[Steam City, Upper District, Tenkai Group, Steam City Branch]
"Good morning, you pieces of garbage in the Rust Iron Pits!"
"Yesterday's death lottery was a full thirty! Thanks to the non-stop gang fights, there were ten deaths in District 5 alone!"
"But besides that, there are two even bigger pieces of news."
"First, an old man from the church in the Upper District suddenly kicked the bucket last night."
"And guess what? His chest was pierced through, and he died a truly horrible death!"
"The other news is that the old men in the Upper District seem to be no longer satisfied with the current state of the Rust Iron District and are preparing to give the entire area a major overhaul. What do you think? Is this overhaul a good thing or a bad thing?"
Click!
Chen Kong reached out and turned off the radio. The noisy broadcast abruptly stopped.
"Why'd you turn it off?"
On the sofa, Isabelle shook the Blue Ridge Mountain Soda in her hand and looked at Chen Kong with a confused expression.
"Because my gut tells me that someone deliberately released this news at this time, and it's not a good thing for either the Upper or Lower Districts."
"That's true."
Isabelle put down her soda and looked at Chen Kong with a serious expression.
Even as an outsider, she could smell the "gunpowder" that filled the entire city.
Yesterday's "trial" was like a sharp blade, cruelly tearing apart the only shred of dignity the Lower District had left.
The Lower District used to be chaotic, but the residents still held on to one last hope.
That this was, after all, their territory, and the claws of the "white eagles" in the Upper District couldn't reach them here.
But when Jack and Vivian exposed the dirty deeds the Gear Church and the Lower District gangs had been doing for years, the people of the Lower District were completely enraged.
It meant that they had been nothing more than puppets in the hands of others all along, and the condescending old men had been manipulating their lives with either playful smiles or cold indifference.
However, despite the escalating conflict, a crucial catalyst was still needed to ignite the full-blown conflict between the Upper and Lower Districts.
And right at this moment, the news of the Upper District's "major overhaul" of the Lower District was suddenly released.
Chen Kong wasn't sure who released the news, but he was certain they had malicious intentions.
"Isabelle, has your Tenkai Group received any news recently?"
Isabelle shook her head. "No. You know, our main business is seafood and its related processing. Building houses and real estate development are not our strengths."
"So I don't know much about the 'Rust Iron District overhaul' project."
"Instead of asking me, you should try asking her. After all, she got the news more than half a year ago. Why else would she suddenly decide to come here and get into real estate development?"
Isabelle pointed to the ceiling, and it was obvious who "she" was.
Chen Kong was a little hesitant about Isabelle's suggestion.
He already owed her a considerable favor.
If he asked for another one, he would have to represent the Qianxia Group with Liu Ma in the Martial Arts City's "Star Dome Sky-Ladder Ranking Tournament."
Even now, Chen Kong still hadn't decided whether to participate in the tournament.
After all, the difficulty of the tournament was secondary; the most crucial factor was the amount of exposure.
If certain people noticed his abnormality and figured out what "thing" was inside him, the events that happened in Ember could happen to him again.
And this time, there might not be anyone who could help him.
"What's wrong? Are you too embarrassed to ask her?"
Chen Kong shook his head. "Just let me think about it."
"Fine. I don't know why you're so conflicted. You have such a powerful person you can lean on, but you're being so wishy-washy."
Just as Isabelle was teasing Chen Kong with a smile, the anime's screen switched to a warm-toned flashback.
This flashback was about a conversation between Yu Qianxia and Chen Kong, where she explained the details of the "Star Dome Sky-Ladder Ranking Tournament."
"The Star Dome Sky-Ladder Ranking Tournament is a special competition co-hosted by the Star Envoy Association and the New Federation. It's held at the Sky Tower in Martial Arts City."
Yu Qianxia placed the invitation in front of Chen Kong, gesturing that if he was willing, he and Liu Ma could participate in this top-tier competition for geniuses, backed by the Qianxia Group.
To make Chen Kong understand the importance of this tournament, Yu Qianxia told him some inside information.
"Unlike regular competitions, the Star Dome Sky-Ladder Ranking Tournament is not only the highest stage for young Star Envoys to compete, but it's also a potential selection for Calamity-level qualifications."
