Intruder

After finishing their performance of "Sun Wukong vs. the Six-Eared Macaque," Xiao He and Cui Man politely declined the fans present and hurried to the next stall to buy things. "Alright, everyone, please disperse and don't obstruct other people from passing by. Thank you for your support, and I will continue to strive for victory."

Because the fans were too "enthusiastic," Xiao He directly pulled Cui Man into the Dimensional Walker's space, and then went upstairs to continue shopping.

The fans downstairs weren't particularly discouraged; on the contrary, they erupted in excitement upon seeing Xiao He use his abilities on the spot: "Hey! Did you guys see that? He just vanished!" "It really is Yinglong! I filmed it!"

Xiao He and Cui Man had just appeared on the third floor of the food court when everyone spotted them.

Since he arrived using Superpower, his sudden appearance in the crowd was bound to attract attention. People started discussing, "Is that Yinglong... is it the real person!?" "Probably! I just heard someone saw Yinglong on the second floor, and someone even took a picture with him!" "What!? Can I ask for a picture too?"

Xiao He followed Cui Man straight to a fried food stall. Cui Man quickly ordered, "Ten skewers of pork tenderloin, five chicken legs, twenty servings of potatoes, and ten oysters..."

The young man in charge of frying the skewers stared at Xiao He with wide eyes, his eyeballs practically popping out.

"Hey." Xiao He waved to him, "Please pick out one of each, but less chili."

After the initial suspicions subsided, everyone finally recognized "Yinglong," and the scene on the second floor repeated itself, with everyone crowding around him to take photos. But this time, some new antics also emerged.

A female livestreamer rushed out of the crowd, clutching her phone, and grabbed Xiao He's arm, screaming, "Friends, did you see that?! I hugged Yinglong! Please follow me if you like it! Mwah!"

"Hey, unauthorized live streaming is prohibited here! Which platform are you a streamer from?!" At this moment, a security guard immediately stepped forward and reprimanded her. The female streamer quickly slipped into the crowd and hid.

The security guard then stepped forward, took out his phone, and smiled at Xiao He, saying, "Excuse me, can I take a picture with you? My son really likes you!"

"Alright then." Xiao He was a little amused and exasperated, but fortunately, he was wearing a mask so no one could tell.

After taking a photo with the security guard, the guard was so happy he jumped up. "Son, today Dad can finally let you show off in front of your classmates! Do any of your classmates' dads ever get to meet Yinglong?"

As he spoke, the security guard turned to Xiao He and smiled, "Thank you, thank you! I wish you continued success in your upcoming matches!"

Xiao He responded, and at this moment more fans wanted to come up for photos, but Cui Man had also received the skewers she bought, and snapped her fingers, "Let's go."

"Everyone, please disperse. Don't obstruct the passage of other tourists." Xiao He waved to the crowd.

Then, he used the Dimensional Walker to jump to another level with Cui Man.

What follows is a repetitive cycle, like playing whack-a-mole. Whenever "Yinglong" appears on a certain floor, a large number of fans gather around. Then "Yinglong" disappears and reappears on another floor.

Xiao He also encountered all sorts of enthusiastic fans, which was quite interesting, to be honest.

This serves two purposes: firstly, to clear "Xiao He" of suspicion; secondly, to change Yinglong's public image and make him more approachable; and finally, to incidentally advertise the small restaurant in the arena.

So Cui Man took Xiao He to each floor, which immediately heated up the atmosphere in the room.

Until, when an unknown "internet celebrity" was taking a photo with Xiao He, she suddenly reached out her hand towards Xiao He's mask with lightning speed. However, before her hand could touch Xiao He's mask, he grabbed it.

"Actually, you don't know, I have a Superpower: anyone who sees my face will die," Xiao He said half-jokingly.

"Okay, okay..." The girl looked at Xiao He, her face flushed with excitement, her heart fluttering.

But this "internet celebrity" is actually Zhang Yuxin, and it was all an act, just to end this "Yinglong fan meeting." It was also a good opportunity to show fans what they can and cannot do when following the star "Yinglong."

Cui Man frowned and said, "Do you know that the identities of Mutant are kept secret in our country? What you're doing constitutes disturbing the peace. We'll let it go this time, but if you do something similar again, we might have you criminally detained."

