CHAPTER 71: CHAPTER 71: THE POISONOUS SCORPION BEAUTY

Wang Lan was famous, yet he wasn’t.

At least, for the past few days, on his way to and from school, the name Lu Sheng heard most often was Wolf.

Since Wolf was competing anonymously, everything about him was a mystery. This obscurity only further ignited the public’s desire to gossip about Wang Lan.

What was Wolf’s real identity? What did Wolf look like? Did he have buck teeth? A face full of pimples? Or perhaps large lips?

Regardless, wherever Wang Lan went, he could hear people discussing him.

This had... absolutely no impact on Wang Lan’s life.

Wolf is blowing up online? What does that have to do with me, Wang Lan? That was his stance.

He ate when he should, drank when he should, bragged and jested with Xu Xiangwen and the others as usual. If a female classmate needed her hormonal balance adjusted, he adjusted it. In short, he was as composed as ever, steady as a rock.

Unknowingly, another week passed.

Friday night at nine, Wang Lan arrived at Suzhou City TV station, almost perfectly on time.

The second round was to narrow fifty contestants down to twenty-five, with a total of twenty-five matches spread over three days. Wang Lan was assigned to the third day, and specifically the seventh match, so arriving at the TV station by nine gave him plenty of time.

Just as he walked into the TV station, he found the entrance blocked by a large crowd; some girls even held glowing signs with "Wolf" written on them.

Is this... fans showing their support? Wang Lan hesitated for a moment, a sudden flicker of fear appearing.

"Wolf—Wolf—"

"Wolf hasn’t arrived yet! Please maintain order, everyone. You’re blocking the entrance and disrupting our work. Please disperse. This isn’t an open-air concert..."

"Young man, we don’t mean any harm. We just want to see the real Wolf."

"Yeah, we just want to see if Wolf is real or not. If possible, I want to take him home!"

When girls got suggestive, even the old hands were impressed.

Wang Lan sighed, quietly tucked himself into a dark corner, and scanned the area but found no side doors.

Taking a mask from his backpack, he steeled himself and put it on.

"Wow—Wolf is here!"

"Sisters, let’s go—"

"No matter what, I have to snatch off his mask and see! I’m dying of curiosity!"

"Big sis, that’s what you really think, isn’t it?"

Facing the surging crowd of hundreds, Wang Lan’s figure suddenly twisted, becoming almost fluid, like a gentle breeze passing silently through the center of the throng.

In the blink of an eye, Wang Lan reached the entrance of the TV station. The rushing, fanatical fans only saw a blur before Wolf disappeared. Turning around abruptly, they then spotted Wang Lan standing under the bright lights of the TV station’s main door.

"This is my competition pass."

"Okay, Mr. Wolf, please come in."

Wang Lan turned back to wave at the distant fans, then spun around and vanished without a trace.

"That fleeting glance... it’s captivated me for so long..."

"So dashing, so gentle... Brother Wolf must be a kind and handsome man..."

"Fangirl!"

"Fangirl +1!"

Different worlds came with different cultural values. In this world, so similar to his previous one, middle and high schools were never short of these young fans.

Their fandom wasn’t always genuine affection; sometimes, they just joined the hype because everyone else did.

In this world’s setting, Star Martial Warriors held an extremely high status. If Star Martial Warriors chose to debut en masse, internet celebrities would have long been obsolete.

But many powerful Star Martial Warriors kept their identities secret. Thus, Star Martial Warriors and celebrities were like parallel lines that rarely intersected. So, when a popular and strong Star Martial Warrior like Wolf appeared, the young fans’ excitement was instantly ignited.

Behaviors that mature adults might deem foolish, these young fans performed without a second thought, justifying it with the romantic notion of youthful recklessness. The act of gathering at the TV station to mob someone received an overwhelming response.

The secrecy around Wang Lan’s identity was precisely the kind of mystique these young fans adored. Countless imagined backgrounds were meticulously crafted in their minds.

Noble scions, heirs to financial conglomerates, descendants of royalty, and so on...

Couldn’t see his face behind the mask? Couldn’t they just imagine it? A pretty boy, a stylish man, a shy older brother type? They could picture him however they pleased.

Ah, I can’t take it anymore, I can barely hold it in! The excited young fans gathered, engaging in a kind of mass self-hypnosis, creating a veritable army that swept through major forums and live-streaming platforms.

When Wang Lan reached the backstage preparation room, the matches had already begun.

Inside the preparation room, the fourteen contestants who had advanced to the second round looked at Wang Lan with even sharper gazes. Compared to the previous round, however, there was far less scorn.

Previously, Wang Lan had risen to fame suddenly, achieving the goal most of them had for entering the competition—recognition—before even participating in an official match. Most were indignant, righteously thinking, It’s because you didn’t meet me in the preliminaries.

But now, all the contestants had set aside their disdain. Anyone who could make it into the top fifty out of eight hundred registered participants was no weakling.

"Wolf, you’re here," Hu Qing greeted enthusiastically.

"You haven’t gone on stage yet, have you?"

"Not that fast!"

"Brother Wolf, could you give me an autograph?" a cloyingly sweet voice cooed from behind. A chill ran down Wang Lan’s spine, and he turned around warily.

The woman’s face was caked with thick makeup, obscuring her true features, though she didn’t look very old. She wore a form-fitting, one-piece leather suit.

What made Wang Lan cautious was that this woman had managed to sneak up behind him without him noticing at all.

The beauty held a colored photo, a snapshot of herself from the preliminaries.

"Brother Wolf, I really like you. Please go easy on me later," she said.

