"I won't retire. People won't stay fooled by you forever. I'll prove myself on the ring—they have their own judgment."
Hearing Luka say this, the bullet comments fill with sighs.
[Looks like he hasn't taken enough beatings from society yet.]
[Belobog's education level is still too high.]
[Actually, they're all just side characters for the bit. Scott was way better—this guy's pure poison.]
[It's disgusting precisely because it's real.]
[Compared to Scott, the difference is night and day in an instant.]
— —
Shuojin's words drip like pearls. "No. Most people will just take other people's mistaken views as their own. As long as everyone says you're detestable, they'll believe you're detestable."
"Twisted nonsense!"
Shuojin sneers with contempt. "Then prove me wrong. With your fists—the only thing you're good at."
"Bring it on!"
With that, Luka swings his iron fists, smashing toward Shuojin with full force.
The screens are flooded with passersby shouting.
"IPC lapdog!"
"Disgusting scum!"
"Despicable trash!"
"…"
Luka completely ignores the voices pouring into his ears, swinging his iron fists again and again.
Until the world brightens once more.
He's back on the deck of Skysplitter.
And Shuojin is pinned beneath him, already unable to move.
"H-Help! Help!"
With Shuojin's cries, Luka's consciousness snaps back to reality.
He looks around in confusion. Everyone seems to be staring at him with the most venomous glares.
He doesn't know what to do or what to say—he just lets the staff help the badly injured Shuojin to his feet.
"Player Luka! I just came to say hi! And you don't follow martial ethics—you attacked me out of nowhere!"
Shuojin's words subtly fan the surrounding crowd's emotions.
"Are you scared to fight fair and square on the ring? You had to resort to these dirty off-ring tricks?"
"Yeah, exactly! Luka doesn't follow martial ethics!"
"As expected of company people—same ruthless tactics."
"…"
Luka: "Clearly you're the one using off-ring tricks. You came here on purpose to provoke me—how did it turn into me not following martial ethics?"
The clueless crowd keeps piling on.
"He clearly doesn't follow martial ethics—otherwise how did he get injured?"
"Yeah, yeah—what era is this still pulling sneak attacks?"
Luka is about to keep explaining when Stelle appears at his side. "You okay?"
Seeing Stelle, Luka finally calms down a little. "I think my hallucinations just got worse again."
"It's fine. I'm taking you back to the Alchemy Commission." Stelle gently pats Luka's shoulder.
"He attacked and injured me out of nowhere—and we're just letting this go? You know we still have matches ahead. With my injuries this severe, I absolutely can't leave here."
The crowd starts echoing Shuojin, surrounding Stelle and Luka together.
"Yeah, yeah! We need an explanation—this can't just end like this."
Stelle glances at the surrounding people, then coolly pulls out her bat. "Clear a path. Or do you want to reason with my bat first? I'm not a contestant—I don't fall for your moral blackmail!"
[Stelle, you're my Superman!]
[Had to be Stelle.]
[If you won't listen to reason, then I happen to know a bit of physics too!]
[This is what a protagonist looks like—no holding back!]
[My blood pressure was spiking—thank god Stelle showed up.]
[Stelle's so cool.]
[Had to be Stelle. Inherited the Express crew's fine tradition—protective as hell.]
[Reality's just like this—the louder the barking, the quicker they shut up once they hit a real fist.]
— —
The moment they see Stelle like this, the inflamed crowd instantly regains their senses.
I'm just here to watch drama—what's it got to do with me?
They came fast and scatter even faster. In the blink of an eye, only two staff members are left supporting Shuojin.
Everything returns to normal, as if nothing happened.
Seeing this, Shuojin can only throw out a couple of face-saving lines, and the incident draws to a close.
Scene change—Stelle brings Luka to Lingsha's consultation room.
After hearing the general situation, Lingsha lights a special incense to ease Luka's mood.
"Staying under this kind of constant high pressure for so long will affect your performance in matches too."
Luka sighs. "It feels awful. Everyone seems to have misunderstood me. I want to explain, but they won't listen…"
Lingsha smiles faintly and speaks earnestly. "What's there to explain? The people who already believe in you don't need your explanation. The people who've decided not to believe you won't listen to your explanation anyway."
[Profound!]
[Just focus on being yourself—that's the right way.]
