Free Web NovelChapter 104: Chapter 100: A Tricky Opponent
Leaving the venue through the contestants’ tunnel, Su Zhi clutched two bottles of Coke and looked around.
Soon, he spotted a conspicuous flash of bright white—
A girl with white hair and blue eyes was sitting on a bench, her long, slender legs crossed. Her hair swayed gently, stirred by the breeze.
She spotted him too and gave a wave, the corners of her mouth turning up.
"GASP!" Spotting Xiaoyue, Yu Bao went BLING BLING as it ran over.
Xiaoyue was lying beside the girl’s legs. As Yu Bao drew near, the cat circled her legs once and then ran off in the opposite direction, going BLING BLING.
’I don’t hear the footsteps of that dumb little dog chasing me!’
The Cultivation Cat’s mouth curled into a slight smile.
’This move is called the Cat King Circling the Pillar!’
Then Xiaoyue turned back and saw Yu Bao blissfully rubbing against her legs. The little cat’s face instantly darkened.
’That damn dumb little dog!’
"Yu Bao, you were amazing~"
Shao Ya’s eyes curved into crescents as she reached out with her long, fair fingers to scratch Yu Bao’s chin.
She had already watched the broadcast of the match and knew that Yu Bao had won.
She even—she had even joined the live comments to relentlessly flame Yu Bao, only to bet on him on the side and make a small profit!
Yu Bao squinted its eyes, an expression of pure bliss on its face.
"Of course, Su Baby was amazing too~"
Seeing Su Zhi approach, Shao Ya extended her right hand, looking as if she were about to scratch his chin too.
"Can you act normal? You’re scaring me." Su Zhi shrank back, sat down beside her, and handed her a Coke.
The girl chuckled and accepted the "happy water."
With a PSSSH, both bottles of Coke were opened at the same time.
They both gulped down half the bottle, let out a satisfied "Ahh," and gazed into the distance together.
Xiaoyue lay down by the girl’s legs again, glaring at Yu Bao to declare its sovereignty.
Since Yu Bao couldn’t rub against her legs anymore, it started rubbing against him.
Xiaoyue’s paws balled into fists, but it figured it couldn’t get rid of Yu Bao anyway, and at least the dog wasn’t rubbing against *her* legs anymore, so it relaxed.
’Whatever. Who told me to be the big brother here?’
"How did it go? Smoothly?"
"Yeah, both the morning and afternoon matches went pretty smoothly."
As Su Zhi replied, he suddenly felt like he was comparing answers with a classmate after a major exam.
"What about you?"
He glanced sideways at the girl sitting two spaces away from him.
Shao Ya held up her hand and made a few chopping motions in the air. "A total cakewalk!"
Shao Ya’s matches had also been very short.
The tournament organizers would seed the strong contestants based on their qualifier rankings to keep them apart until the finals, so the first few rounds were basically stomps.
Shao Ya was the tournament’s number one seed, Cao Mingyu and Liu Yuhang were the third and fourth seeds respectively, and Fang Yuan was the second seed.
The four of them were perfectly split into the four tournament brackets. If they all came out on top of their respective brackets, they would inevitably clash next.
As a wildcard contestant, Su Zhi had the worst luck of the draw. He was placed with many strong opponents to make it easier for them to advance. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
"Cao Mingyu is in the same bracket as you!"
Shao Ya looked at Su Zhi with a smile. "If Su Baby wants to advance, you’ll just have to righteously eliminate your own kin."
Su Zhi put on a straight face. "Who’s kin with him? We’re just ordinary friends..."
"My friend, Su Zhi, I heard everything."
Before he could finish, that man’s voice came from not far away as Cao Mingyu slowly emerged from the contestants’ tunnel.
Su Zhi subconsciously clenched his butt.
"However, to be an ordinary friend of Su Zhi’s is enough to satisfy me."
Cao Mingyu solemnly patted Su Zhi’s shoulder and then sat right down.
Su Zhi quickly scooted away, turning the two-person gap between him and Shao Ya into a one-person gap.
