Xia Luo smirked. “You killed Odin to gain a resurrection slot, didn’t you?”
Loki froze, his body trembling.
“It’s you.”
He glanced at the surrounding Asgardian soldiers, then tapped his wrist device. In an instant, his projection flickered and reappeared in front of Xia Luo.
“He wanted me to kill him…” Loki began to explain, only to falter halfway through. It was clear there was no good way to explain this.
His gaze drifted to Old Steve and the others. Shaking his head, Loki sighed.
“You don’t seem to be in the best shape yourselves.”
“You can tell we’re just souls?” Old Steve asked in surprise.
Loki pointed to the red markers hovering above their heads, then to the green one above his own.
“Of course I can.”
Old Steve: “…”
Before Steve could respond, Xia Luo interjected.
“Tell us what you know.”
“What I know…” Loki glanced at the battle on the altar, then back at Xia Luo.
“Mephisto opened the Multiversal Games. He randomly selects spectators to participate, using it as a way to harvest our souls.”
He frowned as he eyed the betting odds on the wall.
“Our stakes are our souls. You, however…” Loki paused, glancing at the space above Xia Luo’s head. Seeing no marker, his frown deepened.
“Your state…”
“Yes, you guessed it. I’m participating in the matches,” Xia Luo said nonchalantly. “Did you watch Tony’s round?”
“I did. He faced a strange and powerful opponent, but Tony Stark won.”
“What happens if someone loses?”
“They either have their soul shattered or continue to the next match. Lose three times, and you’re permanently transformed into a Hell Wraith.”
“A Hell Wraith?”
Xia Luo raised an eyebrow. “How’s that different from a regular soul?”
Loki explained, “Regular souls can leave Hell. Hell Wraiths, however, merge entirely with the Hell dimension, condemned to eternal pain and despair.”
Hearing this, Old Steve fell silent, seemingly deep in thought.
“You’re from our world. Why didn’t you tell us any of this?” he finally asked.
Loki scratched his head awkwardly. “I didn’t know the universe number, and there’s more than one Iron Man here.”
“More than one?”
The group was stunned.
As time passed, Xia Luo extracted more information from Loki. Meanwhile, the Deadpool vs. Wolverine battle ended in a draw.
Amid the audience’s booing, Wade looked up at a familiar figure in the stands. Covering his face, he burst into tears.
“Boohoo! I lost! So embarrassing!!”
Wade carried Baby Fisk off the altar, while Xia Luo exited Spectator Mode and switched to Challenger Mode.
“Beep~”
[Please select your opponent!]
Xia Luo skimmed through the long list of names, skipped over Thanos, and chose Tony Stark from Earth-199999.
“Beep~”
[Currently queuing…]
[You are in 9th place. Your match will begin in nine days.]
Staring at the prompt, Xia Luo frowned.
Infinite Tony is pretty popular.
Though the scheduled match was far off, it wasn’t a problem for him.
Because this was a game.
Even in Hell, games were still games.
And in games, pay-to-win players were invincible!
With a sly smile, Xia Luo navigated to the payment menu and used up all his Hell coins.
“Ding!”
[Congratulations! As a prestigious Super Hell VIP Player, you may skip the queue.]
[You are now in 1st place.]
[Detected: Your soul is valued at one million Hell coins. You may pawn your soul to bypass restrictions and enter the match immediately.]
[Would you like to begin the challenge?]
Old Steve and the others exchanged exasperated looks, beyond words at this point.
“Let me try,” Old Steve said, placing his hand on the machine.
“Ding!”
[Detected: Your soul is valued at 300,000 Hell coins.]
“Three hundred thousand? Not bad,” Steve said with a satisfied smile.
He glanced at Barton and Natasha. “Your turn.”
“I’ll go.”
Barton confidently placed his hand on the scanner.
“Ding!”
[Detected: Your soul is valued at 998 Hell coins.]
Barton: “…”
“This thing’s broken,” he declared with certainty.
Natasha stepped up confidently.
“Agent Barton, you should recognize your value. As a founding Avenger, I’m easily worth 500,000 coins at least.”
She pressed her hand against the machine.
“Ding!”
[Detected: Your soul is valued at 1,314 Hell coins.]
Natasha’s smile froze.
Barton looked up at the ceiling, smirking. “Beautiful lady, have you forgotten your age?”
“Age reduces value,” Old Steve said seriously.
Natasha’s forehead twitched with irritation.
“Peter, your turn,” she said, turning to Peter Parker.
“Me?” Peter asked nervously.
If his soul value was low, it’d be mortifying.
“Yes, you.” Natasha folded her arms, determined not to rank second-to-last.
“Alright!”
Under the pressure of his seniors, Peter reluctantly stepped up.
“Ding!”
[Detected: Your soul is valued at 150,000 Hell coins.]
Peter couldn’t hide his excitement.
“Yes! Awesome! I’m worth half as much as Cap!”
“That’s soul value,” Xia Luo said, glaring at them. “This ridiculous competition is wasting my time.”
As he spoke, a failure message for the queued challenge appeared in front of him.
Next round!
—
Fifth Resurrection Match
Xia Luo’s soul strength increased by another 1%, bringing his total to 4%.
With this, he could better sense the changes in his body, gaining more control over his power, sharper spider-sense, and greater access to the Spider Totem’s energy.
Though the improvements weren’t transformative, they were significant enough to excite him.
As the countdown ended above the dragon skull, Xia Luo made his way to the Hell Arcade without delay.
“Take me to your room!”
At the cashier’s desk, Xia Luo slammed his hand down, startling the witch behind it.
Drawn by the intoxicating scent emanating from him, her eyes lit up with hunger. She immediately grabbed his hand and led him inside.
“Come, little one. Let big sis have a good look at you…”
“Look at your dead head!”
“Ahhh!”
A scream echoed. Moments later, Xia Luo walked out, carrying a pile of Hell coins, grinning with satisfaction as he headed to the VIP section.
Yes, he had really stolen those coins.
Returning to familiar procedures, Xia Luo saw the same prompt appear:
“Ding!”
[Detected: Your soul is valued at one million Hell coins. You may pawn your soul to bypass restrictions and enter the match immediately.]
[Would you like to begin the challenge?]
“Yes!”
With Xia Luo’s confirmation, Hellfire erupted in the room.
“Buzz~”
In an instant, the familiar altar appeared before him.
Meanwhile, the audience awaiting the continuation of Deadpool vs. Wolverine received an announcement.
—
In the waiting area, Wade, still holding Baby Fisk, froze.
“My match got postponed? Who the hell dared to…”
He trailed off as a new message appeared before him:
[Xia Luo Parker (Spider-Man, Central Universe) vs. Tony Stark (Earth-199999)]
“MY IDOL!!!”
Wade screamed, clutching his face in excitement.
“Oh my gosh! It’s my favorite Spider-Man!
I want to watch! I NEED to watch! I LOVE this!”
Reader discussion
0 Comments
Be the first reader to share a thought about this chapter.