Free Web NovelChapter 1281: Chapter 96: Internal Strife
"Oh~"
Naloi replied absentmindedly, holding a high-tech communication device in her hand.
"Sis-in-law, what sort of trouble are you up to again."
Upon seeing the communication device in his sister-in-law’s hand, Huang Yan felt uneasy.
"Do I need to report what I’m doing to you?"
Naloi looked up at Huang Yan, and after a few seconds of eye contact, Huang Yan shifted his gaze away.
Naloi tossed the communication device onto the table and stood up to leave. The communication device then projected a holographic image - a document detailing information about Su Xiao.
"Shadow of Annihilation Law, what kind of profession is this?"
Huang Yan flipped through the document and quickly noticed a more crucial piece of information.
In the Blood Gate Adventure Group, Stan, Huang Yan, and Naloi were at the top of the pyramid. Stan held the central position; he was the core of Blood Gate, with all critical team resources under his control. Huang Yan managed the subsidiary adventure groups of Blood Gate, hence why he remained at the third tier, having spent considerable effort to suppress his tier position to better manage the sub-adventure groups and recruit promising newcomers.
As for Naloi, she served as Blood Gate’s ’eyes’ and ’Dark Blade’, handling intelligence and dealing with those who betrayed Blood Gate.
From the chain of interests, even if Naloi betrayed Stan, Stan couldn’t eliminate her, as the Blood Gate Adventure Group was established by these three, and they were intimately tied with Blood Gate, with every action affecting the entire entity.
News spread quickly within Blood Gate about Huang Yan’s impending battle with Su Xiao. As Blood Gate’s second-in-command, Huang Yan naturally had many supporters.
After reviewing Su Xiao’s information, Huang Yan sent a message to Stan. To his surprise, Stan was already in the arena.
Stan could only compete in the fourth-tier arena, but this didn’t mean he couldn’t watch the third-tier battles. This time, he was at the arena to meet the Black Sail Merchant Group.
Not only Stan but some key members of Blood Gate sought out the Black Sail Merchant Group, with Naloi also visiting them.
The competition would begin in an hour. Huang Yan wasn’t stalling for time; he wanted to heavily profit from the Black Merchant. From Huang Yan’s perspective, while Su Xiao’s strength was undeniably strong, most of his killer moves leaned towards close combat. Based on Huang Yan’s calculations, he had a 70% chance of defeating Su Xiao.
The Black Merchant didn’t favor Su Xiao either. After Stan, Naloi, and others approached them, they were forced to open betting, setting the odds at 0.7 for Huang Yan’s win and 1.2 for Su Xiao’s win.
This odd made the Blood Gate people quite displeased, but since they forced the Black Sail Merchant Group to open the betting, there was not much they could argue about the odds. A cornered rabbit will bite, and the Black Sail Merchant Group was no rabbit.
Eventually, Stan bet 800,000 Paradise coins on Huang Yan’s victory, Naloi bet 400,000 Paradise coins, Huang Yan bet 280,000 Paradise coins on himself, Iron Rat 170,000 Paradise coins, and along with other members of Blood Gate, the total bet exceeded 2,000,000 Paradise coins.
If Huang Yan won, Blood Gate would make a substantial profit; if lost, the loss in Paradise coins wouldn’t be much of a concern as Blood Gate members weren’t foolish — it was just a competition, and they wouldn’t risk their team’s vital resources for it.
As the Black Merchant accepted Blood Gate’s bets, a ’Siberian Husky’ approached them, eager to bet.
Initially, the Black Merchant refused; they’d been unhappy about being forced to open bets, and now a Siberian Husky wanted to place a bet?
However, five minutes later, the Black Sail Merchant Group agreed to a bet, accepting a 400,000 Paradise coins + 10 Soul Crystal (Large) wager.
The Black Merchant knew who had placed this bet. 400,000 Paradise coins might not mean much to them, but those 10 Soul Crystals (Large) made them somewhat anxious.
If Su Xiao won, according to the odds of 1.2, the Black Merchant would need to pay out 480,000 Paradise coins + 12 Soul Crystals (Large). Paradise coins were within an acceptable range, but the Soul Crystals (Large) made it hard to swallow.
Initially, the Black Merchant didn’t want to accept the bet, yet those 10 Soul Crystals (Large) were too tempting. These folks weren’t saints; they were a group who would stop at nothing for profit.
In the arena, inside the lounge, Su Xiao had already adjusted his state. The competition was to begin in 17 minutes, and at this moment, he received a prompt from the arena.
The prompt was simple: Huang Yan requested the upcoming competition to be set in semi-public mode, with the scene being the Sun Palace.
Semi-public mode meant it wouldn’t be open to outsiders; only those invited by Su Xiao and Huang Yan could watch.
Since Huang Yan’s ranking was higher than Su Xiao’s, he could choose the scene and mode first, but Su Xiao could modify one aspect of it.
Huang Yan chose the scene to be Sun Palace, with a semi-public mode, leaving Su Xiao with the option to change one element.
After a moment’s hesitation, Su Xiao decided to change the scene to the Death Swamp.
With the competition’s mode and scene settled, in Huang Yan’s lounge, his expression turned grave upon seeing the Death Swamp scene.
The swamp was heavy with mist, muddy everywhere. He preferred to fight on the icefield rather than engage in battle here.
But both the mode and the venue had been set by him, and Su Xiao had one chance to amend — that’s the rule of the arena.
Time passed slowly. With ten minutes left before the competition, the Death Swamp scene was simulated.
This was a flat swamp with a diameter of half a kilometer, mostly dry land with occasional visible mud pits. Compared to the visible mud pits, the hidden swamps were more troublesome.
Once the scene was generated, an energy shield appeared around the venue, encasing the Death Swamp, with an audience seating surrounding the energy shield.
Several figures appeared in the seats, taking their places one by one, with Stan sitting squarely in the center.
Iron-blooded, cold, strong — these were Stan’s first impressions given to people, with a notable scar on his face. For some reason, Stan had not removed the scar since entering Reincarnation Paradise.
Next to Stan sat his wife Naloi, with Iron Rat and Grey Smoke Gun alongside them.
Iron Rat and Grey Smoke Gun were both key members of Blood Gate, ranking beneath Huang Yan. One was a fourth-tier Blast Tank (Iron Rat), and the other a Long-range Gunman (Grey Smoke Gun). Rumor had it that Grey Smoke Gun had once killed a fourth-tier deputy tank with two shots from his rifle, packing a powerful punch.
"Boss, that punk really was determined. Last time, our people couldn’t eliminate him in the Holy Grail World."
Grey Smoke Gun leaned back against the seat, looking lazy.
"Don’t underestimate him. Developing Four Attributes simultaneously may be unimpressive in the early stages, but surviving beyond the third tier makes them difficult to deal with."
Naloi spoke, and Grey Smoke Gun opened his mouth, wanting to respond, but hesitating to do so, leading to silence in the audience.
"How long are you planning to keep causing a scene?"
Stan, silent until now, broke the deathly silence.
"I’m causing a scene?"
Naloi shot a sideways glance at Stan.
"You caused such an embarrassing situation, don’t you feel any bit guilty?"
"Heh."
Naloi let out a cold laugh.
"Then tell me, when you killed my brother, what were you thinking? Where was your sense of guilt?"
