This villain is too popular.

Chapter 174 Starry Sky Ladder Ranking Competition

[Steam Capital, Shangcheng District, Tianhai Group - Steam Capital Branch]

Good morning, you trash from Rusty Iron Hell!

"Yesterday's 'Death Lotto' had a total of thirty winners!"

"Thanks to the endless gang warfare, ten people have died in the Fifth District alone!"

"However, there are two other even more significant pieces of news than these."

"Firstly, just last night, a senior member of a church in the Upper City suddenly passed away."

"Guess what? His chest was pierced through, and his death was extremely gruesome!"

"Another piece of news is that the gentry of the Upper District seem to be no longer satisfied with the current situation in the Rusty District and are preparing to carry out a major renovation of the entire Rusty District. Do you think this renovation will be a good thing or a bad thing?"

click!
Chen Kong reached out and turned off the radio, abruptly stopping the noisy broadcast.

"Why is it turned off?"

On the sofa, Isabel shook the Blue Mountain City soda in her hand and looked at Chen Kong with a puzzled expression.

"Because my intuition tells me that someone deliberately chose this time to release this news, which is not a good thing for either the upper or lower city."

"Right."

Isabel put down her soda and looked at Chen Kong with a serious expression.

Even as an outsider, she could smell the gunpowder permeating the entire city of this steam-powered metropolis.

Yesterday's 'trial' was like a sharp blade, bloodily slicing through the only fig leaf covering the lower city.

Although the lower district was chaotic in the past, the residents still clung to their last remaining hope.

That means this is ultimately their territory, and the claws of those 'bald eagles' in the upper city can't reach here.

But when Jack and Vivian revealed the dirty deeds that the Gear Church had done over the years, along with the downtown gangs, they were shocked.

The people in the lower city were utterly enraged.

Because it means that they were nothing more than puppets in the hands of others from beginning to end, with those high-ranking officials arbitrarily controlling their lives in a way that was either playful or indifferent.

However, while the conflict has intensified, a crucial opportunity is still needed before the conflict between the upper and lower urban areas is fully ignited.

Just at this crucial moment, news suddenly broke that the Upper District was going to carry out a 'major renovation' of the Lower District.

Although Chen Kong was unsure who had leaked the information, he felt that the person was definitely up to no good.

"Isabel, has your Tianhai Group received any news recently?"

Isabel shook her head and said, "No, as you know, our Tianhai Group's main business is seafood products and their derivative processing. Building houses and developing real estate is not our forte."

"Therefore, I don't know much about the 'Rust District Transformation' project."

"Instead of asking me, you might as well try asking that person. After all, she received the news more than half a year ago. Otherwise, why would she suddenly think of coming here to do some real estate development?"

Isabel pointed to the ceiling, and it was obvious who she was referring to as 'that one'.

Chen Kong hesitated somewhat regarding Isabel's statement.

Because he already owed that person a considerable favor.

If he were to make another request, he would inevitably have to represent the Qianxia Group in the 'Starry Sky Ladder Ranking Tournament' of Martial Arts Heavenly Capital, alongside Liu Ma.

To this day, Chen Kong still hasn't decided whether to participate in the 'Ladder Ranking Tournament'.

After all, the difficulty of this ranked ladder is secondary; the most crucial factor is the exposure of this ranked ladder.

Once someone notices his abnormality and guesses what's inside him...

What happened to the embers will happen to him once again.

And this time, it's uncertain whether anyone will be able to help him.

"What's wrong? Are you too embarrassed to ask that person?"

Chen Kong shook his head and said, "Let me think about it."

"Fine, I really don't understand what you're agonizing over. You have such a great opportunity to rely on, why are you being so hesitant?"

Just as Isabel was jokingly laughing at Chen Kong, the anime scene switched to a warm-toned flashback sequence.

This memory refers to what Yu Qianxia explained to Chen Kong about the 'Starry Sky Ladder Ranking Tournament' not long ago.

'The Starry Sky Ladder Ranking Tournament is a special competition jointly organized by the Star Envoy Association and the New Federation, held at the Sky Tower in Martial Arts Capital.'

Yu Qianxia slapped the invitation in front of Chen Kong, indicating that as long as Chen Kong was willing, he could soon join Liu Ma in participating in the Federation's most prestigious battle of geniuses, backed by their Qianxia Group.

In order to make Chen Kong understand the importance of this ranking competition, Yu Qianxia told him some inside information about the competition.

