Chapter 38 – Bloody Ferrara (10)
◎Song Ke’s Level◎
After leaving the Sycara Theater, the three of them found a long bench and sat down to discuss the rules of the Throne Race Competition.
Zhuang Qingyan stared at the huge projection screen at the entrance of the theater and calmly recited the registration details displayed on it:
“Applicants must meet the following conditions simultaneously: first, possess a D-level or higher ability officially certified by the Alliance; second, abide by Ferrara’s laws with no criminal record; third, be in good physical health with stable vital signs…”
“The total prize pool for this competition exceeds 10 million, and the champion team will receive 5 million Alliance coins and 1000 commission points. In addition, all teams that pass the preliminary rounds will receive 50,000 Alliance coins and 100 commission points.”
1000 commission points were almost equivalent to an A-level commission! Just thinking about how Song Ke and the others had to go through so much trouble to kill the zombie Zhang Lei from the hands of so many awakeners in Luli Port, they knew how difficult A-level missions were.
And then there were 5 million Alliance coins, which was an enormous amount of money, almost too much to count! Of course, winning the championship was still too far off for them, but as long as they passed the preliminaries, they could earn 50,000 for free! Was the official in Ferrara’s District C really that wealthy?
“Are you planning to register?” Zhuang Qingyan always seemed to grasp her thoughts immediately. “Why? Do you really want to bet against that guy just now?”
Of course not! Song Ke explained earnestly, “I want to, to make money.”
She and Zhuang Qingyan would be staying in Ferrara for a while, and they would have to spend money on food and drink. They couldn’t keep relying on Xu Xing. In the past, their life in District F was poor, and their material desires were low. Song Ke’s understanding of money had always been vague since childhood. Now that she was out in society, she realized how important money was!
“Sister, I support you!” Xu Xing clenched his little fists and cheered her on with sparkling eyes. He knew how formidable Song Ke was. When Song Ke used those artifacts from the old civilization, it was a pure visual delight. One move, one zombie; it was beyond cool!
Hmm, let that old man see how amazing his sister is.
He could also place a few bets and make some pocket money… after all, choosing his sister would definitely not result in a loss.
As Xu Xing’s thoughts wandered, he truly lived up to being Xu Weiguo’s son, with a sense of venture at such a young age.
Zhuang Qingyan looked at the two eager individuals in front of him and a light smile crept onto his lips.
“Have you forgotten something? Song Ke’s ability level hasn’t been revealed yet.”
Oh right! Song Ke suddenly remembered. It was supposed to take three working days, and Xu Xing was one day behind her. It was normal that he hadn’t received the results yet. But she was about to enter the fourth day; had it taken too long?
She was about to open the system to check again when her terminal suddenly beeped.
Huh, this terminal was brand new, and apart from Xu Xing, there was no one else in her contacts.
Who would be contacting her at this time?
Song Ke answered the call, puzzled, and a loud voice came through immediately, “Hello! We are the marketing department of Century Consortium. Would you be interested in sponsorship? In the early stages, we are primarily focusing on the logo for the team uniforms…”
“Sponsorship?” Song Ke thought it might be some new type of scam and cleverly hung up.
“Beep beep.” Just as she ended the call, the terminal beeped again with a notification.
Song Ke picked it up once more.
“This is the Soaring Dragon Awakeners Club. May I ask if you are interested in joining us? Currently, we have three teams that have made it to the main competition…”
Awakeners club? Is there such a thing? But why are they looking for her?
“Beep beep—beep beep—” The terminal rang for the third time.
What’s going on? It suddenly got so lively.
“Wait a moment,” Song Ke cut off this call and answered the third one.
A pleasant electronic voice greeted her first, “Ferrara Arts and G*mbling reminds you to g*mble for happiness and bet sensibly.”
As soon as the call connected, the person on the other side cleared their throat and then lowered their voice, asking in a hushed tone, “Do you play in rigged matches?”
Song Ke: “???”
She pressed the disconnect button without a word, and the terminal continued to ring incessantly.
Song Ke directly disabled the calling function.
The world became quiet.
The next moment, Xu Xing’s terminal also rang, with an equally unfamiliar caller.
“No, don’t answer!” Song Ke, like a startled bird, stared wide-eyed, “It’s a scam!”
“Okay!” Xu Xing followed her example and turned off the communication.
