"If this pink-haired bastard knew he was actually so important to the future of humanity, how arrogant and inflated would he get?"
"No, if he clearly knew about this, his train of thought and logic would inevitably be affected. Could he still stay this single-mindedly ignorant and brainless?"
Tu Zi thought for a few seconds and felt it would indeed be difficult. "No wonder Azure values him so much and stakes their bets on him on one hand, yet keeps him completely in the dark on the other."
Speaking of which, this pink-haired guy was truly an exceedingly rare oddity. At the same time, as a super combat power shouldering the hope of humanity's future, his lot in life was shockingly miserable.
For example, his current rank was still second lieutenant, and he had only received that battlefield promotion on the eve of the expedition.
For another example, when the source energy world was finally made public and the stars of Azure shone brightly, each commanding countless worshippers, he had very few... He had been sold out by a friend at his side, who immediately published an anonymous book titled *The Pegmont Joke Collection*.
After it hit the shelves, the book sold exceptionally well, so a second volume soon followed: *Pegmont's Strange Tales*.
The third installment in the series had just been published recently, under the title *Pegmont's Life of Courting Death*.
Because of this, he might be the famous Super with the fewest fans in the entire world, falling short even of many long-departed seniors. At the same time, he was the rising super star who made the public most worried about the future of mankind.
"No, lately, his fanbase seems to have shown a sudden, dramatic spike... Most likely, many people who started out as haters had unknowingly grown fond of him over time. That subtle sentiment, catalyzed by his sudden defeat of Amugulang, made countless people abruptly turn into fans."
"Huh? Why am I suddenly thinking this pink-haired guy seems kind of endearing too? No way! The bastard is currently in Antarctica causing trouble for Stream Vanguard... What a coincidence!"
"He won't really beat Brother Wu Xu, will he?"
"And then what about Brother Qingzi? Will he step in?"
Having learned the inside story, Tu Zi's stance was momentarily thrown into confusion.
At the same time, he realized that this seemingly abrupt and childish provocation taking place on the Antarctic Peninsula was no accident.
Of the nine people in Azure who knew the truth back then, only seven remained today. One of them had specifically planted someone at Pegmont's side to quietly exert influence.
For example, by constantly brainwashing him, egging him on to court death and pick fights with elite fighters.
Or, for another example, instigating him to pull today's stunt.
Right now, those big figures were behind the scenes, watching this confrontation that bore heavily on the future of humanity with nervous anticipation.
The best possible outcome of this conflict, of course, was for Han Qingyu to take action and be defeated by Pegmont.
That way, Pegmont's mental demon could be broken, and Han Qingyu's path of "pure human self-transcendence" could also undergo another trial of twists and turns.
............
At the site of the confrontation, Aksasa calmed his blood and vitality, bowed respectfully to his opponent Theodore, and then stepped back.
With an S-grade degree of fusion, having only entered the top tier during the Zenith War, and becoming a Super in under two years overall, his godspeed progress was enough to shake the entire source energy world if spoken aloud. However, his potential and ceiling were actually not high.
Because his special trait was truly peculiar—peculiar to the point of being entirely unrelated to combat... He simply had an enormous appetite, got hungry very easily, and never gained weight no matter how much he ate.
For this reason, the scientific research department of the Mitli Front had studied him for a long time, yet in the end they failed to figure out how he could apply this trait to the cause of human resistance.
This had already begun to become a major research topic within Azure's scientific system. In the future, as the number of Supers grew, bizarre traits like this would inevitably become more and more common.
During the previous general conscription, Azure had reaped a cohort of S-grade talents—a figure reaching half the total number of existing super combat powers.
However, could all of these S-grades ultimately grow into Supers?
The answer was obviously not an affirmative one.
When they went to battle and faced hardship or even desperate straits, these undeveloped S-grades were just as prone to dying.
And if they were kept away from such battles, an S-grade was sometimes nothing more than a degree-of-fusion label, with a high probability of being nurtured into deadwood.
"Not bad." Pegmont reached out and patted Aksasa's head, tossed him a piece of bread, and signaled for him to step back while he continued forward. "Now what? If I fight Theodore too, wouldn't that feel a bit like bullying?"
As he spoke, he spread his hands, completely looking down on Stream Vanguard.
