Chapter 241: Are They Teammates? (17)

The enormous figure planted itself there, instantly making everyone's hair stand on end. Even more terrifying was the overwhelming energy swirling around it.

As if sensing their gazes, the ginseng lowered its head, its familiar, beautiful blue eyes sweeping coldly across the crowd.

When Little Ginseng looked at them like that, it only seemed adorably clueless.

But when Giant Ginseng did the same...

...it was downright spine-chilling!!

For a moment, everyone stared blankly.

Blue Eyes walked toward He Yu. Its roots had thickened into massive limbs as well. Despite its colossal size, it moved with remarkable grace, no wonder they hadn't heard a single sound.

It stopped beside He Yu and, as though the people below didn't even exist, kicked Wanrenzhan away with one of its roots.

Caught completely off guard, Wanrenzhan took the hit head-on.

He slammed into the ground, looked up, and exploded in rage.

"Fuck! Blue Eyes, what the hell are you doing?! You definitely did that on purpose!!"

Blue Eyes acted as though it hadn't heard him. With utmost care, it lifted He Yu using a root and placed him on its shoulder.

Well... if it could be called a shoulder.

Above its eyes, beneath the enormous round leaf that had grown just as gigantic.

He Yu sat there calmly. A single root curled securely around him to keep him from falling, making them appear even more intimate.

Blue Eyes secretly smiled.

Duan Yuchen swallowed hard.

"So that's why you kept talking to us, had Yuan Ze verify your identity, and let us learn the truth... You were stalling for time so Blue Eyes could grow stronger? You were controlling all that energy flowing into Blue Eyes?"

He Yu smiled and nodded.

Just now, he'd used his "self-destruction" to draw everyone's attention.

No one had noticed Blue Eyes changing.

Not even the people outside.

Sitting high upon Blue Eyes' shoulder, He Yu looked down at them from above and tilted his head.

"The five of us, plus Blue Eyes. Do any of you still think you can win?"

Everyone: "..."

—No.

Four super-powerhouses, the strongest support, and one god none of them combined could possibly defeat...

How could there be any chance of victory?

...It was fucking hopeless.

—

The King and Qiu Dao stood inside the control room.

The King stood upright.

Qiu Dao, meanwhile, was being held firmly so he couldn't escape again. In the end, the King's men had caught him.

After learning about the current situation, the King's head felt ready to explode.

The only thing he could tell the entire Federation was—

"There really is another bug. We're currently fixing it."

And beyond that, there was nothing he could do.

The Federation's citizens had nearly torn down the royal palace. The King had no choice but to stay with the production team, putting on a show of how seriously he was taking the situation and personally overseeing everything. Only then had the palace avoided being demolished.

Even so, public dissatisfaction with him continued to grow.

As a result, An Xu and the others had become increasingly active lately. The King ground his teeth in anger, yet had no energy left to deal with them.

He was already overwhelmed by countless crises.

The most urgent matter before them now was—

Waiting for Abier and the others to modify the system rules, assign He Yu to one faction, fix the bug, and restore everything to normal.

However, despite working day and night for three straight days, Abier's team still couldn't interfere with the instance's rules.

The King snapped irritably.

"How much longer? Why are the defenses so strong? Why can't the rules be changed?!"

Qiu Dao shrank into himself like a quail, not daring to explain.

But inwardly, he wanted to say—

Your Majesty, weren't you the one constantly applying pressure?

Wasn't making it impossible to modify exactly what you demanded?

Of course, he didn't dare say any of that.

After three days without rest, even though they were Mechanical Planet natives and didn't develop dark circles or other obvious signs of exhaustion, Abier and the others were slowing down. Their hands moved more sluggishly, and the flexibility of their mechanical bodies had noticeably declined...

"Beep! Beep!"

Finally!

Abier cried out excitedly.

"It's done! We can finally modify the instance rules!"

The King's eyes lit up. He rushed forward, unable to contain his excitement.

