Decisive Match!

Bang!

A dull, muffled thud rang out as Jiang Yue's body—not exceptionally burly, yet taut with sleek, cheetah-like lines—landed steadily on the alloyed arena floor, still stained with Shen Qing's blood.

Before Scar, a two-meter-tall mountain of flesh radiating a suffocating sense of menace, Jiang Yue's frame appeared extremely thin, almost frail enough to be described as scrawny.

The two stood facing each other, forming a stark contrast that was visually jarring.

Dead silence.

The entire underground black boxing arena, thick with the stench of sweat and blood, fell into an eerie two-second hush.

Then, as if a heavy bomb had been detonated in the deep sea, the whole place erupted!

"Holy shit! Someone actually went up?!"

"Last three seconds! Is this kid tired of living?!"

No one had expected that, in the final moments before the countdown hit zero, a fearless new recruit would actually dare to leap onto the stage and take on this fifth, life-or-death match!

Shen Qing, slumped against the iron mesh fence at the edge of the ring, stared wide-eyed in utter disbelief at the slightly thin back on the platform.

"He actually..."

Shen Qing sucked in a sharp breath.

In his memory, although Jiang Yue had displayed freakish endurance and willpower during the early training sparring sessions, his punching power back then was definitely not high—in fact, his foundation was poor!

Even if Jiang Yue had improved rapidly over the past ten-plus days, steadily climbing the rankings.

Going up against Scar, who could deliver nearly 800 kilograms of force and was armored with a thick layer of muscle, was still like throwing an egg at a rock!

"Could it be because I casually explained a few key points about 'Inch Power' to him earlier?"

Shen Qing's heart jolted, and a strong sense of absurdity surged within him.

Ancient Martial Arts Inch Power was far too esoteric and obscure; its axis of force involved subtle adjustments along the entire spinal dragon. How could anyone learn it on the spot in just a few minutes from hearing a theory?!

Jiang Yue was usually aloof and cold, and they had no real friendship. Shen Qing absolutely refused to believe he was the kind of hot-blooded idiot who would throw his life away for some so-called "collective honor."

So what exactly was he relying on to take this challenge?!

But the other new recruits below didn't care what Jiang Yue was relying on.

"Brother Jiang! Crush him!!"

Xu Bo, his face flushed red with excitement, let out a hysterical roar from below.

Following Xu Bo's shout, sharp-eyed recruits quickly recognized Jiang Yue.

"It's Jiang Yue! That madman who endured 3.5 times gravity in the Gravity Exam and broke into the top thousand!"

"I remember! That monster who, after the exam, single-handedly devoured a mountain of Exotic Beast meat in the cafeteria, even drawing the attention of the Supervision Team!"

In this humiliating moment, when they were being trampled and bullied by the veterans, Jiang Yue's step forward was like a spark, instantly igniting the powder keg in every new recruit's chest!

As fellow new recruits of the same batch, they naturally stood on Jiang Yue's side.

It wasn't just about shared honor and disgrace—if Jiang Yue could win this seemingly impossible match, it would be a resounding slap in the face to all the veterans, reclaiming the new recruits' lost dignity!

It was also about their own interests!

If they could suppress the veterans' arrogance today, the veterans would definitely be much more restrained when opening gambling pools in this arena from now on, never daring to recklessly fleece them like today!

"New recruits will win!"

"Smash that big guy! Take their stakes!"

The new recruits were in full frenzy, shouting and cheering wildly for Jiang Yue.

The wave of sound, like a tsunami, rose higher and higher, actually drowning out the vulgar insults and vicious curses coming from the veteran camp.

On the arena floor, hearing the deafening shouts from below, Scar furrowed his rough brow slightly.

He looked down at the youth before him, whose frame was less than half his size and whose muscles weren't even fully bulging, and cruelly grinned, cracking his fists, which were as big as clay pots.

"What's the matter? Is your Recruit Camp completely wiped out?"

Scar's eyes were filled with brutal provocation and disdain. He took a step closer to Jiang Yue, his massive shadow completely engulfing him.

"Even that kid got smashed to pieces by me, and now you're sending up some scrawny, half-baked skeleton to die?"

Faced with Scar's overwhelming pressure, Jiang Yue wasn't provoked in the slightest. Instead, his eyes, calm as an ancient well, grew eerily deep.

He looked at Scar, his gaze devoid of any fear toward a formidable opponent.

Meanwhile, on the second-floor viewing platform.

The underground boss, Butcher, who had just finished managing the situation and retreated back into the shadows, was also drawn by the bizarre standoff below.

Fiddling with an Exotic Beast skull, he narrowed his razor-sharp eyes and coldly swept his gaze over Jiang Yue's face.

As the big shot controlling this Grey Zone, his mind housed an immense database, and he instantly retrieved the corresponding information.

"Oh? I was wondering who it was."

A hint of intrigue curled at the corner of Butcher's mouth. "So it's that new recruit who, a few nights ago, played the 'Thousand-Jin Stake' gambling pool over in the Veteran Barracks Area and wore out Old Cripple's Mechanical Prosthetic."

As a true Martial Artist, Butcher's vision was infinitely sharper than the rabble below, who only judged by size and muscle mass.

From his vantage point, he keenly detected something amiss.

Jiang Yue stood on the platform with a seemingly slack posture, his whole body riddled with openings. But in the Butcher's perception, it was as if a ferocious beast lay dormant within the youth!

"How interesting..."

The Butcher stopped spinning the bone in his hand, a rare flicker of surprise flashing in his eyes as he muttered to himself, "In just a few days, not only has this kid's total blood and qi surged out of nowhere, but his physical density... has condensed to this level?"

"This isn't something a single basic gene agent from the military could achieve out of thin air..."

A dangerous glint gleamed in the Butcher's eyes. Then, he gestured to the veteran referee standing bewildered at the base of the first-floor platform.

"The show begins. Let me see if this kid is truly hiding his strength, or just a clown putting on a spectacle."

Receiving the Butcher's approval from the second floor, the veteran referee, though deeply resentful of Jiang Yue's interference with their profit-sharing scheme, could only grit his teeth and raise his right hand.

As the referee's arm shot up, the red countdown frozen at "00:03" in midair reset to zero!

On the platform.

Jiang Yue's chest rose and fell in an almost imperceptible rhythm, the [Smooth Breath] trait already pushed to its limit.

In his mind, he was frantically reconstructing and simulating the Inch Power technique Shen Qing had taught him—"Power doesn't come from the arms, but from the spine and hips"—merging it with his own method of force application.

A sharp whistle, like a blade tearing through the darkness, exploded in everyone's eardrums.

"Fifth match, the decider!" The referee swung his arm down sharply.

"Begin!"