153: Chapter 153 Next! Did it hurt?

The brains of the one hundred thousand people in the audience collectively crashed.

Just a moment ago, Lin Fan was "critically injured," slumped miserably in a wheelchair with a blood bag hanging from him.

Now, he was standing arrogantly in the center of the ring, shirtless.

His exceptionally toned muscles gleamed with a metallic luster under the sun.

The tattered bandages wrapped around his body fluttered elegantly in the breeze.

It looked like an utterly absurd performance art exhibition.

The referee's hand holding the microphone shook violently three times.

He had been a martial arts referee for twenty years and had never seen anyone enter the ring to fight in a wheelchair with a bag of watermelon juice hanging from a stand.

Much less had he seen someone use an S-Rank Talent Level 5 Martial King as gym equipment for five minutes.

"Modu Martial Arts University... Lin Fan... wins."

The referee squeezed these words out from his throat with great difficulty, his voice trembling.

The entire arena erupted into a chaotic commotion.

Some people were swearing, some were dumbfounded, and others were frantically scrolling through their phones to find that "authoritative expert's" post, then raging in the comment section.

"Expert, screw your mother!"

"He was hanging a bag of watermelon juice and still beat a Martial King until he vomited blood!"

"You call this a broken artifact? You call this 'completely crippled'?"

"I suggest the expert goes to a hospital and gets his brain checked!"

The internet had completely exploded.

The servers of all major martial arts forums were in crisis.

The term "Wheelchair God of War" shot straight to the top of the trending list.

The associated topic garnered over a billion views within thirty minutes.

Lin Fan was completely oblivious to all this.

He was currently squatting at the edge of the ring, very seriously picking up the flattened IV tube from the ground.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk."

"A two-hundred-yuan wheelchair."

"A fifty-yuan IV stand."

"Three yuan for the watermelon juice."

"Total investment: two hundred and fifty-three yuan."

"In exchange for the full-power combat experience of a Level 5 Martial King."

"This return on investment is simply incredible."

Lin Fan nodded with extreme satisfaction, then walked naturally toward the edge of the ring.

Xia Wanqiu trotted over obediently.

She was wearing an extremely form-fitting white short-sleeved team uniform today.

However, because it was a fluorescent green "Seek Death" collaboration model specifically customized by Lin Fan, the white fabric was printed with eye-catching, large fluorescent green characters: "Hit me, you idiot."

The words were printed right across the fullest part of her chest.

As Xia Wanqiu ran over, those characters were stretched into an exaggerated, distorted shape.

The character "Hit" was pulled flat, and the character "Me" became almost illegible.

Lin Fan stared at the two distorted characters with intense focus, studying them for three seconds.

"Wanqiu."

"Is this outfit a size too small for you?"

"The words are all distorted."

Xia Wanqiu looked down and instantly understood what Lin Fan was looking at.

She slapped Lin Fan's arm in a fit of annoyance.

"Be serious!"

"We're in the middle of a competition!"

Lin Fan spread his hands with an innocent expression.

"I am being serious."

"I'm studying the physics of font deformation."

"It's purely an academic discussion."

Xia Wanqiu stomped her feet in frustration, but still dutifully took out her tablet.

"Brother Fan."

"Lei Jun just transferred ten million as a sparring fee."

"Plus what we extorted from Jingwu earlier, we have sixty-three million in our account now."

Lin Fan patted Xia Wanqiu's head with extreme satisfaction.

"Not bad, not bad."

"Our Wanqiu is really starting to look like a Chief Financial Officer."

Xia Wanqiu's ears turned bright red from the touch, but she remained stubborn.

"Who's your Chief Financial Officer?"

"I'm your class monitor."

Murong Yan walked over from the other side.

She had been recording by the side of the ring the whole time, holding her phone for so long that her arm was sore.

However, she had recorded it very professionally, capturing all sorts of angles.