"Quick! Right now! Assign He Yu to one faction immediately!"

Abier's fingers flew across the controls.

Then—

His pupils contracted.

"...Why can't it still be changed?"

The King shouted,

"What's going on?!"

Qiu Dao's eyes widened violently.

He looked toward the largest livestream in the viewing area, where He Yu sat upon Giant Ginseng's shoulder...

His voice carried a note of uncertainty.

"It's because of Blue Eyes. He Yu and Blue Eyes actually did it. They've sealed the instance from the inside, preventing anyone outside from changing the rules..."

Abier had been completely occupied these past few days and hadn't been following events.

Hearing that, he sucked in a sharp breath.

The King froze.

Staring at the projection, he muttered,

"What exactly is He Yu trying to do? We're helping him..."

Fury flashed through his eyes.

"How am I supposed to explain this to the citizens?"

Qiu Dao held a different opinion.

Now that he'd been captured, he had actually calmed down.

With his single remaining strand of hair standing upright, he spoke quietly.

"Your Majesty... perhaps all we can do is wait. If He Yu wins his gamble and everyone advances, the Federation's citizens won't be nearly as furious. The storm we'll have to face afterward will also be much smaller..."

The King fell silent.

—

Inside the competition.

Gedai sat on the ground dejectedly.

He looked at Zhen Xing and the others in annoyance.

"Hey, He Yu wants to kill you, and you're still standing on his side? Have you all gone crazy?"

Even as he asked if they were crazy...

...he made absolutely no move to resist.

He simply remained sitting there.

Zhen Xing didn't answer.

The attitudes of the four of them had never wavered.

They trusted and supported He Yu unconditionally.

Qiong bit her finger before letting out a long sigh.

"Fine. Even if He Yu hadn't interfered, our faction probably wasn't going to win anyway. If it's an all-or-nothing gamble, then so be it."

Strangely enough...

After deciding to gamble everything, she actually felt much more relaxed.

Perhaps it was because she'd danced on the edge of death too many times.

Duan Yuchen understood exactly how she felt.

He was thinking the same thing.

And he knew why.

Because earlier, after discovering something was wrong with He Yu, they'd still had a chance to survive.

They'd been forced to choose between continuing to trust He Yu...

...or killing him.

It had been agonizing.

A painful conflict between reason and emotion.

Now that they'd confirmed they had absolutely no chance of acting on their own and could only follow He Yu into this desperate gamble...

...they inexplicably relaxed.

Because they no longer had to hesitate.

Nor struggle with that fragile trust hanging by a thread.

Siya and the others felt much the same.

They simply sat down on the ground.

Since they couldn't beat him anyway, there was no point struggling.

Tang Ke pursed their lips.

"Do you really want to gamble everything?"

Before He Yu could answer, Gedai spoke expressionlessly.

"He's already guaranteed victory. Blue Eyes is helping him, and he's got four idiots willing to risk their lives for him. He has absolutely no reason to lie to us now."

A conclusion that was practically inevitable...

There was simply no need for him to keep deceiving them.

Besides, although Gedai had questioned He Yu the most before, he was also the clearest-headed.

He Yu might scheme against them.

He might even use them.

But he wouldn't stoop to deceiving them at a moment like this.

He preferred to win beautifully.

To win so thoroughly that no one could say a word.

Tang Ke looked conflicted.

"You're already certain to win. What is there left to gamble?"

"There is."

He Yu's voice was unwavering.

"I'm betting that whoever's behind the scenes would rather let everyone advance than allow me to become the Top Talent and leave here alive."

Tang Ke froze.

They looked at He Yu with a complicated expression.

If he won this gamble...

...then it would prove the system was absolutely determined to kill him.

The road ahead would become unimaginably difficult.

Yet he remained so calm.

Zhante looked up at the gigantic ginseng and stroked his chin.

"So... when you first suggested bringing Blue Eyes with us, had you already thought this far ahead? Now that everything's settled, He Yu, do you have time to explain it to us?"

