Manager's office.
Mo Xianglin, Huang Ze, and Wang Yichen were arguing, none of them willing to change their contestants, while the other four families stood by and watched the spectacle.
Those present today are all the second-in-commands of their respective families, holding very important positions within their clans. They are here to vie for control of the arena.
With the match about to begin, neither side was willing to give in.
Wang Yichen suddenly noticed Liu Yanfang standing in the corner, secretly making hand gestures to him.
She can no longer be called Liu Yanfang; she should be called Wang Yanfang.
On the night the Liu family was massacred, she received the news and immediately sought refuge with the Wang family. Taking all her family's wealth, she married a man in his fifties from the Wang family the next day and even changed her surname.
So the Wang family protected her, preventing her from being eliminated by other families.
Since it hasn't been decided which family will operate the arena, Wang Yanfang is temporarily in charge of its operation.
Seeing Wang Yanfang's gesture, Wang Yichen hesitated for a moment, "You two can compete. I'll give up contestant number 56 and choose number 8."
He pretended to be angry, then turned and left the office.
Now only Mo Xianglin and Huang Ze remain, still insisting on choosing number 56, Chu Xu.
The Mo family chose him because they knew his background and, through their connection with Mo Beihan, knew about his performance in the first two rounds, so they had no choice but to select him.
The Huang family chose him because they knew he was Xia Tianqiong's subordinate and felt that he was not a simple person. Without knowing the other contestants, they had no choice but to choose him.
Wang Yichen left the office less than two minutes later, and Wang Yanfang also left.
The two met again in a room.
"Why should I give up number 56? I heard from the younger members of the clan that he was a very popular player."
Wang Yichen immediately adopted a questioning tone.
Wang Yanfang smiled and bowed slightly, "President Wang, Chu Xu is indeed a very talented player, but he is too close to the Mo family. The Mo family will definitely not give up on him. Why don't we let the Mo family and the Huang family compete for him?"
Of the twenty-eight finalists, six were arranged by me, and I can guarantee that at least three of them will make it to the final match. Even if Chu Xu also makes it to the final, the outcome is still controllable. This is because the final match focuses more on martial prowess than on breaking the rules.
In addition, I talked to him before, trying to bribe him, but he neither refused nor agreed. I'll ask someone else to ask him later; if he can be bribed, we'll have him throw the final match.
If I can't bribe him, I'll have the other contestants gang up on him in the final round. Even if he's fairly good, he can't possibly take on three opponents at once.
Wang Yichen's face lit up with joy, and he looked at Wang Yanfang in surprise, "No wonder the Liu family let you run the arena, you really do have some skills."
"Mr. Wang, I'm a member of the Wang family now."
"If you can help me win the operating rights, I guarantee that you will still be in charge of managing this place from now on."
"Thank you, Mr. Wang. I will definitely do it."
...
The competition has begun, and the audience is very enthusiastic.
The first match was exceptionally bloody.
Of the seven contestants, three were mysteriously killed, two were killed by other contestants, and two survived. One of them advanced, and the other was eliminated.
The second match was just as brutal.
After all, the monsters they were trying to crack were evil spirits, whose strength surpassed that of most civilian monster hunters, so it was normal for there to be casualties.
Xia Tianqiong had transformed into Chu Xu's appearance and was waiting in the lounge.
He was assigned to the fourth group and was to play last.
Just before he entered the lounge, a staff member stopped him and quietly asked him if he was willing to accept the terms they had previously agreed upon.
Xia Tianqiong came to the competition for the sake of evil spirits, not for the prize money, so she rejected the other party on the spot.
He waited in the lounge for about an hour before it was his turn to go on stage.
His group also consisted of seven contestants, six men and one woman. They were wary of each other as they walked from the rest room into the private passage.
When they stepped out of the passage, they were not greeted by a spacious area, but by a dark and dilapidated room.
Everyone was a little surprised, but they quickly came to their senses.
This must be a ghost realm!
The room wasn't very big, about 20 square meters, and the decor was somewhat reminiscent of the Republican era.
The room features brown wooden wainscoting and off-white walls, with both Western-style chandeliers and tables and chairs, as well as Chinese-style bookshelves and decorations.
However, all of this looked extremely dilapidated and covered in dust, as if no one had been here for many years.
The seven contestants walked out of the passage and went directly into the room. When they looked back, the original passage was gone.
There was nothing strange in the room. The seven people spread out, each on guard.
Although the rules of the game allow attacks on each other, some strange rules prohibit fighting, and engaging in combat could trigger these rules. Therefore, no one dares to attack another person without certainty.
Everyone searched the room, looking for clues.
It's very rare to see a situation like this where there's nothing strange at the start and no warnings whatsoever.
Xia Tianqiong was the same; he wasn't sure what kind of eerie realm this was.
Gradually, all seven of them gathered in front of an oil painting.
To be precise, it should be described as a huge oil painting mosaic, which takes up almost an entire wall.
The puzzle depicts a crossroads lined with shops on both sides, and many pedestrians on the street. Judging from their clothes, it is even more certain that it is from the Republican era.
However, there are many missing parts in the puzzle.
In the bottom right corner, there was a sticky note with a few lines of neat handwriting in pen.
"Someone hid a few pieces of my puzzle, I'm so angry! I'm going to go find the puzzle now, I want to finish it before you get here."
If you see this message, it means I haven't found all the puzzle pieces yet. Please help me find them!
Several people made guesses after seeing the contents of the note.
This requirement for finding things is a fairly common rule.
So they dispersed and searched the room.
They searched the room from top to bottom, but even with all seven of them together, they couldn't find the puzzle piece.
"Everyone, has anyone found the key? The puzzle pieces might not be in this room anymore; we should look outside."
A middle-aged man wearing a blue windbreaker suddenly spoke up.
There is a brown wooden door in this room. Everyone tried to open it, but it was locked and required a key.
Xia Tianqiong could open the door directly using the "door-opening technique" of the delivery trick, but he didn't want to expose this trick to others.
The only woman among the seven suddenly stood up and walked straight toward the wooden door.
"I just found a key on the door frame."
She spoke as she took out her keys to open the door.
With a click, the door opened, and the woman went out first, followed by the others who rushed out as well, afraid of falling behind.
Xia Tianqiong wasn't in a hurry; he just felt that something was off.
After everyone else left, he returned to the room, reached out and touched the picture frame, and found that it could be moved and was not stuck to the wall.
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