[Lingbao is still so cute.]
[I feel like Fu Xuan was right. Qingque really does have the ability to take over the Divination Commission, and then Fu Xuan can peacefully pry Jing Yuan's position away.]
[Or I finished reading and almost got moved to tears by you.]
[Feels like Lynx is pretty good to Luka.]
[After all, they're both from Belobog. Of course she has to look after him more.]
— —
In the end, Qingque presses the play button.
The footage shows a man with red hair leaning against a window aboard a spaceship, gazing at the hazy galaxy.
"Trust me—with your skills, even if you joined the Interstellar Circuit, you'd definitely make a name for yourself. Prize money, fame... things others can't earn in a lifetime, you could just raise your hand and take them!"
Hearing this, Igor forces a smile. "Of course I'd be happy to win... but what I really want is for people to listen to my post-match speech."
Another man steps into frame, dressed in a luxurious suit with an Interastral Peace Corporation badge hanging from his neck.
"I know what you're trying to do. I've heard about what happened to your homeworld.
In fact, a lot of worlds have been attacked by Nanook's mad legions. So I have to remind you—the audience paid for tickets because they want excitement. They're not interested in hearing you preach doom and gloom.
Igor, you're a miracle. A fighter who came out of a frontier planet and made it to the finals in Pier Point—there aren't even ten such cases in history. Kid, cheer up!"
"I'm just a toy for their amusement." Igor slowly raises his metallic arm. "Look at what I've done... I cut off my perfectly good arm and replaced it with the company's prosthetic, all just to make the matches more dangerous and thrilling."
The next moment, his arm drops helplessly, and Igor's voice loses its intensity. "If Mom saw me like this now... she'd be so heartbroken."
The IPC employee pats Igor's shoulder. "If your mom saw the prize money you're winning now, she'd understand!"
A moment later, Igor composes himself. He looks solemnly at the IPC employee and asks seriously, "With my prize money... can I buy an army?"
The IPC employee replies half-jokingly, "To buy a standard-equipped mercenary force, you'd need to defend the title for at least twenty championships and take on countless endorsement deals. Can you hold out that long? Can your homeworld hold out that long?"
The video ends in Igor's silence.
And everyone watching falls silent together.
[…]
[…]
[Sigh!]
[Honestly, the most painful thing about stories like this is how real they are.]
[So real it feels suffocating. So real it feels fucking real.]
— —
In the heavy atmosphere, Lynx breaks the silence.
Lynx says she'll help out at the Divination Commission, while Qingque will keep working hard to fully restore the Jade Abacus.
As Stelle and Luka are about to leave, Luka calls out to Stelle. "You go back first. I want to walk around the streets by myself for a bit."
Stelle puts on an exaggerated pout. "Wuwuwu, you're abandoning me~"
Luka says helplessly, "Back at the Alchemy Commission they should've prescribed you some medicine too. That doctor told me to walk around the city more, see more of the world.
If I wander the streets alone like this a few more times, maybe I can overcome my fear of big cities... When I first arrived on the Luofu a few days ago, it really scared me.
Sigh... After all, from now on I'll have to be like Igor—traveling the galaxy fighting matches for Belobog's sake. I can't keep getting so scared I start hallucinating every time! Hahahaha!"
The whole incident comes to a temporary close for now.
...
On the Xianzhou streets, Luka gets lost...
He stands bewildered on the avenue, ready to randomly pick a lucky passerby to ask for directions.
At a glance, he spots Yanqing—who's also standing by the docks catching the breeze.
The conversation starts with asking for directions, then keeps expanding until the two gradually become familiar.
As they talk, Luka teaches Yanqing a method to overcome fear.
"Find an empty, deserted place and shout your opponent's name out loud until you genuinely believe from the bottom of your heart that you can beat the strong enemy who scares you."
"Haha, what an interesting method. Alright, let's do it!" Yanqing smiles. "I! Will definitely win! The one standing on the ring in the end will be me!"
Luka clears his throat twice and raises his voice. "I! Luka! Will definitely win! I will definitely defeat Yanqing!"
