“Are you really that sure? He might still win — after all, that Asian man has already fought more than a dozen rounds; his stamina must be nearly spent!” someone in the crowd objected.

To lend their words more weight, they added: “In the last brawl, it took him seven full minutes to knock out his opponent!”

“The seven minutes had nothing to do with him being tired. He adjusted his own pace deliberately.”

The big-bearded man lowered his legs and slowly sat up, watching the stage as he continued:

“It’s like a marathon runner — when they realize there’s still a long way to go, they consciously regulate their speed to avoid burning through their stamina too quickly. When an athlete slows down, it’s not because they can’t run anymore; it’s a deliberate conservation of strength. Understand?”

“Hmph, you talk as if you know everything. Why don’t you go up there and try it yourself?”

“Me?” The big-bearded man smiled faintly, then lazily lay back down and closed his eyes. “I need to rest… He rests on the stage; I rest off the stage. Gotta conserve my energy properly before heading up.”

Everyone who heard that felt deeply uncomfortable.

He had the audacity to call Shen Mo’s fights on stage “resting” — wasn’t he indirectly calling all of them weaklings?!

They continued watching the match, and just as the big-bearded man had said, Shen Mo was indeed dragging things out more and more.

This round stretched on for several minutes before it finally ended.

Shen Mo’s score became 14.

He waved down toward Su Man from the stage: “Su Man, come up.”

Su Man blinked, then pressed one hand against the edge of the stage and vaulted herself up. “…Mo-ge, are you… going to fight me?”

“Yeah. Tired.” Shen Mo said flatly. “Give me a hit — anywhere is fine.”

Su Man: “Oh…”

She raised her hand, made a fist, and hesitantly… tapped Shen Mo’s arm.

Shen Mo lay down on the spot, calmly watching the countdown numbers appear above him.

Su Man: “……”

Ten seconds later, Shen Mo’s score dropped to 9, and Su Man gained 5 points.

As the scores changed, Su Man heard a wave of long sighs rippling up from the audience below.

Shen Mo heard them too. The corner of his mouth curved up slightly. He rose nimbly and jumped off the stage, and before he left, he handed Su Man the fine iron chain hanging from the iron hook — she could use it as a whip.

His score had now dropped from 14 to 9.

— Players with scores below 10 only lose 1 point when defeated.

This meant that even if someone expended tremendous effort to beat him, they’d only earn 1 measly point. Not worth it at all.

After Shen Mo was replaced by Su Man on the stage, challengers began climbing up one after another.

Perhaps underestimating her, or perhaps because the chain proved effective, Su Man won two rounds in a row, before finally losing in the third round to a bald man.

When Su Man climbed down, she let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Thank goodness her score hadn’t reached 10; otherwise, if she’d lost 5 points all at once, she would have let down Shen Mo, who had gifted her those 5 points for free.

The overall situation was still reasonable: Shen Mo had 9 points, Tan Xiao had 5, Su Man had 6.

Shen Mo led Tan Xiao and Su Man toward the spectator seating.

Tan Xiao followed along cheerfully without asking why.

Su Man glanced back at the fierce fighting on the stage and couldn’t help asking: “Where are we going? Don’t we need to stay and watch?”

It would be useful to observe the others’ skills and know their opponents better.

Right now, Bai Youwei, Yan Qingwen, and Lu Yuwen were all absent from her side. Su Man felt that even if she wasn’t good at it, she ought to think more carefully and be more thorough…

Up ahead, Shen Mo said mildly: “No rush. This game has no time limit. Come with me first.”

……

Shen Mo wandered through the spectator area and found the big-bearded man snoring away in the very last row.

He brought Tan Xiao and Su Man over, sat down beside the man, and asked calmly: “Want to cooperate?”

The big-bearded man lifted one eyelid and looked at him.

“You’ve noticed it too, haven’t you? The trap in this game.” Shen Mo smiled faintly. “That’s why you’ve been staying here all along — waiting for an opportunity?”

—