234 The dead may be able to speak, but they can never aim true【Four-in-One, please subscribe!】

Lu Chen's self-selected target opponent was the strongest among the 59th-level candidates on the short list.

After all, before he comprehended the second-tier Pantheon Resonance and mastered the Sword Intent, he had fought to a standstill with the 58th-level Gloria in the training cabin, only losing by a slight margin.

At that time, he was only at the 46th level.

Now, he was at the 47th level.

Lu Chen felt that with all his cheats enabled, leaping across two major tiers to take down a 60th-level opponent might still be difficult, but taking down a 59th-level one shouldn't be too much of a problem.

He needed to make a strong statement—killing the chicken to scare the monkey—while simultaneously cashing in big on a single wave, making everyone realize that his true strength far exceeded this level. That way, there wouldn't be any annoying flies buzzing around his ears.

Unfortunately, the decision didn't rest with him.

His preference would be seen by the more than ten thousand spectators buying tickets at the arena tonight, as well as the hundreds of thousands of patrons in the surrounding taverns.

The audience would cast real-name votes.

The voting results would be submitted to the Cyber Tavern officials, who would then determine the opponents and match schedule.

Generally speaking, to convince the betting addicts that they didn't rig the matches, the officials almost never altered the audience's voting results.

Of course, the Cyber Tavern had no need to engage in behind-the-scenes manipulation; they could rake in a fortune purely from the house cut on gambling.

However, the Cyber Tavern was a collective—a collective composed of individuals—and naturally, there would always be those who abused public office for private gain, manipulating matches to sacrifice collective reputation and fatten their own small coffers.

Therefore, the current Cyber Tavern directly handed the voting over to a third-party professional polling company, determining opponents based strictly on the voting results and basically never modifying them.

As a result, Lu Chen failed to get his wish to fight the strongest 59th-level opponent.

Perhaps the audience worried the disparity in strength was too vast and the match wouldn't be entertaining; perhaps they were concerned Lu Chen's personal safety couldn't be guaranteed; or perhaps they just wanted to serve up a light appetizer first...

In the end, the hundreds of thousands of audience members picked a 52nd-level opponent for him.

His name was: Cicerobia.

Judging from his photo, he was a middle-aged, one-eyed man sitting in a wheelchair, looking slightly aged.

He had a thin, elongated face, an extremely pale complexion, and gloomy facial features that exuded a very dangerous aura.

Lu Chen was stunned for a moment.

"Have I seen this guy somewhere before..."

Ban Yue smiled and said:

"Brother Lu has certainly seen him. This man is the captain of the Triangular Sail Adventure Group. He was chosen as your opponent precisely because he uploaded videos of his two encounters with you in the Zu'an Nebula, boasting that he was the very first bounty hunter on the Morning Glow Route to hunt you down."

The Triangular Sail Adventure Group?

Lu Chen had a vague impression of them.

He glanced at the two attached videos posted by Cicerobia in the audience voting system.

The first time was when he had just entered the Zu'an Nebula, only to be targeted by the severely damaged Triangular Sail. At that time, he had just been put on a bounty of twenty thousand spiritual stones by the Wolf Fang Company.

The second time was on Da Shou Xing, where the crisis was ultimately defused by Gloria's Minotaur Charge.

Consequently, this match was defined by the Cyber Tavern as a grudge match.

Discussions on the association forum and betting websites immediately heated up accordingly.

For example, why did the 50th-level Triangular Sail lose track of the 30th-level Leonine when pursuing it?

For example, on Da Shou Xing, why did Cicerobia suddenly give up when he was about to make a move?

Cicerobia's cultivation was at the 52nd level.

His profession was a Dharma Mage.

His offensive weapon was: a wheelchair laser gun.

His defensive weapon was: a wheelchair energy shield.

His special abilities were unknown.

Logically speaking, compared to Lu Chen, he held extremely obvious advantages in both cultivation level and offensive/defensive weaponry.

Yet the opening odds offered by the betting website were only two to five—meaning a bet of one hundred returned two hundred and fifty, yielding a profit of one hundred and fifty.

Shan Pao looked a bit disappointed.

