Chapter 494: The Survival Philosophy of the Bottom World
At 4 p.m., Tilan was still sitting in the store, while Soga, who was standing next to her, occasionally followed Tilan's instructions and did some simple errands.
There were fewer customers at this time, but after 6 p.m., when most companies were off work, there would be more customers.
A sound of air jets slowly fell outside, and soon after, a girl in a lime-green skirt jumped off the hovercraft, accompanied by three big golden retrievers. These three guys had round heads and looked somewhat cute and honest.
"I'm back, Xiao Zijin, how is the store today~" She walked into the store excitedly, and ran over when she saw Tilan at the bar, and the three dogs beside her also rushed over happily.
"It's about the same as usual." Tilan looked up and answered, and Lemon Fruit was already beside her.
"Let me see, let me see." She flipped through the records on the front desk computer, looking at the various items that had been sorted out, and made a sound of surprise.
"Amazing! Zi Jin is indeed a student from a prestigious school, so meticulous and perfect."
Although it was a compliment, Tilan had slowly discovered Lemon Fruit's routine. This guy probably went out to play again today, and he felt guilty when he came back, so he couldn't help but say some nice things.
"Where did you go in the morning?" Tilan asked directly.
"Uh, in the morning, uh, I went to the water park with my friends, because it's a rare weekend holiday, Zi Jin~~" Lemon Fruit tried to cover it up with exaggerated expressions and words.
"Okay, I knew I couldn't fool Zi Jin, so I went to be lazy and relax. You know, I've been busy in the store for the past few months, and I'm exhausted." She made a pitiful look. "Okay,
I don't want to blame you, but I have something to do today, so I have to leave early." Tilan didn't care about it, but was just afraid that she would come back too late today.
"Will it be possible? Let me see. Wait for me. I'll go change my clothes. I can't get this new dress dirty." She said as she ran to the employee lounge at the back, and the three big dogs beside her followed her with a bark.
These three were all raised by Lemon Fruit. During her college years, she focused on the cultivation of canine supernatural animals. Not only did she spend a lot of time on these three, but she also got help from her teachers and classmates at the time. Therefore, their strength is very good. Now they are around Sequence 5. Although their combat ability is not high among the same level, it is already very good to be able to cultivate ordinary quality animals to this stage.
With the achievements of these three dogs, she also obtained the qualification certificate of a high-level breeder. The names of the other three are also very distinctive, namely "Flame", "Frost" and "Lightning". When fighting, they often fight together. They are also triplets, so some people also call them the three-headed guard dogs in the store.
"Okay, I'm done. How about it, aren't they cute~" Lemon Fruit came out wearing an apron-wearing shop assistant uniform, still followed by the three dogs, who were either lying or crouching, and occasionally circling around Lemon Fruit. They looked like ordinary pet dogs, without any deterrent power of extraordinary creatures.
"Cute." Tilan nodded, then stood up and gave up her seat.
"Then I'll go first."
"Okay, have a good rest today, and leave the rest to me." Lemon Fruit patted her chest, and the three dogs around her barked, attracting responses from other animals in the store.
After leaving the store, it was almost five o'clock, and the sun was about to set, and the streets were also reflected in the light red sunset.
"When I was sitting in the store just now, I checked the recent club competition. It's on Huojia Street in District 6. The requirements are extraordinary animals below Sequence 5. They are not allowed to kill each other in battle. There are several Sequence 6 elite referees on the scene to maintain order. Are you sure?"
"There should be, after all, they are from a vocational school." Tilan reassured the other party, because she heard a lot from Suojia in the afternoon and found that most of the participants in this kind of competition are not professionals, but enthusiasts from various regions.
Even among breeders, there are only a few who fight full-time. Most extraordinary animals are not cultivated for fighting, but to assist work and life, or to look good and accompany, just like the trump card of Fengyuan Courtyard, 'Tianyu Fengyuan', whose main function is to change the local climate environment, not to fight.
On the contrary, it is difficult for laymen to get involved in these specialized sub-fields. For them, fighting is the most straightforward manifestation of strength.
"Since you said so, it depends on your performance. Come on, get in the car with me." After saying that, she came to the hover motorcycle parked nearby and asked Tilan to get on it.
"This..." Tilan looked at the motorcycle and then at the skirt she was wearing.
According to the etiquette teacher's teaching, if she sat on it with her legs crossed, it would be too unladylike.
"You little girl, you are really troublesome." Soga saw that Tilan didn't react for a few seconds, and he turned around and understood the situation.
It's not that Tilan was hypocritical. If she wore long pants at this time, she wouldn't be too hesitant. But after all, this is next to the main street, and there might be secret guards and plainclothes officers of the Tribunal watching. Sitting on it like this would really damage the image of a singer. If a passerby took a picture of it and published it in the future, it would be even more terrible.
