“So Dragon Soul’s real name is Xu Jiao. This is the first time I’ve heard that.”
After a sparring session ended, during the break, Guan Tong and Shi Jingyi sat beneath a tree, looking at the Overall Representative Vote Rankings on the Terminal Panel.
Hearing this, Shi Jingyi looked toward Guan Tong. “The two of you seem to have a rather strained relationship?”
“We each have our own principles. Setting our differences aside, I still respect him very much,” Guan Tong said.
During the Earthquake Rule Period, he had witnessed Dragon Soul risk his life without hesitation for the sake of a mission, and Guan Tong deeply respected that spirit of devotion to duty.
But if time were turned back and he were given the choice again, he would still kill those Suroma soldiers guarding the teleportation portal without the slightest hesitation.
Shi Jingyi nodded slightly. She did not care much about the rankings. Her attention remained focused on herself and Guan Tong.
The two of them had undergone high-intensity training for an entire week. Several times, they had come close to fighting at full strength, all to break through further under extreme pressure.
The results had been excellent.
The strength they displayed had exceeded each other’s expectations.
It was the first time Shi Jingyi had faced Guan Tong unleashing his full firepower within the Shadow Domain. The shadows surging toward her from every direction, blotting out the sky and covering the earth, had been so overwhelming that even she felt suffocated.
Guan Tong had likewise felt tremendous pressure when facing Shi Jingyi at full strength.
Especially during this period, Shi Jingyi’s physical capabilities had improved dramatically with the support of Authority. Combined with the many Mind Power Martial Arts she had created herself, her overall strength had risen to another level.
After every spar, the two of them would sit down and carefully review the process, point out each other’s problems, correct their mistakes, and fix them in the next match.
Naturally, they had their share of arguments during this process. However, those arguments were limited strictly to the battle itself and never became personal.
After engaging in such high-intensity battles and reviews day after day, the two Awakened Ones were usually so exhausted by the time they returned to the shelter each night that they would collapse into bed and fall asleep immediately.
That, in turn, made Chen Na, the youngest of them all, the “head of the household.” Every day, she busied herself preparing food for the two of them.
“Brother Guan, Sister Jingyi!”
Chen Na suddenly ran over, surprising both of the resting people.
They stood up and asked, “What’s wrong?”
Although Guan Tong and Chen Na had established a Mind Network connection, he had not used it to contact her since beginning his training with Shi Jingyi.
Chen Na was also afraid that suddenly receiving a Mind Network call during training would distract Guan Tong, which was why she had come over in person.
“Big Sister Silver Fox contacted me just now,” Chen Na said. “She said Doctor Zhang Minglu hopes that the Ascendants ranked in the top nine of the overall rankings can conduct joint assault training during the remaining week.”
“Joint training?”
Guan Tong and Shi Jingyi exchanged a glance.
Did all nine of the top-ranked people really have to gather together for training? How could that possibly work?
“That isn’t realistic, is it?” Guan Tong said. “Leaving everyone else aside, if Han Qiu appeared in front of me, I would attack him even if he had been confirmed as a participant.”
“Han Qiu definitely won’t be included,” Shi Jingyi said.
“Oh, I didn’t explain it clearly. Big Sister Silver Fox meant that only the people from Beixing would participate. That should be Brother Guan, Sister Jingyi, and Lieutenant Colonel Dragon Soul, along with some official Ascendants acting as sparring partners.”
After finishing, Chen Na thought of what Guan Tong had just said and asked curiously, “Does anyone know what will happen if one of the top nine on the overall rankings dies before the Arena begins? Will they simply be judged to have lost one match?”
“They should probably move everyone below them up by one place,” Shi Jingyi said. “The original ninth place becomes eighth, the original tenth becomes ninth, and so on?”
“Oh, oh, that makes sense.”
“Xiao Tong, are you going to agree to the joint training?” Shi Jingyi looked at Guan Tong.
Guan Tong thought for a moment before saying, “There’s no reason to refuse. Everyone is fighting for the sake of all civilization this time, so the more victories, the better. Besides, introducing more variables will benefit us to some extent as well.”
He would not blindly reject an official proposal. If it was beneficial, he would accept it.
Zhang Minglu’s goal in organizing joint training was not merely to benefit Dragon Soul. He wanted all three participants to improve.
As the saying went, among three people, there is always one who can be my teacher. Guan Tong believed that if powerful people from the base, such as Bai Xuewu, Silver Fox, Dragon Soul, Wenren Yizhi, and Yang Ran, served as their sparring partners, both he and Shi Jingyi would gain something from it.
“What about you?” Guan Tong asked in return.
“I’m fine either way,” Shi Jingyi said. “I just thought your reservations might make you refuse.”
“I have nothing to be concerned about.”
His battle footage was available all over the world and had long since been analyzed to exhaustion.
But no matter how people analyzed it, their attention had always centered on his public alias, Shadow. Some of his other secret trump cards had still not been exposed.
“Then I’ll reply to Big Sister Silver Fox and tell her that you two agree?” Chen Na asked.
“Mm. Go ahead and reply to her.”
.......
