Chapter 166: Powerful Strength
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The American wrestling appeared to be ferocious in nature with its fast and powerful actions and visuals, but in truth, it was just for show. Even the battleground had been modified.
Other than strong muscles, basic wrestling techniques, and grappling techniques, the players usually carried out the performance according to the script that had been arranged beforehand.
In the script, the wrestlers were divided into two sides—good and evil. They would be given ident.i.ties like “The Upright Cowboy Lad”, “The Stubborn Mafia”, “The Mean and Sinister Banker”, and so on as they fought against each other in the ring.
Although most of the audience knew it was fake, they still enjoyed watching it.
The reason why this fighting sport was so attention-grabbing, despite the fact that the audience knew it was merely an act, was because every time when the compet.i.tion took place, the organizer would wrack their brains to make an arrangement.
Before the game started, the player would be shown in a dazzling way as they entered the stage.
During the game, the martial movements between the players were exaggerated, wild yet smooth, making it seem to be very thrilling and exciting to the eye.
On top of that, due to the reason that they had a different match system, the players often fought with each other from the stage to below the stage. They even used folding chairs, baseball bats and other tools in their fight. If they were a little careless, blood would splatter and the scene would be beguiling, making the people unable to resist from paying attention to it.
Just take the match tonight for example, after the host shouted at the top of his lungs to introduce both players from both sides, a grand yet short film with a fiendish plot with ‘Little Cowboy’ Dondin Gra.s.se and ‘Elephant’ Dodu making their appearance, flashed on the stadium’s huge screen.
Then, in the midst of strong-beat music and artificial smoke, the two players entered the stadium and thunderous applause resounded throughout the entire stadium afterward.
Unfortunately, good times did not last long. After the game had officially started, the audience who knew about the customary practice of the martial compet.i.tion would know that it was the newbies who were usually ranked at the bottom of the match, who was kicked off the match. Very soon, one by one, they began to place their attention elsewhere.
They would either go buy some snacks or drinks first or would eagerly discuss the next exciting battle with their companions.
The applause and cheers for the first game appeared to be spa.r.s.e as well.
On the contrary, it was Zhang Lisheng’s first time to watch a US wrestling compet.i.tion live. He, who did not know of the complicated match’s rules, nor the legendary stars among the players, watched the two newbies fight each other with all their might on the ring, finding it to be interesting on how they would climb up the side railing and leap down as they attacked.
“Tina, they’re fighting really vigorously! Look, even their ears are bleeding now! It doesn’t seem like an act to me!”
Upon hearing the young man inadvertently making a big taboo as he spoke, Tina quickly reminded him through a whisper, “Hey, baby! Don’t say it so loud! Yes, they’re acting but the bleeding is real. Sometimes, even the broken bones are real too! For this reason, you must never say it’s fake when you’re watching the wrestling game in the stadium, otherwise, people would spit at you!”
“But your words are contradicting.”
“There are many contradictions in human society. This is life! Watch the game carefully, baby. This kind of filler match is usually a match showcasing the iron men. It would end in 20 minutes and the more exciting parts are yet to come.”
As the girl had said, the first match soon ended with the victory of ‘Little Cowboy’ Dondin Gra.s.se.
After that, the screen time of the players coming up increased. A six-person match of a few hot and beautiful bodybuilding women wearing bikinis and tight leather pants was also slotted in the middle of the show, raising the enthusiasm of the male audience right away.
However, as the atmosphere of the stadium grew more and more fierce, Zhang Lisheng, who had watched these kinds of matches many times already and began to have a grasp of the knacks, got bored of the compet.i.tion.
By the time all of the filler matches finished, and at the time when finally, the most eye-catching and most decisive match began, his heart was already elsewhere.
Now that the highlight was about to come, the lights in the Madison Square Garden Stadium once again turned dark. The atmosphere also became quiet as the host once again rushed into the ring, before yelling out loud under the spotlight, “Ladies and gentlemen! The most exciting moment is going to come soon! Will it be the sun or the satan’s believer who rules this match? Now, let us welcome the soul of justice walking in the dark, the epic hero who uses the power of evil to protect the light—The Beheader, Black Gus!”
In the midst of the host’s shout, sullen gloomy funeral music resonated throughout the stadium.
After a series of low cries of bafflement, a long-haired brawny man, who was clasping one arm that was as thick as an ordinary adult’s thigh on the neck of another muscular man and another hand holding onto the beam of a huge cross nearly five meters high as he raised himself up, appeared on the yellow lens flas.h.i.+ng on the big screen.
“Beheader! It’s the Beheader! Lisheng, he’s the strongest hero on the wrestling scene right now! He hasn’t lost for 400 days already!” Tina looked at the screen and could not help but shout excitedly.
“Is that so?” Zhang Lisheng looked at the screen and paid attention to the short appearing-on-stage film of the big shot that was much more interesting than some nameless n.o.body, ignoring the Beheader, the hero of the dark, who was entering the stadium in the midst of the cheers of the audience.
