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Dwarf In The Future - Chapter 87.3

Published at 28th of February 2024 12:01:29 PM


Chapter 87.3

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The referee announced that Qiao Zhiya had won the match. Qiao Zhiya was relieved, put away his bow, then jumped out of his mecha. He asked the referee to apply for a permit to use the repair room. 

The young man who had just jumped down from his mecha was momentarily stunned by the words, then widened his eyes and carefully observed the mecha in front of Qiao Zhiya. After noticing a slight looseness at the waist joints, he regretfully hit his forehead — Qiao Zhiya’s mecha was actually damaged! If he just persisted a little longer, and engaged in close combat for a while longer, he should be able to win! He shouldn’t have given up!

The audience and the referee were also stunned. They did not expect that Qiao Zhiya’s mecha was damaged during the battle. 

After entering the repair room, Qiao Zhiya refused the help of the official Mecha Maker staff. He took out his own tools and climbed to his mecha, burying his head against the joints of the waist, then quickly recalibrating it and preventing it from loosening again. 

The official staff looked at the young man’s movements, which were much more skilled and rapid than his own, then glanced at the strange mecha in front of him. He silently took a step back — before a genius, it was better for him, an ordinary person, to just watch the show obediently.

When returning to the waiting area, the second match has already begun. Irene’s seat was empty, so she should be playing. 

Qiao Zhiya sat back in his seat, when suddenly, the teenager who had returned earlier grabbed his shoulder.

“Where is your mecha damaged? Which of my attacks caused it?” The teenager asked aggressively, his eyes fixed.

Qiao Zhiya didn’t appreciate his attitude. He shrugged off his hand and replied, “I just haven’t calibrated the mecha properly before the match. You didn’t actually land a hit on me. In fact, if your mecha’s armor wasn’t so high and your weapons weren’t top-tier, you would have lost already.”

The young man must come from a wealthy family, using only super-class weapon and armor. Judging by the force he applied on Qiao Zhiya’s shoulder earlier, his own strength was likely only at the level of an average A-rank physique. However, his performance in the match far exceeded this level, indicating that his strength was greatly enhanced by the quality of his mecha and weapons.

“You’re not the only one using super-class weapons, don’t think I don’t know!” The teenager retorted, his expression becoming even more unpleasant.

“My weapon is not super-class.” Qiao Zhiya didn’t want to talk to him anymore. After retorting back, he retracted his gaze and opened a rest mode on his seat, separating him from the outside area with a soundproofed, isolation barrier. 

He couldn’t do much about the mecha, as he always aimed for the best and never intentionally did poorly. However, when it came to making weapons, he listened closely to Chu Rong’s advice and didn’t make them super-calls. He even sacrificed the better secondary-mutated red tine ore for an inferior mineral.

If his weapon were super-class, the teenager wouldn’t have been able to engage in so many clashes with him. His weapon would have broken upon their first collision.

The teenager stared at the isolation shield in front of him, pounding the armrest of the chair in frustration. No! He refused to believe it! Qiao Zhiya’s weapons must also be super-class! Otherwise, how could it have such tremendous force?

For this qualifying round, each match was allocated 10 minutes each, with 10 small rounds in total, involving 100 participants. Thus, an hour and a half easily passes by without notice.

Qiao Zhiya contemplated the timing of the matches during lunch and felt puzzled. In reality, organizing a competition with such a format would indeed be time-consuming. Could they really determine the results in just one day?

“Definitely,” replied Chu Yan, swallowing his food before responding to his question. “Real-life competitions are different from those on the Internet. You have to take into account the wear and tear on the mechas. Today, we’ll probably have enough time for all the participants to compete in five rounds. Some competitors might even have to drop out before the end of the competition due to significant damage to their mechas. This competition tests not only your piloting skills but also your ability to preserve your equipment.”

Hearing this, Qiao Zhiya suddenly understood the reason why that teenager asked him in the morning. 

The competition resumed at 1:00 PM, and Qiao Zhiya was matched against a middle-aged competitor in his second match, narrowly winning. Surprisingly, sitting next to him, Irene encountered the rude teenager and ultimately emerged victorious.

Losing two matches in a row, the teenager’s face has turned black. When he went to play his next match, he stared at Qiao Zhiya fiercely.

Qiao Zhiya frowned as he didn’t understand why he was so hostile towards him. 

The teenager won his third match. When he came back, his face looked much better, but his opponent looked gloomy. He went directly to the repair room and never came out. He dropped-out, as his mecha was too damaged to be repaired and he didn’t have spare mecha. Therefore, he couldn’t continue competing. 

Qiao Zhiya noticed this, his eyebrows tightened. Once again, he opened his isolation shield before the teenager could approach him. 

In the subsequent matches, Qiao Zhiya won two matches and lost one. The person who defeated him was Ling Yingxu, a strong contender for the championship in the Capital Planet district. Ling Yingxu was a veteran mecha warrior who had started from scratch and established several large chain mecha training centers in the Capital Planet, earning a certain reputation. 

Qiao Zhiya lost him convincingly, especially because his opponent’s battle experience was very rich, which was not comparable to him as a novice.

At the end of the day, in Qiao Zhiya’s group, 12 mechas were too damaged and its pilot had to drop out. In total, there were about 30 players who failed because they lost three times. About 20 players lost two times, and only a handful of them lost only once. In Group 4, only Ling Yingxu had a clean record of victories. 

