Zhen Xing was dumbfounded.
Holding his blade, he stood there blankly. After a while, he blinked a few more times, as though suspecting something had gone wrong with either his eyes or his brain.
If not for the blood and signs of battle still lingering around him, Zhen Xing genuinely would have thought he’d hallucinated.
Otherwise, how could someone possibly ride past on a giant fish and steal his “prey”?!
Two minutes later.
Zhen Xing finally confirmed that everything which had just happened was real. That black-haired, black-eyed figure with the refined, slender appearance still lingered vividly in his mind.
That definitely wasn’t any Federation expert he had ever seen before!
—Which brought the question back again.
Who the hell was that guy?
Grinding his teeth, Zhen Xing immediately drove his boat in the direction He Yu had disappeared.
“Don’t tell me Zhen Xing is going after He Yu to kill him too, just like Wanrenzhan?”
“He’d better not. Wanrenzhan already got screwed over once. If not for He Yu, Wanrenzhan wouldn’t have lost his boat and rushed to land because he couldn’t stay at sea any longer.”
“...Wanrenzhan fans, shut up already. You’re the only ones calling him ‘Wan God.’”
“Zhen Xing and Wanrenzhan aren’t the same.”
“I guarantee it. Zhen Xing’s competitive spirit got triggered, so he wants to chase after him and see what’s going on!”
“Exactly. Zhen Xing loves experts the most. After the last <Top Talent Show>, he personally challenged Wanrenzhan to spar, and apparently ended up looking down on him.”
“Our Zhen Xing only likes strong people. He Yu riding a giant fish made Zhen Xing mistake him for some hidden expert.”
“Zhen Xing’s going to be disappointed. He Yu’s combat power is still only eight points. He got so much equipment and barely any of it even increased his combat power!”
“I’m fucking sick of He Yu already. Zhen Xing could’ve beaten that sea monster himself!! He Yu just jumped in halfway. He doesn’t have any actual skill. He’s completely relying on the giant fish and that scumbag blade!”
......
More than one person had complaints about He Yu.
The <Top Talent Show> discussion plaza had been lively nonstop these past few days. Ever since He Yu started surfing around on the giant fish, the plaza had stayed noisy.
Today, Zhen Xing’s incident became the spark that completely ignited the entire discussion board.
A huge number of people were dissatisfied with He Yu. Some even directly went after the organizers—
【<Top Talent Show> organizers, don’t you think it’s time you finally gave us an explanation?
He rides around on a giant fish, then uses that scumbag blade to blind other contestants and provoke mini-bosses, pulling aggro onto the giant fish so the mini-bosses attack it while he sits back and profits!
This garbage planet native hasn’t done anything himself. He absolutely does not deserve this much equipment! We refuse to accept this on behalf of the other contestants!!】
2L: Completely agree. Forget Wanrenzhan and Zhen Xing—even contestants from other garbage planets could easily kill He Yu. But he’s cheating by riding a giant fish!!
3L: Why should a garbage planet native stand above Federation contestants?
4L: Organizers, eliminate He Yu immediately. He doesn’t deserve to stay!!
5L: I’m seriously so pissed. He’s picked up way too much equipment. Why him?!
6L: He Yu rides around everywhere on that giant fish, making our Federation contestants look worse than a garbage planet native, and he’s even stealing equipment that should’ve belonged to them!
7L: Eliminate He Yu immediately!
8L: I never supported garbage planet people participating in the competition to begin with. Hurry up and eliminate them all.
......
The dissatisfied viewers built towering discussion threads demanding an explanation from the organizers.
A very long time later—
Long enough for Zhen Xing to miserably realize he couldn’t catch up to the giant fish and finally give up pursuing it—
The organizers finally responded on the discussion plaza.
【Regarding the He Yu incident, we offer the following three responses:
First: The dull blade originally appeared during the 15th <Top Talent Show>. It was created by a contestant while practicing weapon forging. Because it was too dull, it was discarded during the 15th competition. It later reappeared during the 19th, 24th, 25th, 28th, and 31st competitions. Aside from one contestant in the 24th competition using reflected light from it to start a fire, no one else has ever used it.
Second: The giant fish has always possessed this setting—low intelligence and high combat strength. Most contestants either confront giant fish directly or outsmart them flexibly. Using a giant fish as both transportation and hired muscle is the first case in history. No cheating is involved.
