Chapter Seventy-Five: Decisive Battle

“Yes, didn’t you hear just now? The one in the video tape is the true form of the Little King of Hell, and this young man is what he looks like grown up. What do you think? Pretty handsome, isn’t he?”
“He is handsome, but…”
“But what? Come on, let’s get breakfast, or we’ll miss the match,” Qin Xiaochuan said, winking at the masked contestant behind him. Then he turned and hurried toward the hotel restaurant.

The Fairy Hotel was the island’s only five-star luxury hotel offering both lodging and dining. It didn’t just cater to the monsters on the island—every kind of human cuisine could be found there too. No wonder the Dark Organization was so wealthy; even their breakfast spread was extraordinarily lavish. Thinking of the roast suckling pig, Qin Xiaochuan couldn’t help but drool. The restaurant was open for buffet service twenty-four hours a day, and ever since he’d tried the dishes on the basement level, he’d been hooked on the roast suckling pig. This time, he was planning to devour an entire pig in one sitting. After all, only three of them remained in the competition—if he didn’t eat his fill, how could he face the next opponents?

Meanwhile, in a dense forest on the island, Bai Ying spotted Feiyan emerging shirtless from the woods and made his way over. “Finally found you, Feiyan.” After searching for a whole day and night, Bai Ying had finally sensed Feiyan’s presence here and hurried over. Seeing Feiyan appear, Bai Ying leapt down from a tree and approached him, concern in his voice: “Are you alright now?”

Feiyan replied coldly, “What do you mean?”

“You should know the next match isn’t something you can handle single-handedly.”

“So what? Didn’t that guy with the sunglasses say it already? We can’t get out of this, neither you nor I.” Feiyan stood unmoving, his eyes fixed on the two figures emerging behind Bai Ying. “It’s just a matter of killing or being killed.”

Just as Bai Ying turned, two monsters stepped out from the forest, clearly targeting the two of them.

Back at the arena—

“What’s going on?”

“Why do both teams only have three members left? Where did the other teammates go?”

“Yeah, aren’t they just ignoring the rules of the competition?”

A wave of discontent rippled through the crowd of monsters in the stands. Watching the two teams face off on the stage, some disgruntled viewers began tossing trash toward the platform. With only three members left on each side, had the other two from each team died? If that was the case, they might as well call off the match—whoever won would just be eliminated in the semifinals anyway, since they’d be outnumbered by the other teams.

Staring at the three expressionless warriors across from him and the G Team leader, Dr. Barry, who was now stepping onto the stage, Zhang Yang couldn’t help but feel a chill. Weren’t these the very people who’d appeared in his dream? Could everything he dreamt really be true? That was just too incredible.

At this point, the referee, Miss Ruoxi, glanced at both teams’ attendance, then checked her watch to confirm the time. “Time’s up. Will the team leaders please step forward to decide the match format.”

Hearing the call, Qin Xiaochuan stepped forward, sizing up Dr. Barry. The man looked like a hairless gorilla—his short, squat body only came up to Qin Xiaochuan’s waist, his broad forehead sparsely covered with a few strands of hair, and his skull-like face was missing a nose. Two long, thin arms dangled to the ground, each finger ending in sharp claws. The more Qin Xiaochuan looked, the uglier he found him. Was this guy a crossbreed between a gorilla and a monster? The sight was enough to make Qin Xiaochuan nauseous.

Suppressing the urge to retch, Qin Xiaochuan spoke with a serious expression. “You decide how we compete.”

“Heh, young people do know how to show respect.” Dr. Barry looked up at Qin Xiaochuan and raised three fingers. “How about this? Since both of our teams only have three members left, let’s have three matches—one for each.”

“Fine, but what then? If your team loses, are you going to step in as a substitute?”

