"Clear!"
After giving her instructions, Zhuang Silin hurriedly left.
Xu Jintang and the others had overcome their drowsiness and were having trouble sleeping, so they huddled together in the living room to chat quietly.
"Do you think this will affect our competition?" Yan Yuting muttered, leaning back on the sofa.
Holding a doll in her arms, Xu Jintang replied blankly, "I don't know."
"But all in all, we didn't lose out. I won quite a few prizes playing the undercover assassin game with the class monitor, so we can split them together." Xue Zhongqi said as he took out all the prizes he had won that day.
Several bottles of potions and inscribed magical artifacts appeared on the table.
Xu Jintang snapped out of her daze, sat up straight, and took all the prizes out of her bracelet. "They're all here. You can choose whatever you want, just give me the rest."
Yan Yuting and Song Tianqi, who had been listless, immediately gathered around the table and began picking out gifts.
"So many good items! The players on the other teams are quite skilled."
"I made a profit! I didn't do anything and I still got a prize!"
Song Tianqi and Yan Yuting began to express their feelings in a back-and-forth exchange.
It continued until evening, after 3 a. m.
After choosing his prize, Song Tianqi finally couldn't hold on any longer. He clutched his chest and waved his hand, "I can't take it anymore, my heart is racing, I'm about to die from overwork, I have to go to sleep."
Yan Yuting nodded, "Let's go to sleep. Everyone, go back to your rooms."
The five dispersed, Xu Jintang returned to his room alone, entering the cultivation room and sitting cross-legged.
She originally planned to use cultivation instead of rest.
But as soon as I try to calm down, I keep thinking about the explosion, and I can't get into the right mindset at all.
After thinking for a moment, Xu Jintang summoned the Green-Membrane Archaeopteryx. "You analyze this for me, how could the Reform Society be involved with the black market and the organizers of the Ability User Competition?"
The Green-Membrane Archaeopteryx impatiently flapped its wings, "How am I supposed to know? You humans have so many ulterior motives, always scheming and plotting. If I could figure it out, would I have ended up as a contracted beast? I am the dignified Peak Eighth Tier demon beast king..."
"Alright, shut up." Xu Jintang waved her hand, interrupting him.
The Green-Membrane Archaeopteryx gave a speechless snort and immediately went back to sleep in its pet space.
Xu Jintang leaned back on the sofa, his hands behind his head, lost in thought.
The more I thought about it, the more something seemed off.
The black market boss is Ninth Tier expert; how could he be completely unaware of a stranger suddenly appearing in the scene?
Secondly, this Reform Society is probably not a simple political party. As a result, it acted like a bunch of hotheads, risking being discovered by Ninth Tier ability user, and came to cause trouble in the black market.
The funniest thing is that the Reform Society actually succeeded in blowing it up, but there were no casualties.
In this way, it seems like neither the black market boss nor the Reform Society members have any intelligence.
Xu Jintang rubbed his temples.
After figuring out the whole logic, I finally felt sleepy, got up, lay down on the bed, and fell asleep.
The following morning, the Federation Administration Bureau, which had been conducting a thorough investigation into the explosion overnight, released a related announcement online.
[The perpetrators of the recent underground black Mirage explosion have been identified as members of the Reform Society. The Reform Society has been active recently; citizens are advised to be vigilant when visiting large public places. Please report any suspicious individuals immediately.]
At the same time, Xu Jintang also received official news about the Ability User Competition.
An entire team in their bracket was labeled as members of the Reform Society and disqualified from the competition.
Therefore, the current situation is that the next round of the knockout stage in the upper bracket will have one more team receiving a bye.
As for which team will receive a bye, that will be determined by random draw.
"If I could get a bye, that would be awesome. I'd advance to the quarterfinals without even having to play," Song Tianqi muttered to himself, his hands behind his head.
Yan Yuting sighed, "Anyway, don't get your hopes up too high. With our luck, the chances of getting a bye are definitely slim."
Xue Zhongqi shook the fan in his hand, "That's not necessarily true, maybe we'll be the ones to draw it."
Xu Jintang stroked his chin, his mind still replaying yesterday's Reform Society.
Seeing that she didn't speak, Jiang Shiyi turned her head and asked, "Still thinking about yesterday?"
Xu Jintang took a deep breath and nodded in response, "Yeah, I always felt that the staff member who accidentally dropped the badge that day did it on purpose."
Once reformers get involved, they're guaranteed a place in the Administration Bureau's prison.
How could someone be so careless as to accidentally knock over the champagne stand and then accidentally drop their badge?
Before committing evil deeds, shouldn't bad people hide their identities first?
"This was a hasty decision, but it seems the Administration Bureau have already closed the matter. It's difficult to convince Administration Bureau to continue the investigation based solely on our speculation," Jiang Shiyi said calmly.
Xu Jintang shook his head. "Forget it, it has nothing to do with us anyway."
