Time seemed to freeze at that moment.
Thousands of eyes stared fixedly at the center of the arena.
The instant Lin Hu's face, still bearing its honest and astonished expression, met the fair fist, his lower jaw caved inward at a strange angle.
The terrifying force contained in that punch lifted both feet of his nearly 1.6-meter-tall, iron-tower-like frame clean off the alloy floor.
As though struck head-on by an invisible battering ram, he fell straight backward.
He traced a brief, stiff arc through the air.
"Boom!!"
Lin Hu crashed heavily onto the arena with a muffled boom that made everyone's heart twitch. The entire raised platform shook violently with him.
His eyes rolled white, and his limbs twitched twice before he lost consciousness completely.
Dead silence.
The entire square fell into a deathly hush.
The students and teachers who had been clutching their sides and rocking with laughter a moment ago now looked as though a petrification spell had been cast on them. Their mouths hung open wide enough to fit an egg, and their expressions froze in utter disbelief and horror.
In Experimental Primary School's rest area, Director Zhang's exaggerated, teasing smile froze completely, as if he had put on a cheap clown mask.
The expressions on the faces of the teachers and students of East Sea Martial Arts Elementary School were even more colorful.
Liu Haifeng and Wang Zhen's bodies, taut with extreme tension, instantly relaxed, only to stiffen again at the sight before them, which overturned everything they knew.
Wei Zhe and the others went straight from worry and anger to a complete mental shutdown, their minds blank.
On the raised platform.
Director Qian, who had been frowning slightly at this farce the whole time, saw the punch land, and two dazzling rays of unprecedented light suddenly burst from his eyes, which had been still as an ancient well!
His body instinctively lunged forward, both hands gripping the railing in front of him. His gaze locked like a hawk's onto the small figure in the arena, slowly withdrawing his fist without the slightest disruption to his breathing from beginning to end.
"Such concentrated fist force... such terrifying explosive power..."
He murmured to himself, enunciating each word in a voice only he could hear, a barely suppressed tremor and fervor in his voice.
"I want this child!"
On the arena.
After a full five seconds of staring blankly, the referee finally came to his senses as though waking from a dream.
He jolted and scrambled over to Lin Hu. After a quick check of his condition, his face turned deathly pale.
He sprang to his feet and looked at Chen Fan, his eyes filled with fear.
Then he held up Chen Fan's little hand, which was not even half the size of his palm, and announced hoarsely in a voice trembling violently with shock:
"First match, Chen Fan of East Sea Martial Arts Elementary School... wins!"
The name Chen Fan, accompanied by that earth-shattering punch, was seared into the mind of everyone present like a scorching brand.
After a brief silence, the draw continued.
The portraits on the holographic screen began scrolling again.
When Chen Fan's name appeared beside another, a tall, thin student in Experimental Primary School's rest area went instantly pale, every trace of blood draining from his face.
He was the same follower who had previously made snide remarks, calling Chen Fan a freshly weaned baby.
His legs went weak, and he was practically hauled out of his chair.
As he walked onto the arena, his legs shook like a sieve, and he looked at Chen Fan as though he were looking at a prehistoric savage beast wearing human skin.
"Begin!"
Even the referee's voice sounded a little strained.
The student's Adam's apple bobbed, and almost the instant the whistle sounded, he tried to open his mouth and say, "I admit defeat."
Unfortunately.
Chen Fan gave him no such chance.
An afterimage flashed past.
The same position, the same angle, the same unadorned straight punch.
"Bang!"
The student could not even let out a scream before he followed in Lin Hu's footsteps and was blasted off the arena.
If the first match had brought shock,
Then this second match planted a seed called fear in everyone's hearts.
Chen Fan meant one punch.
After that, the competition sped up immeasurably.
Because every match involving Chen Fan had lost all suspense.
The third round, the fourth round, the fifth round...
Every opponent drawn against Chen Fan, without exception,
Either suffered a mental collapse before stepping onto the arena and forfeited outright,
Or was KO'd with one punch within the first second of the match.
Chen Fan's name became a nightmare every contestant desperately avoided.
His matches were always the shortest of them all, and the most chilling.
He simply stood there calmly, match after match, punch after punch, sweeping aside every opponent in the simplest, crudest, and most indisputable way.
Finally.
After a crushing run without the slightest suspense, the qualifying rounds ended.
On the enormous holographic screen, the portraits of the eliminated contestants dimmed one by one. At last, only two names remained, shining at the top.
[East Sea Martial Arts Elementary School: Chen Fan]
[East Sea Experimental Primary School: Li Hao]
The final!
After being suppressed to the limit, the atmosphere in the square was instantly driven to its peak!
Li Hao slowly rose from his seat.
All the arrogance and frivolity had vanished from his handsome face, replaced by unprecedented solemnity and burning battle intent.
He walked onto the arena step by step, each stride exceptionally steady, as though gathering the full force of his presence.
He looked at the eight-year-old boy approaching just as calmly from the opposite side, as if he were merely taking a stroll after a meal, and took a deep breath.
The immense blood and qi within him, far exceeding 22 calories and nearly boiling, began to circulate without restraint!
The air around the entire arena grew viscous as a result.
Every eye in the venue was fixed on them.
This was the pinnacle showdown among East Sea City's elementary school students!
Li Hao looked at Chen Fan across from him and spoke word by word, his voice carrying throughout the venue through the amplification system:
"You're strong. But the champion will be me."
Chen Fan finally stopped walking.
He merely raised his eyelids slowly. His eyes, as unruffled as an ancient well, gazed calmly at Li Hao, who stood as if facing a formidable enemy, and he uttered three words.
"Make your move."