Chapter 43.3 – Bloody Ferrara (15)
◎ The Big Star and the Little Bodyguard ◎
Irene was helped up by her companions. This time, she had narrowly escaped death. She looked at Song Ke and Lin Youyou and mouthed, “Thank you.”
Irene could tell that Song Ke’s earlier attack was just a test, and the falling electric guitar was purely accidental. If she hadn’t intervened in time, she might not have survived.
“You’re welcome,” Lin Youyou smiled lightly from a distance. “Girls help girls.”
Irene glanced at her for a moment and felt that the person’s smile seemed familiar.
“I owe you a favor, and I’ll remember it.”
Irene said sincerely before turning and joining her companions in the pursuit.
“Shouldn’t we chase, chase them?” Song Ke asked with confusion.
“We can’t catch up. It’s clear that the opposite side has someone skilled at escaping. The four of us can’t split up, can we?” Among the four of them, only Song Ke and Su Cha could catch up to the mechanical team. If they both went to chase, the situation for Lin Youyou and Xu Xing would become extremely dangerous.
Indeed, in just a few seconds, the priority of those two coordinates had dropped to fifth place, and they were more than ten kilometers away.
Moreover, even if they could catch up, trying to snatch the crystals from the “Anna Knights” while dealing with Feng Duona and Irene would likely lead to an endless and brutal battle.
“So, what should we do?”
“Let’s keep looking. There should be more selfish people like this. The number of crystals is decreasing, and we need to hurry.”
“Flag coordinates refreshed.”
“Reporting the remaining flag coordinates…”
“The current number of advancing teams: 41.”
“This isn’t good. There are fewer and fewer flags.”
Lin Youyou glanced at the tracker, her eyebrows furrowing.
It was 21:40, exactly 100 minutes since the start of the competition.
Song Ke and her group had been searching for nearly half an hour, almost turning the entire restricted forest upside down. However, their luck had been extremely poor. The flags that refreshed later were either diagonally far away from them or on the opposite side of Mirror Lake, requiring a detour to reach. By the time they arrived, the flags had already moved for the second time, and as for the mutant zombies, they couldn’t even catch a glimpse of them.
This is impossible. Lin Youyou lowered her gaze, puzzled. She wasn’t usually this unlucky. Could it be… could it be that someone had incredibly bad luck and was single-handedly jinxing them? A bizarre speculation emerged in her mind, and Lin Youyou couldn’t help but look at Song Ke and Xu Xing ahead. These two had become distracted while walking, one teaching the other to curse and scold people.
Xu Xing: “Sis, it can’t separate. You have to say it together to have the impact.”
Song Ke: “Who do you think you are?”
Xu Xing cheerfully replied, “Right, it’s like that!”
Lin Youyou thought to herself, they really have big hearts.
In a different livestream room, Ah K switched to room 161-1 and happened to witness this scene. He chuckled and teased, “V587, as one of the wild cards in this competition, although they are very strong, it seems luck isn’t on their side. They’ve missed the flag several times already.”
“Now that the competition is heating up, with two-thirds of the teams advancing, our Player Song is still maintaining her composure. Will she be disappointed with this result, or will she manage to create some unexpected surprises? Audience, feel free to place your bets!”
The viewership in room 161-1 reached its peak as Song Ke single-handedly took down a muant zombie water monster. It crossed the 200,000 mark, almost on par with other popular streamers like Irene and Feng Duona. However, a drone was damaged, causing a brief blackout, and in the half-hour she spent aimlessly wandering, she lost some viewers but stabilized at around 80,000.
Lin Youyou sighed, “You two, are you still in the mood to play? Didn’t you hear the recent announcement? There are less than ten spots left for advancement.”
Just a moment ago, the system updated the current situation, revealing that 52 teams had successfully advanced, leaving them with limited opportunities.
Song Ke and Xu Xing stopped their private conversation, standing up straight with a serious attitude.
“Shall we go and seize, seize them?” Song Ke proposed a plan.
Currently, there were only two remaining coordinates for the moving flags, both quite far from them. If they couldn’t find any mutant zombies soon, their only option was to go for the flags.
A few meters away, Su Cha, who was scouting the area, suddenly spoke up, “Something is approaching.”
Song Ke’s expression turned serious as she vigilantly surveyed her surroundings. Up ahead, there was a river with calm water, and a little further was the mountainside. The forest was peaceful, with no signs of anything unusual.
Everything appeared normal, except… Wait! The flow of the river seemed to be accelerating.
Xu Xing stood by the riverbank, staring intently at the water’s movements. Small bubbles surfaced one after another, churning and bubbling. He swallowed nervously, could it be? Could it be another water monster?
Xu Xing clenched his fists tightly, his ability, ice blade, ready to be unleashed.
Splash! A grotesque-looking, blue-skinned mutant zombie suddenly leaped out of the river.
At that moment, water mist filled the area, and the humid air forcefully deprived everyone of their breath, making it hard to breathe. This was a zombie with water-type abilities!
