Chapter 84

Ma Le came to the corridor and found Peeta walking back with a disheveled look, his body covered in dirty vomit.

"Give it up, he's drunk!" Peeta glanced at Ma Le and said dejectedly, "Really, how can this drunkard be the winner of the Hunger Games!"

Ma Le patted his shoulder and smiled, "Nothing is impossible, tell me which room he's in." Peeta raised his hand to point at a door, and Ma Le thanked him before walking towards it.

The door was locked, clearly Mr. Haymitch didn't want anyone to disturb his sweet dreams. But Ma Le wasn't going to let that stop him. He grabbed the doorknob and gradually increased his force, the metal lock groaned under the pressure. Suddenly, the resistance disappeared, and the door swung open. Ma Le, caught off guard, nearly stumbled.

The lock wasn't broken; it was Mr. Haymitch who had opened the door from the inside. "I can't stand you, if this lock is broken, I, as your mentor, will have to pay for it!" Ma Le shrugged and smiled, "If you fulfilled your duties as a mentor, I wouldn't have to break it!" Haymitch sighed, looked at Ma Le, and said, "Come in!"

Haymitch's room was large and well-equipped. Since he won the Hunger Games, his status was no longer the same as the commoners of District 12. Even in the Capitol, he was a famous figure, and his treatment was naturally excellent.

"Speak, what do you want to know?" Haymitch picked up a glass of wine and sat on the bed. Perhaps he had just moved in, the old drunkard hadn't had time to mess up the room, so it was still quite tidy, except for the bed, which was a bit messy with some vomit on the sheets.

Ma Le had already learned the rules and precautions of the Hunger Games from the movies, so he didn't need to consult Haymitch about them. His real purpose for coming here was Haymitch himself!

Although the movies didn't mention it, the knowledge from the novel told Ma Le that this Haymitch was actually an important leader of the underground resistance. In fact, District 13 was not completely destroyed, and many survivors had gone underground, establishing a base to resist the Capitol. In the third part, the rebels launched a war against the Capitol.

However, Ma Le didn't plan to talk about life, ideals, or revolution with Haymitch. Not only did Haymitch not trust him, but the train itself wasn't safe. Who could guarantee that the Capitol hadn't installed surveillance cameras in every room?

"Mentor Haymitch, I have something I want to ask you." Ma Le said with a sincere face. Haymitch squinted his eyes and said lazily, "The rules of the Hunger Games? Simple, just don't die..." Ma Le replied, "That's not what I want to ask." As he spoke, he suddenly lunged at Haymitch, his left hand aiming for Haymitch's head and his right hand for his chest. Given Haymitch's current position, if he was hit, he would definitely be pinned down.

Haymitch seemed to be prepared, immediately blocking Ma Le's left hand. But as soon as they made contact, he felt an irresistible force impact his wrist. Haymitch inwardly cursed the strength, and his other hand also came up to block with both hands. But even so, he couldn't stop Ma Le's punch. Seeing the other hand about to press down, Haymitch gritted his teeth, used his legs to push off the ground, and then added force to his hands, using Ma Le's punch to fly to the left, narrowly avoiding the other hand. But before he could catch his breath, Ma Le stood up and delivered a sweeping kick. Haymitch saw it coming, crouched down, and rolled under the bed. Ma Le didn't hesitate, changing his sweeping kick to a downward chop, which landed on the bed like an iron axe, instantly deforming and splitting the bed frame. Haymitch rolled to the head of the bed, avoiding the kick, but he knew hiding under the bed was useless, so he immediately crawled out. But as soon as he showed his head, he saw the terrifying guy squatting at the head of the bed, a large hand reaching out to him.

There was no way to avoid it. Haymitch felt despair, raised his hands to protect his head, and closed his eyes instinctively. But after a long wait, the expected attack never came. Haymitch opened his eyes and saw the large contestant smiling and extending his hand, "Mentor Haymitch, thank you for your guidance!"

Haymitch looked at Ma Le in confusion, but finally shook his right hand, being pulled out from under the broken bed. "Mentor, I have a natural strength, but I'm not skilled in fighting, so I came to ask you for the secrets of combat. You really gave me a vivid lesson just now, thank you so much!" Ma Le said sincerely, but Haymitch was inwardly cursing, "You call this not being skilled in fighting? Not only are you incredibly strong, but your moves are perfectly timed, you're clearly an expert!" Although he thought this, he couldn't say it out loud. Haymitch, with his thick skin, laughed it off, "Not bad, not bad, you have potential, but you still need some refinement, ha ha ha..."