The rude teenager was eliminated, while Qiao Zhiya and Irene both qualified for the next round. 

In Group 2, Chu Yan smoothly qualified. Both of them could proceed in the final qualifying round before the play-offs. 

The final qualifying round was still a point match, but it spanned 5 days, with all the remaining 50 participants competing. During the competition, if the player’s main and spare mecha was too broken to compete, they could still play using the official’s spare mecha. The top 5 contestants would then be selected for the play-offs, where they will be competing with other top 5 from all districts, both divisions.

There will be 10 rounds of matches every day, with 4 in the morning and 6 in the afternoon, each having 30 minutes allocated. Facing this style of competition, physical and energy consumption was huge.

Chu Rong frowned at the game schedule, glanced sideways at the spare mecha that Qiao Zhiya was tinkering. Holding down his irritability, he stepped forward and hugged Qiao Zhiya, who was about to climb up to his mecha. Chu Rong carried him back to the main house. 

Qiao Zhiya was puzzled and looked back at him. “What’s wrong?”

Chu Rong’s face was dark as he took the tools from his hand and said, “It’s time to sleep.”

“But it’s only 9 now– mph!” 

Chu Rong covered his mouth, and took him back to their bedroom, sending him to the bathroom first. 

After a week of rest, the final qualifying round began. 

On the way to the arena, Chu Yan was fiddling with his photon computer, gossiping: “Hey, Qiao, the guy who lost to you in the first match was bad-mouthing you on the Starnet. He said you used special-grade weapons to disrupt the balance of the competition. Then he got backlash from others and was heavily criticized. It turns out his family runs a pharmaceutical company, and they lost half of their stores due to the pharmaceutical reform this time. That’s a huge loss.”

Qiao Zhiya didn’t speak. Chu Rong first reached out and held his shoulder, and asked quietly, “Are you sure you won’t get into the top 5?” 

Chu Yan froze for a moment, looked at him, and noticed his unusually heavy mood. He instantly knew that his Erge was exhibiting his protective instincts towards his fiancé again. Quickly, he put away his photon computer and said with a laugh, “Getting into the top 5? Impossible. With our strength, how could Qiao and I possibly make it into the top five? Only first place in each group stands a chance. Qiao and I are just here to join in the fun. Besides, the play-off is a survival match, so dangerous. Qiao and I won’t go.”

Qiao Zhiya had discovered that Chu Yan had been off for several days, understanding his concern for him. Upon hearing his words, he quickly nodded in agreement and said, “Yes, Chu Yan and I are just here to have some fun. Although everyone says that the contestants in this round are relatively weak, I think everyone is actually very talented. For example, there’s Irene sitting next to me. She handles details exceptionally well, balancing close combat and ranged attacks perfectly, and her weapon usage is also very—”.

The atmosphere in the car grew noticeably heavier by a few degrees. Chu Rong reached out and grabbed Qiao Zhiya’s ear, squinting his eyes and sneering, “Are you very interested in that Irene?”

Qiao Zhiya shut his mouth, attempting to pull his ear away but failing, and replied, “No, no, I’m just interested because she also uses a small-sized mech, so I wanted to learn from her. I watched her match recordings.”

“How many videos have you watched?” Chu Rong continued to inquire, curling his finger around the tip of Qiao Zhiya’s ear.

Qiao Zhiya was tickled, his ears trembling in return. He honestly replied, “Watched it all, including her preliminary matches video.”

“Ah.”

Chu Rong sneered, Qiao Zhiya and Chu Yan shuddered together.

‘It’s over, it’s over for me… Chu Rong/Erge seems going crazy.’ Both of them thought in unison. 

“Have a good game.” After Chu Rong laughed, he let go of his ears mercifully, and he helped fix his appearance.

Tidying his bangs, with an inscrutable expression, Chu Rong said, “I’ll be watching you from the sidelines.”

Qiao Zhiya’s heart skipped a beat, his danger radar activated. He quickly threw himself into Chu Rong’s arms, frantically rubbing his chest, trying to bring him back to his usual self.

Chu Rong stretched his arms back and hugged him. He raised his hand to hold the back of his head, his expression was still unfathomable. 

Chu Yan who was regarded as air: “…” It turned out that his Erge was just jealous. He’s still too naive. 

At 9 AM in the morning, the competition started on time. The first match of the round appeared. Chu Yan’s and Qiao Zhiya’s seats lit up together, both showing the number “2”. 

The two of them, who happened to be facing each other, paused for a moment, exchanged a glance, and suddenly burst into laughter. With unspoken agreement, they got up together and walked towards Channel 2. Chu Yan even casually draped his arm over Qiao Zhiya’s shoulder and asked, “Are we still going to practice according to our usual routine at home?”

“Mn.” Qiao Zhiya nodded and added, “No mercy.”

Chu Yan snapped his fingers in his ear and answered, “But of course.” 

As soon as Qiao Zhiya exited the channel, cheers rang out. But after seeing who the two competitors were, the cheers immediately weakened, and then the sound of doubts sounded.

Why did Qiao Zhiya come out with Chu Yan? Are they fighting during this match? 

Soon enough, the answer was provided to them. On the second arena, a silver and a brown mecha stood on opposite sides of the field. As the countdown reached zero, in perfect harmony, they both only wielded their cold weapons and swiftly engaged in combat!

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