325 Chapter 325: Assigning the Qualifiers (1/2)
”All right, everyone! Gather around! It's time for us to go!”
Harrison Reed clapped his hands to draw our attention toward him. I glanced up at the bright blue sky, admiring the awesome weather, before allowing my sight to be guided toward the row of buses parked outside the dormitories.
”Whoa, they are so extravagant,” Dong Fang Yue Chu remarked as we followed the hundreds of students from all the different academies to line up beside the buses. ”To think that they would give each team their own shuttle bus…”
Yeah, that would mean about five hundred buses, all catered just for the students participating in the national tournament alone. The Federation certainly was not sparing any expense for this annual event. I had always been aware of the huge importance they placed on the tournaments and academy and student rankings, but this seemed like a huge waste of money to me. Well, the bus drivers had jobs and benefited from earning from this, so I couldn't complain.
As I boarded the bus, I noticed several students from a particular academy – Castian from Caliban Academy, to be specific – staring in our direction. It wasn't exactly hostile, and Castian wasn't staring at only us. He was sweeping a calculating gaze across the entire street, as far as he could see, taking note of students from Aurora Academy among others.
What? You think this was some stupid Chinese webnovel where the antagonists all had a hard-on for hating the protagonist and his team for no reason other than because he was a protagonist? Even though there were other teams who also rejected his offer and refused to participate in his schemes, he was only going to hate and resent only the protagonist's team because…of protagonist power? That every single character in this world existed only to provoke and pick fights with the protagonist, solely because the author intended for him to slap their faces and humiliate them later on when they attempted their pathetic antics to bring down the main character?
That isn't how real life worked, dudes. The whole world isn't out to get you over something as petty as ”not giving face” or some bullshit reason like that. Realistically speaking, most people had much better things to do with their time and energy than to pointlessly hold on to trivial grudges.
”Harrison,” Yue Chu began nervously. Like me, he had caught Castian's stare and was feeling anxious over a possible backstabbing. ”Since we rejected their proposal to cooperate against the higher-ranked teams, do you think those other teams will gang up on us?”
”Of course not.” Harrison snorted. ”We're not the only ones who rejected the proposal. There were plenty of other schools who refused to participate in their nonsense. Are they going to target each and every academy who rejected them? They risk creating a greater enemy – they will inadvertently drive all the teams who rejected them to form a coalition to resist them. Also, why would they waste time with other low-ranked teams when their goal for teaming up is to defeat the higher-ranked teams in the first place? Where are they going to find the time and energy to target everyone? If they waste their time and resources backstabbing other low-ranked teams, they risk forfeiting their original objective of challenging the higher-ranked teams, and leave themselves open to counterattacks. The higher-ranked teams wouldn't care about their infighting or honor – if they see a lower-ranked team looking vulnerable after having exhausted themselves in defeating other low-ranked teams, they will definitely exploit that opportunity to erase one of their opponents.”
”That's true,” Craig agreed. ”They have more important things to worry about, more important enemies to deal with than the likes of us.”
Thank you for not spouting bullshit about how alliances built upon short-term benefits completely lacked trust and would tear themselves apart from infighting before attacking other people. That was the most naïve thing I had ever heard. Underestimating your enemy and assuming that something wouldn't work without an actual basis or justification was a surefire way to suicide. But of course, the protagonist who waved that bullshit around was right because the author said so. That was the problem with Mary Sues. The authors simply couldn't conceive of a scenario where their protagonist makes mistakes or is wrong, and the world itself would warp just to fit the protagonist's view.
”Of course, I'm not naïve enough to dismiss them,” Harrison added, almost as if he had read my mind. ”They might try something funny. Although it's highly unlikely that they will waste their time on us because they will have to prioritize the higher-ranked teams, highly unlikely is not the same as impossible or will never happen. We should still be cautious. But…” he smiled. ”We already know that, don't we? Every other team participating in this tournament is a potential enemy. In the first place, the whole purpose of the qualifiers is for us to compete against each other. Of course we can't afford to underestimate the enemy and dismiss the threat they pose. Everyone, no matter which school they are from, is an opponent that we must eventually defeat. It shouldn't ome as a surprise that they will seize an advantage to eliminate a rival without any hesitation when they come across one.”
Sheila Scarlet nodded. ”That makes sense. So we should stay on our guard, regardless, and treat them like any other opponent.”
”Correct.”
”Fine by me.” Lily leaned back against her seat. ”If they come for us, I'll show them the extent of their folly.”
”Harrison literally just told us that we can't afford to underestimate our opponents,” Yue Chu reminded her dryly.
”That's right,” Theodore Hammond agreed. ”It doesn't matter what rank the opponent is. We can't let our guard down just because they're supposed to be low-ranked. We must offer our respect to everyone we fight against.”
”Seconded,” Harrison said with a smile.
”Oh…this is getting really exciting!” Pearl hugged herself, suppressing a shiver. ”I can't believe that the tournament is already beginning!”
”Speaking of which, we're here.” As silent as ever, Cody Crosby spoke up suddenly, surprising us with his rarely-heard voice. All of us eagerly gazed out of the bus window and gaped at a gigantic statue that stood proudly outside a vast stadium. Even though we weren't exactly late, we could already see countless students already gathered upon the steps leading up to the stadium proper, enthusiastically conversing and exchanging words.
”Whoa, there are so many people here!” Yue Chu almost pressed his face against the window to stare at the bustling crowd.
I stared at the statue for a moment, completely baffled by what I was seeing. Was it my imagination, or was that…?
”Why is the Statue of Liberty here?” I demanded in disbelief. ”Did they bring the whole thing from New York and rebuild her here or something?”
Everyone stared at me.
”What are you talking about?” Bu Fan growled irritably. I pointed at the bluish statue standing tall outside the stadium.
”That! The Statue of Liberty! How the heck is it here!?”
”Never heard ot the Statue of Liberty,” Bu Fan muttered. The rest of my friends also responded with blank stares. Seriously? The people of this time had never heard of the Statue of Liberty, and wasn't questioning why it was randomly appearing in the middle of a city that was clearly not New York?
Then I understood why. The manhua artist responsible for drawing the manhua adaptation couldn't be bothered to come up with and draw a proper original statue, and so just lazily used a photograph of the Statue of Liberty for the background.
Wow. Way to go, manhua artist.
The silver dome-shaped stadium was packed full of chattering students, filling out its vast, open expanse. They streamed toward their assigned seats, which was pointed out to them through holographic screens and floating arrows.
The capacity of the stadium was fifty thousand, so it was usually more than enough to accommodate all of the students who sought to participate in the national tournament. Yet, for some reason, the full stadium was filled to capacity. Perhaps there should be between five to ten thousand participants, but the stadium was full…which meant, a good majority of the students present most likely were not participating in the tournament, or there were a lot more of the teams and students involved than I previously thought.
Shortly after we had taken our seats, a familiar figure strolled arrogantly toward us. I recognized that spiky red hair immediately.
”Jing Tian Academy team! What a coincidence!”
Ding Ke Po from Divine Divination Academy grinned as he stared at us for a moment, even as his teammates strode past him to take their seats. For some reason, he was crowing triumphantly.