They were people from *that* place. Furthermore, they hadn’t inherited any abilities, were dressed in rags, and some of them were even disabled.

This was a huge blow to the organizers’ prestige and authority, almost as if it were a direct provocation. If this news got out, they would absolutely become a laughingstock—a laughingstock for the entire planet, at that.

The other side had teleported over so many "old, weak, sick, and disabled" people all at once. It wasn’t very harmful, but it was extremely insulting.

They had no idea what the logic was or why this was happening. It’s the apocalypse! We haven’t offended the Divine Artifact holders from those three countries!

Besides, the BEEP BEEP BEEP of Divine Artifact Link requests hadn’t stopped, and the other side wasn’t giving them any chance to communicate.

On the other hand, if they didn’t announce the specific situation with these people, it would also be a huge blow to the competition’s fairness and integrity.

Previously, deliberately matching Taiyi Zhenren against the Immortal Emperor had already drawn heavy criticism. Although they eventually got everyone to accept it with an explanation, they had immediately followed it up by pitting Indomitable against the Immortal Emperor.

They had just used the excuse of being short on people, and then—SLAP SLAP SLAP—over eighty people showed up, slapping them right in the face. The crowd was in an uproar. The situation was out of their hands!

"What do we do?"

The competition on the field had been paused due to the sudden appearance of over eighty new contestants. The incident caused an absolute explosion on the internet and the forums!

Country F’s Divine Artifact holder was caught in a dilemma, wracking his brain as he wondered what on earth he was supposed to do.

"It’s rigged!"

"It’s rigged!"

"Bullshit! Get off the stage!"

"If you can’t handle it, then don’t host this garbage event!"

"What a disgrace!"

"Corrupt scumbags!!!"

In the live broadcast thread on the Forum, curses in all sorts of languages rang out. All the organizers from Country F could do was issue announcements that nobody believed anymore, trying to stall for time. At the same time, they arranged for a large number of staff to go to the prep area and bring these raggedly dressed athletes down, or at least get them into some decent clothes.

But after a large group of staff members went up, something else happened on the field that left everyone utterly shocked. Everyone watched. WHOOSH... The eighty-plus contestants who had teleported in less than ten minutes ago, none of whom had even competed yet, vanished without a trace in the blink of an eye.

Those eighty-plus people had actually returned through the open Divine Artifact Link channel. They were gone again!

"Huh?"

"Huh??"

"What!?"

"What??"

Coming and going as they please. What did they think this was, a revolving door?

This new turn of events on the field left everyone dumbfounded. To leave as quietly as they came, without taking so much as a single cloud?

Should I sever the Divine Artifact Link?

Country F’s Divine Artifact Link was always open so that athletes could come and go at any time. But they never expected a stunt like eighty people showing up and then instantly leaving. This kind of stunt was too arbitrary and disrespectful to the hosts. It was utterly rude!

If a scene like this were to be imitated by other countries, this New Olympic Games would truly become a joke.

A thought suddenly surfaced in the mind of Country F’s Divine Artifact holder. He wanted to sever the Divine Artifact Link to prevent this from happening again.

No! That would cause public outrage!

He immediately rejected the idea. Many countries were currently busy dealing with bosses. With the appearance of the special notice about the Super Boss inheritance restriction, the inheritance of Super Bosses had begun to proceed in stages. The way bosses appeared now was completely different from the wave that had emerged two weeks prior.

He had to keep the Divine Artifact Link open so these expert competitors could return to their own countries at any time to deal with a suddenly spawned Super Boss. If he dared to block them, the whole venue would erupt!

. . .

A few minutes later, the Divine Artifact holder from Country F stood right up on the competition stage. Having already closed the Divine Artifact Links with [Data Center], [Financial Storm], and [Scamming Waist Cutter], he quickly tried to gloss over what had just happened.

"My friends! I am the Commander of Country F! Those eighty people just now were suddenly pulled here by an anomalous fluctuation from a special item. It was like a bug in a game; they weren’t our athletes at all! You all saw what they looked like. They were definitely not athletes! I am not deceiving you!

"Therefore, those eighty people were just a minor hiccup! There’s no need to discuss this matter any further! Let’s continue the competition!!"

After his speech, not giving anyone the slightest chance to question him, the Divine Artifact holder from Country F quickly read out the new rules.

"Next! We are going to speed up the competition! For the drawing of the upcoming matches, we will open a separate thread and livestream the draw! Our competition is, and will remain, absolutely fair and just! Please believe us!"

. . .

This series of setbacks made him feel that he had to speed up and finish the competition. Otherwise, his country would be despised by everyone and become a global laughingstock.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

After the Commander from Country F finished speaking, the competition quickly restarted. Just as he had said, the matches inside the arena began to accelerate once again. Outside the arena, there was a live broadcast of the match drawings. Both were happening simultaneously, fair and square.

They had deliberately meddled with two of Great Xia’s matches, and it had led to this whole chain of trouble. The organizers from Country F didn’t dare pull any more stunts.

SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!

Since everyone could resurrect, competitors unleashed their strongest attacks from the very beginning. As a result, the matches progressed very quickly.