Chapter 32: True to Form, Mu Qingtong!
Seeing Wei Shutong’s serious demeanor, Xia Feng knew it was difficult to explain and could only shake his head helplessly. “Old Wei, stop trying to persuade me. I know what I’m doing.”
“Besides, you know my personality. Ask me to grovel to Yan Xujia? That’s impossible! I won’t be surnamed Xia if I don’t beat the sense out of him!”
Wei Shutong stared at Xia Feng for a while longer. His stern expression suddenly softened, and he patted Xia Feng’s shoulder, grinning. “Good, you didn’t disappoint me.”
“Take this,” he said, tossing a stone.
Xia Feng was taken aback, feeling a bit speechless. “No way, Old Wei, are you testing me again?”
“It’s not a test, I just wanted to see your choice,” Wei Shutong said with a smile. “Since you’ve chosen to go head-to-head, I’ll lend you a hand.”
He pointed at the blue and white shimmering stone on the table. “This is the Unsolvable Stone. Use it when facing a life-or-death moment, and it will greatly increase the probability of spirit artifact awakening.”
“Huh?” Xia Feng stared blankly at the Unsolvable Stone. Well, it seemed he didn’t need to buy one himself.
“Although I don’t have high expectations for you, kid, I still hope you remember one thing.”
“What?” Xia Feng looked up.
“Winning or losing doesn’t matter, being cool is a lifelong pursuit!”
Although the slick-haired man was middle-aged, he was still passionate. His eyes were serious and imposing as he declared loudly, “Even if you lose, you must lose standing tall!!”
Xia Feng: “…”
***
In just five days, the “Fair Duel” had reached an unprecedented level of popularity.
Although Weiyang Academy strictly prohibited private fights between students, eighteen and nineteen-year-old youths were full of vigor. Disputes occurred every few days.
Therefore, Weiyang Academy and the Empire’s Holy See of Justice reached an agreement: the “Fair Duel” at the Gladiator Arena.
The Gladiator Arena opened its doors for one day each month for students to resolve disputes.
As long as both parties wagered stakes within the limits of Imperial law and signed a fair contract, under the gaze of the Star God of Justice, no one could escape the contract’s sanction.
Because of this, the eighth of each month was also known as “Justice Day.”
Justice Day was quite popular more than a decade ago. However, with the improvement of the academy’s rules and regulations in recent years, disputes between students have decreased year by year, and Justice Day was almost fading from public view.
But today, Xia Feng stood by the floor-to-ceiling window of the waiting room, looking at the surging crowd filling the massive oval arena, and for the first time, he understood what “packed to the rafters” meant.
Even behind the soundproof glass, he could feel the roaring waves of cheers from outside.
The arena was as large as three football fields. Dozens of miniature high-speed drones hovered sporadically in the sky, their detection eyes emitting faint red light as they scanned the entire venue. The images of those scanned were projected onto a giant screen a hundred meters high.
Three curved screens circled the sky like a semi-circular hat, constantly flashing the faces of spectators. Seeing themselves on camera, some cheered with clenched fists, some whistled playfully, some embraced, and some… well, the screen quickly cut away, perhaps because the director controlling the drones was disgusted.
A woman’s face wearing half-frame gold-rimmed glasses appeared on the screen. Seeing the camera zoom in, her beautiful eyes curved slightly, and she smiled gently.
“Hiss—So, so beautiful, this senior! No, she looks so familiar…” A pink-haired girl was captivated by the woman’s face on the screen.
“Of course, she’s beautiful. This is Mu Shen!” A boy next to her cheered, his eyes shining. “She truly is my goddess! Her smile is so gentle!”
“Oh right, I remember now!” The pink-haired girl suddenly realized. “I saw her in the top 100 national competition of the Spirit Song Competition yesterday. I even voted for her.”
“Spirit Song?” someone nearby exclaimed in surprise. “What? Mu Shen participated in the Spirit Song Competition? And made it to the top 100?”
The pink-haired girl was surprised that her classmates knew Mu Qingtong. She excitedly shared, “Yes, you should watch the latest live broadcast replay. Mu Shen successfully advanced to the top 100! Although her singing…”
Here, the girl paused, a hint of awkwardness on her face. “…was a bit off-key, but setting aside the pitch, it was still quite enjoyable.”
…The moment Mu Qingtong appeared on screen, many people in the venue recognized her.
After all, the Spirit Song Competition was widely popular. Many people liked to feel the story and emotions the singer wanted to convey through the spirit song.
However, Xia Feng couldn’t believe that this Mu Qingtong actually made it to the top 100? With her tone-deaf singing ability, getting through the initial selection of ten thousand people would have been good enough. How did she get to the top 100?
“Wuwuwu, Mu Shen is so cool, I love her~”
There were many staff members in the waiting room, and they also gathered by the window, gazing at the screen with infatuation, chattering amongst themselves.
Xia Feng was pushed to the back by them. He looked speechlessly at these unprofessional staff members, a slight twitch at the corner of his eye.
Alright, he understood now. The Spirit Song Competition used a popularity-based voting system. So, whether Mu Qingtong’s singing was good or not wasn’t important; her beautiful face, which captivated both men and women, was the key.
However, Xia Feng still couldn’t figure out what this World-Ending Witch was trying to achieve by participating in the Spirit Song Competition.
The director outside was mischievous and, after spotting the stunning beauty, kept the camera fixed on her without cutting away.
But because of this, the excitement in the entire venue reached a new peak, with waves of sound and continuous screams.
“Ahhh~ I wish Miss Mu would corner me!”
This was from a lesbian.
“Mu Qingtong, my lady! Please step on me!”
This was from a gay man.
“Sihha~ Sihha~”
This was… well, interpret it yourself.
“Buzz buzz—”
Xia Feng’s phone vibrated. He checked it; it was a text message from Wei Shutong.
[Cheap Adoptive Father: Found the account that’s fueling the popularity of this Fair Duel. It’s a private ID named “Red Spade.” This person operates meticulously and hasn’t left any traceable information.]
Red Spade? The moment Xia Feng saw this ID, he knew who it was.
Mu Qingtong had been wearing a Red Spade Mask when the Holy Department agents were chasing her on Blood Calamity Street a few days ago.
But he couldn’t understand why this witch was making such a big deal out of this. Did she want to see him embarrassed?
“Buzz buzz—”
[Cheap Adoptive Father: And something strange happened. Your odds at the underground casino have now reached 1 to 100, but your fiancée bet one hundred thousand on you to win.]
Xia Feng: “…”
Fine, Mu Qingtong, you want to play it like this? Xia Feng rubbed his forehead, his eyelids twitching.
One hundred thousand, with odds of 100 to 1, meaning if he won, Mu Qingtong would directly pocket ten million.
Did this woman have so much faith in him?
No, wait, that wasn’t the point now. The key was that this woman was secretly organizing and amplifying the hype, expanding the betting pool, and intending to collect everyone’s money in one go.
Truly, Mu Qingtong.
Xia Feng guessed that if she weren’t afraid of the bookmaker collapsing and being unable to pay out, this woman’s investment might have been even larger.
