Chapter 111 - Join Them If You Cannot Beat Them
Several beeping sounds rang in about ten seconds, and in the blink of an eye, eight people had passed the first stage.
The specific battle screens for clearing the stages were invisible to Su Bai and the others. This was because the time was not equal across the contestants, so some players might be ahead of the others.
Thus, they could only see how many stages each person had passed. Of course, in the end, each player could still retrieve their game data.
Time passed quietly while the rest watched the first ten challengers. Two minutes later, the strongest person among the batch completed twenty stages but got stuck in the twenty-fifth stage for dozens of seconds.
A few slightly slower people gradually surpassed him.
Five minutes later, the first person to complete the Road of Champions emerged. He had passed thirty-five stages but failed sixty-five stages.
After he came out, the other nine people exited one after another. The strongest had passed fifty stages in total, while the others averaged at thirties or forties.
Su Bai glanced at a girl in traditional costume as well as her Thunderfish pet.
"Okay, now for the second group…" Manager Li Kang called ten new names to enter the simulators.
Su Bai noticed that among these ten players, he knew Wang Er, Wang Tao, and the Gemini twins.
"Who do you think will break the record?" whispered Chen Rouxue.
"Probably those two boys. Wang Er's warlord level Electric Python is very strong, while Wang Tao's Withered Bone Mantis seems to have broken through to the mid-level warlord, so his pet's strength shouldn't be underestimated.
"As for the twin sisters, they should pass around fifty stages."
He voiced his analysis after thinking about it.
By the time he finished speaking, the ten people had already started blitzing through the stages.
The scene became so quiet that one could hear a pin drop. As if this were a driver's license test, everyone had their faces tensed up as they stared intently at the screen. Whether they could survive this selection or not depended largely on this batch of competitors.
If others failed to pass many stages, then their chances were greater.
"F*ck! That person clears stages so quickly."
Someone could not help but exclaim when the audience saw Wang Er passing ten stages in a row in less than a minute.
Like the Gemini twins, Zhao Li and the others watched with terrified expressions.
The same was true for Su Bai, who was surprised by Wang Er's speed. At this rate, he must have caught the opponents' shortcomings or he could not possibly pass each stage so quickly.
"Wang Er's harvest in the wilderness mustn't be small with the way he's completing each stage at such a terrifying speed," he said in a low voice. Accumulating knowledge was actually impossible during a battle, but by gaining insight through constant battle, speed could be improved tremendously.
He must have caught even the smallest mistake of the opponent for him to overwhelm the other.
It could be seen through this that Wang Er's fights in the wilderness could not be few.
"He passed twenty stages and only skipped three," stated Chen Rouxue.
Time flew quickly, and Wang Er's speed at clearing the stages left the others in his dust. In the blink of an eye, he had surpassed the first girl who passed fifty stages.
Furthermore, his speed showed no signs of slowing down, and in seven minutes, he had passed sixty stages and only failed fifteen.
He continuously jumped out of the number of stages he failed. In the end, he passed sixty-eight stages, setting the record for first place.
He walked out of the simulator expressionlessly and returned to his seat, completely ignoring other people's stares.
At almost the same time, Wang Tao also came out after passing sixty-five stages. He was smiling widely, and his steps even seemed a little arrogant.
However, when he looked at the big screen and saw that a boy called Wang Er had defeated his record, he was stunned. He was not first?
Who is this Wang Er?
Why is he so powerful?
Following everyone's gazes, he found the boy in question occupying a seat with an expressionless face while he played with his mobile phone. Was this Wang Er not from Carp Town's team? He was this strong?
Wang Tao glanced at the couple before finally returning to his seat with a blank face.
The other players also came out soon. The Gemini twin sisters broke the previous records. The elder sister Li Hai scored fifty-eight, while the younger sister scored sixty. The highest of the other players in that group was only fifty-two.
"Next, Su Bai, Qian Shan, Wan Shui…"
"Oh, it's your turn so soon. I'll cheer for you." Chen Rouxue encouraged her boyfriend, since she was not in this batch.
"Don't worry."
Su Bai nodded, summoned his silver contract book, and opened it. The pages of the emerald book turned, and both pets fell to the ground.
"Two pets…"
Everyone was shocked when they saw him release two pets and stared at him curiously. The two pets did not look simple on the outside, so who on Earth was this boy?
Upon someone's introduction, they learned that Su Bai was one of the two who had performed a one-on-five match in a field. They looked again at his two pets and immediately felt immense pressure.
