77: Chapter 77: Flashy but meaningless

On the other side of the Arena, Zhao Kuang did not choose to engage in close-quarters combat as arrogantly as he had during the previous battle royale.

He had just seen with his own eyes Su Chen catching Jiang Feng with one hand and slapping his Platinum Fireball to pieces. That completely unreasonable, pure, monstrous strength had planted a deep, subconscious dread in him.

He absolutely could not let this monster get close!

"Die! Die! Die!"

Zhao Kuang's eyes were bloodshot, and a hysterical roar escaped his throat.

He flung his arms wide, and the tens-of-millions-worth S-Grade Glittering Gold Psionic Armor on his body instantly erupted with a piercing roar. The energy-gathering Formations on his chest and limbs spun frantically, draining the vital energy of his Low-tier Martial Artist body like a high-powered pump!

"Brilliant Gold: Meteor Shower!"

Zhao Kuang's hands waved frantically in front of him, turning into a blurry afterimage.

In just two or three seconds, over a hundred dark-gold fireballs the size of human heads rapidly condensed and took shape around him!

The center of each fireball glowed a scorching platinum-gold, and the surrounding air was completely warped by the terrifying temperatures of several thousand degrees.

"Kill!"

With a violent forward thrust of Zhao Kuang's arms,

over a hundred brilliant gold fireballs trailed long, dark-gold tails of flame, pouring down toward Su Chen on the opposite side like a literal meteor shower!

This wasn't a clash of Martial Skills at all; this was a complete, saturated bombardment!

The fireballs intertwined in mid-air, forming an airtight net of deathly flame.

Every inch of space in the area where Su Chen stood, and every possible path of evasion, was completely blocked off by these hundred-odd fireballs!

The spectators in the stands couldn't help but let out a collective gasp.

"It's over! It's a full-screen cover!"

"With such dense firepower, no matter how fast he is, there's no way he can dodge it!"

"Without a psionic shield, even a single graze will turn him to ash instantly!"

In the VIP viewing box, Liu Ruyan stared intently at the large screen, her hands unconsciously gripping the hem of her skirt.

"You can't dodge it... You absolutely can't dodge it..." she repeatedly muttered in her heart.

However,

under the gaze of all one hundred thousand spectators, and in the face of this terrifying net of fire that could instantly melt solid steel into liquid iron,

Su Chen, standing at the edge of the Arena, made an incredibly arrogant move that instantly sent shivers down everyone's spines and almost made them scream in shock.

Not only did he not retreat, nor did he unleash that speed comparable to teleportation,

but instead, facing the sea of fire that filled the sky, he very casually slipped his hands—which had been hanging by his sides—back into the pockets of his black combat uniform.

Immediately after,

Su Chen slowly closed his eyes.

"Holy crap! He closed his eyes?!"

"And he put his hands in his pockets! What is he doing? Has he given up and is just waiting to die?!"

The stands completely erupted in chaos.

On the rostrum, Major General Lei Wuji of the Zhenyuan Army clenched his fists tightly, his breath hitching. He did not believe that a Genius with such terrifying combat instincts would choose such a pathetic way to die.

"What on earth is he trying to do?" Lei Wuji stared intently at the screen.

On the Arena,

the moment his eyes closed,

Su Chen's world fell completely silent.

The roaring sound of the burning fireballs, the gasps of the audience, and Zhao Kuang's roars all faded away in his mind.

*Weng—*

An invisible, dense, water-ripple-like mental wave suddenly rippled outward with Su Chen at its center.

[Observation Haki]!

His vision was shut off, but another, higher-dimensional sense was completely opened.

In Su Chen's mind, the noisy Arena vanished, replaced by a 3D radar projection map composed of black and white lines.

Those hundred-plus roaring brilliant gold fireballs were transformed on the radar map into over a hundred energy sources emitting high-heat red light.

He didn't need eyes to see. Under the rule-like absolute perception of Observation Haki, the flight trajectory of every single fireball, their initial velocity, the tiny deviations caused by air resistance, and even the airflow disturbances generated by their friction against the air—

—were all instantly analyzed in Su Chen's brain into sets of absolutely precise data!

Not only did he "see" the present,

he had even predicted the future of these fireballs a second in advance!

*Whoosh—!*

The scorching wave of fire, laced with suffocating fire toxins, finally lunged in front of Su Chen.

The first fireball headed straight for his face.

At the exact millisecond before the fireball was about to burn the tip of his nose,

Su Chen still kept his eyes closed and his hands in his pockets. He took a step forward, moving with absolute naturalness.

At the same time, his neck tilted slightly to the left by an almost imperceptible margin.

*Swish!*

That fireball, burning at two thousand degrees, passed right past the tip of Su Chen's nose in an incredibly bizarre manner!

