Battle Frenzy

Ma Dong smiled, before replying with a gangster-like shrug. “Zhao Zimo, all that you’ve said are just guesses, and analysis with malicious intent. I don’t know if what I’ve bought was something that Alpha City had lost. However, I have a very easy way to deal with this. I have a proper and official procedure for doing matters. Therefore, I would just like to ask a single question. Do you think that one should ask where the stuff one buys came from before buying?”

Zhao Zimo replied with a laugh. “That has to depend on where it comes from.”

“From a small action in Dimora market.” said Ma Dong.

“Haha, how is that an official market…”

“Zhao Zimo, it’s best to use your brains when you speak and reply. At this very moment, any of you can go take a look at Dimora market. There are close to ten thousand people that frequent it every single day. What I’m telling you is official statistics. I’m just a Tianjing student, and am still very young. Naturally, with the strength of the Zhao Family, I would be able to change the entire scenario.”

“Who knows if you have made some collaboration beforehand. Furthermore, Assassin might be the ones that have incited it. The market transaction might just very be an interlude!” Marino added in haste.

With a helpless shrug, Ma Dong replied, “Everyone, as you can see, what they’re trying to find any dirt and treat it as a crime of association. Everything that you’ve just said is all assumptions. There’s not a single proper piece of evidence present.”

“However, the item is still in your hands. Furthermore, do you really believe that one could purchase such a mighty divine weapon just like how you claim you did? Do you think that anyone would believe you?” said Zhao Zimo. If this was any other thing, people might feel the rationality behind Ma Dong’s counter-argument. However, these were the Laforgue Infinite Cross Wheels they were talking about! There would really be no one that would believe that Ma Dong could just casually purchase them like that.

The two sides opposed each other with equal measure, with none of them yielding to the other due to inconclusive evidence. However, Zhao Zimo showed not the slightest bit of fluster. On the contrary, there was nothing that was able to give Ma Dong the guts to insult the Zhao and Gui Families, as the slander along would enough to warrant his life. There was basically no need for any evidence to be shown for his head to roll.

“There’s still an even greater point to take not, which is that there are were quite a few squadrons that were had suffered serious injuries by that divine weapon. I’m not discrediting Wang Zhong’s strength, but I doubt that he can match up to the honour he had gained now. I feel that we need to show the citizens of the Federation your true faces!” every single one of Zhao Zimo’s words was venomous. This was the trump card the latter possessed.

As this back and forth argument continued, a frown appeared on Long Mei’er face. At this moment, the aristocratic families were acting rampantly without any restraint. Without any concrete evidence, she did not want to get involved with this matter. If this matter was stirred up, the entire CHF might be turned into chaos as a result. The Gui and Zhao Families were playing their own game, with no one else being able to participate, while the other aristocratic families stood aloft, appearing to not give a damn about this matter. In the end, in the long run, everyone was doing so in lieu of personal benefit.

“I understand the jist of the situation. In the history of the CHF, there were disputes of such sort that had risen, where both sides don’t have concrete evidence to support their claims. Therefore, we had used the CHF’s way to settle them in the form of a trial of combat. Regardless of the outcome, everyone has to obey to the final judgement of the CHF organizing committee. Furthermore, no private arrangements can be made in lieu of this.” said Long Mei’er to Zhao Zimo.

With a faint smile, Zhao Zimo nodded his head in courtesy before replying. “The Zhao and Gui Families are willing to accept the judgment of the organizing committee. Justice and equality are the basis of our Federation’s honour and glory.”

Truthfully speaking, everyone present in this hall was speechless by Zhao Zimo, as he was actually to speak those words with such smoothness. The ire everyone had towards him didn’t span just for 1 or 2 days. Nevertheless, everyone did not put any heart towards this. Naturally, Zhao Zimo too appeared smug about this, as he had already achieved his goal. From the very beginning, he wasn’t truly planning on using this slander to destroy Tianjing, as he had indeed lacked any evidence to substantiate his claim. Furthermore, he truly knew the timeline of the whole matter, which was that Ma Dong had really bought it just like that, showing how much luck he must have possessed to do so.