Of course, the person who would be competing against the Beheader would not be a n.o.body as well! After the hero of justice who was more than two meters tall, with a beheading rack tattooed on his chest, walked up to the ring expressionless, the fallen hero of the past, “Flaming Captain” Herbert Parson also walked onto the ring in an expressionless manner under the introduction of the host. In the midst of the audience booing, sighs of pity, and the series of gunshots and helicopter roaring sounds resonated through the stadium’s big screen in succession.
“He’s the American Captain, Herbert Parson who was still the pillar of justice wrestling last year. Don’t look down on him for having an inconspicuous body among the other wrestlers, his movement is the fastest among all! Not only that, but he also has two ultimate techniques, Lava Punch and Magma Sweep, which are very powerful! It’s a pity he fell to the dark side half a year ago because he fell in love with Spider-Girl from the evil side. However, I think he would see through the Spider Girl’s ugly truth and would return to justice!”
After seeing the two generals of justice and evil that had appeared on stage now, Tina stared at the ring excitedly while continuing to explain to Zhang Lisheng about the origins of the two players.
“Oh… Oh…” The young man answered perfunctorily as he watched the battle that began to unfold in the ring. With his ankle hoisted on the stainless steel guardrail in front, his mind began to float away.
After the transformation, the frail body had obtained an elevation on his intrinsic quality. His thought had been focused on making a breakthrough in witchcraft as his priority vanished without a trace.
It just so happened it was winter vacation right now, so he had plenty of time to spend. Suddenly, the young man was overcome with the urge to return to his homeland for a visit.
In fact, Zhang Lisheng had always remembered when he left Guawo Village, he had told his Uncle Ah Lie who had been very caring to himself that he would always return to the village to pay them a visit even though he stayed in the US right now. However, after he had come to the US, various accidents and the time consumed in cultivating, for the sake of self-protection, had caused him to have no choice but to break his promise.
When the young man’s mind was lost in various fancies and conjectures, the Beheader and the Flaming Captain’s match on the ring had already reached its most critical part.
The Beheader, who originally had the upper hand, with his body size and height having an overwhelming advantage over the Flaming Captain, was engaged in the fight with the opponent with provocative actions here and there, prompting him to fling a violent punch that was somehow evaded by the Flaming Captain agilely. At the same time, the Flaming Captain also returned a powerfully packed fist to him that hit him on the chin.
When the fist hit, the big screen on the stadium suddenly showed a scene of volcanic eruptions. Thousands of spectators stood up and shouted out in alarm, “It’s Lava Punch! It’s Lava Punch…”
Having struck by the punch, Beheader screamed out loud in pain, before staggering backward and leaning on the railing of the ring as he held his head. It looked like his head was swimming in stars now.
At this time, seizing his upper hand, Flaming Captain ran up and leaped upwards, flying high in the air as he gave a flying kick. It struck the Beheader right at his side rib and threw him directly out of the ring.
“Oh, G.o.d! It’s Magma Sweep! It’s Magma Sweep! The Flaming Captain is winning…” As the crowds shouted out loud, a frame of raging fire flashed again on the stadium’s big screen.
After the Beheader fell down from the platform that was more than one meter high, he seemed to snap back into reality right away. With a leap, he jumped up from the ground and howled a few times in rage at Flaming Captain who was pursuing incessantly, scaring the enemy off. Then, he suddenly turned around and rushed towards the spectators at the front without warning. With a grasp, he grabbed on the s.h.i.+ny metal guardrail, wanting to pull it out to use it as a weapon.
Even though the crowds knew that the final game had no rules and had no limitations at all, that they could fight from the ring to below it, or even fight all the way to the backstage, and could just grasp anything to attack the opponent, many spectators could not help but scream when the gigantic Beheader rushed to their front in a fierce-looking manner.
At this moment, a sudden absurd scenario took place without warning. As the Beheader pulled the guardrail with his entire muscle might, the bright silver metal fence did not budge at all. However, a seemingly thin teenager sitting in the first row of the spectators waved his hand as though he was waving at a fly.
The Beheader whose weight was at least 300 pounds seemed to have hit by a cannonball, as he was sent flying six to seven meters away. After smas.h.i.+ng onto the ring with a loud ‘bang’, he bounced forward onto the ground and no longer made any sound after that.
The entire Madison Square Garden Stadium fell into a moment of bafflement. The first thought formed in the spectators’ minds was that the NWA had decided to make a debut for a super powerful new dark hero for the ‘Evil Alliance.’
However, this power that could defeat the Beheader in just one strike would be difficult to balance, they were bound to design a similar character for the Justice Alliance as his opponent too.
Right at this moment, Zhang Lisheng, who was suddenly alerted in surprise by the wrestler and had made a self-defense move that sent the Beheader flying, had already snapped back to his senses and moved his body sideways to block his face.
Similar comments resonated all around him—
“This is too absurd…”
“Is this kid some sort of superhuman?”
“It’s a technique! Black Gus was the one who leaped back by himself…”
After two to three seconds later, Tina also snapped back to her senses. Standing up from the seat, she whispered and motioned to her friends, “Let’s go!” before using her body to block Zhang Lisheng and squeezed into the VIP pa.s.sage when the cameras in the stadium were still focused on the Beheader who was still lying on the ground.