Chapter 59 - The Longest Battle!
The sky lit up with the morning sun.
So far, the battle between Xia Fei and Chen Dong had been going on for 24 hours!
Before the second round of the assessment, the largest betting company in Endaro Star Region evaluated and ranked all 723 candidates by their strength, in which Xia Fei was ranked last.
However, the ranking was not static and would be adjusted according to the candidate’s performance.
In the first half an hour of this assessment round, Xia Fei’s rank had jumped by 50 places, taking the 673rd spot, and after 24 hours, the betting company had already bumped him up by a full 400! He was now ranked 323!
Chen Don’s odds were at 1:1.01, while Xia Fei was at 1:1000. That also meant that if Chen Dong were to win, anyone betting would get 1 star coin profit from the payout for every 100 star coins bets placed on him. But if Xia Fei were to win, a 100 star coins bet would end up with a total profit of 99,900 star coins.
The disparity in strength between both parties in the match was simply too huge. Everyone believed that there was no way for Xia Fei to win against Chen Dong in this match that exerted an overwhelming pressure on the candidates.
Although Chen Dong’s low payout rate was a little strange, it was seen as a 100% guaranteed bet, so it still drew the attention of many careful gamblers to the match. An ant was still flesh no matter how small it was; every bit counted.
“That’s true if we are taking into account how the state of things are standing. But I’ve noticed that Xia Fei has been making steady improvements throughout this battle. From the initial one-sided mauling that put him on the passive till now when he can execute a counterattack every two bouts. If the match continues in this trajectory, God knows how crazy Xia Fei’s standards will be,” That young man mused.
The black-skinned man laughed uproariously, his tone completely dismissive. “Crazy standard? He’s just a Speed Ability User at the Intermediate Star Base rank. Even if he improves, just how much can he improve?”
The bespectacled young man was unfazed, “Don’t forget, he is the same Intermediate Star Base ranked youth who is still in a deadlock with an Advanced Star Domain Chen Dong after 72 hours of fighting.”
“That’s because he has been evading and not fighting! He is solely focused on evasion this entire time!” The dark-skinned man was evidently hot-tempered, slapping the desk violently as he cried out.
“Evasion is also a skill. What about those who could not even dodge the attacks at all?” The bespectacled young man adopted a 4 figure sitting position as he said this matter-of-factly.
“You!” The dark-skinned man glared with anger, his complexion turning somewhat purple.
…
Earth, Australia. The Adjudicator Union’s Crisis grade assessment venue.
Xia Fei very deftly spun around as he slid past Chen Dong’s ice drills, his body nearly coming into contact with the ground.
However, Xia Fei’s left hand very conveniently reached the ground and gave himself a light push. His entire body immediately rebounded back up as the Chasing Light in his right hand slashed at Chen Dong’s leg three times in succession!
*Ching Ching Ching!”
Xia Fei clearly felt that the strength behind his three stabs was weaker than what he could pull off several days ago. Every time he retaliated in the last few days, his counterattack would be able to score an obvious gash on Chen Dong’s frost armor. But now, all he was leaving were just some light scratches, which clearly proved that his strength was on the decline.
The two men had very tacitly retreated to their separate sides of the ring, stopping their attacks simultaneously. Xia Fei pulled out two Snake Eye Berries from his spatial ring and shoved them in his mouth, while Chen Dong directly grabbed a large bundle of fruit that could replenish his strength and shoved it in his mouth.
Though these fruits could replenish their lost energy, they could not ease the feeling of hunger lurking in their abdomens.
Actually, that was not exactly a bad thing. Humans would easily feel lethargic after eating their fill, while hunger would let them maintain a sort of vigilance.
Humans tend to become more tenacious with their own survival when the danger they were in was greater. Xia Fei had gone down a size after the last few days, and there were a pair of prominent black circles around his two eyes, yet he still persevered.
With constant battle and repeatedly dancing with death, Xia Fei’s understanding of the Crafty approach grew every day, every hour, and every minute.
Chen Dong swallowed all the fruits and intrepidly barked, “Satisfying! I’ve never tried fighting with someone for seven consecutive days and nights before. This is such a great feeling!”
“I do want to see just how long can you hold out under my assault! Come! Let us fight for another seven days and nights!” Chen Dong had already entered a state of extreme zeal. Maintaining and controlling his Freeze Ability had caused an even severe depletion of his physical condition than Xia Fei, but he was not the least bit afraid or hesitant over his decision.
Xia Fei pulled out a bottle of mineral water and drank everything, loudly calling out, “Sure! You’ve got a deal!”
Without another word, the two men began a new round of outrageous combat once again.
In the past seven days, neither Xia Fei nor Chen Dong had viewed each other with animosity. Instead, they shared a feeling of fellowship toward one another. Though the two of them were of different rank, they shared the same temperament.
And that was their tenacity!
Neither was going to give up until the last moment!
The bald man by the side of the ring was still waiting for the fight between them to come to a close, yet seven days had passed, and things were still undecided.
That bald man decided to bring along a sleeping bag and directly slept right by the ring.
Hearing the two of them talk, the bald man groggily opened his eyes and looked up to the ring.
He saw that Xia Fei and Chen Dong were still entangled, so he helplessly sighed as a worried frown etched across his face.
“Oh heavens, when will the two of you be done? Can the two of you just call it quits? I’m begging you two, quickly decide the outcome of this match already!”
At the moment, ring no. 21’s match between Xia Fei and Chen Dong had already been going on for 170 hours!