Wang Zhong and Ma Dong had no choice but to nod their heads, as they didn’t have many points that they could refute, especially with Long Mei’er giving them an opportunity out from this.

“The trial by combat for this CHF is the bloodthirsty cage fight.” said Long Mei’er in an indifferent voice. “Wang Zhong, you can choose to take up this challenge. Regardless of your success or failure, this matter will end here. You can also choose to not take up this challenge. However, you will have to hand over your cross wheels, while Tianjing would immediately be disqualified from this CHF, with the Gui Family entering the semifinals as a substitute.”

Once Tianjing was disqualified, the underlying reason would definitely be revealed to the public. When that happens, they would not be able to wipe the stains from their bodies.

“What are the opponents for the cage combat.” asked Ma Dong suddenly.

“5 Bloodthirsty Iron Ape Kings.” replied Long Mei’er, causing everyone’s face to change. Those were life forms with the strength levels positioned at the peak of the Casted Soul Stage! Not only did they possess extremely frightening physical abilities, they also possessed extremely strong combat instincts. Early into the dark era, a few cruel aristocratic families loved to used these Bloodthirsty Iron Ape Kings as a way of tempering for their own family members by locking them together in the same cages, which would often result in either death or serious injuries.

Furthermore, with ape-like beasts always living together as a troop, these 5 4th rank Bloodthirsty Iron Ape Kings would collaborate and attack together as a unit. That’s basically a force that no Casted Soul Stage can defend against! They loved clunks of flesh out from their prey, and with their thick and tough skin, they possessed extremely strong resistance against special abilities! This made them the king of physics!

Most importantly, the cage would prevent many combat techniques from having sufficient space for their execution.

Once Wang Zhong makes his decision, there was no turning back. Long Mei’er brought everyone to the cage. There were many available spaces within the Stuart’s Dimensional Arena stadium, with the organizing committee already made preparations beforehand in lieu of the possible outcomes for this matter. However, they had originally planned for it to be used in disputes between families, not on Wang Zhong.

In a 15 metre cage, one could make out 5 pairs of eyes glowing with a red light. The 5 Bloodthirsty Iron Ape Kings wit saliva dripping from their mouths caused the cage to appear exceedingly small. Could even assassins be able to move about freely in such a small space?

“You cannot use the cross wheels, but you can choose to use other weapons.” Long Mei’er continued to maintain her emotionless demeanour, yet felt some pity and regret in her heart. In reality, this trial by combat was used to scar families into stopping their disputes. However, Zhao Zimo clearly knew about it, and thus had purposefully allowed this option to go through to Wang Zhong. Nevertheless, Long Mei’er could not let Tianjing to get disqualified like that. “You can admit defeat after staying in the cage for 10 minutes.”

There was not one bit of relaxed expression present on the faces of the onlookers. Without talking for about 10 minutes, it was extremely hard to even survive for 1 minute. Furthermore, even if one was able to endure, one would get serious injuries by the time one was able to surrender. This was the result Zhao Zimo and Gui Hao wanted. A mere semifinalist? That’s not something rare at all! Even if they managed to replace Tianjing, the public opinion on them would be extremely bad. The only thing Gui Hao wanted was for Wang Zhong to die, while Zhao Zimo only wanted to benefits for helping the former accomplish his goal.

As Wang Zhong nodded his head and was just about to open his mouth, Zhao Zimo suddenly added in, “Mdm Long Mei’er, both Wang Zhong and Ma Dong should do this trial together, as this matter involves the both of them!”

Instantly, everyone’s face changed. Zhao Zimo’s crossing it! A chilling glow flashed across Wang Zhong’s eyes. All the while, he did not speak a single word, as he had indeed did not know the origins of his cross wheel. However, Ma Dong obstructed him the moment he was about to open his mouth, before grinning at Zhao Zimo and Marino while saying “Everyone had heard it, right, that all parties involved should share the responsibility.”

Zhao Zimo smiled in response and replied, “Of course.”

