As soon as the Human Emperor Banner came out, I became the Lord of the Old Ones

Chapter 172 Fighting alongside the citizens!
The reporters who remained at the scene were like flies that had smelled rotten eggs, swarming around the Shattered Star team's rest area and reluctant to leave for a long time.

Sheikh Krat, the owner of the Shattered Star Club, bit his back teeth until sparks flew, and the words "No comment" sprayed out like incendiary bombs, but he couldn't drive away these damned flies.

At the same time, the atmosphere during the interviews inside the Kuangtie Club was very harmonious.

General Manager Xiong Ruyue opened up several areas, allowing reporters to investigate the club's daily operations.

The manual laborers who participated in the "re-employment training class" surrounded the reporters, insisting on expressing their heartfelt gratitude to the Kuangtie Club in front of the camera.

Surrounded by these workers filled with simple emotions, Xiong Ruyue accepted interviews from various media outlets.

This is how she explained the new tactics of the Kuangtie team:
"Actually, it was completely unintentional."

"Initially, we only upgraded the infrastructure in the venue and did not intend to change the tactical style of the Kuangtie team."

"However, the Kuangtie Club has always been rooted in the grassroots, serving the community, and charging low fees. The vast majority of its members are the backbone of Dawn City—the vast majority of citizens who work diligently in their respective positions."

"The purpose of everyone coming to the Mad Iron Club is not to forge themselves into killing machines, but simply to make their bodies stronger, better able to control the Black Iron level civilian spirit body, improve work efficiency, and make greater contributions to the production and construction of Dawn City."

"In response to this demand, we are also constantly adjusting and trying new training methods in practice to deeply explore the potential of black iron civilian cards."

"Unfortunately, at that time our team lacked skilled card makers, so we could only address the issue from the perspective of the members' physical condition, and could not solve the problem from the card level."

"By sheer chance, we established a deep collaboration with a Spirit Card technology team active in the wilderness area, filling in the gaps in our capabilities. In practice, we discovered that Black Iron civilian cards are not unusable in combat—by fine-tuning the underlying architecture, engraving new rune arrays, and rebuilding the logical relationship between runes and words, we can significantly shorten summoning and cooldown times, allowing the power to shatter rocks to be applied in more scenarios."

"Of course, we didn't expect to have such a good start in this Dawn Cup."

"In fact, the focus of Kuangtie Club's operations is not the Dawn Cup right now; the re-employment training program is what we are most concerned about."

"As long as we can further develop the potential of the Black Iron civilian card, allowing the backbone of Dawn City—the vast majority of citizens burdened with the weight of life—to obtain enough power to protect themselves at the lowest cost, what does it matter if the Mad Iron Team is swept out of the next competition?"

His words elicited enthusiastic applause from the members present.

When asked by reporters whether the club was facing operational difficulties, Xiong Ruyue answered with a smile:

"There are definitely difficulties. Today, in Dawn City, we, like many other citizens, are facing all sorts of difficulties."

"However, we believe that no matter how great the difficulties are, they are no greater than our determination to overcome them."

"The 'no-card' style is a practical fighting style that grew out of the cracks in the copper wall and iron wall under the pressure of the god-like power of the 'old men in the ring' during the cruel era when the remnants of the old souls ruled the world. Compared with the storms we once encountered, the so-called difficulties before us are nothing more than a cool breeze on a summer afternoon."

"No matter what, we will stand with all the citizens of Dawn City, fight side by side, and fight to the last moment on the battlefield of 'life'."

These words were met with cheers. Even many reporters shared the same sentiment.

Unfortunately, the economic crisis has affected not only manual laborers, but also the chilling atmosphere of the crisis has permeated the media.

For grassroots editorial positions like theirs, the job may look glamorous on the surface, but the salary keeps dropping and the competition is getting fiercer, leaving everyone with no job security.

God knows, they're still in bright, clean office buildings today, doing respectable jobs.

Will I be coming to the Kuangtie Club tomorrow to attend a re-employment training course?
For a moment, even the reporters who received their travel expenses from the Shattered Star Club softened their gazes.

Another reporter asked:
"Does General Manager Xiong believe that the new tactics of the Kuangtie team still belong to the cardless style?"

"of course."

Xiong Ruyue said firmly, "Although our players used some sealing cards in the arena, everyone should be able to clearly see the difference between them and the multi-card style. The rhythm of the entire match, including the final decisive blow, was still firmly controlled by the players themselves. This is an out-and-out cardless style."

"Personally, I don't think the definition of 'cardless style' needs to be so rigid. The reason why the original cardless style practitioners were unarmed was because the remnants of the ancient souls in the later stages of the 'Ten Commandments War' were too powerful. Humans had not yet systematically mastered the way of contracts. If they rashly signed contracts with the remnants of the ancient souls, they could easily be deceived and influenced by them, and become their puppets in a subtle way."

"Times have changed. We should have enough confidence in the sealing and contract technology that the Heroic Spirit Era has developed for a full thousand years, and even more confidence in the cardless flow that has also developed for a thousand years. We believe that our flesh and blood and souls are strong enough to firmly control all the remnants of the past."

"In any case, the sealing card is just a tool, like swords, armor, guns, vehicles, the paper and pen in your hands, and the lamps overhead."

"Human beings are able to become the most intelligent of all beings precisely because of their ability to use tools."

"As long as you can 'have the card in your hand but not in your mind' and not rely too much on tools, I personally think there will be no problem."

This interview, along with the introduction of the re-employment training program, quickly made it to the front page of major media outlets.

In many newspapers, the news about the second day of the Dawn Cup was even pushed down.

The level of discussion among the general public has been rising steadily.

Xiong Ruyue's words, "Today's Dawn City, like many other citizens, has encountered all sorts of difficulties," deeply resonated with many citizens.

The black iron civilian card used by the Kuangtie team in the competition is also a work tool that they come into contact with in their daily work.

Many citizens have unknowingly come to regard the Kuangtie Team as their favorite team.

When the match highlights were replayed, and the Xiong brothers unleashed one powerful dive takedown after another, it seemed as if they were not the opponents being smashed down, but rather the various difficulties, resentments, troubles, and despair they had encountered in their lives.

(End of this chapter)