That afternoon, when Guan Tong and the others arrived at the Countermeasures Research Office base, Zhang Minglu was already prepared.
On the way to the training ground, Zhang Minglu said, “This time, I’ve transferred nearly a hundred first-rate Ascendants to serve as your sparring partners. Even though you only have one short week, the results should still be quite good.
“Actually, I originally planned to organize all the participants, Han Qiu excluded. The remaining eight would undergo special training together and practice coordinated combat, in case the Furnace Arena has team competitions.
“However, the official organizations those Ascendants belong to seemed to have their own specially designed training plans, which conflicted with ours. In the end, we had to abandon the idea.”
Guan Tong nodded, then suddenly asked, “How are Heisen and the others doing with their experiment preparations?”
It had already been quite some time since Guan Tong had captured Heisen in Suroma and handed him over to the Countermeasures Research Office to help improve the Memory Department’s technical capabilities.
There was not much time left before the one-month deadline Heisen had proposed himself.
“Everyone in the Memory Department is still working hard,” Zhang Minglu replied. “I’ve been paying close attention to this matter. Their progress is continuing, but they still need some time.”
“He’d better not try anything funny,” Guan Tong reminded him.
“Of course not.”
As they spoke, the group arrived at the training ground.
With one sweep of his eyes, Guan Tong spotted many familiar faces, including Bai Xuewu, Silver Fox, and Yang Ran. Among them was Aaron, the younger brother of Black Star and White Star.
Aaron’s eyes lit up the moment he saw Guan Tong, and he hurried over. “Troupe Lea... Ahem, I mean, Big Brother Guan.”
He had originally wanted to call him Troupe Leader, but felt that it was inappropriate in this setting. In the end, he awkwardly came up with the address “Big Brother Guan.”
“Aaron, how have you been lately?”
“I’ve been great! I know about the training. I’ll be participating this time too, hehe.”
“Aaron possesses Combat Instinct. The more powerful people he fights, the faster he grows,” Zhang Minglu explained. “This large-scale training is the perfect opportunity for him to join.”
Guan Tong nodded. At that moment, Silver Fox and the others also walked over. After exchanging brief greetings, the training officially began.
Put simply, the joint training Zhang Minglu had designed consisted of intensive successive battles and encirclement attacks against the three participants.
Through constant attacks involving different abilities and different items, the three would be forced to raise their concentration to its absolute limit.
Precise techniques were secondary. What he valued more was their willpower on a mental level. He wanted all three of them to remain highly alert even when they were utterly exhausted.
During the week-long joint training Guan Tong and the others underwent, the Troupe members Black Star and White Star were also busy.
In a room on the second floor of the Twin Stars Bar in Xisiya Empire, several photographs were displayed on a large screen. One was positioned in the center, while the others surrounded it.
Ever since Han Qiu had stepped out from behind the scenes and into the public eye, Guan Tong had ordered them to track and investigate him. After so many days, they had finally obtained some results.
“After investigating for so long, these people should be the core members of the guild, right?” White Star said as she looked at the photographs.
One photograph showed a Beixing man with a resolute face and a tall, straight build.
“This person’s real name is Lü Tianci. He comes from the Beixing military’s Special Forces Team and is currently suspected to be Han Qiu’s right-hand man,” Black Star explained one by one.
Another photograph showed a super-heavy man who was stuffing a plastic rod into his mouth. He was clearly a survivor of the plastification reaction from the Microplastic Infestation Rule, also known among civilians as a Plastic Person.
“This man is from Heilanja. He’s Satan, Gluttony Frenzy, who currently ranks seventh in the overall rankings,” Black Star said. “His appearance on the rankings must be the result of Han Qiu buying votes and manipulating the process behind the scenes.”
“Manipulating the process behind the scenes?” White Star did not quite understand.
“Only after Han Qiu revealed himself did I gradually discover that the guild’s base had previously been in Heilanja. Although I don’t know when he began operating there, I suspect that the decision-making level of this small nation has already been infiltrated and controlled by him. Some of the Ascendants within the country were also indirectly manipulated into voting for him.”
White Star frowned. “Han Qiu went to such lengths to turn Satan into a participant. Could it be because he’s afraid there will be team competitions in the Arena?”
“That’s what I think as well. If there really are team competitions, Satan will be one of his hidden allies.”
“We have to inform Troupe Leader about this before the competition begins!”
“Of course.”
Black Star then looked at another photograph. It showed a blue-haired woman grinning at the camera while making a grotesque face.
“This woman’s real name is unknown, but the guild members all call her Cat Woman. She’s extremely bloodthirsty, and several murders in Heilanja were connected to her. Apart from that, we have no further information. We can only confirm that she’s another guild cadre.”
“Cat Woman...” White Star said. “You can tell she’s a little unhinged just by looking at the photograph. What about this one?” White Star pointed to the final photograph, which showed nothing but a pitch-black silhouette from behind.
“This one... I’m not sure.”
Black Star shook his head. “This is the most mysterious cadre in the guild. I spent a fortune in Ascendant City and could only obtain this photograph from behind. We’ll have to continue investigating.”