Zhuang Qingyan chuckled softly, “It probably isn’t a scam.”
Both of them looked at him curiously.
“I guess… it’s about your ability levels coming out.”
And it wasn’t low, which was why all these people were rushing over like bees smelling honey.
Song Ke was puzzled, “My level, I, I still don’t know it.”
Zhuang Qingyan pointed to her stylish terminal, “Since Ferrara’s Awakener Base has external commercial interests involved, some probably knows your ability level earlier than you do. It’s not that surprising.”
While they were talking, a notification popped up on the terminal.
This time, it wasn’t some inexplicable nuisance call. Song Ke clicked on it and indeed found her abilities registration information.
Name: Song Ke (Bio Id: VUL7700523)
Ability Level: A-level
Ability Type: Psychic – Metal – High Offensive – Object Transformation
Ability Potential: 30%
Team: V587 (Registration Location: C72 District)
Song Ke looked at the result and couldn’t help but smile, a small dimple appearing on her cheek.
So, she was an A-level awakener, just like Wu Juemin! That’s great; she was even more eager to spar with him now.
“Sister, my level has also come out.”
Xu Xing raised his cartoonish terminal high and proudly showed it to her.
Name: Xu Xing (Bio Id: F177104910)
Ability Level: B-level
Ability Type: Psychic – Ice – High Offensive – Hexagonal Ice Blades
Ability Potential: 90%
Team: V587 (Registration Location: C72 District)
The two of them were like children exchanging gifts, their heads close together as they showered each other with praise.
“Sister, you’re amazing, you’re A-level!”
“Xiaoxing, your potential is high, you’ll reach A-level in the future too.”
“Hehe,” Xu Xing chuckled goofily.
“Song Ke, let me see your terminal,” Zhuang Qingyan said from the side.
“Okay,” Song Ke handed him the stylish terminal.
Zhuang Qingyan lowered his gaze and started scrolling through the registration information displayed on the screen for Song Ke.
Before the apocalypse, the military controlled the affiliation of awakeners who joined the Azure Phoenix, while the remaining ones were under the unified jurisdiction of the Alliance’s Special Abilities Division. Therefore, the Alliance established awakeners bases in major cities, and the machines used to determine an awakener’s level were independently developed by Qinglan, with the core computing hub stored in District A. All information about awakeners would be archived there and then directly sent back to various regions, without any possibility of tampering.
At first glance, Song Ke’s level result seemed very normal—an A-level awakener, an extremely formidable presence wherever she went. However, Zhuang Qingyan had seen many A-level awakeners before. If he were to pick any of them to go one-on-one against Song Ke, he was confident that Song Ke wouldn’t lose to any of them, and he could even say that she would dominate them all.
Moreover, her ability potential was only 30%. If Xu Xing’s high potential of 90% could be attributed to his young age, it became even stranger. Song Ke wasn’t that old either, and her 30% potential value seemed more like a deliberate means of balance, as if they wanted to keep her pinned at the A-level, never allowing her to advance.
At least in Ferrara, they didn’t want her to be so dazzling.
Interesting, Zhuang Qingyan’s eyes narrowed slightly. Whether Song Ke was truly an A-level wasn’t easy to determine, but his interest had been piqued.
Don’t forget, this city is ruled by top-tier artificial intelligence.
…
Since they had decided to participate in the Throne Race Competition, Song Ke found the registration point according to the address on the poster. They were received by a cute-looking robot that was clearly a member of the staff.
Ferrara truly lived up to being a city ruled by artificial intelligence, as AI figures were frequently seen in various work positions.
“Are you registering as an individual or a team?”
“What’s the difference?”
“This competition recommends registering as a team. Only individual challenges are accepted in the preliminary rounds, and for the main competition, you must participate as a team. Teams that register during the preliminary round and make it to the main competition can retain their original team configuration.”
Song Ke raised a question, “What if an, an indivi, individual makes it to the main, main competition?”
“After the preliminary rounds, all individual participants will be randomly matched to form teams.”
Ah? If she gets matched with strong teammates, that’s fine, but what if she ends up with incompetent teammates? Wouldn’t that drag her down and lead to elimination? Moreover, with no prior teamwork, there would likely be flaws in their coordination, just like when she and Xu Xing first started.
Song Ke couldn’t make up her mind for a moment.
