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T/N - Place your bets, place your bets! We’re finally at the finals of this surprisingly long tournament arc. To be fair, it’s not purely a tournament arc as plenty of stuff happened in the middle, but still… Anyway, my money is on Ye Xiaoxiao. Simply because I’m a sucker for summoner classes in general.
E/N: Then, for fairness, I’ll bet on Meng Li.
The next day, early morning.
Knock knock!
Crisp, knocking sounds rang out.
"Mr. Agent, it's almost time."
Soon…
Meng Li's soft and sweet voice came from outside the door.
"Coming, coming."
Ye Mo yawned, put on his slippers, and opened the door for little Meng Li.
Then he started washing up as he was accustomed to.
Because Meng Li had the habit of morning jogs, she had been the one waking Ye Mo up these past few days.
"You're fully prepared today."
Ye Mo looked at Meng Li, sitting on the sofa, holding a milk bottle with both hands and happily drinking goat's milk.
He then noticed that this girl had actually done maintenance on her equipment.
Whether it was the light armor on her body or her greatsword, they had become shiny and bright.
In the past, she wouldn't have casually spent this much money.
It showed how much importance she attached to this competition.
"En, after finishing the dungeon last night, I happened to see a newly opened forging shop offering a 30% discount on equipment maintenance."
Meng Li answered with a smile.
"Another whole night of dungeons? Do you want a cup of coffee to refresh yourself?"
"Demi-humans get dizzy when drinking coffee, and we’re very exuberant even without it. So I'm in peak condition right now."
For today's competition, Meng Li took advantage of the morning jog to return to peak condition.
"Um… Mr. Agent…"
Suddenly, Meng Li looked at Ye Mo somewhat apprehensively.
"What's wrong?"
Ye Mo brushed his teeth and looked at Meng Li, who was hemming and hawing somewhat coyly.
Feeling Ye Mo's gaze on her, Meng Li took a deep breath, the little ahoge on her head twisting and turning.
After trying her best to adjust her emotions, she stuttered nervously.
"I… If I win the championship this time, as a reward…
C-c-c… can I invite you to… to watch a movie together?"
White mist rose from the top of Meng Li's head, and her pretty face blushed while burning hot.
It was as if she used up all of her strength to say these words.
"Of course, no problem. I'll treat you then. You can choose whatever you want to watch."
Ye Mo agreed without hesitation.
"Then… Then it's a deal!"
Seeing Ye Mo agree, the little girl was extremely happy.
Recently, because of her living in the Upper District, she has been exposed to many films and television works.
Among them, the places where male and female protagonists deepened their feelings the most, besides the movies, were hotels.
As for hotels, the Meng Li right now, their difficulty level was still a bit too high.
So she settled for the next best thing and chose the cinema.
Time slowly passed.
Soon it was time for the grand finals of the national competition.
"Hello audience friends, the finals you've been eagerly waiting for is about to begin. This is also the opening of the final bets for our competition. So please place your bets!
Finally, thanks again to the sponsors of our competition this time, from..."
The host on the stage blabbered about another whole bunch of sponsors.
Inside the resting area.
"Who’re you planning to bet on this time?"
Zhou Minjun crossed her legs, smiled at Ye Mo, and looked at him expectantly.
He had placed bets in the previous few matches.
It was a pity that the betting odds outside of the venue were really too low, and he had spent a lot of money power leveling Meng Li before.
So he didn't earn much from these few times, only about a hundred thousand or so.
"This time… forget it."
Ye Mo hesitated for a moment and decided not to bet.
Inside the VIP box.
"I really didn't expect that the ones who would make it to the end would actually be these two people."
"Between the two of them, who do you think has a better chance of winning?"
"Hard to say, there’s no countering relationship between the two, so it's hard to judge."
"I have to say, the Agent behind them is a remarkable talent.
Directly cultivating two rising new stars."
"Indeed! I remember when they were in the selection round, one was Level 19 and the other was Level 22. I don't know who placed bets on them at that time, but they must have made a fortune by now."
The deans discussed spiritedly.
