The Target Appears

Fang Heng sat obediently in his seat, as awkward as a child who had done something wrong.

Hudi circled around him, looking him over from top to bottom, then asked curiously, "That was Four-Winged Dance. Didn't you know?"

Fang Heng looked at him and shook his head blankly. "What Four-Winged Dance?" Hudi professionally pushed up his glasses, a glint flashing across the lenses. "How could you not know? Didn't you just use it?"

"Use... use what?"

"The technique of activating all four wings at once to make a Clockwork Sprite take off."

Only then did Fang Heng realize what he meant. "You mean the 'Flap Wings' technique?"

Flap Wings was the scientific name Roken-J-Rodlinka had given this skill. It was also the name of a stag beetle species in Luotao—incidentally, Ms. Rodlinka had been a highly sought-after catwoman in her era, as well as an entomological museum curator.

Hudi lowered his voice. "More or less. That's a technique only professional Combat Artificers know. You didn't know?"

Fang Heng blinked.

He felt rather innocent.

He had learned that technique from King of Ash's videos. King of Ash FOX had said it was a basic beginner technique—and Fang Heng had never doubted that.

But now, he realized that he seemed to have made a mistake in understanding.

As the tactical captain of North America's largest club, C-E Club, and the fifth-ranked Combat Artificer in the Second World, King of Ash FOX clearly had a rather different understanding of "basic beginner techniques" from ordinary people.

For ordinary people, basic beginner techniques meant introductory Combat Artificer techniques, the kind written plainly in the Chosen Combat Artificer Handbook.

But FOX's basic beginner techniques were the beginner techniques of the Second World's top Combat Artificers.

Once he understood that.

Fang Heng immediately realized just how "reliable" his earlier performance had been.

The moment he imagined the scene from before, he wanted nothing more than to find a crack in the ground and crawl into it.

And he had even felt good about himself, even deliberately held back—in front of so many people, he could imagine exactly what kind of looks everyone had given him.

Yes, he could imagine it perfectly.

The feeling was far too familiar.

Because Ms. Scarpe often looked at him that way—that was probably what people called humiliation.

No wonder Hudi had looked at him so strangely after he came down.

Fang Heng felt like crying without tears.

He could not help looking around suspiciously, convinced that everyone's eyes were on him and that people were still discussing him. It made him feel even more embarrassed. His face burned, and only after rubbing it hard with both hands did he calm down a little.

Still unwilling to let it go, he asked, "...Was my performance earlier really that eye-catching?"

"It was okay," Hudi answered. "You didn't see the referee's expression. That little dwarf nearly swallowed his whistle."

As he spoke, he could not help laughing. He patted Fang Heng on the shoulder and said, "But you really are something else, buddy. You didn't see how awful that fat bastard's face looked either. Haha, he probably never got shut down that badly before."

"He even threatened you, you know?" Hudi imitated Eternal Worm's expression and said vividly, "Don't piss your pants from fear later—"

"Haha!" He nearly doubled over laughing. "Do you know who scared whom into pissing their pants?"

Fang Heng looked speechlessly at this awful guy.

After quite a while, he finally asked, "Hudi, let me ask you another question..."

"Go ahead, buddy," Hudi replied, thumping his chest. "Forget one question. Even ten questions would be fine."

But Fang Heng was in no mood to joke with him. "Do you know the Star Gate Commando?"

"Of course I do. What's wrong?"

"Suppose—just suppose—a tourist sneaked out and got caught by them. What would happen?"

Hudi could not help touching Fang Heng's forehead. "You don't have a fever, do you, buddy? They'd obviously be repatriated. Do you even need to ask?"

"Oh—"

Hearing that entirely unsurprising answer, Fang Heng's heart gave a thump, and it felt as though it had skipped a beat.

He could not help glancing around—fortunately, he did not see any military personnel.

Even more fortunately, Hudi did not continue the topic, because the organizers had already prepared the arena for the second match. Everyone went over and gathered around to listen as the dwarf referee explained the rules for the second round.

The second round was an elimination match. The rules were far stricter than the first assessment round, with more points to note and a time limit—contestants had to complete the course within three minutes.

The second round was also conducted in groups, but there were only two groups. The qualifiers from Groups A and B from the previous round were merged into one group, with nine people total; the qualifiers from Groups C and D were merged into the second group, with eleven people. Although the two groups had different numbers of people, this was not a formal competition, so the organizers had no intention of balancing them.

