Chapter 117: Kidnapped!

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I do not know when I woke up. My whole body felt uncomfortable, and my head ached slightly.

“Where am I?”

I tried looking around.

“What the hell…”

The ache in my head intensified. When I reached back and touched the back of my skull, my fingers found what seemed to be a wound.

“I’m injured.”

I was utterly confused.

I also felt around on the ground. It was hard and cold—not concrete, but something more like a metal plate.

“A wall?”

I tried knocking on it. The walls were made of metal as well. I stood up and felt around until my hand touched something resembling a handle.

“A handle? Is this a door?”

I immediately pulled and tugged at it, then kicked it several times, but it did not move at all. I took a step back and slammed my shoulder against it with all my strength. Still nothing.

Leaning against the metal door, I stood there in silence.

“Have I been locked up?”

As I considered my situation, I realized something even more important: I was inside a vehicle. I could hear the roar of an engine, and sweat trickled down my body from time to time.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my enrollment notice. Then I remembered that today was the day I was supposed to enroll at the academy called Golden Dragon Academy.

That morning, I had gotten up, left home, and gone downstairs to the terminal station to catch a bus. Since I had left early and had plenty of time, I boarded the bus at the terminal and found a seat.

After getting off at a stop in Cangshan District, I began searching for the academy gates. But after looking everywhere, all I found was a construction site whose foundation had only recently been laid. A sign stood at the entrance:

“Xinhua Sports School Construction Base.”

After seeing it, I searched the surrounding area for a while. Eventually, I went to rest on a bench in a nearby park. Suddenly, I heard a scream.

My habit of meddling in other people’s business flared up at once, and I immediately ran toward the source of the sound.

There I saw a man who looked to be around thirty years old lying motionless on the ground. I hurried over and shook him.

“Hey, mister! Are you all right?”

I listened near his heart. It was still beating, and he was still breathing. He must have fainted. But why had he collapsed like that? A ridiculous thought entered my mind.

“Could he have suffered a heart attack?”

At that moment, the man suddenly opened his eyes and smiled at me. I immediately sensed that something was wrong. Then I turned my head—and three masked men appeared.

After that, I remembered nothing.

Thinking back on it, I suddenly realized what kind of situation I was in.

“I’ve been kidnapped!”

The realization left me deeply depressed. I had meddled in someone else’s business and landed myself in trouble—and judging by the circumstances, it was no minor trouble.

“You’re finally awake, Mr. Dragon Spirit!”

A voice suddenly sounded behind me. I turned around and saw a huge display screen. On it was a middle-aged man with an extremely sleazy appearance—the same man who had just spoken.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“Mr. Dragon Spirit, you are in our hands now. There is no way for you to escape.”

“What kind of people are you? And how do you know my name?”

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The man replied, “Would it be acceptable if I told you that I’m the director of a club belonging to a certain electronic sports gaming enterprise group?”

My expression darkened.

“Are you people really that polite?”

I knew about the clubs in Second World. In real life, there were many electronic sports gaming clubs like that. Some were sponsored by major corporations, some were privately run, and others were simply founded by a few people who thought it would be fun to form a club or studio together.

My own family was much the same.

The man said calmly, “There are plenty of rude people among us, too.”

“Why did you come looking for me?”

“To recruit you. You performed brilliantly in the China-region warm-up tournament, and people even call you the strongest summoner in the entire China region. Talents like you are not easy to find.”

I wondered when anyone had ever called me that. There were plenty of people in the China region stronger than me. The strongest summoner? Was that supposed to mean I could take more punishment than everyone else? If someone called me the toughest summoner in the China region, I might actually admit it.

“What is your purpose?”

“We want you to join my team. We hope you will participate in the National Second World Electronic Sports Championship held at the end of this year. If you win, you will qualify for next year’s World Second World Virtual Electronic Sports Grand Prix.”

“I refuse,” I said firmly. “Even if I were going to compete, I would do it with my companions. I will never join forces with a bunch of people like you. And how do you know so much about me?”

The man laughed.

