He just broke up with his girlfriend and is already living with the devilish rich girl.

The cat stood in the center of the stage, and the spotlight shone on her.

She was wearing a modified cheongsam-style dress with a slit that went up to her waist.

Her long legs, encased in black stockings, gleamed alluringly under the light.

A cat paw-shaped brooch was pinned to her collar, and sparkling earrings hung from her cat ears. Her tail was held high.

"Dear audience and mentors, welcome to the first Supermarket Cup Contestant Showcase!"

She put one hand on her hip and held the microphone high with the other, her voice so sweet it could melt your heart.

"I'm your host for tonight, your cat, Mata-chan!"

A long table was set up below the stage, where Bai Ziheng, Luo Yao, and Zheng Xingguang were seated.

Bai Ziheng had a cigarette dangling from his mouth and dead fish eyes.

Zheng Xingguang sat upright, his expression serious.

Luo Yao rested her chin on her hand, her smile somewhere between "This is quite interesting" and "Let's see what tricks you guys can come up with."

"Now, let's welcome our first contestant!"

The cat then turned to the side, swung its arm sharply, and pointed to the left side of the stage.

"From Sanhe, Qianzhou! Known as the Great God of Sanhe—the Horned Dragon, Ao Lie!"

A burst of rousing music suddenly erupted.

Ao Lie strode out from the side of the stage, his black trench coat fluttering behind him.

He walked to the center of the stage, took the microphone, and focused his energy.

"Hello, teachers."

Zheng Xingguang nodded and made two notes in his notebook.

"Nice appearance."

"Introduce yourself," the cat said with a smile, handing over the microphone.

"No, wait a minute."

Bai Ziheng raised his hand to interrupt, took the cigarette out of his mouth, and turned to look at Maoyou.

"Stop using variety show references and hurry up and let him show his skills, otherwise he'll be criticized for padding the word count."

Ao Lie didn't waste any words.

He shoved the microphone into the cat's hand, took two steps back, and focused his energy.

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and bring your fists to your sides.

The starting stance is a standard horse stance punch.

A set of military boxing techniques was performed.

Lunge punch, throat-piercing spring kick, horse stance horizontal strike.

Each move was powerful and swift, with the fists cutting through the air with a sharp whistling sound.

The inside hook and alternating side kicks are clean, crisp, and rhythmic.

After finishing the last move with a blocking punch, bring your feet together, tuck your fists to your sides, and stand up straight.

"Great!" Zheng Xingguang was the first to stand up and applaud.

Bai Ziheng nodded as well.

This set of military boxing was indeed performed beautifully; the stance was stable, and the power was crisp, clearly indicating that the person had practiced it.

He reached out and snapped a button on the table.

Zheng Xingguang pressed the button as well.

The two chairs then turned around.

Luo Yao's lips began to twitch.

"You guys—" Her voice wasn't loud, but each word seemed to be squeezed out from between her teeth.

"They seemed to be having a lot of fun."

She raised her hand and slammed it on the table.

With a loud bang.

All the spotlights, the stage, the backdrop, and even the microphone in the cat's hand.

They all vanished into black mist in an instant.

The floor beneath their feet began to collapse, and darkness surged in from all directions, engulfing the entire space.

Zheng Xingguang instinctively reached for the sword case on his back, but Bai Ziheng pressed down on his wrist.

"Don't panic, this is the boss's strength."

Two pairs of scarlet eyes lit up in the darkness.

Two hyenas emerged from the abyss, standing over two meters tall at the shoulder, their bodies covered in black bone armor.

Thick saliva dripped from his mouth.

A-class outlier.

The fake was created by Luo Yao using her power of control, but its aura and sense of oppression were no different from the real thing.

"Let me see what you're really capable of."

Luo Yao leaned back in her chair, crossed her legs, raised her chin towards the two hyenas, and her voice turned cold.

"Kill them, or be killed by them."

Ao Lie turned around to face the two hyenas that were growling, his expression unchanged: "No problem."

The moment the first hyena pounced, Ao Lie opened his mouth.

A fireball shot out of his mouth, trailing a dark red tail, and slammed into the hyena's breastbone.

No harm was caused.

The second one followed closely behind, its sharp claws sweeping across with a whooshing sound.

Ao Lie touched the ground with his toes, floated backward more than ten meters, and opened his mouth again.

The second fireball still did not cause any damage.

Then came the third, and the fourth.

He kept spitting fireballs and kept backing away.

Every time he creates distance, he opens his mouth and fires a shot.

Zheng Xingguang looked at the dragon on the stage that was frantically retreating.

Watch him spit out fireballs, then take three steps back, then spit out more, then take another step back.

The entire combat rhythm felt like some kind of bizarre turn-based game.

"What is this person doing?"

Zheng Xingguang couldn't help but ask.

Bai Ziheng squinted, a cigarette dangling from his lips.

"Didn't he already say it? It's a stacking horned dragon, stacking passive abilities here."

Just as Bai Ziheng had predicted.

The fireballs grew larger and larger, their color changing from dark red to crimson, and then from crimson to a dazzling bright orange.

Each breath he exhaled was hotter than the last.

But this... has taken a little too long.

Bai Ziheng had grown so tired that he started to doze off.

Finally, after more than forty minutes of this tug-of-war...

The fireball, which had been accumulating for over forty minutes, blasted a hyena's forelimbs into charcoal.

Then another fireball exploded on the side of another hyena, sending bone fragments flying like shrapnel.

The two A-rank hyenas didn't even have time to howl before they vaporized instantly in that blinding golden light, leaving not even a trace.

The flames died down.

Ao Lie stood there, a section of the hem of his trench coat charred, transforming him from a cool, aloof guy into a piece of charcoal just taken out of the oven.

"I've made a fool of myself."

His voice was extremely hoarse.

Bai Ziheng turned to Luo Yao: "Boss, what do you mean?"

Luo Yao rested her chin on her hand, watching the dragon on the stage who was pouring loquat syrup into his mouth.

She thought for a while, then smiled.

"Well, how should I put it?"

"If you lock him up in a safe place and let him accumulate experience for a year or two before releasing him, he might actually be able to kill an S-rank operator with a single fireball."

Bai Ziheng's eyes lit up: "That strong?"

"You little idiot."

Luo Yao raised her hand and smiled as she patted Bai Ziheng's head.

The movement was very light, the fingertips passing through his hair.

Then she withdrew her hand, looked at the still coughing horned dragon on the stage, and her smile had a hint of schadenfreude.

"First of all, he doesn't have a year to accumulate skills."

"Do you think your opponent will just stand there and wait for you to stack up your passive abilities after you start fighting?"

"Secondly—"

"Let alone a year, if he vomits for another ten minutes, he'll collapse and die first."

The voice just fell.

On the stage, Ao Lie clutched his throat and fell straight backward.

With a loud bang, a cloud of dust rose up.

The cat quickly ran up to him, squatted down beside him, and fanned him with its handkerchief.

Ao Lie lay on the ground, his usually aloof face now filled with utter despair.

His lips moved, and he let out a faint groan.

"...Water, quick, give me...water..."