Lin Youyou reacted swiftly, taking a step back, while Su Cha and Song Ke, both close combat fighters, advanced to the front, slashing fiercely at the zombie.
Clang! Song Ke’s dual blades struck, but they met a soft water membrane, which immediately absorbed all their force, leaving the water-type mutant zombie unharmed.
Su Cha’s situation was similar. He had poisoned his dagger, but the water sprayed by the mutant zombie washed it all into the river.
Use softness to overcome hardness and dissolve all things with water!
Song Ke immediately transformed her blade into a three-edged spike and aimed for the mutant zombie’s head, preparing to attack its weak point.
Just then, the water in the river suddenly spun rapidly, forming several whirlpools of varying sizes. The zombie sensed danger, buried its head inside, and was smoothly swept away. It reappeared in another vortex, spraying a jet of water at them.
Song Ke and Su Cha dodged to the side, avoiding the attack.
This zombie was tricky. Not only did it possess challenging water abilities, but it was also extremely cunning.
On the riverbank, Xu Xing had been staring blankly at the sudden appearance of the creature. After some thought, he raised his palm with a lack of confidence, and a blizzard poured forth.
The water-type mutant zombie, which had been shuttling back and forth in the whirlpools, was frozen in place.
Frozen… solidly frozen, from head to toe, every inch of skin, every sharp tooth, all frozen like ice.
Song Ke, Su Cha, and Lin Youyou: “…”
Xu Xing, 10 years old, Competition Number 161-2, Team V587, B-level ice-type awakener, the chosen one, resolved a water-type mutant zombie with one move.
Xu Xing realized he had unintentionally become the center of attention and scratched his head sheepishly, smiling shyly.
Su Cha smashed the zombie’s head expressionlessly, and ice shards and frozen brain matter scattered on the ground, revealing a crystal as clear as day from within.
The atmosphere among the group became subtly tense the moment the crystal appeared.
Song Ke instinctively looked at Lin Youyou.
Lin Youyou calmly nodded. “You pick it up first, as we agreed.”
Song Ke replied and jogged over to pick it up. After rinsing it in the river water and cleaning it carefully, she gingerly placed it in his coat pocket. She also ruffled Xu Xing’s head, giving him credit for this accomplishment.
In Room 161-2 of the live broadcast, although the audience wasn’t numerous, their gender preference was quite evident, and their style was decidedly unique.
“Ahhhh, what a cute kid! I want to ruffle his hair!”
“It’s Xu Xing, right? So cute and obedient. Help, help me! I really want to be his mommy!”
“Damn it… nobody should even think of fooling me into having kids—except Xu Xing.”
“He’s still an awakener. Be careful, or he’ll freeze you!”
The moment Song Ke picked up the crystal, Su Cha’s body was covered in bulging veins. His eyes turned dark and menacing. He stood still for a few seconds, then silently returned to Lin Youyou’s side. He lowered his head and stared at her, puzzled. “There’s no time. Why did you let them have it?”
He didn’t care about contracts or promises. He only knew that Lin Youyou couldn’t lose, and he didn’t want her to lose. If possible, he would go and kill these two right now and snatch the crystal.
Even if he wasn’t a match for Song Ke, in a life-or-death struggle, there might still be a slim chance of winning.
“Su Cha, don’t act impulsively,” Lin Youyou sensed the burning anger in the man in front of her. She tiptoed, one hand pressing down on his tense shoulder, and the other slid down the back of his neck, as if taming a wild beast about to run amok. “Behave.”
After a while, Su Cha’s raging murderous intent gradually subsided, and his tightly wound muscles slowly relaxed.
He controlled his aura and reverted back to the silent shadow he usually was.
The tracker beeped, and a new announcement was made.
“Flag coordinates refreshed.”
“Reporting the remaining flag coordinates: (886, 543, 1079).”
“The current number of advancing teams: 54.”
After the regular announcements, unexpectedly, there was a new one.
“Please note that the competition organizing committee is kindly reminding you that the number of flags remaining in the field is: 1. All contestants, please do your best.”
Song Ke was momentarily stunned, and the joy of obtaining the crystal was dampened by a large margin.
In such a short time, the two coordinates from earlier had disappeared, and the number of advancing teams had changed from 52 to 54. Now, there was only one flag left in the arena, and that was… the crystal in her hand?
Lin Youyou’s expression also grew somber. There were no extra flags left, which meant the crystal in Song Ke’s hand was the only ticket to advance.
She lowered her gaze, concealing all her emotions.
For the vast majority of awakeners, the Throne Race was an astonishing source of points, a never-ending stream of wealth, the satisfaction of power and ambition, and even a ladder to District B. However, for Lin Youyou, none of these mattered.
The sole purpose of Lin Youyou’s participation in the competition was to save her loved one’s life.
Even if this choice would stain her hands with blood, ruin her reputation, and make everyone despise her, she was resolute and unwavering.
“Su Cha, do you have confidence in killing them?” Lin Youyou used her ability to transmit her thoughts.
“I don’t,” Su Cha replied honestly.
“Understood… then next, follow my orders.”
“Let them be… live targets for a while.”