I didn't expect that I would also have an idol burden, the girl secretly complained in her heart.
In the end, she found a hovercraft and asked it to follow Soga's motorcycle to the designated location.
...
At night, on the third floor of the restaurant at No. 84 Huojia Street, Tilan and Soga sat by the window to eat. Not far away outside was a fenced-off open space, and many people had gathered at this time.
"I've already registered you. The competition will officially start at 7:30."
"By the way, I haven't seen your pet yet. Did you find one on the spur of the moment?" Soga finally realized what was happening.
"Don't worry about that. You'll know in a minute." Tilan looked at the crowd below. Unexpectedly, it was still very lively. There must be hundreds of people here.
"Is this kind of competition common?"
"It's very common, but there are also rules. If you get the top three, you can't participate in the same competition in the future."
"Why?"
"Because if the strong person wins every time, the competition will not be good. If it's not good, no one will come." Soga leaned on the sofa and briefly explained the situation.
"Look, the activities at the bottom are like this, and they know how to change, but the upper level of the federation is like stagnant water."
In response, Tilan did not answer, but just ate quietly. By the way, the fried rice here tastes pretty good, and the price is not expensive.
After the meal, Tilan and Soga walked into the crowd, and the other party took her to the rest area for the players.
This is a specially designated area. Looking at all kinds of giant bears, tigers, lions and other beasts around, it feels like entering a wild forest area.
"Hey, isn't this Soga? Long time no see." A motorcycle man with earrings came over. His style was somewhat similar to Soga.
"It's you, Mod." Soga responded simply. The two chatted casually. It seemed that they were also acquaintances who had raced together before.
"Who is this?" He looked at Tilan who was quiet on the side and was a little surprised.
"Is it your sister? She looks like a good student. Be careful when you come to such a place." Although she looks a little fierce, she is not a bad person.
"Be careful of what?" Tilan wanted to know why.
"Haha, of course, be careful of those fierce and evil people, and those who talk nonsense. Good kids like you are the easiest to be fooled." He said with a laugh.
Soga gave him a light punch, asking him to pay a little attention.
"Okay, stop laughing. Didn't you say that you had a few new girlfriends all day long?"
"That was in the past. Now, huh--" He said as he smoked a cigarette.
"Now that I have a daughter, my mood has changed."
"Oh, I didn't expect you to get married?" Soga was surprised.
"Well, I got married last year. It was also a bad fate. Forget it, let's not talk about it. The competition is about to start." Although they were reminiscing about the past, the other party didn't want to say more.
"Good evening, the lovely people of Academy City! This is the time for the beasts to be active at night. The beast fighting competition we are going to start today is sponsored by Mr. Swede, who is an old acquaintance of ours."
"Now please invite Mr. Swede to the stage~" After saying that, a man with a big belly, wearing a white suit, and dark skin like a ball slowly walked onto the stage. Behind him was a pug that was taller than him. It was so huge that when he walked, the flesh on his body swayed as if it was hanging, which made many people at the scene exclaim.
"Hello everyone, I'm Swede, the owner of the Dog Paw Club. Our club has always liked giant dogs and fierce dogs. They are representatives of loyalty, honor, and warriors. You can tell a person's character by looking at the dog he raises. If you want to be like us, bring your dog to our club. We welcome every warrior who is advancing alone. Don't be afraid of the night, because we have loyal guards behind us."
After a brief opening speech, the live competition was about to begin. There were 129 people who signed up to participate tonight, most of whom were idiots who couldn't come halfway and didn't dare to go on stage. There were only about 30 people who were really capable. The
first person to go on stage was a bare-armed man with a giant bear. He took off the shackles on the bear, fed it some meat, and then patted its shoulder. Then the bear weighing several tons walked into the battle field.
Original Sequence 5 Brute Force Giant Bear (Ordinary Condensed Pearl Level), seemingly huge in size and strong in strength, but because of the incoordination between size and strength, it has slow movements and reactions. If it encounters an agile and calm opponent, it will be difficult to deal with.
Tilan stood in the stands nearby, analyzing quietly, completely ignoring the various calls and shouts around him.
The opponent soon appeared, also a large beast, a black-toothed wolf with fangs.
Slashing Blade Sequence 5: Fanged Wild Wolf (Ordinary Condensed Bead Level). The fangs and the cutting ability of the Slashing Blade Sequence make it quite lethal, but its physical comprehensive ability is average, and it cannot fully release the lethality of the fangs.
The battle started soon. Just as Tilan expected, the giant bear was not fast enough to catch up with the black-toothed wolf in the field, and could only gasp in vain. Later, under the command of its owner, the giant bear finally sat down, with its claws hanging down, ready to wait for the opportunity.
