144: Chapter 144 The Might of Thor! The Focus of Attention! The Whiteboard Appears!

Lin Qi looked at the bolded red message on his communicator screen, his eyes showing not a hint of emotion.

Lv.40 Nightmare-level Dungeon.

Federal Military record.

In the eyes of others, these terms were monumental achievements enough to make one breathless.

But to this Martial Saint who had once torn gods and demons apart with his bare hands, it was nothing more than child's play.

He even felt a slight urge to laugh.

"Brother Qi, what should we do? This Li Pojun is too fierce! The internet is completely one-sided now; everyone's saying he's the real Prodigy and you aren't even fit to carry his shoes!"

Zhang Wei's anxious voice came through the communicator, carrying a hint of a sob.

Lin Qi brought the communicator to his lips, his tone lazy as if he had just woken up.

"Fatty."

"Huh? Brother Qi, I'm here!"

"Have the odds at the betting pool changed again?"

Zhang Wei paused for a moment before subconsciously replying, "They changed! Your odds are now as high as one to thirty! No one thinks you can win! They're all waiting to see you make a fool of yourself tomorrow!"

"One to thirty?"

Lin Qi's eyes lit up like someone seeing gold in the dead of night.

"Good, very good."

"Bet all of our money on me winning."

"Don't leave a single cent."

With that, he hung up the communication.

Leaving Zhang Wei completely petrified on the other end of the line.

...

The next day.

The Federal Prodigy Tournament, Eastern Theater Command registration point.

Tianhai City Central Plaza.

The place was already packed with a sea of people, making it impassable.

Countless media cameras and microphones occupied every vantage point, their flashes like a never-ending sea of stars.

Spectators from all over surrounded the plaza in layers, their clamor reaching the heavens.

In the center of the plaza stood a massive hundred-meter-tall holographic screen.

The screen was scrolling in real-time with the data of the geniuses who had come to register.

"Look! It's the 'Sword Scion' from Skywind City! My god, his attack power has broken thirty thousand!"

"Hiss! An S-rank talent, [Son of the Wind], truly lives up to its reputation!"

A burst of exclamations erupted from the crowd.

Immediately following that, the data on the screen refreshed again.

"A reserve team member from the Magic City War Academy! An A-rank talent, [Berserk Bloodline]! His strength attribute actually reached thirty-five thousand!"

"Another monster!"

Cheers rose and fell, each louder than the last.

In this era where data was king, every string of magnificent numbers could ignite everyone's passion.

Just then.

A low engine roar approached from the distance.

The crowd seemed to be parted by an invisible hand, automatically clearing a path.

An all-black, extravagantly styled elongated hover limo slowly stopped at the edge of the plaza.

The car door opened.

A group of young people wearing uniform combat suits filed out.

On each of their chests was embroidered a golden lightning spear piercing the heavens.

That was the school crest of Kyoto University!

Leading them was a silver-haired youth.

He was tall and handsome, but his brow carried an air of arrogance that looked down upon the world.

Just by standing there, the surrounding air seemed to become restless, with faint arcs of electricity jumping about.

"It's 'Thor'! It's Li Pojun!"

"He's here! The man who broke the military record!"

"What a terrifying aura! I feel like it's hard to breathe!"

The atmosphere at the scene was pushed to its climax the moment Li Pojun appeared.

Every lens and every gaze was focused on him.

Li Pojun acted as if he hadn't heard the surrounding noise; he took long strides directly toward the sophisticated Attribute Tester in the center of the plaza.

He didn't even do any warm-up exercises.

He simply threw out a right hook casually.

There was no earth-shaking momentum.

The moment his fist hit the tester, it didn't even make much of a sound.

But!

Hum—!

In an instant, the tester's screen changed from green to a piercing blood-red!

The numerical values on the screen began to skyrocket at a terrifying speed that made one's scalp tingle!

Ten thousand!

Thirty thousand!

Forty thousand!

Finally, the numbers froze at a horrific level that sent the entire venue into a dead silence.

[51,024]!

Fifty-one thousand and twenty-four!

This was no longer within the realm of an ordinary student!

This level of power was comparable to those battle-hardened Third-Turn professionals!

After a brief silence, a boiling fervor like a volcanic eruption broke out!

"Fifty thousand! It exceeded fifty thousand! My god!"

"Is this the strength of 'Thor'? He didn't even use his full power!"

"Champion! This year's champion is definitely his! There's no suspense!"

The media went crazy, the sound of shutters snapping into a single noise, forever freezing Li Pojun's arrogant expression.

Li Pojun slowly withdrew his fist, not even glancing at the numbers on the screen, as if it were just an insignificant joke.

He turned around to face the countless lenses, his lips curling into a contemptuous arc.

"Where is that so-called double champion of the Five-Academy League?"

"What, is he too scared to show up?"

His voice wasn't loud, yet it spread clearly across the entire plaza through the amplification equipment.

The mockery in his words was completely undisguised.

Just then.

The originally crowded mass of people became restless again, slowly parting to both sides.

A path appeared at the end of the crowd.

A youth wearing ordinary sportswear, with his hands in his pockets, walked in at a leisurely, unhurried pace.

Behind him followed a panting fatty.

On the fatty's shoulder was a heavy sword wrapped in tattered cloth, so large it looked somewhat comical.

It was precisely Lin Qi and Zhang Wei.

Lin Qi's appearance caused the fanatical atmosphere on the scene to instantly drop to freezing point.

Everyone's gaze shifted from 'Thor' Li Pojun to this seemingly ordinary youth.

Whispers rose like a tide.

"He's Lin Qi? That guy who cheated?"

"He doesn't look like anything special. A Blank Slate with all attributes at 5, how could he possibly beat an S-rank Genius?"

"Shh! Keep it down, we're here today to watch him make a fool of himself!"

Countless cameras, like sharks smelling blood, snapped toward Lin Qi in unison.

They were waiting to capture every moment of this 'fraud's' ruin.

Beside the tester, a middle-aged man in a committee uniform made a 'please' gesture toward Lin Qi with an undisguised sneer on his face.

That look was like he was watching a death row prisoner about to be publicly executed.

Lin Qi ignored all the gazes and discussions around him.

He walked step by step to the center of the plaza and finally stopped in front of Li Pojun.

The two locked eyes.

One had an aura as domineering as thunder, with sparks flying.

The other had an aura as restrained as an abyss, like a well with no ripples.

An invisible smell of gunpowder clashed fiercely in the air.

"You're that Lin Qi who relied on potions to get to the top?"

Li Pojun looked down at Lin Qi, his voice full of disdain and scrutiny.

Lin Qi picked at his ear as if the sound had made him uncomfortable.

He lazily lifted his eyelids.

"With a voice that loud, are you part loudspeaker?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire venue went into an uproar.

No one expected that in the face of the rising 'Thor', this Blank Slate youth would not only show no fear but would open with a mockery!

Li Pojun's face instantly darkened.

Lin Qi, however, stopped looking at him.

Under the watchful eyes of the multitude, he gently placed his hand on the most sophisticated Attribute Tester in the entire Federation.