89: 8th refund

Gu Han's fingers tapped on the handheld console screen so fast they became a blur.

"Damn, how many years have these guys been single!" A large red cross popped up in the center of the screen, indicating the attempt to challenge the arena had failed.

Seventy-three people fighting for a single challenger spot; the organizers are truly sick.

Unable to secure a spot, Gu Han simply switched to the live stream to observe the battle status of the first arena master, [Hell Messenger].

The first four matches were extremely brutal. [Hell Messenger]'s Lizardman followers were indeed difficult to deal with, and they came with four-sided shields that caused counter-shock stuns when broken.

Several waves of challengers rushed up, only to be disgusted by this counter-shock mechanism, their forces ground down until they were depleted.

But by the fifth match, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse. [Hell Messenger]'s forces could no longer hold out, and the challenger was a strong opponent who quickly ended his winning streak.

Then, the live stream screen distorted instantly.

A massive oppressive force descended from the sky, and [Hell Messenger]'s vast Divine Kingdom, filled with volcanoes, began to collapse inward at the edges.

The ground was ripped away, and boiling lava surged up into mid-air.

Tens of thousands of ordinary Lizardman had nowhere to run, their bodies exploding into a sky full of blood mist under the terrifying compression. Flesh, rubble, and lava were forcibly kneaded together by that power.

In less than a few minutes, the entire Divine Kingdom was drained of all its essence, turning into a dark red compressed ball of 500,000 square meters.

Gu Han stared at the screen, his scalp tingling. Is this what it means to have one's Divine Kingdom essence absorbed?

Back then, his father had his Divine Kingdom essence absorbed, eventually being compressed back into a 300,000-square-meter wasteland; he must have gone through this kind of horrific torture as well.

The commentator Joker's voice echoed in the live stream room, filled with a hint of madness: "The core of [Hell Messenger] has completely shattered! Let us congratulate the birth of the new arena master!"

Gu Han rubbed his face, wiping the cold sweat from his palms onto his pant legs. Retreating was not an option; if such a situation truly arose, even if it meant exposing his skills, he would never let his Divine Kingdom essence be absorbed by anyone.

Over the next two hours, Gu Han clicked the challenge button over a dozen more times.

Every attempt failed; he was thoroughly convinced.

As arena masters and challengers constantly swapped, the highest-ranking arena master had won seven consecutive matches, and Gu Han realized he wasn't the only one who thought of exploiting the tournament format loopholes.

Some arena masters, during the five-minute break between rounds, directly placed orders to purchase thousands of adult beast-type followers to fill gaps in their combat strength, or borrowed followers from friends.

Others had covered the ground of their Divine Kingdom with trap buildings; the most outrageous one even obtained smoke bombs, making the Divine Kingdom pitch black so their followers could hide in the dark and shoot cold arrows.

Gu Han thought that his Cyst Demon Flower could also be considered a trap, but smoke bombs were truly useful. However, those required prior reporting, and Gu Han certainly couldn't buy them now.

But at least his mindset had opened up. He immediately borrowed over 20,000 credits from Gu Xin and quickly searched through the plant category on the trading platform.

A few minutes later, he locked onto a target.

[Mist Flower]: An ordinary plant with an extremely short growth cycle; once mature, it can emit a thick fog that obscures vision.

Gu Han did not hesitate, spending all his credits in one go to buy Mist Flowers and planting them in his Divine Kingdom.

Thin white mist began to spread along the ground, quickly covering a quarter of the battlefield Gu Han had planned, reducing visibility to less than 100 meters.

After a while, the white mist should become thick fog. With the thick fog as cover, the Hidden-Armor Ant-Man would not be exposed too early, and it could also block some live stream footage, allowing him to ambush his opponents.

The tournament was halfway through.

Having gone through seventeen arena masters, all of them had crashed halfway through; not a single person had managed to achieve a ten-match winning streak.

Until the eighteenth arena master took the stage — [Come Be My Son].

This guy was a pay-to-win player with both strength and wealth. After taking the arena master position with brute force, he relied on a large number of Divine Kingdom defensive buildings in the first four matches, grinding the challengers until they were furious and desperate.

By the fifth match, he used his "money power" directly: "Brother on the other side, I'll give you 40 million credits, click concede."

The live stream room exploded instantly.

The screen was so crowded with bullet comments that the video could barely be seen.

"Refund, f***ing refund!"

"Rigged! This is blatant rigging!"

"What's the point of betting, refund!"

The commentator Joker wiped sweat from his forehead on stage and explained dryly: "Everyone, please calm down. The tournament rules do not explicitly prohibit financial exchanges between both parties, and wealth itself is a manifestation of one's foundation..."

Once it happened the first time, it couldn't be stopped.

Sixth match, 50 million.

Seventh match, gifted a large flat in the city center.

Eighth match, directly threw in an A-rank Divine structure.

By the ninth match, the challenger didn't even deploy their followers upon entering, directly asking for a price: "Boss, name your price."

[Come Be My Son]: Click concede and acknowledge me as your dad, and I'll give you 100 million.

And thus, a nine-match winning streak was born in such an absurd manner.

The entire live stream was filled with cursing, and even Joker shut his mouth, not daring to speak.

As long as he won one more match legitimately, this guy would take home the championship of the black market tournament.

The unlucky Gu Han was so angry his eyes turned red.

This championship was the core of his entire plan; if it were snatched by this upstart, he would be so angry he'd cough up blood.

"Tenth match, challenge for the arena! Ten-second countdown!" Joker shouted at the top of his lungs.

For the first time since he was born, Gu Han lost his composure. He stood up, rolled up his sleeves, and let out a roar: "Oh ah↑ ah♦ ah♦ f***!"

The moment the button lit up red, Gu Han's fingers vibrated frantically at a terrifying frequency.

The screen froze completely.

A spinning loading icon hovered in the center.

Gu Han felt his heart was about to jump out of his throat.

The page refreshed, and a line of huge red text popped out.

Challenge successful!

Challenger: [Riding Grandma Across the Road] Arena Master: [Come Be My Son.]

Gu Han let out a long breath that had been pent up in his chest, then collapsed into his chair, feeling as if all his strength had been drained, sliding down to the floor in exhaustion.

That was close!

But immediately after, he sat up as if jolted from the throes of death. He interlaced his fingers and cracked his knuckles, then submerged his consciousness into his Divine Kingdom. A crack appeared within the Divine Kingdom—it was the entrance to the opponent's Divine Kingdom.

Gu Han arrived with his army of Ant-men, swarming like a dark cloud. The opponent was clearly stunned.

[Come Be My Son] spread his hands: "I just happen to need one last proper fight. How come your followers aren't even Transcendent? Whatever, it'll save some money. This tournament is truly boring."

Gu Han felt the veins on his forehead throbbing. This person clearly thought he wasn't even qualified to name a price, and this scumbag's nine-match winning streak had really scared him half to death.

A nameless fire burned fiercely in his chest.

Meanwhile, the live stream bullet comments were filled with sighs.

"What's up with this Old Granny? These followers aren't even Transcendent."

"It's over; tonight's champion is born."

"Excellent matchmaking system. If there's no rigging, I'll eat it."

"The Zerg race is all about swarms; he must have advanced by relying on numbers."

"Just a random guy."

"Go, Daddy! We are the champions!"