Chapter 134: A Tedious Matchup

Huo Ye recognized the person who walked in, and he could guarantee that the other party had definitely not just randomly picked a room in a corridor that resembled a hotel hallway. Because this person was a big shot in the academy whom he had never interacted with before.

Chang Renli, the president of Thunder and Lightning.

After walking into the room, Chang Renli merely glanced briefly at Huo Ye and Leimi, then walked over to the remaining seat and gracefully sat down.

At this moment, the muscles all over Huo Ye and Leimi's bodies were twitching uncontrollably. They were not in pain, but muscle twitching meant their ability to withstand lightning was not yet fully up to par. From the moment Chang Renli walked into the room until he sat down, his movements were as smooth as flowing water. Clearly, he was unaffected by electricity of this magnitude.

Moreover, the moment he opened the door, both Huo Ye and Leimi could feel that even the magnetic field of the room had shifted accordingly.

This was the strongest lightning-attribute esper in Bancroft.

Members of Thunder and Lightning were everywhere on this floor. From the moment Huo Ye and others entered the training area on this floor, their movements were undoubtedly being monitored—they were competitors, after all. The rise of Polaris had caught all the major societies off guard. In the end, the only ones willing to be on good terms with Polaris were Windchime Valley and the Light of Holy Vow.

Huo Ye wanted to speak, but the opponent was, after all, a society president. As the president of Polaris, if he spoke with a trembling voice, he would surely lose face, and he could not let Polaris lose its dignity.

Therefore, he gritted his teeth and persisted. After a while, having finally grown accustomed to this voltage, sweat beaded on his forehead, and he said in a normal tone, "Does President Chang have business with me?"

No response.

"Are you looking to discuss a cooperation with me, or do you want to have a match with Polaris?" Huo Ye continued to ask.

However, Chang Renli remained silent with his mouth closed.

Huo Ye remained quite calm; his mood wouldn't fluctuate just because no one answered him. After all, he had long been trained by Shangguan Yudie in this regard. That was a person who relied on her mind-reading ability to communicate through non-verbal means, and talking to you was purely out of consideration for your feelings.

Since you're not speaking, why should I waste my time continuing to talk to you? Huo Ye simply shut his mouth right then and there.

Ten minutes later, Huo Ye could be considered to have fully adapted to this level of voltage. This was clearly visible progress, and Leimi had adapted even earlier, seeing as he was a genuine lightning-attribute esper.

Just at that moment, Chang Renli quietly moved his fingers and twisted the knob on the armrest.

"Buzz—" With a distinct sound of increased power output, Huo Ye and Leimi immediately clenched their back molars, their entire bodies suddenly stiffening. As the magnetic field changed, their waists straightened and arched by turns, looking just like mantis shrimp being boiled in a pot. The chairs beneath them bounced wildly, almost crashing a hole straight into the wall!

Damn you!

This was Huo Ye's only thought at the time. That sudden increase was completely unexpected! Was this guy a wooden post? Yes and no. The guy didn't talk, but he was also secretly vicious. If this weren't a lightning training room, Huo Ye would definitely have repaid the grudge on the spot. Trying to out-petty him? You picked the wrong opponent.

"Wait a minute," Huo Ye suddenly thought. "Why shouldn't I repay a grudge on the spot just because this is a lightning training room? There's no such logic!"

Thinking meant doing. He was going to use concrete actions to tell Chang Renli: you messed with the wrong person!

Twelfth [Skill], Greedy Wolf Hunting Ground!

In the blink of an eye, people in over a dozen nearby rooms were affected by Huo Ye's esper technique. Those who had been gritting their teeth to challenge their limits suddenly felt an unbearable mental pressure crashing down upon them, as if a boulder reaching up to the heavens was pressing directly onto the back of their necks. They screamed out involuntarily:

"Stop! Stop! Stop!"

This was the safety mechanism of the training room. Once a person felt they had reached their limit and could not physically turn off the training equipment, they could terminate the session by shouting "Stop" three times.

Good grief, who was this? So devoid of public morality, releasing an area-of-effect esper technique in a place like this? Was your morality eaten by a dog?

Huo Ye didn't mean to; mainly, he couldn't control the range of his domain right now, and he had no idea how large an area he had released. Fortunately, he had expanded his domain horizontally; otherwise, the students in the ice-attribute training rooms upstairs might have directly lost consciousness in that freezing training room.

What about the two people beside Huo Ye? Huo Ye used his remaining reason to ensure his domain didn't attack Leimi; otherwise, given Leimi's mental fortitude, he might have genuinely passed out on the spot.

