Little Blondie's Cover Was Blown

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As Chen Shang shouted loudly, nearly a dozen drones quickly converged, snapping photos of the group in a chaotic flurry. Even Flavii gestured for the director to switch the cameras to capture the scene from every angle, ensuring there were no blind spots.

No one had expected the young master of the Xu Group to disguise himself and participate in the Grand Tournament, and as an impostor, no less. Most importantly, the Xu Group had already caused a scandal of rigging during the preliminaries—now they had sent someone to compete under another’s name in the finals. Such blatant manipulation was explosive news!

“Who would have thought that Young Master Xu Qing would personally enter the tournament?” Chen Shang clapped his hands as he slowly approached the masked man. “By the way, you weren’t originally a member of the Kunlun Team, were you?”

In the Grand Tournament, impersonating another competitor in the finals was strictly forbidden—a violation that would disqualify the entire team.

“You…stop talking nonsense!” The masked man snorted coldly, maintaining his cool and indifferent demeanor. “I am not Xu Qing! My name is Lin Feixing, and I am a competitor for the Kunlun Team!”

“Then do you have the guts to take off that ridiculous mask and let the audience see your signature blond hair?” Chen Shang spread his hands and smiled. “It’s all for the sake of fairness, I hope you understand.”

“Fairness?” Xu Qing sneered.

“Of course I can. But for fairness’ sake, you should also remove those pixelated glasses and let us see your true face. After all, you might be an impostor too, right?”

If Xu Qing kept denying, he would only become more passive in the argument. Rather than stubbornly denying like a third-rate villain, he might as well exchange revelations openly.

He could admit his identity, triggering a wave of condemnation, but in return, he could force this mysterious “planner” to reveal his own face.

“My dear young master, this is a live broadcast—don’t say such dramatic things,” Chen Shang joked, drawing closer to Xu Qing without anyone noticing. “But if you insist, fine. I’ll count to three—when I reach one, we both unveil at the same time, agreed?”

“Fine, let’s do it.” Xu Qing gripped his mask with one hand, the other poised in the air, ready to draw his gun at any moment.

On the other side, Chen Shang held the edge of his black-rimmed glasses, his feet shifting almost imperceptibly as he inched closer.

“Three…”

“Two…”

“One…!”

As they called the final number, Chen Shang suddenly lunged at Xu Qing.

At the same instant, Xu Qing drew his pistol from his waist and fired rapidly at Chen Shang. The bullets seemed almost self-guided, flying straight for Chen Shang’s head and torso.

“Crisis Sense” activated instantly; time around him seemed to slow, and Chen Shang could see the bullets’ trajectories. He twisted his body aside, dodging by a hair’s breadth, while simultaneously activating his pheromone suppressor.

Time returned to normal.

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Xu Qing found that the imposing enemy in front of him had suddenly vanished, as if his very presence had faded to something as insignificant as a roadside pebble.

But Xu Qing was not without his own countermeasures. His pupils shrank, activating his unique reconnaissance ability.

With an inspiration stat as high as 5, he could sense Chen Shang’s presence again within a second, even without any instruments.

But even that single second was enough—Chen Shang was now right in front of him.

Sword Brother and White Fox, having received Chen Shang’s secret orders, had already retreated to a distance of ten meters.

That meant Chen Shang could now use that skill freely.

He clenched his chest, and the Ruin Core flared with a purplish glow.

The oppressive force of “Abyssal Aura” expanded outward. Suddenly, Xu Qing’s vision turned blood-red, as if a crimson mist was spreading.

Xu Qing was frozen in place. Seizing the opportunity, Chen Shang smashed Xu Qing’s mask with a punch and swept back his hood.

Someone as intelligent as Xu Qing would never rely solely on a mask to conceal his identity. To prevent the use of any high-tech holographic disguise, Chen Shang also slipped a small magnetic field disruptor into the back of his collar.

Moments later, Xu Qing broke free from the hallucination, reaching up to touch his face, only to feel the warmth and pain of his own skin.

“Petty tricks!” he scoffed, not panicking but instead covering his face with one hand while the other quickly pressed the holographic disguise control button at his right ear, trying to activate the facial disguise.

No matter what method the planner had used to unmask him, as long as he could activate the holographic disguise quickly, he still had room to maneuver.

He hadn’t lost yet!

But for some reason, the holographic device malfunctioned and refused to respond.

“Damn it…why?!” Realizing his equipment had failed, Xu Qing couldn’t help but curse under his breath, his handsome features finally betraying a trace of anxiety.

“Oooooh!” On television, Flavii held the microphone and let out an earth-shattering exclamation:

“What is happening here?! That face…is it really the young master of the Xu Group?!”

Although Xu Qing was just a high school student, he was never shy about attending various press conferences and social events—his face was quite well known.

Now, with nearly a dozen drones capturing his features from every angle, Xu Qing knew he could no longer hide. A sense of cardiac arrest came over him.

“You bastard! What did you do to me?!” Xu Qing glared, whipping out a dagger and slashing forward, but Chen Shang dodged and kicked him in the waist.

“Oh? The young master is getting agitated? Seriously? Really agitated?” Watching the turn of events, Chen Shang’s grin nearly reached his ears.

He had only planned to eliminate the Xu Group’s would-be “Boxing King” during the preliminaries and ruin their commercial schemes. He hadn’t expected Xu Qing to walk right into the trap himself.

If not for the ongoing fight, they would have noticed the dramatic shift in public opinion on Weibo:

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“Corruption! This is absolute corruption! The conglomerates can send impostors to compete?!”

“The Xu Group has been rigging matches since the preliminaries—now they won’t stop even in the finals!”

“Unbelievable! Even our entertainment shows have become playgrounds for rich kids. When will we ordinary people ever get a chance?”

“Until that person returns, we’ll always be on our knees.”

“What are you implying? Who sent you?! (shocked emoji)”

“……”

Within moments, tens of thousands of posts flooded Weibo, furiously criticizing the Xu Group. Though the company’s PR team worked overtime to delete as many as possible, they couldn’t suppress the idle fury of Night Anchor City’s lower classes.

For them, this was a rare opportunity for amusement. The harder the conglomerates tried to suppress them, the more fiercely they rebelled.

Chen Shang’s Collapse Points surged by another fifty, but for now, he had nothing left to exchange them for.

After a brief struggle, Xu Qing eventually gained the upper hand, pressing his gun to Chen Shang’s head.

Just then, several drones equipped with miniature weapons flew toward Xu Qing, quickly surrounding him.

“Mr. Xu Qing, please put down your weapon and leave the arena immediately!” One drone hovered in front of him, issuing a cold mechanical warning. “Do not disrupt the match any further!”

“Get out of my way!” Xu Qing, furious, smashed a drone aside with his gunstock, trying to aim at Chen Shang once more.

But Chen Shang had already seized the opportunity to slip away.

—Why…why was it always just one step away…just one step!

“Goddammit, ****!” For the first time—and perhaps the last—Xu Qing cursed so loudly on the big screen that the broadcast director had to mute him instantly due to the sheer vulgarity.

“Mr. Xu Qing…please don’t resist; cooperate with us and leave the arena!” The battered drone, smoke trailing behind it, struggled back into the air, issuing a broken warning: “We…don’t want…to use force against you!”

Veins bulged on Xu Qing’s forehead as he prepared to curse again, but then his expression changed to one of shock.

He suddenly realized he was on the most-watched live show in all of Night Anchor City. Every move and word had been broadcast to every resident.

“I…” Xu Qing held his head, stunned for a moment, then, utterly dejected, followed the drones out of the arena.