The day after the competition ended, Xu Jintang and his group of five discreetly went to the underground black market to exchange their bets.
"The casino owner has really lost big this time. Who told him to be so arrogant and offer odds of 1 to 100?"
"No, who would have thought the Mask Squad would actually win the championship in the end?"
"Anyway, I joined in the fun and placed quite a few bets. At a 1 to 100 payout, I made 100,000 star coins overnight, which was like becoming rich overnight, hahaha."
Xu Jintang quietly joined the end of the line.
The other four followed suit.
The man in front of Xu Jintang suddenly turned around and gave her a curious look.
"Girl, you also bet on the Mask Squad to win?"
Xu Jintang paused for a moment, then nodded, "Mm."
A smug smile immediately spread across the man's face. "Let me tell you, I knew the Mask Squad would win. When I bet on them to win, several friends said I was stupid, but now I'm the only one who's profited."
Xu Jintang became interested and looked up curiously, "How did you guess that the Mask Squad would win?"
"Intuition. My intuition is usually very accurate." The man immediately patted his chest, adopting a confident demeanor.
"Isn't that just pure luck?" Xu Jintang chuckled. "Impressive, impressive."
"Girl, why did you bet on the Mask Squad?" the man continued to ask.
Xu Jintang returned his smiley face, "It's just a gut feeling. I don't know why, but I just feel that the Mask Squad is bound to win the championship."
The man patted Xu Jintang on the shoulder readily, "We're destined to meet."
Just as he was about to start calling him "brother," Xu Jintang immediately pointed ahead, "Our turn is coming soon."
The man quickly turned around and began to focus intently on the line in front of him.
After waiting in line for about fifteen minutes, it was finally Xu Jintang group of five's turn to exchange their bets.
The casino owner's expression had become completely numb; he glanced at Xu Jintang and his group of five with a look of utter despair. "Give me the betting slips."
Xu Jintang smiled slightly and presented the receipts with both hands.
The casino owner glanced down at the receipt, and after seeing the numbers clearly, his vision went black, and his hand holding the receipt began to tremble.
He took several deep breaths to calm himself down. "Wait a moment, this is a lot of money. I need to contact Manager Xingxing."
"No rush, no rush, take your time," Xu Jintang said with a very polite smile.
Seeing this, Yan Yuting quickly stepped forward, "Boss, my bet is a bit too high, why don't you contact them together?"
Song Tianqi pulled out his receipts and said, "Boss, I have quite a few too, why don't we put them all together?"
Five receipts were placed in front of the boss, and he was dumbfounded.
Xu Jintang spoke up to ease the tension, "No rush, we can wait."
"Huff..." The casino owner clutched his chest, breathing heavily for a few moments. "Just a moment, I'll be right back."
After saying that, the boss took the communicator, turned around, and went inside.
Yan Yuting tiptoed and peered inside, but seeing nothing of interest, he had to look away. "He wouldn't have run away, would he?"
Xu Jintang pulled up a stool and sat down. "Let's just sit here and wait. Where can he run off to?"
Soon, Song Tianqi also moved over a stool, looking quite professional. "That's right, we'll sit in a row and keep watch."
Fortunately, the fear that the boss would abscond did not materialize. Although the wait was a bit long, the boss still paid out all the money according to the odds.
Xu Jintang and his four companions left satisfied.
The casino owner wiped the sweat from his brow, watching the five figures depart, and the more he looked at them, the more familiar they seemed.
Wait a minute, don't these five people look a bit like the Mask Squad from behind?
The casino owner seemed to have discovered some earth-shattering secret. He quickly tapped on the communicator screen and began searching online for a group photo of the five members of the Mask Squad, then compared it with the figures of the five people he had just seen.
"Holy crap! It really is the Mask Squad!" The boss couldn't help but swear.
However, by this time, Xu Jintang and his group of five had already gone far away.
Two days later, the Inscription Master Championship begins.
Despite the low level of attention, the event was much more lively than previous ones because many fans of the Mask Squad came to show their support.
Xu Jintang and Xue Zhongqi were chatting in the players' waiting area.
There are currently four contestants remaining in the Inscription Master Competition.
According to the championship rules, these four contestants will answer the same question simultaneously on the spot.
Finally, the judges' scores are combined to calculate the final score of each contestant, and the top four are ranked.
A short while later, Jiang Xiangyang and another contestant walked in together.
At this moment, the live broadcast of the competition has already started.
A large number of viewers gradually streamed in.
[I almost forgot the Inscription Master Competition isn't over yet.]
So, is today the finals?
[Holy crap, the Big Watermelon from the Mask Squad is actually participating in this competition.]
[ Big Watermelon! Big Watermelon! I only love Big Watermelon!]
