Chapter 8
The Tiger of Hebei
Chi Yulang checked the two private messages he received.
Coincidentally, both were akin to declarations of challenge.
- HeavenlyDemonForever: You young, ignorant fool.
- HeavenlyDemonForever: Do you even know whose name you’re usurping?
- HeavenlyDemonForever: I’ve warned you repeatedly, but if you keep ignoring me, I won’t hold back any longer.
- HeavenlyDemonForever: Let’s make a bet. If I lose, I’ll donate ten million cookies. But if I win, you change your nickname.
Ten million cookies…
It was tempting, but the amount was absurdly high.
Considering who the sender was, the conclusion was obvious.
It was likely a lie.
Ignore this one.
- ExterminationSquadCaptain: Listen up, HeavenlyMaiden.
- ExterminationSquadCaptain: You dared to humiliate one of our family in front of everyone.
- ExterminationSquadCaptain: Did you think you could mess with the Extermination Squad and walk away? It’s too late for regrets.
- ExterminationSquadCaptain: You’ve heard the saying, blood is thicker than water. An eye for an eye, a nose for a nose. Blood will be repaid with blood. Look forward to it.
Tilting his head, HeavenlyMaiden asked the viewers,
“Does anyone know what the Extermination Squad is?”
- Extermination Squad?
- What’s that?
- First time hearing about it.
- Why the Extermination Squad?
“They sent me a private message saying I messed with their family and to brace myself. Apparently, I humiliated them in front of everyone.”
- ?
- Humiliated?
- Wait, did PissMan snitch?
- What exactly did they say?
“They said blood will be repaid with blood.”
- Lol, blood for blood lol.
- Why not say piss for piss?
- Lmao, Piss Squad lol.
The chat quickly became lively.
It was filled with messages mocking the Extermination Squad.
The reaction was hotter than expected.
Chi Yulang smiled faintly.
Perfect.
Content had come rolling in on its own. How could this not be great?
“Let’s go check it out.”
Chi Yulang devoured the remaining Dongpo Pork in one bite, put on the VR goggles, and logged into virtual reality.
After a brief sensation of floating, he entered the vivid, dream-like virtual reality and immediately connected to RealFight.
[Record]
4 Wins, 0 Losses
[Solo Rank]
Unranked
[Free Rank]
Unranked
Seeing this, Chi Yulang clicked his tongue.
“Still unranked, huh.”
He’d heard that climbing tiers through ranked matches would allow him to face stronger opponents.
You needed a certain level to get decent matchmaking.
So far, the opponents he’d faced were all punks swaggering around with guns but no skill, making it utterly boring.
- Guns are the cheapest option.
- Cyberware’s the real deal.
- Yeah, super expensive.
- The higher you go, the more you’ll see guys who bought their strength with money.
- They swap out even their organs with implants.
- Practically cyborgs.
- Someone needs to crush those cyborg bastards.
- For real, they buy their strength and act like they earned it.
- Money is strength.
- Don’t like it? Buy some yourself lol.
- No money? Broke ass?
“When can I start ranked matches?”
- After the sixth match.
- You can play ranked after the first five matches, abracadabra.
- Ugh, damn autocorrect, necromancer.
- How do you turn this off, I want to spend a horrible time?
- Yo, stop hogging the chat.
- Sorry, sorry, but seriously, how do you turn it off, Manuel Kant?
- One more match should do it.
- Check this post for details.
- (Link)
Clicking the link opened a translucent browser window.
[Title: All About RealFight Tiers, Araboja]
Hello, hello? It’s your nosy Speedwagon!
Today, we’re diving into RealFight’s ranking system and tiers.
RealFight is fundamentally a fighting game.
You earn points by defeating opponents in matches, and those points gradually raise your tier.
The tiers, in order, are:
Iron - Bronze - Silver - Gold - Platinum - Diamond - Master - Grandmaster - Challenger - Beyond Heaven.
Quite a few ranks, right?
That just shows how popular RealFight is lol.
You start as unranked, and for the first five matches, you can’t play ranked even if you want to.
Those five are like practice matches.
Kwitch’s way of saying, “Warm up first!”
After those five practice matches, you can finally play ranked.
That’s when you move from unranked to Iron 0 points.
Whether you’re the kid next door or one of the Nine Heroes, everyone starts the same.
RealFight, the ultimate fair game where only skill matters!
(Omitted)
There are two ways to play ranked:
First, matchmaking.
This pits you against opponents of similar point levels.
Second, challenges.
If you’re a Kwitch user, you can send a challenge to anyone, regardless of their tier, as long as you know their nickname.
Of course, whether they accept is entirely up to them.
The challenger’s tier is shown in the challenge, so don’t worry too much!
Important note!
