My Apocalypse Territory

Chapter 264: The 2612th Apprentice Chapter 264: The 2612th Apprentice Below the stage.

A gleam flashed in Liu Shan’s eyes.

He clearly understood that the two Awakeners defeated by Le Yuanchen were not worth mentioning, not even considered part of the Extreme Martial Arts Hall faction. It was the young girl now taking the stage who truly represented the Extreme Martial Arts Hall.

Similarly, if Le Yuanchen defeated this young girl, it would mean that he could completely secure this first match.

Liu Shan observed carefully.

From her standing posture and demeanor, it was apparent that the Extreme Martial Arts Hall had real skill. This young girl’s strength was definitely much stronger than the prior two casual passersby, but how strong could she possibly be having been trained for just a few days? Le Yuanchen hadn’t even used half of his strength just now.

He thought to himself, looking towards Shay and at the same time, saw a young man in his twenties standing behind Shay.

He felt even more secretly delighted, ‘It looks like these two are the only Core Apprentices trained by the Extreme Martial Arts Hall. Even if their training time isn’t long, even if they both win, in a five-match three-win scenario, the Martial Arts Hall still stands no chance… Of course, my goal is to win all five matches. Only in this way can I attract customers to the Martial Arts Hall to the greatest extent.’
…
…
At this moment, in a VIP box on the second floor, Tang Yu was propping his chin, watching the fight below.

A guard ran over, his hands holding a basket filled with drinks and snacks, “Hall Master, I’ve brought the items you requested.”

“Mm,” Tang Yu waved his hand.

The guard, showing respect to a supreme expert, bowed slightly before turning to leave.

Tang Yu reached out toward where the shopping basket was placed, then… grasped at nothing.

Turning around, he saw the bamboo rat Li had already torn open the snack packets and opened the drink lids. Visibly, the food in the shopping basket was rapidly diminishing.

Even though the bamboo rat Li’s mouth was stuffed full, its hands continued to grab non-stop, and it was still able to stuff more into its mouth.

Black lines ran across Tang Yu’s forehead.

So gluttonous, not getting fat is one thing, but not growing taller either… Is this really what being an ability user means?!

In the box, besides him and bamboo rat Li, his cousin Chen Xiaojia was also present, vying for food from Li’s hands with two hundred percent focus.

Sadly, not being a gluttony-series ability user, she was much more lacking in this aspect.

“You shouldn’t… mmm, I would be the one more suitable to enter the field in such a situation.”

Core Apprentices of the Extreme Martial Arts Hall were indeed few, just as Liu Shan had thought, with only two.

At the opening stage, there were many strong individuals like Mad Lion who were willing to become Core Apprentices, but Tang Yu didn’t accept any of them. More than strength, more than talent, he valued character more.

What does insufficient talent matter? Drugs can fix that.

People like Mad Lion had their own circles, their own Mercenary Corps, each one slick as an old fritter. Even if they became Core Apprentices of the Martial Arts Hall, they’d think more about themselves, and if some secrets were taught to them, leakage could occur.

Even if leaks happened, Tang Yu had ways to deal with them, but that would be unpleasant.

The two Core Apprentices, the young girl Xia Wanru had just awakened recently. Her mother had met with a tragedy, and she lived dependently with her father in the Sanctuary, originally among the lowest survivors, until she was bullied by thugs from the slum and awakened in anger.

When Tang Yu first awakened, he often found himself in an unstable phase.

A few ruffians had been severely injured by Xia Wanru. The young girl, caught between fear and confusion, encountered Xing Ling who routinely got lost, and from then on embarked on a path of no return… Damn it, embarked on the road to prosperity.

Another Core Apprentice, Ji Ming, had awakened several days ago.

Ji Ming was originally a bottom-rung survivor at the Sanctuary, barely getting by on relief food and picking up scraps each day.

After his Awakening, his quality of life improved, yet it was still not easy for an Awakener to survive and live well.

By this stage, it was rare to find Demonized Beasts near the sanctuary, and some towns and counties had been harvested several times by Awakeners, leaving hardly any valuable spoils of war behind.

To venture into further areas and even complete tasks from the Mercenary Union, joining a team was essential.

However, most mercenary teams already had established members and rarely recruited newcomers, especially not newly awakened ones without any combat skills like him.

Ji Ming had also joined some temporary mercenary teams. Every day, the Mercenary Union would be filled with cries of Awakeners wanting to form temporary teams.

Most were weak Awakeners without fixed teams like him.

Such teams lacked strength and cohesion. They took on a few not-so-difficult tasks from the Mercenary Union but failed to complete any. Each time, it ended either due to disagreements or unequal sharing of spoils. Whenever they found anything of value, fights would break out in the team. Sometimes, when encountering a lone, weak Demonized Beast, they would scramble to attack just for a bit of soul power.

Each time, Ji Ming returned from the wilderness with little to show for it, and after several outings, he still hadn’t acquired a suitable weapon. The last time, he was fortunate to be selected by a regular team, only to find out they weren’t recruiting new members but cannon fodder.

Along with two other cannon fodder Awakeners who had joined the team, they were forced to scout dangerous areas and lure Demonized Beasts. Within a couple of days, both of them had perished. Only he managed to survive miraculously, by deliberately luring several beasts at once. However, after that experience, he was even more cautious about joining any other mercenary teams.

Continuing alone as a freelance mercenary, his strength increased only very slowly until, fortunately, during training at the Extreme Martial Arts Hall, a master took notice of him. This recognition propelled Ji Ming to redouble his efforts.

His gaze shifted to the stage, where several students from the One Punch Martial Arts Hall stood.

Now was the time to prove himself.

…

…

Most battles between First Layer Awakeners were still just punches and kicks exchanged.

However, at this moment, the fight between Xia Wanru and Le Yuanchen on the stage was a rapid exchange of blows, defensive moves met with counter strikes, dazzling the onlookers.

“Even I, a Second-tier Awakener, can’t guarantee a win against any of them,” one Awakener remarked.

The strength of the core students from the Martial Arts Hall captivated many.

Some bystander Awakeners were already making up their minds to train at the Martial Arts Hall; they just couldn’t decide whether to choose the One Punch Martial Arts Hall or the Extreme Martial Arts Hall.

Their hesitation lasted less than three seconds.

On the stage, as the two had seemingly been evenly matched, a sudden punch from Xia Wanru not only twisted and deformed Le Yuanchen’s defending arms but also created an opening for a sweeping kick. The young student from the One Punch Martial Arts Hall was sent spinning into the air, landing heavily in a 360-degree spin.

The change happened too quickly, even Liu Shan didn’t react in time. He couldn’t understand how the girl from the Extreme Martial Arts Hall suddenly became so strong.

Having won a round, Xia Wanru did not step down from the stage, but instead looked at the students from the One Punch Martial Arts Hall and asked, “Who’s next from your One Punch Martial Arts Hall?”

The scene was like before when the student from the One Punch Martial Arts Hall had stood on the stage boasting, but now the roles were completely reversed.