Act 1: Straight to the Heart

Foreword:

When dealing with people, keep this in mind --

Humans are not perfectly rational beings; they are driven by emotions, influenced by prejudices, and motivated by vanity and arrogance.

Dale Carnegie | How to Win Friends and Influence People

[Part 1: Crossing the Restricted Area]

Off the field, the Fairy Tale Kingdom team members were also watching the game closely. There were four qualifying spots in the Daji Town division, and the last lucky winner would be chosen from the Purple Crystal and Zebra Power Team.

On the bus to the capital of Forty-One District, the team members chattered excitedly about the schedule for the match the day after tomorrow, while the two old gamblers on the coaching staff discussed the odds. Gunsmith happened to be taking a nap, his face covered by his sun hat, leaning his head against the window.

Only Qi Ji's pupils constricted as he stared intently at the live broadcast of the match.

With the score tied at 1-1, the final showdown between Purple Crystal and Zebra Power Team is about to begin.

From the moment the players enter the field, prepare their gear in the activity area, to the tactical arrangements, and until the end of the match—

Qi Ji watched the two players on the field with utmost seriousness.

One of them he recognized was Fiego Sebastié.

This kid was able to influence the outcome of the match, and in the final round of the endurance battle, only Fiego maintained a high level of concentration.

In Qi Ji's eyes, this unified state of mind and body, this focused posture, was all too familiar. It was the look in the eyes of the gunsmith and Daniel when they were on standby, a look of relaxed body and constricted pupils.

The other one he didn't recognize was Mali Pero, who had stunned everyone with his first appearance.

He was still unsure where the Zebra Power Team had found this player. The player was indeed on the roster, but he had never played before, only serving as a substitute for the attackers.

But this substitute's stamina was terrifying. It even made Qi Ji, who was watching the game intently, curse out loud.

"I'm so awesome!"

Mali Pero's performance in the first two games was nothing short of phenomenal, leaving Qi Ji utterly bewildered. This young, red-haired guy, as an attacker, displayed an all-around performance that defied common sense and was simply inhuman.

His battlefield awareness was incredibly sharp, as if he possessed a bio-signal recognition radar and X-ray vision.

His ability to maintain continuous movement is ridiculously strong; he can withstand running and marching for 1,500 meters in different environments and on terrains with varying elevations and slopes.

His positioning ability is also top-notch; in the Daji Town division, only a handful of attackers can rival him.

Qi Ji could use his mental spreadsheet to create an archive for each contestant, going through all the battle reports from Daji Town and recording the contestants' performances on the field.

Among the players at the shooting guard position, Daniel's offensive efficiency ranks among the top five in the first tier. As a penetrator, Fiego Sebastié is actually more suited to the offensive position, and his positioning ability and offensive efficiency can also squeeze into the top ten.

In addition, there are several other very strong attackers, including Zhou Yuncang, captain of the Jinhao Club in the Daji Town Division, Bruce Carter, attacker of the Fenglan Club, and the eliminated "One-on-Four Fish-Bombing God of War Chainsaw Killer".

Placing Mali Pero on this table doesn't seem particularly special at first glance, but Qi Ji believes this guy is cheating because of Mali Pero's very counterintuitive performance on the field.

"This guy is like a robot when he starts and stops."

Qi Ji frowned, muttering softly, his eyes fixed on Mali Pero, who was moving at high speed in the arena. He switched the drone view provided by the director to the side of the red-haired guy.

"Why? Why does he seem to not need rest? Why? Something's definitely wrong!"

Looking at Mali Pero from Qi Ji's perspective, he can discover many surprising and suspicious points—

Qi Ji is a hardcore gamer who breaks down games into the simplest tasks: using a keyboard, mouse, gamepad, or even voice sensors to input corresponding commands and complete the corresponding operations.

This process is very intuitive; the game character's movements are highly synchronized with the human brain's reactions.

When players are fatigued, their game characters will also become stiff. Players need to adapt to the rhythm of the battle, and the game characters will dance like they are dancing, with a unique rhythm and beat, to arrange various skill feedback and attack effects.

Mali Pero's performance on the field terrified Qi Ji.

--Because this guy is like a robot, like a script that never knows how to rest.

There are many very difficult games in the world that require players to use high-frequency, high-intensity input to cope with the high-speed environment within the game.

They don't care about timing; they simply test the players' hands and brains.

Even games like this will deliberately use elements such as [frame slowing] to give players a break, because the human brain has its limits. For example, Tetris at 256x speed will have a results screen to help players relax.