[Living long really does bring more insight.]
Luka still isn't willing to let public opinion run wild.
At this point, Lingsha teaches by example, sharing her own experiences to help Luka understand.
After hearing Lingsha's advice, Luka feels much better.
Seeing Luka regain his energy, Stelle takes him back to Skysplitter.
In the waiting room, they run into another familiar face.
Topaz has been waiting for a while.
Carmella explains that Topaz came to help smooth over the public opinion fallout.
But Luka declines. No matter what Topaz's intentions are, accepting help would mean owing the IPC a favor.
Even when Topaz repeatedly assures him there will be no debt invoked, Luka holds firm to his stance.
Topaz gives a light laugh, says no more, and leaves the waiting room.
Watching Topaz leave, Stelle thinks having Topaz's help wouldn't actually be a bad thing.
After all, she has no morals—so she can't be morally blackmailed. No point in not using it.
Besides, with Director Topaz's capabilities, handling something like this would be child's play.
[Luka has a certain personal beauty.]
[Stelle's approach is the best. No morals means no moral blackmail.]
[You think everyone can handle being abstract?]
[Luka's still too young. In just one tournament he's already gone through things most people face over a lifetime.]
[I can only say—thank goodness Luka has Stelle behind him, this massive backer. And if Topaz really helps, it's at least partly because of the Express crew's face.]
[Nameless faces obviously carry some weight.]
[I want to pause for a second—everyone put yourselves in Luka's shoes. You arrive in a completely unfamiliar place, totally blind. Suddenly a beautiful big sister appears—not only helps you, takes care of you when you're sick, brings you to the doctor, becomes your coach, acts as your backer, and actually stands up for you when things go wrong. For a kid whose hometown just got internet access, how big is that impact? You know?]
[Stop, you're making me want to marry Stelle.]
[Abacus beads just hit me in the face.]
— —
Not long after.
Luka is already on the ring.
Clearly the crowd's malice toward Luka hasn't stopped—both inside and outside the venue, there are plenty of boos.
Shuojin says nothing, just keeps curling his lip in a classic villain-gets-his-way expression.
Even the host Owlbert can't stand it and says a couple of kind words.
But that's like poking a hornet's nest—Owlbert instantly becomes the target of everyone's ire.
Owlbert sets down the microphone, pats Luka on the back. "It's all up to you now. If I keep speaking up for you, I'll probably get drowned in spit from the crowd."
Luka feels Owlbert's sincerity. "Thanks."
Then he looks at Shuojin. "Shuojin, I don't want to waste another word on you. Just let me use my fists to show everyone—Luka is an IPC lapdog, or Luka is an upright fighter."
[Too classic. This is peak classic.]
[My favorability for Owlbert is skyrocketing!]
"Match begin!"
At the signal, Luka charges straight at Shuojin.
However.
Vicious words flood around him. Even though Stelle and Carmella are shouting themselves hoarse, their voices seem pale and powerless amid the crowd's roar.
"Luka retire!"
"Why hasn't Luka retired yet?"
"How did someone like this even get into the Martial Exhibition Ceremony?"
"Shuojin beat him—give him a real thrashing for me."
"I've never seen anyone as shameless as Luka."
"Luka, get lost back to your hometown. Xianzhou Luofu doesn't welcome you."
"Still clinging on?"
"Boo!!!"
"…"
Even with Luka's good mentality, at this point a thought sprouts in his heart.
This place has too much malice. At least back in Belobog, nothing like this would happen.
A longing to go home fills Luka's mind.
Bam—
Shuojin seizes the moment of Luka's daze and lands a straight kick right into Luka's abdomen!
Luka rolls twice and falls.
Shuojin presses the advantage, leaping high.
At that instant, the venue erupts in unprecedented cheers.
Stelle, sitting in the coach's seat, can't sit still anymore.
"What do we do, Miss Stelle? Player Luka doesn't seem like himself anymore. Logically, this kind of opponent should be easy for him to beat."
Stelle raises a hand to stop Carmella, then pulls out a top hat and places it on her head.
The next moment, she activates the power of Harmony, silently chanting in her heart, "Remember why you came here. Don't let them affect you."
The Harmony buff instantly clears Luka's mind. Those thoughts vanish like smoke.
For some reason, he no longer cares about the audience's words.
