Chapter 814 - 170: Master of Self-Destruction
Su Chang pointed to the seat beside him: "Sit down, no need to stand, and don’t be too formal."
Yi Xiaotian smiled, not at all shy, and took a seat on the chair nearby as Su Chang spoke: "Ha, I also feel being too formal is no good."
This is probably the kind of person who blossoms with a bit of sunshine, or sets up shop with a bit of paint.
Ning Mei also showed a hint of helplessness on her face, sitting next to Yi Xiaotian, still feeling her heart racing; it’s easy to get nervous in front of Mr. Su.
"What are you nervous about? Weren’t you quite fierce before?" Su Chang teased Ning Mei.
Ning Mei took a deep breath: "That’s not what I meant, I’m just a bit worried about Xiaotian."
Su Chang nodded, then shifted the conversation: "The situation at the gathering place this year should be alright, except for the wars on the front line."
Ning Mei thought for a moment and said: "Actually, it’s not too good, we just managed to stabilize the casualties later."
"The monsters in the black mist haven’t caused too many casualties, but the competition for resources is still very intense. People often stab others in the back to seize resources."
"The relationship between squads isn’t great, and there’s frequent friction. If it weren’t for Leader Lu Yu orchestrating things from above, this place would’ve fallen apart long ago."
Every Extraordinary needs a lot of resources, and since the Doomsday Game provides limited resources, conflict is inevitable; this is the source of the contradictions.
Yi Xiaotian interjected: "Just before, the leader of Team Three, Chen Taiqiu, died on a mission, and some team members even fled the gathering place."
"I heard they found a rare advent store in some ruins, and the leader of Team Three wanted to keep everything for himself, but the team members disagreed, so..."
Su Chang, after hearing this, pondered and said: "So there were Tier Eight entities among those team members?"
Yi Xiaotian shook his head: "Probably not, they must have used some mysterious item to limit Chen Taiqiu’s abilities."
As more Extraordinaries emerged, people gained a deeper understanding of the Extraordinary and knew how to handle them.
With the help of mysterious items, Extraordinaries can easily challenge those stronger than themselves.
"That really is a sad thing, dying over such matters, what about the other team members?"
"Team Three fell apart, our team now has some people from the former Team Three, so I know a bit of the inside story."
Su Chang and Yi Xiaotian chatted for a while, learning about the situation at Falling Leaves Gathering Place.
...
As night fell, the edge of the black mist scattered with a golden sunset, like dying embers about to extinguish.
"Big guy, should we give it a try? You may look big, but your strength might not be as great as mine."
Walking up the high walls of the gathering place, Su Chang saw from afar a burly man, shirtless, shouting at the Undead Knight.
The Undead Knight said nothing, just turned its head and looked at him coldly, unsure what this seemingly weak human wanted to do.
The dark-skinned man, not quite in his right mind, continued shouting:
"Are you scared? Can’t you fight me like a man?"
The Undead Knight’s black armor flickered with ghostly blue fire.
The next moment, it moved, its iron palm larger than a head slammed towards the big man with a strong gust of wind.
With a loud bang, the big man knelt on the ground, his knees sinking into the stone bricks of the high wall, his hands crossed in front of his head to block the Undead Knight’s massive palm.
Su Chang felt a bit surprised, this person actually blocked an attack from the Undead Knight head-on, even if it used only a fraction of its strength, it was still very impressive.
"Good! That’s manly!" The big man spat blood, laughed heartily, not caring about his wounds.
Then.
Seeing the Undead Knight about to strike again, he quickly got up, retreated back to Su Chang’s side, and only stopped when he saw the knight didn’t follow.
"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Su Chang looked puzzled, finding the big man’s actions quite strange.
The big man’s skin cracked, blood oozing out, presumably with many broken bones inside his body.
If it weren’t for Su Chang instructing beforehand that the Undead Knight shouldn’t kill in the gathering place, it might have finished him off.
The big man turned his head towards Su Chang, earnestly saying: "This isn’t trying to get killed, challenging the strong is the only way to become stronger."
Su Chang couldn’t help but say: "Do you know what this thing is? You’re not afraid it will kill you with a single slap."
The big man nodded: "Of course I do, I heard others say it’s Mr. Su’s summon, for guarding the city."
"It looks very strong, and indeed it is. That strength is like a mountain. If I want to match it, I’ll need to get a bit stronger."
Su Chang raised an eyebrow: "A bit stronger?"
That probably needs a lot more than a bit.
The big man, arms crossed, confidently said: "Yes, just a bit, the gap shouldn’t be too large."
"You seem unfamiliar, are you new here? I’m Wu Mouping, captain of Team Seven, we’re recruiting."
Su Chang found this person quite interesting, smiled and said: "Yeah, just arrived at the gathering place, but concerning joining your team, I’ll pass."
Hearing this, Wu Mouping patted his chest: "Our Team Seven is one of the strongest here. I’m the strongest of the captains too!"
He seemed very confident.
Su Chang nodded, continued walking, brushing past him: "I believe you, Wu Mouping. But you’re probably a bit of a risk-taker."
"Risk-taker?" Wu Mouping looked surprised.
Then he saw Su Chang jump off the side of the high wall, clean and swift.
"Jumped off? Won’t a fall from ten or twenty meters kill you?"
