Chapter 124: A Slight Modification
Translator: Pluto Editor: Vermillion
"Motherf*ckers! Why didn’t you arrange for more Grade 2 Combatants?"
As Aliba, the chief of police, bellowed at the highest white ball in the office, a large number of office supplies flew out noisily from a desk and crashed to the ground along with their owner’s anger.
"Good-for-nothing! You can’t even deal with one mutate right there in your palm! You’re a f*cking disgrace!" Aliba continued scolding. The translucent white ball displayed the view of a man bowing, it was the vice chief with the monocle.
The other round balls beneath it quickly moved further away.
"Chief. It’s... It’s all because of those people from the lab, their asking price is too high…" Noticing that his superior haven’t responded, he carefully added, "Considering that we still need to buy more Grade 1 and Grade 2 combatants and we have to hire their warriors, the cost…"
The most important thing was that the profits from the tickets, sponsors, etc. would actually be used as bonuses for the Military and Police Department. As expected, Aliba turned his anger to his long-time rivals.
"F*ck! Those ungrateful b*stards! If I didn’t send them those mutate and special items, how would they be able to research sh*t?" After receiving two blows in this short amount of time, his furious expression was enough to make his men fidget. "Those assh*les from the Technology Department, I will make them participants for the tournament someday!"
He stopped for a while and inhaled sharply, "Cut the bonuses this year, and get more Grade 2 combatants. We need Contestant 97 dead!"
The vice chief quickly nodded. In the previous years, the Military and Police Department was never this strapped for cash. Special Items were extremely rare and they could usually exchange a few items for a batch of Grade 2 combatants, but this year...
When Aliba remembered the theft, he fell heavily into his chair and sighed, "Did you get any information about the two culprits who broke into our safe?"
The vice chief did not dare to even say "no", he shook his head anxiously and before his superior flared up again, he quickly continued, "But when I was dealing with the woman called Xue Qin, I suddenly remembered something…"
Aliba looked up and sat up straight once he heard this, waiting for his vice chief to continue.
And, indeed, they rarely received calls in the middle of the night, but there was one involving a civilian reporting that a female mutate was hiding in the city. After that, the items from the safe were stolen while they dealt with her. This was too much of a coincidence, so they must be related.
Xue Qin was dumped onto an aerial work platform and brought to their office. Her entire body was covered with swollen bruises and she was beaten so badly that it was impossible to recognize her. Actually, she was surprised that she was still alive. Xue Qin laid on the ground, staring with listless eyes. Her body was bound, and she showed no expression.
"How did you get that [Lu Xun Exclusive Similar Styled Sponge]?" Aliba questioned unhurriedly, his anger had already subsided.
Xue Qin had heard this question countless times during her interrogation but she clenched her teeth and refused to say a word. Aliba wasn’t surprised by her silence. He looked at Xue Qin’s wounded body before pressing a few buttons on the wall. A hologram of a recording of a telephone conversation appeared in midair. It showed a hooded man whose features couldn’t be seen clearly due to the dark surroundings but his voice was discernible, "Yes, she was heading west from Sadema Street… Are you sending men here immediately? Don’t let her get away."
Although the speaker intentionally deepened his voice, Xue Qin rapidly lifted her head to look at the image when she heard that voice and started trembling.
Aliba smiled when he saw her reaction.
30 minutes later…
Lie Ming shifted his body a little reluctantly as he whispered to the person beside him, "Are we watching the next match? I am still worried about them… Sigh, I don’t know what these guys will do to Contestant 97."
"We’re not watching this anymore, let’s go," the person replied with a light-hearted tone which ironically sounded very cold. "What happened just now was just a fluke. If we continue watching, we will only be disappointed."
The two men didn’t attract much attention when they stood up and left their VIP seats. That was because everyone was more focused on discussing about the match that just ended. The events which unfolded were now the hot topic of discussion in every entertainment news, talk show, and social media in Garden of Eden. In the 28 years, there were other instances where the female Posthuman contestants won. In fact, as long as a contestant survived a match, they would be considered the winner of that match. However, this was the first time that a contestant dared to bravely stand in the battle arena and confront the entire Garden of Eden.
"Superior to us? She’s just dreaming… Look at where we are sitting and where they are!"
"Well, she doesn’t know that matches after the 50th contestant are way harsher than those before… I can’t wait to see how Contestant 97 will cry and beg to be let out in the next match…"
"Did you drink that duoluozhong’s blood to threaten us?"
Whether it was the large screen in the arena or the small screen on the wrists, public figures of all appearances and voices were commenting about the same matter. After walking through the commotion, Gong Daoyi suddenly stopped before even reaching the exit. He bought a hot dog from a small stall nearby and turned back. Lie Ming was just about to question Gong Daoyi when he took a quick look at the exit and immediately understood. At that moment, he realized that suddenly some soldiers appeared to guard the exit. Those soldiers were demanding each passing person to reveal their face and each of them had a portrait on the screens of their wristband which looked very similar to Gong Daoyi.