There are 48 minutes left until the start of the finals.
A number of staff members entered the scene one after another, carrying four alloy combination lock cases, and quickly arranged the cases neatly in a row.
Xu Jintang raised her eyes and glanced at the row of boxes, her gaze quickly drawn to the locks on the boxes.
Xue Zhongqi was standing nearby, also noticed the problem with the lock on the box and whispered, "There seems to be something wrong with this lock."
Xu Jintang examined it carefully, but before he could take a closer look, a staff member covered the entire box with a black cloth.
"I reckon these four boxes are definitely the questions we'll be tested on this time," Xue Zhongqi said in a low voice.
"Hmm, let's see," Xu Jintang replied.
Jiang Xiangyang and another contestant were clearly on good terms. The two of them kept their distance from Xu Jintang and his group, only occasionally glancing in their direction.
As time passed and only thirty minutes remained before the final match began, Mu Zhongbai, who had hosted the previous match, slowly walked into the arena.
Upon seeing him, both Jiang Xiangyang and the other man showed expressions of relief.
Indeed, only someone of Mu Zhongbai's caliber could serve as a judge in the finals.
Following closely behind, Sun Yuantian of the Federation Inscriptionist Association, entered the venue.
The last person to enter was President Wang had previously served as a judge for the competition.
Xu Jintang and Xue Zhongqi glanced in that direction.
"Looks like we have three judges for this final," Xue Zhongqi muttered to himself. "Luckily, our president is here too, so President Wang can't screw us over now."
Xu Jintang remembers it.
President Wang is the president of Jiang Xiangyang Xiangyang's association, and he even deliberately set difficult questions for her in previous competitions.
"Please get ready, all four contestants. Our Inscription Master Grand Final is about to begin. The judges for this final are Teacher Mu, and the two presidents of the Inscriptionist Association, President Sun and President Wang."
"Today's exam questions were developed jointly by the three of them, so the final score will also be judged jointly by all three."
The staff then began explaining the relevant competition rules.
He spoke for about five minutes before stopping.
After listening, Xu Jintang didn't actually remember many of the rules. The general idea was that the final would adhere to the principles of fairness, impartiality, and transparency, and would be broadcast live in real time. The contestants didn't need to worry about any favoritism or cheating.
There are also some guidelines and requirements for the players' behavior.
"Now, please have the four contestants come to the center of the arena to choose their exam questions," the staff member announced again.
Xu Jintang patted the wrinkles on his clothes, stood up, and walked to the center of the field.
Xue Zhongqi followed closely behind.
The four contestants stood in a row. A satellite camera slowly rose up and captured all four of them in the frame.
[Strange, are there no spectators at the Inscription Master Competition?]
[No, I guess there aren't many people watching this competition, so the organizers didn't put much effort into selling tickets. Anyway, the ads during the live stream are enough for them to make money.]
[Hey there for the Mask Squad's Big Watermelon! Their team just won the championship next door, are they going to pull off another one?]
[That's hard to say. In the last round, Big Watermelon barely made it into the finals, so it's hard to predict how he'll fare.]
The competition venue.
Xu Jintang bent over and tapped the box in front of him.
Judging from the sound, each box was indistinguishable, and since they were currently covered by a black cloth, it was impossible to tell the difference.
Xu Jintang casually picked one and stood in front of him, saying, "I choose this one."
Because she advanced as the winner of the previous round, she had priority in choosing her box.
The staff quickly came over and took away the box she had chosen. "Okay, next up is contestant Jiang Xiangyang, who will be choosing his exam questions."
A few minutes later, everyone had chosen their boxes and stood aside, waiting for the competition to begin.
A kind smile appeared on Mu Zhongbai's face as he stood opposite him. He stepped forward and said, "The test for today is to break the Sealed Lock Inscription. The final score will be based on the time and method used to break the Sealed Lock Inscription."
"The competition will begin in fifteen minutes. Please take your seats now."
What is Sealed Lock Inscription? I've never heard of it before.
[Ah, I think I know. These kinds of inscriptions are usually used to seal classified documents or valuable resources. They're very rare, and ordinary people have no access to them.]
[This sounds complicated.]
Chapter 137
Xu Jintang's expression also paused for a moment.
The words "break the Sealed Lock Inscription" kept echoing in her mind.
I've never heard of that before.
She didn't even know what Sealed Lock Inscription was.
However, she wasn't the only one bewildered at this moment; Jiang Xiangyang and the other two also looked completely lost.
Seeing the expressions on the four contestants' faces, Mu Zhongbai's smile widened even more.
"I know everyone is probably confused about this Sealed Lock Inscription right now, so I'll explain everything about Sealed Lock Inscription to you."