Threat

Chapter 38: The Threat

Early the next morning.

The sound of the gate opening in the cave startled all the gladiators.

The gladiators either sat up or stood up, looking towards the gate.

A large number of Security Mechs blocked the path to the outside. This display, with the Security Mechs holding the line, signaled to everyone that the owner of this arena had arrived.

The manager strode into the cave, his face cold.

He walked straight past all the gladiators and stopped in front of Qin Xia, shouting at him.

"You think you're so powerful?"

"In this place that belongs to me!"

"Your abilities are less effective than the pen in my hand. If I wanted to, I could write a few words and have you killed!"

"..."

Hearing these shouts, Qin Xia looked down at the manager, listening expressionlessly until the man had finished shouting everything he wanted to say.

There was no shortage of insults.

Only when the manager was hoarse from shouting did Qin Xia slowly speak, "So, you're here about your brother and nephew? You say you can kill me with a pen, but you're barking here like a dog, powerless?"

"You even waited a whole night to bother me about your dead nephew."

"Oh, right, you accepted a favor from me yesterday and had the funerals for them, father and son, all at once. That must have taken a whole night, but it only took one night for one grave. You're welcome, I've always enjoyed helping people."

Qin Xia's words were like pouring oil on a fire, and the manager's rage flared up, continuing to curse loudly.

Angron glared at the manager, clenching his fists.

Klyster held Angron back, shaking her head slightly at him.

Ono did not stop anyone at this moment. He was the one being irrational now. Picking up a stone from the ground, he slowly approached the manager from behind.

"Shut up!"

As the manager continued to blabber and bark, Qin Xia roared.

Frost condensed on the walls. The manager, from the bottom of his soul, wanted to shut up, and so he did.

"Why did you come running over here to threaten me? What were you thinking?" Qin Xia asked, looking confused. "Do you think your threats and your so-called killing pen are useful? I don't know what my rank is among all the gladiators in the arena, but I know I'm definitely popular, especially after I killed the Praetorian Guard and those Tarkos family mongrels."

"This arena belongs to you? No, of course not. You're just a dog tied to the arena gate. The only difference between you and us trapped beasts is that you have a master."

"If I were you, I wouldn't come here to humiliate myself."

Qin Xia spoke while analyzing the manager's motives and psychological profile.

The manager had given him the impression of being astonishingly stupid from the very beginning.

Of course, the guy hadn't been this foolish at first, but Qin Xia knew he was an idiot with just one glance.

The reason he could be the arena manager was ninety percent due to his loyalty, rather than being accomplished in both literary and military arts or possessing intelligence.

Qin Xia could even profile the personality of the manager's master.

He must be an arrogant, conceited control freak who didn't care if his subordinates were qualified for an important position, only whether they were completely loyal to him and executed his orders and will one hundred percent.

"You are popular, but that just means I can't have you dragged out and killed with a casual order. However, I can still make you die, just in a more popular way, to entertain the Nuceria people." The manager gritted his teeth. "Besides, I didn't come here specifically to pick a fight with you. You don't have that kind of qualification or status."

"Then you came here specifically to be insulted." Qin Xia smiled. "I don't mind insulting you in a hundred ways that involve personal humiliation, but if it makes you feel good, then forget it."

"..." The manager was silent for a moment. After struggling to come up with a strong retort, he turned to leave. "The nobleman who allowed you to make any request has returned. He wants to have lunch with you."

"Dine with your control freak master? Forget it. If eating this meal could let me skin you, I'd be quite happy to," Qin Xia said.

"You can certainly refuse." The manager stopped, turned back with a sinister smile, and said, "Lord Tarkos is not a petty person, especially when dealing with true slaves."

"..." Qin Xia frowned.

"The gate is open, and it will remain open until noon. You make your own decision." The manager turned again and left directly.

After the dog guarding the arena left, Angron immediately stepped forward. "You absolutely should not go to lunch with some nobleman. I have a bad feeling about this."

"Agreed," Klyster seconded. "And he opened the gate. Perhaps this is our chance to escape, or at least we can gather some information."

After speaking, Klyster looked at Ono, wanting to ask for his opinion.

Ono stood there holding the stone, lost in thought, saying nothing.

"I have a question," a gladiator suddenly asked. "We aren't always confined in this cave. We know the way to the outside. What other information do we need to gather?"

"We know the way? Yes, we know how to get to the arena, to that damned place isolated by that damn energy shield." Klyster roared. "Idiot! That's not the way we need to know!"

"But no one has ever tried to get out from beyond the energy shield. Maybe there's some mechanism buried under the Red Sand."

"Then you try next time during a fight. When others are trying to cut you down, you can slowly search, slowly search across the vast Red Sand!"

"..."

Qin Xia observed the gladiators while Klyster argued with someone.

Quite a few of these gladiators were staring intently at the opened gate.

The heavy gates that Caesar once needed psychic power to penetrate were now open for all to see.

Angron stared at the gates, clearly hesitating whether to charge through.

Most of the people here had been imprisoned for too long, and their desire to escape outweighed everything else.

"These gates aren't made of anything special," Qin Xia said. "If I licked it like food, my corrosive saliva could eat a hole through it."

The crowd listened to Qin Xia, thinking he was joking, but his expression suggested otherwise.

"Even if I had grabbed the person in charge and read their memories while they were here, I could have figured out how to get through."

"But these gates, this arena, aren't our only obstacles. If everyone here isn't just looking to die, then we need to think a bit further ahead."

Qin Xia continued.

"We need to consider where we'll find better weapons once we get through these gates, instead of relying on our usual junk like harpoons."

"We need to consider what stronger enemies we'll be fighting with better weapons, where we'll settle after escaping the arena, and how to deal with the slave owners' encirclement. We even need to consider how to permanently escape the slave owners, for example, by overthrowing them."

"I miss every breath of the scorching, hot air I used to breathe outside. My heart tells me I want to rush out right now."

Qin Xia slowly scanned everyone.

"But this arena really isn't the only hell we'll face. I hate to say it, but this hell is relatively less cruel compared to what's out there."