And what about Chang Renli? Chang Renli still appeared expressionless, but quite a bit of cold sweat had already broken out on his face.

Consequently, a bizarre scene unfolded in this small room.

Three people were gritting their teeth, with two of them trembling in their chairs like breakdancers. The other person was pulling a stiff face covered in cold sweat, his fingers still twitching continuously. Evidently, once his mental focus slipped, the voltage that Huo Ye and Leimi were struggling to endure had also begun to affect him.

Huo Ye cast a sideways glance at Chang Renli, and Chang Renli glared right back.

"Want me to withdraw the domain? Lower the voltage first."

"In your dreams! Withdraw your technique first, and then I'll lower the voltage!"

After exchanging a glance, the two communicated this thought silently through their eyes, and then remained locked in a stalemate.

Leimi, of course, was oblivious to their eye contact. He just wanted to cry right now. What is the meaning of this? What is the meaning of this? Big brother, are you serious? If the two of you want to compete with each other, don't drag me into it! Can you let me run away first before you stand there staring daggers at each other? Right now I look like a boiled prawn; anyone passing by would think I'm having an epileptic seizure!

In truth, he could have just shouted "Stop" three times right then and turned around to run, but he couldn't! Right now, Huo Ye and Chang Renli were having a contest of endurance—what would running away make him look like? Conceding defeat on behalf of his big brother? Absolutely not! He had to preserve his big brother's dignity.

The three of them harbored their own thoughts and stubbornly endured for a full three minutes. Those three minutes could be described as the longest three minutes of their lives—every second felt like a year! "If he doesn't stop, I'm going to be electrocuted into unconsciousness. Is this guy really not planning to let go?"

"This domain is simply lethal, my head feels like it's going to explode, and my hands are completely numb. If I want to stop now, I have to use my voice, but I don't want to speak!" Chang Renli already wanted to surrender. He had only come to test Huo Ye's level, and who would have thought that after a tiny little prank, Huo Ye's desire for revenge would be this intense.

I just put a little effort into turning a knob, and you actually released a domain—are you out of your mind? As an S-rank, you really just do whatever you want!

Right at that moment, a string of angry curses suddenly sounded from outside the door: "Whoever is inside, come out! This is going too far. Is this a place for you to release domains? You must come out today and give us an explanation."

Leimi felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude and admiration toward the people outside. He was grateful because the people outside would undoubtedly break the deadlock and end this deadly and awkward situation. He admired them because... the presidents of Thunder and Lightning and Polaris were both right here inside—did these people really dare to provoke these two?!

A true warrior dares to face a desolate life and confront bleeding wounds. Cheer up, you can do this!

"Not coming out, are you? Then we're coming in!" The person outside pushed the door open and walked straight in. Following a sharp click, he immediately stiffened, collapsed flat onto the ground, and passed out on the spot! His body was still twitching spasmodically.

Leimi's mouth twitched—so you guys are this weak?! You passed out as corpses without even seeing who was inside! But it was hard to blame them; under the dual pressure of such high voltage and Huo Ye's Greedy Wolf Hunting Ground, having this kind of reaction was entirely normal.

Fortunately, after that person fell to the ground, no one else dared to step forward. When the door remained open for thirty seconds without closing, the system automatically judged that an emergency had occurred and forcibly cut off the magnetic field.

Leimi was instantly moved to tears. With trembling hands, he unbuckled the straps binding his four limbs, staggered over to the person lying on the ground, and bowed deeply. A hero! Thank you!

The competition between Huo Ye and Chang Renli was finally interrupted by external forces. The two of them let out cold snorts, and Chang Renli stood up and walked out. Then Huo Ye heard someone outside exclaim in surprise: "Ah? President? It's you inside! Then who was releasing the domain just now?"

"Huo Ye!" Chang Renli still uttered those two words.

Huo Ye also stood up. After walking out and watching Chang Renli's retreating figure, he shouted, "Hey, see you at the Society War."

Chang Renli paused for a moment, then continued on his way.

Huo Ye glanced at the people he had affected earlier. A large crowd of shirtless men surrounded him, and he somehow felt a bit awkward. So he gave a light cough and said, "The thing just now was purely an accident. If you feel you got the short end of the stick, go to Polaris to claim 250 points as compensation. This is limited to those present—I've already memorized your faces."

With that, Huo Ye and Leimi also left the training room. This place was not somewhere to linger.

Some of these people, who had been looking for trouble or just watching the show, were somewhat bewildered. So what on earth had just happened? Should they actually go claim those points? 250 points was indeed quite a lot, but whose leg were you pulling here?