A Card In Hand

Chapter 26: Being Ugly Isn’t Your Fault!

After a few bites, Li Ao noticed Yue Sha’s gaze.

Thinking she liked the mille-feuille.

He picked up the mostly eaten mille-feuille and waved it at her, asking if she wanted some too?

His action scared the timid Yue Sha, who swiftly hid behind Ling Long, not daring to peek out for a long while.

“Fatso, speak up. If you say it’s not a dog, then don’t ever appear before me again,” Huo Mei issued her final ultimatum.

“Fatso, big brother, if you say it’s not a cat, then I won’t talk to you anymore,” Ling Long raised her little hand to wipe away her tears, threatening to drown the land with her tears if he dared deny it was a cat.

“Try and see?”

“Actually, it’s both a dog and a cat!”

Fuxi had a flash of inspiration, making an infinitely expanding gesture: “Its future evolution has many possibilities, everything is possible… so you both are not wrong, it can be called a dog, and it can be called a cat, this all represents our expectations and attention towards it. Don’t believe me, ask Li Ao?”

Fuxi passed the buck to Li Ao.

Huo Mei and Ling Long both turned to look at him.

Me?

Li Ao stuffed the last bite of the mille-feuille into his mouth, clapped his hands, and nodded very calmly, “I think this piece of mille-feuille is a bit crumbled, just average in texture.”

Fuxi was dumbfounded, Li Ao, do you know you can kill a conversation like this?

You need to keep up with the topics that the beautiful girls like.

Who cares if the mille-feuille is crumbled?

Who cares about its texture?

The conversation is about your Stone Bear, it’s rare for someone to like it, better give it away soon!

Not only could this win the heart of a pretty lady, but it might also net you one or two Bronze demonic beasts, a win-win outcome, how great!

Huo Mei glared at Li Ao with a murderous look.

Li Ao spread his hands innocently.

I’m just telling the truth.

That piece of mille-feuille was really a bit crumbled, I can’t lie against my conscience and say it wasn’t, right?

“Interesting, you quit martial arts combat, but I want to have a good fight with you in the Unlimited Challenge,” Huo Mei suddenly said with a charming smile, the flames in her eyes instantly switching to a burning mode.

“The boss said to fight, so I’ll fight,” Li Ao reminded her that he was just a junior, with someone higher up in command.

“…”

Fuxi felt an invisible scapegoat falling from the sky, landing squarely on his head.

Oh, heavens.

Just kill me now.

How should I respond to that?

Agree for Li Ao to take the stage and fight the goddess Huo Mei? Wouldn’t that mean agreeing to let him fight her?

But saying no wouldn’t do either; after all, it was the goddess Huo Mei herself who had made the request. How could he disagree?

Fuxi was in a bind.

Unsure of how to respond.

Just then, a massive shadow enveloped the area, covering Fuxi, Li Ao, Huo Mei, Ling Long, and Yue Sha completely.

Fuxi turned around.

Behind him stood a giant.

His enormous body stood three meters tall, bare-chested, with his large arms exposed, his muscles bulging like rocks, filled with explosive power.

He was gnawing on the leg of some animal, half-cooked, tearing at the meat so bloodily that it dripped onto his hairy chest, displaying a rough and untamed wildness difficult to look directly at.

Yet, the giant’s eyes were surprisingly clear.

Contrasting completely with the untamed beastliness swirling in Cang Yue’s depths.

He saw Fuxi and Li Ao looking back, and with a toothy grin, he flashed a friendly smile: “Come and meet me, I’m called Man Huang.”

Man Huang, seventeen years old.

Born into the Highland Family, he possessed an exceptionally robust physique and talent.

Li Ao remembered that Man Huang had a talent known as Mountain Obsidian, which granted him the ability to integrate with his war beast, the Hill Giant, allowing his body to grow continuously larger during battle, becoming more powerful as he increased in size.

Although his current combat power was only 1050, significantly lower than Prince Jinxi’s.

The talent of the Man Huang was outstanding; he continuously surpassed others and ultimately became one of the few legendary powerhouses among the newcomers this term.

