Chapter 302: Chapter 252: Li Tiannan Is Here
"Dragon List rank 233?!" Fang Tangtang took out her phone at just the right time, opened the Dragon List, and showed the on-screen information to Gao Neng.
Gao Neng glanced at it.
He instantly understood why this direct scion of the Luou Clan, Luo Outean, was so confident. It was because he also used poison!
"COUGH, COUGH... You’re putting up five hundred million? Are you sure? COUGH, COUGH..." Gao Neng coughed violently, an expression of disbelief on his face.
"Cut the crap! If you dare to agree, I’ll transfer the money right now!" Luo Outean was incredibly arrogant. What did he have to fear from someone who could barely stand?
"Fine, I accept your challenge!" Gao Neng finally nodded.
WHOA!
The reporters all around them went into a frenzy.
He had actually accepted the challenge. Right after defeating Wang Jun from the Eastern Capital Military District, he was immediately taking on another challenger—and while poisoned, no less.
This completely subverted everyone’s expectations.
Team Leader Zhang, Zhang Hongying, was standing in the crowd, her gaze fixed on Gao Neng’s face. She was trying to read something from his expression.
But she couldn’t read him at all.
All she could see was sheer composure.
The reason was...
Gao Neng was, in fact, perfectly composed.
He didn’t feel there was anything wrong with what he was doing. As the old saying goes, a masterful strategist must be skilled at concealing their forces. The core principle was a single word: concealment.
During the Three Kingdoms period, Zhuge Liang himself had used this tactic.
At the time, shortly after Liu Bei had captured Jingzhou, Zhuge Liang was in charge of all military and civil affairs. He publicly declared they had only fifty thousand soldiers when in reality, they possessed eighty thousand elite troops.
Zhou Yu, unaware of the deception, led an army of one hundred thousand to attack Jingzhou.
In the end, he naturally suffered a crushing defeat.
This was Zhou Yu’s final battle, and his army was nearly annihilated.
Gao Neng was now doing the same thing: concealing his true strength.
Feigning weakness to lull the enemy into a false sense of security, then striking when they least expect it—this was a classic stratagem. ’So why shouldn’t I use it?’
And now, the payoff was far greater than he had anticipated.
Gao Neng had originally figured that fleecing someone for two or three hundred million would be a decent score. Now, Luo Outean was serving up five hundred million on a platter; it would be difficult to refuse.
...
The funds transfer between Fang Tangtang and Luo Outean went smoothly.
Clearly, Luo Outean had come prepared. As he’d said, the more you bet, the more you win, and five hundred million was the most cash he could scrape together.
If all went according to plan, that five hundred million would soon become one billion!
A huge score!
Well then, it was time to auction off the exclusive broadcast rights...
The reporters from the major media outlets knew this battle between Gao Neng and Luo Outean would absolutely blow up online, generating far more buzz than any of his previous fights.
"Fifteen million!" a reporter from Eastern District TV Station immediately bid.
"Eighteen million!"
"Twenty million!"
"..."
Soon, the top three media outlets were selected.
Another forty million secured.
The battlefield, naturally, shifted to the training grounds of the Eastern Capital Military Academy.
The live broadcast began.
The number of live viewers skyrocketed. The online stream quickly surpassed twenty million viewers, while the television ratings were similarly explosive.
"Is Gao Neng going to lose?"
"He’s poisoned. He’s definitely going to lose this fight, right?"
"I can’t shake the feeling that something’s fishy!"
All sorts of comments spread across the internet.
Gao Neng paid them no mind. His goal was to earn enough money. ’Five hundred million... that should be enough to let the people of the Forgotten Land get through the winter without going cold or hungry, right?’
Ambition is a strange thing.
It evolves over time.
For instance, when you only have a hundred bucks to your name, your ambition might just be to have a feast. But when you have ten thousand, you might start thinking about owning a simple car to get around.
When Gao Neng first set foot in the City of Hope, he never actually thought about rebuilding the Forgotten Land. After all, at that point in his life, such an ambition would have been completely unrealistic.
Even if he had voiced it...
...he probably would have just been ridiculed.
But things were different now. His net worth was in the billions. He owned a studio with assets exceeding one hundred million, and he also had a cut of the profits from the Number 4 Electromagnetic Cannon.
Now, he could afford to dream.
"Begin!" Gui Zian and Song Tianyun had both returned to the Eastern Capital Military Academy, so they had little choice but to head to the training grounds and reluctantly preside over the battle.
Gao Neng had already used his ability on Luo Outean: A Single Glance.
He now had a clear understanding of Luo Outean’s strengths and weaknesses.
Unlike Wang Jun, Luo Outean specialized in mid- to long-range combat. The moment the match began, he shot backward.
And then...
A Flying Earth Dragon appeared behind him.
"Energy Materialization?!" Luo Outean was surprised, but not unprepared. Without hesitation, he slammed a fist into the Flying Earth Dragon.
Just then, coughing up blood, Gao Neng charged right at him.
"Luo Outean, I’m taking you down with me!" Gao Neng acted as if he was completely ignorant of Luo Outean’s combat style, forced into a desperate, all-or-nothing attack because he was at the end of his rope.
This both infuriated and disgusted Luo Outean.
’A coincidence?’
’Forcing a close-quarters fight right from the start?’
’But in your current state, can you really take me on?’
Luo Outean steeled himself. Although close-quarters combat was his weakness, he was still a Tier Six Early Stage expert. The power behind his punch was by no means insignificant.
"Die!" Luo Outean held nothing back with this punch.
BOOM!
The punch landed on Gao Neng.
The on-site reporters from the three major networks and the audience watching the livestream all felt their hearts sink.
"He’s a goner!"
Just when everyone thought Gao Neng would be sent flying by the force of the blow...
...the unexpected happened.
That’s right. Gao Neng hadn’t been sent flying at all.
