No Choice but to Call for Backup

Bang! Bang!

Two figures lay sprawled on the bluestone road of South City Backstreet, each flat on his back with his arms and legs spread wide.

"Ow... my back..."

Dai Mubai clutched his lower back and rolled on the ground in pain.

Tang San lay beside him, staring blankly at the clouds drifting across the sky.

His mind kept replaying the footage from the big screen: a gun firing a solid blue round through a half-meter-thick load-bearing wall, and Dugu Yan's smart rifle automatically tracking heads.

"The Tang Sect Hidden Weapons... lost? Is my Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record really no better than a child's toy against this power called technology?" Tang San's worldview had shattered. He looked as though he had lost his soul, muttering nonsense no one could understand.

At the Internet Cafe entrance, Poison Douluo Dugu Bo dusted off his hands in disgust, as though he had just thrown out two bags of trash.

"Two brats who don't know their place, causing trouble on Boss Lin's turf! Come within half a step of this shop again, and I'll let you taste Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison!"

Having dutifully fulfilled his security duties, Dugu Bo immediately put on a fawning smile and hurried back into the Internet Cafe. He rubbed his hands together before Lin Ye. "Boss, I did a decent job as your guard, didn't I? Well... I've used up my six hours of playtime today, but could you let me stand here and watch Yan play?"

"Sure. As long as you stay quiet, you can enjoy the playthrough from the sidelines." Lin Ye waved a generous hand.

By now, the mood inside the Internet Cafe had swiftly turned tense and competitive.

"Boss Lin, you said the Grand Prix will use our current game saves, right?" Qian Renxue stepped up to the counter, calculation in her eyes.

"That's right." Lin Ye nodded. "The competition starts in three days. The system will read your character data directly from Cyberpunk 2077. The higher your level, the stronger your cyberware, and the better your weapons, the greater your chances of winning."

At that, all four women's expressions changed.

Zhu Zhuqing knitted her brows.

She was using the most basic Sandevistan. Its cooldown was long, and its duration was short.

If she wanted a sure win, she had to buy the legendary Zetatech Sandevistan!

But that piece of top-tier gear cost tens of thousands of Euros!

"Damn it! We only get six hours a day. Even if I spend every minute taking bounties and scavenging in Night City, there's no way I can save enough Euros for Legendary Cyberware in three days!" Dugu Yan tugged at her hair in frustration. The Metabolic Editor she had her eye on also cost a fortune.

Ning Rongrong was dumbfounded too.

She had thought signing up would be enough to get top-tier equipment. Now it was clear this was a contest of who could grind the hardest!

But how could that stump the little witch of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect?

Ning Rongrong's big eyes darted about.

"Boss, you only said we can play six hours a day. You never said other people can't give me money and equipment in the game, right? Night City has a Trading System!"

Ning Rongrong's words stunned everyone!

Qian Renxue turned to look at her and instantly understood what the girl had in mind.

She wanted to recruit an army of people to earn money in the game and fund her character?!

"Boss! Paper and pen, please!" Ignoring everyone's murderous looks, Ning Rongrong dashed off an urgent plea for help and shoved it into the hands of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect guard protecting her outside.

"Quick! Get this letter back to the sect as fast as you can! Give it to my father and Sword Grandpa! Tell them I, Ning Rongrong, am being bullied half to death in Heaven Dou City. Have them bring Gold Soul Coins and hurry to Origin Internet Cafe to rescue me!"

Hearing that the little princess was being bullied, the guard nearly jumped out of his skin. He summoned his flying Martial Soul and streaked toward the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

"Ning Rongrong, you're cheating!" Dugu Yan gritted her teeth.

Her grandfather might be a Titled Douluo, but the Dugu family had only one heir in each generation. They couldn't begin to match the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's manpower and resources!

"It's called making good use of the rules! Call in some help yourself if you can!" Ning Rongrong stuck out her tongue triumphantly.

Just two hours later.

Boom!

A towering sword intent that seemed capable of cleaving Heaven Dou City in two suddenly erupted above South City Backstreet!

A brilliant streak of swordlight descended like a meteor and slammed down outside Origin Internet Cafe, stamping two deep footprints into the hard bluestone!

"Who dares bully my Rongrong? Come out and die!"

The furious shout rolled like thunder.

The newcomer wore spotless white robes, and his hair and beard were pure white. He looked like a peerless divine sword drawn from its sheath, too dazzling to look at directly.

He was Sword Douluo—Chen Xin, one of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's two great pillars!