"Su Zhi, my dearest friend, rest assured."
Cao Mingyu said with great solemnity, "Even if we do meet in the bracket, I will absolutely not go easy on you! Let us have a gentleman’s duel!"
"Maybe I should just throw the match and lose early... at least then I wouldn’t have to face you..."
"Brother Shu, I’m here too!"
Liu Yuhang also came running toward them, waving, with a tiny Xue Li perched on his shoulder.
He wanted to sit down, but seeing that there were already three people on the long bench, he hesitated for a moment.
Until Cao Mingyu stepped forward and grabbed him with a solemn expression:
"Brother Yuhang, when you feel lost, you should think about what Su Zhi would do."
"Pay no mind to what others think. Follow your heart. If you want to sit, then sit."
"That... is YOUTH!!!"
"So that’s how it is... Thanks, Old Cao! I’m enlightened!!!"
With tears welling in his eyes, Liu Yuhang sat down on the bench.
Cao Mingyu generously made room, squeezing over at the same time.
One after the other, like runners in a relay race, they squeezed Su Zhi and Shao Ya together.
Su Zhi felt a warm, soft sensation on his side. Long, bright white hair fluttered in his peripheral vision, and the faint scent of lavender reached his nose...
He turned his head in a daze and saw that Shao Ya had been watching him the whole time, her azure eyes blinking mischievously.
"If you think it’s too crowded, there are ways to save space, you know~ For example..."
Even though she hadn’t said what the method was, Su Zhi’s face burned, and he shot up from the bench.
"You guys all have issues!"
"My friend Su Zhi, are you running away too? You must follow your heart!"
"Follow my ass!!!"
·
Night fell. The evening wind blew like the tide, and the chirping of insects was like a song.
Su Zhi was lying on his stomach on his bed, casually chatting in the "Hair Growth Group" chat.
Everyone had performed well, successfully advancing through the first two rounds.
There were two more rounds tomorrow and the day after to decide the top eight. Then, starting from the day after that, there would only be one round per day.
Quarterfinals, semifinals, and the finals—that was the schedule for the last three days.
Su Zhi didn’t plan on watching any more matches during the competition.
Staying tense all the time wasn’t efficient. A balance of work and rest was the Royal Dao.
Meanwhile, Yu Bao was off to the side, conducting its own research—though "messing around" would be a more accurate description.
It would summon some Yellow Earth Walls, then summon a miniaturized Furious Sand Blade or Quicksand Shield. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
Yu Bao would just stare at its own Skills, occasionally lost in thought, like a small child intently stacking blocks.
Su Zhi couldn’t understand what it was doing, but he didn’t stop it.
’Maybe this is just Yu Bao’s way of relaxing.’
You are not a dog; how can you know a dog’s joy?
While Yu Bao was relaxing, Su Zhi was in a private chat with Liu Junpo:
[Senior Brother Piao]: I watched your first two matches. You played well!
[Senior Brother Piao]: You might run into some weird opponents in the next few rounds. You have to remember, no matter what they pull, you have to stick to your own playstyle.
[Senior Brother Piao]: Your greatest advantage is your unpredictable playstyle! As long as you stick to your guns, they’ll be the ones to panic first.
[Su Zhi]: How come you didn’t come today?
[Senior Brother Piao]: Eheh, are you unhappy about that?
[Su Zhi]: No
[Senior Brother Piao]: I only managed to snag tickets for the semifinals. I’ll just watch you in the semis, hahaha.
[Su Zhi]: You’re that confident I’ll make it to the semifinals?
[Senior Brother Piao]: Of course.
[Senior Brother Piao]: My expectation for you is to win the championship.
[Su Zhi]: Then wouldn’t it be better to buy tickets for the finals?
[Senior Brother Piao]: Because there’s a whole night after the semifinals. If you get anxious about the finals the next day, I can still help talk you through it.
[Senior Brother Piao]: Alright, see you then!