"Oh really. I didn’t expect them to find out so quickly." Gong Daoyi returned to his seat holding a hot dog but he did not know how he could eat with his mask on so he just gave the hot dog to Lei Ming. "It must be that woman."
Lei Ming held the hot dog and frowned, "Crap. What should we do?"
"Let’s just go along with it. Since we can’t leave now, we might as well watch the next match… If it is disappointing, it is fate and it wasn’t my choice to watch it..." Lei Ming couldn’t see Gong Daoyi’s expression because of his mask, but he heard the man mumbling.
Lei Ming really couldn’t understand Gong Daoyi’s logic sometimes but since he already said that, Lei Ming could only sit down nervously.
"Um, how do I eat this?"
"If I knew, would I give it to you?"
Lei Ming was flabbergasted. He wanted to look around but a stern voice on the large screen quickly drew his attention. Next, the chief of police, Aliba, appeared on the screen. This was followed by cheers from the audience. "The Committee finds the camaraderie that Contestant 97 displays very interesting. For everyone to enjoy this interesting experience, we decided on a slight modification…"
When Lin Sanjiu heard the word, "modification", her heart skipped a beat. She was afraid that what she was most worried about was actually going to happen.
The rules to the Lunar New Year Tournament were decided by the organizers after all. Since they made the rules, they were also entitled to change it anytime they wanted. If they really did so, the fate of the remaining contestants would once again be unpredictable.
Lin Sanjiu could only count on one thing—that the Tournament Committee would be too proud to admit their blunder, and too proud to change their rules. She could feel that the women in the capsules beside hers were looking at her anxiously. She bit her lips and held her breath as she listened to Aliba’s announcement, "According to what Contestant 97 declared, the ten female mutates will unite in the next match. Isn’t that touching? Thus, the Committee has decided that we will add a female mutate with limited motor function into the next match. Let’s hope that Contestant 97 and her companions would reach consensus regarding how they should deal with that special female mutate…"
Before Aliba finished his sentence, Lin Sanjiu felt her legs grow weak and she fell to the bottom of the capsule. Her muscles were starting to ache and her vision was blurring. She was all too familiar with this feeling. She summoned her Nostradamus’s Card eagerly and transferred the radiation in her body into the card. Lin Sanjiu successfully absorbed the radiation within the duoluozhong’s body by drinking its blood.
The small battery symbol on the card showed a lightning sign for a while and the number on the battery increased to 16%. The duoluozhongs were indeed products of the radiation. Lin Sanjiu only drank a little blood, but the radiation in that small amount of blood was far beyond what normal humans could withstand, but it might not be enough...
After she felt her fatigue ebbing, Lin Sanjiu supported herself with the walls of the capsule while watching the new female posthuman the organizers brought in.
The bloody remains in the battle arena had been removed, perhaps to alleviate the fears the residents had after seeing the spirits in the previous match, but there were still spots of blood stains on the floor. A soldier walked into the battle arena with a motionless woman on his shoulder, he threw he ragdoll-like body on the ground and left.
The woman’s limbs were all twisted in some weird angle, definitely broken. She seemed to be unconscious but her face and body was so swollen that one of her eyes was half-opened.
The second match of the day was starting. The woman on the floor shuddered a little when she heard the capsules being transported into the battle arena. Lin Sanjiu walked out of her capsule and looked at the other nine women.
Compared to the women fighting in the previous matches, the mental state of the additional five women looked visibly better. A woman with gentle eyes gave a grateful nod to Lin Sanjiu. Meanwhile, a 14-year-old teenager moved closer to Lin Sanjiu. Although the girl seemed very scared, there was a hint of hope in her eyes. The nine women unconsciously gathered around Lin Sanjiu, waiting for her to say something.
"I wouldn’t say anything unnecessary." After Lin Sanjiu reviewed what happened in the previous match, she finally concluded, "You just need to remember, all of you must stay after the end of the match to help the contestants fighting tomorrow."
With the number of contestants increasing with each match, it might not be enough to aggravate the residents, but at least it would help ensure that the remaining contestants would survive and not end up like Xinyi and the others.
A girl with a nest-like hair actually cried after hearing what Lin Sanjiu said, most likely because she realized that she had the chance of survival because the people from the previous match kept their promise. She nodded so vigorously that the others feared her head might fall off.
While the women snivelled and agreed, Lin Sanjiu was a little surprised and touched because none of the women brought up the idea of abandoning the unknown woman. Perhaps, undergoing this nightmarish experience brought out the tenacity in them. Even Bai Xiaoke suggested, "I can get my escort to protect her…"
But a feeble voice suddenly interrupted her, "I don’t need your help—"
Lin Sanjiu turned behind and realized that the woman on the ground had opened her eyes. Tears rolled down her face as she gritted her teeth and continued, "All of you mutates are bad people! I don’t need your help!"