Behind him stood a dignified, elegant middle-aged man: Ning Fengzhi, sect master of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

"Uncle Sword, wait. Let's find out what happened to Rongrong first." Ning Fengzhi tried to remain calm, but he couldn't hide the anxiety in his eyes.

The letter had said his precious daughter was being bullied half to death. The two of them hadn't even taken the time to activate the Sect Grand Formation before flying straight here on Chen Xin's sword!

"What is there to find out? They dared imprison the princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect! I'll level this den with one sword strike!"

Desperate to protect Rongrong, Chen Xin formed a sword seal with his right hand. The phantom of a Seven Kill Sword, radiating terrifying pressure, suddenly gathered behind him, and nine dazzling Soul Rings shot skyward!

"Break!"

Chen Xin held two fingers together like a sword and thrust them toward the Internet Cafe's door!

Seven Kill Sword Qi powerful enough to shear off a mountaintop became a hundred-meter streak of blinding white light and hurtled forward with unstoppable force!

Inside the Internet Cafe.

Qian Renxue, Dugu Bo, Zhu Zhuqing, and the others held their breath as they watched the devastating sword energy outside.

Bzzzt!

As expected, the system's absolute defense field activated again with its usual indifference.

The blinding white light touched the glass door.

Like a drop of water falling into the sea, the Seven Kill Sword Qi—powerful enough to kill an ordinary Titled Douluo in an instant—was erased by supreme rules. It dwindled into a few faint sparks and vanished.

"What?!" Chen Xin stared in disbelief.

Before he could react, an invisible force of rules had already spread through the air and reached him.

Crack.

Just as it had done to Poison Douluo a few hours earlier.

The nine Soul Rings behind Chen Xin shattered in an instant, and the vast ocean of Soul Power within him was abruptly cut off.

The world-renowned swordmaster's legs buckled, and he dropped to one knee on the Internet Cafe's threshold.

"Uncle Sword!" Ning Fengzhi cried in alarm and moved to help him, only to discover that his Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Martial Soul seemed locked down tight. He couldn't summon it at all!

"What... what kind of Evil Formation is this?!" Chen Xin's face turned deathly pale. For the first time, his sword heart felt utterly insignificant.

While these two great figures of the Douluo Continent questioned everything they knew.

The Internet Cafe door swung open.

Ning Rongrong ran out excitedly with a bottle of chilled Cola in her hand.

"Sword Grandpa! Dad! You're finally here! Did you bring the money?!"

Ning Fengzhi and Chen Xin stared at their precious daughter, who looked even livelier than she did back at the sect. Both were dumbfounded.

"Rongrong? You... you weren't kidnapped? Didn't your letter say you were being bullied half to death?!" Ning Fengzhi asked, utterly baffled.

"Well, I practically am!"

Ning Rongrong dragged them both into the Internet Cafe and pointed at the exorbitantly priced cyberware on the big screen, stamping her foot in frustration. "The competition is in three days! Zhu Zhuqing wants to buy a Sandevistan, and Xue Qinghe wants Gorilla Arms! If they win the first prize weapon and take it into the real world, where will that leave my reputation?!"

"Dad! Sword Grandpa! Hurry up and pay for accounts! You don't need to learn how to play or fight!"

Ning Rongrong stuffed a headset into each of their hands:

"Once you're in the game, go pick up junk off the streets. Find places where gangs have fought and collect the weapons they dropped, then sell everything to the shops for Euros! Don't spend a single Euro. Transfer it all to my character through the Trading System!"

"For the next three days, you're going to help me win the first Grand Prix!"

Everyone in the Internet Cafe was stunned to see Ning Rongrong ordering a peerless Douluo around like a laborer.

She wanted a Titled Douluo to pick up junk in a game?!

What kind of deranged cyber exploitation was this?!

Qian Renxue stood in the corner, watching Ning Fengzhi and Chen Xin start making characters under Ning Rongrong's relentless urging. A powerful sense of crisis welled up inside her.

No... those cheaters from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect are gaming the system!

Qian Renxue gritted her teeth, turned to the Guard Captain behind her, and issued a cold order in a low voice:

"Pass on my orders. Assemble the hundred most elite members of the Heaven Dou Imperial Knights at once... no! Notify the Bishop of Spirit Hall stationed in Heaven Dou City. Summon every available Archbishop here!"

"Bring plenty of Gold Soul Coins and book every machine in this Internet Cafe! I'm forming the Night City First Legion. That Grand Prix champion's Materialization Reward will be mine alone!"