Chapter 3777 — How to Choose?

If things continued this way, Wei Zhao—this so-called top newcomer—would be naturally neutralized in the challenge tournament stage.

If Meng Tong, his greatest competitor, were cautious enough not to actively challenge him, then it was likely that no one else would step forward to feed him points before the tournament ended, and he would be left to sit on his pitiful initial score and end in embarrassment.

Mountain-Low No. 1 corresponded to an initial score of fifteen points—hardly a small sum for other newcomers, but to a creature like Wei Zhao, who had scored a divine-grade perfect result in two consecutive stages, it was not even enough to fill the gaps between his teeth.

To have strength that utterly crushed everyone else, yet be forced to muddle through the entire challenge tournament without accomplishment—would a creature like Wei Zhao, who wanted to show off and steal the limelight at every turn, really be content with that?

The frustration and stifled anger in all this—one could feel it with even a careless guess of the toes!

Of course, for Wei Zhao this was a pit of suffocating depression, but for the other newcomers it was a golden opportunity—it all came down to whether they had the boldness, the guts, to seize it!

When everyone with eyes could see that challenging Wei Zhao was courting death, when everyone with eyes automatically ignored this top newcomer who had woven his own cocoon, and then suddenly a newcomer jumped out to challenge him—and a newcomer whose cave dwelling rank was very near the bottom—what would happen? How would Wei Zhao react?

Courting death? That was merely the instinctive first reaction. Once one truly came to one's senses, any normal person would absolutely be able to see the opportunity in it—Wei Zhao was naturally no exception.

Think about it: so long as one deliberately lost the first match, the rest of the challenge tournament would be a guaranteed profit of over a hundred points. Who would want to pass up such an opportunity?

Once missed, a second chance would be very hard to come by.

So, following this line of thinking, Zha Wu—a weakling who ranked dead last among all the Azure Cloud Pavilion newcomers—suddenly realized that his chance had come!

One had to know that although the other newcomers could easily think of this too, the problem was that they might not have the boldness to go all in and smash the pot.

Because even if Wei Zhao, being sensible, cooperated and conceded when challenged, without the strength to back it up they still could not hold their seat at Mountain-Low No. 1. They would not only lose the challenge opportunity, but sooner or later they would have to cough up those fifteen points—which would make the whole thing meaningless.

But while it was meaningless to the other newcomers, to Zha Wu, that bottom-ranked weakling, it was meaningful beyond all measure!

The logic was simple: his strength was feeble, and he had scraped together a mere eleven points in the first two stages. At this rate, ending up dead last was all but certain—so while the other newcomers were still quibbling over how many points they had, he had already passed a death sentence on himself in advance.

Many a time, going all in and smashing the pot also required capital, and Zha Wu's capital was nothing short of heaven-sent!

In his current predicament, last place was inevitable anyway, and haggling over points had long since lost all meaning. Better, then, to do something memorable—and perhaps, when the time came, turn his fate around.

Take the present moment: when everyone else dared not challenge Wei Zhao, the top newcomer, he alone dared to jump out—and in the end Wei Zhao actually conceded of his own accord. If word of this could be spread around, what effect would it have?

A fellow who had forced a strongman like Wei Zhao to concede—spread such an unprecedented credential around, and it would be absolutely wild and domineering and cool. Then, after entering the Azure Cloud Pavilion, any normal person would have to look at him, Zha Wu, with new eyes!

Put plainly, in this challenge he did not fear that Wei Zhao was not strong enough—he only feared that Wei Zhao was not strong enough!

Because the stronger Wei Zhao was, the more this day's deed would serve as a signboard, and the more he, Zha Wu, would benefit from it!

As a newcomer, the path to standing out was not limited to the newcomer assessment alone. So long as one's mind was nimble and adaptable, using the shoulders of other powerful newcomers to climb up was likewise a fine choice. Never mind the points—in the days to come he would at least have something to brag about, and that was enough.

So stepping forward now to challenge Wei Zhao, which seemed inconceivable to the other newcomers, was to Zha Wu a heaven-sent opportunity. So long as Wei Zhao's mind was as normally wired as his lackey Xiao Ran's, and he was the least bit sensible, the success rate of today's affair would be at least ninety percent.

Not only would Wei Zhao almost certainly choose to cooperate, but Zha Wu had another advantage besides: before the tournament began today, Meng Jueming had called the newcomers together and told them something—an important countermeasure aimed at Wei Zhao and his gang.

Among all twelve newcomers, Meng Tong included, competition among themselves was unrestricted. But when facing the three of Wei Zhao, beyond the overt challenge rules, Meng Jueming had deliberately added an internal rule.

That rule was: after any one of the twelve newcomers challenged Wei Zhao's gang, the remaining eleven were forbidden to issue him a challenge for one week, and violators would be severely punished!

This rule amounted to a one-sided attack rule aimed at Wei Zhao's gang, its purpose self-evident—to encourage the newcomers to challenge the three of them as much as possible. Even if they could not kill them, they would wear them to death by sheer exhaustion!

And the newcomer who had challenged Wei Zhao could also gain ample time to rest and recover!

With this tacit rule as cover, Zha Wu's decision to challenge Wei Zhao immediately became all the more secure, all the more reckless.

Once he succeeded in making Wei Zhao concede and took Mountain-Low No. 1, the other newcomers—whether out of consideration for point interests or for Meng Jueming's extra tacit rule—would be unlikely to challenge him for some time.

And for one whose aim was to gain bragging rights, that was already enough.

Watching Wei Zhao's placid expression as he took the stage, Zha Wu grew all the more certain of his conjecture, and his heart bloomed with joy. A heaven-sent opportunity—today was indeed a fine day for a salted fish to turn over!

After a moment, the murmuring of the newcomers below the stage gradually died down. Some had already seen through Zha Wu's clever scheme, and though they sighed and envied him, there was little they could do about it.

After all, they were not as shamelessly desperate as Zha Wu, the dead last. To them, points were not merely optional—they were their very lifeblood. Even knowing this opportunity had a high success rate, they might not be willing to risk it all.

The referees of the Mystic Mechanism Pavilion each glanced at Wei Zhao and Zha Wu standing face to face. Seeing that both seemed ready, they at once announced: "Azure Cloud Pavilion Newcomer Challenge Tournament, first round, second match: Zha Wu of Mountain-Low No. 12 challenges Wei Zhao of Mountain-Low No. 1. The match begins."

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