In a society like Dragon City where the people were tough and the martial arts were respected…
When the ownership of a resource or opportunity was not clear, it was undoubtedly the most appropriate way to replace an all-out chaotic fight between the two forces with a fair contest between individuals that was bound by rules.
From several decades ago, the Challenge Tournament had been popular in Dragon City.
The commercial competition between the nine mega corporations, the academic debate between Dragon City University and the alliance of five universities, the superiority or inferiority of runic machinery and biochemical modulation technology, the influential aristocratic families with one hand to the common people… There was conflict everywhere, and everyone liked to use the Challenge Tournament to resolve their differences and grudges.
Back in the day, Meng Chao and Zuo Haoran, his class monitor in high school, had used this method to determine who was better in the small forest behind their school.
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Of course, the present was different from the past.
Meng Chao had made great contributions in the operation to conquer the Hidden Mist Domain, preventing gallons of scalding blood from flowing in vain.
He also had a good relationship with the Red Dragon Army and the nine mega corporations.
In Dragon City, where the situation had changed and undercurrents were surging, his family’s Superstar Resource Recovery Company was a target that all the forces wanted to rope in.
He and the micro brain had some kind of… mysterious tacit understanding. Compared with many Deity Realm experts, he could pry into the secrets of the micro brain much better.
The various forces in Dragon City wished that they could carry him into Ruins No. 2 on a palanquin to excavate more valuable technologies, information, and resources for Dragon City’s civilization.
How could they deprive him of the cultivation opportunities and resources in the monsters’ lair?
However, a monster like Meng Chao, who had been reborn from the apocalypse, was, after all, a rare existence.
Most of the superhumans, especially the new superhumans below the age of 30 and below the Heaven Realm, wanted to enter Ruins No. 2 and fight for more resources for their forces. As such, they had to enter the arena to prove their value and strength.
Even the descendants of Deity Realm experts from the nine noble families would have a hard time going through the back door when they faced the covetous eyes of other Heaven Realm fighters. They would have to enter the arena and fight fairly.
In the crater above the ruins, nine arenas made of granite were lined up in a row,
In just ten days to half a month, almost a thousand Heaven Realm warriors fought each other in the arenas.
Their boiling blood, which contained spirit energy, corroded the hardest granite until it was riddled with holes.
The Challenge Tournament’s rule in the superhuman circle was “no regrets in life and death, one must admit defeat when one is willing to bet.”
However, humans were not plants. Who could be 100% capable of watching their companions, whom they had spent their days with, being beaten to death by their opponents in the arena while their rare resources and precious opportunities were snatched away without feeling angry or holding grudges?
Not to mention, the casualty rate in this round of the Challenge Tournament was particularly high.
For one, the resources and opportunities in this round of the tournament were crucial. The superhuman individuals who participated in the Challenge Tournament carried the future of their families, enterprises, schools, and forces on their shoulders. They did not dare to relax whatsoever, and they gave their all as soon as they entered the arena. Even if they were at an absolute disadvantage, they would not easily admit defeat. They would even burn their lives and use lightning-based methods that exceeded their own limits, resulting in both sides suffering heavy losses.
Aside from that, the development of Ruins No. 2 had allowed the various major forces of Dragon City to obtain many new formulas, new technologies, and new unique techniques.
Many superhumans had been nourished by the power of the ancient era, and they could not wait to apply the new power to the arena. Little did they know that they were still unable to freely use such extremely dangerous power. As a result, they either struck too hard or suffered a backlash, either dying or getting injured.
On the first day of the Challenge Tournament, a superhuman from Universe Corporation had used a “forbidden move” that originated from Ruins No. 2. It was still being tested. He had beaten a superhuman from the Red Dragon Army until his internal organs shifted. He had vomited blood, and his spirit meridians had burned up until he was reduced to a broken-star superhuman.
On the second day, a superhuman from Thundercloud Corporation had been forced to retreat under the fierce attacks of the military experts. He had been about to fall out of the arena.
This superhuman, who had been unwilling to lose, had bitten open the brand-new gene medicine hidden in the back of his teeth.
He did not expect that the new drug, which could increase the explosive power of spirit energy by 300% in an instant, would be so unstable that it would have a side effect similar to the Deification Capsule. It had caused the superhuman to combust in front of everyone’s eyes.
The referee and the audience had saved him, though, so he had not been burned alive.
However, the flames from his mitochondria had severely burned his spirit meridians, blood vessels, and nerves, causing him to lose the ability to use his extraordinary power forever.
For an extraordinary human, that outcome was even more difficult to accept than death.
In the following days, the smell of blood on the stage became stronger and stronger.
Every day, more than two superhumans would either be dead or injured.
Even the victors often experienced irreversible sequelae.
Initially, when everyone stepped onto the stage, they could still smile and salute with cupped fists. At the very least, on the surface, they would pay attention to a “fair fight, but not too far away.”
In the end, the contestants were still below the stage. Their eyes were bloodshot as they stared at each other. Their killing intent had almost condensed into incomparably sharp weapons. They wanted to fight through the air.