Right now he feels terrifyingly strong.
He lifts his gaze, eyes resolute.
Shuojin meets his eyes for a moment and immediately senses something bad.
Sure enough, Luka rises at once. His fists rain down like a storm.
Shuojin, airborne, has nowhere to retreat—he can only close his eyes and wait for death.
Thud, thud, thud…
Luka's fist shadows blur from sheer speed. Shuojin is helplessly held aloft by the iron fists.
Bam—
A final, powerful uppercut.
Shuojin crashes heavily to the ground.
Luka raises his right hand high, looking out at the surrounding audience, showing everyone.
He has won this match!
But what greets him is not applause—only chants of "Match-fixing!"
"Match-fixing! Match-fixing! Match-fixing!"
Owlbert tries to control the scene, loudly congratulating.
The "match-fixing" chants still don't stop.
Seeing the timing is right, Shuojin struggles up from the ground in a sorry state, muttering, "Dear audience, there's no match-fixing. I was simply outmatched—my body couldn't withstand Luka's iron fists. Sorry to disappoint you all."
"Body versus iron fists? On what grounds?"
"Luka really is vicious!"
"Can we call the Cloud Knights to arrest him?"
"Yeah, we can't let him get away with this."
[Ah!!! I want to set the entire star sea on fire!]
[My blood pressure is exploding!]
[Baseballer, save him! Galactic Baseballer!]
[He already helped once—what more can he do?]
[Where's General Jing Yuan? Come out—Divine Lord, smash them!]
[Most tilted episode yet.]
[Don't get too tilted—reality really is like this. I can only say reality is even more fantastical.]
— —
Owlbert comes to Luka's side and quietly says, "Player Luka, head back to the waiting room first. I'll hold things down here."
With that, Owlbert raises the microphone. "Alright, alright, everyone calm down. No need to get so heated! How about this—I'll sing a song for everyone. A cover of 'Lonely Swing in the Galaxy'—sound good?"
[Wuwuwu, Owlbert… he really… I'm crying.]
[Owlbert is a true friend.]
[Owlbert is amazing.]
[You can tell Owlbert genuinely likes Luka.]
[Luka's backstory was already pretty good to begin with.]
[Owlbert is friend material!]
Luka clenches his fists. He wants to say something more, but Stelle tugs his sleeve.
"Let's go. Let the bullets fly a little longer."
Luka looks into Stelle's eyes, nods helplessly, and finally leaves the ring with Stelle, dejected and lost.
— —
The moment they return to the waiting room, Stelle's phone rings.
It's Guinaifen calling. The gist is that the internet is now flooded with negative comments about Luka.
Some people are even offering high prices to hire others to go after Luka—telling Stelle and Luka to be extremely careful.
Stelle acknowledges, then hangs up.
In the footage, Luka is holding his phone, reading netizens' comments about him.
Some say Belobog has long been a dead planet and Luka's backstory is fabricated.
Some say Luka is just a tourist on the Xianzhou.
Some say Luka is from the Annihilation Gang; others say he's IPC upper management.
[Alright! We've fast-forwarded straight to netizens helpfully fabricating backstories.]
[Hahaha, I'm so pissed I'm laughing.]
[Damn damn damn—miHoYo, you successfully raised my blood pressure.]
[This isn't funny at all.]
Stelle and Carmella urge Luka to put down the phone.
Luka gives a bitter smile. "I get it. I know I should treat all these comments like a passing wind right now. But I can't pretend nothing happened. I saw people who were supporting me get dogpiled online just for defending me with a couple sentences. Some even had their home addresses doxxed.
Back in Belobog, I never realized that winning a match could hurt so many people…"
[Damn… don't make it too real.]
[They've already deployed the doxxing weapons?]
Carmella keeps consoling Luka. "If you knew all these consequences in advance, would you still choose to win the match?"
Luka exhales deeply. "Yes! There's no reason for me to lose a victory."
"That's right!"
"Mm!" Luka bumps his fists together. "Match is over—I should start training right away for the next one!"
Just then.
Topaz enters the waiting room. "As expected of Iron Arm Luka. Not only did you take your opponent's punches—you weathered this wave of public opinion attack too."
Stelle eyes Topaz. "What are you here for?"
Topaz smiles faintly. "I'm only here to deliver an invitation to Player Luka."