A Sudden, Severe Trial

The fat man stared at the hole blasted through his belly, his face filled with disbelief. A moment later, his body turned into a pile of fragments and reassembled outside the arena.

That layer of fat was actually his ability, capable of absorbing fifty percent of incoming attacks. Even so, he had still been instantly defeated. Only now, standing outside the arena, did the fat man realize just how terrifying an opponent he had encountered.

Seeing the fat man, ranked over six thousandth, get instantly defeated in a single move, everyone who had pressed the challenge button felt bitter inside. Many of those ranked below him knew how formidable he was and understood his special ability. If even the fat man had been instantly defeated, then they would probably only be going up there to hand over points.

After taking down the fat man, Gu Ding selected his next challenger—a Strongman ranked over seven thousandth. Among all the challengers, his rank was second only to the fat man's.

After stepping onto the stage, the Strongman wore a bitter smile. He had challenged the fat man before and had been completely crushed, without even the slightest chance to fight back. Now that he had encountered Gu Ding, who had taken down the fat man in one move, he knew he had no chance at all. He silently cursed his itchy fingers for clicking in as soon as he saw an opportunity to take advantage. As it turned out, the other party was not a soft persimmon at all, but a diamond—hard beyond belief.

However, once a challenge had been issued, it could not be withdrawn unless the other party refused it. Only after stepping onto the stage did he realize that Gu Ding had accepted his challenge.

"Better to die early and be reborn early!" The Strongman steeled himself. Thinking about how there would be plenty of others with itchy fingers like his later on, the frustration in his heart immediately faded quite a bit.

The Strongman had thought all that in only an instant. He did not remain on the stage for long. The moment he charged toward Gu Ding was the moment he was instantly defeated by a punch. The whole process took less than five seconds.

"Hey, Muscle Man, does getting instantly defeated feel great?" A teasing voice came from beside him.

The Strongman turned his head and saw the fat man. "Fatty, weren't you the same? You beat me up so badly last time. This time, karma caught up with you."

"Who knew that kid, despite looking so young, would be such a beast? It's like he ate a Power Pill." The fat man smiled, apparently not caring too much about losing the match. He had spent quite some time in this arena and had participated in over seven thousand matches, big and small. He had encountered all kinds of opponents, and with his naturally optimistic personality, his mindset had long since become calm.

"My fingers were itchy too. If I'd known, I would have watched one of his match videos first." The Strongman smiled bitterly. He himself followed the same high-powered offensive path as Gu Ding and was accustomed to crushing opponents with overwhelming force. This time, however, he had been crushed instead—and by an underage kid at that. It was inevitable that he found it hard to accept.

Seeing the Strongman's expression, the fat man seemed to know what he was thinking. "Don't think too much about it. That kid is a complete freak. If he can use such terrifying physical techniques, he's probably a super genius cultivated by the Federal Government. In the future, he'll at least reach Koude Bulade's level."

"Who knows what young people these days are fed? Every one of them is so fierce." The Strongman could not help sighing. "News just came in that Koude Bulade encountered a Federal Government brigadier general on the New Trade Route. The two fought for an entire day, and it ended with the brigadier general fleeing in defeat."

At that moment, Gu Ding had already defeated several opponents in a row on the stage and was advancing toward twenty consecutive wins when he heard Sea Emperor mention the news.

"A major piece of news just came in. Koude Bulade encountered a brigadier general on the New Trade Route. The two fought, and it ended with that brigadier general fleeing in defeat. Judging from the video, the brigadier general nearly got killed on the spot and only escaped by using some special methods. Koude Bulade suffered only minor injuries. It seems his danger level has risen another grade. His bounty will probably increase again soon."

Upon hearing the news, Gu Ding became even more eager to fight. He had yet to receive a bounty himself, and he looked forward to seeing his own Bounty Order spread across the world just like Koude Bulade's.

Gu Ding's opponents were teleported onto the stage one after another, and then instantly defeated by Gu Ding one after another.

Twenty consecutive wins came quickly and easily. After that, Gu Ding was practically unstoppable as he achieved thirty consecutive wins, forty consecutive wins, fifty consecutive wins, sixty consecutive wins, seventy consecutive wins...

By the eightieth match, no one else was being teleported onto the stage.

When the fat man had been instantly defeated, more than sixty people had already issued challenges and could not withdraw them. But those who had wanted to challenge Gu Ding afterward decisively pulled back the hands that had been about to press the challenge button after watching the live broadcast of his arena matches, secretly rejoicing that they had been one step too late.

"No one left?" Gu Ding raised an eyebrow. "Then I can only get the points for seventy consecutive wins. Looks like I'll have to come back next time."

For consecutive-win points below one hundred, the system calculated them in sets of ten. The streak had to reach ten, twenty, thirty, and so on to earn the corresponding consecutive-win points. If Gu Ding had completed and won the eightieth match, he could have earned the points for eighty consecutive wins, which was 3,240 points. But now that he had only fought through the seventy-ninth match, he could only receive the points for seventy consecutive wins, plus 9 points for the victories from seventy-one through seventy-nine, for a total of just 2,494 points.

"Gu Ding, log out. Something has happened to your spacecraft." Sea Emperor's voice sounded rather ominous.

"It didn't malfunction, did it?" Hearing Sea Emperor's tone, Gu Ding felt a sense of unease rise in his heart.

"It's not a malfunction. We ran into the aftermath of an Interstellar Storm." Sea Emperor's tone became urgent. "I need to sever your connection. Otherwise, the spacecraft's impacts and electromagnetic interference could damage your mental power."

As Sea Emperor spoke, he cut off Gu Ding's connection to the arena.

The people watching Gu Ding in the arena were all somewhat surprised when they saw him suddenly vanish from the stage just as he was about to fight his eightieth match. They had assumed that Gu Ding would at least finish the eightieth match and collect the consecutive-win points. Although no one was challenging him at the moment, if he waited a little longer, the system would automatically assign him a random opponent. Yet Gu Ding had suddenly left.

"What happened? Why did he suddenly disconnect?" In the backstage monitoring room, a tall man in a suit frowned slightly as he watched the scene.

"It wasn't a system malfunction. He probably had something urgent come up and had to leave the arena." A technician checked the system and found that Gu Ding had logged out on his own.

"That kid..." The man in the suit had not expected this either.

Meanwhile, having returned to the Real World, Gu Ding was now facing a severe trial.