There were four qualifying spots in the second elimination round, with the top two from each group advancing. Since there were fewer spots, the prize money was raised accordingly to five thousand Liselle.

But the news did not make most people happy.

Because the dwarf referee had just finished stating the rules, and the final one immediately caused a stir among the contestants.

This round required contestants to control two Clockwork Sprites and complete the course—

People immediately began complaining:

"This is ridiculous..."

"Yeah, this is clearly a competition for Tier 2 and below..."

Fang Heng could actually understand their complaints—dual control was not difficult for him, but below level fifteen, any Combat Artificer capable of controlling two Clockwork Sprites was absolutely among the best in the profession.

In fact, most Combat Artificers could not truly master multi-control and begin forming real combat capability until level seventeen or eighteen.

But complaints clearly were not enough to make the organizers change the rules. After their protests proved fruitless, those without dual-control ability could only withdraw voluntarily. The number of withdrawals slightly exceeded Fang Heng's expectations: there were seven in total.

After subtracting them from the previous numbers, only thirteen contestants remained in the arena.

What surprised Fang Heng even more was that Hudi was among them. The other man had bragged earlier that his fundamentals were solid. Now it seemed that might not have been empty talk. Dual control, and even multi-control, truly tested one's fundamentals.

Once the number of contestants was confirmed, the organizers quickly cleared the course. Because the operational difficulty had risen sharply, the arena for the second round was correspondingly much simpler. Unlike the three checkpoints in the first round, the second round had only a winding transparent tube. Contestants merely had to guide their Clockwork Sprites through the entire course within the time limit.

Their scores would then be determined by completion time.

However, to speed up the competition, there were two such courses, allowing two people to compete at once. Of the first two contestants, one was a somewhat skinny man with a black mole on his cheek and a rather sleazy appearance.

Fang Heng remembered him. He was one of the three qualifiers from Group A, and his skill level had been quite average. Honestly, Fang Heng was a little surprised to see him here. His control was even worse than Hudi's.

The other contestant was the woman called Blood Night Demon Moon. Her appearance drew a round of whistles. She did not care, flicked her hair, and walked forward with an easy, graceful air.

But this woman did indeed have some skill. Once the referee blew his whistle, she quickly sent her two Clockwork Sprites into the air one after the other, then smoothly guided them into the tube.

Naturally, the impressive maneuver drew a burst of applause.

But when Fang Heng saw it, a glimmer flashed through his dark eyes. He noticed that the woman had actually used a small trick. Her own ability should not have been enough for dual control, but she had borrowed the system's automated control function, controlling the two Clockwork Sprites one after the other and barely achieving the effect of dual control.

This kind of dual control was meaningless in actual combat, but here, it was enough.

Moreover, her transitions were very tight. She had clearly practiced for a long time, and ordinary people might not have been able to spot it. If Fang Heng had not been so familiar with the movement paths of Clockwork Sprites, he would not have noticed either.

The other contestant, however, performed rather poorly. After making the first Clockwork Sprite take off, the man spent a long time trying and failing to get the second one airborne. In the end, he could only withdraw helplessly.

Thus, in the first match, Blood Night Demon Moon became the first person to complete the course, with a time of one minute and seventeen seconds.

The result drew another round of whistles.

Hudi quietly told Fang Heng that a result like that was not merely impressive tonight—it was among the best results of the entire past month. Fang Heng saw that several people outside the arena were probably the woman's companions. They waved frantically and cheered loudly.

Blood Night Demon Moon nodded to them, then returned her Clockwork Sprites and went back to her seat with a confident expression. At the same time, she cast a glance in Fang Heng's direction.

Fang Heng pretended not to see it.

He did not dare draw any attention at all now.

As for the failed contestant, after dejectedly handing his Clockwork Sprites back to the organizers, he left the arena without looking back. The somewhat bleak sight undoubtedly made the atmosphere more solemn, and even the contestants' murmuring grew quieter.

The second match was Hudi's turn. Fang Heng had initially worried for him, but to his surprise, Hudi performed fairly well. He completed the course smoothly and recorded a time of one minute and forty-seven seconds.

But that result would likely still be insufficient to place in the top two of his group. Hudi knew there was still that fat bastard behind him, and he shook his head after watching.

He walked back somewhat dejectedly and said to Fang Heng, "Now it's up to you."

Fang Heng looked at him, unsure how to comfort him, and could only nod.

But seeing his expression, Hudi suddenly burst out laughing. "Buddy, you really aren't humble at all—sure, I know your single-control ability is pretty good, but you've heard that saying, right? 'Skill in controlling a single Flexible Construct does not represent your multi-control ability.' It's a famous saying among Combat Artificers in the Second World."