The water-fire duo, Qian Shan and Wan Shui, also turned their heads over in shock. They remembered that Su Bai only had a single mid-level servant pet when they last met.
Now, he had a warlord and a high-level servant. Meanwhile, their pets had only become mid-level warlords and evolved once, so the youth's speed was truly terrifying to them.
"So what if he has two pets? Strength is never related to numbers." Wan Shui jot down his name and brought his Lava Salamander into the first pet combat simulator.
Qian Shan followed suit. Both of them glared unhappily at Su Bai and Chen Rouxue.
The couple had relied on dirty tricks to snatch away the championship, which was supposed to be theirs. Because of the pair, they lost the Cannes Trainee Pet Tamer Survival Challenge and became a joke. The malice and enmity between them was too deep to forget.
After writing his name, Su Bai walked into another pet combat simulator. The hatch closed automatically behind him, and blue lasers scanned him from above.
Su Bai felt like he had been brought to a new place. When he carefully surveyed his surroundings, he saw that he was standing in a forest, and in front of him was a low-level warlord Brambles Thorn.
Following his arrival, the monster activated its Thorns Domain and enclosed them in it.
"Howl! ( ̄へ ̄)"
The cub howled in disdain. How dared this guy unleash Thorns Domain in front of me? He's simply performing a slight skill before an expert!
The earth shook violently, and thick vines rose from the ground. The cub's thirty-meter-radius Thorns Domain instantly suppressed the opponent's.
Without the need for Su Bai's command, Purple Jade directly unleashed its attacks. The huge vine interfered with the movement of the Brambles Thorn, and it was directly hit with the cub's energy bullets.
The Little Tyrant did not even need to make a move as the cub defeated its opponent easily.
The scene changed again, and Su Bai appeared on some vast grassland. This time, standing in front of him was a wood-attribute Green Fox Demon, of which the green light flashed and moved quickly toward them.
With a bang, three blighted fireballs hit it. Red fireworks of more than ten meters exploded, killing the Green Fox Demon instantly.
Few of these low-level warlord monsters could hinder Su Bai. Even without his command, his two pets could defeat them easily.
In the blink of an eye, he had reached the thirteenth stage. The terrain turned into a desert, and their opponent this time was a Sandstone monster which was as huge as a giant.
"Be careful of the Sandstone monster under your feet. Unleash your domain and battle him."
Su Bai reminded his pets. Since the beginning, there had been other trap-type monsters in the venue, but it was fine as long as they did not touch these monsters.
The attributes of monsters on the Road to Champions were uncertain and varied widely, but the stages did not increase. Although the opponents were all lower-level warlords, they were still getting more and more terrifying.
This Sandstone monster had the Disperse characteristic and had terrifying strength. It was really difficult to deal with, but fortunately, the cub's characteristics restrained it well.
Bang bang…
With a roar, the Sandstone monster beat its chest with its huge fists, sending countless yellow sand tornadoes toward the two pets.
At the same time, Purple Jade unleashed its Thorns Domain. Although the vines were torn apart by the yellow sand tornadoes, the cub still seized the opportunity to initiate its Wood Spirit Replacement. It instantly teleported to the Sandstorm monster and unleashed a dark green light in its mouth before firing a series of energy bullets at its chest. With a thunderous force and a crisp sound, earth-colored light burst as soil-attribute spirit crystal shattered.
No matter how powerful the Sandstone monster was, it could be killed in seconds after knowing where its crystal nucleus was. Su Bai had long known where it was.
...
In the hall, the group of people watched with a heavy atmosphere. It had only been two minutes, yet Su Bai, Qian Shan, and Wan Shui had already passed more than thirty stages. The other players had also passed more than a dozen stages.
The most terrifying thing was that Su Bai passed thirty consecutive stages without skipping a single one.
This speed was truly terrifying, and he even sped up more without signs of slowing down.
"OMG…"
The people in the hall could not help but take a deep breath out of shock. Su Bai had passed sixty stages just like that.
Although the water-fire duo also passed nearly sixty stages, they did not appear as powerful when compared to him.
"He's so strong! Sister, why do you think he's so strong?" Li Xing could not help but exclaim. No wonder the boy did not even spare them a glance when they went over to provoke the couple, for they were not on the same level as the pair at all.
"I don't know. Maybe we didn't work hard enough." Li Hai shook her head. She clearly remembered that the purple-eyed pet she had met last time was only a mid-level servant. If it had been cultivated to this stage over the past two months, perhaps he had trained it day and night.
