Above the ruins, Qi Tian's golden figure swayed slightly, but his presence grew ever more fierce.
He watched the indistinct Phantom before him, in no hurry to throw his next punch.
"Ander," Qi Tian's booming voice pierced the smoke and dust that filled the sky, "if you really were the strongest in the Safe Zone, you wouldn't have hidden in Zone 1 all these years like a frightened rat."
The voice from the Phantom opposite him remained calm. "Qi Tian, I don't understand what you're saying. I've merely been lying low for a grander plan."
"You don't understand? You're playing dumb."
Qi Tian snorted coldly. "Ten years ago, when Gu Weiyang first became Secretary-General, he would come and stay in Zone 1 every New Year's Day. You were clearly stronger than him, yet you stayed holed up in Zone 1 and never seized a single opportunity."
"This New Year's Day, Gu Weiyang died, and Qian Wendao appeared at the entrance to Zone 1 and humiliated you in public. You had the strength to stop him from leaving, but what did you do? You chose to smooth things over. Even when the people of Zone 1 mocked you, you swallowed the insult."
"Today, an old man with one foot in the grave tore down your lair and fought his way right to you. Yet even now, you're still testing the waters, holding back, and looking for a way out."
Qi Tian took a step forward, his presence surging with every sentence. "Ander, I've seen plenty of cautious people in my life. Even a lion uses its full strength to catch a rabbit, because it wants to leave nothing to chance. But someone like you, who calls himself the strongest in the Safe Zone, yet is always too frightened to move when