Of course Fang Heng had heard it.

But he did not know how to explain his situation to Hudi, so he could only nod helplessly again.

"You've got quite a good temper." Hudi shook his head and sat down beside him.

The third match came next, and Hudi's and Blood Night Demon Moon's records were both broken as expected. The one who broke Blood Night Demon Moon's time record was naturally Eternal Worm. Though Fang Heng thought the man was not quite right in the head, his strength was undeniably the best among Groups A and B.

Unlike Blood Night Demon Moon, he truly used dual control. Naturally, relying on that advantage, he completed the course nearly ten seconds ahead of her.

The other contestant also beat Hudi's result with a time of one minute and thirty seconds, but compared to the first and second places in the first group, his result meant little.

Thus, one minute and seven seconds became the best record of the first group.

Not long afterward, the fourth and fifth matches from Groups C and D began one after another. However, a small incident occurred during the fifth match. Both contestants crashed into the walls of their tubes and were eliminated, drawing a long round of boos from the audience.

The booing did not die down until the contestants from the sixth match took the field.

Because one of the sixth match's contestants was none other than Contestant Number Six, wrapped from head to toe. Naturally, people had not forgotten the spectacular Clockwork Sprite battle between him and Fang Heng earlier.

And he had been first in Group D, though people had only remembered who had placed third in Group D at the time.

The youth carried his Clockwork Sprites to the front of the stage and quietly waited for the referee's whistle. Only then did he gently toss the Clockwork Sprites in his hands upward—both sprites rose simultaneously in nearly identical graceful arcs, as if dancing side by side, spinning once in midair.

They maintained exactly the same rhythm and flew out along the shortest route, tracing beautiful arcs into the tube. Their movements were so perfectly synchronized that to onlookers, they seemed like two golden trails merging into one, nearly impossible to distinguish.

The surroundings fell silent.

People stared blankly at the scene. It took several seconds before they recovered, then a tidal wave of astonished cries erupted—not because they were making a fuss over nothing, but because what they had seen this time was not merely Four-Winged Dance.

Nor was it merely a short-path takeoff.

It was the same maneuver under dual-control conditions: two Four-Winged Dances and two short-path takeoffs.

Since precise operations themselves occupied one's attention, if he omitted them, this youth might have had enough room left to control a third Clockwork Sprite—even if only barely.

But triple control—

People were stunned.

Triple control was not unheard of in the First World, but it absolutely should not appear below Tier 3. As for those capable of triple control at Tier 2, people only needed to count down from the top of the Chosen One ladder:

Every Combat Artificer within the top five hundred could do it.

Beyond that, it was no longer guaranteed.

"That guy... he doesn't seem very old..."

Only after quite a while did people seem to realize that.

Everyone's eyes gleamed brightly, as if they had witnessed the birth of a genius.

When Mazak pushed through the crowd to the very front, this was exactly the sight he saw. Zhang Tianmou and his subordinate squeezed in behind him, their gazes also falling upon the youth.

The moment the latter saw this, his eyes froze.

Triple control was no accident.

"You didn't inspect this person earlier?" he immediately turned and asked his subordinate.

His subordinate shook his head in confusion. "I've never seen him before. Where did this guy come from?"

Zhang Tianmou immediately pulled a crystal pendant from his collar, clenched it, then released it. Only after the communication interface appeared did he lower his voice and say, "All units, attention. The target has appeared—"

At that moment, Mazak suddenly asked, "Is it him?"

His voice was very slow, as if it trembled faintly.

Zhang Tianmou was just about to say yes.

But then he stopped.

Because he realized that the towering man beside him was staring intensely at someone who was not their target.

Following the other man's gaze, he saw the youth standing in the contestants' area, making preparations to take the field. Judging from his movements, he was merely a somewhat inexperienced, innocent young man.

If not for that distinctive mask on his face.

He might truly have thought so.

"Captain, it's that idiot," his subordinate said quietly beside him. "...He actually made it to the second round."

Zhang Tianmou nodded.

At that very moment, the dwarf referee was shouting shrilly through a loudspeaker:

"Contestant D12, please enter the field immediately!"

Behind him, a little goblin was hanging up Contestant Number Six's result—forty-nine seconds.

A chorus of sharp breaths.

Sorry, sorry. I chatted in the group too late last night, so I'm too embarrassed to ask for votes today. Well, I'm a reasonable man.