174: Chapter 174 The Dealer's Threat! The Final Ultimatum! The Achilles' Heel of the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion!

"Perfect, I'll test my strength to see if it's hard enough."

His expression was relaxed and casual, as if the thing he was about to face wasn't some mechanical monster, but just a slightly sturdier sandbag.

Yet, this composure and confidence did not affect the other person in the room.

"Brother Qi! This is no joke!" Zhang Wei watched Lin Qi's indifferent attitude, almost crying from anxiety, his chubby face scrunched up.

He rushed over, picked up the documents from the floor, and almost poked them into Lin Qi's face:

"Eighty percent physical impact immunity! Do you understand what that means, Brother Qi? You throw a hundred punches, and they only lose twenty points of health! This is simply impossible to fight; it's a pure iron turtle, specifically designed to counter you!"

Lin Qi watched him jumping around without speaking, merely patting his shoulder to calm him down.

But Zhang Wei could not calm down at all.

The anxiety on his face was replaced by deeper fear and unease within seconds; his complexion paled visibly, his lips trembling as if he wanted to say something but dared not.

Lin Qi noticed the change in his expression.

Although this fatty was timid, he had an almost blind worship for him. Even if the opponent was an iron turtle, he would at most be anxious, never showing an expression like the sky was falling.

"What's wrong?" Lin Qi asked. "Is there something else?"

Zhang Wei's body shuddered. He glanced at the door, lowered his voice, and said with a tremor: "Brother Qi... something happened..."

"Just now, after your match ended, I... I received a communication."

"It... it was from Tianji Pavilion."

Tianji Pavilion!

Upon hearing these three words, Lin Qi's eyes changed, and the playful smile slowly faded.

Zhang Wei swallowed hard and said in a voice so low it was almost inaudible: "They... they still refuse to pay. That gambling money worth hundreds of billions—they claimed the System ruled it invalid, and they just won't pay."

Lin Qi was not surprised by this. A group of bookmakers who could even rig the match brackets—it was impossible to get them to cough up that money in the first place.

"And then?" Lin Qi's tone was very calm.

"And then..." Zhang Wei's teeth began to chatter, sweat beading on his forehead. He used all his strength to finish the rest of his words.

"They... they threatened me..."

"The other party said they know I am your logistics manager and know about our Huichun Hall... They warned... if, if you dare to win the semi-finals, or even enter the finals... they... they can't touch you, but they have plenty of ways to make... to make my Family fall into ruin!"

Ruin!

These four words pierced Zhang Wei's heart fiercely.

After saying this, his entire body was drained of strength, trembling uncontrollably. Although he had extreme admiration for Lin Qi, he was ultimately just a businessman, an ordinary person living under the rules.

A behemoth like Tianji Pavilion could make his Family business vanish overnight with just a flick of their fingers.

This kind of low-handed threat from outside the arena, targeting reality, completely shattered his psychological defenses.

"Brother Qi..." Zhang Wei said with a crying tone, his voice filled with despair, "How about... how about we just forget it?"

"It's just money, right? We don't want it! Money can be earned again if it's gone, but... but my parents and the others..."

He dared not continue, fearing he would completely collapse. He didn't want to be a weakness that dragged Lin Qi down, but the moment he thought of his Family's safety, he couldn't remain calm.

The atmosphere in the room, following Zhang Wei's tearful plea, was suppressed to the extreme.

After listening to his words, Lin Qi's expression remained unchanged. He was not angry, nor did he roar; he just listened quietly.

But his eyes were growing colder bit by bit.

That gaze was deathly cold, devoid of any emotion.

He remained silent, silent for a very, very long time—so long that Zhang Wei found it hard to believe, thinking he was truly considering forfeiting the match.

Time ticked away second by second. The room was terrifyingly quiet, with only Zhang Wei's heavy breathing. Every second felt incredibly long to him.

His heart was filled with torment; he both hoped Lin Qi would give up for his sake and hated himself for becoming that useless burden.

Just as Zhang Wei was about to be crushed by this heavy atmosphere, Lin Qi finally spoke.

He did not answer Zhang Wei's question, nor did he comment on Tianji Pavilion's threat. He merely turned his head, looked at Zhang Wei, and asked another question.

The voice was very light, yet carried a power that instantly pierced through all of Zhang Wei's unease.

"Fatty, do you trust me?"

Zhang Wei was stunned.

He looked into Lin Qi's eyes.

What kind of eyes were those? Calm, profound.

All fear and panic, the moment they made contact with those eyes, inexplicably calmed down.

As long as this person was here, the sky would never fall.

Zhang Wei's brain didn't even have time to think; his body made an instinctive reaction. He stopped crying, stopped trembling, and used all his strength to nod heavily.

Without the slightest hesitation.

His forceful movement was incredibly solemn.

Lin Qi smiled.

He stood up, walked to the lounge window, hands in his trouser pockets, looking at the stadium in the distance where the semi-finals were about to be held.

The moment he turned around, his entire Aura changed completely.

The previous Lin Qi had a restrained sharpness, carrying the youthful vigor; the current him exuded the Aura of a fierce god who had walked out of an era of blood and fire, looking down upon the life and death of gods and demons.

That anger belonging to a Martial Saint was completely ignited at this moment.

Bookmakers? Threats? Weakness?

These dirty tactics touched the bottom line in his heart that absolutely could not be touched.

He originally only wanted to quietly strengthen his Physical Body in this digitized world, regain his Peak power, and earn some small money on the side. But now, someone didn't want him to have peace, someone insisted on provoking him, and someone wanted to use the people around him to force him to kneel.

Very well.

Lin Qi hooked the corner of his mouth, chilling to the bone.

He would win.

Not only would he win, but he would also use the most brutal, most unreasonable method to tear that so-called Titan, that so-called recoil alloy, into a pile of scrap metal in front of the billions of viewers across the entire Federation!

He would let everyone see the consequences of angering him!

He would make that Tianji Pavilion hiding behind the scenes feel what true despair was!

Lin Qi turned around slowly, looking back at the stunned Zhang Wei.

His voice was calm, yet carried a terrifying power.

"Tell the people at Tianji Pavilion to wash their necks clean and wait; their doomsday has arrived."