“It’s Flying Cat Sis!” The croed as they reized the girl, their voices brimming with awe and admiration. The bck-cd girl igheir greetings, her pierg gaze fixed on Xia Feng. “You beat Dumas? The All-Around King of Riders, Dumas?”

  “That’s right!”

  “Which event?”

  “The Ni All-Around!” Xia Feng fshed a faint smile. “Strictly by official petition rules. That’s why Dumas won’t be at this Extreme Olympics—I’ll be taking his pce.”

  The girl stared deeply at Xia Feng for a few seds before letting out a sigh. “I was gonna say that’s impossible, but your eyes tell me it’s true! Beating Dumas has been my lifelong dream, and this year I was more prepared thaoo bad he’s not showing up. Guess I’ll have to beat you instead—only then I prove I’m the best extreme rider. Remember my name: Jasina!”

  “o meet you.” Xia Feng grinned, extending his right hand. “I’m Xia Feng. Hope we be close friends.”

  Jasina ignored his outstretched hand, kig off with a glide that sent her a few steps away. With a burst of speed, she darted off like a startled swan, her sharp voice eg back, “See you on the field. Don’t lose too badly!”

  Xia Feng watched her retreating figure with appreciation, suddenly notig how the curve of her legs and the sway of her hips in that tight bck outfit made her gliding motion undeniably sexy. Only when she was out of sight did he relutly pull his gaze away, realizing the other petitors’ eyes were also glued to Jasina’s back. Catg Xia Feng’s amused ghey awkwardly averted their stares. The burly man who’d blocked his path earlier cleared his throat and muttered, “We’ll never believe you beat the great Dumas, but we don’t dare doubt Flying Cat Sis either. So, we’ll let the aquamarine amulet thing slide for now. But here’s a friendly warning: areme fan who sees you wearing that on your chest will punch your nose crooked without hesitation. Watch yourself. If you ’t prove you’re the best rider out there, you’ll regret what you said today!”

  With that, he stepped aside. Xia Feng gave an uanding smile and sauhrough the crowd, tinuing his zy stroll down the long, straight street uheir plicated stares.

  Three days ter, the Ni All-Aroureme petition kicked off as scheduled. The ued absence of Dumas, the three-time secutive champion and All-Around King of Riders, left global audiences deeply disappointed. Everyone assumed Jasina—the Extreme Queen niamed “Flying Cat,” Dumas’s fiercest challenger from the st games—would dominate and easily cim the title. But to everyone’s shock, this near-uable queen faced a fierce challenge right from the start by an unknown tender. From off-road motorbikes to water jet rag, extreme rollerbding, stunt biking, street skateb, gearless waterskiing, and high-altitude rappelling, their scores seesawed bad forth. By the penultimate event, “rock climbing,” the gap between them was less than a single point.

  Rock climbing wasn’t typically a woman’s forte, especially in terms of strength and explosiveness, where men had a natural edge. peting together wasly fair to women, but after puters calcuted the average physical disparity and adjusted scores to pehe unfairness was minimized. For Jasina, a rock-climbing expert, this event was actually her strength—a fact well-known to all.

  Luo City cked cliffs for climbing, aing the event ie mountains wouldn’t satisfy the live audience’s needs. So, the Extreme Olympics’ rock climbi traditionally used iic urban buildings. This time, the target was Luo City’s tallest structure—the Federal TV Tower.

  Nearly 400 meters high, the Federal TV Tower’s four walls were smooth blue gss, unclimbable to the average person. But that didn’t faze the pros. At the sound of the starting gun, twelve finalists began sg the gss walls like spiders—no tools, no safety gear—rag toward the 400-meter summit. Using only the tiny protruding studs seg the gss or the minuscule gaps between panels, they inched upward with fingers and toes. Their agility defied imagination, rivaling even the most adept climbing apes. Hundreds of thousands of spectators held their breath, eyes locked owelve riders, hearts pounding as they asded, feeling as if their own pulses might leap from their throats. This was the irresistible allure of extreme sports, captivating billions worldwide.

