502 Laura's hard opposition to Carolyn

"Seeing that the match has yet to start, starting such a discussion now is way too early, right?" Divian's voice rang out. There were only a handful of people among the Federation's younger generation who would dare to not give face to Gui Hao. However, Divian was definitely one of those people. Originally, she was planning on staying in the training room to watch the broadcast on the large screen. Nevertheless, she had come here due to Carolyn's invitation, though she had never expected that all those who had made it to the top 8 were also here.

With a grin, Gui Hao replied, "I'm just stating the facts. Seeing that you're that quick to reply, could you also have gotten a crush on Wang Zhong, little Lan?"

The situation between the aristocratic families was extremely subtle, complicated, and involved marriages as well as mutual conflict. There were some matters where Divian appeared to have a slight lead over Carolyn. What's more, Gui Hao didn't have any good intentions in his words, as his first sentence was immediately aimed at splintering the relationship between the besties.

"It's best that you not say. I really feel that Wang Zhong's pretty good. His leadership qualities are of the highest quality, and not like some people with their bombastic ego." replied Divian with an eyebrow raise and a smile. "Since you don't look favourably at Tianjing, how about a bet? I just so happen to have a bit of pocket change with me."

"Let's bet 50 thousand on whether Tianjing can enter the group battle phase or not!" Divian immediately raised her challenge.

The conflict within the 10 Great Families was generally centralized between the Seer, Stuart, Gui and Zhao families. Families like Vasilyevich where Vladimir hailed from were comparably unique, and would only hold their guard in the northern regions, resulting in them having fewer conflicts with others. Furthermore, with the characters that people of the north had, they would also not be interested in such matters.

A faint smile appeared on Gui Hao's face, as he was all too clear about Divian. With her fiery and explosive temper, a little prodding was all that was needed to spark her.

Furthermore, although 50 thousand credits wasn't a small amount, it wasn't really a big matter when compared to their statuses as successors of their various families.

With a smile, he spread his hands and said, "That's a bet I'll take up! Is there anyone else who wants to take up this bet?"

Just as his voice rang out, yet another one came ringing over. "Count me in. I bet on Tianjing's victory."

There's actually people that would spike the liveliness in this gathering? 100 million?

It's Laura! Within this circle of people, Laura was mostly considered to be the type that was more transparent in her thoughts and feelings, as she was slightly younger than the rest. Secondly, the footing the Potter Family had was different from the other 9 Great Families; they possessed a different kind of strength. Although their martial might and wealth might not match up to the other aristocratic families, the Potter Family was a completely different species on the aspect of science and technology. Lastly, and the most critical point, was that being the representatives of the aristocratic family members, Laura's previous level of strength was frankly insufficient to step into their circle.

However, Copperfield's performance in this CHF was indeed pretty good, and this could not be overlooked. This led to Gui Hao being the one to recommend an invitation being sent to her for today's gathering. However, who would have thought that she would really not carry herself as an outsider!

100 million credits on Tianjing... this made this matter slightly more interesting, while causing everyone to look at Gui Hao, to see how he would deal with this. This matter was completely different from the matter of Tianjing entering the group battle or not, as this was a contest of perception. Naturally, it was very possible that Laura was fooling about. However, to what end?

Laura's actions had also caused Divian to open her mouth slightly. In the past, she had always overlooked this Soul Beast Master of a little sister. However, the former's performance in yesterday's match and the guts to make such a large bet had spiked Divian's interest in her.

With a character that wasn't afraid of blowing matters up, and being issued with what seemed like a challenge, why wouldn't Gui Hao treat this as an opportunity to show his leadership and attitude? It was through such incidents where those were established. "Okay, handsome. I won't take advantage of you. If Tianjing really pushes the match into the group battle phase, I'll pay you 5 times your bet!"

Hearing that response, Laura nodded her head with a slight smile. On one hand, due to Wang Zhong being her friend, she felt a greater level of confidence in him. On the other hand, she had not come to this gathering just to follow the masses. Finally, she was also trying to prove that Carolyn's vision wasn't anything good; being girls, she did not need to care about Carolyn's feelings.

