Chapter 33: I Want to Fight One Hundred Matches!

As the waiting countdown ended, the waiting room trembled once more.

The rules on the wall shattered and reassembled into a simple line-drawn gate.

In the next moment, the clicking sound of a lock turning echoed.

The gate, drawn in simple strokes, slowly swung open.

Behind the door stretched a long corridor.

Standing at the doorway was a strange robot dressed in blue and white striped clothing, its face adorned with an exaggerated inverted triangle mask.

In a high-pitched and peculiar tone, it greeted them:

“Greetings, fresh arena rookies! I am the referee of this match, the embodiment of absolute fairness—Dio Thunderstrike!”

“Now, I will lead both of you into an extraordinary battle. Please follow me!”

With that, Referee Dio made a beckoning gesture.

Yet the Palu native remained confused, and Lu Li still sat motionless atop the pile of gold.

The robot brought its hand to its mouth, emitting a few electronic coughs awkwardly:

“Ahem… You two, dawdling won't help. Once the Arena Ticket is used, the battle must proceed to a conclusion. This is the rule.”

“A victor must be decided…” the Palu native murmured softly, her voice gentle, seeming to be a girl.

“Can we just forfeit?!”

Her words startled Lu Li so much that he fell off the gold pile onto the floor.

Straightening up, Referee Dio extended the syllables as he asked:

“Are you sure you want to forfeit outright?”

“No, no, no, we want to compete!” Lu Li hastily replied.

If they truly forfeited immediately, the consequences would be severe.

The Hub Arena holds battles as sacred; if contestants who have used their tickets to enter choose to forfeit before the match begins, the referee becomes enraged.

And when enraged, the referee executes both contestants on the spot!

“Oh? It seems you two have not agreed before making a decision. Very well, I shall grant you thirty seconds to discuss. Decide whether to participate or surrender.”

Referee Dio crossed his arms, leaning against the doorframe, wearing an expression of anxious anticipation.

Lu Li quickly approached the Palu native and pulled her up from the floor, whispering:

“We have to fight! If we forfeit, the referee will execute us immediately!”

“But… if we fight, we’ll lose anyway…”

The Palu native lowered her head, the beast ears atop her head drooping, unable to meet Lu Li’s gaze.

“If we lose, we get no rewards and I’ll still die when I return.”

No wonder she was so timid. After all, the Palu native’s home planet was on the fringes of existence, the lowest among the low in both talent and strength.

“If you can’t do it, then there’s me. Why not try? Maybe we’ll win?”

Lu Li urged her earnestly.

The Palu native glanced at Lu Li swiftly, then lowered her head even further, seemingly more hopeless.

“You’re just a ‘monkey person,’ maybe a bit smarter than me, but in fighting, you’re no match for those higher beings…”

“Monkey… monkey person…” Lu Li twitched at the corner of his eye.

Apparently, she regarded him as a Palu native as well, treating him as a fellow weakling.

“Either way, forfeiting means death, fighting means death. So why not fight? Every second alive is a second gained!”

Lu Li gave up explaining and resorted to sheer persuasion.

As long as the Palu native agreed to fight, the rest could proceed as planned.

“Whatever…” The Palu native muttered in despair, finally easing the weight on Lu Li’s heart.

“Referee, we will participate in the match!”

Hearing this, Referee Dio’s previously anxious demeanor vanished. He resumed his high-pitched tone:

“That’s wonderful! Please follow me, and together we shall enter an extraordinary…”

“Wait, referee!”

Before Dio could finish, Lu Li interrupted.

He turned, picked up a gold bar from the floor, and held it out to the referee:

“Referee, before the match begins, I’d like to ask a favor.”

“Oh?” Dio’s body exaggeratedly leaned back. He glanced at Lu Li, then at the gold bar in his hand:

“Openly bribing the referee!? Didn’t you read the rules?”

Lu Li smiled broadly:

“Not at all! The rules clearly state, ‘No bribing the referee during the battle.’ The fight hasn’t started yet!”

“And this isn’t a bribe! I’m just asking for a favor.”

Dio was momentarily stunned, then straightened up.

Taking the opportunity, Lu Li extended the gold bar toward him.

Dio took it and examined it carefully before whispering in a voice only Lu Li could hear:

“Pure gold, 99%, rare treasure!”

“Alright, just this once. Don’t make a habit of it!”

“Are you asking me to favor you during the upcoming match, or to give you a weaker opponent?”

Lu Li shook his head. “I wouldn’t ask you to do anything difficult. I just want to ask for a qualification—a challenger’s qualification.”

“A challenger’s qualification?!”

Dio leaned back again, scrutinizing Lu Li up and down.

Then, seemingly from nowhere, he pulled out a temperature gun and scanned Lu Li’s ear with a beep.

“36.8°C, normal body temperature.”

“No fever? Then why are you spouting nonsense…”

“Do you know what it means to become a challenger?”

Lu Li nodded:

“Yes. Becoming a challenger activates the Gladiator Mode. You must fight three consecutive matches, or you cannot leave the Hub Arena.”

Dio tossed the gold bar in his hand, his tone teasing:

“Do you know in Gladiator Mode, you can’t forfeit? Only death ends the fight?”

“Understood.”

“Are you sure you want this qualification?”

“Positive!”

“Then you don’t need this much gold!”

Dio clasped his hands behind his back; when he brought them forward again, the gold bar and temperature gun had vanished.

In their place was a contract with black background and red lettering.

“No, I want this,” Lu Li said solemnly.

“Because I don’t just want to fight three matches. I want to fight one hundred.”

At those words, the waiting room fell completely silent.

Lu Li even heard the faint sound of the gears inside Dio’s body grinding.

“You’re out of your mind! One hundred matches?! That’s just suicide!”

Dio’s head suddenly popped off, connected to his body only by a spring about the thickness of an arm.

“One last request: before the Gladiator Mode ends, please don’t dispose of the corpses in the arena.”

Lu Li stepped back half a pace and pointed to the pile of gold in the center of the waiting room:

“Seven hundred kilograms of pure gold in total. I’ll be counting on you, Great Referee Dio!”

Dio hurriedly reattached his head and shuffled over to the gold.

“Don’t dispose of the corpses… never thought I’d meet such a twisted lunatic on my first day at work… But since there’s gold involved, you want to fight a hundred matches, so be it…”

As he spoke, the gold vanished into thin air.

Dio pulled out a contract with black background and gold embossing and handed it to Lu Li.

After signing, Dio loudly announced:

“Waiting Room No. 666, battle mode changed!”

“Gladiator Lu Li and Gladiator Alisha Barkey are ready to face the challenge!”

“The hundred-match life-and-death battle is about to begin!”

…