Chapter 506: No coincidence, no story

Compared to the first round, the number of people who entered the second-round preliminaries was halved, so the ending time was also about half of the first round.

As the last group's match ended, everyone also got a rest period of about fifteen minutes.

Jiang Cheng originally planned to stay in the lounge, quietly waiting for the start of the third-round draw.

Suddenly, his phone on him buzzed once, and there was a text message.

Jiang Cheng took out his phone to look, and couldn't help but smile; then he got up and walked outside.

Brother Jiang Cheng!

Seeing Jiang Cheng appear, Lin Yue in the audience seats happily waved her arms.

Jiang Cheng looked over, and besides Lin Yue, Qin Lao and Qin Yu were also there, so he immediately walked over.

On the way over, he also attracted the attention of many people around.

"Look, that's Teacher Jiang." a male student said softly.

"He's really young." a long-haired girl sighed.

Although Jiang Cheng could be seen on the big screen before, after all there was a distance; it's not like now, seeing him up close.

"Yeah, about the same age as us, right? But he's already a Level One Grandmaster, and also an alchemist, while we are only a few-level Force Warriors…"

"Not just that." Someone nearby immediately said: "He's not an ordinary Level One Grandmaster—didn't you see that even Teacher Fang was defeated by him? And how many Level One Grandmasters can make it to the third round?"

"Right, right."

Hearing this, everyone nodded repeatedly.

"Brother Jiang Cheng, you're amazing—I knew you could defeat everyone and win first place." Lin Yue looked at Jiang Cheng with an admiring face.

Speaking of which, this was the first time she had seen Jiang Cheng take action.

Qin Yu beside him, on the other hand, wanted to speak but held back.

Jiang Cheng's performance indeed exceeded her understanding.

But to say that Jiang Cheng could defeat everyone and take first place, she really didn't believe it, after all those other people were not pushovers.

"Xiao Yue, you've said all that—how could I not bring back a championship?" Jiang Cheng laughed.

"But we can't be arrogant and complacent, celebrating at halftime."

Qin Lao coughed once, "Let's talk after entering the finals round."

"What Qin Lao means is, no matter who the next opponent is, I will take it seriously." Jiang Cheng said.

"Hmm."

Qin Lao then nodded; knowing Jiang Cheng as he does, the latter isn't the type to be arrogant and complacent, but just in case, he still needed to give a reminder.

The few were chatting when suddenly a familiar voice sounded from beside them.

"Teacher Jiang, you're really strong."

It was Xie Jianfeng.

He gave a thumbs-up, "At first I thought Teacher Jiang would be like me, but the result is Teacher Jiang directly advanced to the third round—unlike me, who got eliminated in the first round……"

At the end of his words, he wore a full-face bitter smile.

That's fine.

The key is that Fangguo, who eliminated him in the first round, was in turn eliminated by Jiang Cheng in the second round, without bias.

What does this show?

It shows that although he and Jiang Cheng are both Level One Grandmasters, if they really fought, he probably wouldn't be a match for Jiang Cheng.

"So it's Teacher Xie." Jiang Cheng looked at him, "Teacher Xie, you're being modest—I got into the third round also thanks to some luck."

"Luck?"

Xie Jianfeng shook his head repeatedly.

"Teacher Jiang, don't be modest—those two fights are what they are, everyone saw them clearly; I won't say anything else, I hope Teacher Jiang draws a good lot next and successfully advances to the finals round."

"Thank you."

Jiang Cheng hurriedly said.

Afterward, several teachers from the Alchemy Workshop also came over together and greeted Jiang Cheng.

Moreover, they said they had already informed others in the group, asking them to come watch the upcoming third-round match.

Jiang Cheng laughed and cried at the same time.

After a few more minutes, the people who had left midway also returned one after another.

Because it was the final round, the number of people coming to watch the match also increased.

Jiang Cheng also got up and left the audience seats, walking into the lounge.

After about three minutes, Xu Juan went up on stage again and began today's final-round draw.

Instantly, the whole venue fell silent.

Everyone's gaze fell on the big screen behind Xu Juan.

Meanwhile, the atmosphere in the lounge was even more tense than outside.

Many people silently prayed in their hearts that the opponent they would draw next would by no means be one of the toughest few; if possible, they hoped to avoid the top ten from the previous round, and the top twenty would be even better.

Xu Juan pressed the pause button, and the matchup chart on the screen was also frozen.

The people in the lounge also all took out their phones.

"Sun Tong?"

Jiang Cheng looked at the phone screen, a bit surprised.

"Someone with the surname Sun?"

"In Hope City, there shouldn't be few people with the surname Sun, but here, aside from Sun Bo's family, there probably isn't a second possibility, right?"

Unfortunately, the information didn't specify the opponent's true strength—this is also the institute's consideration, not wanting to put psychological pressure on people; although this doesn't really help, after all the institute has so many people, given enough time, everyone will know who is who.

Even if we step back ten thousand paces, even if we don't know, it's not hard to ask someone nearby.

Jiang Cheng didn't have such a plan.

Because knowing it wouldn't be meaningful.

Just as if he were to meet the few strongest people, aside from rising to the challenge, he seemed to have no other choice.

"How could it be that kid?"

Not far from Jiang Cheng, a middle-aged man stared at his phone screen, his eyes filled with disbelief.

Indeed, he was Sun Tong, who, a few weeks earlier, had received Sun Bo's orders to act against Jiang Cheng but had failed.

A week earlier, he returned from the outside world to Hope City and registered for this Grand Competition.

Even as soon as he entered the lounge, he recognized Jiang Cheng sitting together with Xie Jianfeng in the crowd.

However, he didn't pay much attention to it, and didn't even give it a second glance.

First, it wasn't necessary; what's there to care about a mere Level One Grandmaster? Signing up this time was just to make up the numbers.

Furthermore, he was worried about giving himself away, since, logically, he didn't know Jiang Cheng and had no connection with him.

But Jiang Cheng's subsequent performance truly exceeded his expectations; even though he was reluctant, he had to admit that the latter indeed had some combat talent.

What's more, he never expected that the third round would directly pit him against Jiang Cheng.

"Hehehe, what a coincidence."

Thinking this, Sun Tong let out a few cold chuckles in his heart.

Perhaps this kid really does, as those people said, have the potential to reach the top twenty or thirty, but it's a shame that he met me, so he can only stop at the third round.

It's a pity.

This is Virtual Combat.

If it were reality, that would be great.

(End of chapter)