With that, Cui Man waved her hand and said, "Alright, alright, we've bought everything, everyone can go now. The competition is about to start, we need to go watch it, so everyone enjoy the competition."

People at the scene began to complain about the internet celebrity, who fled amidst their accusations. Xiao He then used his Dimensional Walker to take Cui Man back to the common lounge below, where he placed the snacks he had bought on the table.

"Come on, everyone, help yourselves to whatever you want to eat," Xiao He replied, and sat down at the table.

"How's it going? Lots of fans?" Ye Wanqing asked, glancing at him sideways.

"There are quite a lot, but..." Xiao He chuckled, "Being an idol is really not easy. Some fans make you unhappy, but you can't be too harsh on them. I never want to hold a second fan meeting again."

"Hmph, silly..." Ye Wanqing patted his head and laughed. Xiao He lifted her chin and smiled, "Having just one fan like you is enough for me..."

"I'm not your fan, I'm your girlfriend." Ye Wanqing slapped his hand away. "Okay, okay, I want to eat pan-fried buns."

After everyone shared the food, the competition began.

As previously arranged, today's matches will be played by M Country, facing five teams in one day E Country Team, O Continent United Team, F Continent United Team, South M United Team, and Asian United Team. Among these, the relationship between Country O Continent and South America and M Country is rather ambiguous, so the outcome of their matches is uncertain. However, E Country, F Continent United Team, and Asian United Team will certainly not hold back.

The very first match of the season was between M Country and the F Continent United Team.

Although F Continent has a large population, it also has many poor countries. Most of the powerful Mutant have been poached by M Country. The remaining group, led by Egypt, joined forces with other small countries in the F Continent to participate in this competition.

The Mutant sent by M Country was "Werewolf" Victor, while the F Continent United Team sent "Tsar" Alba from Egypt. The two took turns on the field. M Country's Mutant was quite popular among foreign audiences, so there were some scattered cheers from the crowd.

"Very clever, sending out Mutant whose abilities have already been exposed," Cui Man said with a sneer, arms crossed.

"Old Xiao, have a steamed bun." Ye Wanqing picked up a steamed bun and fed it to Xiao He.

Xiao He leaned over and kissed her on the lips before eating the bun.

"Can't you be a little more mindful of your behavior..." Ye Wanqing slapped him a little in annoyance, while Xiao He playfully flicked her nose and teased, "Such a fragrant crab kiss, it makes the crab roe pan-fried dumplings even tastier."

Ye Wanqing blushed instantly, turned her head to the side and breathed on her hands to make sure she didn't have bad breath, looking both clumsy and adorable.

The competition then began. "Tsar" Alba was dressed like an ancient Egypt pharaoh, with makeup on his face. His Superpower was somewhat similar to Inorganic Matter Control, but not quite the same. His ability was more like injecting life force into inorganic matter; soil and sand formed a dozen soldiers in front of him.

Judging from the soldiers' attire, there were six archers, four spearmen, four great shieldmen, and two sword-and-shield soldiers. As soon as they were assembled, they immediately took their positions. The two sword-and-shield soldiers stood beside Alba as his guards, while in front of him were six archers, in front of the archers were four spearmen, and the four great shieldmen stood in front of the spearmen to defend.

As for Victor, it was much simpler. He immediately transformed into the same giant beast as before and roared as he pounced.

The four shield-bearers quickly adjusted their formation as Victor moved. Victor didn't bother with any fancy techniques and swung his claws forward. The four shield-bearers raised their shields to meet the attack, and with a "whoosh!" sound, gravel and sand flew everywhere.

Although Victor tore the shields of two of the shield bearers to shreds, Victor attack was still blocked. At this moment, the spearmen behind the shield bearers thrust their spears out from the gaps in the shields, piercing Victor's arm and chest.

Victor let out a painful roar and took two steps back, at which point the archers behind him immediately fired arrows at him.

"Wow... brilliant teamwork." Xiao He couldn't help but exclaim, grabbing a fried skewer.

The Sand Soldiers coordinated very well, but Xiao He knew that Alba couldn't win this Alba. The Sand Soldiers' attack power was too weak to inflict fatal damage on Victor, not to mention that Victor had self-healing abilities.

