Leonid’s face turned crimson!

Being pummeled in front of everyone, completely unable to fight back — so humiliating! So disgraceful! Where was his dignity as a man?!

He bellowed furiously: “How much longer does this damned item last?!”

Boom!

Another punch to the face. A rush of heat from the bridge of his nose, droplets pattering down onto his collar.

“Big Beard! Your nose is bleeding!” Tan Xiao shouted anxiously from below. “Protect your head and face! How do you have zero experience?! When you’re taking hits you always have to protect your head and face!”

Son of a—!

What the hell did this have to do with experience?!

His body refused to listen to him at all!

With every ounce of his will, Leonid could only shift the rigid line of his body just slightly, angling to protect vital spots. He endured this way for a full three minutes before the tumbler on the floor finally lost its effect!

Leonid’s body went slack with relief!

His long-suppressed fury erupted in an instant. He grabbed the opponent in front of him and hoisted him into the air!

The man was struck with panic — he hadn’t expected Leonid to still be standing after three solid minutes of beating! The next moment, his body left the ground — Leonid slammed him down hard against the floor!

It felt like every organ had been shattered. Pain wracked his entire body!

“You bastard! How dare you use an item on me!” The big-bearded man advanced furiously. The sheer difference in height and build was too great — the man scrambled to his feet and fled!

Leonid grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and executed a brutal over-the-shoulder throw. The man couldn’t get up again.

“Come on! Who else dares to get up here?!” Leonid roared at the audience below.

At this point he had 29 points — just 1 short of 30!

“Su Man, go up,” Shen Mo said suddenly.

“Now?” Su Man startled. “But there’s only 1 point left before he—”

“If we don’t rotate him out, he’ll be concentrated with items.” Shen Mo said.

Su Man’s heart seized. She rushed onto the stage—

Leonid saw Su Man come up and said nothing, only let out a heavy grunt. Then he cooperated with her, deliberately losing 10 points to her.

Right after, Tan Xiao went up, and Su Man lost 5 points to him.

After all this back-and-forth, Leonid was left with 19 points, Su Man had 5, and Tan Xiao had 5.

Shen Mo said to Leonid: “Rest for now. There’s no time limit on the game — the points will come back.”

Leonid wiped the blood from his nose and beard, face dark, and walked to a seat in the spectator area and sat down.

Being beaten with full force for three minutes, he genuinely needed to rest. The injuries might not be life-threatening, but they’d affect his speed and reactions.

If he ran into someone with a similar tumbler item again…

The risk in that scenario could be fatal.

Tan Xiao stood on the stage and waited for a while. Nobody came up to challenge him.

Likely because his score was too low — nobody wanted to burn stamina for a measly 1 point, or expose precious items for such a trivial gain.

Shen Mo looked at Lucas beside him: “Your turn.”

Lucas nodded calmly.

The same strategy was applied again. Su Man and Tan Xiao took turns going up, feeding all their points to Lucas, starting from 0 and losing over a dozen times, pushing Lucas’s score to 29.

This time, without waiting for other players to make a move, they initiated the score transfer first.

Lucas lost 10 points to Tan Xiao. Tan Xiao lost 5 to Su Man. Then Shen Mo went up, swapping out Su Man.

Everything went smoothly.

As long as they continued this way, Leonid, Lucas, Su Man, and Tan Xiao’s scores would qualify one after another. The precondition, of course, was… that no one disrupted this rhythm.

When Shen Mo’s score, pushed by Tan Xiao and Su Man’s alternating efforts, reached 29 — that was when the unexpected happened.

Someone else beat them to the stage.

—