"Ha... Hahahahaha!"
"Come on, little bro, you shout a couple too~ Let's pump ourselves up!"
Yanqing looks confused. "Huh? Me too?"
"Come on, shout with me! I can definitely defeat Yanqing!"
Yanqing hesitates a few seconds before shouting at the top of his lungs. "I can definitely defeat Yanqing!"
"Yanqing is absolutely no match for me!"
"Yanqing is absolutely no match for me!"
Then the two look at each other and burst out laughing. "Hahahahahaha."
[So fucking awkward.]
[My toes are curling so hard I could dig out a three-bedroom apartment.]
[I'm really looking forward to how awkward it'll be when Luka and Yanqing finally meet face-to-face.]
[Hahahahaha.]
[Help, this is so embarrassing to watch.]
[Didn't expect Luka to be such an extrovert.]
[6666666.]
— —
The melancholy on Yanqing's face lightens a bit. "You're right. After shouting a few times like that, I feel way more confident."
Luka raises an eyebrow. "Told you it works! I may not have seen much of the world, but when it comes to fighting, I've got plenty of experience. Hope it helps you!"
"Thanks, Luka. It's getting late—I should go prepare for the ring matches."
"Bro, you still haven't told me your name?"
"Just call me Cold Edge. In Xianzhou language it means 'cold sword.' See you if fate allows, Luka."
Luka thinks it over carefully. "Cold Edge... what a cool name for such a nice guy."
[Xianzhou war wolf, huh?]
[I'm dying.]
[Why not just Invincible Swordsman123?]
[Yanqing: Actually my sword edge leans a bit to the left.]
— —
Next comes another match segment.
This time the opponent Luka is challenging is Boothill. With Stelle leading the way, they start looking for qualifier opponents.
The first opponent is a few Warp Trotters. Luka has no trouble and easily earns 200 points.
However, the next opponent is exceptionally dangerous.
Luka receives a message from the organizing committee.
A player named Shuojin has issued an invitation match to Luka, and Topaz has entrusted the committee with an invitation for Luka to become an IPC spokesperson.
But Luka still harbors reservations toward the IPC, so he chooses to head straight to Aurum Alley and politely declines Topaz's proposal for now.
Topaz isn't annoyed at all. Instead, she kindly reminds Luka to be extra careful with the one named Shuojin—that person has an awful lot of off-ring tricks.
After thanking her, Luka and Stelle return to the player waiting room.
Before they can even sit down, Carmella bursts through the door in a panic. "Big, big trouble!"
Luka quickly signals for Carmella to calm down. "Huh? What big trouble? Take it slow, tell us..."
"I brought the off-site newspapers—look!"
With that, Luka takes the newspaper. The front page is a photo of Luka meeting with Topaz.
Even Stelle is puzzled—how is this already out so fast?
And in the paper, a ton of clueless netizens have already started smashing their keyboards.
Mostly accusing Luka of building an "anti-IPC" persona to win over the Xianzhou people while secretly cooperating with the company—eating his cake and having it too!
Some even dug up the old story of Belobog and Topaz's debt collection.
These sharp comments are just the tip of the iceberg.
Carmella says helplessly, "Go check online. Right now a huge wave of people are discussing 'Luka collapses—turns out he's an IPC lapdog.' It's blowing up big time!"
Of course, though Carmella is still an intern, she's still a journalist—she knows full well how important public opinion is for a public figure. But Luka clearly hadn't thought of that.
What concerns him more is how everything moved so fast!
"This... Putting aside that everything in here is fabricated, my meeting with Miss Topaz was less than one system hour ago, right? How is this already in print?"
Indeed, everything is developing far too quickly, as if someone had prepared it long in advance.
Luka suspects Topaz is behind it.
But Carmella argues back. "No, it has nothing to do with Miss Topaz. The IPC has no reason to do this. I'm afraid this mastermind has been sitting on multiple versions of the story for ages, just waiting for the right moment to drop it..."