However, it wasn't easy for Victor to break through the sand soldiers' formation. The sand soldiers were like an impenetrable wall in front of Alba, and with perfect teamwork, they thwarted Victor's attacks time and time again.

This was a clash of brute force and skill. Victor charged around the field like a rhinoceros without using any technique, while Alba constantly used the Sand Soldiers to block Victor's attacks and launch counterattacks.

The shield bearers focused on defense, while the spearmen forced Victor to retreat and were unable to continuously suppress the shield bearers. The archers in the rear were responsible for ranged harassment, while the two sword and shield bearers simply guarded Alba's side to prevent Victor from getting close.

The battle reached a stalemate, and it all came down to who would make the first mistake.

About five minutes later, the moment to break the deadlock arrived, Alba sent out two of his personal guards.

"We lost." Xiao He shook his head and sighed. Alba had become impatient after failing to break through for a long time and sent his guards to participate in the attack, which left him vulnerable with only four archers.

Victor couldn't charge directly into Alba's sand soldiers before because of these two sword-and-shield elites. If he charged in, these two sword-and-shield elites would surround him with the spearmen, leaving Victor vulnerable to attacks from both sides. The accumulated damage would be too much for Victor to heal completely. But now that the sword-and-shield soldiers have joined the attack, Victor has no worries about his rear.

Therefore, Victor avoided the center of the shield bearers, smashed through one on the left, and forced his way into the encirclement, heading straight for Alba. At this moment, only four vulnerable archers stood between him and Alba. Just when Xiao He thought the match was over, Alba shouted at the two archers in front of him, "Promotion!"

The archers, who were originally wearing only simple armor, suddenly found themselves in heavy armor made of rocks. One archer's medium longbow became a heavy longbow, while the other's longbow became a repeating crossbow. Both of them also had a longsword at their waists, enabling them to engage in close combat.

"Turning ordinary sand soldiers into elites? This Superpower is quite interesting..." Xiao He thought to himself with great interest.

However, after Promotion the two archers, Alba appeared noticeably weaker; his face turned much paler, and he looked extremely frail.

"His Superpower must involve consuming his own life force to enhance the abilities of the sand soldiers," Xie Haining guessed from the side.

"Very likely..." Xiao He nodded.

"Isn't his ability a bit awkward? Weakening himself to enhance the Sand Soldiers' abilities," Han Tianyu asked, puzzled. "If the enemy breaks through the Sand Soldiers' defenses and attacks him directly, he's finished."

"This ability is still very strong, but it's just that it's countered by Mutant like Victor," Cui Man frowned. "To defeat Mutant like Werewolf, you need a powerful attack that can break through their defenses and self-healing abilities."

"Hmm..." Xiao He didn't actually think so. In his opinion, Alba still had a chance to win; it just depended on how much he was willing to pay. Since he could expend his life force to Promotion the sand soldiers, if he could also Promotion one or two shield soldiers and spearmen, he could easily inflict enough damage on Victor to affect his movements.

Of course, doing so would weaken Alba himself, but... Alba himself doesn't participate in the battle at all, so what if he's weakened? As long as Victor breaks through his sand soldiers, he'll still lose. Since that's the case, it's better to take a gamble. He doesn't understand why some people would rather lose than take a gamble. Not taking a gamble means death, but taking a gamble gives you a sliver of hope.

Just as Xiao He was about to point this out, the lights in the common room suddenly flashed red and a sharp alarm sounded, startling Xiao He so much that he almost dropped the skewers in his hand. "What's going on!?"

"There's an intruder..." Cui Man immediately stood up and ordered everyone present, "Put on your masks and come with me to the entrance to the Dragon Country contestants' area immediately!"

"Who's so fearless as to invade the Dragon Country's contestants' area?" Xiao He asked in astonishment, following the others upstairs. On the way Cui Man received a message from the security personnel upstairs. "What? He escaped!? Why didn't you stop him!"

After a brief exchange, Cui Man's expression turned serious. "I understand, we'll be there soon. Watch the exits and don't let anyone leave or enter the Dragon Country's players' rest area."