Chapter 125: Losing the Ability to Move at a Critical Juncture
Translator: Pluto Editor: Vermillion
Long Ahtao’s roommate felt that he was very odd today. Long Ahtao had never missed a single match in all the previous tournaments. He would even save his salary, that little amount he had, to buy tickets for a few days of matches to watch it live. It was rare for Long Ahtao to skip watching the morning match, but the weirdest thing was that he barely replied after hearing the outrageous outcome of that match.
"Hey, what’s wrong?" His roommate finally put down his bucket of snacks and walked to Long Ahtao’s bedside. "The female mutates actually won, did you hear what I said?"
Long Ahtao acknowledged with a soft sound, sounding very sick.
The roommate pulled him over roughly and was taken aback, "You have a fever?"
Long Ahtao’s face was scathing hot. He closed his barely open eyes and blood poured from his nose. A lock of hair fell from his head onto his roommate’s hand, and the roommate shook it away in disgust and cleaned his hands on Long Ahtao’s clothes. After the roommate considered for a moment, he decided to call the medic.
"The match is starting. I don’t want to go. It’s just a fever. I can wait until the end of the match!" he quickly retorted as the screen went black.
His roommate grabbed that bucket of snacks and went back to his seat. He switched on the screen showing the live broadcast of the tournament and began eating his chicken popcorn guiltlessly as he felt that he had already done as much as he could as a roommate.
After watching for two minutes, he finally understood the intention of the Committee. Even though he couldn’t hear the discussion between the contestants, he could see that they were arguing.
"But, she is a resident of Garden of Eden!" Dong Haohao voice grew sharp as she continued emotionally, "My ability isn’t good for combat, I didn’t risk my life to continue to this match to protect a resident of this place!"
Xu Wei and the others did not say anything but they seemed to agree with her. Lin Sanjiu looked at Li Tao. Li Tao sighed and looked downward with her black puppy-like eyes, saying, "She means us no harm…"
"Yes, that’s what I mean." Lin Sanjiu sighed in relief after she received support from Li Tao. She threw a glance at the woman on the ground. "I understand where you guys are coming from, but those drugged duoluozhongs wouldn’t care if she has sponsors or where she is from..."
Sometimes, when the duoluozhongs were unable to catch the sponsored contestant, they would just grab another person to meet their sexual craving. This has happened quite a few times over the days and there was no way Lin Sanjiu would allow any woman to be treated that way if she was around.
She had not even finished what she wanted to say, she was still thinking about how she could convince the other women when suddenly she heard someone gasping. The atmosphere immediately changed. Lin Sanjiu looked toward where the others were staring and saw three black prison vans.
Since the start of the tournament, this was the first time that three prison vans arrived instead of one.
The audience was ecstatic. They cheered and whistled. The atmosphere was radically different and there was no sign of that uneasiness they showed in the morning. "Dear audience, do you see the prison vans? Even your host is surprised by this! We can only expect an exciting and entertaining show this afternoon!" The host spoke with a high-spirited voice as if to compensate for his speechless reaction in the morning match. When the doors of the prison van opened, the host started his enthusiastic introduction, " Oh! Look, the duoluozhongs in the first prison van are different from the ones before. Each of them looks really fierce… Haha, how ferocious! They look like they will rush over even before the match starts…"
Just as the host described, this batch of duoluozhongs were all taller than two meters and looked very similar to each other. Sinews covered their necks and there wasn’t a single strand of hair on their pointed pale heads. They each had a gruesome appendage dangling between their legs, enough to give a person nightmares for days.
"Don’t be scared. They are just duoluozhongs," Lin Sanjiu consoled the women behind her.
The youngest girl trembled and did not even dare to look straight at them, instead she stared at Lin Sanjiu’s back as though it would help her calm down a bit.
The first and second prison vans were filled with numerous duoluozhongs. They rushed out from the vehicles when the doors were opened. Afterwards, the expressions of the women turned grim as five Grade 2 combatants walked down from the third prison van. They looked different but they all had harrowing scars left behind by the countless experiments done on them. All five of them had eyes, but they were staring vacantly as they were controlled by the beetle-like machinery embedded in their heads.
When Lin Sanjiu saw this, her face turned white.
"Just as before, we will take a circular formation. The sponsored contestants will fight from behind and those who have support abilities are to stay in the center to provide help." Lin Sanjiu calmed her racing heart and spoke with a decisive tone. At this point, she did not have the mood to debate with the women, "We will surround the woman on the ground."
Once she said that, Lin Sanjiu rushed to take the foremost position. Under such circumstances, no one else argued against her. Xu Wei and Li Tao quickly went to Lin Sanjiu’s side and the others surrounded the incapacitated woman to protect her.
"You all should concentrate on getting rid of the duoluozhongs. I will deal with the Grade 2 Combatants. If I die, someone must take over this position!" Lin Sanjiu quickly shouted to the others after she heard the starting horn. She tore off some material from the bottom of her pants and wrapped her fists. Next, she activated her [A Twinkle in the Sky].