Ma Le didn't care about Haymitch's boasting and respectfully offered a pack of cigarettes, "I heard you like smoking, this is a rare tobacco I bought at a high price, consider it a gift for our first meeting. I hope you will take care of me and help me succeed in the future..." Haymitch took the cigarettes with some hesitation and replied, "Nonsense, you're my student, it's my duty!" He spoke with a sense of righteousness, completely different from his previous disheveled appearance, looking like a model teacher, which was quite contradictory.

Ma Le chatted with him for a few more minutes before leaving Haymitch's room. After watching Ma Le leave, Haymitch's expression instantly became serious. He looked down at the cigarettes, knowing that he, Haymitch, was a drunkard, what did this kid mean by giving him cigarettes? And the writing on the box... what were these characters, horizontal and vertical lines, seemingly some kind of pictographic script, which Haymitch had never seen before. The only thing he could make out was the picture on the box, which seemed to be a red tower next to a mountain...

Haymitch puzzled over the packaging and suddenly noticed a mockingjay drawn inside the lid of the cigarette box, with the number 13 next to it! Haymitch was secretly alarmed, glanced at the hidden camera in the ceiling, and put the cigarettes in his pocket. He had sensed that the large contestant was different from the start, a survival instinct, but he didn't expect him to be so strong, and apparently... knew a lot.

Ma Le met Peeta again in the corridor. The guy was still covered in filth, hoping Ma Le could get some information from Haymitch, so he hadn't left.

"Peeta, how did it go? Did the mentor give any advice?" "Eet" was the alias the city battle system gave Ma Le in this world, and the alias for Lingzhi was Nius.

Ma Le shrugged, "Nothing, I got beaten up instead..." But seeing Peeta's disappointed expression, Ma Le felt a bit sorry for him and advised, "But I heard the arena is a forest, so prepare well!" Peeta's face brightened, his eyes twinkling, and he ran to Katniss's room, probably to warn his dream lover.

Ma Le didn't return to his room but went straight to Lingzhi's room. Lingzhi had just sent him a message, saying she had finished studying the lineups of the tributes from each district and wanted him to come and see.

When Ma Le entered, Lingzhi was sitting on the bed, fiddling with a laptop, with a lot of snacks from the dining car beside her. "You're here, come and look, this is the information I've compiled on the known tributes!" Seeing Ma Le, Lingzhi pushed the laptop towards him. The selection ceremonies of each district were recorded and used as reference material for the tributes to study, so Ma Le and the others could know in advance what the tributes from each district looked like.

Ma Le took the laptop and saw twenty-six portraits, with eight of them having detailed descriptions, seven with brief descriptions, and the remaining ten with no descriptions at all.

Lingzhi explained, "These are all elites from each district, so they are somewhat famous. I've heard of many of them and listed their abilities and characteristics. However, the strength of the tributes changes all the time, so this information is somewhat outdated and can only be used as a reference."

Ma Le looked at the extensive information and praised, "Impressive, no wonder you're called Lingzhi, you're so well-informed!" Lingzhi smiled proudly, "Of course, I'm a professional journalist!"

Ma Le was surprised, "Wow, there are really adventurers who make a living by gathering intelligence? How many worlds have you traveled to gather so much information?" Lingzhi replied, "I've barely passed the trials since the trial world, and I've always made a living by exploring side quests and selling information, earning as much as the system rewards. But this information isn't gathered by me alone. In Miracle City, or the entire city battle system, there's a Journalist Association. I just became a full member in my last world, and I can read a lot of information shared by other journalists, which helped me compile this data!"

Ma Le was curious, "There are such organizations in Miracle City?" Lingzhi immediately looked at him with a condescending eye and huffed, "Of course, besides the Journalist Association, there are also the Mage Association, Resource Association, business groups, and many others, some of which operate across city-states. With over a hundred thousand adventurers in the city battle system, it's a small society, so how could there not be organizations?"

As she spoke, Lingzhi pointed to a corner of the ceiling. Ma Le followed her finger and saw a strange mechanism, which seemed to be a camera...

"Bad! There's a surveillance camera here!" Ma Le immediately stepped in front of the laptop, knowing that this device didn't belong to this world and would cause suspicion if exposed to the Capitol. Lingzhi pushed him aside and scolded, "Blocking it now? They would have seen it long ago, it's too late to worry about it now." She touched her glasses, and the camera emitted a red light before going dark. "This is a surveillance shield, it can distort the images captured by the camera. With it, nothing that shouldn't be seen will be captured!" She pushed her glasses up, "This is the benefit of joining the association, a member-exclusive device!"

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