“That’s too great! Take a look at you! With your brains, you actually managed to forget about an important detail! I’ve recorded down the entire process of my purchase of the Laforgue Infinite Cross Wheels. You guys have questioned the fishiness of this matter. During that time, I’ve only felt that they were extremely cheap, and so I bought them purely as a souvenir for Wang Zhong. However, I’ve never expected for Wang Zhong to be able to unleash the might of those cross wheels. This made me do an investigation to my seller just in case for defence against shameless people. However, I’ve actually discovered an extremely interesting thing within the video.” as he said those words, Ma Dong brought out the video on his Skylink.

2 videos immediately appeared. The first video showed Ma Dong returning to the market to buy the video footage of his purchase. The marketplace authorities basically didn’t restrict him, with the auction house basically said that purchased the cross wheels for a high price while doing a complete analysis of them. Nevertheless, there was basically nobody that showed interest in it. Not everything sold in the black market hails from unknown origins, as marketplaces were also known to collect a few strange and odd items. Due to there being too many replicas out there, coupled with no interest shown towards them, no one truly knew which Laforgue Infinite Cross Wheels were real or fake. Due Ma Dong was willing to bargain for them, the auction house boss was completely sold them at a loss, and was even afraid of the former asking for a refund. After all, he was young master Dong from the Assassin Family, a person whom he could not provoke in his line of business.

The 2nd video was the lynchpin. This was taken out by the auction house boss. It was because the seller was precisely the museum director Marino, who had stolen the cross wheels out to sell them…

Those black market bosses were all shrewd people, therefore they would make sure to take note of such evidence in order to protect their behinds.

The entire atmosphere grew silent as Marino’s face turn deathly pale. As sweat seeped out from his entire body, he stuttered, “That’s not me, that’s not me…”

Ma Dong did not even shoot a look at Marino after showing the videos. There was no use in caring about a little bandit like the latter. In reality, when Wang Zhong had started to show the might of his cross wheels, Ma Dong had already started to keep an eye out for Marino. Initially, he did not think too much about it, with the only goal he had in mind was to understand the origins of this formidable weapon, to see whether it was the genuine goods or not. However, who would have thought that it would become his life saver! Naturally, he would need to show awe and create loads of commotion when he reveals this, as he needed them to extricate himself from the jaws of death!

Be kind to one’s enemies while being cruel to oneself.

“Madam Long Mei’er, according to the Federation’s laws, if such slander is convicted, do you think that the 2 before us should have some happy times in the cage?” asked Ma Dong with a smile.

In an instant, no one present within here dared to continue underestimating Tianjing. Indeed, it was only average to be able to fight. One would only be considered to be competent if one is able to use one’s brains. From the very beginning, Wang Zhong’s calmness and Ma Dong’s plans allowed them to keep their cool. Zhao Zimo’s face turned ashen, as never in his wildest dreams did he expect for the matter to turn out like that. He had only did customary read through, and never bothered to do go a step further and do a detailed check. Furthermore, he also did not have the time to react before Ma Dong sprang his plan and lured him right into his trap.

“Marino, you bastard! You’ve actually slandered the honourable soldiers of our Federation! This you my negilience! I apologize for my mistake!” Zhao Zimo immediately swtiched sides and shifted to blame to Marino.

“Master Zhao, master Zhao! You cannot do this! You’re the one who had found me and asked me to slander them…” Marino instantly wetted his pants upon hearing the sounds of the Iron Ape Kings grinding their teeth.

“Zhao Zimo, it’s fortunate there there’s a bunch of witnesses here. Furthermore, I’ve recorded everything that have just happened down. Tsk tsk, I feel that the entire Federation should be allowed to enjoy such a spectacular drama. There’s nothing to be ashamed of being weak, as hard work is enough to show proof of one’s determination. I really don’t know whether such sinisters schemes are the product of your own behaviour, or the Zhao Family, or the incitation of the Gui Family. However, I feel that Gui Hao isn’t a person like that.”

Ma Dong continued to beat down on Zhao Zimo, forcing him into a dead end. In an instant, the entire situation had flipped. Just a moment ago, it was Zhao Zimo who wanted to force Ma Dong into the cage. Now, it was Zhao Zimo’s turn to endure it.

