Chapter 427: Monopolizer Badge

Chapter 427 -246: Monopolizer Badge

If the number of participants outside the immediate area dropped below ten, Zhong Yi would have to consider taking the initiative to eliminate them both.

Soon, the only people left in the area were an exhausted Qiao Shuyu and a heavily wounded Gong Lei.

Gong Lei was skilled at using Gravity in combat and also possessed the Ability to manipulate the Earth Element.

While controlling the Stone Puppets he had formed from the Earth Element, Gong Lei had nearly destroyed the area created by the Endless Wood Demon on several occasions.

Zhong Yi appeared at a distance from Qiao Shuyu and Gong Lei, carrying Lan Po in his arms with Li Yu and Hong Ji in tow. He smiled and greeted the pair.

“Did you two enjoy your fight?”

“If you haven’t had your fill, you’re welcome to go another round.”

“All the other contestants here are dead, leaving just me.”

“I don’t mind being your audience!”

Zhong Yi’s words reached Qiao Shuyu and Gong Lei’s ears with perfect clarity.

The two of them saw Zhong Yi, and behind him, Li Yu and Hong Ji.

In that instant, any thought of resisting vanished from their minds.

Both Hong Ji and Li Yu had appeared in their respective areas before.

They both knew full well what Hong Ji and Li Yu were capable of!

Gong Lei had been so formidable with his control over Gravity and Stone Puppets that Hong Ji had specifically sent a War Puppet—transformed from a Decaying Mist Owl—to curse him.

If Gong Lei hadn’t been fighting while burdened by the Decaying Mist Owl’s curse, he would never be in such a wretched state.

From a distance, he looked like a figure drenched in blood, his original features almost impossible to discern.

Seeing that neither Gong Lei nor Qiao Shuyu were speaking, Zhong Yi casually took two steps forward and said with a smile,

“If you don’t proactively decide a winner between yourselves, then I’ll have to step in.”

“If you settle this on your own, the winner will still get twenty percent of the loser’s gains.”

“But if I’m the one to act, you won’t get as many points as you would for eliminating each other.”

Hearing this, Gong Lei used a nearby tree stump to pull himself up. His voice was weak as he said,

“I never thought you’d be so kind!”

“I’d like to make a deal. You’re the undisputed number one, so I hope you can leave second place to me.”

“Whatever Divine Origin Value you miss out on as a result, I’ll make it up to you.”

Zhong Yi shook his head decisively.

“If I kill you, I’ll get all the points I’m due. There’s no need for such a hassle.”

“Unless you can offer me something that truly interests me. Only then might I consider it.”

When Qiao Shuyu heard Gong Lei’s words, she clenched her teeth.

‘Gong Lei was the one who approached me to team up against the top player.’

‘Now that he knows he’s no match for him, he’s just sold me out to scheme for second place.’

Qiao Shuyu spoke up, her voice filled with anger.

“This treacherous scumbag who sells out his own teammates has zero credibility.”

“He got his hands on a Storage Walnut Tree sapling! Based on its point value, it’s guaranteed to drop when he’s killed.”

“He was the one who approached me to team up against you, and now he’s turned around and betrayed me.”

“Instead of making a deal with someone like that, you’d be better off dealing with me.”

“I can show you every resource I’ve acquired in this Secret Realm.”

“As long as you can guarantee I finish in second place, I’ll give you all my excess resources.”

“Once we’re out of the Secret Realm, I’ll add you as a friend.”

“I won’t just give you the Divine Origin Value for those resources—I won’t even keep the twenty percent point bonus.”

“I can also give you a Tide Coral, which is unique to my home world.”

“A Tide Coral has the Ability to create tides in any body of water and to purify it.”

“A single Tide Coral can easily sell for 800 Divine Origin Value on the Virtual Source Network.”

“Ordinary Tide Corals are blue, but I can give you an Anomalous Tide Coral.”

“The ability of an Anomalous Tide Coral to purify water is even stronger, and they have never been sold publicly before.”

Qiao Shuyu’s desperate, self-sacrificing offer instantly shattered Gong Lei’s composure.

Qiao Shuyu wasn’t fighting for second place for the benefits it would bring.

She was doing it just to stop Gong Lei from getting his way!

‘That bastard. I helped him, and he still backstabbed me twice!’