Especially the scene where Lin Fan tore off his bandages to reveal his muscles; she had thoughtfully included a ten-second slow-motion close-up.

"That slick move of yours with the watermelon juice is already trending."

Murong Yan handed him the phone with an expression of utter disdain.

"The whole internet is calling you shameless."

Lin Fan took the phone and glanced at it.

The trending list prominently displayed:

#Wheelchair God of War Lin Fan#

#Watermelon Juice Blood Bag Scam#

#Military Martial Arts University's Lei Jun Played for a Fool#

#National League's Biggest Con Artist#

Lin Fan nodded with extreme gratification.

"This level of buzz is not bad."

"But the headlines aren't sensational enough."

"They should be changed to 'Lin Fan Defeats Level 5 Martial King with a Cup of Watermelon Juice.' Now that would have some viral potential."

Murong Yan rolled her eyes, completely speechless.

Just then, the arena's broadcast system chimed.

"Quarter-final, second match."

"Southern Border Martial Arts University versus Beihai Martial Arts University."

"Will both teams please prepare to enter."

Upon hearing it wasn't his match, Lin Fan pouted in extreme disappointment.

"Tsk."

"Still have to wait."

"The efficiency here is just too low."

He walked over to the judges' table at the side of the ring with the familiarity of a regular, pulled up a chair, and sat down without a hint of politeness.

Then, he arrogantly propped his legs up on the judges' table.

The head referee next to him stared in horror at Lin Fan's two filthy, bare feet, nearly unable to stop himself from calling the police.

"Student."

"This is the judges' table."

"You can't..."

Lin Fan waved his hand dismissively.

"It's fine."

"I'm just here to watch the next opponent."

"And take a break while I'm at it."

He said he was resting, but in reality, he was intently checking his system panel.

[Host: Lin Fan]

[Defense Level: LV42 (85000 / 150000)]

[Lei Jun's extremely violent five-minute onslaught had contributed nearly 20,000 points of Defense experience.]

[He was still 65,000 points away from LV43.]

Lin Fan smacked his lips in extreme dissatisfaction.

"That's it?"

"A high-level Level 5 Martial King attacks for five minutes and only gives 20,000 experience?"

"This leveling curve is getting more and more ridiculous."

He leaned back against the chair, feeling extremely depressed.

The higher his Defense Level became, the more exorbitant the required experience points.

Ordinary Level 5 Martial Kings hitting him was like nothing more than a tickle, and the experience gained was less and less.

He needed something fiercer, more painful, and more stimulating.

Lin Fan licked his lips with intense craving.

A female referee passing by happened to see this, and terrified, she quickly took a wide detour around him.

On the ring, Southern Border Martial Arts University and Beihai Martial Arts University had already started fighting.

The captain of Southern Border Martial Arts University was an exceptionally sturdy, dark-skinned man.

Judging by his build, he weighed at least a hundred kilograms, with muscles bulging in an exaggerated fashion.

His talent was the A-Rank [Savage Titan Strength].

His fighting style was extremely simple and brutal—in a word, reckless.

The captain of Beihai Martial Arts University, on the other hand, was an exceptionally thin, fair-skinned scholar.

He held an exquisitely crafted folding fan in his hand and looked extremely frail.

However, his talent was the S-Rank [Frozen Absolute Zero], and his attacks consisted of large-scale freezing crowd control.

The two were fighting quite intensely, ice clashing against fire with loud bangs.

The audience in the stands cheered with extreme excitement.

But after watching for three minutes, Lin Fan yawned in extreme boredom.

"That's it?"

"This attack power is only at the level of a Level 3 Martial Master."

"I don't feel a thing."

Xia Wanqiu, squatting nearby, leaned close to Lin Fan's ear and whispered,

"Brother Fan."

"I just checked."

"Our next opponent is Huazhong Martial Arts University."

"Their captain is named Shen Mo."

"He has an S-Rank Talent."

