The Strongest Way to Survive in the Apocalypse - Chapter 7：The 1st Duel

“Connection Established.”

A monotonic yet resounding voice was heard in Li Qiang’s ears. He immediately spun around, raising the sword, to find nothing.

“Prepare for transportation.”

Li Qiang only had the time to make a confused expression before he disappeared.Li Qiang’s eyes opened to see himself standing alone in the centre of a colosseum. It was huge with a radius of at least 50 metres.

The stands were packed with people, but Li Qiang was unable to see them properly, as if they were censored.It was completely silent.

Then a booming voice resounded.

“Dear competitors, welcome to the Coliseum of the Cosmos. In this arena, the fighters, from randomly selected planets and star systems, will battle to the death! Over 1000 candidates for the Cosmos Champion have been gathered, or to be more exact, 1024 beings! For those who aren’t blessed with the same brain powers the high races, this is 2 to the power of 10. As some of you might have guessed, the format of this Battle of the Cosmos is a duel! Survive 10 duels and you will be the Cosmos Champion!”

“Combatants, please be ready to fight. In 10 seconds, you will see your opponent. You will only be able to use your selected weapon.”

Li Qiang, at this point, sure that he wasn’t dreaming and that this was no hoax, raised his sword in front of him. He inhaled and exhaled deeply 3 times, his ritual before entering fights.His opponent appeared.

It was about 10 meters away from him. What intrigued him was its body. It was blue, with facial features hard to describe and huge bug-like eyes. However, it was shaped more or less like a human and in its ‘hand’ was a trident.

Unlike Li Qiang, the blue thing showed no surprise at Li Qiang, and sprinted towards him. Within a second, his spear was at Li Qiang’s throat, only to be knocked aside by Li Qiang. LI Qiang ducked under the blade and sharply thrust his sword into the thing’s chest area, twisting and slicing it, in case its anatomy was different to a human’s.

To his luck, the thing spat a blue substance out of its ‘mouth’ and then fell to the floor.

“Congratulations! You have won your 1st duel!”

His surroundings changed once again. This time he was in a small room, completely bare, other than a table and a box resting on the table.

“Here are your rewards for winning your 1st duel! Use them wisely, as you will receive rewards only after each round! Please grasp the box and be ready to return.”

Li Qiang stepped forwards and placed his hand on it. His surroundings changed for the last time.He was back in the basement.

“Dear combatant, please be ready tomorrow, at noon, for your next duel!”

Li Qiang felt the emotions rush upon him, like a huge wave. Shock, anger and even excitement flooded his brain. However, his reasoning and acceptance managed to overcome these emotions. His brain worked unusually fast to work out the best path forward.

‘I seem to have been selected for a competition, in which I battle individuals from across the Cosmos. But why me? And why now?’

Li Qiang gave up on this line of thought quickly and didn’t even bother thinking further into what the Cosmos was. After all, he had almost no information.

‘The best thing to do is consolidate my earnings from this encounter, then go and get provisions.’

He took at quick step forward and then stopped again. His injuries had all been healed!He hadn’t realised when it had happened, but at some point, on his ‘journey’, they had disappeared! This was far less surprising than being teleported to a place called the ‘Coliseum of the Cosmos’ and he continued forward after a short stop.

He turned his attention to the box in his hand.He removed the lid, to find nothing but a old book inside. They were some characters on the front which read ‘Champion’s Form: Warrior’.

Disappointed, it wasn’t a wondrous treasure, he tucked it away in his clothes and made his way up the stairs.

“Big Li, why did you take so long?”

Li An looked at him quizzically. Li Qiang mumbled something back about not being able to find the weapons because they were in a dark corner.

“An-An, take this.”

He passed her one of the swords he took from the box before coming upstairs. It was a katana, about 60 centimetres long and with a dark red handle. He had seen Li An train in a little bit in the Japanese martial art of ‘kendo’ and so he had chosen the one most similar to her wooden training sword. It was also decorated beautifully; which he knew she would appreciate.

“An-An, wait for your brother to come back. Lock the doors and windows after me and make sure to be alert for any intruders.”

He threw on a jacket and tucked the sword into his jacket, so that it wouldn’t been seen. He stepped out of the house and slowly walked up the driveway.

He met a ghost town. Only an hour earlier, people were going about their usual business, but they all must have been scared inside by the news, gunshot sounds and screams.

He set off in a slow run, fast enough that he would get to the shops soon but not fast enough to not be able to survey his surroundings safely.

On his way there, the only life he saw were faces pressed up to windows and the odd speeding car here or there. Far off into the distance, he heard guns and explosions faintly, as well as screams. His mouth set into a grim line.

Soon he got to the supermarket, only to find the shop attendants hurriedly closing it down.Li Qiang snuck up to an attendant and placed his hand on his shoulder.”Hey, friend, you wouldn’t mind me grabbing a few things before you shut, right?”Li Qiang attempted to look menacing and gave a weird smile whilst speaking.”S-s-sure. Please be quick.”The attendant was startled and then scanned Li Qiang’s near 7-foot frame.Li Qiang didn’t need to be encouraged. He directly grabbed shopping bags, navigated his way around the shop and emptied a huge amount of tinned food and long-lasting foods into them.

He then rushed out of the shop, slapping a wad of cash into the attendant’s hands as payment.’F*ck, they sound a lot closer.’In the short time he had been in the shop, the clash between the army and the black figures had gotten much closer to his area. He disregarded safety and started sprinting, not wishing to get caught up into the battle.Thankfully, he got home with no incidents and hastily shut the door behind him, as he heard the noises getting closer and closer.