Vanguard of the Eternal Night

Chapter Ch9 - If people seek death…

translator: xiin

editors: Avis & Pyromancer

The competition for the top four finalists that was held a few days later was indeed very grand. The opening ceremony lasted for a whole day, and gods from all walks of life were invited to give speeches. They also found several famous stars to perform during the opening, intermission, and closing ceremonies.

The entire event was broadcasted live on various websites. The virtual audience at the scene were provided with snacks and a huge live screen, while those who were not there could opt to subscribe and watch the virtual live broadcast.

The virtual arena could accommodate 20 million people, and nearly 80 million additional subscription tickets had been sold for the live broadcast. The peak number of real-time viewers accounted for over half of the total number of viewers across all programs.

This was estimated to be the biggest event of the year in Earth District’s e-sports circle.

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The confirmation process for the competition was very formal – Tyron’s qualifications were verified twice before he entered the competition. All kinds of data were examined, and they made it a point to inform him about how various infractions would be dealt with.

The players were all gathered together in the backstage lounge before it was time for them to appear.

The backstage lounge had a common relaxation area. While Tyron was sitting on the sofa flipping lazily through the newspaper, he noticed one of the hosts coming in.

The host was the small goblin from before. The first thing she saw when she entered were two long legs stretched out on the tea table. The owner of that pair of long legs seemed to have heard her movements, and looked up to meet her gaze.

The small goblin’s heart turned warm as she gazed into Tyron’s eyes. She fanned out her wings and asked, “I... Is my hair and dress still okay?”

Tyron motioned for her to come closer.

She flew to the sofa and turned around to present her back to Tyron. She then heard Tyron’s magnetic voice sound particularly sincere as he said, “If there was a ranking for back silhouettes, you would rank third.”

The little goblin had not intended to continue, but when she heard these words, she was intrigued and a little shy. She couldn’t control herself and asked, “Who are the other two?”

Tyron shook out the newspaper and spoke without any change in expression, “There is a goddess named Venus on Mount Olympus, and the other goddess has appeared in every man’s dream at least once.”

His flirting was deadly – the little goblin was left half dead, and almost let out a squeal. She sat near Tyron in a trance, and no longer spoke.

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At this moment, Lu Chaofan also came in from outside.

He looked around the lounge, but did not discover the palm-sized host that was sitting behind Tyron. He spoke sarcastically as soon as he came in, “You’re really in a leisurely mood for someone who’s about to lose their reputation. Are you warming up by reading the newspaper?”

Tyron had never seen anyone so persistent about finding trouble for themselves. He was amused as he said, “This is a public place. What happened to your image?”

Lu Chaofan was afraid that someone would come in behind him, so he just spat on the ground to show his contempt and turned away.

The little goblin was shocked. “Is he that newcomer singer Lu Chaofan? How come...”

“Perhaps he feels that victory is in his grasp.” Tyron glanced sideways and laughed meaningfully, “People will always reveal their true nature on two occasions: one is when they think victory is right in front of them, and the other is when they are desperate enough to do anything.”

The little goblin: Lord Four is so deep! He has so much style, yingyingying...

Tyron casually picked up a bag of snacks. “Ignore him. Want some chips?”

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Half an hour later, the little goblin left to preside over her part of the show, and Tyron prepared to go onstage as well.

Unexpectedly, there was no way to tell which side’s fans were louder.

Lu Chaofan was unwilling to be outdone. During the ‘pre-fight statements’ part of the show, he spoke for a good few minutes and made countless poses in order to attract attention——

He pouted, stuck out his tongue, acted cute, tilted his head at a 45 degree angle to expose his cone-shaped chin...

Snap! Snap! The fans snapped pictures, and their screams rang out from time to time.

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Lu Chaofan’s gaze was filled with pride as he handed the microphone over.

When Tyron accepted the microphone, his fans also began to prepare themselves, and wickedly shouted out together, “Lord Four should also show his face!”

Tyron didn’t even need to think about it before planning to refuse.

And then, he had just opened his mouth to reply when an unusually well-organized shout came out from the audience below. “No—“

The 360-degree with no dead angles audience stands had its own stereo echo effect. This roar lingered for a long time, and even some helpful-minded followers who did not know the truth behind the matter began to shout along.

Tyron: “...”

He had no way to speak over their “No” even if he used the microphone.

Lord Four’s fans had already attempted several times, and finally succeeded in preemptively crowding out Lord Four’s “No” during this round of the competition. The fans wanted to express their satisfaction – this kind of major revenge had to be taken! These Lord Four fans now had no regrets in their lives!

Tyron: “...” He really didn’t understand these modern people.

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Lu Chaofan’s expression was ugly. He had never thought that the popularity he had painstakingly built up over the past half a year would lose to Tyron’s covered face and the word ‘No’.

He couldn’t keep his emotions off his face at all. Turning to Tyron, he said, “We’ll soon see what you’re really capable of.”

Tyron: “Yeah.”

As soon as the little goblin saw how strong the scent of gunpowder was between the two players, she immediately rushed through the pre-match introductions and began the process to start the actual fight.

The rules were BO3, commonly known as ‘two wins in three matches’.

The map was selected at random. The first map was: the interior of the interstellar warship, Hearthstone.

This map was medium sized, and set in a science fiction backdrop. There were various cabins inside the warship that were very suitable for hiding, and the objects on the map were not easily destroyed.

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The two people were transferred to the map. Coincidentally, they ended up standing face to face in a narrow corridor.

After the countdown began, the inside and outside of the stadium were isolated from each other.