"With such a disparate contrast in strength, they actually offered such low odds. Sure enough, once a person becomes famous, it's very hard to pull off an upset and make big money."

Lu Chen was equally helpless.

"Better place our bets early. Once public opinion starts fermenting, these odds might drop even further."

Shan Pao sighed.

"That's true."

With that, he dumped all four hundred thousand he had won last time straight into it.

Without a word, Lu Chen directly went all-in with the eighteen thousand spiritual stones he had on hand.

As for Ban Yue, just like last time, he only staked ten thousand as a symbolic gesture.

Shan Pao asked him with a smile:

"What's this? Don't you have faith in your Brother Lu?"

Ban Yue shook his head.

"No, I actually don't lack money. If I get too obsessed with gambling, I feel like I lose my drive for writing. I'm just here to watch Brother Lu's performance and find some inspiration."

Shan Pao poured Ban Yue a glass of red wine.

"You could win more money to fund subscriptions and boost your position on the monthly ranking charts, you know. Don't be so rigid; writing is also a business, you have to be willing to invest."

"No thanks. The novel I'm writing based on Brother Lu is bound to go viral; I don't need these unorthodox shortcuts!"

Ban Yue said with confidence.

It made even Lu Chen feel a little embarrassed.

The match was scheduled for eight o'clock in the evening.

It was currently only two in the afternoon.

With nothing to do, Lu Chen went out for a stroll.

Mainly to check out the injection-molded 3D printing shops.

He was looking for a high-tier material with the following characteristics:

Invisible.

Tough.

High-temperature resistant.

Low-temperature resistant.

Corrosion-resistant.

Capable of being sharpened to a fine edge.

Capable of piercing materials up to the 100th level at maximum.

Lu Chen wanted to upgrade his little drone bee.

The reason the spy drone from the *Empire Entertainment Weekly* could only be made the size of a fly and couldn't be shrunk any further wasn't constrained by materials, but by the volume of information.

The hacking program of the Imperial Fly Drone targeted the breaching of some of Big Sister's surveillance programs, requiring a massive number of fuzzy algorithms similar to those provided by neural network servers. This meant the volume of information it carried was extremely huge, limiting its minimum size to that of a fly.

However, Lu Chen didn't need to breach civilization-level control systems like Big Sister's; he only needed to breach spiritual texture systems like spaceships or planetary defense networks.

In theory, there was no need to make it the size of a fingernail.

Of course, the little drone bee could still be kept in reserve for emergencies.

He only needed to build a smaller-sized hacking drone equipped with his own universal decoder.

Add a bit of physical piercing capability, and almost no traditional spiritual texture system would be able to block its intrusion.

With this objective in mind, Lu Chen browsed through many injection molding and printing shops, but failed to find this kind of high-tier material.

Until he found a gaming internet cafe named "Hacker Kingdom".

It was a cavern-wall shop located on the northwest side of the Bailu.

A small storefront occupying only a single standard room—roughly one-tenth the size of Ban's House of Wonders—it was quite tiny.

Inside sat a few dozen second-hand computers, all cobbled together from different sizes, models, and configurations.

The sign out front noted their main services as: unlocking, selling cheats, AFK leveling-services, tracking, private investigator...

Lu Chen thought to himself that if he were a native of this world, he would very likely end up opening a shop just like this.

Although the probability of finding the required materials in such a small shop was low, Lu Chen still walked inside on a whim.

A wave of dry mechanical dust hit him in the face.

The low, chaotic hum of various machines running at full capacity filled the air.

There were only a sparse few customers in the shop, all staring intently at their screens without the slightest distraction.

Lu Chen wandered around the shop for quite a while before spotting the boss, who was sticking her rear out and rummaging through things with her head down.

It turned out to be a young woman with half her head shaved bald!

She wasn't very tall, had striking facial features, and a lean build, looking somewhat like a tomboy.

She wore an outfit made of a special mesh-patterned material.

With intracranial audio gear, spiritual texture tattoos, electronic ear studs, and smoking an electronic cigarette...

She had it all.

A textbook cyberpunk style.

Cool, and flat-chested as well.

Still, Lu Chen quite liked this kind of geeky style, especially since she was a woman—that wasn't easy.

