binnovel Chapter 247 Rematch
Chapter 247 Rematch
At 8:10 AM on October 17th, the venue was already packed with spectators. After Chen Guoqiang and other key leaders arrived at the podium, Zhao Wannian spoke into the microphone: "I hereby announce the start of the 24-to-16 competition of the Three Major Battle Zones Exchange Competition." The venue immediately erupted in enthusiastic applause and cheers.
The host then took the microphone and stood in the middle of the stadium, saying, "The semi-finals will be a single round-robin tournament. Each group will play three rounds, and each player will face two other opponents from their group. Two groups will play the same round simultaneously each time. The matches for groups A, B, C, and D will be held in the morning, and the matches for groups F, E, G, and H will be held in the afternoon. After the top 16 are determined, it will be a single-elimination tournament, with the first-place team from group A playing against the second-place team from group B, and the second-place team from group A playing against the first-place team from group B, and so on."
The host first explained the rules of the semi-finals, then said, "Now, please welcome the two contestants from the first round of Group A: Yun Lan, Deputy Commander of the Eastern Theater Command's Dawn Army, and Ding Hai, Commander of the 42nd Army of the Northern Theater Command. Both of them advanced with perfect records in the group stage, and their total time was very low." Then, amidst applause from the audience, the two walked from their respective rest areas to the combat area on the east side of the stadium.
The host continued, "The matches being held simultaneously are the first round of Group B, featuring Shangguan Jingyun, the highest-ranking leader of Black Gold City in the Central Theater Command, and Zhou Jian from Qianyun Base in the Eastern Theater Command. Deputy Commander Shangguan Jingyun won all three of her group matches in the preliminary rounds, and her time was also very short. Lieutenant Colonel Zhou Jian's group stage record is two wins and one loss, demonstrating considerable strength." As he spoke, the two of them slowly walked onto the battle area on the west side of the stadium.
The host walked to the sidelines with a microphone: "Next, we would like to invite the two referees for the two matches, Gao Xingxing, a level 7 ability user from the Central Theater Command, and Yang Yang, a level 7 ability user from the Northern Theater Command." The two referees walked to their respective combat zones, and with a whistle, the matches officially began.
Shangguan Jingyun went all out from the start, mainly wanting to observe the battle between Yunlan and Ding Hai closely, so she aimed to defeat her opponents as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, Zhou Jian, an 8th-level ability user, had received instructions from Sun Tianlong to only put up a show; his opponent was too strong, and he shouldn't get injured in the fight, as it could affect potential operations in the Eastern Theater Command later. Sure enough, Zhou Jian only resisted for a little over a minute before announcing his withdrawal from the match.
Shangguan Jingyun shook hands with Zhou Jian, chatted briefly, and then quickly returned to her resting place to watch Yunlan and Ding Hai's battle. Ding Hai was an ability user with fire, wind, and strength-based powers, which, if calculated by potential, would be A-level. Furthermore, he was already one level higher than Yunlan, so his combat experience was likely greater, and his fighting techniques were extremely diverse. Yesterday, his day off, Li Chenglong had sparred with Yunlan for two hours each in the morning and afternoon, familiarizing her with Ding Hai's fighting style.
The two did not engage in a fierce battle at first, but instead tested each other with their supernatural abilities. At Li Chenglong's suggestion, Chen Guoqiang had more than a dozen supernatural beings disperse around the arena, releasing their supernatural abilities to form a barrier to protect the surrounding spectators and those on the podium.
"Dragon and Phoenix Heaven-Shaking Fist!" Yun Lan made the first move. Golden dragons and fire phoenixes flew out from her fists, swirling together to form a ring of energy waves that rushed towards Ding Hai. Ding Hai dodged at lightning speed, but the dragon and phoenix energies of the Dragon and Phoenix Heaven-Shaking Fist suddenly separated at the moment they were about to miss, both attacking Ding Hai who had dodged to the side.
Ding Hai was also shocked by Yun Lan's move, and immediately used his own move: "Raging Wind and Blazing Flames!" A fire dragon spewed out from his left palm, and a gust of wind was released from his right palm. The two energies mixed together, and the wind fueled the fire. The huge flames blocked the incoming Dragon and Phoenix Heavenly Shock Fist.