“Heh, you’ve got that wrong. My three subordinates are more than enough to defeat you. I may have come onto the stage as a substitute, but I have little interest in such dirty business as fighting,” Dr. Barry replied, pausing to point at Qin Xiaochuan. “But as a monster, let me confirm one thing for you: you humans are truly impressive. Without the shackles of emotion and spirit, humans are the most efficient killing machines. My dream is to create the most perfect killing machines in the world, and those three are the first prototypes of my experiment…”

“Enough! Save your useless drivel.” Watching Dr. Barry flail his arms as he spoke, Qin Xiaochuan felt a sickening disgust. How could a creature like this exist? Only a deranged mind would think of turning people into killing machines. Since he wasn’t even human, Qin Xiaochuan decided that after the match, he’d find a chance to make sure this menace disappeared for good—better for everyone that way. Just looking at him made his skin crawl.

“But before the match begins, I have a proposal. It might sound a bit shocking—I wonder if you’ll agree?”

“Speak.”

“If my team wins, how about you offer up your bodies—alive or dead—for my research?”

Suppressing his rage, Qin Xiaochuan raised his fist and glared at Dr. Barry. “And if we win, I’ll tear you to pieces!”

“Excellent, very good!” Dr. Barry seemed delighted with this response, clapping his hands before turning to leave the stage. It was clear his main purpose here was to settle this matter of collecting bodies. He was confident in his three warriors; according to his calculations, a three-on-three battle gave his team a ninety-nine percent chance of winning. That meant Qin Xiaochuan’s team had only a one percent chance, so he had no qualms about agreeing to the terms.

Just as he was about to walk away, the masked contestant stepped forward and spoke. “Wait. I have a suggestion—do you agree?”

“What is it?” Dr. Barry turned back, eyeing the masked contestant. “What’s your proposal?”

“I suggest we fight three-on-three all at once, to decide the outcome in a single battle.”

“Perfect!” Dr. Barry was secretly overjoyed. The greatest strength of G Team’s members was their teamwork—they’d all studied under the same master, and their coordination was even deadlier than their individual skills. If it came down to a group battle, the other side’s chances of victory dropped from one in ten thousand to none. Bai Ying and Feiyan were already being stalled by his men elsewhere, and even if they made it back, the match would be over. Everything was going exactly as he’d hoped. If nothing unexpected happened, these three corpses would become models for his second-generation cyborg warriors. With that thought, the gorilla-man beamed as he clasped his hands behind his back and stepped off the stage to watch the coming showdown.

“What’s going on? These three are exactly the ones from my dream—down to the last detail. And that gorilla doctor is just like the one I saw too. Could it really be that everything happened as in my dream? These three must have been transformed into cyborg warriors by that doctor in order to save their master… It’s insane.” Looking at the three altered warriors, Zhang Yang recalled the scenes from his dream and began to understand what his sixth sense was warning him about. If it was just like in his dream, then these three were already under the doctor’s control, devoid of feeling—pure killing machines. If that was true, how could they possibly fight this battle? If they held back, they’d be killed; if they didn’t, it would be like killing innocents.

As Zhang Yang’s mind raced, the masked contestant suddenly spoke. “I’ve met these three and their master before. They’re disciples of a secret sect.”

“What? You’ve met them?” Both Qin Xiaochuan and Zhang Yang turned to stare at the short, masked contestant in astonishment. Zhang Yang couldn’t help but ask, “So it’s really like in my dream—they became this way trying to save their master…”

“Take your positions! Ready! Begin!” Before Zhang Yang could finish, Miss Ruoxi, the referee, waved her hand and announced the start of the match.

At the signal, the three modified warriors of G Team charged, launching their assault on Qin Xiaochuan’s group. As G-3 raised its right claw, Qin Xiaochuan instinctively tried to block with his arm and kick at its abdomen, hoping to knock it back. But just as he was about to move, the masked contestant behind him shouted a warning: “Jump back!”

Without thinking, Qin Xiaochuan and Zhang Yang reflexively leapt backwards. A split second later, G-3’s claw gouged a deep pit in the spot where they’d just stood. Staring at the hole in the ground, cold sweat broke out on Qin Xiaochuan’s forehead. If that claw had struck him, his bones would surely have been shattered. The force was terrifying—his hand hadn’t even seemed to touch the ground, yet the power it unleashed was immense, as if his claws were equipped with some hidden weapon impossible to see through.