Looking closer, he felt that this woman's skin was made of silicone and her inner skeleton was also a special material structure; her body had been heavily modified, and she had probably suffered severe injuries in the past.

In the member states of the Empire's Secondary Alliance, this degree of deep mechanical modification was actually extremely common.

Lu Chen got straight to the point:

"Boss, I'm looking for material to build a small drone for physically intruding into spaceships or military fortresses."

The woman looked up at Lu Chen, slightly startled.

Her shop rarely saw a man this handsome, upright, and possessing such extraordinary temperament; her customers were usually messy-haired geeks.

"Just the material? You don't need hacking programs?"

Lu Chen nodded.

"Yeah, I'm a hacker myself."

The woman didn't quite believe that a hacker could be this handsome.

"Pure materials are going to be very expensive."

Lu Chen wore a look of utter financial ease.

"As long as you have the high-tier materials I want, price is not an issue."

The woman smiled and shook her head, her expression still very calm.

"Hard to tell, you're quite wealthy aren't you? Tell me your requirements."

So, Lu Chen rattled off all the requirements he had previously listed...

The woman fell silent for a moment, looking pensive, before suddenly speaking:

"Invisible materials capable of piercing 100th-level physical defenses... does that mean you're confident you can breach 100th-level spiritual texture systems?"

Lu Chen nodded.

"Software systems aren't an issue, I'll figure something out."

"A big shot like that shouldn't be a nobody."

The woman gave a smile that didn't reach her eyes, and used a camera to capture Lu Chen's appearance, searching for it online.

It instantly popped up with a splash-page ad from a betting website.
"Lu Chen, tonight during prime time, Cyber Tavern Free-For-All Melee, squaring off against Cicerobia... You're a Sword Spirit Warrior?"

Lu Chen nodded and smiled.

"My main profession is a Spiritual Mechanic, and I play with swords as a hobby. Actually, I just want to make some extra cash through sword fighting to buy high-precision hacker materials."

The woman frowned, finding everything this man said deeply suspicious.

"The match is at eight o'clock tonight, and it's almost dusk now. You're still hanging around here—don't you need to train or relax before the match?"

Lu Chen nodded.

"Aren't I here relaxing right now?"

The woman shook her head, having no idea where the other person's unfound confidence came from.

"The odds are two to five. As an underdog, do you really have absolute confidence of winning? Or are you planning to hack into his wheelchair?"

"There's no need to be that cruel to a disabled person, right? Cicerobia's wheelchair doesn't have auto-control, so I can't hack it."

"You really did research him, huh."

The woman sat on her front desk chair, smoking a cigarette while continuing to search up news about Lu Chen's adventures.

"Captain of the Primeval Firmament Adventure Group, you've only been out at sea for two and a half months... you sure have a lot of news stories."

Lu Chen smiled and nodded, saying nothing.

The woman stared at the three crew members of the Primeval Firmament Adventure Group, then looked back up at Lu Chen's face.

"Good-looking guys and girls, is this some kind of idol group? ...And you've repeatedly raided spaceships and bunkers, and even collapsed a planet? Wait, how did you manage to collapse a planet?"

Lu Chen didn't hide it either, recalling with a serious expression.

"The planetary array was in disrepair after years of neglect, and the spiritual textures were exposed in many places, which allowed me to infiltrate and control a localized array, short-circuiting the gravity spiritual textures. A hollow planet naturally collapses."

The more the woman heard, the more wrong it sounded.

"Hold on, your cultivation is only at the 40th level... No wait, you were only at the 35th level back then. Even if you found a vulnerability, it's virtually impossible to control an 80th-level planetary array, right?"

Lu Chen shrugged, choosing not to elaborate further on his abilities.

"Maybe I concealed my cultivation?"

"Are you questioning the radar on my shop sign? Unless you're a powerhouse above the 200th level, no one can hide their cultivation in front of me. If you really had that kind of cultivation, you'd be a Heavenly Dipper grandmaster—what would you even need hacking methods for?"

"I have special abilities."

The woman gave a slight nod, confirming that this was a genuine talent who had come to do business rather than just wander around or pick up girls.