However, Mali Pero's playing style has almost no rhythm whatsoever.

From the start of the competition, he was constantly pushing the physiological limits of Homo sapiens. His aim and aim were incredibly precise every time he pulled his gun. In all three competitions, the time it took him to rush into the same building and cross the corridor was remarkably consistent, with the data differing by only a fraction of a second.

Describing Mali Pero's performance as "consistent" doesn't seem quite right.

In Qi Ji's eyes, he was like a cheater using motion-assisted aiming, whose stamina far surpassed that of the other players.

The final round was nothing short of a massacre, as the exhaustion of the other players highlighted Mali Pero's dominance in the endgame.

"This guy is suspicious, definitely suspicious." Qi Ji muttered to himself involuntarily, "In a high-speed endurance battle, the two teams fought for more than an hour, and he was still able to maintain his perfect condition. This is illogical. No matter how powerful the supplements are, they can't achieve this effect."

"If the Zebra Power Team has such a miracle drug, why not give it to the other team members? Is Mali Pero a Shining Butterfly? Does he possess Soul Power? Can it keep him in peak condition all the time? I don't understand."

"The battle is about to begin."

"Fiego, Fórigóc Sebastián!"

Unbeknownst to him, Qi Ji had actually sided with Fiego.

The reason is simple: like him, Fiego had a heart that didn't want to lose.

--From the drone's perspective, Mali Pero's expression made Qi Ji feel inexplicably uncomfortable.

The combination of that strangely intense, irritable, and frustrated look in his eyes, despite clearly having the upper hand, was quite odd.

It was as if Mali Pero didn't care about winning or losing the match at all. This dark horse never took Purple Crystal's opponents seriously, as if everyone he encountered in the match was an obstacle in his way.

The first and second formations of Purple Crystal collapsed completely before they even reached the two crates of the Red Tower. The Sentinel Tarantulas were running out of stamina, and the entire team was moving two body lengths slower than Zebra Power. The match was about to end the moment they stopped the firefight at the outer edge of the tower.

Mali Pero breached the first defensive line and broke into the second defensive line's restricted area.

"Oh no!" Qi Ji cried out in alarm, but it was too late.

How far can a desire to win take a person? How far can it take them?

Fiego Sebastié submitted his answer sheet, with a final time of four minutes and thirteen seconds, bringing his personal score to eighteen points.

The two teams clashed in the supermarket, and the moment the firefight broke out, Purple Crystal's defeat was sealed.

Zebra Power Team, relying on Mali Pero's speed and stamina, gained the opportunity to select a location in advance and lure the enemy into a trap. They steadily caught the invading enemy with bullets and took down two key members of the second formation in just one round of attacks.

When Tamiya Eita's voice went offline, the exhausted captain didn't even leave a single useful command, and he and his support were both eliminated.

For the next thirteen seconds, Qi Ji didn't dare to breathe.

That was a clash between Fiego Sebastián and Mali Pero, their individual performances.

The gunshot was the desperate roar of the breacher, only to be met with a body covered in blood and severe gunshot wounds.

When Fiego scored eighteen points with his shooting skills and was almost out of ammunition, Mali Pero acted like a cruel executioner, giving all the bullets left in his gun to this seemingly Dior Homme penetrator.

Perhaps the footage was too gruesome, because when Fiego was shot, the director immediately switched the camera back to a panoramic bird's-eye view and replayed the firefight scene in the supermarket.

Qi Ji's mouth was slightly open, his face turned extremely ugly, like a deflated balloon. He suddenly lowered his head and clenched his fists.

Although he couldn't hear what the athletes were saying, he was still able to deduce a few trash words from Mali Pero's mouth movements and lip readings when he was shooting.

"Who gave you permission to look at me like that?"

"You're such an eyesore! So troublesome! You actually managed to hurt me? Die! Trash!"

The bullet pierced Fiego's right eye, and the live broadcast cut away at that moment.

This infuriated Qi Ji, even though he wasn't a member of the Purple Crystal team, and even though he had once been sworn enemies with Fiego Sebasti, and were mortal adversaries.

"Mali Pero."

"This guy is definitely a cheater!"

"If it were live-fire rules, Fiego would be dead."

"He wanted to kill! He didn't care about his opponent's life at all."

"Is this guy a hybrid of a calamity beast?"

