CHAPTER 253: CHAPTER 145: GLADIATOR ARENA

The sound quickly disappeared. Xia You thought for a moment and deleted the message.

During the day, Ren Minghang’s expression, as well as the deliberate distance he maintained when standing with Zhang Fangfei, indicated that he had not shifted his affections.

The sudden change was likely from the Old Marshal of the Ren Family. He must have put pressure on Ren Minghang, preventing him from continuing the relationship.

Waiting for Ren Minghang, Xia You gave a bitter smile. Not even sure of her own feelings for Ren Minghang, how could she wait for him.

(You really are cold-blooded, the blockhead is a decent person, compared to the men you’ve met.) Little Eight usually kept quiet, but in her boredom, she analyzed all the men appearing beside Xia You.

"Forget it, let’s head to Military Road first, I need to pull myself together. Think of a way to find Ziyu, meet with Number 500, and figure out if there’s a way to get news about Klaao," Xia You realized that every time she entered a new city, she would create trouble for herself.

Ziyu, who was in the Roman Temple, was overjoyed when the temple priest told her someone was looking for her.

The visitor was not Number 500, but a young man she had never seen before.

With her years of experience reading people at the temple, Ziyu could tell at a glance that the man before her was a formidable character.

"Bai Tuo, the captain of the Roman Imperial Guard," Bai Tuo didn’t understand why Apoli asked him to look for a disfigured woman to treat that woman’s injuries.

Klaao was captured by Bai Tuo himself. After the deputy captain of the Personal Guard searched without success, Bai Tuo personally led his men from Rome City all the way to Babylon City.

At about two-fifths of the way from Rome City, he noticed Klaao. Klaao still maintained her air of authority as if Number 500 had never left, managing her disguise well enough that even her close maids couldn’t recognize that the woman eating coarse food was their noble queen.

But Bai Tuo noticed her. He observed Klaao’s dining gestures, a woman who looked lonely and supposedly was coming to Rome City to seek refuge with relatives, but dined elegantly. Having had the fortune to dine with Octavian, Bai Tuo could affirm that only someone from the Royal Family could dine so composedly under the watchful eyes of a group of people.

They had caught the person, but soon after Klaao was brought into Rome City, she committed suicide. No one noticed the deadly little snake wrapped around the queen’s hand, and according to Octavian’s wishes, he did not want to execute Klaao immediately. He wanted to execute their queen in front of all the people of Egypt, to utterly subjugate the ancient Egypt Dynasty.

All Apoli could do was keep Klaao in a comatose state; she couldn’t remove the deadly poison from the queen’s blood. She soon thought of someone, her sister, Ziyu. Apoli and Ziyu practiced different Medical Skills; Ziyu was proficient in healing Magic, whereas Apoli specialized in mental Magic.

After Bai Tuo explained his purpose, Ziyu first looked down in thought for a moment. Bai Tuo did not explain Cleopatra’s identity; you shouldn’t expect someone from the Babylon era to recognize a historical figure from hundreds of years later in Roman Egypt.

"I can help treat the patient, but I need to leave a letter for my master." Ziyu had been waiting for Number 500 for over two months, but there was still no sign of them.

Compared to the stunning Apoli, Bai Tuo thought the disfigured Ziyu seemed unremarkable in appearance, but her refined demeanor still revealed her distinctive qualities.

After writing a brief note, Ziyu handed it to the temple priest and followed Bai Tuo into the Roman Acropolis.

When Number 500 arrived at the temple, the ink on the note given to the temple priest was not even dry yet.

"One step too late," Number 500 lamented, thinking that if she could have arrived a bit earlier, she might have been able to enter the Roman Acropolis under the guise of Ziyu’s medical opportunity.

But things weren’t too bad; Ziyu had said before she left that she would return before sunset. Number 500 then left the temple to meet with Number 500.

The meeting place designated by Number 500 was totally in line with his style. Number 500 reluctantly stood outside the largest Roman Bath, looking at the big sign "Mixed Bathing".

Following the message sent by Number 500, he would be in the Roman Bath from noon to 2 PM every day, claiming that the time was the most sleepy and hottest part of the day, suggesting that one should not run about outside but should stay indoors where there are roofs and beauties—a Roman Bath suited his needs well.

After waiting approximately two hours and identifying countless passers-by’s attributes, Number 500 finally saw Number 500 surrounded by several blonde and blue-eyed, busty and leggy Roman beauties.

