Everyone finally saw what happened clearly. The eagle hadn't just slipped and crashed by accident; it had been yanked down hard by Xiao Dou. The massive bird slammed straight into the packed, dry dirt of the arena floor with a heavy thud that sent a cloud of dust into the air.
The craziest part of the struggle was the aftermath. The eagle was visibly injured from that brutal impact, its feathers ruffled and its wings twitching, but Xiao Dou looked perfectly fine. Her skin was basically as thick as a city wall. Then came the real shocker: when the eagle tried to flap its broken wings to get back into the air, Xiao Dou clamped her iron beak onto its yellow claw. She copied the predator's own maneuver and smashed the eagle back into the ground with a sickening crack.
The audience could only watch in stunned silence as that massive bird of prey was slammed against the dirt again and again.
"Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!" someone shouted from the front row. The whole arena went nuts. Was this seriously something a common chicken could do? How strong was this thing?
No one was surprised that an eagle could carry a hen into the sky. But a hen tossing an eagle into the dirt like a ragdoll just broke every one of Newton's laws. Where the hell was Newton when you needed him?
Xiao Dou's dark eyes seemed to gleam: The sky might be your domain, but down here, I'm the queen.
After just a few more brutal smashes, the eagle stopped moving. Its wings lay splayed and useless in the dust. Xiao Dou lowered her head and went straight for the eyes and the brain. Soon, next to the bloody hyena corpse lay another one: the eagle.
Jing Shu opened the heavy iron cage. She chopped off the eagle's head with a quick, efficient motion and tucked the warm body under her arm. "We will roast this for dinner," she said casually.
It was the same kind of kindness parents showed when they took their kid's New Year money, saying it was for your future marriage fund. And just like those disappointed kids, Xiao Dou didn't protest. She just bobbed her head like a chick pecking rice, already dreaming about the scent of roast eagle tonight.
Only then did the crowd finally react, and they erupted into absolute chaos. The referee rushed in to verify the results and confirmed it: the chicken really had killed the eagle. The eagle's owner lost his mind and charged at Jing Shu, his face red with rage, but she calmly swung a leg and kicked him flying across the sand. The eagle's corpse was still gripped firmly in her hand. The entire arena fell silent once more.
Everyone realized it at once; this chicken wasn't ordinary.
The host was breathing hard into his microphone. He had only bet one black market coin, but if Xiao Dou kept winning, that one coin would turn into two thousand. Staring at the ugly, patchy-feathered chicken with barely any recognizable chicken traits besides her sharp claws, he struggled to contain his excitement.
"My god, this might really be today's dark horse! Let's move on to the third match!"
The third fight was against a spotted jaguar. It wasn't as powerful as the hyena, but it was faster and far more agile. Even Jing Shu broke a sweat watching the cat's movements. But Xiao Dou had been drinking the same Spirit Spring water as her every day, and that meant enormous strength and ridiculously tough flesh. A common knife could barely cut through her.
The jaguar lunged and bit down, its teeth sinking into Xiao Dou's neck and drawing a little blood, but before it could even blink, the hen pecked its head full of jagged holes. It was an instant kill.
Still, it was the first opponent to actually injure Xiao Dou; a worthy foe, at least.
The fourth match was against a grey wolf. There was no suspense there. The audience was getting numb by now, though some still muttered that this time, the chicken couldn't possibly win.
Then came the fifth round; a wild boar.
It was a massive, flame-red beast ranked tenth among the arena's battle pets. It didn't belong to commoners but to one of the nobles. Before the apocalypse, that noble had used the boar to win countless matches. It was fierce and terrifying, and because it never lacked food, it had grown huge and powerful.
It took four men to haul the boar into the arena. The iron cage rattled as it slammed its massive weight against the bars, making the whole structure tremble. The crowd's hope reignited; this thing was the real deal.
"This thing has got to be at least 250 kilos, right?" Jing Shu asked. It was enormous.
After Xiao Hei translated the question, the host nodded. "A 350-kilo wild boar. It usually ends fights by simply bulldozing its opponents."
"Hey, I'm betting on the boar. No way it loses."
"Same. If this chicken beats that, I will twist my own head off and use it as a football. Look at it, that hen is like one-tenth its size. How could it win?"
Jing Shu swallowed hard, eyeing the boar's thick neck. Bringing something like that home meant pig trotters, pig ears, braised pig head; all perfect side dishes! Sliced pig head meat before dinner; oh man, wild boar meat was supposed to be even tastier than domestic pork.
The host thought she looked scared and tried to comfort her. "Hey, making it to round five already means you have won a lot of black market coins. Your chicken is going down in our record books no matter what. But wild boars have thick hide and dense muscle. Even if your chicken has got a sharp beak, it won't pierce that."
Jing Shu asked again, "Sir, just to confirm; equipment and weapons are allowed, right?"
"Of course. As long as your pet knows how to use them."
"Then why don't the others wear any gear?"
The host gave her a look like she was an idiot. "These beasts are wild and dumb. Their bodies are their weapons, and aggression is their defense. The most you will see is some leather armor."
The fight began.
The boar was furious, smashing around the arena the moment it was let out of its transport crate. The iron cage shook so hard it almost came apart. Then it spotted Xiao Dou, and without hesitation, it charged.
That mountain-sized beast was terrifying as it kicked up dust. Next to it, Xiao Dou looked like a small ant. One careless move, and she would be flattened.
"Crush it! Smash it! Oh shit, I'm finally going to win!" someone yelled from the seats.
Xiao Dou freaked out. She was a chicken, damn it! That huge boar charging at her was a nightmare come true. And then, to everyone's shock, she flapped her wings hard and actually flew.
The chicken flew.
That alone stunned the audience into silence. Then she did what she always did; she copied what worked. Imitating the eagle's flight, she dove from the air. Well, it's more like she dropped, since she was too heavy to glide. She crashed right onto the boar's head and started pecking at its eyes.
The boar went wild, squealing and thrashing like a maddened bull as it tried to shake her off. It slammed its body into the ground over and over, but Xiao Dou clung on like glue, pecking relentlessly. Soon, the boar's eyes were shredded into bloody messes. Even when the beast was blind, she kept pecking deeper into the bone.
It was, without question, the most brutal slaughter Jing Shu had ever seen.
"What a waste," she sighed.
Xiao Hei, who was beside himself with excitement, froze. "A waste? What do you mean, a waste?"
"It's a pity, all that pig blood gone to waste on the sand."
"...What?"
"Think about it. Spicy pig blood stew, blood curd hotpot; it's all delicious!"
Xiao Hei stared at her like she was the devil incarnate.
The crowd, meanwhile, was not nearly as calm as Jing Shu. They jumped to their feet, shouting, cursing, and demanding to see the chicken up close. They called it rigged, impossible, and fake.
Was Xiao Dou strong? Sure. She wasn't nearly as smart as the boar. But she wasn't as clever as the boar either.
Humans were at the top of the food chain for a reason; because of intelligence.