Chapter 1174: Chapter 73: Iron Scorpion
In the audience stands of the Sky Arena, Li Ang stood with his arms crossed, gazing intently at the arena below.
The matches on the first level had been underway for three hours, with battles taking place on dozens of stages simultaneously.
Bright lights, flames, acid, flying swords, guns, and even intangible curses and Spiritual Energy surged and clashed on various stages, nearly obscuring the view.
Although unable to penetrate the invisible barriers of the stages or perceive the real-time situation inside through the intense light and sound,
the experienced advanced players could still, drawing on their knowledge, infer the general state of affairs.
"...The body-enhancement superhuman on stage 13 is about to win. His hidden bloodline potential is coming into play, and in a few seconds, his opponent’s magic missiles won’t be able to pierce his skin.
The battle on stage 14 will soon end. That Illusion Technique player thinks he’s in control, but he doesn’t realize he’s the one trapped in a deep illusion—the guy who seems like a puppeteer is actually an illusionist too.
The player from the Japan Islands on stage 15 has about a minute left to surrender before his magic paper talisman runs out, and then he’ll be decapitated by the demon opponent up close...
Li Ang casually assessed the situation on each stage, speaking to Wang Congshan, who was beside him with a telescope.
To accommodate the general audience, the Watcher’s Guild had prepared a comprehensive filming system and, just like last time, arranged enough narrators in the real world to explain the matches,
although those narrators’ professional skills were more in scene control and language depiction, clearly not as accurate as Li Ang’s judgment of the situation.
"Really..."
Wang Congshan put down her customized telescope and smacked her lips, "How do you predict everything correctly?"
"See enough, and you’ll naturally be able to judge."
Li Ang shrugged casually. Having run the Immaculate Furnace shop for so long, he had produced a large number of equipment and items,
and had encountered all sorts of peculiar items brought in by players, amassing considerable experience in the field of transcendent elements.
"This time, the Destiny of the Game contest didn’t open a public lottery system,
but some private platforms have opened bets on match results in secret. It’s a pity no one comes to ask me for planning or such."
Li Ang remarked casually, "If they asked me, the probability of guessing each match’s outcome could at least be 70% to 80%."
"Li Ang’s match commentary, huh? But someone has to dare to hire you."
Wang Congshan sighed. In fact, the interest chain that emerged around the competition last time during the struggle for the gates was terrifying,
but now, with the rapid worsening of the real world’s situation, Eastern residents have been mostly evacuated by the Special Affairs Bureau, European residents are under martial law-style management, North America has become a gunfight site, and other places fend for themselves,
the interest chain surrounding this Destiny of the Game contest is much less than last time.
"By the way, if I’m not mistaken,
those now entering the fray should be the lower-ranked players among the contestants, right?"
Wang Congshan thought of something and asked, "Is there any benefit to them appearing early?
Logically, the later they appear, the greater their advantage, right? They can gather as much information on their competitors as possible, reducing the vulnerabilities they expose.
Going on early exposes their intelligence to opponents."
"It’s simple—they know they’re not strong enough, so they can only seize the time."
Li Ang replied nonchalantly, "From the results observed so far, there are over 4000 Earth participants in this Destiny of the Game contest,
and only 2000 players can advance. In other words, it’s an internal competition among Earth contestants.
To win and advance, they must climb higher and go farther in the arena than others.
Entering early does expose their information,
but it also allows them to climb high in the initial stages, such as reaching the thirties or forties floors before the first and second-tier players even participate, occupying advantageous positions.
Maybe, if they’re lucky, the first and second-tier players would also halt there due to intensified internal conflict?
If so, their probability of advancing successfully increases."
"I see."
Wang Congshan nodded, "I get it. Another benefit of participating earlier is that they can get the Sky Arena rewards earlier, right?
From the past month’s experience, the Sky Arena has become more ’generous’ now, giving out items, scrolls, experience points, etc., and participating early also gives them some development time."
"Exactly."