But as they chatted, they suddenly pointed the spearhead at Chen Weiming.
"Old Chen, these two are both from your Kaiyang Academy. At that time… did you place bets on them!?"
The Vajra dean's eyes narrowed slightly while looking at Chen Weiming coldly.
"Are you kidding me? Am I someone who doesn't understand the rules?"
Chen Weiming retorted immediately!
There was an unwritten rule among academy deans.
Only earn handling fees; no selfish betting allowed.
After all, if they placed bets privately, it would affect everyone's earnings.
There might even be the possibility of secret cheating.
For example, adjusting the matchmaking mechanism so that the person they bet on faced weaker contestants.
And then easily entered the top eight, top four, and so on.
As such, the deans of the six major academies weren’t allowed to participate in the gambling.
In the arena.
"Next, let’s invite our contestants to the stage!"
After the host finished reading his ten minutes of advertising lines, he finally roared with high passion.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Countless fireworks exploded over the arena.
Meng Li and Ye Xiaoxiao, who were riding the hidden elevator, slowly took to the stage from the bottom up.
At this time, Meng Li and Ye Xiaoxiao were both dressed entirely in pitch-black.
The two stood facing each other amidst the shouts of the numerous spectators.
[National Competition Grand Finals: Ye Xiaoxiao VS Meng Li!]
[Countdown: 10... 9... 8...]
"Come on, little thieving cat, I've wanted to beat you up for a long time!"
Ye Xiaoxiao held her pitch-black staff, assumed a stance, and her momentum was incomparably tough.
"I'm not a thieving cat!"
Meng Li furrowed her small eyebrows, looking displeased.
[3... 2... 1]
[Start!]
With the countdown reaching zero…
Pitch-black death energy, centered on Ye Xiaoxiao, quickly spread out!
At the same time, a layer of black light also appeared around Meng Li's body.
"Scourge Descent" and "Power of Ghost God" activated simultaneously!
Bang!
Meng Li stomped the ground with one foot.
"Ghost Shadow Slash!"
"Flash!"
Her petite body quickly shot out like a cannonball and disappeared from her spot.
When she reappeared, she had already arrived in front of Ye Xiaoxiao.
Swinging the heavy greatsword, she slashed down directly!
As a colleague, Meng Li understood Ye Xiaoxiao too well.
To deal with the latter, she had to get close to her before the skeleton minions were completely summoned!
Facing Meng Li's surprise attack, Ye Xiaoxiao's Death Breath instantly activated.
The staff in her hand transformed into a scythe, and she took the opportunity to block in front of her!
Bang!
The greatsword and the pitch-black scythe collided, emitting a crisp sound.
Ye Xiaoxiao's strength was obviously weaker than Meng Li's, and her body staggered.
Meng Li took the opportunity to reach out and grab Ye Xiaoxiao's neck directly.
"Flash!"
Ye Xiaoxiao reacted quickly and immediately used Flash to pull away.
She reached out and pressed fiercely onto the ground.
The earth was instantly covered with layers of black shadows.
Countless skeleton minions with hideous expressions crawled out from the ground.
"Oblique Moon Ghost Slash!"
A violent horizontal slash of pitch-black sword qi instantly formed a semicircular black moon and rushed straight ahead…
Instantly clearing all the surrounding skeleton minions cleanly.
Bang!
With no obstacles left, Meng Li stomped heavily on the ground with one foot!
She directly made a big jump and leapt high into the air.
After a gorgeous 360-degree flip in mid-air, she swung the heavy greatsword and smashed it fiercely towards Ye Xiaoxiao!
Bang!
The earth cracked!
Ye Xiaoxiao jumped back to dodge, but the skeleton minions beside her were smashed to pieces.
"If you want to get close to me, first ask if my minions agree!"
The skeleton minions originally guarding beside Ye Xiaoxiao took the opportunity to surround her.
Meng Li's eyes turned fierce, she swung the greatsword frantically, directly delivering a horizontal sweep!
While slashing a large number of skeleton minions to pieces, she seized one of them by the neck.
And she smashed it fiercely towards Ye Xiaoxiao's direction!
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