After saying that, she immediately stood up and clapped her hands. "Let's go, let's go draw lots."
Five people are
Quick Transmigration
Dressed neatly, wearing the ghost mask, they headed to the competition venue.
The explosion sparked much controversy and also brought considerable attention to the Ability User Competition.
Xu Jintang led the team into the team waiting area.
The members of the Soul Awakening Team stood at the very front.
Xiao Linghe noticed Xu Jintang and the others and walked over to greet them, "Didn't you sleep well last night either?"
Although he couldn't see Xu Jintang and the others' faces, he guessed that most of the people who witnessed last night's explosion probably didn't sleep well.
Xu Jintang calmly replied, "It's alright."
"Don't you... find this strange?" Xiao Linghe asked tentatively.
Yan Yuting and Xue Zhongqi exchanged a glance.
The two of them looked at each other with an expression of "I don't understand," and each glanced away.
Teacher Zhuang already warned us yesterday not to get involved in this matter.
Song Tianqi scratched his head and pretended to be stupid, glancing around at his surroundings.
Only Xu Jintang replied, "What's strange about it?"
Xiao Linghe originally wanted to discuss this matter in more detail, but seeing that the five of them all seemed unwilling to bring it up, he didn't want to force the topic.
He looked down, touched his nose, and chuckled dryly, "It's nothing."
Before long, Li Xiang appeared before the various teams.
As usual, he was dressed in a gentleman's suit, sporting his signature toothy smile. "Hello everyone, welcome to the draw for the quarterfinals."
"Regarding the team bye, you should all have received the news. That's right, in this round of the quarterfinals, one team will receive a bye and will advance directly."
"To ensure fairness, we will be changing this lottery event to an on-site draw."
Xu Jintang glanced at the people next to him, "Who's going to draw a ticket?"
Yan Yuting immediately shook her head, "I can't do it, my luck is too bad."
Xue Zhongqi tentatively suggested, "Should I do it?"
Before he could even take a step, Song Tianqi pulled him back, saying, "Stop it, your luck isn't even as good as Yuting's."
Xu Jintang looked at Jiang Shiyi, " Sister Shiyi is here?"
Jiang Shiyi shook her head. "I've always had bad luck."
"Since that's the case, then I'll have to go. Don't blame me if I don't get it." Xu Jintang immediately distanced himself from the situation.
The sound of the five people declining each other's turn to draw lots could be heard from the Soul Awakening Team next door.
Xiao Linghe rolled up his sleeves and volunteered, "I've been having good luck lately, I'll do the drawing this time."
As the team leader, the others naturally had no objections.
Ten minutes later, each team sent one representative to draw lots.
Xu Jintang was the first in line. Before drawing her lot, she rubbed her hands together, blew warm air into her palms, and then reached into the lottery box.
After randomly picking up a bamboo skewer, he took it out without hesitation and showed it to Li Xiang.
The air froze for two seconds.
Li Xiang himself was also stunned for a moment, then came to his senses and announced with a smile, "Congratulations, the Mask Squad has drawn a bye, and they will advance directly to the quarterfinals in this round!"
The teams waiting in line for the draw. "??"
Chapter 98
Xu Jintang paused for half a second, then hesitantly looked away at the bye ticket in his hand.
Li Xiang smiled again and reminded them, "Congratulations, your team will advance directly to the next round of the competition."
Xu Jintang's thoughts returned, and she coughed lightly, "Okay."
She placed the bye sign on the table, and under everyone's gaze, turned and returned to her team.
Song Tianqi immediately rushed over excitedly, "Squad leader, you're amazing! That was incredible luck!"
"So we're advancing directly?" Yan Yuting's eyes widened, her tone full of surprise.
Xue Zhongqi and Jiang Shiyi exchanged a glance.
The two remained relatively calm.
Xu Jintang replied, "Okay, we'll just watch the next round of elimination matches."
Yan Yuting and Song Tianqi immediately hugged and cheered excitedly.
"We've made a fortune this time." Yan Yuting thought of the bets they had placed in the underground black market and felt a surge of joy.
The odds of advancing to the quarterfinals should be 1 to 20. She bet 10,000 star coins and made back 200,000.
The other teams around them began to look at them with complicated expressions.
Reaching the quarterfinals is a huge hurdle; in every major tournament, the teams fight tooth and nail at this stage.
As it turned out Mask Squad had incredible luck, drawing a bye in their first draw.
Xiao Linghe shook his head helplessly, returned to the team, and spread his hands, "There's nothing I can do, they didn't even give me a chance to draw."
The other team members exchanged smiles. "It's okay, we can make it to the semifinals with our skills."
That afternoon, the news that the Mask Squad had won a bye was announced online.
[Damn! I was really looking forward to the Mask Squad's next match, how come they got a bye!]
[Hahahaha, I've struck it rich! I placed a bet at the black market casino that the Mask Squad would advance to the top eight. I wasn't expecting to make money, but I've hit the jackpot!]