It didn't burn his skin, and not even a single strand of hair on his forehead was singed.

This was only the beginning.

Facing the sea of fire that filled the sky, he began to truly "stroll."

*Swish! Swish!*

Two fireballs pinched him from the left and right. Su Chen's upper body bent backward five degrees in an ergonomically defying posture, as if he had no bones. The fireballs crossed paths less than two centimeters from his chest, the sparks lighting up his calm face.

*Boom!*

Several fireballs crashed toward his feet. Su Chen's steps didn't falter in the slightest; he merely paused his foot for about a tenth of a second right before it touched the ground.

The fireballs crashed down right in front of his feet, exploding on the alloy floor, while Su Chen's next step landed with absolute precision right on the edge of the gap left by the explosion.

Evading sideways, tilting his head, pausing slightly, and sliding his feet.

Six Powers: Paper Arts.

Combined with the omniscient and omnipotent prediction of Observation Haki,

Su Chen's body was like a weightless piece of paper, riding the air currents stirred up by the fireballs within the violent net of fire, performing the most perfect and extreme micro-evasions!

All the fatal attacks seemed incredibly fierce and overwhelming,

but they simply couldn't hit him!

Every single time, the fireballs would graze past Su Chen's clothes by physical distances that would make Newton roll in his grave!

In that dark-gold sea of fire capable of melting steel, he was like a ghost strolling through a downpour, yet miraculously remaining completely dry.

The hundred-thousand-strong Arena fell into a suffocating, dead silence.

Everyone stood with their mouths wide open, staring at the screen like wooden chickens.

"This... This is impossible..."

In the VIP seats, Liu Ruyan covered her mouth with both hands, her face as pale as paper.

She had originally thought Su Chen had given up resisting, but now, the scene before her completely shattered her worldview.

Eyes closed, hands in pockets,

strolling through the fire coverage of an S-Grade Talent?

This was no longer a battle. This was pure play! It was a dimensional-reduction mockery that dragged the opponent's dignity onto the ground and rubbed it in the dirt!

"Hit him! Why won't it hit him?!"

On the other side of the Arena,

Zhao Kuang looked at Su Chen, who was casually strolling through the sea of fire, and completely fell into madness.

"Die! Die for me!"

He desperately squeezed his Dantian, waving his hands frantically. The S-Grade Brilliant Gold Armor let out an overloaded, piercing alarm as its psionic energy was completely drained.

He poured out his psionic energy frantically for a full two minutes, until the vital energy in his body was completely exhausted, and the light of the Formations on his armor went out with a soft snap.

"Hah... Hah... Hah..."

Zhao Kuang's legs buckled, and he fell to one knee on the scorching alloy floor.

He panted heavily, sweat soaking the lining of his armor. His face was as pale as paper, and he didn't even have the strength to lift a finger.

"It's... It's over..."

Zhao Kuang stared intently ahead.

The downpour of fire finally ceased, leaving the Arena filled with thick black smoke and distorted heatwaves.

He couldn't see clearly through the smoke.

"He must be dead... He must have been burned to death. Even steel would have melted after being in there for two minutes..." Zhao Kuang desperately consoled himself in his heart.

However,

*Tap. Tap. Tap.*

A very steady, rhythmic sound of footsteps echoed from deep within the smoke.

Zhao Kuang's pupils contracted violently, his heart leaping into his throat in an instant.

The smoke was slowly blown away by a gentle breeze.

A tall, upright black figure gradually revealed itself to Zhao Kuang's despairing eyes.

Su Chen.

His hands were still tucked inside the pockets of his black combat uniform.

Not only was he completely unharmed, but there was not even a trace of singeing on the edges of his clothes. He stood there, looking as clean as if he had just walked out of a locker room.

Unbeknownst to anyone,

Su Chen had walked through the sea of fire and reached a spot less than five meters away from Zhao Kuang.

Kneeling limply on the ground, Zhao Kuang looked up at Su Chen, who was right in front of him.

Extreme fear and incomprehensible despair completely shattered his proud S-grade self-esteem.

"You... What kind of monster are you..."

Zhao Kuang's teeth chattered, his voice so raspy it was barely audible.

Su Chen stopped in his tracks.

He slowly opened his deep, pitch-black eyes.

Without activating his Sharingan or releasing his Haki, he simply looked down at the heavily panting, dejected Zhao Kuang.

There was no anger in his eyes, nor any joy of defeating a formidable foe.

There was only a cold indifference, as if he had watched a clown perform with all his might and found it utterly boring.

He looked down at Zhao Kuang, his thin lips parting slightly.

In an extremely calm voice, he softly uttered eight words:

"Fancy tricks,"

"and utterly meaningless."