Nine o'clock in the evening, the cold weapon comprehensive combat tournament at Storm Sports Arena was still ongoing.
At this time in the control room, a middle-aged white man in referee uniform sat in front of a screen, watching a video segment over and over again.
If Tao Ran were still there, he would recognize this as the head referee who presided over his match against Ichabod Wood.
"Sampson, you're still watching that footage?"
A middle-aged man of similar age nearby, holding coffee, looked over with confusion: "Wasn't it already determined to be an armor malfunction explosion?"
"That's only the preliminary assessment result, and the appraiser's tone was very uncertain."
Sampson frowned, knife-like creases appearing on his forehead: "According to his initial judgment, that armor shouldn't have exploded without cause. Ichabod's neck component should have encountered at least ten tons of impact force in an instant, exceeding the armor's load-bearing range, which caused Ichabod to be instantly knocked flying and the armor to be completely destroyed."
The middle-aged man couldn't help laughing: "Are you joking with me? Ten tons of impact force - that opponent's professional level would have to be at least sixth rank or above, right? Is there any evidence? You should have noticed at the time, right?"
"First I must admit, I was a bit distracted at the time, so I can't rule out this possibility."
Sampson looked helpless: "And that appraiser did tell me exactly that. Because there's no supporting evidence, the assessment result was armor malfunction. However, the appraiser insists on sending the armor to Exxon Magic Energy Laboratory for detailed third-party testing, and Nathan Sports Group supports his opinion."
"Nathan Group is NHSAA's armor sponsor - of course they don't want their products to have problems. This could very well be a major scandal."
The middle-aged man spoke with sarcasm, then asked: "So what about you? After watching the footage so many times, did you figure anything out?"
"Nothing! From the footage alone, no person or object made contact with Ichabod."
Sampson crossed his arms: "This is the result of my continuous reverse playback, examining frame by frame carefully, and I can take responsibility for it. Unless?"
"Unless what?" The middle-aged man took a casual sip of coffee.
"Unless his opponent - that André Lee Wiltonstein - had a sword speed of at least 320 kilometers per hour, escaping capture by our specialized cameras."
Sampson shook his head: "But that's even more unbelievable, isn't it? Even seventh-level magic energy shadow users don't have that ability."
"So why torture yourself here?"
The middle-aged man laughed: "The competition's almost over. I think we should find a bar to gather and relax a bit. Right, Sampson?"
※※※※
The school bus carrying Tao Ran and William Jacques had arrived at the Wanderer District where they lived.
Unlike his high spirits an hour ago, when William Jacques got off the bus, he was listless, his face drooping like a bitter melon, muttering to himself: "Why? Why? This shouldn't be, it shouldn't be. That guy clearly wasn't supposed to be my match - why was I the one who lost? Eliminated in the first round - my God! What will Louise think of me? Unreliable William?"
"You were too confident, attacked too aggressively."
Tao Ran commented emotionlessly: "Insufficient follow-through - it would be strange if you didn't lose to him. Simply put, you were careless and underestimated him."
While speaking, he discreetly glanced sideways, his gaze lingering on a young woman getting off the public bus.
Tao Ran guessed she was around twenty years old, with delicate features and fair skin, wearing a tight white T-shirt on top and hot pants below, accentuating her curvy figure.
This outfit would be scandalously inappropriate in the Original Dome Realm - even female disciples of the most liberal Joyous Union Sect wouldn't dress this way.
Even in this world, it was quite provocative. This was the Wanderer District, a neighborhood ranking in Atlanta's top three for assault incidents. A girl dressed like this was very likely to get into trouble.
Of course Tao Ran had no intention of meddling. He knew this young woman was probably what this world called a call girl. Earlier on the bus, he had personally heard her propositioning a government official from the neighboring district, even quoting a price of five hundred gold shields per night.
The girl's revealing attire was obviously due to her profession - it wasn't his place to worry about it.
But Tao Ran couldn't help being concerned, because at this moment an evil fire was burning in his mind, forcing him to lock his gaze on this young woman, his eyes even showing a hint of crimson.
This situation felt incredible to Tao Ran, and he could only use all his strength to suppress the impulse to pounce on her.
Could this also be a heart demon?
But Tao Ran knew he was definitely not a lecher, much less would he degrade himself by developing feelings for a call girl - what difference would that be from a beast?
Heart demons arose from one's own thoughts and desires. The current situation was truly contrary to reason.
"Hey! You guy who was scared stiff on the platform have no right to criticize me!"
William Jacques didn't notice his friend's abnormality at all. Walking ahead alone, he hummed with dissatisfaction: "That guy was despicable, too despicable and shameless!"
"Well, if you interpret reasonable tactics as despicable."
As the young woman gradually walked away, Tao Ran finally managed to calm his agitated blood and qi with difficulty. But his mind was still full of chaotic thoughts, and he really didn't have the energy to argue with this fool beside him.
"I remember there's a loser's bracket resurrection process in this tournament, right? You can still fight your way out of the loser's bracket."
"Loser's bracket? Ha!"
William's lips twisted: "You make it sound simple - that's even more of a hidden dragon, crouching tiger situation! Over 100 schools in Atlanta with 2000 people total competing for four spots in the loser's bracket's top 64 - don't you think that's too cruel, Mo?"
"I can spare some time to guide you—"
Tao Ran hesitated briefly: "After dinner each day, I can teach you for half an hour."
This was considering that William Jacques was the original owner's best friend so far, and had helped him escape the entanglement of heart demons.
Tao Ran expected the coming days would be very busy, needing to spend considerable time and energy understanding this world and establishing himself here. There was also that small problem from earlier that had to be resolved quickly.
Sparing half an hour daily for William was already showing full sincerity.
"You teach me? Come on! I think you'd better solve your own problems first - you won't have such good luck next time."
William waved his hand weakly: "I think I need to go home and calm down first. See you tomorrow! Lucky Mo."
Tao Ran watched William's figure disappear around the street corner ahead before shaking his head and walking in another direction.
The original owner and William lived in the same district, but their residences were over 300 meters apart, distributed on either side of the bus stop.
By the time Tao Ran followed the original owner's memories to find his residence, ten minutes had passed.
This was a very old apartment building, and Tao Ran's residence was a semi-basement room of about thirty square meters.
Tao Ran had originally planned to continue sorting through André's memories when alone, but after returning to this basement room, he abandoned his previous plan, threw himself onto the bed, and began sleeping soundly.