Outside the stage, such as the temporary accommodation area, cafeteria, and the border area where the two forces were stationed, there were all kinds of open and secret fights. The silent but extremely dangerous friction was even more common.
In addition to the scandal of Heaven Pharmaceuticals, the image of the nine mega corporations had been damaged.
In the Survival Committee, the military and homeland representatives’ momentum had soared.
They wanted to make use of this opportunity to repeal the Land Enclosure Decree and challenge the authority of the colonization councilors.
The storm from Dragon City inevitably blew into the Hidden Mist Domain.
The smell of gunpowder inside and outside Ruins No. 2 became more and more intense, which was also inevitable.
Meng Chao did not expect this phenomenon.
He predicted that the major forces in Dragon City would definitely haggle over the issue of “how to divide up the heritage of the monster civilization.”
However, he didn’t expect the fight to be so intense. The contradictions between the parties had reached a white-hot level.
“Are you kidding me? Dragon City didn’t seem to be so chaotic in my previous life?” Meng Chao scratched his head.
Thinking about it carefully, the red dragon army was weak in his previous life. It was one thing for them to be unable to contend with the mega corporations.
However, the more important thing was probably that Dragon City won miserably in his previous life. In the long-lasting tug-of-war, the blood of Dragon City’s civilization was almost drained, and the bottles and jars of the monster civilization were basically smashed.
The survivors could only sit among the broken walls and lick each other’s wounds. This friendship of life and death was naturally very strong—even if they wanted to fight, there were no trophies at all, it could make them fight to the death like hungry wild dogs!
“People really can only share hardships, not wealth and honor!”
Meng Chao was so anxious that he scratched his ears and cheeks.
This was the first time he had the thought that “Dragon City’s civilization won the monster war so easily, it might not necessarily be a good thing.”
However, with his own strength, it was obvious that he could not suppress the eagerness of the major forces.
He could only repeatedly persuade his companions who were also cultivating in Ruins No. 2—the members of Broken Star Club, the senior brothers and sisters of Battle God Palace, the collaborators of the nine mega corporations, the students of the alliance of five universities and Dragon City University—it was normal for everyone to have differences and disputes, healthy competition and moderate competition could instead promote the development of Dragon City’s civilization.
However, he should never take the grudges in the arena outside the arena, let alone put the problems that should be solved in the Survival Committee with words into his life and solve them with his fists and swords.
He must remember that no matter how they fought, they were all his own people, the only compatriots on Earth who were stranded in the Other World. In the near future, they would have to fight side by side with each other on the magnificent journey to the depths of the Other World, and they would have to share life and death with each other.
Although his classmates, members, senior brothers, and collaborators gave him face in front of him.
But even Meng Chao himself felt that this argument lacked salt and vinegar, and was not convincing at all.
The superhumans of the major forces continued to rush into the arena, fighting to the death for resources, for opportunities, for their respective organizations’ status in Dragon City, for the ancient powers, and for the quota of monster heritage…
However, after one or both sides were covered in blood, covered in wounds, and even carried off the arena, the hatred they formed did not dissipate for a long time. It lingered around the ruins and inside and outside of the sinkhole like a vengeful spirit.
Meng Chao faintly heard the wind. There were already several superhumans from several organizations who were not satisfied with the competition on the arena. They fought happily in the dark forest deep in the sinkhole.
Naturally, such a battle could neither vent their hatred nor solve any problems. It could only make the conflict between the two sides grow deeper and more intense.
Finally, when the smell of gunpowder was so intense that even the senior researchers in the deepest part of Ruins No. 2 could not focus on exploring the mysteries of the ancient era, a huge mess was created on the ground.
It happened in the ten thousand people cafeteria that was specially set up in order to explore Ruins No. 2.
Dragon City’s tradition was that the meals of extraordinary people must be large-scale.
Whenever a battle was launched or a large-scale construction project was carried out, there would be logistical support facilities such as the “five thousand people cafeteria” or the “ten thousand people cafeteria.”
This was because many monster materials were not easy to craft.
Only by using large-scale cooking equipment could the psionic substances contained in the bone marrow be stewed thoroughly.
For example, the Apocalyptic Beast, Demonic Mountain, which was hundreds of meters long…
Or the Tyrant Mammoth, which had rough skin and thick flesh and weighed hundreds of tons.
It was obviously impossible to cook them with an ordinary pressure cooker.
And superhuman individuals were all big-bellied men.
To a Heaven Realm powerhouse, eating tens of kilograms of monster meat in a meal was just a routine operation.
The cafeteria was too small and the cooking efficiency was not high. The superhumans did not eat to their heart’s content, which also affected their scientific research and cultivation.
In order to facilitate the development and utilization of the second remains.
All the superhumans who went deep into the sinkhole ate in this ten thousand people cafeteria that was constantly cooking monster meat and natural treasures 24 hours a day.
The elites and powerhouses of the major organizations all lowered their heads in the cafeteria.
At this delicate moment, the ten-thousand-people cafeteria became a gunpowder warehouse filled with barrels of gunpowder.