Just then, the semi-finals of Daji Town ended, and the other team members of the Fairy Tale Kingdom finally began to watch the replay, trying to discard the dross and retain the essence, asking the director to select the most precious kills from the long hour-long replay and make a highlight reel for them to watch.

Mali Pero's individual performance was outstanding.

--Judging from the post-match videos, since the other players' physical strength had long been exhausted, he was like an adult walking into kindergarten. Every time they fought, it was like an adult beating a child, a one-sided crushing defeat.

Daniel and Hao Bro were dumbfounded; they had never done endurance racing before and had never seen anything like it.

For a while, Hao Bro got so engrossed in watching that he even started praising Mali Pero.

"What a vicious gun!"

"No!" Qi Ji immediately shouted, "No! A Hao! Something's not right! There's something wrong with this guy!"

Daniel turned his head, looking at the squad leader with a puzzled expression. "Miracle, you said there's something wrong with this guy? But judging from the post-match video, he just seems strong in all aspects, not particularly top-tier."

"No, no, no, that's not right!" Qi Ji couldn't explain it clearly in just a few words, so he could only scratch his nose anxiously. "No, I can't describe it. This is hard to explain in just a few words."

Kaycee is even more of a heavyweight; she's the kind of person whose values follow her looks.

--Mali Pero has beautiful red hair, just like Hasben Madison, whom she admired since childhood.

"This guy's kind of handsome, Captain! You need to give me a proper explanation! How can you slander him like that? Just because someone looks strong doesn't mean they're necessarily a problem."

"JK!" Qi Ji was already furious. His expression was contorted, and he didn't know what to say. He managed to choke out a few angry words. "This guy is definitely suspicious! You guys watch the whole match recording and think about it carefully!"

No one spoke.

Qi Ji felt rather awkward and asked tentatively.

"Don't you guys ever watch the original game footage?"

A Hao replied casually, "We only watch movies with a three-minute summary before we see the whole thing! We live in a fast-paced era of social media."

Daniel continued, "There have been so many match reports in the past few days that we've been watching post-match clips to understand our opponents. If we have enough time this time, I'll take a closer look at this opponent."

"Coach! What about you?" Qi Ji turned to Sharks Chili for help.

The Shasha also looked as if it were facing a formidable enemy, and it answered seriously—

"--I watched the entire match. Teammates, this guy is really strong, ridiculously strong. If you covered up the player's ID, I think he'd be a Shining Butterfly unit."

Little Shark specially saved the live stream recording, rewinding the progress bar to the final round, capturing the moment when Fiego Sebastié and Mali Pero clashed.

The team members fell silent.

--Fiego's brains were smashed out by Mali Pero, and White Lady's products saved his life, but he will definitely suffer serious aftereffects.

When A Hao saw this, he roared angrily, "What is this guy trying to do?! Is he trying to kill someone?"

Daniel, being more rational, discerned the gunshots amidst the noise. "He fired four shots into Fiego's head; he'll be punished by the organizing committee, that's against the rules."

The post-match interviews were highly controversial regarding Mali Pero, especially his execution of Fiego Sebastián; those four poisoned bullets were extremely dangerous and deadly.

In an effort to protect the athlete, the Zebra Power Team's coaching staff and business representatives gathered a lot of video evidence to show that Fiego Sebasti's shooting habit in previous competitions was also aimed at the brain, barely managing to offer an explanation—they even brought up Fiego's feud with the Fairy Tale Kingdom to smear Fiego as a lecherous and disrespectful athlete who coveted female athletes' buttocks.

Putting aside these external noises, the Purple Crystal's journey has come to an end.

This year they are destined to miss out on the Twelve Stones Cup; they will have the chance to touch the [Dagda's Cauldron] next year and pursue this supreme Holy Grail—a sacred artifact representing abundance in Celtic Mythology and the prototype of the Sage's Cup at the Galahad Magic Academy.

[Part ② Challenge]

The gunsmith, who had been silent until now, suddenly poked his head out.

"--I think Qi Ji is right."

The group of friends all turned around and looked at this legendary figure who was still alive in the world.

Jiang Xueming picked up his phone and immediately contacted Purple Crystal's coach the moment the match ended, hoping to get some useful information from Tauson.

He slept for more than two hours and only watched the beginning and end of the game. Despite only watching that little bit of content, Jiang Xueming felt a sense of familiarity and warmth.

Until he took off his gloves, shed the shackles of Fragrant Dream, and put the Steel Heart back on his ring finger, even through the television screen, he could clearly realize that the divine power in Mali Pero likely came from the Madness Butterfly.

