480 Intelligence

When Ma Dong walked up onto the stage, not only was there a solemn expression on his face, he was also extremely stiff in his actions. He had absolutely no desire to be on stage, and even wanted Wang Zhong to do the balloting. Perhaps even Milami or Scarlet would suffice. That's because his balloting skills were basically a toxic poison! Without mentioning about Bierlia Academy, Bella Dean, Divine Dragon… even if the dust had already settled and they had obtained great victories over those teams, just thinking back about those matches still caused him to have the impulsion to stab his own hands.

Nonetheless, he was helpless to change this, as the entire squadron had expressed their wish for Ma Dong to be the one doing the balloting. Although his balloting was extremely poisonous, they have still won every single match. Perhaps this poison of his was extremely compatible with the Tianjing squadron… fighting poison with poison? This caused everyone in the squadron to feel extremely optimistic in their self-ridicule.

Very quickly, the people before Ma Dong had already completed their balloting. Ma Dong also took notice that the 2 A ranked squadrons standing before him, the Blazing Angels and Eye of the Storm squadrons had picked the 4A and 11B numbered balls respectively!

An A ranked squadron! Ma Dong took a deep breath! Walking right before the balloting box containing the rest of the numbered ball, he took yet another deep breath, before starting to pray. Oh invisible god, please let it be an A rank squadron! Either 4B or 11A! He proceeded to repeat these 2 numbers in his heart. Truthfully speaking, both the Blazing Angels and Eye of the Storm squadrons were extremely strong. However, it was still better to face them than to walk straight up into an S rank squadron.

At the same time, the entire Tianjing City was also taking a deep breath. Seemingly all of its citizens had tuned in to watch the live broadcast of the balloting. Regardless of what they were doing, all of them had stopped whatever they were doing and watched the broadcast, while praying like what Ma Dong was doing.

Don't let it be another S ranked squadron! Please give us an A rank squadron to fight this round! If there really is a god up there, please, please just grant us this small little wish! We are not greedy...

Scarlet and the others were filled with nervousness, while little Emily was clenching her hands tight. She had already warned her cousin that if his hands weren't lucky enough, she would take action against him. Being a member of the Assassin Family, Ma Dong obviously understood what "take action" meant...

As he extended his right hand out, Ma Dong suddenly realised something, before a wave of cold air filled his body! All of a sudden, he stopped moving, before retracting his right hand in like a bolt of lightning. Under everyone's gaze, he extended his left hand out, took a bottle of perfume with his right hand and gave two puffs into his palm, before extending it into the balloting box.

Laughter erupted from all corners of the ceremony venue, yet there was no one showing any contempt or ridicule towards his actions. Shaking his head, the host of the live broadcast proceeded to say. "This leader Ma Dong is a very interesting young man, Looks like him picking the 2 S ranked squadrons for the Tianjing squadron has caused quite a few to feel dissatisfied about the smell of his hands. After putting on some perfume, no one can say that his luck isn't good."

Extending his hand into the balloting box, Ma Dong pulled out a ball while shouting, "14A!"

"Ah, It's a 14, but the alphabet is different! It's the Torres squadron! 14B!"

Ma Dong's face turned ashen in response. He really wanted to toss this ball away and pick another one...

99 percent of the entire Tianjing citizen population were all sighing...yet another S ranked squadron?

Furthermore, it was the Torres squadron with 2 Mo's List members in their ranks!

"This is our Tianjing squadron's fate, huh. Since we're going for a collision, let's smash against the hardest wall. That way, even if we are to lose, we won't feel regret."

"In fact, it's a good thing, as we won't be losing any face. Haha! What's more, we're now in the top 16! It's already a huge accomplishment, alright!"

Tianjing City's mad celebratory parties had ended, and everyone was saying those words to console themselves.

Very quickly, the balloting ceremony came to an end, with the round-of-16 match schedule being officially announced.