"Beauty, I’ll see you in a few days, after I’ve been crowned the Duel King, and then I’ll come for you all." Number 500, smiling, walked towards the door and did not forget to turn back

and bid farewell to the beauties behind him.

A leg blocked his way, and the absent-minded Number 500 almost fell flat on his face.

"Who the hell is that blind," Number 500 steadied himself against the wall, glaring at the person who had blocked his way. Upon seeing it was Number 0, he chuckled twice, reached out his arm, and grabbed Number 0, "Oh, it’s you, perfect timing, let me take you for a tour around my house."

"Your house?" Number 0 couldn’t believe it, wondering since when Number 500 had a home in the city.

This time, Number 500 wasn’t lying; he really did have a home in Rome City. A luxurious house, two horse carriages, dozens of slaves, eight maids, and three beautiful wives.

"Baffled, aren’t you? In reality, it’s also absolutely a mansion. The slaves were brought in from Africa, and my concubines are all purebred blond-haired, blue-eyed Italian beauties," Number 500 proudly showed Number 0 around his house.

"How many missions did you do to accumulate such wealth?" Number 0 couldn’t believe that the pitiful Number 500 from a few months ago, in just a few short months, managed to earn such a fortune.

"Heh, I just took a part-time job. No point hiding it from you, I joined a team, and we specifically rob NPCs on ’Military Road.’ Especially a few historically famous tycoons," Number 500 explained how he met a few players in a tavern. Although they were strangers in real life, they clicked immediately in the game, feeling that accumulating military merit and military coins through traditional ways was too slow, so they decided to make a quicker fortune, as players are clearly stronger than average NPCs on ’Military Road.’

"You guys are crazy," Number 0 realized there was indeed a huge loophole in ’Military Road.’ For instance, neighboring cities are like independent states with no dedicated law enforcement. And in the process of constant training, players’ abilities are also clearly superior to those of NPCs.

"Unfortunately, the system itself quickly discovered this loophole. Recently, several city-states began to form joint armies. Led by the Roman Imperial Guard, they started to eradicate nearby bandits. Every military station also required their soldiers to regularly report their whereabouts, and my road to wealth was abruptly cut off," Number 500, initially proud, soon became despondent.

Typical top-down strategy, bottom-up tactics. Since there are players exploiting the system’s loopholes, there would also be players standing on the side of justice, acting as the guardians.

"You didn’t call me over just to listen to your rags-to-riches story, did you?" Number 0 said somewhat annoyed.

"Of course not, I wanted to invite you to join me in the beast fight at the Gladiator Arena." Number 500 was now a man of ’property,’ possessing such a large mansion and an array of women, both of which cost a hefty sum.

"Gladiator Arena?" Number 0 realized, once again, she was lagging behind.

The Roman Gladiator Arena, famous worldwide. In 2064, all that people could see were the remnants of an ancient arena made up of broken columns. Even as ruins, one could imagine the scenes of thousands of spectators watching fierce battles between humans and beasts, gladiators clashing.

"Look at you, I bet you didn’t know again. I’ve been trying to send an NPC signalman to deliver messages to you for a long time, and only today did you rush over. But no worries, I’ve already found a few partners, just lacking a Reconnaissance Soldier. Including you, it fits perfectly," Number 500, who could think of making money from NPCs, was definitely shrewd.

There are various types of duels at the Roman Gladiator Arena; one is between fierce beasts, another is between humans and untamed wild animals, and then there’s the real duel between humans.

Each type of duel, depending on the difficulty and the number of times participated, yields different amounts of military merit and military coins.

"Team competitions are a recent thing. I heard it was proposed by members of the Personal Guard. In the end, the duel is against members of the Personal Guard." Number 500 had openly and secretly dealt with the Roman Acropolis’ Personal Guard. He had not spared any curses for those who had cut off his source of wealth.

In team competitions, where there are more people, military merits are accumulated based on the number of participants, which initially had limited appeal to players. However, it has one major advantage over individual competition; for each participation, the military merit and military coins are settled in a single transaction. Individual competitions require maintaining more than three rounds to enter the final settlement.

"The problem is?

Are you sure you want to pull me in?" Number 0 was still very grateful that Number 500 remembered her, although her skills, compared to the average player, seemed somewhat weak.

"No worries, I’m not much better than you, I’ve already found a meat shield, and your job and mine are already determined. You’ll be in charge of gathering information." Number 500 assured her confidently.

"And you?" Number 0 asked again.

"Heh, me? You’ll find out when the time comes. Let me take you to the Gladiator Arena first to get a feel," Number 500 winked. (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets, your support is my greatest motivation.)