After finishing one cigarette, she pulled out another and handed it to Lu Chen.

"My name is Li Bing. Smoke?"

Lu Chen quickly waved his hand.

"Thanks, I don't smoke."

The woman lit her own cigarette.

"Want something to drink?"

Lu Chen realized that the woman might actually have materials of that sort.

"Cola."

The woman got up and rummaged through the refrigerator, finally unearthing a bottle of cola frozen solid.

Only then did the other customers turn to look over, surprised that their notoriously stingy female boss was actually treating someone to a drink.

Lu Chen took the iced cola, casually squeezed it until it shattered into slush, popped open the cap, and took a deep gulp.

"So, do you have the materials I want?"

"If I didn't, I would have told you to get lost long ago—you think I'd buy you cola?"

With that, the woman headed to the back storage room, fussing around for a good while before hauling out a small box.

Wiping away the dust.

Opening the box.

Inside lay dark, transparent crystals.

Rhombus-shaped, palm-sized, there were dozens of them, looking quite aged.

The woman picked up a crystal at random.

Deliberately cutting her finger.

Blood flowed onto the crystal's surface, but quickly seeped into the interior and disappeared.

"This is Imperial Dark Energy Crystal, an experimental prototype that hasn't been mass-produced yet. Sharp, invisible—it might just meet your requirements."

Lu Chen picked up one to observe as well; the item identification results matched the woman's description completely.

"Where did you get this?"

The woman bit down on her cigarette, smiling craftily.

"Only you adventurers are allowed to steal things?"

It had the faint vibe of showing off her hacking prowess.

Lu Chen asked out of curiosity:

"Then how did you manage to steal it?"

The woman thought for a moment and said:

"I went to infiltrate the Imperial Fleet as an undercover agent for three years."

Good grief, wasn't this just physical theft...

"I need it to avoid being burned away by defense arrays. I don't expect it to fully pierce into an enemy ship or fortress; as long as it breaks through the surface array, stings in a fine needle, and transmits my hacking program, that's enough," Lu Chen said earnestly.

The woman shook her head.

"Useless. True high-tier defenses require physical methods to even stand a chance of breaking through.

This kind of crystal developed by the Empire is actually meant to assist special operations agents.

The biggest problem is that this material undergoes drastic deformation under environmental influences, and its deformation reactions vary across different environments, making it very difficult to control its flight trajectory.

If you equip it with a complex flight control system, its size will become huge, and even as an invisible material, it'll easily be spotted."

Lu Chen thought to himself, once I open my Pantheon Resonance domain, controlling flight is the easiest thing in the world.

"Let's give it a try. Give me one piece."

The woman took out a piece and placed it on the front desk.

"One hundred thousand."

Lu Chen thought he had misheard the number.

"One hundred thousand?"

One hundred thousand, non-negotiable."

"Your box was covered in dust... isn't this price a bit too outrageous? Are you planning to fund your retirement with this?"

The woman smoked leisurely, the smoke choking Lu Chen into a fit of coughing.

"I risked my life to get this, and nobody else is buying it. Chances are you're my only customer—is one hundred thousand really that much? We won't argue about the price, but I'll do a buy-one-get-one-free."

Saying this, she pulled out a second piece and placed it on the front desk.

Lu Chen still felt ten thousand spiritual stones was too expensive.

"I'll give you a sure-fire bet for tonight's match—can you make it cheaper?"

The woman smiled and shook her head, then spread out the five fingers of her left hand.

Her pinky finger was missing the top half.

"Look at my left hand. Why are there only nine fingers left intact? Hackers can't control match outcomes; I've already quit, don't drag me back into the muck."

Since she had already quit gambling, Lu Chen felt too embarrassed to push the matter further.

He had already checked out numerous shops and failed to find any similar materials.

This crystal was his only option.

"Quitting gambling is a good thing. Let's leave it at that for now; I'll come back to check it out after I win the match tonight."

"Don't lose, then."

...

Nighttime arrived.

Half an hour before the start of the match.

Lu Chen returned to the basement of the 9th Brokerage Company.

Shan Pao and Ban Yue were staring intently at the odds fluctuations for this match.