Currently, V587 had three members. Zhuang Qingyan had a leg injury, Xu Xing was timid, and his ability control was poor. It was simply unrealistic for them to participate in the preliminary rounds. Besides, Song Ke considered herself the team captain, and such physically demanding work should fall to her.
After some thought, Song Ke asked again, “If, if a team makes it to the main, main competition, can they add, add more members?”
“Yes, but each team has a maximum limit of five members.”
Most awakeners wouldn’t do this, ‘I worked so hard to make it into the main competition. Are you trying to take advantage of my hard-earned victory?’ However, Song Ke used this time to search for teammates. Perhaps by watching a few matches, she could find some good individual players and invite them to join her team.
Song Ke shared her decision with the robot. The robot seemed to hesitate for a moment.
“You want to register as a team, but only one person for the qualifiers?”
“Yes,” Song Ke confirmed.
The artificial intelligence stared at her for two seconds as if she were foolish.
“In team mode, with a minimum of two people, you’ll be facing a hundred zombies.”
“Okay.”
“…Please present your awakener certificate.”
Song Ke transmitted her freshly acquired awakener information to it.
The robot performed a series of actions in its system. “Please complete the pre-match physical examination first.”
Song Ke followed its instructions and underwent a simple physical examination.
The robot made another series of actions.
“Congratulations, you are registered.”
Song Ke’s terminal prompted her: “Congratulations, you have become a participant in the 178th round of the Throne Race Qualifiers. Your match will begin in two days at 21:00. Please report 30 minutes in advance, or it will be considered a waiver of qualification.”
The qualifiers had been running for half a month, and even if she registered on the same day, she might have to wait for several days to compete. Waiting for two days wasn’t bad at all for Song Ke.
…
Back at the hotel, Xu Xing was still a child and had been tired for several days. One moment he had vowed to accompany his sister, and the next, he was fast asleep as soon as he touched the pillow. Only Zhuang Qingyan and Song Ke remained to discuss the qualifiers.
“A hundred zombies, siege mode. You not only have to clear the field but also gain support from the audience to get their votes.”
“Clearing the field won’t be a problem for you, but controlling the audience’s support rate is tricky. Some players can easily kill zombies, but if their popularity isn’t high enough, they can’t advance.”
Song Ke considered herself average and couldn’t charm the audience like Atu did today. What if she worked hard to kill zombies but got eliminated because of insufficient support? She would lose those 50,000 Alliance coins!
Zhuang Qingyan gestured for her not to worry. “I’ve watched past match recordings, and there are three situations where the audience’s support rate is generally high.”
“The first is when awakeners have a high level and great fame, with a strong fan base before the match. For example, ‘Three Grandsons and One Grandfather’ had a support rate of over 90% because they were ranked first in the Ferrara region’s total points leaderboard.”
“The second is when contestants have a strong topic or controversy. For instance, in the 82nd round, a female contestant wore revealing clothing, and her support rate reached 71%. In the 105th round, a male contestant wore only shorts, while the rest were masked, and his support rate was 68%. Well… you could say they courted attention, and although there were criticisms, the results were surprisingly good.”
“No!” Song Ke shivered and vehemently shook her head.
Zhuang Qingyan’s tone slowed down. “As for the third type, the bloodier and more violent the scene of slaughtering zombies, the more intense the atmosphere on-site, and the higher the support rate.”
Song Ke furrowed her brow; she didn’t want to slaughter zombies for the sake of performance. She preferred to deal with them swiftly and decisively.
Zhuang Qingyan paused for a moment and then continued, “But according to my speculation, there should be a fourth situation.”
“What?” Song Ke asked quickly.
“People have a desire to peek, and if an awakener can, under everyone’s watchful eyes, use methods unknown to them to swiftly dispatch all the zombies, their curiosity remains unsatisfied, and it gnaws at them. Such a player, even if their vote count isn’t high, the audience will undoubtedly send them to the main competition to satisfy their curiosity.”
Zhuang Qingyan emphasized, “So, what you need to achieve is a sense of mystery.”
To bypass the eyes of countless spectators, drones, and cameras on-site and maintain an air of mystery?
Song Ke contemplated.
“How about it? Have you figured out which spiritual weapon to use?” Zhuang Qingyan asked.
Song Ke nodded, her palm subtly moving, conjuring a familiar spiritual weapon.
“This one.”
