Chapter 453: Chapter 452: Confrontation in the City Ruins

“Field change.”

Following the referee’s command, the field staff began to bustle about.

The chaotic stone field, essentially destroyed, sank downward under everyone’s gaze, with massive amounts of rubble falling along the perimeter–enough to give the Logistics and Maintenance Department a headache.

A teeth-grinding sound of gears grinding rose; a new field slowly emerged in the stadium.

Upon seeing this field, the barrage of comments in the live-stream exploded instantaneously.

“Damn, who is this guy with such a fancy shortsword?”

“Is it as fancy as my golden Malay sword???”

“Good grief, I’m just saying, good grief–urban ruins field, looks like Bin City University might cry to death this time.”

“They’ve got money, it’s just rebuilding a couple of fields, no big deal.”

“That’s true, today’s stream really is worth it, never expected a live-combat mode.”

“Right? You didn’t know, did you? This guy Xiang Nan is from the first team of BinU, our school’s team has stopped training, they’re all here watching.”

“Must have been pushed to the edge… ”

“Let me see how many non-BinU dogs are snooping around.”

“Hehe, Shanghai University.”

“Hehe, Capital Normal.”

“Hehe, Daxia College.”

“Hehe, Su City University.”

“What is Su City University? Some crappy university?”

“I…”

The lights were dim in Bin City University’s training room where the projector cast the live stream on the screen. Watching the ongoing comments, a few people grimaced.

“Captain, looks like that guy on the other side must be a pro, normal students wouldn’t carry weapons around.”

“If it’s Xiang Nan, I mean if…”

“No ifs.” The guy sitting at the front spoke in a low voice, “In a live-combat mode in an urban ruins setting, no one can defeat Xiang Nan.”

“Just watch the match closely; this is a rare real combat teaching.”

“Yes, Captain.”

However, the sight of Shao Zifeng’s fancy shortsword provoked an uneasy feeling in the onlooker.

“Competitors, enter the field.”

The referee’s voice came through the loudspeaker, met with waves of cheers and whistles from the stands, mostly encouraging Xiang Nan.

Shao Zifeng, holding the ‘Glory of the Karen Family’ reverse-handed, jumped down from the command platform and walked toward the field depicting urban ruins.

“Yingying!”

Qiuqiu squatted on the command platform, waving its little paws as if to cheer on Shao Zifeng.

The urban ruin field resembled a corner of a decaying city, with a main street running through the center, flanked by rusty streetlights, with twisted, collapsed poles stretched across the road.

On either side of the street stood old or collapsed buildings.

The mottled walls and shattered shop windows bore faint traces of faded graffiti.

Weakly swinging signs hung overhead, their rust marks made conspicuous by the rain.

As the two contestants approached each other, the cheers from the surrounding stands reached a peak.

Immersed in the cheering, Xiang Nan’s excitement grew. He lifted his head and flashed a broad smile at Shao Zifeng, his bright white teeth glaring under the spotlights.

“Competitors, pay respects.”

As the referee’s words were spoken, Xiang Nan made a very disrespectful gesture.

He lifted his dagger sideways and made a throat-slitting gesture, then, amid even louder cheers, licked the blade in his hand.

Upon seeing this, Shao Zifeng lost any inclination to salute; he almost imperceptibly twitched his mouth.

If he remembered correctly, the last person who licked a blade in front of him seemed to have been poisoned by his own pet.

Thinking this, Shao Zifeng glanced around.

Unfortunately, this guy was cautious and hadn’t summoned his pet in advance.

As it wasn’t a traditional combat mode, summoning a pet after the match didn’t count as a rule violation.

The referee gave a resigned glance at Xiang Nan: “The match begins!”

Pop!

The ring of strong lights at the top suddenly went out, plunging the entire competition venue into darkness, which gradually quieted the cheering from the audience.

The walls around the arena cracked open, revealing several wind machines, whose giant blades began to rotate silently.

In the real-world confrontation mode, to simulate real-world effects, the external conditions generally accommodate fully, and the audience would not make noises that could affect the players.

As the whole arena fell into darkness, the streetlights on both sides of the main street lit up, the dim yellow light flickering on and off amid the buzzing of electricity.

The billboards on both sides of the street also lit up with neon lights in red, blue, and yellow, with colorful lights rotating and changing, adding a touch of desolation to the entire city ruins.

Whoosh~

The wind rolled up the yellow-brown old newspapers, making the place seem even more deserted and dreary.

Shao Zifeng narrowed his eyes; this guy called Xiang Nan really knew his stuff– he had disappeared in the blink of an eye.

“Gurgle!”

Behind Shao Zifeng, Yaya stood with its crimson eyes surveying all around, the neon lights on the building ruins making it very restless, almost wishing to flatten everything.

“Shh.”

Shao Zifeng stopped Yaya.

Perhaps because of the interaction just now, Yaya was not very resistant to Shao Zifeng’s orders now.

Holding a short sword crosswise in front of his chest, Shao Zifeng listened intently to the sounds around him.

Clang clang!

The sound of an empty can rolling echoed through the empty street, and the streetlights went out as well.

Shao Zifeng tensed, grasped his short sword, and turned around to block!

Clang!

In the darkness, sparks flew everywhere, the clear sound of metal clashing echoed through the empty streets.

Seeing his lethal attack blocked, a look of surprise crossed Xiang Nan’s face.

With his extensive combat experience, Shao Zifeng did not stop his movements. His short sword slid down the blade of the dagger, sparking once again. At the same time, his pupils flashed a grayish-white light, and a glow emanated from his other hand, hammering hard at Xiang Nan’s abdomen.

Thump!

Shao Zifeng felt his fist lighten as if hitting a cotton, and at the same time, it awakened Xiang Nan because he quickly backpedaled using the force.

In the darkness, Shao Zifeng barely saw a pair of pure black eyes and lips red as blood, sneering with mockery.

Only then did Yaya react, roaring as it swung its tail towards the direction Xiang Nan had moved.

Boom!

A dull crash and the scattering of gravel evoked exclamations from the audience.

Zzzz!

The dim streetlights buzzed to life again, and aside from a large crater, the figure of Xiang Nan was once again missing from the street in front of them.

Seeing that his attack missed, Yaya paced back and forth in irritation, its crimson eyes scanning everywhere.

“Got some skills, huh,” Shao Zifeng exhaled a murky breath and slowly closed his eyes.

Zzzz.

The streetlights emitted the sound of electricity again.

In an instant of darkness, a streak of dark light slashed at Shao Zifeng.

Clang, clang!

The rapid sounds of metal clashing spattered sparks, every attack from Xiang Nan perfectly blocked by Shao Zifeng.

“This is impossible!”

Xiang Nan incredulously stepped back a few paces.

“Roar!”

A tearing sound filled the air, and Xiang Nan felt a powerful force hit him.

Rumble!

A few buildings on the street side were instantly penetrated.

When the streetlights lit up again, the audience exclaimed in surprise.

Because, as the dust settled, the figure of Xiang Nan had once again vanished.

(PS: Regular plea for votes, I moved up to rank 600 on the monthly ticket list, a small ticket from the big bosses is a big step for this book, haha.)