For a while, the two sisters were speechless. They were not afraid of others' talent but were terrified of those who had talent and also worked hard.
The same was true for Wang Er and Wang Tao. Although they did not have any deep hatred for Su Bai, they were still quite unhappy with his performance as the two considered him their rival.
However, the guy would be even stronger every time they met him. This kind of horror was really too despairing for them. They obviously did not fancy him but could not get rid of him. Who could bear this feeling?
Although the other people did not know Su Bai, they were still shocked by his speed.
They finally sighed in relief when his speed finally slowed down. Otherwise, they would really have despaired.
The three selection officers sitting in front were expressionless, as if they were used to it.
Ten minutes soon passed, and everyone else started coming out one after another, leaving only Su Bai in the simulator.
What horrified people was that Su Bai had passed eighty rounds without skipping a single one. Even reaching the eightieth stage already made their hands and feet turn cold.
"He's definitely in the first place now; no one can surpass him." Wang Er gently shook his head, predicting that Su Bai would pass the ninetieth stage.
At about the fifteen-minute mark, Qian Shan came out first after passing a total of seventy-eight stages. Shortly afterward, Wan Shui also came out after passing seventy-nine stages.
This was far beyond the previous records. When they looked at the audience sitting in the hall, instead of the shocked expressions they expected, the audience seemed numb.
The two turned around and saw that Su Bai had passed eighty-five stages without skipping a single one.
"How could it be…"
The two of them could not comprehend this. Having passed more than seventy-five stages, they encountered pets with rare attributes like wind, thunder, light, darkness, sound, spirit, et cetera. Although the stages' opponents were all mid-level warlords, many had already evolved twice and were pretty powerful.
Su Bai could even pass this kind of stage and defeat such pets?
Even if he had two pets, he should not be this strong, should he?
Unfortunately for them, Su Bai continuously passed stages after stages and broke through the ninetieth.
With a sudden beep, he was killed in the ninety-first stage and failed one round.
Everyone was finally able to sigh in relief. It would be too terrifying if he had another winning streak.
In the virtual world, Su Bai reappeared under the sky. Opposite him was a huge Azure Dragon. As soon as he appeared, the dragon's breath surrounded him, and before he had time to react, he appeared again in the sky.
"What the…" he exclaimed. Was it even possible to pass? Could that complete Azure Dragon really be considered a low-level warlord?
It was obviously an emperor pet, whose spiritual power had forcibly been compressed to the warlord level!
"F*ck!"
He did not even have the time to complain, for in front of him floated a huge fire-breathing dragon. It looked expressionlessly at him and opened its mouth to breathe fire.
"Howl!"
"Roar!"
His two pets were attacked at the same time and were decimated by the dragon's flames.
With another blur in front of him, he suddenly appeared in a large desert. Before he had time to say anything, a Golden Sand Dragon emerged from the ground and swallowed them.
He wanted to curse and sulk. He had had no chance to attack ever since the ninetieth stage and had almost become a meal for the opponent as soon as he landed.
The Oriental Dragon, the Western Dragon, and dragons of different attributes took turns to ravage him, leaving Su Bai with no room for resistance.
"Huh, it's finally not a huge dragon—f*ck! Is it a warlord Kraken?!"
He originally felt delighted, but this relief was short-lived when he saw the Blue Sea Kraken which was bigger than an aircraft carrier and like a blue whale. Its big blue eyes were comparable to a car as it blinked at him.
"Can this even be defeated?" he complained, feeling frustrated. However, before he could scold further, the Kraken opened its mouth and swallowed all of them.
"What the… f*ckkk!"
The dragons disappeared, only to reveal more terrifying monsters.
With a ding, the pet combat simulator's door opened. He walked out sulking and turned to Li Kang. "What the hell was with the ninetieth stage and up? First, the full-body dragons, then a legendary hundred-kilometer-long kraken and Flesh Devourer. Is that even possible to pass?"
Li Kang replied expressionlessly, "If it's a warlord monster, then yes."
Su Bai tilted his neck and licked his lips speechlessly. He finally returned to his seat with an expression that said, 'Okay, you win.'
He wanted to see which big bosses could pass the Road of Champions' ninetieth to one hundredth stages.
As for other people's various expressions of shock, curiosity and inconceivability, he ignored them all. This feeling of being educated was really uncomfortable.
Fine, you cowhide. A dragon pet, right?
I'll also obtain a dragon pet two days later. If you can't beat them, join them.