For so many years, he and the Madness Butterfly have been chasing and fighting each other, and countless young talents have emerged from various evil sects. Their fighting styles are ever-changing, but their elemental composition is quite similar. They all rely on holy blood, the Vita Imprint, and human flesh as fuel to operate as a high-speed engine.

Jiang Xueming could see the problem at a glance— Mali Pero was probably not Homo sapiens, nor was he likely a hybrid of the calamity beasts; he was probably a blood donor.

"Coach Tauson will send the injured players to a major hospital in the capital for treatment. They are recuperating at the Renxin Hospital. I want you to visit them, bring some fruit, and have a good chat with them. Especially Fiego Sebastié; he must be very impressed with Mali Pero. Remember that man."

A Hao immediately asked, "Teacher! Is there something wrong with this guy? Should we report him to the organizing committee?"

"Continue the game. Millions of people are watching you. Leave the rest to me." Xue Ming opened the window and took out the Summoning Bell from his pocket.

The crisp ringing of the bell jolted the group of friends awake, finally realizing that the situation was not as simple as they had thought.

The leader of the anonymous gang [Summon People].

--The last time the gunsmith's Summoning Bell rang was during wartime.

By the time everyone came to their senses, the gunsmith was gone. He had jumped off the car on the highway, heading back to the Daji Town district to investigate Mali Pero's background and catch the mastermind behind it all.

Six hours later, a young man who had just recovered from serious injuries was wheeled out of the emergency room of Renxin Hospital.

Fiego Sebastié remains blind in his right eye and has been ravaged beyond recognition by the drug-fueled bullet.

He sat on the hospital bed, conscious but his inner world was on the verge of collapse.

In the same hospital room as him were team captain Tamiya Eita and coach Tauson.

Like Tauson's early experiences, Fiego lost even more; apart from his sight, he could not smell anything and could not speak, and it would probably take him a long time to recover.

The drug bullet ripped open his brain, but instantly healed part of the brain tissue. These suddenly severed neural synapses need time to regenerate; no Universal Elixir can heal this kind of damage.

Hasben Madison was once cut into pieces by the Heaven's Gate, but thanks to the life of Canaan, he was able to retain his complete consciousness.

Tauson sat silently on the edge of the bed, putting a nicotine tablet on his arm. He desperately wanted a cigarette; the pressure was almost destroying the middle-aged man.

"It's my fault, child."

"I misjudged the situation and underestimated the enemy's strength."

Tauson almost instinctively referred to his opponent as an "enemy" because what Mali Pero had done was unforgivable.

"It's my problem, don't blame yourself, it's my problem."

As the team captain, Tamiya Eita, standing to the side, also stepped forward to speak up for the coach.

"--It's my fault! I wasn't strong enough, which is why Fiego was so badly injured! It's my fault!"

Fiego Sebasti couldn't speak. He held a pen and paper, a heart rate and blood pressure sensor between his Thumb, and stood there for a long time, not knowing what to write.

How long does it take for a body injury to heal? He didn't know, he wasn't sure.

He remembered the look in Mali Pero's eyes when he shot him, that arrogance and contempt, a look he would never forget for the rest of his life.

"I don't want to--"

"--lose."

As the last word "lost" was slowly written out, Fiego didn't realize what was happening before tears were already falling onto the paper.

As the last stroke of the word LOSE was drawn, the ink smudged along with the teardrop.

Tauson sighed. "It's over, kid. I probably won't be able to stay at the club anymore—and neither will you. If your injury doesn't heal, you still won't be able to speak next year."

At this point, the coach lowered his head, avoiding looking into Fiego's eyes.

Tamiya Eita: "It's all my fault! It's all my fault! I didn't protect Fiego! Coach Tauson! Please don't say discouraging things! I don't know anyone who loves knightly combat more than you! I don't know anyone who can replace you and continue coaching Purple Crystal."

Fiego just stared blankly, continuing to write lines of text on the paper.

The words "I don't want to lose" were repeatedly written, over and over again.

He still didn't realize that his opponent, Mali Pero, had resorted to some off-court tactics.

He didn't care about the trash talk in the final round, considering it just psychological tactics. He didn't care about the four bullets aimed at his head, because he aimed for the head in the fight. Perhaps if he had been just a little bit stronger or a little bit faster, it would have been Mali Pero lying in the hospital bed.

He just didn't want to lose.

Right now, at this very moment.

