Beta Ray Bill.
Ben recognized the guy from Bill's facial structure.
However, it was only then that he realized Beta Ray Bill wasn't actually a horse. His race was Korbinite, and real Korbinite didn't look like that either.
Bill had been transformed into a mechanical being to protect his race, making him a cyborg.
Bill hadn't met Thor yet, nor had he lifted Mjolnir, but even so, in Ben's memory, he had been one of the many champions of Sakaar. He hadn't expected him to lose now.
"It seems the Red Wind Queen is very strong," he murmured.
At this moment, Ben had already marked the Red Wind Queen as the biggest obstacle to his conquest of Sakaar.
He walked over to Bill, whose terrifyingly disfigured face was filled with tears of unwillingness.
"Bill, you're already very lucky to be alive. The Red Wind Queen doesn't like killing. The last champion would directly twist the heads off challengers," Miek comforted him.
But Bill silently shook his head.
He wasn't crying because of his own failure, but out of despair for the fate of the people he was supposed to protect.
Before he came to Sakaar, the massive fleet carrying the last embers of the Korbin People had been attacked. With no other choice, he had frozen all his people and led a small team to confront the attackers himself.
In the end, he failed, his team was wiped out, and he drifted unconscious through the cosmos, becoming a slave to the Red King.
Losing to the Red Wind Queen meant he would never be free again, and would never be able to fulfill his duty.
And those surviving Korbin People, having lost their protector, were undoubtedly like corpses in the face of the cruel universe, just waiting for beasts to tear them apart.
Ben noticed that although most of the gladiators were comforting Bill, their morale was quite low after witnessing Bill's defeat.
Clearly, Bill was the strongest among these gladiators, yet even he was no match for the Red Wind Queen. They couldn't imagine who else could defeat the Queen.
A towering mountain stood in the path to freedom.
"It seems that to leave here, we must overthrow the Red King's rule," Ben said calmly.
This statement instantly silenced the noisy dungeon, and everyone looked at him with disbelief.
Korg quickly covered Ben's mouth, lowering his voice, "Are you crazy? How dare you say something like that?"
He then quickly explained, "I'm not saying your idea is bad. Actually, I want to do the same, but don't say it so loudly. It would be bad if the Death's Head Guard heard it. And to overthrow the Red King, we need to start promoting it early, print some posters, issue a mobilization..."
Korg went on and on, his mouth even more talkative than Peter's.
Ben broke free from his rocky arms, half-crouched in front of Bill, and placed the Little Broken Watch on him. The watch flickered again, and then he said:
"Don't worry, the Korbin People will not perish."
Bill hadn't expected the person in front of him to say such a thing. His heart felt as if it were being soothed by a pair of gentle hands, and his body trembled uncontrollably.
Although Ben looked weak, his thigh not even as thick as Bill's arm, for some reason, after hearing his words, Bill felt much less sad. Those words were like a tranquilizer injected into his veins.
It wasn't that he directly believed Ben could definitely accomplish this, but for Bill now, this was the only hope he could cling to. He had to pull himself together and find a way to leave this planet.
However, what he didn't know was that Ben wasn't referring to the fate of the surviving Korbin People. Instead, the embers of Korbin civilization had already been recorded into the real Noah's Ark.
Even if the existing Korbinites perished, he could still recreate the race.
Actually, Most of the genes Ben collected here had little practical value.
To be honest, if these alien races possessed great power, they wouldn't be confined to this dirty place and would have already completed their three challenges and regained their freedom.
He collected these genes more to gather data for the blank Little Broken Watch, which would be beneficial for him to build his own watch in the future.
After comforting Bill, everyone soon parted ways.
"Come on, I'll take you to pick out some weapons," Korg said calmly, pulling Ben along, as if Bill's defeat had never happened.
It wasn't that they didn't sympathize with Bill's plight, but their own situations weren't much better.
They had seen too many newcomers who, filled with anger and unwilling to endure humiliation, thought they were capable of defeating champions, only to be ruthlessly killed like a mantis trying to stop a chariot, or left crippled for life, rotting in their cells...
Compared to them, Bill was lucky.
He was still alive.
He still had another chance to challenge the champion.
Although everyone knew that after repeated failures, the flame of his conviction would inevitably be extinguished, and he would eventually merge with this mire, sinking into darkness.
Just like Korg and Miek, although they still spoke of revolution, they had already given up in their actions.
Ben didn't say anything about this.
Because he knew that for most of these gladiators who had accepted their fate of enslavement, living day after day without a tomorrow in a daze, words were always pale.
You tell them to persevere, to believe there is still hope, still a tomorrow, to believe the light of freedom will never be extinguished, to believe that gathered strength is enough to overcome all difficulties...
But they had seen far more difficulties and cruel truths than you.
They had seen passionate warriors twisted into pretzels in the arena the next moment, their intestines and spines ripped out...
They weren't born numb, but had become this way through repeated painful experiences.
All words were nothing more than irrelevant sarcasm from those in high positions.
They needed a victory.
Not even a real victory, just enough to let them see the hope of winning, to see what freedom looked like.
Like a timely rain.
Like those lost in the desert, only a clear spring could sweep away their exhaustion.
Even if it was just a mirage.
To conquer this planet wasn't something he could do alone. All he could do was raise the flame and lead everyone forward!
Ben had realized this.
He needed to ignite the near-extinguished flames in these people's hearts with a grand victory.
And the stage and the enemies were already prepared.
So, under Korg's astonished gaze, he turned towards the cell door and shouted:
"I challenge the Red Wind Queen!"
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