When fighting via a challenge, the points gained or lost differ significantly from matchmaking, depending on the tier gap.
There’s a correction factor.
Simply put, if a lower-tier player beats a higher-tier one, they gain a ton of points, but if a higher-tier player loses to a lower-tier one, they lose a ton.
The bigger the tier gap, the greater the difference.
Of course, if a higher-tier player beats a lower-tier one, the points gained or lost are minimal.
Oh, and some bad apples exploit challenge loopholes to sell or tank points.
Get caught, and you’re banned, so behave!
- Wow, thanks, Speedwagon!
- Info upvote.
- My friend’s in Diamond, is that high?
└ Super high, top 3%.
└ If your friend’s not affiliated, please contact Hwarang Guild ^^
└ Look, scouts are already circling.
- Teacher, who’s in Beyond Heaven?
└ Speedwagon: Beyond Heaven is guarded by our trusty Nine Heroes, superhumans with combat power close to 100!
└ Whoa.
└ Besides the Nine Heroes, there’s Lunatic Nine and the Seven Great Demons too.
“Beyond Heaven…”
Chi Yulang rubbed his lips thoughtfully.
- HeavenlyMaiden, aiming for Beyond Heaven?
Without hesitation, he replied, “Yes.”
Why? Because it sounded fun!
The martial world he’d dominated was boring.
What about this place?
- Yo lol, look at that guts.
- She’s young, gotta dream big.
- I used to be like that…
- And now?
- Now my head’s been bashed in, reality checked. Parked in Platinum. The higher you go, the more monsters there are.
- Platinum, damn, that’s top 10%, right?
- Dongpo Pork Squad average, damn.
Chi Yulang’s current position was unranked.
Practically a baby taking its first steps.
There were many ranks to climb to reach Beyond Heaven.
Chi Yulang looked up.
A towering mountain loomed in the distance.
Tilting his head further, he saw fluffy white clouds, and beyond them, a vast blue sky.
“…It’s a long road ahead.”
In this situation, a challenge was always welcome.
No one challenging him now could be lower than his unranked status.
[ChineseRestaurantNapkinSerialThief has challenged you!]
[Do you accept?]
[Y/N]
Grin.
A smile spread across Chi Yulang’s face.
It was a fierce smile, like that of a wolf.
“Then let’s get started.”
[Challenger entering!]
———-
Inside the Extermination Squad’s hideout.
The members were gathered, all wearing VR goggles.
They were watching HeavenlyMaiden’s stream.
“Man, that kid eats so heartily.”
“Looks delicious…”
“Should we order Dongpo Pork for lunch?”
“How much is it?”
“Uh… it says 150,000 cookies.”
“….”
“….”
“Let’s just have ramen.”
“Yessir.”
One member, watching the twin-tailed girl munching on Dongpo Pork, muttered,
“Hard to believe. That tiny thing took down our youngest?”
“You saw the clip?”
“Yeah, but something felt off.”
Their gazes turned to Samdol, the youngest, slumping in a corner.
“Hey, you punk. You didn’t stage it with her, did you?”
“Yeah, how do you collapse foaming at the mouth after one step?”
“No way, brothers! Why would I do that?”
“True. You even pissed yourself.”
“….”
Soon, HeavenlyMaiden logged into RealFight.
“Now’s the time!”
The Extermination Squad members sent challenges en masse.
One raised his hand excitedly.
“I got matched!”
“Nice!”
“Teach that little punk the fear of the Extermination Squad!”
“Don’t forget to say you’re here for the Extermination Squad’s bloody revenge!”
“Of course, brothers! I’ll crush her!”
Whoosh—
The matched member’s body went limp, as if falling asleep.
[Here comes a new challenger!]
A challenger appeared before HeavenlyMaiden.
The Extermination Squad looked at ChineseRestaurantNapkinSerialThief, aka NapkinThief, on the stream.
“Why’s his nickname like that?”
“No idea. It’s trendy, apparently.”
“All kinds of weird trends these days.”
NapkinThief pointed at HeavenlyMaiden and shouted,
- On behalf of the Extermination Squad, I’ll show you the terror of the world!
“Nice one!”
“Go!”
“Show her the bitter taste of reality!”
[3, 2, 1]
[Fight!]
As the match began, NapkinThief immediately unleashed a barrage with his machine gun.
If she caught a bullet, let’s see her catch this!
It was a machine gun he’d prepared with confidence, enough to breeze through Iron tier.
Ratatatat!
The gun spewed fire, firing ten rounds per second.
But his opponent didn’t flinch, staring at the incoming bullets before gracefully moving her arms, drawing a taiji pattern.
Not too fast, not too slow.
The result was astonishing.
The dozens of bullets flying toward her were redirected back at NapkinThief.
Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!
“…!”
