The Arena

Ding Naiqing hadn't expected that a single remark from him would bring such a formidable opponent down on Tu Ran. He quickly stood up and blocked her path, saying, "If you want to fight, fight me. Beat me first, then you can take on Ran-jie."

The man shoved him aside without ceremony. "Get lost."

Ding Naiqing was furious and about to argue further, but Tu Ran grabbed his arm and stopped him.

"Don't worry, your Ran-jie can handle this. You go down first," she reassured him.

Still, Ding Naiqing didn't want to leave Tu Ran up there alone.

The man was so burly, and Ran-jie's frame was so small—the gap in strength was too wide.

And this guy clearly held a grudge against Ran-jie. What if she got hurt? What if her perfectly good arm got broken and she had to replace it with a mechanical prosthetic?

It was all his fault. He shouldn't have shown off and shouted like that. If Ran-jie got hurt because of him, he'd never forgive himself.

"Why aren't you getting down? If you don't get down now, I'll beat you too!" Lu Huaiwei's voice was gruff, and he cracked his knuckles loudly.

"I'm not going! I'm just not going!" Ding Naiqing steeled himself. He didn't care about looking shameless—he wasn't about to leave Ran-jie alone on that stage.

Tu Ran didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She had to take a different approach, leaning close to his ear and whispering, "If I look like I'm about to lose, I'll call you up, and then the two of us can beat him together, okay?"

Ding Naiqing's eyes lit up instantly. "That works! Then don't forget to call me, Ran-jie."

"Mm-hm." Tu Ran smiled and saw him off the stage.

Ding Naiqing stood in the first row below the stage, ready to charge up and help Tu Ran pummel Lu Huaiwei at any moment.

"Come on, then. Let me see just how impressive this woman who dares to trample the Executive Department's face under her feet really is," Lu Huaiwei said.

So he wasn't here to avenge Zhou Ming—he was here to restore the Executive Department's dignity as a whole.

That raised the stakes considerably.

Tu Ran found herself viewing him in a slightly better light.

"Then I won't hold back."

Before the words had even faded, Tu Ran's leg swept out in a wide arc.

Lu Huaiwei immediately assumed a defensive stance and caught her incoming leg.

"That's all you've got?" Lu Huaiwei sneered.

Tu Ran curled the corner of her mouth. "As if."

Xie Xu had taught her plenty of moves, and she hadn't even used them yet.

Using that leg as a pivot, Tu Ran flipped upside down in midair, bending her other knee and driving it toward the back of his neck.

Lu Huaiwei released her pivot leg at once and scrambled backward.

But Tu Ran didn't drop. Instead, like a morning glory clinging to a tree, she spun a full 180 degrees around his body, clamped both knees around his neck, and twisted his head with all her might.

Lu Huaiwei lost his balance and toppled backward onto the stage floor.

Tu Ran tumbled along with him and landed against the ropes at the edge of the ring.

A burst of cheers and applause erupted from below the stage.

Tu Ran wasn't distracted by it. Using the ropes' rebound, she sprang forward, hooked her long leg around the neck of Lu Huaiwei, who was struggling to sit up, and pinned him face-down on the stage once more.

Lu Huaiwei's neck was trapped, his whole face flushed crimson, and his upper body was nearly immobilized. He reached back to grab Tu Ran and yank her off, but she seized his outstretched arm and swiftly bent it backward.

A crack rang out—the sound of bone breaking.

Lu Huaiwei let out an agonized howl.

The crowd below held their breath in absolute silence.

Lu Huaiwei was now completely pinned beneath Tu Ran, unable to resist.

"Do you yield?" Tu Ran's voice was cold.

Lu Huaiwei said nothing.