Li Ang smiled slightly, nodding at Wang Congshan with a "teachable kid" expression, and suddenly stood up.
Wang Congshan was taken aback, "Huh? What are you doing?"
"Participating, of course."
Li Ang answered as a matter of course, brushing off nonexistent dust from his white lab coat.
"Didn’t you say only newbies participate early..."
"That’s them. I’m an exception."
Li Ang smiled, waved his hand, and walked down the steps.
Wherever he passed, people in the audience seats gave way, making a path for him.
"So soon?"
Wanli Fengdao and others, scanning the scene with customized glasses, noticed the figure in the white coat walking downward and were a bit surprised, but knowing Li Ang’s usual style, they didn’t find it unusual.
"I’m participating."
Li Ang skillfully filled out the participation application on the virtual panel, and soon the Sky Arena had arranged an opponent for him, a player from the Gru Department.
In the Destiny of the Game contest, every second counts. Li Ang stepped onto the stage,
and the player on the opposite side glanced at Li Ang, then at a newly opened shop with the ID [Authentic Supermarket and Clinic, Southeast corner square, Immaculate Furnace...]in the sky, and took a deep breath.
No one but Li Rising could have such a long and unique ID.
The Gru player raised his arm decisively and said solemnly, "I forfeit."
With a flash of light, he was directly teleported out of the stage area, leaving Li Ang standing alone on the stage,
and no one in the audience was surprised by this outcome.
Getting matched against a top-tier player like Li Ang on the first level of the Sky Arena, conceding was perfectly normal,
or rather, being matched with him on the first level was somehow lucky—conceding on the first level doesn’t deduct points, but encountering him on higher levels would result in dropping floors if they conceded.
"Ah..."
Defeating the opponent before even making a move left Li Ang feeling a bit bored.
He stood on the stage, nodding to Wang Congshan in the audience, and directly signaled the Sky Arena on the virtual panel, instantly teleporting to the second floor.
Then, standing on the second floor stage, he continued to apply for matches.
The opponent conceded, resulting in an easy victory and advancement to higher floors.
Third floor,
The opponent conceded, resulting in an easy victory.
Fourth floor,
The opponent conceded, resulting in an easy victory.
...
Three hours after the competition started, many players had reached the tenth or twentieth level, and upon seeing their assigned opponent was Li Ang, they chose to surrender directly,
preferring to waste the levels they earned through hard fighting and degrade on the spot,
rather than staying in the arena for even a second longer.
"Am I really that terrifying?"
Li Ang shook his head helplessly and continued to make swift progress on the path of opponent instant surrenders, until the twenty-seventh level.
[Opponent "Iron Scorpion" matched]
[Opponent has agreed to the duel agreement]
"Hmm?"
Li Ang raised an eyebrow upon hearing the sudden system notification, and glanced around.
As usual, players can freely teleport between floors in the Sky Arena (ordinary people without player qualifications have to climb stairs or take elevators).
The twenty-seventh floor of the Sky Arena originally had few people,
the thousands of new spectators appearing on the seats had all teleported here along with him.
"The previous twenty-sixth floor should be the highest floor reached by Earth players before, right?
On the list of opponents Mule gave me to watch out for, I didn’t see any mention of this so-called Iron Scorpion.
Could it be a puppet randomly generated by the Sky Arena?
Or is it a player from another world..."
Li Ang thought casually, waving his hand to greet Wang Congshan who appeared in the audience seats.
[Generating arena protection field]
[Countdown to duel thirty seconds]
The system’s voice remained steady, and soon a ripple spread in the space in front of Li Ang,
a strange creature emerged from the void.
It was a giant scorpion as large as a truck, its carapace emitting a black oily sheen, appearing thick and solid, seemingly impervious to missile bombardment,
its crab-claw-like forelimbs were large and powerful, making one doubtlessly believe it could easily crush specialized alloy into powder,
the rear of its body had three tails, each with barbed stingers at the tip, the surface of the stingers glowed blue, seemingly coated with lethal poison.
