Chapter 80: Explosive News
Ten hours later, on the arena platform.
Su Xiao’s long blade pierced through the enemy’s throat. With both hands exerting force, the enemy was flung over his shoulder in a suplex motion, slamming violently against the protective barrier at the edge of the arena before crashing to the ground with a thud.
The blade piercing the throat was fatal enough; the enemy did not get up again.
Su Xiao had been fighting continuously for over ten hours, and his condition was beginning to decline.
[Thirty-Three Consecutive Wins!]
A line of golden, shimmering characters floated up, causing an uproar in the audience stands.
The contractor who was gradually dissipating was convinced. His strength was not weak; he wielded the Nen ability: Enhancement System.
[Individual Battle Ended, Victory! Thirty-Three Consecutive Wins!]
[Hunter Ranking Improved, from 10,307th to 9,600th (Second Rank).]
Su Xiao let out a long breath. He had finally broken into the top ten thousand.
Contrary to his expectations, his ranking had risen quickly during the initial consecutive wins. However, around the twenty-thousand mark, the rapid increase slowed down. Around the ten-thousand mark, it became even more difficult, and the opponents grew stronger.
Keep in mind, Su Xiao was currently only a Level 10 Hunter. His opponents were all contractors above Level 13, having experienced many more derivative worlds than him.
The difficulty of reaching the top ten was too high. Not to mention the top ten, Su Xiao felt that reaching the top one hundred was impossible, at least not with his current ability.
Contractors in the top one thousand of the arena could already pose a threat to him. Those in the top five hundred had a chance to kill him. If he encountered a contractor in the top two hundred within a derivative world, he might die.
However, this was just Su Xiao’s speculation, based on his current ranking.
Su Xiao was not surprised by this result. He had only been promoted to Second Rank for two days. Having his current ranking was already quite good. He just needed to follow his original trajectory, which was to become stronger faster than others.
Su Xiao had fought dozens of matches and was very fatigued. He dragged his tired body out of the arena.
Leading Bubu Wang, he walked towards Xia’s restaurant. Bubu Wang already remembered the route and knew they were going to eat, his steps lively.
……
Ding-ling.
Pushing open the restaurant door, the shop was as quiet as ever. Xia was sleeping face-down on a dining table. Bubu Wang glanced at Xia, his gaze clearly one of disappointment—sleeping in broad daylight, this shabby shop was doomed.
“Woof.”
Bubu Wang let out a high-decibel bark. Xia was startled and suddenly sat up.
“Oh, it’s you, this ‘husky’.”
Xia leaned back in her chair, her sweet dream interrupted, seeming a bit displeased.
Bubu Wang barked a few times at Xia, his gaze seemingly saying: ‘You’re the husky. Your whole family are huskies.’
Because of their longer contact, Xia could already understand Bubu Wang’s meaning, after all, Bubu Wang’s intelligence was right there.
“Got it, got it. I’m a husky. I’m black and white all over.”
Xia chuckled lightly. Bubu Wang bristled with anger.
“Which page to eat?”
Xia picked up the menu. Bubu Wang thought for a moment and barked three times, meaning he wanted all the dishes on the third page.
This peculiar way of ordering was unique to Bubu Wang. Xia got up and busied herself in the back kitchen. Before long, a table full of sumptuous dishes was ready. Su Xiao and Bubu Wang began to feast.
“How have you been lately? Your killing intent is getting more and more astonishing.”
Su Xiao chewed the food in his mouth and mumbled indistinctly, “Pretty good, things have been smooth lately.”
Xia nodded. She certainly didn’t want anything to happen to Su Xiao, mainly because Su Xiao was about to become her only customer here.
“Have you heard? A big incident happened recently.”
Su Xiao stopped chewing. “What incident?”
“The Divine Emperor Adventure Group and the Traveling Group have officially declared war. It’s a fight to the death, no mercy. Very scary.”
Xia showed a look of lingering fear.
“Hmm?”
Su Xiao paused his actions, picked up a napkin from the side, and wiped his mouth.
