Chapter 1015
Chapter 1015 - 1001 Preliminaries
1,458 words
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8 min read
"Hey, you’re cheating! Otherwise, there’s no way you could have won."
"No, you’re just too slow. Xiao Mu didn’t cheat at all!"
"No, you did cheat. Give me back my candy; I’m not playing with you anymore!"
"Who wants to play with you! Spit out the cake... spit it out. Xiao Mu shouldn’t have let you eat it."
"Haha, I already ate it. Let me tell you, once a tasty treat is in hand, you should eat it right away..."
Watching the two "little girls" in front of the TV about to come to blows, Lu Ping’an felt increasingly awkward.
Wasn’t he here for a Death Fight? It was more like a primary school teacher had brought the kids out on a trip...
"You guys... never mind."
After pondering for a bit, Lu Ping’an chose to act as if nothing had happened.
After all, if Qian Xiaomu hadn’t come, that girl who claimed to be a little chick but was actually named Eve K. Kerdalais would have been clinging to him.
But now, the "little girl" had met a little girl, a rare encounter with a "peer" in various senses, and since Lu Ping’an had also brought a game console (his own), they naturally started having fun playing with it here.
"Qian Xiaomu, did your grandpa pass away?"
"... Grandpa?"
𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶
The little girl was startled, thought for a moment, then shook her head in confusion.
"Didn’t he tell you what he was going to do or when he’ll come pick you up?"
"... I wasn’t paying attention."
Well, that was too realistic, leaving Lu Ping’an with nothing to say.
Expecting a real little girl to have everything together and remember what the adults said was asking too much.
"Hehe, little girl, you don’t even remember what grandpa said, and yet you compete with your older sister." Eve was happily gloating, seeming to become even more "youthful" when with a "peer."
"Older sister? You..." Qian Xiaomu looked up disdainfully.
You can’t even beat me at video games, and you call yourself an older sister?
This "Son of Destiny" had made such a mess that even the real little girl wasn’t afraid of her. Lu Ping’an felt that his initial caution toward Eve had been completely wasted.
"Big Cat..."
"What are her possibilities?"
Lu Ping’an was curious; what kind of possibilities could have given rise to such a Husky... He wasn’t exaggerating; this girl really was a home wrecker.
At Lu Ping’an’s place (inside the house), all the snacks had been rummaged through, there were traces of her doodling with the little girl on the floor, and bricks had been dug out to stack blocks.
As for the mattress, it got shredded because of the way she laughed and squirmed while reading comics on it... Luckily, Lu Ping’an really did have some craftsmanship skills to patch it up so it was still somewhat usable.
"... The Warrior. As I’ve mentioned before, the Son of Destiny who leads the world in fighting against evil, it’s her." Big Cat said with an oddly guilty conscience while playing games.
At that moment, Lu Ping’an was silent.
Is that it? The Warrior? The Savior Brave?
Not to mention, her speed at ransacking someone’s home and her thick skin when caught by the homeowner indeed had a bit of a Warrior’s touch.
"The courage to face all injustices and question all authority..."
"The curiosity and passion she always holds for objects, strangers, enemies, friends..."
"The unwavering determination once she has set her goal..."
"The crystal heart with intuition so sharp, capable of sensing good and evil, hostility and friendship..."
Each point Big Cat made indeed made sense.
If you only look at basic characteristics and potential, Eve is invincible.
The qualities a traditional warrior should have, once pointed out by Big Cat, were clearly present in Eve... and even to some extent, excessively so.
"The most important thing is her seemingly endless energy..."
Lu Ping’an glanced at his first-class cabin, which now almost resembled a junkyard, and thought that this was probably not "the most important" but rather the most lethal aspect.
Especially since she seemed to really not need any rest, even knocking on his door in the middle of the night.
If you glared at her, she would even put on an exaggerated performance of "Ah, did you fall asleep?" and then shamelessly come in to scrounge for snacks and the game console.
Strangely enough, for various reasons, Lu Ping’an found it hard to get angry with her or even to kick her out...
"... you guys have fun, I’m going to grab some lunch."
"Get me an ice cream."
"Can I get one too? Grandpa said I could have a little bit of sweets..."
This little girl seemed very polite, but just a little? Glancing at the scattered remains of candies, fruits, cakes, and other sweet treats on the floor, Lu Ping’an got the feeling that her "little bit" was probably meant for feeding an elephant...
"...Okay, I’ll bring you two slices of cake."
But to Lu Ping’an, as long as he could get along well with Eve, none of this was a problem.
Even if it was feeding an elephant... er, someone else’s elephant, what business was it of his, the Lu someone... or rather, the Su someone?
"Enjoy yourselves, I’ll swing by your grandpa later and ask when he’s going to pick you up."
Su someone had already formed a temporary strategic alliance with Old Qian... This wasn’t uncommon on the ship, but he was still surprised that the grandfather would send his granddaughter over alone.
After all, such "alliances" were abundant on the ship and nearly devoid of any trust,
While walking on the deck, with the sea breeze rushing against his face and the spectators cheering around the "fistfights" breaking out anew on the promenade, Lu Ping’an could only sigh resignedly and opt to walk around them.
The "Death Fight Festival" hadn’t started yet, but the death fights had already begun countless times.
Some were truly between contestants who had lost their tempers, but most were merely one side testing another through suspicion, then taking action... An ordinary person subjected to a Decree-based malicious probe would likely be finished off.
The Infiltrators continued to operate in the shadows, silently and efficiently eliminating those competitors.
Things on Lu Ping’an’s end were relatively relaxed; aside from dispatching that pair of swindling brothers before, and incidentally taking down a couple of troublemakers, things had quieted down... at least until the death fights started, or until his "trickery" was exposed, it was unlikely anyone would go out of their way to chew on a tough bone.
"...How much longer?"
"A day or two, perhaps. Once enough people arrive, the preliminaries should begin."
This life-or-death contest wasn’t new, held approximately every one to three years, around the same time of the year, and arguably in the same location.
For this reason, the procedures of the "festival" were very clear and straightforward.
At a certain time and place, the festival would begin, and a cruise ship along with the surrounding seas and islands would spawn a special object emitting noticeable beams of light.
Then the process was simple: find such an object and keep it until the end of the "preliminaries," and the holder would advance to the next round.
The rules were simple, but the tricks within were plentiful.
For instance, an "object" not only attracted the Deity’s attention but also gave advantages for the next round of competition, so obviously, the more the better. However, holding too many would inevitably lead to being ganged up on.
The strategies were numerous: there were "alliances," "buying and selling," and even hiring substitutes to fight... after all, as long as the fight was thrilling, the God of Martial Fight didn’t care about the nitty-gritty details.
With such obvious loopholes in the rules, most contenders would seek out alliances, and Old Qian’s approach to Lu Ping’an wasn’t initially due to confidence in his combat power.
"...Cake, cake."
Lu Ping’an located the restaurant with a clear goal in mind and headed straight for the dessert counter.
He was also thinking about having Qian Xiaomu stick around for a while longer; being alone with Eve when she came to visit felt kind of odd.
But this time, his approach came to a halt. The restaurant here wasn’t a safe zone, and it seemed like trouble was right in front of him.
— End of Chapter 1015 —