Chapter 675

But just as he was about to speak, a sudden knock came at the door.

Before Yuan Zhao could say anything, the room door was flung open roughly.

A young noble clad in golden armor rushed in.

Zhao Chi instinctively dropped into a combat stance.

But the noble didn't even look at Zhao Chi, grabbing Yuan Zhao with one hand.

"Let's go!"

"Huh?" Yuan Zhao was yanked off balance.

He was clearly just as startled.

"Hold on—what's going on, Xie Ling?"

Zhao Chi watched them in surprise.

It seemed this noble named Xie Ling was on good terms with Yuan Zhao.

Yuan Zhao had actually called Xie Ling by name outright.

And Xie Ling had grabbed Yuan Zhao's arm without any ceremony.

From just this much, one could tell the two of them had no ordinary relationship.

Xie Ling gave Yuan Zhao another tug. Yuan Zhao clearly didn't want to be dragged off in such a disheveled manner—he shook Xie Ling off and straightened his clothes.

Xie Ling snapped angrily, "Do you want to die? Get over here!"

Though Xie Ling's tone was harsh, he still leaned in and quickly whispered something in Yuan Zhao's ear.

Once Yuan Zhao heard it, his expression visibly changed.

"Huh? That can't be, right?"

"What the hell are you blabbering about? Move!"

Xie Ling dragged Yuan Zhao off again.

This time Yuan Zhao didn't resist, and hurried toward the door as well.

Walking as he spoke: "Zhao Chi, you hurry up and—"

Before he could finish, Xie Ling yanked him hard: "Forget him, he's one of Zhao Quan's people!"

The next moment, both of them had left the rest room.

Zhao Chi had absolutely no idea what had happened.

He hurriedly rushed out the door as well.

Passing through the corridor, he returned to the back hall of the virtual training grounds.

It was bustling and packed with people.

The crowd was noisy and rowdy, excitedly chatting about the competition.

Some were discussing the looks of the female contestants, some were predicting who would take the championship.

Quite a few staff members were also pulling people in to place bets.

No one was panicking.

Nor was there any sign of Yuan Zhao and the others.

But plenty of people recognized Zhao Chi and came over asking for autographs and to chat.

Zhao Chi, endlessly patient, quickly pushed his way out of the crowd.

He used his clothes to cover his head and walked to the central hall.

There were rest areas, leisure areas, and dining areas here.

The finals were still over an hour away, and quite a lot of people had gathered here.

This place was no longer really a virtual space—everything was fairly expensive, but that hadn't stopped people from spending.

Everyone ate, drank, and chatted; no one was in a panic.

Zhao Chi also spotted Gongsun Ning in the VIP area on the upper floor.

She was sitting elegantly on a reclining chair, leisurely sipping fruit wine, chatting softly with a few nobles.

They weren't panicking either.

Could something have happened at Yuan Zhao's own home?

But at the end he'd clearly been about to say something to him.

Zhao Chi tried to reach Yuan Zhao by voice, but couldn't get through at all.

What kind of situation is this?

Could it be the resistance?

But all around was cheerful and peaceful—nothing out of the ordinary.

Zhao Chi thought of those women wearing his stockings.

If the resistance were causing trouble, those women would definitely be taking part.

Zhao Chi immediately lowered his head.

Whenever he saw a woman, he stared hard at her legs.

Most were wearing pants; only a small portion of women wore skirts.

But those in stockings made up less than half—most had bare legs.

After ogling several hundred pairs of legs, Zhao Chi finally spotted one woman wearing pale-yellow stockings.

But the owner of those stockings looked perfectly normal, laughing and chatting happily with her companions.

He kept looking.

After checking several hundred more pairs of legs, the second "resistance" woman Zhao Chi spotted was equally unremarkable.

He kept watching legs.

Thick ones, thin ones, long ones, short ones, smooth ones, hairy ones—Zhao Chi had looked at over a thousand pairs.

But he also spotted quite a few women of the resistance army wearing yellow stockings, and they were all completely relaxed, showing no tension at all.

Was he just being paranoid?

At this moment, quite a few people were heading toward the first battlefield.

The finals hadn't even started yet—what were they going there for?

Could this be related to Yuan Zhao leaving?

Zhao Chi followed the crowd and quickly entered the first battlefield.

The moment he stepped in, he noticed it was extremely noisy here.

There were a lot of people.

It really felt like attending a concert or a ball game.

Every so often, a maid would be selling snacks and treats, and staff members kept pushing bets on the finals.

There were a great many of those maids and staff members.

He guessed they weren't real people—they were probably generated virtual humans.

This virtual space was quite convenient, though.

In the center of the venue, an extra large screen had also appeared.

The screen was looping battle replays—looking closely, they were all highlight replays of Yuan Zhao's and his own battles.

This kind of replay was usually only used in major tournaments; he hadn't expected it to show up at a village-level rookie competition.

Probably because the viewership was so high, Gongsun Ning was willing to spend a bit more?

However, Zhao Chi noticed that there were a lot of replay clips of Yuan Zhao.

Many of Yuan Zhao's brilliant moments were included in the replays.

But his own replays were far fewer.

And a lot of the key and brilliant moments were missing.

Was this Gongsun Ning doing it on purpose?

He and Gongsun Ning had a grudge, so she arranged for more of Yuan Zhao's to be shown?

But this was pointless.

It wouldn't affect him at all—truly a petty move.

"Masked Mr., have you placed your bet yet?"

The staff member beside him turned and called out to Zhao Chi.

"No need, thanks." Zhao Chi refused flatly.