“Has that Divine Emperor guy gone crazy? He’s not the type to be irrational.”
Hearing this news, Su Xiao was very surprised because he had interacted with Divine Emperor himself.
“You know Divine Emperor?”
“Traded a few times. Why is Divine Emperor fighting the Traveling Group to the death?”
“His biological sister, Xila, died. Killed by the Traveling Group’s sixth seat, ‘Gulu’.”
Su Xiao’s eyes flickered. He had met both Xila and Gulu. It was evident from the last auction that there was a grudge between the two, but he didn’t expect Gulu to directly kill Xila.
“The Traveling Group is really a bunch of madmen. It seems there’s no one they wouldn’t dare to kill. I heard the conflict started over a piece of the Demon Hunter Set.”
Demon Hunter Set: A set of only three pieces of Dark Purple quality. It was a dream set for melee fighters.
A Dark Purple set and a single Dark Purple piece of equipment were two different concepts; they were incomparable.
“Did Gulu get it?”
“No. That Demon Hunter Set ring is in the hands of the Divine Emperor Adventure Group.”
Things were more complicated than imagined. Su Xiao lowered his head, thinking about something.
“Hey, hey, you’re not going to get involved in this, are you? Right now, Divine Emperor, Traveling Group, Blood Gate, Black Sail Merchant Guild, Mantian—over a dozen large adventure groups are involved, all for that Demon Hunter Set. It’s definitely a hot potato.”
Xia spoke with great interest, as these matters had nothing to do with her. She was just telling it as a casual topic.
“Hearing you say that…”
Xia nodded.
“Right. It’s better to stay alive. Why get involved in that? You might end up dead.”
“I’m even more interested now.”
Su Xiao looked at Xia with a smile. Xia’s small mouth was slightly open, her expression somewhat awkward.
“Just kidding. I don’t have the qualifications to compete for it yet anyway.”
Su Xiao had self-awareness. Over a dozen large adventure groups were fighting over that thing. Those people would use various props to track the world where the Divine Emperor Adventure Group was located. If he got involved, there would definitely be no good outcome.
What he needed to do now was to get stronger as quickly as possible. Only by being strong would he have the qualifications to obtain the Demon Hunter Set.
“Where did you get this information?”
Even Xia, a Worker, knew about this, yet Su Xiao was completely unaware.
“A lot of Workers know. How could I not know about such a big thing?”
Su Xiao squinted his eyes. As a lone wolf, information was a weakness.
He traded 100 Paradise Coins to Xia. Xia was slightly surprised.
“The meal cost isn’t that much…”
Su Xiao waved his hand.
“If there’s similar news in the future, let me know. I’ll pay you for it.”
“Alright.”
Xia smiled, her eyes narrowing into crescent shapes, like a little money-grubber.
“I’m leaving.”
Su Xiao left Xia’s restaurant, followed by Bubu Wang, who could barely walk. His little gaze seemed to say: ‘Master, walk slower. I ate too much.’
“Glutton.”
Returning to his Exclusive Room, he slept until he naturally woke up. After getting up, Su Xiao glanced at the timer by the bed. There were 5 hours left until he returned to the Real World.
He got up, washed up, and prepared to go to the Trial Grounds to summon a mirror image proficient in blade techniques. He still had 68,250 Paradise Coins.
Leaving the sleeping Bubu Wang in the Exclusive Room, Su Xiao headed towards the Trial Grounds.
Passing through the Trade Market, he subconsciously looked at the surrounding stalls.
As he passed by one stall, Su Xiao stopped. An item on the stall caught his attention.
“Can you make this cheaper?”
Su Xiao picked up a broken weapon. This item was a consumable.
“Fifty thousand Paradise Coins. No haggling.”
The stall owner’s attitude was firm. No matter how Su Xiao bargained, the other party wouldn’t lower the price by even one Paradise Coin.
After hesitating for a long time, Su Xiao spent fifty thousand Paradise Coins to buy that broken weapon.
This thing was useless for now, but it was an opportunity to get stronger quickly, although it was somewhat dangerous.