Looking at Zhao Zimo and Marino, Long Mei’er spoke out, “You 2 can choose to go in, or choose to compensate. However, the price of compensation will be decided by Tianjing.”

Marino was instantly frightened to the point of unconsciousness by this change, while a foul smell started to waft from his entire body. Compared to him, Zhao Zimo was still forcing himself to stay calm as he replied, “You have no power to make such a decision! I want to appeal to the Federation’s Justice Court! What’s more, I was the one that was hoodwinked…”

This was instantly greeted by Long Mei’er sneer, “Even your Zhao Family’s leader would not dare to say such words to me!”

Immediately, soldiers rushed forwards and grasped hold of Zhao Zimo and Marino. Putting up a struggle, Zhao Zimo yelled out, “I choose compensation!”

Wise men will know when the odds are stacked against them. No one dared to open their mouths against a lion. As the soldiers placed Zhao Zimo down, he looked towards Ma Dong and said, “Say, what you want. However, you have to remember that what you get might not be yours, as one’s life is fleeting.”

Truthfully speaking, Ma Dong knew that this was the most he could do, as after all, that was the Zhao Family. As for compensation, it was just like Zhao Zimo had said. There was no other way. This was the current way the Federation was run. Although everyone weren’t happy towards the unbridledly arrogant gaze coming from Zhao Zimo, he did not care about how Long Mei’er and the other looked at him. This was the strength of the Zhao Family.

All of a sudden, Wang Zhong held ma Dong back before saying, “General Long Mei’er, being the sided that was slandered agaisnt, I choose the 3rd option, equal trial. Both me and Ma Dong will participate in the cage fight, and so do they!”

Everyone was immediately stunned by his words. Even Long Mei’er did not expect for Wang Zhong to be that vicious. “Are you certain?”

With a faint smile, Wang Zhong replied with a faint smile, “Only blood can prove everything. To me, it doesn’t matter if I have the cross wheels or not.”

Those words sounded rather domineering. Even in the face of 3 great families, Wang Zhong was still oozing with dominance. Keeping a low profile didn’t mean that he was good to provoke. On the contrary, Wang Zhong wanted his enemies to pay the price!

“No, I want to compensate!”a shiver shook through Zhao Zimo’s body as he thought, that guy’s basically a madman! He did not want to die! How can he be on equal grounds as those wretched commoners!

Long Mei’er shot a look back at the 4 head judges, who all nodded their heads in reply. Indeed, the slandered side had the choice to make such a decision. This was a choice for mutually assured destruction, and was made to prevent the aristocratic families to become overly rampant.

Although there were some within the 4 head judges that had quite a good relationship with the Zhao Family, they did not open their mouths. Indeed, Zhao Zimo possessed the status. However, he had valued himself too greatly. There were a dozen of main branch members present in the Zhao Family, with him merely being one of them. Furthermore, he had to bear the responsiblity of his actions, and not the family bearing them for him. It had always been members bearing the responsibility for the family, not the other way wrong.

Being the slanderers, Zhao Zimo and Marino were tossed into the cage. All the way, Zhao Zimo struggled with all his might, yelling out various kinds of threats as he was dragged along…nevertheless, no one present made a move or felt pity for him. Even Carolyn and the others were stunned by Wang Zhong’s actions. They appeared to have underestimated him too much, with them always viewing him with the superiority complex hailing from them coming from aristocratic families. However, just a moment ago, Wang Zhong had told every single one of them a statement. I won’t convict anyone if no one convicts me. However, if people convicts me, I will definitely convict that person!

Miserable shrieks rang out, before turning silent just a moment later…nevertheless, there was no feelings of misery or pity, with the duo from Tianjing not caring any heed of this. Those 2 didn’t have a miserable death, as Tianjing would be carrying a bad reputation that was unerasable if they were to succeed.

As for Zhao Zimo, never in his wildest dreams did he expect for his grand plans for dominace to be wasted like that. At this moment, a head was being kicked around like a soccer ball, with the 5 bloodthirsty freaks utterly unsatisfied by their prey. How could they feel any sense of happiness from such weaklings!

“Its your turn now.” said Long Mei’er to Wang Zhong and Ma Dong.