"Are you my opponent?" Wang Lan still didn’t know who he was up against in this match, as he hadn’t been there for the draw. Signing quickly, he returned the photo to her, calm and composed.

The woman sashayed away. Wang Lan vaguely heard Hu Qing gulp beside him.

"Brother Hu, captivated?"

"Forget it. Is a woman like that someone a guy like me can even dream of? Looking is enough," Hu Qing said, not trying to hide his feelings, instead laughing openly.

"You’d best not even look. The more you look, the more dangerous she becomes," Wang Lan said with a light chuckle.

"What’s wrong?"

"That woman is devious. She put poison on the pen she gave me."

The moment Wang Lan grasped the pen, his Healing Star Martial Arts involuntarily activated. This reaction only occurred when Wang Lan was injured. Therefore, there was only one explanation: something was wrong with the pen.

A woman who would resort to such tactics would stop at nothing to achieve her goals.

"So you... you were poisoned?" Hu Qing asked, his voice low and nervous.

"She *thinks* I was."

"Heh... looks like things are about to get interesting."

There were only eight matches for each session of the second round, so time wasn’t as tight. It was unclear whether the contestants’ abilities had genuinely improved or if the program had deliberately designed it for entertainment. Regardless, the battles so far had been much more exciting than those in the first round.

At least to Wang Lan’s eyes, there were fewer unnecessary movements, and the thrilling sensation of dancing on a knife’s edge was more pronounced.

"Contestant number six, Hu Qing, and contestant number thirteen, Ye Hua, please prepare."

After the preliminaries and the initial official matches, only fifty contestants remained. These fifty contestants were all in the mid to late Star Shine Stage. Based on the strength displayed, the only one truly worth Wang Lan’s attention was Hu Qing.

Frankly, Hu Qing had yet to use any actual Star Martial Skills.

But deep down, Wang Lan didn’t believe for a second that Hu Qing lacked them.

To have fought his way into the top fifty using only Basic Skills and Star Power manipulation, Hu Qing’s strength was formidable. His Moonstep was especially notable; a single step could instantly cover a distance of ten paces. Once he closed in, his opponents faced a relentless barrage of palm-edge strikes.

Against Hu Qing’s sharp attacks, I don’t have an effective defense.

Other Star Martial Warriors relied on explosive Star Martial Skills to win, whereas Hu Qing had so far overcome every obstacle relying solely on Basic Skills.

While Wang Lan was lost in thought, Hu Qing indeed demonstrated his prowess. He seized a fleeting opportunity with his solid fundamentals, nimble movement technique, and battlefield control, dispatching his opponent in a single, decisive wave of attacks.

"Truly deserving of the name ’One Wave Hu Qing’! Always the same strategy: seize the opportunity for a decisive counterattack, giving his opponent no chance to breathe. Once Hu Qing finds a flaw, victory is sealed."

Next was the judges’ commentary segment, followed by the host’s Q&A session.

"Next match, contestant number seven versus contestant number fourteen!"

「After three more matches, it was finally Wang Lan’s turn to take the stage.」

The treatment for popular contestants and ordinary ones was indeed different. Even Wang Lan’s entrance music was distinct. As he walked out, screams erupted from the audience.

But this was immediately followed by an even more intense wave of shrieks. The sexy woman opposite him, An Wei, sauntered forward with seductive, cat-like steps. Her tight leather suit, with a zipper that couldn’t quite reach her neck, made many in the audience howl like hungry wolves.

In the eyes of the spectators, An Wei was all curves. In the brief ten seconds it took her to walk to the ring, several minor "tragedies" had already occurred in the stands. The men who had brought their girlfriends to the live event felt a sharp pang in their hearts.

"Brother Wolf... you have to go easy on me, okay?" An Wei said, winking at Wang Lan. It felt like a tangible jolt of electricity shot straight into his mind.

The moment the referee announced the start of the match, An Wei’s figure instantly split into more than a dozen clones, surrounding Wang Lan.

"A clone talent? That’s a rather rare Star Martial Talent! It’s used to confuse and bait opponents, suitable for battlefield reconnaissance and close-quarters combat. It remains to be seen whether contestant An Wei’s clones are Physical Clones or Ethereal Clones."

The clone Star Martial Talent was a strong Yang Attribute talent. However, within clone talents, there was a distinction: Physical Clones had limitless potential, while Ethereal Clones had limited room for growth.

The dozen An Weis quickly circled Wang Lan, searching for an opening. Although they moved swiftly, their steps were utterly silent. Not only was there no sound, but there was also no sense of vibration.

But at this moment, Wang Lan smiled.

As the woman ran, the powder she had applied to her body fluttered off. This powder, when mixed with the poison she had previously used on Wang Lan, would create a paralyzing toxin. If Wang Lan weren’t a Medical Attribute Star Martial Warrior, he would have fallen for her trick. Using poison was one of the Star Martial Warrior skills officially permitted; the sole exception was using poison before a match.

However, An Wei’s method of using poison was undetectable beforehand. Who knew how many people she had tricked this way?

You made it into the top fifty with just Ethereal Clones and such weak combat ability? So, you won by relying on your... generous assets, huh?

An Wei, thinking The poison is taking effect!, licked her lips seductively. Suddenly, more than a dozen figures lunged at Wang Lan from all directions.

A flash of triumph crossed An Wei’s eyes. Thank you for being so popular. The higher your popularity, the higher my starting point when I use you as a stepping stone. Wolf? Hah!

That "Hah!" however, never fully formed.

Suddenly, An Wei felt her vision blur, and then she lost sight of Wang Lan. By the time she perceived him again, Wang Lan had already closed in, maneuvering beneath her attack to get extremely close—

BOOM—BOOM BOOM BOOM!