Bang!
A string of glaring red damage numbers burst above Dugu Bo's head. His virtual body shattered into a storm of blue data!
"First elimination match, winner: Ning Rongrong!"
Lin Ye's announcement echoed across the arena.
"Yeah! I won! Money power for the win!"
Ning Rongrong blew on the smoking muzzle, planted her hands on her hips, and struck an unbearably smug victory pose.
"Cheating! That girl definitely cheated!"
Dugu Bo sprang up in a fury, his long dark-green hair bristling like a hedgehog's quills.
He pointed at Ning Rongrong and shouted at Ning Fengzhi and Chen Xin in the stands. "Does the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect have no shame?! You two spent three days scavenging in the game just to buy that little girl gear even bullets can't penetrate?! Is this a fight or a contest of who has more money?!"
"Ahem... Well fought, Senior Dugu! Strategy is part of the fight too."
Ning Fengzhi rubbed his nose guiltily. After all, it hardly sounded dignified for a sect master to have spent three days playing a ruthless construction boss in a game.
Tang San, seated on a little plastic stool, could no longer hear a word of their argument.
He stared at Ning Rongrong's Gorilla Arms on the screen, the ones that had just withstood a scorching Katana strike. His eyes reddened as he muttered obsessively, "Metal skeleton... subdermal armor... no Soul Power, yet it withstands extreme heat and slashing... If the Tang Sect could use this technology..."
Tang San's fingers flew across his notebook as he tried to learn its secrets.
"All right, that's the first match! Next up, match two."
Lin Ye gave them little time to catch their breath. The portraits on the holographic screen began to scroll again.
Left: Zhu Zhuqing!
Right: Xue Qinghe (Qian Renxue)!
"Whoa—!"
Another wave of astonished cries erupted from the stands.
This matchup promised every bit as much excitement as the first!
Zhu Zhuqing took off her little pink apron, folded it carefully, and placed it on the cashier's counter. Battle lust kindled in her catlike eyes.
She had waited far too long for this day—for a chance to make real the power that could change her fate!
Across the room, Qian Renxue rose gracefully and smiled at the crowd.
"Miss Zhu Qing, you've worked hard, but... against overwhelming resources, hard work often counts for nothing." Qian Renxue chuckled.
Over the past three days, she had mobilized the entire Heaven Dou Imperial Knights to scour the Badlands for mines and toil at menial jobs. When it came to funds, she could hold her own against Ning Rongrong!
Whoosh!
Two flashes of white light streaked across the helipad atop Arasaka Tower, and two figures appeared.
At the sight of Qian Renxue, everyone saw that heavy subdermal armor had bulked out her once-slender frame.
Both her hands had been replaced by projectile launch systems built for sheer destructive power!
A Legendary Defender heavy machine gun hung across her back!
Where was the refined, mild-mannered crown prince? She looked like a walking artillery platform!
Zhu Zhuqing, by contrast...
She still wore a close-fitting black night outfit and did not even carry a gun.
The only things that stood out were the faint metallic seams along her forearms—Mantis Blades—and the top-tier implant glowing blue at her spine: a Legendary Falcon Sandevistan!
"Zhu Qing... how are you supposed to fight that...?"
In a corner of the stands, Dai Mubai clutched his hair in despair as he watched Qian Renxue loom like a descending demon.
His account had been banned, but seeing his fiancée face such terrifying firepower still tore at his heart.
"Begin!"
BOOM!!!
The instant Lin Ye finished speaking, Qian Renxue raised both arms without bothering to test her opponent!
Terrifying fire spewed from the projectile launch systems in her arms!
Five or six devastating high-explosive micro-missiles rained toward Zhu Zhuqing, blanketing her position!
"Your speed means nothing against overwhelming firepower!" Qian Renxue sneered confidently.
"Does it?"
Zhu Zhuqing's cold voice came through the spreading smoke.
Hummm!!!
That pale-blue energy wave that sent shivers through everyone's soul descended on the arena once more!
But Zhu Zhuqing's Sandevistan was in another league from Dugu Bo's, both in quality and in how skillfully she wielded it!