A superstar smile was still there on Lu Chaofan’s face, but his words were no longer polite. “Don’t forget the script, you have a very high difficulty trip and fall right at the start!”

Tyron felt that he was too long-winded, and gave him a look of disdain.

Lu Chaofan spoke in a rage, “Don’t forget the three million! Since you’ve sold yourself for money, why are you still acting cold and aloof?! I’m sick and tired of you low-class, uneducated hybrids!”

Tyron did not speak. He simply narrowed his eyes.

Lu Chaofan had provoked him for so long, but this was the first time that he felt like he had broken through Tyron’s defences. He immediately felt proud of himself, and sneered complacently, “I’m not wrong, right? You’re always wearing that hood because you don’t dare to show yourself? You people from the Earth District are all mixed blood bastards that basically don’t even know whose monkey genetics you’ve inherited. Are you delusional? Wanting to compare yourself to me while covering your face with that hood?”

Tyron looked at him like he was a dead man.

Lu Chaofan was not the first target who had tried to use money to save himself, but he was the first one who was so persistent in continuously seeking his own death.

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The countdown finally ended.

Tyron directly entered Stealth and disappeared from everyone’s sight.

Lu Chaofan was so excited that he found it difficult to control the flush on his face; he laid a trap in a predetermined location.

According to the ‘script’, Tyron would sneak up to him from his left rear. He only needed to flick out a dart—

Lu Chaofan suddenly pulled out three darts and simultaneously jumped backwards!

Only a few tinkling sounds were heard as the darts struck empty and rebounded against the metallic wall before being swept up by a black cloak.

Lu Chaofan’s eyes were opened wide in excitement as he pulled out his dagger aimed it at the cloak.

In the script playing in his head, he could already hear Tyron’s shrill scream.

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“Ah—”

Lu Chaofan’s shrill scream stopped abruptly.

Because Tyron had stepped on the back of Lu Chaofan’s neck as he dropped down from above. He mercilessly used his airborne body to crush Lu Chaofan into the ground.

Before Lu Chaofan could recover and lift his head, Tyron casually raised a foot and stepped down, pressing his face back onto the ground.

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Rewinding back to a few seconds ago.

Ten seconds after the match began, Tyron had already positioned himself overhead, near the corridor ceiling by virtue of his long-legged body.

He waited quietly with a rope wrapped around his right arm, and his calmness contrasted sharply with that of Lu Chaofan’s excitement.

It was not until Lu Chaofan arrived at a spot directly below him that Tyron dropped down.

It was not so much ‘dropped’. Perhaps it was better to say ‘stepped on’.

It was like the action of a man stepping on a cockroach. He first lifted his leg, and then used force to ruthlessly crush downwards—the movement was basically the same.

In that moment, Lu Chaofan was dizzy and confused. His nose had been smashed into the floor, and blood coming out from his nose covered his face. His face was red, his eyes were rolled up in his head, and everything went white for a while.

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Tyron’s booted foot stepped onto his back as he simultaneously took the rope, dipped down, and wrapped it firmly around Lu Chaofan’s neck.

He pulled on the rope, and dragged him along like how one would pull a dead dog.

Lu Chaofan finally recovered from his bout of dizziness. He borrowed the force of Tyron’s movements to flip up from the ground, and the dagger that had constantly been in his hand moved erratically to stab at Tyron’s back.

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“Hey.”

When faced with this sneak attack, Tyron simply let out a light laugh that was full of mockery.

He shifted sideways slightly, and even before Lu Chaofan’s dagger could graze him, his right hand chopped down—landing accurately on Lu Chaofan’s wrist and making him drop the dagger.

Tyron shook the rope, rotated his wrist and elbow at the same time, then tugged, causing Lu Chaofan to be pulled off balance.

Lu Chaofan’s foot slipped, and he once again fell down and ate dirt like a dog.

Tyron didn’t seem to have any intention of going up and tying him up immediately. Instead, he looped the other end of the rope around the door handle, and ran off in the opposite direction.

As the rope tightened, Lu Chaofan’s feet slipped once again. And as he reached out with his hands to untie the knot, he banged his head against the door handle and roared angrily, “AHHH—“

Very quickly, he could no longer yell. His face which had already been red for a while now, slowly began to turn purple.

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Lu Chaofan was almost hung to death on a doorknob that was only one meter off the ground.

But Tyron had disappeared after he fixed the rope to the door, which gave Lu Chaofan the opportunity to use his darts and cut the rope apart in time.

Lu Chaofan was unaware that his face was covered in blood from his nosebleed. He held a dart in each hand as a weapon, so angry that he appeared like a bloody, wretched ghost with his hair in a mess and fresh blood all over his face. He roared, “Get out here for me! You shameless—“

He was still speaking when Tyron actually appeared.

He stood in the corner amidst the shadows, and not even the slightest bit of his presence could be felt. Even as he slowly came out and showed himself, it was as though he was a statue with no life in his body at all.

Lu Chaofan was so terrified that he barely kept himself from jumping in fright.

Tyron tossed Lu Chaofan’s dagger back to him, then lazily crooked his finger.

Lu Chaofan caught the dagger. He saw that Tyron was only holding a single short sword in his hand—this was undoubtedly an invitation to fight with their blades.

Lu Chaofan’s nosebleed was still trickling down to his shirt. At this moment, his anger had already clouded his judgement. Even as he thought, ‘I must make him pay! As long as I’m the winner, all the present ugly scenes will be forgotten!’, he was already eagerly rushing forward.