Compared to the previous matches, their opponents had somewhat of a fighting strategy this time. One of the Grade 2 combatants rushed forward leading the large group of duoluozhongs. The entire arena was filled with a tsunami of roaring voices, it was impossible to discern which voices belonged to the human audience and which belonged to the duoluozhongs. In a few short seconds, the duoluozhongs were right in front of the female contestants. The strong nauseating stench from the duoluozhongs swiftly followed.
Seeing the large number of duoluozhongs charging forward like a raging rapid, Lin Sanjiu overcome her urge to evade and turned behind, yelling, "I will leave them to you guys!" She sprinted forward nimbly, aiming for the Grade 2 combatant in the middle while ignoring everything else. She immediately found herself amidst a sea of duoluozhongs.
Xu Wei and Li Tao, who were behind her, instantly activated their abilities and blasted away several duoluozhongs. However, these duoluozhongs were much stronger than those in the previous match, so many of them could survive that attack and continued stretching their white arms, trying to grab the contestants. But before they could get close, they fell to the ground one after the other, as if something had tripped them. Then, they were suddenly dragged by an invisible force. They shrieked as they were pulled away from the battle arena until they hit the electric net and were electrocuted to death.
The girl with the nest-like hair exhaled quietly.
[Patriotic Fervor]
"Is it right for the Government to do this? Are we talking about the rule of man or rule of law? If we want our country to progress, how can we just go along with this sort of authoritative governance? Ah, wait for me, I have to answer my door to get a delivery…"
After that, the person never appeared again… This weird phenomenon of people disappearing after they answer the door to collect a delivery or for a water utility employee [1] have been converted to an ability.
Description: After choosing a hostile target, the ability will interrupt his current action and the target will be dragged far away.
PS: The target must be within 2,000 m. Being dragged by the ability does not cause any damage to the target. If you want to reach the effectiveness of the Public Security Bureau, please wait for your next level up. A maximum of three targets can be chosen each time. During this process, the user must not move.
This ability was actually only useful for escaping—however, taking advantage of the high voltage electric net surrounding the battle arena, that girl with the nest hair unexpected managed to use her weak [Patriotic Fervor] to her great advantage. Within a short amount of time, she had already killed off over a dozen duoluozhongs.
Even though the battle situation behind her was in their favor, Lin Sanjiu had gotten herself into quite a conundrum. She didn’t expect that she would be unable to use [A Twinkle in the Sky]. When she punched a duoluozhong, it seemed like its tall body was hit by a great upward force, however, before its feet could leave the ground, it fell back as if restricted by something.
Lin Sanjiu was a little stunned by this and was nearly caught by a duoluozhong. Luckily, Li Tao had been watching her back, so she quickly activated her [N.Heller’s Filler Writing Ability] and saved Lin Sanjiu’s life.
Due to this unforeseen incident, Lin Sanjiu quickly pulled out her mouthpart weapon. With a few whips, she pushed back the duoluozhongs that were flocking toward her. She finally cleared a path for herself to retreat with much difficulty and ran toward the other women. When the Grade 2 combatant she had been pursuing saw this, it jumped up and flipped over her head, landing right in front of Lin Sanjiu.
The combatant’s lackluster, seemingly lifeless eyes were locked on Lin Sanjiu. He slowly opened his mouth and a white beam appeared from his throat. Lin Sanjiu didn’t dare to stay a second longer. She let herself fall to the ground and rolled to a side while tossing the material wrapping her hands. She immediately grabbed his ankle.
At almost the same time, the Grade 2 combatant faced downward and targeted the white beam he released from his mouth toward the ground.
Even though Lin Sanjiu speed was fast, she knew she couldn’t dodge faster than the white beam. Her heart sank as she anticipated losing one of her legs. Oddly, she didn’t feel the pain she expected. Lin Sanjiu looked up and saw Dong Haohao looking at her darkly while screaming, "Quick! I can’t hold him back any longer!"
[National Tax Agency]
When an income goes through this mystical place, it is mysteriously reduced... just like an enemy’s attack.
Description: When [National Tax Agency] is activated, the first three seconds of an enemy’s attack will be taken away, so it will not cause any damage to you or your allies. After three seconds, you can still receive damage from the remaining duration of the attack, just like how your remaining income will be given to you.
Three seconds was enough for Lin Sanjiu. When she rushed into the formation, the Grade 2 combatant suddenly fell and died, as blood poured out of his body only after chasing her for a few steps.
There were still four left… With another whipping attack, she decimated a duoluozhong’s lower appendage. While it shrieked in pain, Lin Sanjiu started feeling anxious. Dealing with a Grade 2 combatant was really very risky, she wondered if she could really kill off the other four combatants. Four men walked stiffly out from the crowd of duoluozhongs, as if they had heard her hidden thoughts. Four lifeless-looking eyes stared at her.
The audience suddenly grew quiet, and even the duoluozhongs seemed to move slower. It was as if everyone in the arena was waiting for the four Grade 2 combatants to attack. Beyond anyone’s expectation, Lin Sanjiu’s knees suddenly weakened and she slipped into a sitting position. Her body started to tremble slightly.