NapkinThief’s health bar above his head plummeted mercilessly.
Riddled with dozens of bullets, he gaped.
“How… how?!”
Thud!
He collapsed.
Three seconds had passed since the fight began.
[HeavenlyMaiden wins!]
A brief silence fell, then the chat exploded.
- ?
- Insane!
- What did I just see?!
- HeavenlyMaiden, you okay?
While the chat scrolled furiously, the Extermination Squad’s hideout was cloaked in silence.
“….”
Deputy leader Pang Deokjo, with a blank expression, asked NapkinThief as he removed his goggles.
“What happened?”
“…No idea, boss. I definitely shot clean.”
She sent back dozens of bullets without taking a single hit?
He’d never heard of such magic.
NapkinThief said in a frustrated tone,
“She must’ve used some dirty trick! It doesn’t make sense otherwise!”
“….”
“I mean, there are tons of good artifacts these days, right? I saw her eating rare elixirs like snacks the other day. She probably bought her way to—”
- No one else? That was boring.
HeavenlyMaiden taunted, looking at the screen.
Ugh!
The enraged Extermination Squad sent another challenge.
“Boss! I’ll go!”
PublicBathVibrationBellDestroyer was knocked out with a bloody nose.
SilentFartVillainInElevator was hit in the stomach, crying and begging for mercy.
MonkChantingSutraInChurch called for a timeout claiming a broken bone, only to be thrown down after attempting a sneak attack.
JoblessJerkComplainingNoFishInFishBread screamed like a girl.
- Woooow!!
- Insane!!!
- HeavenlyMaiden is psycho!!!
- Martial arts genius has arrived!
- As of today, HeavenlyMaiden is the idol of us martial artists. No objections.
The chat was ablaze, while the Extermination Squad’s mood grew icy.
The next in line hesitated.
“Then I’ll…”
“No.”
It was deputy leader Pang Deokjo.
“We can’t let the Extermination Squad’s reputation sink further. I’ll handle it.”
“For real?”
The member, initially relieved, shrank under Pang Deokjo’s fierce glare.
“I mean, if you step in, boss, we’re in good hands.”
“….”
Pang Deokjo gave the guy a disdainful look before adjusting his goggles.
She’s no ordinary kid.
He couldn’t afford to underestimate her.
Was she hiding an ability, using an artifact, equipped with top-tier cyberware, or wielding some kind of magic?
He didn’t know, but one thing was certain.
If I don’t go all out, I’ll lose!
Meanwhile, Chi Yulang was smiling brightly at his rapidly rising points.
[Congratulations on your promotion!]
Previous: Iron → Current: Bronze
[Record]
9 Wins, 0 Losses
[Solo Rank]
Bronze 0P
[Free Rank]
Unranked
“Celebrate with me, everyone. I just got promoted to Bronze!”
- Congrats congrats congrats!
- For real?
- Already?
- Damn, that’s fast.
- Some of those guys you beat were Silver, right?
[SandyMole has donated 10,000 cookies!]
Bronze medal celebration gift.
[HeavenlyMaiden’sLeftoverDongpoPork has donated 10,000 cookies!]
Congrats congrats congrats!
[HakoDigger13 has donated 10,000 cookies!]
Congrats, HeavenlyMaiden!
“Heavenly Nyan~ Thank you, nyan!”
[ChewedGumDestroyer (Gold) has challenged you!]
[Do you accept?]
[Y/N]
- Oh, a Gold!
- How high is Gold?
- Roughly upper Sword User to lower Sword Expert? Skilled in mana-enhanced physical strengthening, aura almost manifesting.
- For martial artists, late second-rate to early first-rate. Getting comfortable with inner power circulation.
- I watch Diamond and Master streams all the time, so my standards are high, but Gold’s pretty high.
- If she wins, she might jump straight to Silver.
- Even so, beating a Gold is a stretch.
- Y’all forgetting she was doing the tutorial two days ago? She’s a total newbie.
- Oh, right.
[Challenger entering!]
ChewedGumDestroyer appeared before HeavenlyMaiden and introduced himself.
“I am Pang Deokjo, deputy leader of the Extermination Squad.”
Chi Yulang looked at him silently for a moment.
“The Pang family?”
Pang Deokjo’s eyes widened.
“You know the Pang family?”
“Of course. The Tiger of Hebei, right?”
Pang Deokjo grinned, clearly pleased.
“What an honor. Someone remembers the Pang family. Have you met someone from the Pang family before?”
“Something like that.”
“Who?”
“Hoyeon.”
Pang Deokjo’s eyes twitched.
“…Pang Hoyeon? The family head?”
“Yes. Is he doing well?”
Pang Deokjo’s brow furrowed fiercely.
“Are you messing with me?”
“?”
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