A visitor request arrived on Coach Tauson's phone, and the nurses invited the Fairy Tale Kingdom team into the ward.

When A Hao and Fiego made eye contact—

--Ah -A Hao's eyes could shoot fire.

Fiego's expression, however, became as if he had seen a girl he admired; he became coy and tried to hide under the covers—this made him feel ashamed and embarrassed.

Daniel tried to stop him, but he couldn't.

The little shark tried to stop it, but it was even more impossible to stop it.

When A Hao pulled Fiego out of bed, bypassing Coach Tauson, he carefully observed Fiego's eyes and the bald right side of his head.

"What did Mali Pero do to you?! Fiego! Why are you like a dead man? Did he shatter your soul?"

Enraged, A Hao manipulated Fiego's eyelids, carefully examining his unfocused eyeballs. He noticed the spiral pattern on the wound and finally realized that Mali Pero seemed to possess a unique psionic technique, making it impossible for the drug bullet to be so devastating.

"That bastard!"

Tamiya Eita shouted from the side, "He's a patient! Calm down, Gou!"

A Hao angrily put down Fiego, sat on the edge of the hospital bed with his arms crossed, and didn't know what to say.

Once Fiego had regained some of his composure, he wrote a few words on a piece of paper and spoke to A Hao.

Thank you for coming to visit me.

"I'm no match for that guy."

"If we meet in the city championship, I hope you can defeat him."

While Little Shark and Coach Tauson were discussing information about the Zebra Power Team, A Hao started making a ruckus again when he saw the note.

"Do you want me to avenge you?! Fiego!"

A Hao tore the note into pieces and threw them into the air, where they became snowflakes.

"I'm not agreeing to this sissy's request! Get up! Get back in my group! Let's go settle the score with that red-haired brat!"

Fiego paused for a moment, then suddenly looked at Coach Tauson.

Tauson thought for a moment, then whispered a few words of advice to Shasha.

"It's not impossible. Yingtai and I can both continue to participate in the City Championship - Fiego as members of the Fairy Tale Kingdom. It's just that we don't know about your health."

Before he could finish speaking, Fiego immediately jumped out of bed and performed six sets of push-ups on the spot, using the steel pipe of the fishing bottle as a fitness machine, and kept doing pull-ups.

The scene was so spectacular that the nurses changing the dressings were completely taken aback.

"It can move? So it can move after all!"

In the Zebra Power Team's training room--

--Mali Pero, wearing an oxygen-blocking mask, punches a sandbag again and again, challenging his physical limits.

He was very satisfied with this body, and the monster of unknown origin no longer seemed so hideous.

Storm Eye: "Humans are not perfectly rational beings; they are governed by emotions, swayed by prejudices, and driven by vanity and arrogance— Fiego Sebasti, you defeated him, crushed him. You completely triumphed over this arrogant brat, which means you are stronger than him."

Mali didn't reply; a strong hunger urged him to continue training and get stronger.

An hour ago, he led his team to a resounding victory, and he started to feel hungry after the interview ended.

He looked forward to stronger opponents and more delicious food.

Fists slammed against sandbags, producing crisp, resonant sounds from the compacted sand.

That was the divine power of the Storm Eye, the true might of the soul.

It was the swirling gale that he deliberately added to the four bombs that destroyed Fiego Sebasti.

Fingerprints were left on the outer skin of the sandbag, but the sand inside had begun to swirl, drawn by the violent psionic energy, turning into a high-speed rotating vortex.

This powerful spiritual force destroyed Fiego's consciousness almost instantly, and when the first bullet hit Fiego's eye socket, it nearly shattered his brain.

The filaments attached to the warhead resembled a raging tornado, capable of causing terrifying lacerations.

"Keep going, Mali Pero."

The Storm Eye said this.

"Continue to grow stronger, fully master the power of Soul Might, and defeat the gunsmith students."

"In the eyes of the audience, at the city championship tournament watched by millions, you will show people with your strength—you will challenge the gunsmith and defeat your idol as an admirer!"

With one punch, the sandbag exploded.

The scattered sand transformed into a horizontal tornado, leaving horrific spiral wounds on the wall.

Just like a typhoon vortex on a weather map, the sand grains were completely embedded in the wall.

Mali Pero removed his oxygen mask, breathing heavily, his eyes lighting up with excitement. His hunger intensified; he seemed to have found the perfect prey.

"Yes, you're right! I'm going to defeat the gunsmith's student! And then the gunsmith!"

"You're next!"