Lu Chen's winning odds had dropped all the way, plummeting from two-to-five down to one-to-two.

There was no helping it; more and more people were paying attention to Lu Chen's past battle record—he was practically a walking, breathing miracle-manufacturing machine—so bets naturally skewed toward him.

Fortunately, the odds had temporarily stabilized.

Lu Chen soon received a call from Gloria.

She was sitting cross-legged on her bed, wrapped thickly in a quilt, appearing completely topless on camera.

After waking up and seeing Ai Li reading the news, she discovered that Lu Chen was heading to the arena and immediately called him.

"You brat, going to the arena and not taking me along to get rich?"

Lu Chen drooped his eyelids, looking serious and indifferent.

"If I took you along, how could I get rich?"

"I gave all ten thousand spiritual stones to Ai Li, entirely heartfelt with no strings attached, and let Ai Li place the bets."

Gloria said with a confident look, feeling that she was truly clever and simply adorable.

Realizing the severity of the situation, Lu Chen put on a stern face and said:

"Is Ai Li next to you?"

Ai Li had no choice but to walk from the doorway to Gloria's bedside, appearing in the video frame.

"I'm here."

Lu Chen sternly warned her:

"Don't place any bets this time; there's a chance I might lose."

Ai Li didn't dare ask questions and nodded.

"Mm."

Gloria snatched the handrail back, knitting her brows as she said:

"Lose what? I painstakingly taught you swordsmanship hand-in-hand, and you're going to lose?

I'm coming to the live arena to cheer you on, and give you pointers along the way—you can't lose."

Frightened out of his wits, Lu Chen turned ashen.

"No, no, no! If you show up, my chances of losing are even higher. Stay home and sleep tight. If I win, I'll give you some hush money... no, even if I win big, you won't get a single penny, heaven and earth as my witness!"

Gloria:

"You—"

With that, Lu Chen hung up the phone.

Beside him, Ban Yue chuckled secretly:

"Brother Lu is pretty harsh on women."

Lu Chen shrugged.

"Naturally. Women can't be spoiled; if you spoil them, they'll climb over your head and start wreaking havoc."

On the other side, Shan Pao said with a look of relief:

"Brother Lu, the betting volume on this match of yours is ten times that of a normal fight. Most veteran gamblers bet on your opponent, but you've got quite a few fans in your adventure group who poured too much money on you, causing the water level to tilt your way and driving the odds down. Good thing we bet early."

Spreading his hands, Lu Chen sighed with emotion:

"Sigh... having too many fans is a trouble in itself."

Yet Ban Yue ruthlessly shattered his idol persona.

"No, judging from the association forum, they're just blindly supporting Ai Li and Gloria's teammate... nothing more."

Lu Chen snorted coldly and analyzed it seriously for Ban Yue:

"That's where you don't understand. Even though they like Ai Li and Gloria, they project themselves onto me. It's the same as your writing—who likes the female lead? Do readers ever like the male protagonist?"

Ban Yue's expression stiffened, left completely speechless.

"Brother Lu really understands!"

"I'm off."

Lu Chen waved his hand and turned to head toward the central basement.

Contestants were required to arrive ten minutes early at the central basement for a physical checkup and weapon inspection.

To confirm that the cultivation level was accurate.

To confirm physical and mental health so that it wouldn't affect the battle or cause sudden death.

To ensure that no unauthorized offensive or defensive weapons were being carried.

However, recovery and healing pills were permitted to be carried on one's person.

Bring as many as you wanted, as long as you had the time to swallow them, the bandwidth to digest them rapidly, and weren't ambushed by your opponent—that was your own capability.

The staff member who conducted Lu Chen's physical checkup was a middle-aged woman.

Out of curiosity, she gave him a few extra minutes of inspection.

Everything was normal, and no anomalies were detected whatsoever.

"Check passed, please enter the elevator and proceed to the arena as quickly as possible."

...

Lu Chen stepped into the freight elevator, ascending three hundred meters to arrive at the center of the arena.

The arena was packed to the rafters for a change.

A sea of people cheering endlessly.

Yet the commotion was short-lived, quickly subsiding into quiet.

