The ranked battle was held in a giant open-air arena in the training area.

The area of nearly 10,000 square meters is divided into dozens of small fields, and a tall support column is erected in the center, on which four giant electronic screens are arranged, facing the audience seats in four directions, specially used to broadcast the game in real time.

Since most of the third- and fourth-year students went to the north to carry out their missions, the number of people watching the competition this year was much lower than in previous years.

Even so, on the day of the ranking battle, the open-air arena was still crowded, and most of the tens of thousands of spectator seats were filled in a blink of an eye.

Those who came to watch the game, in addition to the students of Star Luo Academy, there were also relatives of students who had been approved to enter, members of various family forces, and even military personnel.

It is only during the ranked battle that a large number of outsiders will be allowed to enter.

When he came to the scene, Du Mu was startled by the dense crowd of people, and a large number of cheers, laughter and whispers converged into a rolling wave, echoing over the arena, which seemed to be very lively.

However, although there is a large number of people, it is easy to identify.

The ones wearing the black-on-black and gold-edged school uniforms are undoubtedly Xingluo students, and those wearing civilian clothes are off-campus personnel, as for those wearing military uniforms, they are naturally military personnel.

In addition, Du Mu also noticed that among the Xingluo students, some of them wore armbands on their arms, and their postures were straight and solemn, or they were walking around patrolling, or busy arranging the venue layout back and forth, which was extremely conspicuous.

"Those are the people of the coordinating committee. Sensing Du Mu's gaze, Luo Shen on the side smiled and explained, "The ranking battles over the years have been undertaken by the Coordinating Committee, the Logistics Department is responsible for the venue, the Supervision Department is responsible for maintaining order, and even the referees are all sent by the Zhengwu Department under the Committee. ”

"I see. ”

Du Mu bowed his head lightly and looked around, although the flow of people on the field was crowded, it was not chaotic, and it was faintly orderly, which showed the ability and proficiency of the staff.

It has been five months since he came to Xingluo Academy, and Du Mu has heard a lot about the coordination committee.

This is a student self-governing organization established by students and officially recognized by the academy, with huge power second only to the academy official, coordinating and managing almost all matters in the academy, and has great prestige among students, and even the mentor group can influence and have great energy.

In view of this, there are countless students who apply to join the Coordinating Committee every year, but the criteria for recruiting members in the latter are extremely strict, especially in armed departments such as the Ministry of Supervision, and non-elite students are not recruited.

Unfortunately, like the club, according to the school rules, freshmen cannot join the coordination committee in the first semester, and can only apply after the second semester begins.

"Let's go to the player waiting area. Luo Shen said, "What group are you?"

Du Mu said: "72 group, and I am a seeded player, I guess I will have to wait for a while." ”

In the ranking battle, 1,152 first-year students were divided into 128 groups of 9 people.

The first round is the group stage.

According to the rules of the game, among the 9 people in the group, in addition to the seeded players, the remaining 8 people need to face off in pairs, after three rounds of competition, the winner will be determined, and the winner will then face off against the seeded player, and the final winner will successfully advance to the next round of the competition.

As for the seeded players, they are decided by the organizing committee, and they are usually elite students with good strength.

This seems to be a measure taken to avoid the elite cadets meeting too early in the competition.

It wasn't until this morning that the Xingluo system on Du Mu's mobile phone received a background notification, informing him of the group number and the identity of the seeded player.

"I'm in group 34 and I'm seeded. Luo Shen smiled, "It's still early, let's go to the lounge and wait first." ”

"Hmm. Du Mu bowed.

The early stage of the group stage is all duels of ordinary students, and there is nothing to see.

"Speaking of which, you bet 5 million on me to win the championship?"

On the way to the lounge in the waiting area, Du Mu turned his head to look at Luo Shen and suddenly asked.

Luo Shen smiled when he heard this: "5 million is my pocket money for three months, you have to work hard." ”

Three months of pocket money?

Listen to this is human words?

Du Mu was speechless for a while, and said, "You're not afraid that I will lose?"

Luo Shen smiled and did not answer.

Others don't know that he has experienced the actual combat mission of Guyan Town with Du Mu, and at that time, the latter's strength was comparable to that of a two-star martial artist, and now that a few months have passed, his strength may have reached a higher level.

And he faintly felt that Du Mu seemed to have many secrets hidden in him, if such a person was not sure, he would bet 5 million star yuan on himself?

Luo Shen himself doesn't believe it anyway.

Seeing that Luo Shen did not respond, Du Mu shrugged his shoulders and did not ask any more questions, the two of them walked through the crowd all the way, and soon arrived at the waiting area, and chose a lounge to enter at random.

There were already many students waiting in the lounge, and when they heard the sound of the door opening, they turned their heads to look, and as soon as their eyes fell on Du Mu, they immediately showed a complicated look.

Curious, sarcastic, indifferent, gloating...... And so on.

Du Mu didn't care, picked a corner under the gaze of everyone, sat down with Luo Shen, and began to close his eyes and recuperate.

There were bursts of deliberately suppressed whispers all around.

"That person is Du Mu, right?"

"That's right, it's him. ”

"It doesn't look very good!"

"Maybe people are hiding it?"

"Cut, you don't believe what you say, do you?"

"I voted for him for 10,000 star yuan, what if I win?"

“...... Brother, you think too much!"

