The match begins!
The system cheered Jiang Zheyu on. "Go, Host! This Beastman's spiritual power is so weak it's almost nonexistent. You can totally crush him!"
Jiang Zheyu had no time to think about the flaw in the system's statement. Unlike a female, if a Male Beastman had no spiritual power, it meant his spiritual power was either damaged or he was on the verge of death. That was because males were born with spiritual power, whereas females could live without it.
The moment the host announced the start of the match and his voice faded, Yan Luo's figure moved in a flash, rushing toward Jiang Zheyu.
A vicious gust of wind from his fist shot toward Jiang Zheyu's head.
Jiang Zheyu didn't dodge. She just turned and ran.
The crowd in the stands was stunned for a moment, but then it seemed perfectly natural. One look at this beautiful, fragile female, and you could tell she didn't know how to fight.
A hint of mockery flashed through Yan Luo's brown eyes.
The system's cheering came to an abrupt halt.
Jiang Zheyu had only ever used her spiritual power for comforting and purifying; she'd never used it to fight.
So, for a moment, she had no idea how to use her spiritual power to fight.
Jiang Zheyu quickly realized that when she ran, her opponent was surprised and didn't follow. But once he started chasing, he caught up in an instant!
Jiang Zheyu was forced to a stop, her heart pounding furiously. Before she could even come to a complete halt, her opponent's leg swung in a vicious arc toward her head.
She ducked down quickly, feeling a chilling gust of wind rush past just above her head.
Before Jiang Zheyu could react, another attack came.
'Spiritual power!' she silently chanted.
The system also shouted, "Host, use your spiritual power!"
Then, a sharp pain shot through Jiang Zheyu's shoulder. She was kicked hard, her whole body smashing to the ground. Her shoulder scraped violently against the floor, and a searing pain instantly flared through her.
'Oww, oww, oww, it hurts so much!'
Beneath her mask, her small face was already streaked with tears.
What was even more absurd was that one of her shoulder straps had snapped!
'That crazy woman Bai Ruo really was out to get me!'
Her smooth, rounded shoulder was now completely exposed under the incandescent lights, so pale it seemed to glow.
"Host, your spiritual power!" The system was getting anxious for Jiang Zheyu.
"System, I think I might need a little... stimulation," Jiang Zheyu said, her head aching with the stress.
It was just like the first day she transmigrated; under the threat of death, she had learned how to use Spiritual Comfort.
Another vicious attack closed in on her.
Jiang Zheyu subconsciously raised her arm to block the blow. Her intensely focused and concentrated spirit finally formed a ring of light that intercepted her opponent's attack.
When Yan Luo's attack hit the ring of light, the rebounding force sent him stumbling backward.
Jiang Zheyu snapped back to reality and scrambled to her feet. She was covered in a cold sweat, her hands and feet were ice-cold, and a subtle weakness made her limbs tremble.
Her mind was highly focused, her heart thumping violently as she tried to recall the feeling from just a moment ago.
Yan Luo was taken aback. He sensed that this female's spiritual power was not low at all.
'But no female knows how to use her spiritual power for attack.'
'How does she know how?'
A female's spiritual power was typically weak and easily suppressed by a male's. Their power was generally only used to provide comfort and lower Beastification Value, so many had forgotten that it could also be used for offense.
'But now's not the time to think about this. I need to end this quickly.'
These thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant, and Yan Luo quickly launched a counterattack.
Recalling the feeling from before, Jiang Zheyu sent her Spiritual Touch Silk invading her opponent's Spiritual Brain Domain.
In the next moment, her charging opponent dropped to his knees, blood pouring from his orifices as he collapsed, unconscious.
Jiang Zheyu also collapsed to her knees, completely drained.
The Beastmen in the audience fell into a rare, unified silence.
It was the first time they had ever seen a female use spiritual power to attack.
Attacks using spiritual power were not uncommon, but they were shocked and amazed simply because she was a female.
Jiang Zheyu had won. As she had wished, she took the Wolf Boy with her.
However, she didn't take the Wolf Boy back to the villa, instead placing him in one of the original owner's vacant properties.
Bai Ruo helped her transport him over and offered some false words of comfort. She had originally wanted to stay and torment the boy for a while.
But after seeing the ghastly mess of makeup on Jiang Zheyu's face and the dead look in her eyes, she slowly said, "Ruoruo, my mind is extremely unstable right now. I'm afraid I might lose control and hurt you. I hope you won't blame me."
Bai Ruo took the hint and left.
After she was gone, Jiang Zheyu sank weakly to the floor.
In the large hall, only Jiang Zheyu and the chained boy inside the iron cage remained.
The boy in the iron cage was utterly silent. He sat cross-legged, saying nothing, just staring coldly at Jiang Zheyu.
He had watched the entire arena match.
'The girl clearly doesn't know how to fight—she can't even dodge properly, only duck—yet she initiated an arena challenge just to win my freedom.'
'If she only freed me to torture me in new ways, isn't this price too high? It's not worth it at all. She could have just spent some money at the Night Club to torture me there.'
'And that guy, Yan Luo... he was probably sent by the organization to rescue me.'
'But I can't for the life of me figure out why the organization would send Yan Luo—a male who's only useful in the medical field and completely useless everywhere else—to save me. I don't know what they were thinking.'
Mo Chuan stared intently at the girl in the room, curious to see just how she planned to torture him.
Slowly, the girl sitting on the floor of the hall began to move.
Jiang Zheyu's steps were unsteady as she followed her memory to find the water dispenser. She picked up a cup, slowly filled it with hot water, and held it in her hands.
After a moment, she shuffled over to the sofa and sat down.
She took small sips of the hot water.
The warmth of the water seemed to dispel the anxiety in her heart.
Too much had happened today. She needed to calm down.
"Host, shouldn't you treat your wound?" the system's voice reminded her.
It took a second for Jiang Zheyu to register. She glanced down at her arm. A bloody scrape ran across her pale skin, looking especially gruesome. The pain, as if its memory had just returned, came flooding back in an instant.
'HOLY CRAP, IT HURTS!'
She wasn't wearing the mask anymore, but the grotesque, ugly makeup was still on her face. Combined with the fact that she had been crying under the mask, she was sure she looked hideous right now.
Jiang Zheyu wanted to cry.
With tears welling in her eyes, she wanted to go to the Interstellar First Hospital.
Medical technology in the interstellar era was much more advanced; she just needed to step into a Healing Pod to come out full of life again.
She had been about to go straight there.
"Host, why don't you finish the mission first?" the system's voice prompted.
Jiang Zheyu: "..."
She wanted to cry simply because of the pain and misery, but she didn't regret anything she had done.
It was just that all the negative emotions were flooding her at once. The more she thought about it, the more wronged she felt. 'This was all the original owner's fault, so why do I have to be the one to bear the consequences?'
A moment later,
Jiang Zheyu knelt in front of the cage with tear-filled eyes. Keeping a slight, fearful distance, she asked weakly, "Um, can I perform Spiritual Comfort on you just once?"
The boy's ink-black eyes turned cold in an instant.
"Not the... the mating kind..."
Jiang Zheyu's voice trailed off, growing quieter and quieter.