’What kind of logic is that, Senior Brother Piao...’ Su Zhi complained internally, but the corners of his mouth turned up.
However, for certain reasons, he was also looking forward to the semifinals.
As they were chatting, his phone buzzed. A new notification came from the Joyful Beast Taming app.
Su Zhi swiped it open and saw it was a summary of today’s matches—the city league was the highest-level high school tournament in Huai City, so all citizens with a Huai City IP address would receive news about it.
Su Zhi opened it and watched a few matches:
Xiaoyue was steady and solid, following the path of the Royal Dao.
Xue Li’s offense was ferocious, using the style of the Overbearing Dao.
Cotton... its fighting style was a bit abstract. It might have something to do with its Beast Tamer, so Su Zhi wouldn’t comment.
But when he saw 004’s two matches, Su Zhi couldn’t help but frown.
On the screen, a massive Stone Armor Rhinoceros charged toward a White Flame Battle Spirit.
Suddenly, a white light flashed.
The Stone Armor Rhinoceros froze for a moment, then crashed to the ground. The battle had lasted only 1.02 seconds.
He watched the next match. This time, the opponent was a Thorn Armor Dragon, known for its Defense Power, but it also lost its balance in the instantaneous flash of white light.
The white light flashed again, and the Thorn Armor Dragon fell on the spot, unable to get back up.
Time elapsed: 1.42 seconds.
This performance could only be described as a total cakewalk.
"Woof?" Yu Bao padded over curiously. After watching the video, its expression also grew solemn.
Su Zhi frowned and nodded. "That’s right. 004 has improved a huge amount since the exchange tournament. If we go up against her, it’ll be really tricky."
"Woof?"
’Can we come up with a targeted strategy?’
"We can try. For example, with the Telekinesis Clone skill, we could actually do this..."
Su Zhi and Yu Bao began their discussion.
...
...
"It’s a bit tricky."
After a period of discussion, Su Zhi shook his head, his brow still furrowed.
"Our Skill System is fundamentally asymmetrical to 004’s. While some of our skills can certainly cause trouble for her, some of her skills can also catch us completely off guard."
"And have you noticed? Our system is essentially based on non-contact combat, while 004’s is contact-based. But the arena is only so big. Once 004 breaks through our defenses, we’ll quickly be put on the back foot..."
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
Just as they were talking, there was a knock on the door.
Su Zhi got up to open the door. Seeing it was Shao Ya, he subconsciously shrank back.
"Oh? Are you blushing?"
The white-haired, blue-eyed girl tilted her head, a smile in her eyes. "Still embarrassed about what happened this afternoon?"
"Embarrassed, my ass."
As if remembering something, Su Zhi raised his voice and said, "By the way, I didn’t forget to eat dinner today!"
"Good~ A snack for Su Baby as a reward!"
Shao Ya, as if by magic, pulled out a pack of gummy candies.
"..." Su Zhi accepted the candy with a complicated expression.
’She seems to be getting more and more comfortable in this mom role.’
’Something’s wrong with me, too. Why am I reporting trivial things like whether I’ve eaten dinner to her...’
’There’s no way I’m eating candy meant for little kids!’
"Is there anything else?"
"Nope, just suddenly felt like giving you some candy. Good luck tomorrow!"
The girl gave a playful wink and trotted back to her room.
"So random."
Su Zhi chuckled softly and closed the door, only to see Yu Bao hanging its head dejectedly.
"Woof..."
’If only my Thick Earth Blessing would awaken.’
"Don’t be anxious over such a small thing. It’s not like we’re guaranteed to lose without Thick Earth Blessing."
Su Zhi rubbed Yu Bao’s head, tore open the pack of gummy candies, and offered it one. "Want to try?"
Yu Bao popped it in its mouth and chewed, its eyes lighting up.
’I’m back in business!’
"Look at you."
Su Zhi also popped a gummy into his mouth and savored it slowly. Without realizing it, the corners of his lips curled up slightly.
’Hm, it’s actually pretty good.’
·
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