At this time, under the urging of the game time, the black-toothed wolf began a tentative attack. It first attacked from behind, and its fangs scraped a sharp whistle in the wind, and then two invisible blades penetrated the giant bear's back.
Such an attack made the giant bear roar, and a lot of hair fell off its body. You could vaguely see blood seeping out of its fur. It
was not very lethal, but it was more insulting.
In response, the giant bear turned around and tried to chase the black-toothed wolf again, but still failed to catch up with it several times.
"Roar!" The giant bear was furious and slapped the ground vigorously. Many people at the scene only felt the ground shake and their feet were slightly numb, while the black-toothed wolf in the field was swept by the shock wave and its body tilted.
Taking advantage of this gap, the giant bear chased after it again, but unfortunately the opponent reacted and its giant claws missed. Instead, because it was too anxious, its body lost balance and the black-toothed wolf jumped on its back, then opened its fangs and bit it.
With the blessing of extraordinary power, the sharp fangs penetrated the giant bear's tough and thick fur, pierced into its body, tore a hole, and blood and flesh splattered, and the scene suddenly became bloody.
For a moment, all kinds of screams and cheers rang out in the venue, which made the girl beside her shake her head secretly.
Although this was a registered folk competition, it was still too rough and violent, and the level was not very high. No wonder she had never heard people around her mention it before.
Even when she was in high school, the partners trained by excellent classmates in Yuanting Academy were much stronger than the two in the venue.
The two masters on the scene basically had no command, and they fought purely on the instinct of the two animals, with poor skills.
The next few battles were similar. The fights were probably a collision of blood and flesh, and this seemed to be more popular with the audience. They were immersed in this kind of mutual killing of beasts and screamed from time to time.
"Now it's contestant No. 99, Zijin." Finally, after more than a dozen rounds of competition, it was time for Tilan to appear.
"It's your turn." Soga and Tilan clapped their hands.
"I know."
After saying that, Tilan walked into the venue and greeted the host and the contestant on the opposite side. The other side was a man and a moose. The moose was nearly three meters tall at the shoulder and looked very oppressive.
"Where's Miss Zi Jin's pet? Why can't I see it?" The host was very curious when she saw her come up alone.
"Here it comes." Tilan shook her head, then looked at the night sky. A black shadow swooped down from the sky. When it approached Tilan, it quickly spread its wings, slowed down, and landed on her shoulder.
This was a gray crow, which was hard to see in the dark.
"Crow, so small?" This kind of small animal doesn't fit the theme of this competition at all.
"Yes, it shouldn't be said that you have to be big to participate."
"There is no restriction, but are you sure you want to use this little crow to fight the opponent in front of you? It looks like it's only Sequence 4."
"Sure, try it and you'll know." Tilan didn't finish explaining, and said that the competition could begin.
"Well, now the competition is about to begin. Please take your positions, both contestants."
After that, Tilan and the opponent left the battlefield, leaving only the two animals.
"Where did this little girl come from? She actually wants to win with a bird?"
"You're not even at Sequence 5, and you're still going on stage, wasting our time."
"Let's finish it quickly, don't delay."
Inside the arena, after the start of the competition was announced, the moose was very quiet. Under the command of the owner behind, it took the bird in front of it a little more seriously.
It paused its hooves, and then a faint air blade emerged from the horn crown on its head.
"Use the blade to strangle!" The owner behind shouted passionately.
Then the chaotic air blades cut towards the gray crow standing on the ground opposite. Judging from the accuracy, it is indeed a good competitor.
In response, Tilan shook her head slightly, and the gray crow easily dodged in the arena.
"Since everyone is in a hurry, let's not delay."
"Eagle-shaped·Winged." She commanded from behind.
The gray crow spread its wings and flew lightly into the sky, disappearing in the blink of an eye. Just as the audience shouted anxiously, she commanded again.
"Eagle shape·Wing Continuous Slash."
Then the gray crow swooped down from the sky, and the edge of its wings also attached an air blade. It did not launch it, but kept tearing the airflow, making it narrow and sharp.
The beautiful whirlpool cutting, like cutting a polygon, kept cutting holes in the moose, and the hair fell.
"This guy! Use a tornado!" The owner behind was anxious and shouted hurriedly.
Under the sharp roar of the moose, a storm swept through and then penetrated into the sky, which made the audience dozens of meters around the venue almost unable to open their eyes, as if the wind and sand had cut their faces, which was a little painful.
The surrounding situation was still like this, and it was even more exaggerated inside the venue. The sweeping storm made it difficult for the gray crow to maintain stable flight and was directly taken to the sky.
However, this situation only lasted for more than ten seconds. After flying into the sky, the airflow spread, and the gray crow regained balance, while the moose below had some excessive magic power consumption.