Time did not merely slow. It came close to... stopping!
The deadly high-explosive missiles in midair seemed to crawl like snails.
Every flicker of flame from their exhausts was visible in exquisite detail.
And within that frozen space, where even breathing felt difficult, Zhu Zhuqing moved!
She did not dodge. She drove off with both legs, her reinforced tendons working with the Hell Spirit Cat's extraordinary flexibility. Becoming a streak of black lightning, she boldly stepped across the slowly flying missiles and charged straight at Qian Renxue, a dark reaper dancing on knife edges!
"Wh-what kind of absurd movement technique is that?!" Chen Xin shot to his feet in the stands, his jaw nearly hitting the floor.
Using someone else's Hidden Weapons as stepping stones?
What kind of genius even thought of that?!
"A Sandevistan? I have a countermeasure!"
Though Qian Renxue's movements were sluggish in the slowed time, her modified Kiroshi Optical Eyes caught Zhu Zhuqing's movements.
With an angry shout, she activated another piece of Legendary Cyberware: Optical Camo!
Whoosh!
To everyone's astonishment, Qian Renxue's massive, turret-like figure vanished in midair!
She blended completely into the surrounding air, leaving not a trace of her presence!
Qian Renxue was nowhere to be seen in the arena.
"Invisibility?! Absolute invisibility that even my Purple Demon Eyes can't see through?!" Tang San gasped in the stands.
If technology like that were used for assassination... he hardly dared imagine it!
"It's over!"
Qian Renxue's ethereal voice, thick with killing intent, sounded from the empty air.
The barrel of the Defender heavy machine gun was already aimed at Zhu Zhuqing's back from within the void!
One pull of the trigger, and a storm of metal powerful enough to shred steel would riddle Zhu Zhuqing with holes!
"Zhu Qing! Dodge!!!"
Dai Mubai screamed desperately from the stands, tears spilling from his eyes.
Yet Zhu Zhuqing, at the heart of the storm, showed no panic on her beautiful face.
Cold mockery flashed through her catlike eyes.
"Did you think... all I did these past three days was take bounties alone in the Badlands and kill people?"
Whoosh!
In midair, Zhu Zhuqing twisted her waist in a way that seemed to defy physics!
She did not look behind her. Instead, she closed her eyes and relied on the Hell Spirit Cat's keen instincts and another hidden piece of cyberware she had bought at great expense—a Threat Detector. She locked on to the faint signal of a gun warming up in the empty air!
Click—shing!
Two Mantis Blades sprang from her forearms!
Zhu Zhuqing swung backward. In the final second of slowed time, two dazzling crossing slashes cut into the seemingly empty air!
Slash!
Blood sprayed!
Her invisibility broken, Qian Renxue staggered into view.
The Legendary heavy machine gun in her hands, along with her Gorilla Arms, had been sliced cleanly in two by Zhu Zhuqing's blade!
Beep—
The sharp, icy tip of a Mantis Blade stopped at Qian Renxue's throat.
Another millimeter, and the crown prince of the Heaven Dou Empire would have lost her head.
"Your Highness, you lost!"
Zhu Zhuqing slowly opened her eyes and delivered the verdict, her gaze cold as she looked at Qian Renxue's incredulous face.
"Second elimination match, winner: Zhu Zhuqing!"
Lin Ye's voice rang out, and the Internet Cafe erupted in cheers!
"She won! Zhu Qing won!"
Dai Mubai dropped to his knees and cried like a giant fool.
His fiancée's blade had not been aimed at him, yet he felt even more elated than if he had won himself.
"Damn it..."
Qian Renxue took off her headset in frustration, defeat written all over her face.
She had brought over a hundred people to earn money, only to lose to a solo assassin?!
"All right, the first half of the elimination matches is over! Our two winners are Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing."
Lin Ye picked up the microphone, looked at the two excited girls, and revealed the day's greatest surprise:
"In ten minutes, the final begins! The winner will immediately choose one ordinary item she owns in the game, and this Internet Cafe will turn it into a real, physical object on the spot!"
Before you continue