After all, this was a match with an astronomical betting volume, concerning the spiritual stones of the spectators inside and the tavern patrons outside.

Everyone held their breath, gazing at Lu Chen's real face displayed on the giant screen.

Ten days ago, the yellow-faced hag armor cleaving the Black Samurai in half with a single sword—leaving everyone to suffer massive losses on their spiritual stones—was still vivid in their memories, repeatedly pricking at the audience's nerves.

Even so, the majority of the live audience still placed their bets on Cicerobia.

After all, the last time had been armor fighting with a lightsourced sword, whereas this was a free-for-all melee.

Lu Chen had never demonstrated extraordinary physical techniques or swordsmanship; his decapitation of the Black Samurai ten days prior had also been thanks to that light sword carrying the Empire's latest technology.

Meanwhile, Cicerobia's past experiences proved that he was an insidious, cunning, and experienced master of mecha melee.

Coupled with his superior cultivation level, hidden abilities, and the fact that he wasn't Lu Chen's preferred choice of opponent, betting on Cicerobia was a thoroughly rational choice.

As for the fans of Primeval Firmament, very few were aboard the Bailu, so they could only pay to watch the match online.

When Lu Chen arrived at the arena, the one-eyed man in the wheelchair, Cicerobia, had already arrived ahead of time.

The two stood about fifty meters apart.

Between them, wild grass crawled across the earth and yellow dust drifted through the air, creating an exceptionally killing atmosphere.

Hovering a kilometer above the arena was a cubic airship balloon with four-sided giant screens providing close-up, crystal-clear views of the battlefield to the spectators in the stands.

Suspended beneath the floating balloon was a commentator's desk.

The commentator was a 50th-level wind-attribute Dharma Mage, wearing exaggerated sunglasses and a robe-style black suit, looking exceptionally cool.

"Welcome to tonight's prime-time match. This is a highly anticipated free-for-all melee. Judging from everyone's solemn expressions, I can already smell the gunpowder in the air."

"It's worth mentioning that the total betting volume for this match is over ten times the average, making it the highest-grossing match of the past week—one that directly impacts everyone's wallets!"

"On one side of the contestants, we have a controversial news-trending figure of late, the captain of the Primeval Firmament Adventure Group, Lu Chen. A genius who climbed to 15th place on the Annual New Star Ranking after just two months at sea, ten days ago he piloted the yellow-faced hag armor to victory against the Big Star of the 40th-level mecha ranks, the Black Samurai. I'm sure many people hold a deep grudge against him."

"On the other side, we have Cicerobia, captain of the Triangular Sail Adventure Group, and a talented rookie who followed the interstellar juggernaut *Summer Solstice* thirty years ago. Unfortunately, after stumbling, he rarely appeared in the news and might be relatively unfamiliar to the audience on the Bailu, but he shares a long history of grievances with Captain Lu. Tonight is the ultimate showdown to settle accounts between them!"

"The match begins in five minutes. These five minutes are designated for both sides to prepare and talk trash. Psychological warfare is part of the match, and we certainly need entertainment value and gunpowder to boost viewership!"

Lu Chen felt five minutes was a bit too long, so following the example of Liu Jianyun, he began doing some stretching exercises before the match.

While this was a common action in free-form combat, it was rarely seen in mecha and spiritual melee matches.

With his hollow and profound eyes fixed steadily on Lu Chen, Cicerobia didn't blink once.

He didn't even seem to mind his eyes drying out.

"Three days apart calls for viewing one with new eyes. You've grown too fast and too smoothly, Captain Lu... Perhaps it's time for you to experience a bit of a setback; it's good for you."

Stretching his legs and arms, Lu Chen asked curiously:

"What's your name again?"

A textbook intimidation tactic to affect the opponent's psychology.

Or perhaps, he genuinely forgot...

Without getting angry, Cicerobia smiled a smile that didn't reach his eyes and said:

"Captain Lu is a big shot now, so being forgetful is only natural. I won't take offense."

Twisting his neck and loosening his cervical spine, Lu Chen replied:

"I know you, it's just that your name is so long, only a ghost would remember it."

Lu Chen's words were far too relaxed, causing Cicerobia to feel a modicum of pressure.

