He Yu slept for two days.
The giant fish only slept for one before opening its eyes.
No one had ever fed a six-star potion to a giant fish before, so this was also the first time Federation viewers learned—
A six-star potion actually worked even on a giant fish of this size.
The giant fish woke up.
He Yu did not.
Just as everyone thought He Yu was in danger, the giant fish floated motionlessly on the sea for another entire day.
Its eyes were dull, blankly staring ahead, using its extremely limited brainpower to think about the problems it was currently facing and the incomprehensible events that had occurred.
The giant fish could not understand why it had suddenly started “feeling bad.”
Nor could it understand why, when it had felt like it was about to die, it had suddenly become “better.”
These were things it had never experienced before, and with its level of intelligence, they were far too difficult to comprehend.
When He Yu finally opened his eyes, the giant fish shook its head and slapped its tail against the ocean surface, arriving at the conclusion born from an entire day of “thinking”—
Stay above water.
Every time it dove underwater, bad things seemed to happen.
Previously, it had been “itchy.”
Yesterday, it had been “painful.”
Later, once it floated back up to the surface, its dying self had somehow survived!
Conclusion:
Underwater = pain.
Surface = happiness.
The giant fish’s limited brain only managed to understand that much.
So when He Yu woke up, it happily slapped its tail and swam toward the rising sun ahead of them.
—It had already decided that from now on, it would become a fish that lived on the surface!
The giant fish moved cheerfully, clearly in an excellent mood.
Any living creature that survived death would naturally feel good afterward.
He Yu slowly opened his eyes.
Feeling the giant fish happily swimming beneath him, he narrowed his eyes slightly and once again saw the barrage comments that appeared unpredictably before him—
“He finally woke up. Two whole days and nothing happened? His luck is way too ridiculous!”
“This garbage-planet human still isn’t dead?”
“Mmm... this garbage-planet human actually looks pretty good.”
“How is he still alive? When exactly is he gonna die?”
“Still, making Wanrenzhan’s group continue swimming around out there on the ocean... this garbage-planet human sure accomplished something.”
“Go watch Keli Hai’s stream next door. He just killed two garbage-planet contestants. One of them was even from the same garbage planet as 2333. Weak trash, died in one slash. The comments are laughing themselves to death.”
“Where? Where? I wanna see too!”
“As expected, garbage-planet people are still garbage-planet people. Not everyone gets lucky like this.”
“I really hope He Yu runs into Keli Hai.”
...
He Yu raised his right hand and removed his glasses.
His left hand lifted to shield his eyes.
The sunlight was glaring.
But even more glaring than the sunlight were those words.
Keli Hai?
Garbage-planet people?
A Blue Star human killed in one slash?
“Heh.”
He Yu laughed softly. Lowering his left hand, he slowly sat up. The moment he did, his right hand skillfully and naturally placed the rimless glasses back onto his face.
“Why’s he laughing?”
“No idea... probably happy he survived?”
“He should be happy. His luck is insane.”
“But luck won’t stay good forever. He won’t be able to keep smiling much longer.”
“Seriously, if you hate him so much, then leave. You people hate him but camp in He Yu’s livestream every day just to mock him nonstop. I genuinely don’t get it.”
“We’re only here to watch this garbage-planet human die!”
“Don’t know why, but He Yu’s smile suddenly feels creepy...”
“Same! It’s seriously chilling!!”
...
He Yu smiled.
Under the sunlight, his face was refined and beautiful, practically glowing.
Even the Federation citizens who despised and mocked him had to admit—
At this moment, He Yu was dazzling enough that people could not look away from him.
But no one noticed that his eyes were filled only with indifference.
One day, he would force these lofty people to lower their heads—heads that were never truly noble to begin with.
—The person they looked down upon would eventually become a god they would need to worship.
They would scream for their god with frenzied voices and fanatical gazes.
They would come to understand that before a god, they and the “garbage-planet people” they mocked were exactly the same.
The smile remained at the corner of He Yu’s lips as he lowered his head slightly, looking at the dark, inconspicuous bead hanging at his neck.
Under the sunlight, the bead flickered with dim, shadowy light, like an abyss—or perhaps the endless cosmos itself.
He thought—
He finally understood how the Luck Reversal Bead worked.
What a terrifyingly useful item.
During the confrontation with Wanrenzhan and the giant fish two days ago, it had already demonstrated an ability impossible to ignore.
Others did not know.
But He Yu understood it better than anyone.
—Dance on the edge of death, and the owner’s luck would explode.
The greater the danger.
The more miserable the situation.
The greater the fortune.
Only after being driven into certain death... could one live again.
The sunlight was brilliant.
Even the deep, terrifying sea, hiding countless dangers beneath its surface, now appeared exceptionally calm.
The giant fish, having survived death, was in such a good mood that it swam around cheerfully.
Occasionally it hunted food.
Occasionally it took naps.
It basked under the sun and never once dove underwater again.
It had no goal and no direction.
It simply slapped its tail and happily moved forward.
On its back, He Yu sat with one knee raised, seriously reading a book.
Beside him, dried fish hung from yarn, drying beneath the sunlight.
The scene was extremely familiar.
2333 He Yu’s livestream once again became peaceful and idyllic.
But this time, the barrage comments were no longer peaceful—
“He’s already reading that book for the second time, isn’t he?”
“I seriously don’t get what’s so interesting about some basic textbook.”
“Can’t stand that smug look on his face. So what if he got lucky and screwed over Wanrenzhan’s group once? If he’s so capable, then keep showing off. Combat power 5 and still acting proud.”
“To be fair, He Yu’s literally just quietly reading. Where exactly is the smugness?”
“My god, garbage-planet people really aren’t qualified to comment. Are there actually Federation citizens licking the boots of garbage-planet contestants?”