However, taking advantage of this moment, Yun Lan rushed behind Ding Hai and suddenly threw a punch. Ding Hai rolled forward to dodge, and then the two began a fierce close-quarters battle. Both of them activated their supernatural abilities in the fight. The onlookers saw that Yun Lan's body was radiating fiery red energy with wisps of golden light in the middle. On the other hand, fiery red and cyan energy alternated from Ding Hai's body.
Even Yang Yang, a level 7 ability user from the Northern Theater Command and the referee for this battle, was starting to regret his decision. He had to stand very close to the two fighters, but the energy they were releasing was incredibly strong, forcing him to use all his abilities to withstand the shockwaves. Even Zhao Wannian told General Chen Guoqiang, "We still need to find some level 8 ability users to be the referees, otherwise the referees will be exhausted before the contestants even get a chance to fight back."
After a fierce five-minute close-quarters battle, the two fighters retreated to opposite sides of the competition area to catch their breath. Referee Yang Yang was drenched in sweat, panting heavily, and looking somewhat exhausted. However, Shangguan Jingyun emerged from the rest area and replaced the referee who was no longer able to officiate. Yang Yang, feeling relieved, rushed off the field.
Yunlan placed her right hand over her right eye, spreading her ring and middle fingers to reveal only her eye. As time passed, her right eye turned blood red, with three black rings in the center. Ding Hai didn't know what Yunlan was going to do, but judging from her aura, this move was definitely not simple.
Yunlan shouted, "Flame of Exorcism!" Instantly, a jet-black fire phoenix flew out from her right eye, heading straight for Ding Hai. Ding Hai was shocked and retreated twice, unleashing his full power: "Gale Tornado!" Two powerful tornadoes shot from his palms, rushing towards the fire phoenix. However, the fire phoenix was not stopped in its advance even when hit by the tornadoes; instead, it soared into the sky, transforming into several streaks of black fire rain that fell to the ground.
The reinforced concrete floor was immediately ignited by black flames, which gradually burned out small pits, and the fire showed no signs of extinguishing, continuing to burn downwards. Only when large holes were burned through the steel plates embedded within did the black flames slowly die down.
"Whoosh!" Ding Hai and everyone present were shocked by Yun Lan's move. Shangguan Jingyun was a little scared. Fortunately, she felt that the black flames were very strong and activated her water-based ability to cover herself. Otherwise, if the flames had touched her, although she would not have been burned to death, she would definitely have been injured.
"Wow, that's amazing! I've never seen Yun Lan use this move before," Wang Shuang exclaimed in amazement. The other special forces members nodded in agreement. Li Chenglong smiled and said, "Yun Lan only used this move once, a long, long time ago. It's normal that you haven't seen it. Although this move is very powerful, it requires gathering strength and consumes a lot of spiritual energy, so she hasn't used it much."
Ding Hai was somewhat frightened when he saw that the black flames had burned through the reinforced concrete a meter deep. Yun Lan clearly had no intention of hurting anyone. She flew the black fire phoenix into the air before turning it into fire rain that fell to the ground, which reduced the damage considerably. Otherwise, he would have been hit directly and would definitely have been injured.
While Ding Hai was still in shock, Yun Lan rushed over again. Ding Hai quickly met her, and the two began another fierce and exciting battle. Shangguan Jingyun checked the time and found that 15 minutes had passed. She immediately blew her whistle to announce the end of the match.
Each match in the semi-finals lasted 15 minutes. If no winner was determined after 15 minutes, a vote would be held by all the high-ranking officials on the podium to decide the winner. Those on the podium included leaders from the three major war zones, as well as members of the Provisional General Affairs Council and the Provisional Military Commission of China, ensuring a fair vote as much as possible. After a round of voting, the two players were tied at 15 to 15, and the host announced that the match was a draw, with both players receiving two points.
Yun Lan and Ding Hai exchanged military salutes and then walked away. She seemed quite relaxed, quickly returning to the rest area in Dawn City. Ignoring the other people around, she laughed and threw herself into Li Chenglong's arms. Li Chenglong took out a washed Flame Fruit and handed it to Yun Lan: "You've worked hard. Eat a Flame Fruit to recover." The other special forces members and contestants also congratulated Yun Lan.