  Within ten mihe climbers started to spread out. Leading the pack was a fit girl in bck tights, followed closely by an agile man in red, hree on his back. A few extreme fans watg through binocurs narrated the a to friends over the phone: “Flying Cat Sis is in front, with rookie hree, Xia Feng, right behihe darkest horse of this petition. But I don’t think he’s a match for her in climbing. Pother five hundred bucks on Flying Cat Sis for me!”

  Their fiden her wasn’t mispced. While the other eleven moved like spiders, Jasina was a nimble cat, practically bounding up the gss wall, noticeably faster than the rest.

  While hundreds of thousands gathered around the Federal TV Tower, their hearts rag with the climbers’ daris, anlobal event was unfolding on the opposite side of Luo City. Its quiet starkly trasted the fiery energy of the petition.

  In a cold, empty hall with sparse exhibit stands, even the professional smiles of the hostesses felt devoid of warmth. Only a red banner hanging in the ter brought a touch of life, boldly prog: Wele to the Annual Virtual Gear Au of “Real Illusion”!

  The au hall arsely poputed with a dozen or so attendees flipping through pamphlets oables—gear, magid cheat codes from the “Real Illusion” game. Once priceless, these items now had shogly low starting bids.

  Old aueer Peter g his watch. It was nearly time to start, but the room remained half-empty. He grumbled to his assistant under his breath, “Damn it! ‘Real Illusion’ is about to scrap all magic, treasures, and cheat codes—everything supernatural. Who’d buy this stuff now? And it’s just our luck the lunatic sports fest is happening at the same time. Don’t expect to sell much today.”

  The young assistant smiled knowingly. He khe old man’s disdain for the Extreme Olympics, always calling it the “lunatic sports fest,” a his own love for it under s. Pying along, he said, “Those rich pyers are to bme. They only au this high-end stuff after they’re bored of it, stig us with the mess. Look at these rare gems—‘Neancy,’ ‘Bde of Darkness,’ ‘Sky Eye’—a year ago, they were priceless, fetg millions eaow the starting bid’s just a hundred grand, less than a tenth, and still no takers. If they’d sold before Cloud Universe dropped that bombshell, they might’ve cashed out big. But for pyers who drop millions on gear, maybe they don’t care.”

  “You’re wrong,” Peter said, heading to the podium. “The inal owners were the real ultra-rich elite. They got wind of this through back els and offloaded everything quietly. The ones who bought in were die-hard fans, not so rich, who sank everything into their dream gear—only to learn ‘Real Illusion’ is scrapping all supernatural settings soon, making it worthless. It’s like the stock market: the super-rich always have the info edge, and the average joes take the hit.”

  “They could sue the game pany!” the assistant said, puzzled.

  “Sue?” Peter snorted. “The pany only refunds the inal price, but these items were hyped to a huimes that on the market. Even with pensation, the losses are brutal. Better to sell cheap here to casual pyers who want a taste of premium gear than take the pany’s pitiful payout. We’re just doing what we to cut their losses.”

  With that, Peter stepped onto the stage. Instantly, his demeanor shifted—fak, he sed the sparse crowd with a solemn gaze, delivered a perfunctory wele, and began the routine.

  “First item: ‘Cold Ward Bead,’ starting at ohousand yuan.” He paused, staring at the audience, who stared back woodenly, as if watg a dull . After a few seds, he tinued calmly, “Alright, I’ll t down. Nine hundred? Eight hundred? Seven hundred? Six hundred? Five hundred? Four huhree huhat’s the floor! Three hundred owice, three times! No bids? Fine, ‘Cold Ward Bead’ passes!”

  After a dozen items flopped, sweat beaded oer’s forehead—a first in his decades-long career. He’d thought the reserve prices were ro, yet still no takers. Feeling like a failure, he g the remaining list—higher starting bids ahead—and his fidence waned, his dry voice tinged with resignation. “, ‘Bde of Darkness,’ starting at one huhousand! I’ll t down from there.”

  Just as he prepared to lower the price, a sign shot up in a er of the hall. Peter blinked hard, firming it, then croaked excitedly, “Number eighteen! Are you bidding the starting price for ‘Bde of Darkness’? One huhousand?”