“Ha, ha, ha! Because we have an informant inside Dragon Soul Corporation. Besides, no matter how you answer, you will definitely join our team. We have an exceptionally skilled physician who specializes in mental manipulation.”

I immediately shouted angrily, “Stop joking around! How could something like that possibly be allowed?”

What he called mental manipulation sounded like utter nonsense. Yet, as far as I knew, human medical science had made profound advances in the study of the mind. Researchers had even developed an entire procedure for controlling and manipulating human consciousness.

The danger, however, was extremely high, and the success rate was pitifully low. If anything went wrong, the subject could become a vegetable at best—or die at worst. There had been successful cases, but they were limited to animals. Successful experiments on human beings existed only as rumors.

As I recalled, the procedure had been listed as a prohibited project only a few years after its development. Performing such experiments violated international law and was punishable by death.

But when the man heard my firm refusal, he slammed his hand against the table so hard that the ashtray on it bounced into the air. He snarled furiously, “Of course it’s allowed. Only you and we will know about it. No one else will ever find out what happened.”

He finished with a sinister laugh.

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“You bastard!” I shouted angrily.

The man gave another sinister grin.

“In just a little while, you’ll become one of us. Well then, I’ll see you at the terminal, Mr. Dragon Spirit. Heh, heh, heh.”

At that moment, however, I began to worry. Not about the so-called mind-manipulation physician, but about whether I had enough money in my wallet to pay for a ride home—and how I was going to deal with those people afterward.

With that thought, I sat down, took out my wallet, and began counting my money one bill at a time while planning my next move.

———

After about half an hour on the road, my back and waist were aching badly. Naturally. Anyone would be in pain after sitting on a hard metal floor with no seat at all.

The engine gradually grew quieter. It seemed the vehicle was about to stop. About another minute passed before it finally came to a halt.

The door in front of me began to open. A masked man entered with a sinister grin.

But I was ready.

The instant he opened the door, I leaped up and kicked him squarely in the face. My powerful flying kick sent him tumbling out of the vehicle and crashing to the ground.

I jumped down after him, but the moment I landed, something struck me hard in the stomach. I clutched my abdomen and dropped to my knees.

I heard someone say, “This kid has clearly had some training. The director was right—we should knock him unconscious first. Still, it isn’t too late to act now.”

As he spoke, I heard a whistling sound cutting through the air.

Then came a loud bang.

The man stared in astonishment. I had raised one hand and blocked the attack. Slowly, I stood up and glared at him.

“Damn it, that hurt!”

“This kid… Wait, your eyes…”

Before he could finish, I drove a solid punch into his stomach.

There was a slight difference between us. When I had been hit, I had merely spat out a few mouthfuls of saliva. He, on the other hand, vomited a mouthful of blood and collapsed onto the ground.

“Ah…”

The instant I heard that sound beside me, I dodged to the left. An iron rod brushed past me. I drove my knee into the stomach of the masked man who had tried to ambush me, and he immediately dropped to his knees.

“Damn you, brat!”

At the sound of that voice, I turned my head and saw another masked man jump out of the driver’s cab. He pulled out a pistol and fired without hesitation.

But at that moment, the bullets seemed to move very slowly before my eyes. I could clearly see their trajectories. I had no idea what was happening, but if I could see them, there was no reason to let them hit me.

After dodging several shots, I lunged forward, clasped both hands into a fist, and put all my strength into a heavy blow against the man’s chest.

A dull thud rang out.

Then came a tearing sound.

The man swallowed a large mouthful of blood and collapsed in front of me. I noticed that the back of his clothing had split open, apparently torn by the force of my punch.

I did not have time to think about it. I turned and climbed into the driver’s cab. Inside, the sleazy middle-aged man who had spoken to me earlier was still there.

But now he was cowering behind the seat like a turtle hiding in its shell, too frightened to come out.

“Hey,” I said. “Come on out and play with me.”

A moment later, I had beaten him until his head was covered in lumps and thrown him out of the cab.

I jumped down after him.

Then I heard a burst of crisp applause beside me.

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