It had to be said that Gui Hao's provocation had caused others' interest to spike. Such a challenge was considered to be on a lower level than talking nonsense, but if Gui Hao only gave Torres against Tianjing the odds of 1:1, he would clearly appear to be stingy. Making a counter bet 5 times higher raised Gui Hao's bearing, while naturally causing Laura to start re-evaluating him as a person. Compared to others, Laura was able to feel a more dazzling character present in Wang Zhong than others could feel.

While all of these was going on, Karkel did not say a single word, as he was only here to accompany Laura. As for the others, they did not have the qualifications to put their hand into this inner-circle matter.

"What about you, Carolyn? Are you also going to bet on Tianjing?" said Gui Hao with a smile. While facing Carolyn, his voice would always turn considerably warm and gentle. Despite both of them always trying to compete against each other, this was also the process in which mutual attraction would develop. Being a girl that had access to everything she wanted, with nothing that she could not obtain, the only way to attract Carolyn was through the process of domination.

"I bet on Torres." replied Carolyn with a smile. "I'll also bet 100 million."

Although 100 million credits were somewhat hard to come by for Laura, it was basically peanuts for Carolyn. Despite both hailing from aristocratic families standing at the apex of the Federation, there was an extremely great disparity in the wealth between the two families. It had to be said that Laura was also feeling slightly unhappy for all the suppression that was made towards Wang Zhong.

"That's delightful! Only then will this bet be interesting, right?" A flash of brilliance shot out from Gui Hao's eyes. From the looks of it, Wang Zhong's successive victories had already caused Carolyn to feel some unhappiness. Although Carolyn was perfect, she had a slight weakness, which was that she was conceited. In other words, her ego and self-esteem were overly manifested, and these traits lorded over her other aspects.

However, it was such a weakness that allowed Gui Hao to take advantage of her. Now, she could no longer escape from his grasp.

The only troubles he currently faced was the Heaven's Fate squadron and the Mo Family. That fellow, Mo Wen, was a martial arts fanatic and a staunch blockhead. As for Mo Xingchen, ... it's alright even if that enlightened one didn't come. What's more, she wasn't his type. However, the most important point was that the Mo Family was not a hindrance to his plans for now.

Intense cheers and applause rang out across the arena, as the duel between the vanguards was about to start. This duel was of the utmost importance, with both sides being unable to endure a loss.

"The much-awaited match is starting, with both squadrons about to send their vanguard up to the stage. Tianjing has chosen to send Grai. Without a doubt, it is Grai. Eh, the Torres squadron has actually sent captain Alasi up?"

A wave of doubtful voices rang across the entire arena. Admittedly, Alasi was a Mo's List ranged soldier. However, the twin heroes of Tianjing clearly weren't people that anyone from the Mo's List could deal with. Furthermore, with Grai's elegant movements, sending a ranged soldier...

"Torres Academy's selection really comes as a surprise. However, all of us believe that they had done so as part of-of their plans." said Ruo Zhi. With all of Tianjing's cards being clear for everyone to see, Torres definitely had a reason behind making such a decision. As the favourites, their trump cards appeared to be obvious; however, truthfully speaking, Torres had yet to use their true strengths in this entire CHF.

Resting on Alasi's shoulder was his famous Mogren's Guns. They appeared quite a bit larger than normal pistols, with their thick barrels being 30 millimetres in diameter. Coupled with the older-style, gigantic revolving cylinder, as well as the dense runic patterns that covered the guns' surface, they gave off a heavy feeling that was filled with power and history.

Furthermore, the outfit he was wearing appeared considerably unique. He wore a cowboy's hat on his head with the front slightly depressed, resulting in people only able to see the lower half of his face. This left only a sliver of the sharp and radiant eyes showing, while a stalk of dog's-tail grass waved about from the corner of his mouth. The lazy and carefree posture he adopted, coupled with the exposed lower jaw with scattered strands of beard. How was this a 19-year-old student? He clearly appeared just like a veteran cow rancher from the old American outback!

"His highness Alasi's lazy appearance really is too cute!"

"So cool! That defined, sculpted face will suppress that pretty boy!"

There were quite a few people supporting Alasi. However, why was there quite a number of male voices present among those coming from the girls?

"Handsome is the real path! Grai will instakill Alasi ten thousand times over!"

"Grai's the genuinely handsome one, okay? What a dashing appearance!"

"Peh! How can that pretty boy be more masculine than our highness Alasi? He's not even 18, do you all know that!"