With Du Mu's ear, he naturally heard the voices of those people clearly, but he didn't have the heart to pay attention to it.

A moment later, there was a tidal wave of cheers outside.

As soon as they heard this voice, the expressions of everyone present moved, and they immediately understood that the ranking battle had begun!

There was a sudden buzzing sound of mobile phone vibrating in the lounge, and in an instant, seven or eight students got up with a hint of apprehension on their faces and walked out.

These were the first players to take on the pitch in the group stage.

Many of the students sat upright in their seats for a long time, looking at the students who went out with a playful expression.

They are the seeded players in each group, and they naturally have a sense of superiority over these ordinary students who first play.

Electronic screens hanging on the walls began to show the matches on the various venues.

Unlike the giant electronic screens outside, the electronic screens in the lounge are small, and can only scroll to play the games of a certain venue, and many people look up a few times before losing interest.

The open-air arena is divided into 36 small areas, except for the middle four areas occupied by support columns, and the remaining 32 areas are dueling at the same time.

According to the rules of the group stage, each zone is played by two groups alternately, so that the duel students have enough time to rest.

Even so, the game went very quickly.

An hour later, Luo Shen opened his eyes violently, took out his phone from his pocket and took a look.

Du Mu turned his head to look at him: "It's your turn?"

"Hmm. ”

Luo Shen smiled at him, got up and put his belongings in the locker, and walked towards the door.

"I'll come when I go. ”

Du Mu retracted his gaze.

With Luo Shen's strength, passing the group stage is a sure thing, and he doesn't need to worry about it.

Sure enough, less than ten minutes later, Luo Shen returned to the lounge and sat down beside Du Mu.

The two tacitly agreed that they did not speak.

After another half an hour, Du Mu felt a vibration in his pocket, he slowly opened his eyes, picked up his mobile phone and looked, sure enough, it was a notice of preparing for the game.

"It seems that you have a guy in this group who is not weak. Locke teased.

There are two rounds in the group stage, and 64 groups are playing at the same time in each round, and Du Mu's group number is 72, which happens to be in the second round.

Now only half an hour into the second round, Du Mu's group decided the winner of the seeded players, indicating that one of the eight players was stronger than the others, and quickly ended the game with an overwhelming advantage and won the challenge qualification.

"I think it's pretty good, at least I don't have to wait too long. Du Mu smiled and turned to leave the lounge.

The moment the door was opened, the noise and fiery breath rushed to the face, making people tremble with excitement from the heart.

Du Mu took a deep breath, even if he didn't take the group stage to heart, it would inevitably be affected by the atmosphere of the arena, and a wisp of excitement surged in his heart.

Slowly walked to the No. 18 area of the game, where a young man with a strong breath was already waiting.

Seeing Du Mu appear, the young man's eyes flickered, the corners of his lips tightened, and his face showed a strong fighting intent.

The name Du Mu has long been known throughout the first grade.

One of the five geniuses who cleared the Tower of Stars, injured the second-year senior with one blow in a duel, and won the championship with odds of up to 1:10, and bet himself 5 million star dollars in a crazy move.

Praise and disapproval aside, but the deeds of Du Mu are crazy in the first grade, and even the senior grades have heard of it, so the young people will naturally not recognize him.

And there is a very important piece of information, that is, Du Mu has not applied for the two-star martial artist assessment so far, in other words, his strength has not yet reached the two-star level.

Although the young man himself is not a two-star martial artist, not even a one-star peak, otherwise he would not even be a seeded player, but will be assigned to the knockout round in the group.

But it doesn't matter, as long as Du Mu is not a two-star martial artist, he has the hope of winning the other party.

"We must win the group stage and advance to the next round!" the young man clenched his weapon.

Compared with the solemnity of the youth, Du Mu is much more casual.

There is even leisure to observe the situation on the field.

His area is located right in the corner of the playing field, with the spectator seats to the left and behind.

At the edge of the area stood a female student with a graceful figure and a beautiful face, judging from the badge on her chest, she seemed to be a third-year senior.

Moreover, she wears an armband on her right arm, with the words 'Zhengwu' written on it, which is obviously a member of the Zhengwu Department under the Coordinating Committee to serve as a referee.

Because they were in charge of the ranking battle, most of the senior students of the Organizing Committee remained in the academy and did not go to the Northern Ruins.

It is worth mentioning that the people who can be sent by the Ministry of Martial Arts to serve as referees are basically third-year students, and they are also elite students, and their strength is far greater than that of first-year freshmen.

Only they can have enough strength to intervene and stop the duel in time when the duel develops into an uncontrolled situation, so as to prevent the trainees from being seriously injured or killed.

"The game is about to start, get ready!"

The third-grade senior who served as the referee glanced at the two of them left and right, reminded them loudly, and quickly stepped back to distance herself.

When the young man on the opposite side heard this, his face showed a solemn expression, and he immediately put on a fighting posture.

At the same time, a cold and loud electronic sound echoed over the playing field.

"Enter the countdown, three, two, one, the game begins!"

At the same time as the electronic sound fell, a burst of banging suddenly sounded on the field, and several cracks suddenly appeared on the floor under Du Mu's feet.

In an instant, the young man who had been staring at Du Mu only felt a flower in front of him, and Du Mu's figure had been lost in his field of vision.

The next moment, there was a sharp pain in the back of his neck, his eyes went black, and the whole person fell unconscious to the ground.

。 m.