Of course, what attracted the most attention was the object on the scorpion’s back,
four people pieced together,
comprising male, female, old, and young,
all wearing brown outerwear, faces dull, eyes spiritless, eight hands holding sword and blade weapons.
Each weapon surface was covered with a pearlescent glow, appearing not to be mundane items, giving an air of profound mystery.
An opponent never seen before.
Li Ang tilted his head slightly; Earth had some transcendents who would abandon their human form and transform into monsters,
but he’d never seen one with such a unique appearance.
Rather than a human, it seemed more like a chimeric beast, a grotesque creature absolutely absent in the Earth player list.
"A transcendent from an alien planet?"
Li Ang raised his palm and pulled out a Colt Revolver from the void, taking advantage of the thirty-second countdown before the duel to gesture toward the opponent,
yet the strange creature showed no response.
In the audience seats, players who saw the strange scorpion looked astonished,
Wang Congshan frowned slightly, immediately took out a tablet and logged into the Special Affairs Bureau database to search for information.
During the previous month’s off-season, the Sky Arena remained open, many players engaged in challenges and skirmishes inside, earning rewards, sometimes encountering alien creatures clearly not originating from Earth during battles.
This Iron Scorpion was one of them.
Once it appeared, it dueled a Lv25 Earth player.
That Earth player originally belonged to Prometheus,
after Prometheus Laboratory Company was merged and acquired by European Heavy Industry, he didn’t choose to continue loyal to European Heavy Industry, but instead fled with important Prometheus data and samples.
The data was extremely crucial to European Heavy Industry, they dispatched considerable manpower and resources to hunt down that agent,
yet everything proved futile, the former Prometheus agent was experienced and powerful,
repeatedly repelling European Heavy Industry’s pursuit, killing their enforcers and assassins, living calmly and gracefully.
European Heavy Industry viewed him as a thorn in the side, constantly issued bounties, hiring anyone to kill him, even Dawn joined in pursuit with a Capini Mech several times, but he still managed to escape capture.
Thus the player was categorized into the second tier.
His combat techniques might not be extremely strong, but not many people could calmly control him.
Until the off-season during the War of Destiny.
"...This creature known as Iron Scorpion, appeared during the off-season,
it vanished at the moment the absolute protection countdown reached zero, appeared in front of its opponent, severed its neck in one stroke, causing instant death before the opponent could even surrender.
The other two battles with Earth players were identical,
flash, kill, win.
The observation department of the Special Affairs Bureau couldn’t even fathom whether it used supernatural techniques, skills, items, equipment, or racial talents..."
Wang Congshan glanced at the file’s data, her eyelid twitching slightly,
this creature of unknown depth and power might not be of a kind humans could comprehend, confronting it hastily was truly perilous, making her anxious for Li Ang’s safety.
Especially after Wang Congshan noticed the statement at the bottom of the document—
[If Special Affairs Bureau contestants are matched with Iron Scorpion during the preselection phase in the War of Destiny, it is recommended to release detection skills and items at the moment the countdown ends, and then activate level 5 survival-type devices, observe the opponent’s action pattern, and use the data for battle analysis by other companions]
The Special Affairs Bureau realized during the off-season that alien creatures appearing in the Sky Arena may be formidable opponents in subsequent matches,
drafting detailed documents specifically for those potent alien creatures,
all recommendations advocated observing before fighting,
it’s better to surrender immediately upon encountering them rather than engage in an unprepared battle—since the preselection stage involves competition with Earth’s internal players, ensuring better safety.
Even players like Zhongli Mieming, who ranked ninth on the power chart before the Gate Stand Battle,
followed similar recommendations.
Wang Congshan quickly skimmed over all the text, anxiety rising slowly in her heart; she stood up without hesitation, activated the Axis Cube, summoned ink-black iron-sand-like particles to form a line of large characters mid-air for Li Ang in the arena to see.
[Be cautious of the opponent...]