"He is a Level 5 Peak Martial King."

Upon hearing this, Lin Fan sat up straight, becoming extremely energized.

"Level 5 Peak?"

"Half a minor realm higher than Lei Jun?"

"What's his talent?"

Xia Wanqiu nervously flipped through the data on her tablet.

"His S-Rank Talent is [Myriad Phenomena Returns to One]."

"He can copy and fuse his opponents' abilities to launch attacks."

"It's said that he has copied over a hundred different abilities."

"He's known as the 'God of War of a Hundred Transformations'."

"His combat ability is terrifying."

"He was the champion of the last National League."

After listening, Lin Fan slapped his thigh in extreme excitement.

"Copying abilities?"

"Over a hundred types?"

"Doesn't that mean he has a hundred different types of damage at his disposal?"

Xia Wanqiu nodded, looking extremely confused.

"Yeah."

"That's why he's so hard to deal with."

"Because you can never guess what he's going to use next."

Lin Fan's eyes were shining brightly.

However, the point of his excitement was completely different from what Xia Wanqiu was worried about.

"A hundred different types of damage!"

"That means I can grind a hundred different types of resistance experience in just one match!"

"Isn't he just a walking buffet!"

Xia Wanqiu froze for two seconds, then covered her face in extreme resignation.

She didn't know why she was still surprised by Lin Fan's reaction.

Every time she told him an opponent was strong, his reaction was always the same: "Great, someone who can finally make me feel good."

A normal person's mindset: The opponent is strong—I need to be careful.

Lin Fan's mindset: The opponent is strong—he'll definitely hit me hard—this is going to be so satisfying.

Was there a more absurd protagonist in this world?

Murong Yan leaned in from the side.

"There's one more piece of news."

"Shen Mo said something during a pre-match interview."

"He said he watched your match against Lei Jun."

"And discovered your weakness."

Lin Fan raised an eyebrow, extremely curious.

"A weakness?"

"I have a weakness?"

"What kind of weakness?"

Murong Yan read the news on her phone with extreme seriousness.

"Shen Mo's exact words: 'Lin Fan's Defense is indeed very strong, but I noticed a detail. His Defense is skewed toward physical resistance. Lei Jun's attacks were purely physical, which is why he handled them so easily. But if I use high-frequency switching attacks with hundreds of different elemental abilities, there will inevitably be a type against which his resistance is weak.'"

Lin Fan listened, then fell silent for three seconds.

Suddenly, he jumped up from his chair in extreme excitement.

"This Shen Mo!"

"He must have been sent by the heavens to help me patch up my shortcomings!"

"He's actually volunteering to help me fill in all the gaps in my resistance stats!"

"Isn't this just a custom-made, all-attribute experience pack!"

Lin Fan clasped his hands together in extreme gratitude.

"Thank you, Huazhong Martial Arts University."

"Thank you, classmate Shen Mo."

"Thank you, damn it."

Xia Wanqiu and Murong Yan rolled their eyes in unison.

Just then, the match between Southern Border Martial Arts University and Beihai Martial Arts University on the ring concluded, with Southern Border Martial Arts University emerging victorious.

Lin Fan glanced at the burly, dark-skinned captain and shook his head with extreme disdain.

"Pure strength type."

"Boring."

"Not even enough to get between my teeth."

The broadcast sounded again.

"Quarter-final, third match."

"Huazhong Martial Arts University versus Donghai Martial Arts University."

"Will both teams please prepare to enter."

Upon hearing this, Lin Fan was instantly energized.

"Huazhong Martial Arts University!"

"That's the team of Shen Mo, the buffet brother!"

"Quick, quick, quick."

"I want to see exactly how many abilities he has."

He enthusiastically scooted his chair forward and even helped himself to a cup of tea from the judges' table with the familiarity of a regular.

The head referee had completely given up on the idea of driving this jerk away.

"Do whatever you want! Just do whatever you want!"