Third: To preserve the fairness of <Top Talent Show>, once the competition begins, nobody is permitted to interfere. This has been the official promise since the 10th <Top Talent Show>.】
The moment the three responses came out, everyone fell silent.
Regarding the first point, the dull blade had existed for ages. He Yu was simply the first person to use it this way. The issue could only be attributed to intelligence, not the blade itself.
Regarding the second point, the giant fish had always been this stupid. He Yu was merely the first contestant to operate things this way. Again, it came down to He Yu’s brain, not cheating.
In fact, everyone knew that even if the organizers were going to cheat, they’d never do it for a garbage planet contestant.
Not to mention cheating was impossible in the first place.
As for the third point, it needed even less explanation.
The enormous scale and influence of <Top Talent Show> alone proved how immense the obtainable benefits were.
During the 9th competition, a contestant once bribed the organizers in an attempt to acquire a divine-grade treasure.
Later, Federation viewers discovered the truth.
The contestant’s master, family members, relatives, along with several heroic vigilantes, directly exterminated the entire upper management of that year’s organizing committee.
So from the 10th competition onward, once <Top Talent Show> began, it could never again be paused.
And the organizers completely lost the ability to interfere.
Qiu Dao, the person in charge of <Top Talent Show>, curled his lips and muttered softly—
“If we could interfere at all, would we let a garbage planet native walk around carrying a divine-grade treasure?”
Watching He Yu leisurely reading on top of the giant fish, Qiu Dao couldn’t help muttering again—
“What exactly is going on with the Luck Reversal Bead? Wasn’t he supposed to be unlucky? Don’t tell me... he figured out how to use it already?”
Qiu Dao immediately shook his head.
“Impossible. I’m definitely overthinking it!”
Now that the organizers had responded, the dissatisfied Federation viewers still harbored resentment, but they also understood—
At this point, it was impossible to break the rules and eliminate He Yu.
“Forget it. Look on the bright side. Even if he passes the preliminary stage, it won’t matter. The elimination rounds are about to begin. He won’t survive.”
“True. Contestant 2333 with only eight combat power points? He’ll probably die the instant the elimination rounds begin.”
“...Actually, I think He Yu is pretty impressive. Someone with only eight combat power points making it this far really is a miracle.”
“I think so too. If He Yu wasn’t from a garbage planet, people would definitely consider him exceptional.”
“??? Wait, you guys actually support He Yu? He screwed over Wanrenzhan and the others, crushed Cyclops, stole equipment from top experts like Zhen Xing and Kui, and you still support him?”
“Seriously. There are actually people supporting a garbage planet native? That’s eye-opening.”
“Please. This is a competition. The people you’re defending steal things too. Besides, He Yu’s giant fish killed the monsters, so He Yu picking up the equipment is completely justified.”
“Agreed. He Yu surviving this far is already a miracle. I want to see how far this miracle can go.”
“Don’t expect too much. The second he enters the elimination rounds, he’s dead.”
“If he survives even one elimination round, I’ll personally give him all my votes!”
......
There still weren’t many voices supporting He Yu, but those voices existed now.
As a result, Federation viewers started arguing all over again.
The opposition still formed the overwhelming majority. Neutral observers were plentiful.
But compared to before, supporters had undeniably increased.
The mainstream opinion remained opposition.
However, if someone made a graph, they would discover—
The number of people supporting He Yu was skyrocketing upward in a straight line.
As the preliminary stage approached its end, the name “He Yu” had nearly achieved true universal recognition.
“Bang—!”
Ye Kaijun slammed his cup down with a furious expression.
“Everything He Yu obtained was earned through his own ability! They only see him getting equipment. They don’t see the countless life-and-death dangers he went through! So many people saw him riding a giant fish. Why hasn’t anyone copied him? Because they can’t!” Ye Kaijun roared angrily.
“Calm down.”
Wei Jiaguo clenched his fists, took a deep breath, and spoke softly.
Ye Kaijun gritted his teeth.
“I just can’t understand it. Why? Why do they erase the miracle He Yu created just because he’s from Blue Star and only has eight combat power points?!”
Wei Jiaguo replied quietly—
“Because they believe they stand above everyone else. Because they don’t want equipment falling into the hands of people they despise. This isn’t a game. Equipment can be used on real bodies and in real life. They’ve always viewed us as inferior beings.”
Wei Jiaguo slowly loosened his grip and stared at the screen, his gaze unfathomably deep.
