Chapter 252: Not Optimistic?

"Brother, let's go up; who knows, maybe another newcomer will come along in a bit?" Zhang Xin said, while gently nudging his companion beside him with his elbow.

"Only one newcomer came today; how could another one arrive so quickly?" Wu Xing tilted his chin toward the Arena and said with great interest, "We just got our hands on 50 points; let's go place a bet once this match ends. If we're lucky this time, we could multiply it several times over."

"Fine, but this time you have to listen to me; don't just place bets randomly."

"What are you saying? When have I ever been wrong?" Wu Xing muttered with dissatisfaction, trying to defend himself.

"You're still talking! Last time, it was because of you that we lost all our points. If you're stubborn again this time, we'll go our separate ways from now on."

"Alright, alright, I'll listen to you, is that enough?"

The two of them walked toward the perimeter of the Arena while talking.

At the registration desk, a man in sunglasses sat in front of a computer, his fingers tapping rapidly on the keyboard.

He looked at the information in front of him and asked without raising his head, "Su Luo, joined the Association today, E-rank Awakened, ability is Speed Enhancement, bet is 50 points, plus another 50 points bet on yourself to win, no problem?"

"No problem." Lu Yu shook his head.

To him, one hundred points, converted into money, was only one million yuan; even if he lost it all, it wouldn't be enough to make him care too much.

What's more, in his heart, he had no intention of losing this match at all; in his view, the possibility of losing was almost zero.

Lu Yu transferred the points without any hesitation.

The man in sunglasses turned around, took a number tag from a box on the side, handed it to Lu Yu, and said expressionlessly, "Go up to the stage when your number is called. If you feel your opponent is too strong, you can concede at any time."

"Rest assured, everyone here belongs to the Association; no one will take your life."

"However, fists and feet have no eyes; if you're unlucky and get hurt, don't complain—that's all very normal."

"The bet and the points wagered will be automatically transferred to your account as soon as the match results are out, provided you win the match."

After speaking, he looked at Lu Yu through his sunglasses with a hint of mockery, seemingly not optimistic about this newcomer.

"Good." Lu Yu took the number tag steadily, seeing that it clearly had the number 16 written on it.

He raised his head, cast his gaze toward the fiercely competing Arena, and couldn't help but reveal a look of anticipation in his eyes.

Setting aside the factor of points, he also really wanted to trade blows with these Awakened to see exactly how strong he was.

After the man in sunglasses finished handling Lu Yu's business, he walked straight toward a door.

Above the door were eight striking large characters: "Control Room Restricted Area, No Unauthorized Entry."

He skillfully took a card from his pocket and swiped it gently on the machine beside the door; accompanied by a crisp beep, the machine screen displayed the word "Access Granted."

Immediately after, he gripped the door handle, pulled with a little force, and the door slowly opened; he then walked into the room.

The room was about forty or fifty square meters in size, and the walls were densely covered with monitors, monitoring every move outside from all angles.

At this moment, there were more than ten people in the room, either standing or sitting, watching the match in the Arena with full concentration through the screens.

"Brother Hu, there's a funny thing here," the man in sunglasses said as he walked over with a face full of smiles.

"Oh? What is it?"

A burly man who was drinking cola turned his head.

"A new guy came to the Association today, brought over by Wu Xing and his friend, and he actually wants to go up and fight in the Arena," the man in sunglasses laughed with great interest.

"What, a newcomer came?"

"Wants to go to the Arena as soon as he arrives? That's some real guts, isn't it?"

"Hey, aren't all newcomers like that? They don't know the depth of the water when they first enter the trade; they'll know how high the sky and how thick the earth is once they've suffered," others discussed one after another.

"A bit interesting."

Du Hu's mouth curled up slightly as he asked, "How much is the bet? 100 points?"

"50 points."

Just as everyone was thinking this newcomer still had some self-awareness, the man in sunglasses added, "Besides that, he also used 50 points to bet on himself to win."

The room went quiet instantly; you could hear a pin drop.

A moment later, a burst of uproarious laughter erupted.

"Hahaha, Old Ding, are you trying to laugh us to death? That newcomer actually bet 50 points on himself to win? Is that for real?"

"Why would I lie to you?" The man in sunglasses couldn't help but laugh too. "The last time I ran into a guy this confident, it seems like it was two years ago."

"That's right, I remember that guy, his name was, what was it, Zhao something? He did the same thing back then, and ended up losing everything."

"I heard he died in the wilderness later, right?"

"Seems that's how it went. Didn't expect another one just as blindly confident as him to show up; now we've got a show to watch."

"Indeed."

Smiles of schadenfreude appeared on everyone's faces.

At this time, the match in the Arena was nearing its end; the contestant with the Earth-Type Ability took advantage of his opponent's negligence and suddenly launched a Rock Thrust Skill, successfully defeating his opponent.

However, he himself was also panting for breath and had no energy to continue competing.

The one who lost muttered profanities, while the winner was full of joy.

"Number 15."

A voice came over the broadcast, and a man with bulging muscles climbed onto the Arena and shouted loudly to the people around, "200 points, who dares to come up and spar with me?"

"It's actually this guy; no wonder he dares to place a 200-point bet."

"Yeah, this guy is also a Martial Artist; I heard he's already reached the Transformation Energy stage. Plus his ability, his body can expand to over three meters tall; if the guy who used the Earth Wall just now ran into him, he'd be beaten flat with one punch."

"No one dares to come up?"

The muscular man scanned the entire crowd.

"Han, what are you being arrogant for? I'm going to take those 200 points of yours!"

A rough voice rang out, and a big man pushed through the crowd and walked onto the Arena with long, steady strides.

"Qi Lang, it's you again."

Han Fang sneered and said, "I haven't even had a chance to thank you for the 200 points you gave me last time."

"Damn it, Han Fang, you still have the nerve to talk? If I hadn't fought two matches in a row last time, would you have been able to win? Watch this time, I'm going to take back everything with interest!"

Just then, the countdown sound rang out; within ten seconds, if no one stepped onto the Arena, the candidates for this Arena battle would be finalized.

Very quickly, the countdown ended, and three minutes later, the competition officially began.

At the same time, the portraits of the two people appeared on the big screen with the letters "PK" in the middle, and below the portraits, two strings of numbers were constantly jumping, clearly showing the people around them placing bets.

Judging from the current trend, more people favored Qi Lang; in less than a minute, the points bet on Qi Lang had increased to 5,000 points.

Meanwhile, the points bet on Han Fang were only a little over 3,000 points.

Of course, the point totals for both sides were still continuing to grow.

Lu Yu watched all of this quietly, when suddenly he heard two somewhat familiar voices.