No strange things are allowed to evolve!

"Yes, because I liked to eat scallion pancakes when I was a child, so I called myself 'pancake'," the other person explained with a smile, seeming very easy to get along with.

“You look older than me,” Jiang Shu asked. “May I call you Brother Bing?”

"Sure, haha, there's no problem with that." Brother Bing had no objections.

She seems to be a kind person... Jiang Shu thought to herself.

"Brother Bing..."

Jiang Shu tentatively asked:

"I... actually joined our church through an introduction. To avoid any misunderstandings, I'd like to ask what my introducer, or the person who asked you to receive me, said to you?"

Upon hearing this, Brother Bing gave a mysterious smile.

"They didn't tell me much about you, but I know why you came."

He leaned closer and lowered his voice:

"You're just here to compete against the incubator, to fight in the arena."

Many people here, like you, are participating under pseudonyms.

"A pseudonym?" Jiang Shu immediately got the hang of it, looked around, and asked in a low voice, "Brother Bing, could you tell me my pseudonym?"

"Spicy is not good."

"Huh? Why?"

"I meant your pseudonym is 'spicy'."

"oh oh."

Can't "辣立" be simplified to "辣不可"?

That works too.

"Don't worry, I understand." Brother Bing's eyes were obscure and ambiguous: "I won't ask too much about your background. I'll just do my job."

"From what you're saying, you've already gotten used to it?" Jiang Shu asked with some curiosity.

"It's not to say it's commonplace," Brother Bing replied, "but your situation is certainly not uncommon. After all, our Holy Temple possesses the most and most advanced resources for combat incubation facilities, capable of providing a suitable platform for any type of evolver, and..."

He paused:

"This year's competition is being hosted by our Holy Temple, so even if other organizations have access to excellent resources, some of their participants will come in advance to familiarize themselves with the venue."

"A competition?"

"You didn't know?" Brother Bing was somewhat surprised. "Who introduced you here? Why didn't they tell you any of this?"

“Uh… well…” Jiang Shu thought for a moment, “a rather rough old man.”

"I guess it's some lazy incense master from another hall, someone who doesn't take responsibility." Brother Bing shook his head, then patted his chest and said, "But he doesn't represent the Holy Hall. Most of us are very dedicated and responsible."

"Understood." Jiang Shu nodded.

"Since you don't know, then I'll explain it to you properly. We need to take care of the formalities first, so let's talk as we walk."

"it is good."

As they led Jiang Shu into the service hall, Brother Bing explained, "I must tell you beforehand that the so-called competition is actually a charity event."

"This can be considered charity?"

"Of course, after all, it's based on this kind of thing." Brother Bing said vaguely, "On the surface, we have to give it a nice-sounding title, otherwise, this kind of activity, which is already a bit shady... right?"

"Understand."

"So, whether it's participating in the competition or entering the incubation field regularly, you need to pay a participation fee. It doesn't have to be too much; just donate some unused items or something to help those evolved individuals who don't have the ability to protect themselves, or to contribute to the peace of the evolutionary world."

"understood."

"Then, another meaning of the competition is to give it some additional meaning on the basis of competing against the incubator and charity. To put it bluntly, it's about reputation."

Brother Bing explained:

"The ranking in the competition is roughly equivalent to your level among other evolved individuals of the same caliber. You should understand how much people will flock to it, right? Who wouldn't want to test their abilities in a safe and suitable place?"

"Uh-huh."

"I can say this: many famous people today actually participated in the competition. If you ask some veterans now, they might proudly tell you that they were the champion of that competition."

And don't assume that those who say they didn't participate really didn't; they might just not have achieved a very high ranking and are embarrassed to admit it.

Brother Bing smiled confidently and said:

"Anyway, there are those who have had this opportunity. I dare not say how many, but at least half of them have tried it or even participated in the competition."

Is that so?

"Yes."

Seeing that Jiang Shu seemed unconvinced, Brother Bing simply gave an example:

"You know the Bureau of Different Principles, right? I'm talking about someone, Shen Mo. You may not know him, but you just need to know that he is currently a team leader under the most mysterious and terrifying department in the Bureau of Different Principles, which has the most experts. He ranks first among all team leaders."

He was the King of Resistance from two years ago.

"The Bureau of Different Systems is involved too?" Jiang Shu was shocked.

"That's not."

Brother Bing looked smug, getting more and more excited as he talked, constantly dropping bombshells:

"They send people every year, but only Shen Mo has emerged as a powerful and domineering leader. The others are rather mediocre. However, I heard that their director participated before, and that one was even more outrageous."

No competitive tournament was held for five years after him.

"Why?" Jiang Shu asked, puzzled.

"What else could it be? It scared everyone else so much that they lost their will to live."

Brother Bing exclaimed in admiration:

"It is said that there were several geniuses who had the opportunity to reach the pinnacle of the current evolutionary world back then. After competing with him once, they were so discouraged that they never recovered. Whenever someone asked, they would just smile bitterly and say that they were born in the wrong era."

That's why I say, sometimes being worldly-wise too early isn't a good thing; once you lose your youthful spirit, you can never get it back.

“I understand,” Jiang Shu said approvingly. “I know Jiangnan.”

Who is Jiangnan?

"unimportant."

"Alright." Brother Bing didn't think much of it: "Anyway, the reason I gave you these examples is to tell you that the competition is very prestigious. Although for the person I just mentioned, he doesn't need the competition to give him fame, but he gives the competition its prestige."

Jiang Shu looked the other person's face over and over and saw only the word "respect".

