"Brother Lei."
"Hmm? What's the matter?"
"I want to continue competing."
"Sure, but since you are an Awakener now, you won't be able to join the normal competitions. There's a competition known as the King of Fighters World Competition. Do you want to join that?"
King of Fighters?
Li Rui froze for a moment and a scene of a purple-headed smart nobleman along with a human torch flashed through his mind.
He mockingly laughed to himself. He shook his head. It was probably just a coincidence.
"Yeah. It is sponsored by a mysterious corporation. It's a really famous underground competition. Every year they will hold qualifying rounds all over the world and the final winner will challenge the King of Fighters from last year."
"King of Fighters? Hahahaha, don't tell me that there's someone known as Kusanagi Kyō?"
A dead silence came from the other end of the phone and the smile on Li Rui's face slowly became stiff.
'Oh sh*t, I was right?'
"Little Rui, how did you know? Everyone who was involved in the competition that year has signed a non-disclosure agreement… Forget it, no matter how you found out, you shouldn't go around asking all these questions. Once you become stronger, you will come to know about all these secrets."
Li Rui didn't remember much about the conversation that happened after that. He only managed to come back to his senses after finishing the registration and ending the call.
The King of Fighters!
A competition that was in a wrestling video game exists!
This world…
Li Rui placed his chin on his hands and the look on his face was constantly changing.
He thought that this world was a mysterious Sci-Fi dimension, but he didn't know that the more he found out about it, the darker it became.
Now an imaginary game had become a reality in this world, Li Rui felt lost. He was not able to see what was in front of him.
What connection did this world have with his previous life?
Did his imagination from his previous life come true in this world?
Or did the things that happened here get projected into the minds of the people in his previous life? Was that why they were able to create such things?
This was a question similar to whether the egg or the chicken came first.
Li Rui thought about it for a while then decided to just leave it.
Instead of thinking about all these philosophical things, he may as well think about something more realistic!
For example, if the King of Fighters really existed, then what about the other fantasy that was created with its background as Earth?
Or perhaps… they haven't happened yet?
As he thought about it, a flame burned in his heart.
If this was true, then he could use the memory from his previous life to bring him an unlimited fortune!
"Brother, I've finished my homework. Can I watch Animal Planet now?"
As just Li Rui was fantasizing about the future, Little Wei shoved her exercise book in front of Li Rui.
"Oh? You're done? Let me see."
As Li Rui was checking through her work, Li Wei had already secretly taken the remote and turned on Animal Planet on the TV.
The thick voice that was similar to Zhao ZhongXiang spread throughout the house.
"On the prairies in Africa…"
Li Rui gazed at her, shook his head, and continued checking her work.
The more he checked her work, the angrier he became.
Other than language, she practically failed all the other subjects. She simply filled up all the answers for the English and maths questions. As for physics and chemistry, she just threw in all sorts of equations that she didn't even understand herself.
Li Rui took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down.
"Hahaha~"
As she saw the cute little lions running around, Li Wei happily laughed as she hugged the pillow.
'Forget it, I'll deal with her when she's done watching Animal Planet!'
...
For the entire week, Li Rui only went to two places; it was either home or school.
The closest competition that Coach Chen from school already signed him up for was a few weeks later. The King of Fighters World Competition was usually held at night and you were able to fix your schedule according to your own time. So, there was no collision between the two.
Well, of course, this was only the qualifying rounds for the King of Fighters. Once he entered the pre-elementary round, it may not be possible for him to balance both sides.
But according to Li Rui's current ability, he would definitely be able to make it through the qualifying rounds. But once he entered into the pre-elementary, all the contestants would mostly be Transcendents and it was possible that his ability couldn't even defeat one of their fingers.
"196… 197… 198… 199… 200!"
In the training grounds of Ming De Middle School, there was a room where there was an emblem of a nine-tailed fox hung above its door. Li Rui, who was covered in sweat, was doing push-ups.
The sore feeling from the lactic acid accumulated in his muscles were replaced by a much stronger burning feeling. Li Rui let out a roar that reflected his pain and was panting on the ground.
HP: 93/94 [Undigested Extra Lives 131 Points]
He had digested some HP and Li Rui, who was already as tired as a dog, finally smiled.
But soon, his face stiffened.
"Luo Li, get down."
On his back, Luo Li was sitting on his lead coat while playing on her phone.
A hundred kilos on his back, along with the lead coat that he was wearing, was making it difficult for him to breathe.
"Huh? Captain, why are you so weak? I thought you could still hold on for a little longer."
She played with his ears and then stood up.
"Why don't I sit on you and you try to do 200 push-ups?"
Li Rui, who was still lying on the ground, continued panting as he rolled his eyes.
"Haha, how could you sit on a lady? That's not very gentlemanly of you!"
Luo Li laughed and ran to the other girls who were still training.
A warm feeling which rushed into his stomach replenished his energy. Li Rui stood up.
He removed the lead coat and started stretching. While trying to stretch out the sore feeling in his muscles, he was looking around the classroom.
As the team captain, he was responsible for helping the rest of them with the training if the coach was not around.
"Fang Jianian, you're doing it wrongly with the punches. You should use more power from your waist and leg. The fist is just a cannon. The destructive power comes from the energy of your entire body…"
"FanRong, your steps shouldn't be so stiff. Your opponent in the ring will not move according to your steps…"
Li Rui walked around and about twenty of them were looking at him respectfully.
There wasn't a single one of them that did not respect him. Within a week, Li Rui had defeated them one by one.
It was the kind of defeat where one had to surrender.
Of course, Li Rui's main intention was only to gain EXP, but these chickens were just too weak.
There were a few times where they played a good match, and he would get 1 EXP, but most of the time it would come down to teaching instead. When he had to teach them, he wouldn't get anything in return. Instead, the person whom he played with was the one who improved drastically.
As for the daily missions…
Ay… What was the point?
As he was thinking about this, Li Rui couldn't help but look at Luo Li with anticipation. He got goosebumps all over his body while looking at her train.
What was wrong?
Why was there a sudden chill?
But Li Rui quickly looked away. She still hadn't fully recovered from the damage of [Feral Screams]from their previous fight.
'Should I ask her to have a match with me while she's injured so that I can gain some EXP?'
'I'm not a monster!'
He shook his head helplessly.
This past week, he had concluded that other than replenishing himself with food, he also realized that exercising like crazy also sped up the digestion of the extra lives.