Xu Lan was surprised by what he saw. He expected to see a ghost town. Instead, he saw a lively, flourishing town. Grand Firearm City was not about rogue shooting. There was a designated arena for professional competition. The competition was held once a month. It was similar to the Colosseum of Ancient Rome, where only qualified candidates may compete. Aristocrats and wealthy men paid to watch these life or death battles.

Xu Lan joined a club to train his marksmanship. When he felt that he was ready, he joined the competition by registering through his club. He was invited to a special waiting area.

“Hey, fellas! Where did this hot chick come from? What a shame!” A burly man snickered when he saw Xu Lan being led by the instructor into the waiting area.

“Haha, the organizing committee ran out of candidates? Why did they take someone like that in? Is he even strong enough to prop a gun up?” another burly man chimed in nastily.

All of the participants were tall foreigners who had had well-developed muscles. Even though Xu Lan stood at almost one hundred and eighty centimeters tall, everyone still poked fun at his relatively small built.

Bam! A few droplets of warm fresh blood splattered onto Xu Lan’s face. His throat tightened and he told himself to relax. ‘Don’t fret about it! None of them are real. They’re nothing but an illusion in my head!’ Xu Lan tried to convince himself.

Meanwhile, at the designated lounge for another club, a short man with a white beard blew off the steam rising up from his favorite gun.

“Lucy! You! Why are you helping the new guy? What are you getting out of this!” the guy who spoke earlier shouted loudly.

“Absolutely nothing. He looks better than all of you, it’s healthy for my eyes,” chuckled Lucy.

Everyone was silenced by his reply. On the other hand, Xu Lan could not contain his laughter and started laughing. This was the first time he was complimented on his looks. Usually, people would find his physical appearance horrifying and threatening.

“Thank you, I…”

“There’s no need to thank me. I don’t like idiots who look down on others. This is my way of teaching them a lesson. Don’t for a second think that I’ll go easy on you at the arena, because I’ll not,” Lucy spoke without looking at Xu Lan and continued to polish his pistol which had unlimited ammo.

Xu Lan smiled bitterly. That man was right. Everyone here was his enemy. Their only mission? To kill the enemies.

“Alright, get in. Head to the gold arena,” the instructor pushed him into the arena.

“The ninety-eighth match of one hundred men shooting competition is about to kick off at Grand Firearm City!” the commentator announced enthusiastically, “same rules here. There will be five competition zones, which are gold, wood, water, fire, and earth respectively. Five seeded players will be chosen from the preliminaries. These five players will be up against our defending champion during the final battle! The next defending champion will be chosen from one of them! Are you ready!

“Yes, we are!”

“Luffy! Luffy!”

“Dashiell! Dashiell!”

“Woah! I can’t wait to watch Dashiell!” The audience cheered loudly for the player they were supporting. At the same time, they were placing their bets too.

“For the first preliminary round, the players may shoot their enemies down by any means. The main goal is to survive in your respective competition zone. Survival is the key! Are you ready?”

While elaborating on the mechanics of the competition, the commentator dragged out the last note on purpose. At the same time, the door at the five competition zones opened at the same time. The arena was filled with shouts and cheers.

‘Bam! Bam! Bam!’

The gunshot rang at all five competition zones at the same time. The crowd at the arena was excited. All of the players wished to emerge victorious from the treacherous competition zone in order to obtain the greatest honor. The competition was kicking off!

The battle had officially started!