He was about to go over to see what was happening when he saw the big iron giant moving too, bouncing on its feet, and following Su Changxing to jump down, with a whistling wind.
"Jumped down together?" He was stunned, not yet understanding what was happening.
At this moment.
Fang Muping ran up from behind, pointed to the spot where the Undead Knight was standing earlier, and asked:
"Wu Mouping, where is that thing? I just heard you were about to come over to challenge Mr. Su’s summoned creature, so I specifically came to check it out."
Wu Mouping blinked his eyes and pointed outside the high wall, saying, "It jumped down, followed a person and jumped down, it shouldn’t have much to do with me."
He thought for a while again: "I guess not."
Fang Muping breathed a sigh of relief: "That’s Mr. Su, right? Mr. Su’s presence is very calm; it’s normal that you didn’t recognize him."
Wu Mouping widened his eyes, showing an incredulous expression: "He, he’s Mr. Su?"
Fang Muping nodded: "Yes, I suppose no one else could command that thing."
"No wonder." Wu Mouping exhaled, feeling odd just now that the iron giant suddenly turned on him when it didn’t react to his calls before.
That did give him quite a scare.
After speaking.
He fell into a brief silence, looking somewhat sheepishly at Fang Muping and said: "Mr. Su said I’m a daredevil, do you think it’s a compliment or an insult?"
Fang Muping’s mouth twitched: "Doesn’t sound much like a compliment. What’s with the blood on you?"
Wu Mouping turned his head away, sitting down heavily on the ground: "Got beaten by that iron giant, really powerful, just one hit and I was turned into this."
Fang Muping stared at him, evaluated and said: "Mr. Su is right, you are indeed a daredevil, it’s a miracle you survived till now."
Wu Mouping didn’t care at all about Fang Muping’s mockery: "Commoner! Soon, you won’t even see my backside."
Fang Muping retorted grumpily: "Hearing you say that won’t make me feel anything."
Who could be more ordinary than a shirtless muscle guy constantly finding people to fight?
Yet, Wu Mouping is indeed extraordinary, even able to spar equally with Lu Yu.
"If you want to fight, there’s someone available." Fang Muping said with a sly smile.
Wu Mouping showed a surprised look: "Why, suddenly in the mood to fight me? Bring it on, mate, I’m all set."
With that, he stood up from the ground, and in just a short moment, his injuries had largely healed, the wounds sprouting fresh flesh, looking tender.
Fang Muping’s eye twitched, and he said: "It’s not me, it’s one of our team members. Today, he just advanced to Tier Eight; since you are one of the strongest here at the gathering place, he wants to have a match with you to verify his strength."
Wu Mouping’s eyes widened, glimmering: "Who? That Chuan Yue guy? Didn’t expect him to advance so soon, through what means, a task?"
Fang Muping shook his head, a smile on his lips: "No, it’s Yi Xiaotian."
"That’s impossible." Wu Mouping frowned: "He’s still far off, it’s unlikely to leap that quickly; you and I went through extreme hardships to advance, aware of the difficulties."
"Whether he can fight or advance has no direct relation; Yi Xiaotian, despite claiming to be the strongest among our Tier Nine, is just that."
Fang Muping stated affirmatively: "It’s him, just today, with Mr. Su’s help, he advanced in one leap. It’s a bit unbelievable, but it’s the truth."
Wu Mouping took a deep breath, also believing what the other said was true and wouldn’t joke in this manner, turning his head:
"This Mr. Su, could it be Leader Su, Su Changxing?"
He had this suspicion before, now even more so, Su Changxing once turned countless people into Extraordinary beings; enabling advancement isn’t impossible.
Fang Muping didn’t find it strange for Wu Mouping to guess, shook his head and said: "I don’t know either."
Wu Mouping cursed irritably: "You don’t know jack, your expression tells me you do."
Then, he leaned beside Fang Muping, draped an arm over his shoulder, and whispered: "Just nod, I won’t tell anyone else."
Fang Muping pushed his face away, shook his head repeatedly: "Said I don’t know, I don’t know, stop with the nonsense."
Wu Mouping leaned close again, chuckled and whispered: "Blinking works too, one blink means yes, two means no."
Fang Muping stared wide-eyed, without blinking for a long time.
"Hehe, even if you don’t speak, I know... it’s you who informed me." Wu Mouping remarked with a smile to himself.
Fang Muping shook his head, replied with annoyance: "Childish, immature."
"...So, did Mr. Su go to deal with those Undead?"
Wu Mouping’s eyes shone sharply: "I think so, Mr. Su just returned, surely eager to head to the frontline battlefield, and wants to sort these things quickly."
Fang Muping’s eyes showed heaviness, sighing:
"Is it really that easy? That’s a realm, a realm full of Undead, with such existences, I fear even Mr. Su will find it hard to manage."
Wu Mouping fell into silence once more: "Did you say something remarkable?"
"..."
It was Fang Muping’s turn to be silent.
Wu Mouping quickly questioned: "World? You mean hidden in this dark mist is another realm, or a portal to another realm, those creatures come from that realm."
Fang Muping thought carefully, said: "Probably, I’m not entirely sure, but don’t spread it, such talk could cause unrest."
Wu Mouping crossed his arms, confidently said: "I reckon my mouth is tighter than yours."
Fang Muping stayed silent: "..."