The Highest Bounty

Chapter 34: Terrifying Response Capabilities

Gu Ding’s hair stood on end as he waited patiently for his opponent to launch his attack.

The opponent this time was indeed a tricky guy. The surface area of the ring was only about four to five hundred square meters without a single object around him for him to take cover under. Now, the other party was able to disappear without a trace; there were no warning signs, and he left zero clues behind.

If he had gotten help from Neptune, he would have easily been able to trace his opponent’s whereabouts. However, he believed the battles in this ring were his own, and it would be unfair if he had assistance from others.

Standing in the ring at this ring, he had no idea where his opponent was, so the only thing he could do was wait. When the opponent eventually attacked, then he would be ready to counter.

However, professional assassins were well known for keeping their composure. They could hide for countless hours while waiting for their opponent to drop their guard. Even so, this time, the assassin did not have the luxury of waiting around whilst in this ring.

If there was a delay before the first, the system would determine it a tie. InvisibleGentleness was well aware of this rule—If you did not initiate an attack yourself, the other party would be unable to fight back. If this situation lasts for more than half an hour, the system would consider it a draw.

He waited patiently for about ten minutes, but never found an opening to strike. Even though the young man before his eyes appeared thin and weak, he was a hard nut built like a pillbox. He knew that if he rushed into action, he would be met with the opponent’s crazy counterattack. However, he also knew that the other party was as steady as the great and lofty mountains, and would not reveal a single flaw even if he waited another twenty minutes. Therefore, with no other choice, he finally took a shot!

The cold, swift dagger cut through the air and pierced Gu Ding’s throat in an instant. Yet, the fast-killing blow abruptly stopped in place.

He looked as Gu Ding used a single hand to grasp the blade of the dagger. Although the tip of the knife had penetrated Gu Ding’s throat, it had gone less than half a centimeters in before being blocked by Gu Ding’s palm. Gu Ding’s palm appeared to be damaged, but he paid zero attention to it.

“You lost!” Gu Ding grinned, as his other cocked-and-ready fist punched straight into his opponent’s waist.

InvisibleGentleness’s body was broken into pieces the next moment before being reformed once he was outside the ring.

Quite a number of onlookers in the circle were unable to make out what had happened in the lightning attack earlier. As such, the scene had to be slowed down for them to clearly see what had transpired.

“What terrifying reflexes!” Many martial artists could not help but sigh. An overwhelming majority of them believed that if they were placed under such circumstances, their throats would have undoubtedly been impaled by the dagger, and they would have been killed instantly.

“The strength of his fist is frightening!” Some of the martial artists lamented. Gu Ding’s single strike earlier had dug a hole in his opponent’s body. Even though it was unlikely that it would achieve the same result in the real world, no normal person would be able to withstand its power.

“For a novice, his reflexes are quite good.” In a monitoring room, the short-haired woman nodded in satisfaction.

“Miss, should we continue arranging opponents for him?” The big tall man in the black suit that was standing beside her asked.

“No. I have a rough understanding of his Arts now. His Gene Level is not that high, and his current performance is more or less at its limit. There’s no need to investigate further,” the short-haired woman said as she shook her head. Then, she turned around and walked out the door. “Let him compete in a normal way.”

“Alright then, Miss. Do you want us to record his next few battles?”

“Just record the scenes that are worth watching, there’s no need for the fillers.” The short-haired woman stopped in her tracks and nodded.

Without the meddling of the people behind-the-scenes, the challenges that Gu Ding received at his new rank of around 5000 finally normalized. His new opponents’ rankings were all lower than his own.

There were two ranking rules in the Arena. One of them was Points Ranking, and the other was Substitution Ranking.

Under normal circumstances, ordinary people would follow the path of Points Ranking, as the system would not randomly assign those that had significant differences in points to compete with one another.

Substitution Rankings were for those who actively challenged high ranked players. Once they had won, they would obtain the opponent’s rank, and the defeated opponent’s ranking would correspondingly drop by one place. However, almost every time, a high ranked player would find a suitable opponent in advance before entering the ring. After this, they would leave immediately after they were done with the battle to disallow the opportunity to challenge them.

As for Gu Ding’s previous battles, it was stated that the system was random. In reality, they had all been manipulated by someone backstage, and he had deliberately been assigned high ranking players. This situation was unheard of, but it also improved Gu Ding’s ranking to around 5000.

Since Gu Ding had been standing on the ring, ready to accept new challenges, he had also allowed other low-ranking players the opportunity to challenge him. When they noticed that Gu Ding’s points were not very high, many players who had not seen Gu Ding in battle earlier assumed that he was a pushover. They assumed he was probably only able to rank highly due to good fortune, which motivated them to press the challenge button.

In less than two minutes, Gu Ding received more than thirty challenges, and they were increasing by the second.

“Is the system faulty?” Gu Ding frowned.

“Your ranking is too high, and your points are low. Therefore, many of them are assuming that you climbed up because you’re lucky, and they want to take the chance to crush you. Moreover, the option you selected was to accept all challenges openly. It’s only natural for many to try their luck in defeating you so that they can take your rank.” Neptune’s brief explanation enlightened Gu Ding about what was going on. “This situation is a good opportunity to accumulate points. Once the challenge is issued, it’s irrevocable unless the challenged party refuses to accept it. This means that even if you later show a terrifying amount of strength, those who had already challenged you can’t undo the challenge. In this case, they will only be able to submit themselves to their fate and give the points away.”

As they were talking, the number of challenges skyrocketed to more than fifty. It made Gu Ding grin. “Not bad.”

“Let me help you screen your next opponent. The highest-ranked one that is currently challenging you ranked at around 6100. I feel like these people are not challenging enough for you,” Neptune said, feeling somewhat bored.

“Then, he’ll be next. It’s not good to challenge too many people, as it eats into my cultivation time.” Having said that, Gu Ding was glad that people were taking the initiative to send him points, since, after all, one point was equivalent to one hundred Star Credits. If one were to win sixty battles in a row, they would be able to accumulate 1830 points, which would result in a bountiful amount of wealth. However, if he continued to spend time with these people, the progression of his Ultimate Arts would be limited. Only when facing a genuinely strong opponent could he quickly improve himself in battle.

“You’re planning to use this guy to establish yourself, right?” Neptune correctly guessed Gu Ding’s intentions.

“If I don’t do this, later on, there will be an endless stream of challengers,” Gu Ding smirked. “Let’s do it!”

A moment later, a fat man appeared in the ring. He did not look very old, perhaps in his early twenties, and was not tall at all. He laughed soon after laying his eyes on Gu Ding. “It’s just a kid.”

Gu Ding felt somewhat helpless after receiving this sort of response from the other party. Even if he grew taller, and his body became a little stronger due to cultivating Ultimate Arts, he would still be on the thinner side amongst his peers.

“Lil kiddo, it seems that you’re all out of luck. I’ll try and go easy on you,” The fatty said as he dashed toward Gu Ding. He was using a blitzkrieg strategy.

Gu Ding stood there with a bitter smile. As the other person gradually approached him, he reloaded his Steel Fist with the fifth tier’s first stance. Then, he struck his opponent’s fat belly with all his might…