In contrast,

Starting as the King of the Newcomers, Prince Jinxi, the only supernova of this term, only barely managed to break through to the level just below legendary, a whole major tier below the Man Huang.

On the surface,

The two were only one tier apart.

But the actual gap in combat power was more than tenfold.

What truly left a deep impression on Li Ao wasn’t the Man Huang’s talent, but rather that this person, who appeared like a wild man, was actually a master strategist with an incredibly meticulous mind.

His cleverness was unbelievable, and he often used a rough and tough disguise to trick others, such as habitually gnawing on a raw leg of meat as part of his facade.

“Li Ao, a junior from a collateral branch of the Iron Clan Family in Silverlight City.” Li Ao said with a beaming smile, introducing Fuxi: “This is my boss, Fuxi!”

“Your boss? I’d like to meet him.” The Man Huang showed interest as he glanced at Fuxi.

He extended his hand, greasy and bloodstained.

Wanting to shake hands with Fuxi.

Fuxi truly feared this man might pick him up and stuff him into his mouth…

He hesitantly shook hands with the Man Huang, and once the pleasantries were over, he quickly withdrew his hand.

The Man Huang then looked at Huo Mei.

Huo Mei, as a core member of the appearance-conscious faction, didn’t care to greet this humanoid monster.

The timid Yue Sha shrunk into a ball, while Ling Long tilted her head and posed a question to the Man Huang: “Weren’t you only two meters tall before? Did you grow this big to intimidate others or just for fun? Can’t you be like a normal person?”

“It’s hard for me to return to my original form…”

The Man Huang mentioned this and almost teared up, “Can we not talk about what upsets me?”

“That’s so sad, always looking like a humanoid bear, surely no girls like that, right?”

Ling Long added another jab.

“There must be some who like taming beasts!”

Huo Mei chimed in, always in sync when it came to putting others down.

“Right.”

Ling Long agreed, nodding, as her gaze shifted to Fuxi.

“You’re looking at me for what?”

Fuxi suddenly felt a bit flustered.

“Don’t lose the courage to live, being ugly is not your fault!”

Ling Long kindly consoled.

Upon hearing this, Fuxi and the Man Huang covered their faces and ran off in tears.

It hurts so much!

You guys are so cruel!

Just because you’re beautiful, you think you can stab others in the heart?

That’s too much!

Li Ao remained calm.

There was no helping it.

Being handsome just comes with a calm demeanor.

“Number 244, come here, the Supervisor has something for you,” a staff member from the Trial Temple suddenly approached quickly, signaling Li Ao to follow him.

“Supervisor wants you, must be something fun, right? Yue Sha, why don’t we go and watch the excitement together?”

A sly gleam flickered in Ling Long’s eyes, and as she fluttered her long eyelashes like little brushes, she pulled Yue Sha to follow.

“You two stay, the Supervisor only asked to see number 244 alone,” the staff member immediately spoke up to stop them.

“We won’t say anything, just quietly watch?”

Ling Long put on her irresistibly sweet and obedient smile.

“No way,” the man refused firmly.

“Li Ao?”

Ling Long called out again.

“It’s okay,” Li Ao turned back and smiled, waving his hand.

“…”

Watching Li Ao’s receding figure, Ling Long humphed softly after a long while: “It’s too much. Prince Jinxi let them push him forward, we actually never thought about competing with him for the top newcomer, but their greed is just too ugly! We could ignore the little tricks, but if they keep pushing too far, then don’t blame me…”

“Ling Long sister, but didn’t we agree not to compete?”

Yue Sha was a little afraid that Ling Long would make a big deal out of it.

“Their methods are too disgusting, I really want to snipe them, and then see the wonderful expressions on their faces!”

After saying this, Ling Long smiled sweetly at Yue Sha: “Following the rules is too boring, it’s more fun to do whatever you want like that little scammer, don’t you think?”

“I don’t know!”

Yue Sha didn’t know how to handle such situations.

“Sniping at Prince Jinxi’s newcomer king?”

Huo Mei couldn’t tell what kind of thought sprang from the bottom of her heart.

Flames.

They burned fiercely in her eyes.

[T/L Note: Savage Wilderness – Man Huang]