He Yu glanced at the sky.

It was still the middle of the night.

Dawn was still far away.

Blue Eyes was obviously still holding up.

Now that the system rules could no longer be changed...

...he had time.

So He Yu nodded and began explaining.

"My abnormal identity was obviously the instance's killing move. I realized the direction for breaking the deadlock very early on, but because the instance could change its rules at any moment, I couldn't reveal anything before finding a solution."

If he'd exposed his identity and gained Zhen Xing's [N O V E L I G H T] support...

The others would very likely have joined forces with the remaining eighty-seven contestants to attack them.

Zhen Xing's group was indeed powerful.

But against ninety-five people?

The outcome would be impossible to predict.

Everyone suddenly understood.

So from the very beginning, He Yu had gathered them together and prevented them from separating precisely so they couldn't determine his identity or end up confronting one another.

He Yu continued,

"Later, we made a plan. We would eliminate the remaining eighty-seven contestants first and complete the mission. That way, dealing with all of you afterward would be much easier."

Everyone: "..."

So all that frantic hunting...

All that crazed mission clearing...

...had simply been to reduce the resistance He Yu would face when killing them later.

What the fuck.

This was beyond hopeless.

He Yu continued,

"The draw proposal you came up with was excellent. I wanted the people behind the scenes to have no idea what I intended to do."

So while outwardly going along with their plan...

...he had also deliberately behaved in an unusually low-key manner, revealing just enough oddities to draw attention.

His goal was to make absolutely everyone unable to understand his intentions.

If they couldn't understand him...

...they couldn't prepare against him.

He Yu sneered.

"If those behind the scenes knew my plan, they'd simply assign me to whichever faction lacked members. Then this instance would inevitably eliminate half the contestants."

He would never allow either faction to be eliminated.

Zhen Xing, Wanrenzhan, Ling Buchen, and Bo Jingshan...

The four of them weren't even in the same faction.

As long as eliminations occurred, one of them would die.

These four trusted him absolutely.

Duan Yuchen and the others also trusted him more than halfway.

All of them would become powerful allies in his future confrontation against whoever controlled everything from behind the scenes.

How could he possibly allow any of them to be lost?

From the very beginning...

He Yu had never intended to eliminate either faction.

He Yu continued,

"Once I met Blue Eyes, the opportunity arrived. Blue Eyes can switch instances, and it can also seal an instance, preventing an existing bug from ever being fixed. That became our bargaining chip."

He looked toward the horizon.

His eyes were icy cold...

...yet filled with fighting spirit.

So the distribution of points had never really mattered.

From the moment Blue Eyes appeared—

Or rather, even before Blue Eyes appeared—

He Yu had already planned to eliminate everyone.

Including Zhen Xing and the others.

Leaving only himself behind.

Yet doing so had never been for his own advancement.

It had always been a desperate gamble...

...that everyone would advance together.

Eugene and the others stared blankly at him.

For a long time, none of them spoke.

At this moment, they were completely certain—

He Yu genuinely wanted to bring all of them through.

Even those standing against him.

Everything he'd done...

...had been for everyone to advance together.

A strange mixture of gratitude and indescribable emotion welled up inside them.

His earlier deception had been completely understandable.

Yet they'd nearly lost faith in him.

Especially Gedai and Tang Ke.

Their emotions were particularly complicated.

At that moment, He Yu spoke.

"Alright. Explanations are over. Line up and leave."

Everyone: "..."

...All that emotion was fucking fake!!

Tang Ke stood up nervously and looked up at He Yu.

"Does this desperate gamble actually have any chance of succeeding? Is it really possible for all of us to advance? Please... don't lie to me."

He Yu lowered his gaze and smiled faintly.

"Do you have any other choice?"

Tang Ke: "..."

No.

They couldn't beat him.

He Yu raised a hand.

"Alright."

"Time to be on your way."