Unlike ordinary competitions, the Starry Sky Ladder Ranking Tournament is not only the highest stage for young Star Envoys to compete against each other, but it is also a potential qualifying tournament for natural disasters.

"Because as long as you can make it into the top ten and meet certain winning conditions, and as long as you're not a Dark Star Envoy, the association will give you a big gift."

'A crucial gift that can help you successfully break through to the Cataclysmic level.'

"So if you still want to climb higher, then this ladder ranking competition is something you absolutely must participate in." "Because if I hadn't achieved third place twenty years ago and obtained that crucial item, I wouldn't have been able to successfully break through to the Calamity Realm."

Hearing this, Chen Kong in the scene asked curiously, "Is that the only thing you can do to overcome the natural disaster?"

Yu Qianxia nodded: 'It has to be that one.'

Is that so?

Unlike when I was a child, I had no idea about the Star Envoy.

After so many years of experience, Chen Kong now not only knows a lot about Star Envoys, but also understands the difference between 'natural disasters' and 'non-natural disasters'.

The hurdles involved are countless times more difficult than most people imagine.

In particular, this 'hurdle' will vary depending on the individual's talent.

The more talented a person is, the more difficult it is for them to overcome this 'hurdle'.

So don't be fooled by the fact that there are plenty of Level 3 Star Envoys in the history of the Star Envoy Association, including some truly formidable Level 3 perfect characters.

However, when a disaster reaches the level of Level 4, the number of people affected will plummet to just over a hundred.

Among these hundreds of people, only five people in the entire history of the association have been able to achieve a perfect fourth-level awakening.

One of them is the association president, Ennet, who is hailed as the strongest star envoy of our time.

And that legendary figure's record on the Starry Sky Ladder was an astonishing 100%.

With a hint of curiosity, Chen Kong asked Yu Qianxia, ​​"Even you were only third, so who were the two people ranked ahead of you back then?"

Chen Kong's words plunged Yu Qianxia into reminiscence, and after a long while, she gave a quiet answer.

'One of the two disciples of the Grand Master is the genius Mechanic Dragoon, nicknamed the Dragon Mechanic.'

"As for the last one, I can't tell you, because that guy's information is considered taboo by the Grand Master and is top secret within the association."

"At your level, you have no right to know his name or his past."

Is that so?

"However, I can tell you one thing: both of these guys later defected from the Star Envoy Association because of the same woman."

This infuriated that old man Ennet, who had been grooming these two as his successors.

'ah? ’

This concludes the brief flashback segment.

As longtime viewers of "Stellaris," they are already used to the production team's method of suddenly inserting "flashbacks."

Because rather than calling it a recollection, it's more like a 'disclosure of intelligence' by a constellation of stars!
'The case is solved; the core of this third season will definitely revolve around the Starry Sky Ladder.'

'Is this where the entire New Federation is gathered? Won't this turn into another interstellar civil war?'

Wow, did the professor have such a romantic history? I never knew!

'A love triangle involving a group of older celebrities? There's definitely more to this than meets the eye.'

'I'm betting there'll definitely be a theatrical version after this, revealing the doctor's love and hate; it sounds like a very promising story!'

'A must-see!'

'+10086'

Just as the audience was wildly speculating and imagining about the Doctor's love life.

Switching back to the normal timeline of the anime series, a huge explosion suddenly came from off-screen.

"what happened?"

Chen Kong hurriedly walked to the French windows and looked in the direction of the explosion.

Soon, he witnessed the scene he least wanted to see.

A large number of residents from the Rust Iron District rushed toward the 'Nut Hub Station'.

Driven to madness, some of them were smashing nearby mechanical police booths, while others simply set fire to the surrounding buildings with Molotov cocktails.

Meanwhile, many more residents of the Rust Iron District, holding up slogans such as "The lives of Rust Iron residents matter too" and "Reject malicious demolition by the Shangcheng District," launched reckless attacks on the mechanical guards inside the "Nut Hub Station."

Shouts, roars, and continuous explosions
These sounds intertwined, and Chen Kong instantly understood one thing.

The fuse for the steam-powered city of Upper and Lower Towns was finally lit.

Once this storm is started, it won't be so easy to stop it.

"Walk."

Without any hesitation, Chen Kong decisively walked out of the office.

Because he knew that there was only one person who could stop the riot.

This person was none other than Jack Bailey, the former owner of Rusty Nail Bar.

(End of this chapter)