"Then let's neither of us hold back—a full-out life-and-death battle!" Theodore stood tall and roared. How could he tolerate such disrespect? Even though he knew full well he couldn't win, he refused to back down.
There was no small gap in strength between them. If they held back in a spar, he wouldn't have the slightest chance of winning; on the contrary, if they staked everything in a life-and-death clash, there was still a sliver of a chance.
Seeing that things were about to blow up, the big shots behind him hurriedly stepped forward, pulling Theodore back together. Everyone in Stream Vanguard knew that Pegmont was a bit slow in the head. What if he really went all out...?
However, Pegmont wasn't even looking at Theodore.
His gaze lingered on Milla for a moment, then turned to a lieutenant colonel carrying a sniper rifle beside him.
"Do you want me to help you snatch her rifle, Mark? As long as you admit you wrote those three books, I'll go snatch it right now."
Makarov looked at him for two seconds and said coldly, "No need. Wasn't me."
"It's impossible that it wasn't you. Many things in the books feel like only you knew about them—like that time I crawled on my belly for two kilometers only to be scared off by Han Qingyu. Besides, you're a sniper; you're good at observing."
"No. I only told your stories to a lot of people," Makarov said.
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Fine." Pegmont tossed his cockscomb-like pink hair and turned back to face forward. "How about a two-on-one then? Aren't you hiding a Super? I heard you're likely hiding a Super! Who is it? Come out together with Theodore and face my wrath!"
Everyone on Stream Vanguard's side remained silent.
Because they had indeed produced a powerful new Super who had not yet been revealed to the world. That person wasn't Rusty Sister, the strongest beneath the super tier, but Corpse Man Weize—the very person Zhe Qiuhong had once judged least likely to break through. Because he had been tasked with "hunting down" Han Qingyu for the past two months, he had chased him for two months and suddenly broken through one day.
This had once made all the peak top-tiers in Stream Vanguard deeply tempted to take a turn hunting down their own boss.
At this moment, Weize was wrapped almost entirely in a trench coat, his face concealed beneath a hood as he hid among the crowd. He had always looked very much like a corpse; after the breakthrough, he resembled a terrifying zombie even more.
His trait was death aura. Once death aura entered the body, unless the victim possessed stronger life source energy, there was no cure; and even for opponents with stronger life source energy, it would still inflict grievous wounds.
"Don't move," Xu Shiliang whispered in caution beside him, forbidding Weize from revealing himself. This had been instructed by Wen Jifei and the Little Prince.
And so, Weize stayed still.
All of Stream Vanguard remained silent, suffocatingly enduring the provocation.
"No one?! That tin girl hasn't broken through yet?" On the opposite side, Pegmont shouted loudly. "In that case, I can only give you time to fetch that blockhead back. Then, once I beat him, you will all formally apologize to me and tell the whole world that I, the heroic, invincible Pegmont, was never scared away by you lot!"
The blockhead naturally referred to Wu Xu.
"Speaking of which, the strongest person in your Stream Vanguard right now is probably that blockhead, right? After all, that bastard Han Qingyu is already crippled..."
Pegmont continued speaking with mounting excitement.
He was inflating, inflating rapidly...
"Is that so?"
A sudden reply came from behind him.
Having "fled for his life" all the way here, the Little Prince had finally arrived.
Pegmont turned his head in astonishment.
"Are you truly so sure?" With a smile playing at the corners of his mouth, the Little Prince walked forward.
Hearing those words, Pegmont's heart inexplicably skipped a beat. His will to victory was wavering—and Han Qingyu hadn't even appeared yet.
"Never mind that he's lost his memory; even if he were paralyzed and lying in bed, who among you could truly guarantee you could afford to mess with him in a life-and-death battle?"
The Little Prince continued speaking.
Pegmont's gaze filled with conflicted turmoil.
At this moment, no one knew that the Azure bigwigs observing behind the scenes were on the verge of tears.
Just then, in the glacial canyon in the distance, a section of the mountain at least the size of a soccer field suddenly slid in its entirety and collapsed...
Following the thundering roar.
The view of the canyon opened up completely, and a silhouette, seen from behind, appeared starkly in their field of vision.
Chapter 778