Chapter 178 – Cops Called on Florida Man for Hoarding Infected Dog Corpses in His Backyard for Science Experiment
In front of the counter where Leo and Groruk had been, a hundred men and women of various species finished talking to the clerks – They purchased an entrance ticket to enter the Fate Stadium.
Visitors and tourists from faraway galaxies and solar systems usually come here to spectate or play in this arena. This was also the only place where they could witness battles between famous immortals and gods, especially the elusive fate crystal bearers.
In addition, this place was popular among regular cultivators and monsters as this arena was the only place they could browse their remaining lifespan. They could also gamble or trade their lifespan for exotic items that the facility featured.
At that moment, everybody gazed at the TV screen above the ticket booth counter as it revealed the recent updates of upcoming matches. Among a few life-and-death arena matches, Leo and Groruk's match was shown.
The gambling house revealed the footage of Leo's match against Acku as a reference. On the other hand, Groruk's information was based on rumor. When the betting odds appeared, it quickly shifted toward Leo's advantage.
The crowd smirked as they brought out their tablets to wager their lifespan on Leo. Some who didn't have the tools rushed toward the betting booths to purchase bet cards.
Among the aliens, the snake man with six arms laughed and looked at his status. He wagered all 4,000 YOL on Leo even though the pay rate was abysmal. The others also did the same. Even the lamia receptionist secretly glanced at the TV monitor behind her counter and wagered her lifespan on Leo.
There was no easier bet than this. No matter how everybody looked at it, Groruk couldn't win.
"The house is gonna lose a lot of lifespans," The snake man's six arms crossed.
"Hardly," the lamia receptionist giggled. "If you compare at the rate carefully, you will realize that the house will always make money no matter who wins."
"Right. I can tell. But this time, I doubt anybody will bet on that Fenrir."
"Some stupid dogs do."
"Oh…"
Both snake monsters smirked as they glanced at the crowd of werewolves, who yelled at the clerk behind the betting booth that the gambling house insulted their comrades. They also blindly bet on Groruk to protect their pride.
Seeing their behavior, the two snakes shook their heads.
"They're the best fish we can have."
"Indeed."
.
.
Even though Leo completed his bet, the odds kept changing, and the payout rating kept getting worse. His winning rate dropped to minus 2500.
"Ah, this is depressing."
Realizing that his 610,000 YOL would only reward him with 24,400 YOL, he wondered if not betting at all would be a greater choice.
Meanwhile, Groruk had never fought in this arena before. He struggled to move his legs, but the stadium's mysterious power restricted his movements.
"COWARD NU'EARTHE! RELEASE ME!"
Leo closed his system windows and deeply inhaled. He silently waited for the betting period to end.
The clock slowly ticked down. Both men had to remain in that position for five additional minutes so the spectators could finish their betting.
"HOW DARE YOU IGNORE ME!? SAY SOMETHING!"
The werewolf never stopped yelling and trying to get Leo's attention. The latter pretended not to hear it and closed his eyes, counting seconds in his mind to meditate.
After shutting his eyes and his mind, the outside noise no longer bothered Leo. He paced his breath and counted every second. However, his rhythm was slightly off.
BEEP
Five minutes quickly passed by. Leo opened his eyes after the warning sound, and he found everything in a light blue tone. He felt refreshed and calm.
3…
2…
1…
BEEP
The fight signal began. Leo and Groruk were no longer restrained.
"HAHAHAHA! I'M FREE!!"
The werewolf cackled and transformed into a massive wolf, occupying half of the stage. His lustrous fur shone in grey, but black fur slowly replaced them.
Leo glanced at the black hair on the large wolf's body. He pursed his lips, dissatisfied by the slow mutation progress. He thought that Groruk would die in minutes, but he already lasted more than 15 minutes.
"Wow, you're tough," Leo praised Groruk's endurance and immune system.
Groruk still didn't realize that his bone marrow was compromised and that he would soon mutate into something else. He roared.
"NOW, YOU NU'EARTHE TRASH, DIE!! WOLF PACK DOMAIN!!"
Groruk howled. Then, a hundred werewolf clones manifested from the ground and surrounded Leo. Each clone carried a large blade and a tower shield.
All clones charged at Leo and swung their blades at him from all sides.
Leo didn't move. He rubbed his chin and pondered.
"I forgot to ask that snake girl if I can take my opponent's corpse home."
CLANK
CLANK
CLANK
All blades hit Leo's body, but they broke upon impact.
Groruk didn't give up. He raised his front leg and slashed Leo with his claws. As for the clones, they leaped back to get out of the way.
Leo didn't bother dodging. He let the claw hit him.
CLANK
Again, Leo didn't budge. He muttered, calling his sentient dao avatar.
"Gene dude. Time to mutate something."
The sentient shadow spirit of Leo came out from Leo's alien ring. He crossed his arms and complained.
'I have a name. Call me by my name.'
"It doesn't matter. I forgot about it. Anyway, mutate everything for me."
'Hah. Fine.'
The dao avatar vanished into Leo's shadow. The next moment, a black dome expanded, devouring Groruk, his clones, and the entire arena.
The black dome domain only lasted for a few seconds. The spectators in the stadium lost sight of Leo and Groruk for a second. But when they could see everything again, changes occurred.
All werewolf clones initially had grey fur. But after Leo's domain touched them, their fur turned black. Groruk's real body also lost all his grey hair.
"What?" Groruk looked at his body in confusion because he didn't feel the changes. He paused for a moment and laughed.
"Hahahahaha! Is that your domain power?! How pathetic! I thought you would blind me or disable my eyes, but you only painted me and my clones black! What a useless domain ability and dao!"