Carmella hits the truth in one sentence. "If you hadn't gone to meet Miss Topaz, they would've just picked a different story to run.
Player Luka, did you offend someone? Why would anyone deliberately pick this exact timing to pull this?"
"How could I have offended..." Luka has a sudden realization. "Wait—could this be an off-ring tactic?"
"What do you mean?"
"Miss Topaz said my next opponent—Shuojin—is very good at pulling off-ring tricks. This is probably his doing."
Stelle's mouth twitches. Doesn't he know who I am? "I'm going to get an explanation from him."
Carmella stops Stelle. "Honestly, when facing a tidal wave of discourse, individuals don't have many good countermeasures...
I'll try to debunk it first. But debunking is always slower than rumor-spreading—that guy is counting on exactly that, trying to drown you in public opinion."
[Good thing we have Carmella who studied journalism.]
[Same old saying—art comes from life, yet surpasses it.]
[So real!]
[This is where Carmella's role really shines.]
[Journalism major!]
— —
"Sigh, what a headache." But Luka is clearly too naive about public opinion and says innocently,
"But whatever. As long as I defeat Shuojin fair and square on the ring next, the audience will naturally know everything he said was lies."
[I don't even need to read the rest—I already know what's coming.]
[Belobog is still too small.]
[Right? Luka hasn't truly experienced what keyboard warriors are yet.]
Looking at the optimistic Luka, Carmella knows the internet runs too deep.
"Player Luka, I'm afraid things won't go as smoothly as you think. Once a negative impression forms, it's not easy to reverse."
"Alright, Miss Carmella, don't be so pessimistic. How could I, Luka, be taken down so easily by off-ring tactics? Everything will turn out fine!" Luka takes a deep breath. "I'm going out for some air. We'll talk more about this later."
Carmella watches Luka's departing back and can only shake her head helplessly.
By now Luka has reached the deck of Skysplitter. But he hasn't noticed that the looks people are giving him are now filled with malice.
"Isn't that Luka over there?"
"It really is Luka. I used to be his fan!"
"Haha, now liking Luka is part of your criminal record."
Luka walks slowly, but when he hears his name mentioned nearby, he stops to listen. "They're just talking about me?"
"He looked over—keep it down!"
Luka feels a bit down, but he quickly pulls himself together.
Still, those piercing words linger and won't go away.
"Didn't expect Luka to be that kind of person!"
"Luka's finally showing his true colors."
"I knew Luka was never a good guy."
[As expected of miHoYo!]
[Time to give Luka a taste of city shock.]
[This is public opinion. This is what internet users are like now—never knowing the truth, just blindly joining the mob to watch the drama.]
[The audience is like this—easily misled by whatever gets认可 online!]
[Welcome to the era of self-media!]
— —
And it's not just that.
Other spectators aren't just mocking Luka—they're maliciously speculating about his background, education level, upbringing, and starting to make up stories about him in their heads.
At some point, Luka's vision starts to blur. More and more spectators surround him.
But all these spectators are shouting, "Luka, retire!"
Luka clutches his head in pain. "I don't understand—what did I do wrong?!!"
When he opens his eyes again, he inexplicably finds himself in the center of the stage, surrounded by countless screens.
[Damn, this scene is dropping my SAN like crazy.]
[Blood pressure through the roof instantly.]
Suddenly every screen lights up, displaying a single eye each.
And they all speak at once:
"So how much did the IPC pay you, Luka? Come on, tell us."
Luka roars back, "I didn't take a single credit!"
"The Strategic Investment Department has never given up on Belobog. Luka, are you planning to cash in too?"
"Nonsense! I've never been disloyal to Belobog for even a moment!"
"Too bad no one will believe you. They'll only believe the truth I feed them."
The voice grows clearer. A figure appears before Luka.
It's none other than Shuojin, the one who issued the invitation match.
"You're... Shuojin?" Luka clutches his aching head and forces out the question.
"Nice to meet you." Shuojin smiles, but the smile hides a blade. "I suppose we'll meet again on the ring later... or will we? Are you going to be smart about it and retire right now?"