"Cicerobia."

Having finished his warm-ups, Lu Chen finally looked squarely at his opponent, speaking with earnest sincerity:

"Cicerobia, although we had some minor friction in the past, that's already in the past. The fact that you're still alive proves I'm not someone who holds grudges.

Did you see my tournament declaration? Tonight, I only accept challenges from bounty hunters who want me dead.

At the same time, I've waived my appearance fee and prize money, and placed a bet of a whopping eighteen thousand spiritual stones on myself.

Tonight's battle will decide both superiority and life or death—I don't want you dying in vain under my sword."

The entire arena fell pin-drop silent.

Cicerobia felt a slight jolt in his heart as well.

Accurately citing eighteen thousand didn't sound like a bluff; was this brat really that confident?

"This is a match, not a death match. I also placed a bet of one million on this match; I'm here to win money, not to kill you."

Seeing money and letting his eyes turn to gold, Lu Chen immediately changed his tune.

"In that case, hand that million over to me, and I'll spare your life. Get down from here and send a 59th-level fighter up instead."

Jeers erupted across the entire arena.

Someone even shouted loudly:

"What kind of person is this?!"

"Rigged match!"

"Refund our money!"

Seeing that Lu Chen didn't want to fight him, Cicerobia instantly steadied himself considerably.

"Do you think a wet-behind-the-ears kid could possibly anger me?"

Could he not?

Lu Chen shrugged.

"Fine, then let me check your account to see if that one-million-spirit-stone bet is even real!"

Lu Chen acted on his words immediately.

He opened his handrail right away, networking into the betting site to check the wagers.

Normally, he wouldn't be able to see them.

However, prior to the match, he had simply hacked into the betting website's server to check the distribution of bets and figure out which ones belonged to the audience versus Primeval Firmament's fans.

At that time, he hadn't found a single bet of one million.

Besides, which adventurer barely over the 50th level would dare to pull out one million in cash to go all-in?

Unless he was Prince Tali!

Lu Chen directly opened the betting website's backend wagering page.

"Pardon me, but the only thing I see is your contracted Third Brokerage Company placing a bet of fifty thousand spiritual stones for you.

Although the total betting volume for this match is high, the largest single wager is precisely this fifty thousand.

Where exactly did you place that one million?"

Silence descended upon the entire arena once more.

The expressions of the audience turned as dark as ink.

Cicerobia never imagined that Lu Chen would pull such a stunt right before the match.

"I placed my bet through a private bookie."

With that, he immediately raised his hand to the referee at the sideline.

"Chief Referee, I am filing a complaint against Lu Chen for illegally using a communication device prior to the match; he should be judged as forfeiting."

In reality, carrying communication devices was permitted in all matches, but making outbound calls was forbidden, and under normal circumstances, breaking through the local area network to connect outside was impossible.

Yet Lu Chen had done it once again.

It merely proved that he was a skilled hacker, nothing more.

After conferring with the two line judges for a moment, the chief referee handed down the verdict.

"Illegally breaching the local area network: one warning. Accumulating three warnings will result in an automatic forfeiture."

Lu Chen closed his handrail with a smile, not forgetting to complain:

"How many times do I have to say it? The organizers really need to upgrade their firewall. If you can't find an expert, you can pay to hire me—I spend half my time on the Bailu."

The chief referee was left speechless.

It was up to the host to smooth things over.

"Apologies, we have already had experts upgrade it. Perhaps next time, the tavern should establish a new rule prohibiting the entry of communication devices into the arena entirely."

Jeers rang out across the venue.

Cicerobia was even more indignant.

"Such an outrageous offense only earns a warning?"

The chief referee had no choice but to explain:

"The match hasn't started yet, and the opposing party didn't gain a technical advantage through the violation, so only a warning can be issued."

"Didn't gain a technical advantage? He messed with my mental state and gained a psychological advantage!"

Cicerobia cursed vehemently, even though he hadn't been affected in the slightest.

Spreading his hands with a grin, Lu Chen replied:

"My apologies, I shouldn't have exposed your lie. The truth is, you just wanted to use this opportunity to kill me, didn't you?