After being backstabbed by Gong Lei, Qiao Shuyu had no intention of letting him be the one to kill her as well.

Hearing her offer, Zhong Yi looked at Qiao Shuyu and asked in a serious tone,

“I can’t trust him, so why should I be able to trust you?”

Qiao Shuyu replied with a grave expression.

“I am from the Merfolk Divine Hall. I can’t run from my reputation.”

“I have never broken a promise, and I would never trifle with my own reputation.”

Zhong Yi looked at Qiao Shuyu’s solemn expression, then reached out and stroked Li Yu’s fox tail.

He sent Li Yu to finish off Gong Lei, who could barely stand.

Then, he turned to Qiao Shuyu and said,

“Very well. Second place is yours.”

“Hand over all the resources you’ve collected. You’ve killed enough contestants that your kill points alone are sufficient to secure you second place.”

“As for the other contestants who want a high rank, I’ll make sure they don’t have any points left to their name.”

“You don’t have to worry about anyone stealing second place from you!”

Zhong Yi’s willingness to trust Qiao Shuyu over Gong Lei wasn’t because he believed she was any more trustworthy.

He and Qiao Shuyu had never interacted before, so he had no idea what her character was actually like.

The reason Zhong Yi agreed to a deal based on nothing but words was because Qiao Shuyu’s promises were simply too tempting.

Especially the Anomalous Tide Coral. An Aquatic Guardian Beast that could create tides and purify water had immense potential for development.

Indeed, it was just as Qiao Shuyu had said: the monk could flee, but the temple could not.

If Qiao Shuyu were to deceive him now, Zhong Yi might not have any immediate recourse.

But Zhong Yi was not one to suffer such a loss in silence.

Sooner or later, Zhong Yi would make anyone who deceived him pay the price!

With that, Zhong Yi summoned the Resurrection Celestial Lord and had it begin some preliminary healing on Qiao Shuyu.

Qiao Shuyu’s eyes sparkled as she looked at Zhong Yi, and she was just about to thank him.

‘This handsome boy is much more helpful than any of the medicinal herbs I’ve taken,’ she thought.

But before she could speak her thanks, a mass of blood vessels and white bones surged toward her.

They bound her and lifted her into mid-air, leaving only her head exposed.

It looked just like an uncivilized barbarian carrying its captured prey back to its tribe.

At that moment, only a single thought remained in Qiao Shuyu’s mind: ‘Men are all trash!’

After Gong Lei was killed, Zhong Yi took stock of the spoils he dropped.

He made a point to use All Things Exploration to inspect the Storage Walnut that Qiao Shuyu had mentioned.

This type of plant-based Space Element Guardian Beast was exceptionally rare in Zhong Yi’s own Guardian Beast World.

Zhong Yi planned to study the Storage Walnut Tree in detail once he returned.

Zhong Yi had already brought Qiao Shuyu to the core area, where the participants had hardly fought among themselves.

For one thing, several of them were puppets that Zhong Yi was subtly controlling through Lan Po.

For another, most of these contestants were lone wolves.

They knew they weren’t particularly strong and didn’t dare to act rashly.

Following Lan Po’s tracking, Zhong Yi found these contestants one by one.

The vast majority of these contestants were more than willing to hand over their hard-won resources in exchange for a top-ten finish.

As for the unwilling ones, they were all eliminated by Hong Ji and Li Yu.

By the time he left the Secret Realm, Zhong Yi’s points had reached an astonishing 18,452.

When converted, this amounted to over 14,000 Divine Origin Value for Zhong Yi.

To gain over 14,000 Divine Origin Value from a single exploration of a Secret Realm was a haul that far exceeded Zhong Yi’s expectations.

And Zhong Yi’s performance in this Secret Realm exploration also far exceeded the expectations of Long Mu and Liu Shu.

As he was leaving the Secret Realm, Zhong Yi suddenly noticed a colorful new badge had appeared next to his identity information on the Virtual Source Network.

A notification also informed him that this was a one-of-a-kind badge!

The badge was called the “Second Level Secret Realm Monopolizer Badge.”

It was displayed before his Zhenxing C Level Talent Badge.

‘Does this mean this badge is more valuable than the Zhenxing C Level Talent Badge?’ he wondered.