Han Xiaoling is in Group C and will be performing in the first round. However, because Yun Lan's black flames severely damaged the arena, the host had to announce a short break so that the earth and metal elemental ability users could quickly repair the arena. Han Xiaoling's group has one level 9 and one level 8. Li Chenglong estimates that fighting the level 9 will not be easy, but fighting the level 8 will be a breeze.
Twenty minutes later, the host walked to the repaired competition venue and announced, "Alright, the first round matches for Groups C and D will now begin. Groups A and B, please prepare for the second round." Li Xue and Yang Liu's matches were both in the afternoon, so they were quite relaxed and cheered for Han Xiaoling. The other special forces members also offered their encouragement. Feng Tian, sitting to Chen Guoqiang's right rear, gave a brief introduction to the Dawn City contestants.
Han Xiaoling walked to the designated competition area. Her first opponent today was a level 9 dual-elemental ability user of both strength and earth elements from the same group, whose abilities were the same as Zheng Aiguo from the Dawn Army. However, even with the same abilities, there are still some differences in how they manifest in each person, which is the difference between individuals.
Li Chenglong also compared his and Zheng Aiguo's attributes and skills, and found that although both were level 9, Zheng Aiguo had one more skill than this level 9 dual-elemental ability user, and his attributes were also slightly higher. Li Chenglong had actually discovered these individual differences back at the First People's Hospital of Jinghai City. After further research, they concluded that this phenomenon was due to the individual differences among ordinary people before becoming ability users.
云岚坐到李成龙旁边，关闭了火凤之眼，对他说：“这个人属性倒是还可以，四项属性：体质360、力量381、敏捷310、精神310。晓玲作为B级8级追风豹觉醒者，现在是体质330、力量320、敏捷347、精神350。你感觉晓玲能不能赢。”
Li Chenglong said, "This dual-system is equivalent to B-level potential. The potential of the two people is basically the same. However, Xiaoling is an Awakened, so her attributes will be higher than those of other ability users of the same level. Even when facing a level 9 ability user, her attributes are not much lower. I personally feel that this battle will be quite tough for Xiaoling, but she should be able to win."
Yang Liu led 10 special forces members to cheer on Han Xiaoling, who was also a special forces member. General Chen Guoqiang tilted his head and said to Feng Tian to his right rear, "This child is very good. I remember Li Chenglong saying the day before yesterday that she is only 14 years old this year." Feng Tian briefly explained Han Xiaoling's background and continued, "This child is one of the hardest-working children in the Dawn Army. At such a young age, she has already become an 8th-level Awakened. Some time ago, she easily killed an 8th-level zombie, which greatly boosted morale."
Chen Guoqiang nodded in satisfaction: "Good, God helps those who help themselves. It's only natural that such a hardworking child has achieved this."
Han Xiaoling walked up to her opponent, You Hao, and the huge difference in their physiques drew gasps from many viewers. Some said, "Little sister, don't fight anymore, don't get hurt." However, others thought there was no need to worry: "I watched her fight well in the group stage. She won all three matches easily. Although her opponent does look tall and strong, it doesn't necessarily mean he will lose."
You Hao walked to the front of the stage and said to Han Xiaoling, "Little sister, I've seen all your battles. Those people are no match for you. I've been at level 9 for a while now. It's not too late for you to admit defeat." Han Xiaoling said seriously, "Who wins and who loses is still uncertain. Uncle, you should take it seriously. It would be embarrassing if you lost."
You Hao nodded, assuming a fighting stance. Han Xiaoling, equally fearless, immediately unleashed her full spiritual energy. You Hao, sensing the energy emanating from Han Xiaoling, was also taken aback. With a whistle from an 8th-level ability user referee, the two began a fierce battle.
Ye Kai analyzed from the rest area: "Han Xiaoling is a wind-type awakener, so I reckon she will engage in long-range combat. However, You Hao is a dual-type ability user of earth and strength, and his defense is also very strong. I just don't know if Han Xiaoling's long-range attacks can break through his defense."
As Ye Kai had initially predicted, Han Xiaoling used numerous long-range attack skills, but they were all blocked by You Hao's earth-based abilities. Furthermore, he activated a skill common to all strength-based ability users: gigantification. He transformed into a giant over three meters tall, yet moved with surprising agility. While unleashing her skills, Han Xiaoling distanced herself from the oncoming You Hao, pondering how to defeat her opponent.