Even if you bet one million spiritual stones, winning would only net you fifty thousand, and there's still a certain amount of risk.

How could that compare to directly killing me and collecting the fifty thousand bounty from Wolf Fang Company after the match?"

With a dark and calm expression, Cicerobia stated:

"Unless your reputation is all empty hype, there's no way I'd miss out on killing you."

Jeers filled the air once more.

Some jeered at Cicerobia for lying about a one-million bet while harboring murderous intent in his heart.

Others jeered at Lu Chen for hacking into the betting website... wouldn't this mean he could alter the wagers?

Lu Chen immediately reassured the crowd:

"Don't be too nervous, everyone. I can only browse the betting amounts—any employee of the betting company can browse them. But neither I, nor the employees, nor even the high-level management of the betting site have the permissions to modify betting records, unless I were to personally break into the betting site's server, which *would* make altering records possible.

Regardless, gambling is a terrible thing, and the house cut will bleed you gambling addicts dry anyway.

Besides, you have speculators like me who play the pig to eat the tiger and slaughter favorites. Ten days ago I left your pockets empty, and today I'll make you lose your shirts so you can finally quit gambling for good."

The spectator stands boiled over with agitation and uproar.

Ding!

Ding!

Ding!

The chief referee rose to signal.

"Match start!"

All the spectators stood up, unanimously booing Lu Chen.

With one hand, Cicerobia signaled for the audience to sit back down, while his other hand, resting on the wheelchair armrest, quietly pressed the laser gun switch.

An ambush!

A single shot fired straight toward the center of Lu Chen's brow.

Yet, calling it a laser gun, the muzzle looked no larger than a bullet caliber, but the laser beam that shot out was as thick as a rice bowl.

Registered as a laser gun, it had secretly been modified into a laser cannon!

Even so, guns and artillery were essentially cut from the same cloth, making such distinctions hard to define.

However, energy storage was strictly limited.

After upgrading from a rifle to a cannon, a single discharge exhausted the entire spiritual pool's storage.

This shot crackled with energy, furious and raging, instantly tearing through the air and emitting a thunderous roar.

A single shot was enough to pierce the defense array of Lu Chen's 50th-level armor and blast his head off!

Yet, almost simultaneously.

Or rather, an even split-second earlier...

Lu Chen had already drawn his sword.

Facing the laser, he cleaved downward with a single vertical sword strike!

His movements were clean, crisp, and decisive.

With one slash, he cleaved the laser beam cleanly in two.

The laser beam instantly split apart, deflecting to the left and right of Lu Chen's body as it roared away into the distance.

This single sword strike dumbfounded everyone present.

Even a laser beam could be cleaved in half?

The noisy spectator stands instantly fell dead silent.

Without a moment of hesitation, seeing his first move fail, Cicerobia initiated his second.

His spiritual pressure abruptly burst outward without warning!

Within the hollow, deep sockets of his abyss-like eye sockets, a crimson flame instantly ignited.

The flames converged into a small red dot, expanding rapidly until it transformed into a ring of ripples.

It formed a laser eye resembling a bloodshot pupil.

In space combat, lasers generally traveled faster.

In ground combat, lasers were both fast and accurate.

Lu Chen's preemptive slash to split the laser could be attributed to anticipation, or simply wanting to strike first.

Yet having swung his sword once, wanting to throw a second strike—he couldn't possibly move faster than a secondary laser.

Cicerobia reached up and covered his left eye.

"Your swordsmanship is impressive, but what if I told you I have an even more formidable laser eye? How would Your Excellency deal with that?"

As he spoke, a laser beam with even greater spiritual pressure and a more concentrated light core flashed instantly toward the center of Lu Chen's brow.

Yet, the laser once again deflected crookedly to the right.

And deflecting downward along with it...

Was half of Cicerobia's wheelchair.

Half of his torso.

And half of his head.

Split down the left and right, they tumbled straight apart in opposite directions.

Brain matter splattered everywhere.

Blood shot straight up into the sky...

Fifty meters away, Lu Chen sheathed his sword.

From start to finish, he had only swung it once.

"A dead man might still be able to talk, but he can't possibly keep his aim."