[Ding-The round of 32 is over. Players who advanced have ten minutes to rest. Please follow the dealers to the waiting lounge for your next opponent assignment. Eliminated players, please leave the competition area and return to the main hall as soon as possible.]
The Star Gate's cold notification rang in every competing player's ears, and the closed gambling-room doors swung open one after another. Some emerged brimming with excitement, feeling refreshed from head to toe; others looked utterly lost, their faces lifeless.
The round of 32 had lasted about an hour. It had been brutal. Some had lost arms or legs and been permanently crippled, while several others had never left their gambling rooms at all.
God knew what they had gone through...
"Fuck me, my luck was absolute shit. I was winning the whole time and only lost that last hand." A young man walking down the exit corridor cursed in frustration. "I should've played it safe. If I hadn't called on that last hand, I would've made the top sixteen!"
"Quit bitching. None of us is God. If I'd known how this would end, I wouldn't have fucking entered this Star Gate."
"Who the fuck do you think you are? I'm talking to myself. What's it to you?"
"Can't I find you annoying?"
"Then go die, you stupid cunt."
"Who are you calling a cunt?!"
"You!"
Thump!
The young man wasted no more breath and went straight in with a punch.
Thud!
The other man refused to take it lying down, throwing him to the ground with a Tieling-style leg trip.
Both gamblers were seeing red after their losses and seething with frustration. After barely exchanging a few hostile words, they started brawling in the corridor, fighting viciously.
Ren Ye silently passed them, watching as