“You said it yourself. He Yu has already created a miracle. If it happens once or twice, they can deny it and ignore it. But what about three times? Four times?”
Ye Kaijun looked at Wei Jiaguo in surprise.
He understood.
Wei Jiaguo had started believing He Yu could create another miracle.
—As for whether that trust came from He Yu’s performance, or simply from Wei Jiaguo’s support for Blue Star people, only Wei Jiaguo himself knew.
Ye Kaijun slowly sat back down and looked at the screen with a complicated expression.
He Yu...
Could he really create another miracle?
With only eight combat power points, could he still create miracles in the elimination rounds?
【The number of landed contestants has reached 987,864. Remaining slots: 12,136. Contestants, please work hard~】
Only a little over ten thousand slots remained!
Countless contestants who still hadn’t found islands began falling into madness and despair. People frantically searched for islands like lunatics.
Even the powerful contestants who had been hunting at sea started turning back toward shore.
He Yu calmly closed his book and carefully stored away the volume he had reread countless times inside his backpack.
Raising a hand, he adjusted his glasses. His voice was slightly hoarse, yet still calm.
“Alright. Time to land.”
The moment his words fell, he tossed dried fish toward a certain direction.
The giant fish immediately turned.
—That direction was precisely where the island lay.
The viewers who had assumed He Yu would fail to land all widened their eyes.
Only after a long while did someone finally speak in shock—
“Holy shit! Confirmed now. He Yu really did spot the island earlier. He deliberately refused to land because he wanted more equipment!”
“Eight combat power points... my god, how the hell did he dare?!”
This time, even the people who opposed He Yu fell silent with complicated expressions.
He had spotted the island long ago but deliberately refused to land.
Someone with eight combat power points dared to challenge the preliminary stage this way.
No—
At the beginning, he’d only had five points.
And he still succeeded.
No matter how much people looked down on him, no matter how lucky they thought he was, they now had to admit—
He Yu possessed extraordinary courage.
【The number of landed contestants has reached 999,864. Remaining slots: 136. Contestants, please work hard~】
Only one hundred slots remained!
Eugene crawled onto the island.
His clothes were tattered. His entire body looked utterly miserable, even his crawling posture pitiful. Sand and gravel coated his hands.
After struggling onto shore, he collapsed onto the beach and let out a long breath.
Island rules prohibited fighting after landing.
So Eugene relaxed completely while lying there.
After stabilizing his breathing, he raised a middle finger toward the sky.
“Goddammit, I almost didn’t make it!”
As if remembering something, he lifted a hand and touched his mechanical arm, a crafty grin flashing across his face.
“Hehehe. Still, my luck was pretty damn good. Nobody should’ve had better luck than me.”
Eugene looked wildly arrogant and carefree.
As a top expert from Mechanical Planet and one of the competition’s most popular contestants, Eugene absolutely had the right to be proud.
After lying there long enough, he prepared to get up and head deeper into the island.
Eugene stood, shook out his tattered clothes, and muttered—
“Though this is kinda embarrassing. But whatever. Everybody probably looked miserable while landing. Nobody could still look cool after that.”
That part was true.
After enduring combat and storms at sea before climbing ashore personally, nobody escaped looking pathetic.
Eugene turned around.
“Huuuu—”
From the sea came the sound of wind generated by something rapidly approaching.
Eugene looked up.
A giant fish was rushing toward shore.
This giant fish was larger than any giant fish he had ever seen before. If he encountered it in the open sea, even he would probably find it troublesome.
But this was the island.
As the giant fish drew closer, Eugene raised his middle finger again, his mechanical face becoming vividly animated.
“Hehe. I’m on the island now. You can’t come up here! Got the guts to get closer? Got the guts to land? Got the guts to—wait, what the fuck?!”
His finger was still raised as his eyes widened in disbelief.
—It actually fucking landed.
Well, not the giant fish.
The guy on top of the giant fish landed.
That person stood up atop the giant fish, spread “wings,” and glided gracefully from its head.
His entire body was clean and refreshed. Even his gliding posture looked incredibly stylish.
Nobody escaped looking miserable?
—Apparently someone did.
Eugene stared with widened eyes and an open mouth at the approaching figure.
The man landed atop a rock beside Eugene, folded his wings away, then looked toward the deep sea and waved stylishly.
“Old buddy, goodbye.”
Eugene: “?”
Holy shit, who the hell was this guy?
Giant fish: “?”
Who’s this?