Leo crossed his arms. He uttered the iconic quote.
"You're already dead."
"???"
Groruk was confused, but he still smirked at Leo. He slowly raised his front leg and gathered his elemental essence into his claws.
But as soon as Groruk tried to use his Qi and essence, his stomach churned. His arms and legs felt stuffy and heavy for an unknown reason. In addition, his entire body was tingling as if a billion parasites within him moved through his blood vessels.
All clones of Groruk began bloating. Their heads and limbs swelled as their muscles rapidly expanded like a water balloon. As their skins couldn't expand any further, they erupted, exploding and splashing flesh and blood all over the arena. Instead of spewing red blood, their blood was black.
The massive Fenrir lost the strength in his legs. He collapsed and foamed his mouth, having a seizure. His eyes rolled around and fixated at Leo.
"W-What did you do to me?!"
Leo ignored Groruk and walked toward the clones. He collected their mutated and disfigured corpses to one of his empty spatial rings.
"So much precious Fenrir's meat, eyeballs, and yin fluid. Oh, right. I need more liver and innards. I haven't touched those for ages. I need them for alchemy."
Although Leo didn't understand how and why Groruk's clones didn't disappear after death, he collected everything he could as their blood and flesh would be useful for some pills that Leo rarely made.
Groruk slowly extended his front paw toward Leo, wanting to say something. Unfortunately, his throat was bloated, and his respiratory system ceased functioning. His consciousness slowly faded while staring at Leo.
POOF
POOF
The massive Fenrir's bloated skin and flesh popped like a swelled yellow zit being squeezed. Black blood gushed out like fountains, but the corpse kept growing bigger. As the mass grew, the black fur fell.
Leo turned around and gazed at the new loot. He nodded in approval.
"Alright. I should have enough yin fluid and Fenrir's innards for alchemy. Good job, me."
DING
<Congratulations. You have defeated Groruk, the Untouchable.>
"…Untouchable, my ass. He's trash. I thought he was a speedy type."
Leo collected the body. He rechecked his lifespan balance again.
<Current Lifespan: 650,807 Years…>
With this much, Leo had enough funds for future projects. He believed he played enough here.
WHOOSH
He was teleported to the same locker room. It was time for Leo to recheck the donation from the crowd.
.
.
While Leo was playing in the other world, the Frozen Fire City was under siege. Four-armed cultivators massacred everybody in the massive town. They also raided the underground headquarters of the Fatui Cult, killing every cultist they found.
Although the city quickly fell, the army of the new force didn't rush toward another city or town. They dragged survivors from the Fatui Cult for interrogation.
Five young disciples were thrown to the ground in front of Qiang Baidu, the leader of the Gorr Tribe. The latter stared at the young men in black clothes.
"Brats. Who is the strongest cultivator on the mainland?"
Qiang Baidu's purpose was simple. He needed information about the current top experts of the Yan Empire.
The young men looked at each other. Everybody hesitated if they should speak first.
Qiang Baidu snorted. He picked a rock and flickered it toward one of the prisoners.
BOOM
The poor golden core cultivator's head exploded upon impact. His blood and brain splashed on his colleagues nearby.
The tribal chief asked the same question.
"Who is the strongest cultivator in this world!? Answer or you will suffer the same fate!"
One of the prisoners trembled as he tried to answer.
"I-It's Emperor Yan Xiang, sir!"
Qiang Baidu scoffed as he had expected it. However, one of the prisoners revealed a piece of interesting information.
"Idiot. Yan Xiang is dead! Didn't you hear the cult's announcement?"
"Hmm?"
Qiang Baidu leaned closer to the speaker. He asked the guy.
"Tell me more. How did Yan Xiang die? When did he die? Who killed him?"
The third prisoner gulped as he realized that he screwed up. He lowered his head and confessed.
"T-This is a rumor, b-but I heard from the cult's elders that Yan Xiang and his sons died during the seasonal tournament. Someone from a new sect killed him."
"Hah?"
Qiang Baidu was disappointed that he didn't get to kill Yan Xiang with his own hands. However, he was fond of the guy who murdered the emperor in his stead.
"Tell me more about THAT new sect. What is their name, and who is their sect master?"
"Umm…"
The young men didn't speak this time. They only heard vague information from others, so they didn't know about Leo.
Looking at the cultists, Qiang Baidu realized that they didn't know everything. He changed the topic.
"Do you know how strong that new sect is?"
Hearing the new question, everybody nodded, "We know, sir. That new sect… what does it call? I'm sorry, I don't know their name. But that sect won the seasonal tournament."
"Is that so?"
Qiang Baidu grinned. He patted the young man's head, "Well done."
The young cultists looked at the tribal chief, "A-Are we free now?"
"Of course! You're free."
Qiang Baidu burst into laughter. He unleashed his domain power, creating a void hole under the prisoners. The four cultists screamed in shock as bloody hands from the void hole dragged them to the red abyss.
"You're free to suffer in hell for eternity, that is. Hahahahaha!"
After the tribal chief laughed, his underlings started laughing. They enjoyed murdering cultivators and helpless commoners.
A few minutes later, they stopped celebrating as all their men gathered after plundering the entire city. As Qiang Baidu acquired the news of Yan Xiang's death, he turned his sight to the remnant of the Yan Empire.
He ordered his men.
"Separate our troops into 10 platoons. We're going to clean up the continent and secure our foothold on the west coast. Once the west is free of human cultivators, we will proceed to the north next. Remember that Death Sword Sect is built on a fortress city and a spirit stone heart. They are the strongest sect, second to the imperial court. Even if Yan Xiang's family all died, they can't be underestimated! Their daos are dangerous!"