Then the gray crow swooped down again, and after cutting again and again, the owner of the moose had to admit defeat and surrender.
"I can see it. The agility of the flying bird made it impossible for the moose to fully display its proud size and strength. It could only use spell attacks, which is not its forte."
Someone at the scene analyzed that the girl was really an expert and used the right animal in a very targeted way. Others were surprised.
The result of this game was unexpected, but soon everyone was attracted by the next battle, and everyone just thought it was a small episode.
However, there are always surprises. In the next few games, Tilan manipulated this flexible gray crow and repeatedly defeated the huge players. People gradually realized that this was not something that ordinary people could do. After all, in the battle that was as easy as using one's fingers and arms and changing rapidly, the gray crow seemed to be a part of the girl's body, and the tactics were too flexible and changeable.
"The finals are coming soon, which is really unexpected." Soga looked at Tilan who was walking off the field, and his eyes changed completely.
"You are really an expert." After all, with just a gray crow of Sequence 4, he killed all kinds of beasts of Sequence 5 on the field.
During the intermission, a man wearing sunglasses came over, patted Soga on the shoulder, and then spoke to Tilan.
"Hello, friend, can we talk here?" Soga winked at Tilan and asked her to come over.
Then the three of them walked to the side, and the other party saw that there was no one around, so he spoke.
"Good evening, strange friend, I am Mr. Swede's subordinate from the Dog Paw Club."
"Hello." Tilan nodded gently.
"Miss Zijin's pet is very powerful, and she is also very strong, but it doesn't match the style of tonight's game."
"Time is running out, I'll just say it straight, the boss hopes you can give up the final championship and let the opponent with the Rock Fire Dog win."
"If Miss Zijin gives up, here is a sum of money for you, just as an apology." He said and showed the data on the projection.
One hundred thousand federal coins, equivalent to the championship prize, except there is no trophy medal and cheers from the crowd.
"This..." Tilan looked at Suojia on the side. To be honest, she really didn't care about the champion of this kind of competition. If Suojia didn't want to see her strength and make some money, she wouldn't have come at all.
"What a joke, can you insult us by taking money? You guys are self-righteous because you have money!" Suojia cursed in a hot temper.
It seems that she is really rebellious, Tilan thought to herself.
"You are the one who organized the competition, and you also want to decide the champion. You are playing tricks on us!" Suojia was furious and didn't care.
Seeing her yelling so loudly, the man in a suit opposite was a little embarrassed. After all, there were many spectators around, and it would be bad for the boss and the club if it got out.
"I tell you, we want the money, we also want the championship, and we want it openly, don't try this!" Suojia pointed at the other party and said.
Seeing that there was no way to communicate at all, the other party had to try his best to appease Suojia and asked him to stop yelling, and then hurried away.
"See? This is the face of the rich. They can defile and trample on anything, even our dignity." Soga turned around and spoke to Tilan righteously.
This look even made Tilan doubt whether she was too smooth and sophisticated, not as straightforward as her, but suddenly she remembered that Soga wanted to cheat a fool with a lizard in poor condition in the morning, and immediately doubted where her righteous words came from.
Fools have their own standards that conform to their worldview. Don't think with logic, it will only torture yourself.
After thinking for a long time, I couldn't figure out how Soga's worldview was constructed. Maybe her simple concept is that the poor can cheat money and do whatever it takes to survive, but the rich still do this, which is inhumane.
Sure enough, it is so difficult and arduous to make everyone understand each other, especially in the environment where Soga lives and grows up, there is not much logic at all, and most of them rely on violence to enforce order. This also leads to her natural rejection and disgust of any rules and constraints, thinking that they are just tools for the superiors to make profits.
Fighting, strength, and power are the things that can satisfy her imagination and need for a sense of security.
Not fighting, retreating, being cowardly, and admitting defeat will show her weakness in the eyes of people around her, making others think that she is easy to bully, thus attracting more people to test and bully her.
Why do street thugs care about face and say harsh words even if they lose? Because in their world, face is strength, something that maintains dignity and survival. Without face, there is no deterrent power to the people around, and many things will be difficult to do.
She hasn't won a championship in so many years. Even if she doesn't win it herself this time, Suojia will not miss this opportunity. Taking the money and giving it up means admitting defeat, and she will be considered easy to bully. Even if the other party regrets it later or chases for it back, no one will speak for her.
But if you win the championship, it will be different. The championship money must be given, otherwise no one will come to such a competition in the future.
It seems that Suojia rejected the proposal of convenience and stability, but under her philosophy of survival, this may be a more appropriate and safe approach.
"The final is about to begin. Please welcome Zi Jin and Ward Castle to the stage!"
~
(End of this chapter)
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