"Speaking of the Bureau of Different Lineages..."

Jiang Shu suddenly became interested and asked, "Do you think I have their style?"

"You?" Brother Bing waved his hand: "You don't seem like it."

"Oh?"

"I may be speaking harshly, but please don't take it personally," Brother Bing said earnestly. "I don't think you're a good person."

Jiang Shu was taken aback: "Why?"

“You have a tattoo, and although you tried to cover it up with your collar, I still saw it.” Brother Bing narrowed his eyes: “As everyone knows, the Bureau of Different Control doesn’t allow tattoos.”

Jiang Shu was furious upon hearing this and immediately lifted his shirt: "This is a scar!"

Brother Bing was startled. Looking at Jiang Shu's body covered in cuts, he cautiously asked, "How much better is it now?"

"..."

After thinking about it, Jiang Shu decided against it and put down the clothes.

"Let's talk about the competition. By the way, are all championships of equal value? Is there such a thing as a lucky champion?"

“No, not at all.” Brother Bing shook his head: “You can say that the quality of a certain edition may be worse or better than that of other editions, but every champion is absolutely the undisputed king of the competition in that edition.”

"How to say?"

Have you ever heard of a Swiss-trained ship?

?

Why make it so professional?

Chapter 207 The Third Reason for Having to Participate

The Swiss system, also known as the Swiss round-robin system, is a widely recognized and fair tournament format used in various large-scale competitions. It is named after the chess tournament that first appeared in Zurich, Switzerland in 1895.

The core rule of the Swiss system is to arrange matchups using a points-based cyclical system, enabling high-scoring teams to compete against each other and low-scoring teams to compete against each other. In the first round, matchups are determined by random draw. In subsequent rounds, players are matched according to their accumulated points, and opponents who have already faced each other will not be matched up again. After each round, teams are regrouped based on their win-loss record. In each round, teams with the same number of wins and losses are randomly paired up for a match, until the final round ends.

The advantages of this competition format are very obvious. Matching opponents with the same record and level of competition avoids the possibility of luck playing a dominant role in the draw during regular competitions, ensuring that every ranking is a genuine achievement.

This competition format alone shows that the so-called competitive tournament has now become a very mature competition.

"Furthermore, there will be a warm-up period before the official start of the competition. Although it will not be as rigorous as the main competition, participants will be given an approximate score. This score will be used in the main competition to estimate the approximate strength of the participants. This way, we can simply avoid random draws and match opponents of similar strength from the beginning."

"There's also a ladder ranking system?" Jiang Shu asked with interest.

In fact, when Brother Bing started to give the competition the name of charity, Jiang Shu had already realized that this might not be the same as the sneaky, underground model he had initially imagined.

But he didn't expect it to be so different, so formal.

"You could say that's a fair interpretation," Brother Bing nodded.

"What if I don't participate in the rankings? If I just want to experience the Incubation Arena and don't want points, can I still participate in the main tournament?" Jiang Shu asked.

"That's fine too."

Brother Bing replied:

"This situation is not uncommon, because the points are public and everyone can see them, so if you have a high number of points, you will inevitably attract attention."

Some people worry that once their points and rankings are released, others will analyze them, which will be detrimental to their performance in the main competition. So, it's perfectly fine not to participate in the points rankings at the beginning.

However, having points will make things easier; as long as you have enough points to meet the minimum requirement, you won't need to participate in the qualifying rounds before the main tournament.

"Is there a wildcard?"

Brother Bing smiled and said, "If it's not on record, that's roughly the idea."

However, don't underestimate them. There are quite a few hidden talents among them, and their goal is to challenge the title of King.

Even wildcard entries wouldn't dare participate unless they had a lot of confidence in their abilities.

"So, all things considered, besides the reputational gains, what other substantial benefits does this confrontation with the King bring?" Jiang Shu said, gently twirling his fingers.

"First of all, you will receive a pure gold trophy." Brother Bing raised his eyebrows and said with pride, "In previous years, it was gilded, but this year, because it is hosted by our church, it is pure gold, about ten kilograms."

At this moment, the image of being rich and powerful became tangible.

"Ten kilograms?!" Jiang Shu gasped.

If I wanted to earn that much, how many goji berries would I have to eat?

Even if you've quit now and are working in a more lucrative agency, how many years would it take to get there?

"Of course, most evolved beings don't care about such material things," Brother Bing chuckled. "You're the same, right?"

“Ah…uh…right…” Jiang Shu suppressed his smile and waved his hand: “Ten kilograms of gold is just a mere ten thousand grams. The raw materials are only about 1,100 yuan. If it doesn’t have any commemorative significance, it’s only 11 million yuan. Of course, there’s nothing to care about.”

"Yes, so what people care about more is actually something other than the trophy."

Brother Bing said:

"Each champion of the competition will receive a valuable calamity-level item and a chance to use a competition token."

"An order to resist?"

"Yes, everyone who has participated in the competition and benefited from it has essentially responded to the competition's charitable cause."

The "Confrontation Order" allows one to seek assistance from all participants who have signed agreements, whether current or former, without violating the peace of the evolutionary world.

In theory, these people, whom we might call the Anti-Alliance, will do their utmost to help you once they see the Anti-Alliance Order. Any losses incurred in the process will be shared by us, the resident organizers.

Simply put, if something happens, you can call for backup once.

After a pause, Brother Bing changed the subject:

"Of course, this is not an obligation, and people have the right to refuse to help you, but they must give an unavoidable reason."