“Ugh. Supporting garbage-planet people? You must be garbage too.”
“...If you people hate him that much, then leave already. Stop insulting people here. Let the place have some peace.”
“Nope. I’m staying until I personally watch this garbage-planet human die!”
...
He Yu’s livestream was constantly full of arguments.
No, not arguments.
One-sided abuse.
After all, compared to the pitifully few supporters He Yu had, the overwhelming majority of Federation viewers despised him for being a garbage-planet human.
They could not accept the fact that someone from a garbage planet had beaten contestants from the Federation’s main planets.
Especially Wanrenzhan, the previous champion.
Even if that “championship” had clearly contained quite a bit of water.
The comments in He Yu’s livestream were hostile.
But inside the livestream itself, He Yu always remained in a tranquil state, peacefully reading.
Finally, someone could not help asking—
[Is he seriously going to keep doing this? Why hasn’t he encountered a single other contestant? Everyone else is killing each other nonstop, islands have already appeared, so how is he still this calm? Hurry up and meet someone already! I wanna see whether he can stay this smug once he runs into other contestants!]
People were genuinely confused.
Wasn’t He Yu anxious at all?
Every time someone landed on an island, all contestants received a broadcast announcement. Those announcements made contestants anxious, and also made the show more exciting.
—Especially when the remaining slots grew fewer and fewer. Watching contestants panic and mentally collapse was exactly what viewers wanted to see.
Even Blue Star viewers and Wei Jiaguo’s group were getting anxious.
Islands had appeared.
At first glance, one million slots sounded like a lot.
But there were ten million contestants.
Once you remembered that nine million people had to be eliminated, would the number still seem large?
Did He Yu not know that the preliminary stage’s requirement was finding an island?!
Even though He Yu only had combat power 5, he had defeated Wanrenzhan twice. His livestream remained permanently pinned between the First and Second Rings. Everyone on Blue Star desperately hoped he could land on an island and pass the preliminary stage.
So naturally, they were anxious to death.
And at that very moment—
As the sun began to set, He Yu finished reading <Basic Principles of Combat Power Development> for the second time.
He closed the book.
The rimless glasses reflected the sunlight faintly, and beneath them, his smiling eyes curved slightly as his lazy, hoarse voice sounded—
“Alright, Big Fish. Time to get moving.”
The livestream viewers froze.
Maintaining his relaxed posture, He Yu casually tossed out a dried fish.
The giant fish immediately went tap-tap-tap happily along the direction He Yu “pointed” toward, unbelievably obedient.
Barrage comments—
“Fuck! He’s finally moving.”
“Damn it, he finally stopped reading. We can finally watch something else.”
“Hurry up and die already.”
“Garbage-planet human with five combat points, hurry and join the fighting!”
...
At that moment, a highlighted enlarged comment appeared—
[You people are overthinking things. I guarantee He Yu is smart. He knows his limits. With combat power 5, he definitely won’t provoke anybody. He’ll just direct the giant fish to find an island and land safely. He’s a smart person. If he keeps playing carefully, he actually has a chance to make it ashore.]
Many rational viewers agreed with that statement.
However—
Half an hour later—
He Yu and his He Yu Giant Fish encountered another miniboss:
A giant squid king.
The giant fish and the giant squid stared at each other across the sea.
Neither moved.
At that moment, He Yu threw out his plain, unremarkable three-point knife, scratching the squid king’s eye.
The squid king instantly exploded in rage, viciously swinging its tentacles toward the He Yu Giant Fish.
The giant fish also got angry and charged forward.
The two minibosses immediately started fighting.
Meanwhile, He Yu danced between them with extreme maneuvers, occasionally using the three-point knife he had just retrieved to further irritate the squid king.
—Just like before, minibosses without predator-prey relationships would not attack each other proactively, nor would they attempt to eat one another.
He Yu picked up one of the squid king’s severed tentacles and tossed it into the giant fish’s mouth.
Giant Fish: ?
After a moment of confusion—
Giant Fish: ...Fuck, that tastes horrible!
Having eaten what it considered “poison,” the giant fish became furious and violently beat the squid king to death.
Every strike seemed to scream—
How can you taste this disgusting?!
The giant fish smashed the squid king into mush, then gulped down several mouthfuls of seawater to cleanse its stomach.
Riding atop the deeply offended giant fish, He Yu picked up the two pieces of equipment dropped by the squid king and cheerfully continued onward.
Barrage comments: “???”
Barrage comments: “......”
The giant fish was furious, so it swam extremely fast.
Two hours later—
An island appeared within the sight of everyone in He Yu’s livestream.
He became the very first “garbage-planet human” to find an island.
Livestream comments exploded—
“Holy shit! He Yu actually found an island!”
“This makes no sense. Why is his luck this insane?!”
“The number of people who’ve landed so far is only in the dozens. If he lands now, he’ll be within the preliminary top hundred!”
“I don’t understand??”
“Why does a garbage-planet human deserve this??”
“Fuck! A garbage-planet human with combat power 5 actually qualifying for the island? Is he even worthy?!”
...
The comments exploded in rage.
Meanwhile, Wei Jiaguo and Zheng Ke were so excited their faces turned red.
Wei Jiaguo shouted:
“That’s amazing, He Yu! Well done! You are—wait, have you gone insane?!”
His eyes widened.
The joy on his face instantly transformed into utter disbelief. Veins bulged on his forehead, his eyes practically popping out of their sockets.
Because on the screen—
As though he had not seen the island at all—
He Yu calmly directed the giant fish to turn around and continue swimming in another direction.
Barrage comments: “???”
Blue Star viewers: “???”
That was an island!
The island that guaranteed passing the preliminary stage once you landed on it!!