"If you can get into the top ten and meet certain winning conditions, as long as you're not a Dark Star Envoy, the association will give you a great gift."
"A crucial gift that can help you successfully break through to the Calamity level."
"So if you want to climb higher, this Sky-Ladder Ranking Tournament is a must-attend for you."
"If I hadn't gotten third place twenty years ago and obtained that crucial item, I wouldn't have been able to successfully break through to the Calamity level."
Hearing this, Chen Kong in the flashback asked curiously, "You need that item to break through to the Calamity level?"
Yu Qianxia nodded. "You need that item."
"Is that so?"
Unlike his childhood ignorance about Star Envoys, after so many years of experience, Chen Kong not only knew a lot about Star Envoys but also understood the huge gap between "Calamity" and "non-Calamity" levels.
The "hurdle" that existed was countless times more difficult than what most people imagined.
Especially since this "hurdle" would change based on the individual's talent.
The more talented a person was, the harder it was to overcome this "hurdle."
So, even though the Star Envoy Association's history was filled with Level 3 Star Envoys, some of whom were even at the perfect stage of Level 3, the number of people who reached the Level 4 Calamity realm dropped drastically to a little over a hundred.
And among these hundred or so people, only five throughout the entire history of the association were able to achieve a perfect Level 4 awakening.
One of them was the association's president, Enite, who was known as the strongest Star Envoy of his time.
The record of that legendary figure in the Star Dome Sky-Ladder was a shocking 100%.
With a hint of curiosity, Chen Kong asked Yu Qianxia, "Even you only got third place. Who were the two people ahead of you back then?"
Chen Kong's question made Yu Qianxia fall into a state of reminiscence. After a long while, she finally gave him an answer.
"They were two of the president's disciples. One was a genius mechanical Star Envoy nicknamed 'Dragon Mechanist,' whose name was Dragon."
"As for the other one, I can't tell you. The president classified that person's information as a taboo, a top-secret internal matter of the association."
"You don't have the clearance to know his name or his past."
"I see."
"But I can tell you one thing: these two guys later defected from the Star Envoy Association one after another because of the same woman."
"That really pissed off that old man, Enite. He was training those two to be his successors."
"Huh?"
At this point, the brief flashback ended.
As veteran viewers of Stars, they were used to the production team's method of inserting these sudden "flashbacks."
Because rather than calling it a flashback, it was more of an "intelligence reveal" for Stars!
"It's been solved. The core of this third season must revolve around the Star Dome Sky-Ladder."
"A place where the entire New Federation gathers? Is this going to turn into another internal war of the stars later on?"
"Wow, so the doctor had a romantic history like that? I never would have guessed."
"A love triangle among the older generation of Stars? I bet there's a lot of gossip there."
"I'm betting there will be a movie later that reveals this love-hate story of the doctor. That would be epic!"
"I'll definitely watch it if it comes out!"
"+10086"
Just as the dimensional audience was wildly speculating about the doctor's romantic history, the anime, which had switched back to the regular timeline, was interrupted by a huge explosion from off-screen.
"What happened?"
Chen Kong rushed to the floor-to-ceiling window and looked in the direction of the explosion.
He quickly saw a scene he least wanted to see.
A large number of Rust Iron District citizens were charging toward the "Nut Hub."
In their frenzy, some were smashing nearby mechanical police kiosks, while others were simply setting fire to the surrounding buildings with Molotov cocktails.
More citizens of the Rust Iron District were holding up signs with slogans like "Rust Iron Lives Matter" and "Reject Upper District's Malicious Demolition," desperately charging at the mechanical guards inside the "Nut Hub."
Shouts, roars, and non-stop explosions...
These sounds intertwined, and Chen Kong instantly understood one thing.
The fuse for the conflict between the Upper and Lower Districts of Steam City had finally been lit.
And once this storm was unleashed, it wouldn't be so easy to stop.
"Let's go."
Without any hesitation, Chen Kong decisively walked out of the office.
He knew that there was only one person who could stop this riot now.
And that person was none other than the former owner of the Rusty Nail Bar, Jack Bailey.