Awaiting Battle

Sakkar Main City, Central Building, challenger isolation room.

Hot water sprayed from the showerhead in the washroom. Kyle lay wearily and weakly in the bathtub with his eyes closed, bathing his bare, leanly muscular body. The smell of blood and gunpowder gradually faded beneath the constant rinsing.

His heart pounded fiercely, and the wounds on his body began naturally healing under the stimulation, restoring themselves completely. Not a trace of scar remained on his bronzed skin.

Kyle opened his eyes and tried lightly clenching his fist. The strength he had lost quietly returned once more.

"That was close." Kyle sighed. He had nearly been driven into a desperate situation where he would have had to fight to the death.

This couldn’t go on. His Gene Disease was worsening. As long as the problem remained unresolved, he could never truly rest easy.

The most helpless thing was not encountering an enemy he could not defeat, but being able to defeat them while his own body developed a serious internal problem.

Crack, crack…

Accompanied by the sound of some metal device being crushed, a small Mechanical Life entered the bathroom. It held a clean towel and bath towel in both hands while chewing on a surveillance-camera-like mechanical device, with several wires still dangling from its mouth.

Kyle rose, dried himself off, wrapped a bath towel around his lower body, and left the bathroom.

Vis hopped along behind him, swallowed the metal wires, and reported, "All the surveillance probes in the open and hidden corners of this isolation room have been removed."

"Good work. How did the investigation I asked you to conduct go?" Kyle asked as he sat on the sofa in the living area.

"Following the intelligent equipment here, I only infiltrated one percent of the building’s intelligent system. However, I did discover another isolation room, five floors away from this one. Its security measures are more than three times stricter than those here," Vis said slowly.

Kyle stroked his smooth chin and pondered. "You can’t fully infiltrate this building’s intelligent system?"

"My understanding of this planet’s system data is limited to the database in the fighter’s onboard computer system. In addition, this building’s intelligent control system is extremely advanced. If I force my way in, there is a ninety-nine percent chance I’ll be detected, then tracked and located," Vis said, spreading its hands in a human-like gesture.

"There’s no need to infiltrate the entire building’s system. Just get into the other isolation room. I want to know exactly what kind of creature is staying inside," Kyle said gravely.

If his guess was correct, the other isolation room housed the champion creature that had dominated the Sakkar Duel Arena for the past half year.

The timing matched when Anli and her brother had found the broken axe around half a year ago. Could that champion creature be connected to the damaged divine artifact of the Asgardian?

Kyle had a genuine, inexplicable feeling. Perhaps the champion creature possessed an appropriate Ability Card that could help him solve the trouble of his Gene Disease in one stroke and allow his current physique to evolve through a breakthrough!

That was also the main reason he was still taking risks and choosing to remain here!

If he only sought temporary safety, then once his stamina and injuries had recovered, Kyle could forcibly break out of the Central Building’s isolation room, find the fighter spacecraft, and fly into the giant wormhole in the sky to leave this planet.

"I’ll do my best." Vis nodded, then suddenly seemed to sense something. It swiftly leaped onto Kyle’s shoulder and shrank against the side of his neck, transforming into a neural paralysis device.

Its movements were smooth and effortless, taking less than half a second. The moment it completed the transformation, the isolation room’s intelligent door slowly opened.

"I’m here to deliver lunch." A young girl dressed in a servant’s uniform carefully entered the isolation room with a tray of food in her hands. She kept her head lowered, not daring to look at Kyle on the sofa.

"Put it on the table." Kyle stared directly at the servant girl. She suddenly seemed somewhat familiar, though he did not know where that sense of familiarity came from.

The table was less than three meters from Kyle. The servant girl hesitated slightly before quickly stepping closer with the tray.

The girl had jet-black hair, fair, crystalline skin, and delicate features. Her appearance was extremely close to that of a human, except for her slightly pointed ears. Even beneath the servant dress, her graceful figure could not be concealed.

When she came within three meters and Kyle saw the cards appearing on her body, his face immediately showed realization.

"I’m leaving, then." Seemingly sensing Kyle’s gaze, the servant girl hurriedly set down the tray and prepared to leave at a quick pace.

"Wait." Kyle stopped her, patted the spot beside him on the sofa, and smiled faintly. "Won’t you come sit for a while? We’ve known each other for quite some time."

"Who knows you? I don’t remember that."

Night Ji made as if to leave, but Kyle added casually, "I even helped you escape the city guards’ pursuit. You forgot that quickly? I wonder what the Grandmaster would do if he learned that one of his servants was a criminal."

Night Ji froze stiffly. She turned to inspect Kyle, who wore only a bath towel, and her expression changed slightly. "It was you—the guy in the black leopard Combat Suit?"

"Why can’t it be me?" Kyle shrugged. The girl before him was clearly one of the criminals who possessed the unawakened Dark Elf Gene.

"You’re a ruthless one. I heard you broke into the Underground Prison and killed three creatures who had advanced to the semifinals in succession. That news is temporarily sealed and only circulating internally. If it got out, the entire planet would probably be shaken." Night Ji clicked her tongue in amazement. Once she knew Kyle was the person who had escaped the guards’ pursuit with her, she completely dropped her earlier timid act.

"That was just an accident." Kyle narrowed his eyes, still deeply troubled by Venom’s betrayal, as though a thorn had been embedded in his flesh, leaving an irreparable mark.

"Do you know your situation is terrible right now? In two days, you alone will directly challenge the Champion Devil King who is Defending the Arena," Night Ji reminded him kindly.

"I know." Kyle nodded calmly.

Night Ji said solemnly, "Even if you can defeat a monster like the Two-Headed Monster, you’re still no match for the Devil King. Over the past half year, the Devil King has utterly crushed every challenger! It basically kills them with a single effortless strike and has never shown its true strength!"

Kyle looked at Night Ji and pondered. "If you want to help me, then gather some intelligence for me."

"Why should I help you? What do I get out of it?" Night Ji asked. Her heart was far darker than her harmless appearance suggested.

"If you don’t help me, I’ll tell the Grandmaster that you’re a criminal."

Kyle held Night Ji’s weakness in his hand. With a single sentence, he struck directly at her vulnerable spot.

"You!" Night Ji stamped her foot and asked irritably, "What intelligence do you want?"

"About that guard captain. I want his detailed information," Kyle said coldly.

Even if it came down to leaving this planet, he would first clean house!

Still two updates today. League matches are just too good.