Heaven's Fate squadron VS Mammoth squadron;

Martial Ghost Divine Emperor VS Blazing squadron;

Tianjing squadron VS Torres squadron;

Grozny squadron VS Asuna Ocean God squadron;

Copperfield squadron VS Blazing Angels squadron;

Seer squadron VS Barbarian squadron;

Stuart squadron VS Eye of the storm squadron;

Giant God Peak squadron vs Highland Knights squadron.

Following the announcement of the round-of-16 match schedule, the CHF great competition entered its five day rest period. The various great squadrons all proceeded to enter closed training. To these soldiers, the successive high standards and high level of stimulation from the matches they have gone through and were going to undergo in this CHF was an extremely precious source of experience. It was extremely hard to come by such a stage, with such opponents, and a relatively safe fight that still made it feel like they were putting their life and death on the line. For those elite soldiers standing at the peak of the Casted Soul Stage, this was the final chance of transformation before they ignited their Heroic Souls. These five days of rest were extremely precious to everyone, as they were all giving their best, to sum up all of their experiences for the sake of igniting their potential and raising their strength.

The various great squadrons remained extremely silent. However, in the Skylink, massive waves of excitement were billowing, with various kinds of rumours raising up incredible amounts of clamouring.

There were many people who felt sorry for the Tianjing squadron, as they could be said to have become the target of barenaked focus. Ever since entering the final competition, the Tianjing squadron has never bumped into any easy opponents. The Torres squadron they were facing was the third S ranked squadron the Tianjing squadron was going up against.

"Is there a problem with the balloting? The Tianjing squadron's luck really is heaven-defying! Bumping into 3 successive S ranked squadrons! Wow! Are the S ranked squadrons not afraid of dying? Or is it Tianjing?"

"Something fishy? Oh, if you take a closer look, it appears that the S rank squadrons had yet to bump into each other."

"Take a close look at the balloting, and you'll know that the reason why the seedling squadrons are seedling squadrons; it's due to them having special treatment in the balloting! They will not face off against each other before the round-of-64! However, this is already the round-of-16, yet not even one of them has bumped into another! This balloting slightly fishy!"

"Even though it's slightly fishy, there should be no problem in it. All of the ballotings have been broadcasted live on Skylink from many different camera angles. What's more, they are accomplished by the leaders of the various squadrons. Three parties, the Stuart and Mo Families, as well as the organising committee, will give them a check, so the possibility of cheating in the balloting process is extremely unlikely."

"Oh, I see, thanks for the knowledge!"

"Big brother, even though I know all of these, even I just want to sigh for a while. Why is it so difficult for commoner squadrons wanting to climb to a higher point?"

"However, I have to say that only a Tianjing like this would make me want to support them even more, and gives me an even more thrilling experience while watching them! What I say is true. Can climbing on a stone staircase up be the same from stepping on the eyes, noses of the S ranks to climb up? Haha! Anyways, I'm extremely calm and collected, and waiting for brother All Mouthy King to beat up all kinds of evil monsters!

These five days of rest clearly weren't going to be calm and tranquil. The CHF organising committee had made their intentions extremely clear during the balloting ceremony. Therefore, the various great squadrons were focusing their strength, with every single member giving their all to collect information to dissect their opponents.

The rankings given out by the organizing committee had further stimulated the various great squadrons. With them already being in the top 16, none of them were willing to stop at this stage, as the meaning behind being the top 8 was completely different from the top 16. The honour and glory obtained by the top 8 squadrons of the Freedom Federation would definitely be remembered by people, and would even go down into the history books!

Footage and videos were continuously being dissected, with every single detail, and even the habits of participants in reaction to different situations being researched.

The analysts of the various great squadrons were doing their jobs to their utmost, while many fervent people awaited the matches on the Skylink. To them, these five days of rest were extremely unbearable, with all of them wishing for the matches to begin immediately. It was unbearable! With the balloting already done, and the match schedule already announced, everyone was now impatiently waiting for the impending fights.