Chapter 414: Seed Contestant
Chapter 414: Seed Contestant
"Invited players will advance directly to the Butterfly Arena", meaning... regardless of the final results of these ten individuals, they've already secured ten spots within the Top 100.
Announcing such an obviously unfair rule on the final day before the preliminary rounds inevitably stirred up frustration among the players.
While every participant secretly hoped, "Maybe they'll invite me?" most realistically understood the probability of that happening was nearly zero.
They'd been fighting tooth and nail through the Bug Arena, needing both skill and luck to qualify. Yet these select few bypassed the preliminary rounds entirely, guaranteed Top 100 placement just for showing up. How could this be fair?
Predictably, the forums erupted once more.
Fortunately, the game company had prepared for this, activating a limited-time posting function that restricted the number of forum messages.
Even so, after 5 PM, the volume of posts skyrocketed and showed no signs of slowing even past midnight.
Conspiracy theorists flooded the forums. "Dream Corporation is fixing the rankings!", "Rich players bought Top 100 slots!", "This Summit Confrontation is just a publicity stunt by the studio and Dream Corporation!" – malicious speculation ran rampant.
Though completely baseless and often pure nonsense, these posts still gained countless supporters.
Meanwhile, during this period, Terrifying Paradise's customer service department practically collapsed. Online support was overwhelmed by a tsunami of messages – replying to just three hours' worth would require a full three workdays to clear. Phone support was even worse. All operators were constantly occupied, managing to answer less than 10% of incoming calls.
Clearly, players wanted answers.
Finally, at 8 PM, after three hours of chaos, Dream Corporation's official site slowly released an updated announcement regarding the "Invited Player" issue.
[The Invited Players in this competition are "Seed Contestants" – ten players with the statistical probability closest to zero of being eliminated before reaching the Summit Confrontation stage under existing rules and tournament structure.
Separating Seed Contestants from the Bug Arena and Cocoon Wars is a protective mechanism for other players.
Seed Contestants will be selected by the system. At midnight on May 1st, optical brain calculations will complete and the list will be automatically announced.
For further information, please continue monitoring official announcements.]
In a way, this announcement was even more provocative than the first.
Players already resented the existence of these ten, but now the company openly stated, "These individuals are system-recognized experts with near-guaranteed Top 100 advancement. We're sparing them the preliminaries to protect you."
This placed the Seed Contestants directly under the spotlight. If they truly proved overwhelmingly strong, that might be acceptable. But if their performance in the Butterfly Arena disappointed or underwhelmed, they'd inevitably face accusations of corruption and malicious attacks.
Fortunately, subsequent events proved these ten were indeed all monsters...
...
At 8:15 PM that night, Feng Bu Jue logged in using Non-Sleep Mode. His first action upon logging in, as usual, was checking his mailbox.
Over the past few days, many strangers had sent him friend requests and "Pay a Visit" messages. All were members of the Order.
After Wu Si Can Xuan was defeated by Feng Bu Jue at the mall on the 24th and returned to discuss the matter with Meng Jing Chan, the two quickly reached a consensus – confirming Feng Bu Jue was indeed the second-ranked combatant on the Combat Power Leaderboard. They immediately reported this to their superiors, classifying the information as top priority within Order.
From early morning on the 24th, Feng Bu Jue began receiving persistent harassment from Order Studio. Naturally, he ignored everything – deleting emails at a glance, rejecting all friend requests. His strategy was simple: nipping any potential requests in the bud before they could develop.
Yet Order showed no signs of giving up, continuously attempting negotiations.
Compared to The Gods' straightforward approach, Order operated differently. Once firmly rejected, The Gods had ceased further attempts.
Order, however, seemed to have a "Public Relations Department". The emails and friend requests Feng Bu Jue received featured increasingly feminine, flirtatious usernames. Messages evolved from "This is Order Guild's [Name], may I speak with you?" to "Mad Bu Jue big brother, [Name] wants to chat with you", eventually becoming "Why won't you talk to me?" types.
Each such email gave Feng Bu Jue the creeps, like being propositioned while walking past a red-light district. What shocked him most was that after female approaches failed, strange usernames like "King's Man" and "Wig Master" began contacting him. Clearly, Order was desperate to connect – willing to try anything.
Each such email gave Feng Bu Jue the creeps, like being propositioned while walking past a red-light district. What shocked him most was that after female approaches failed, strange usernames like "King's Man" and "Wig Master" began contacting him. Clearly, Order was desperate to connect – willing to try anything.
"A new announcement?" Feng Bu Jue muttered after deleting the last email and opening the official site via touchscreen. "Seed Contestant..." He mused, "Based on this announcement... as someone near the top of the Combat Power Leaderboard, I might actually be one of those ten. If that happens, my name would be posted publicly, instantly making me the target of hundreds of thousands of players..."
Touching his chin thoughtfully, he continued, "But participating in this tournament means my capabilities will eventually be exposed. Even without becoming an Invited Player, my strength alone could carry me through Cocoon Wars and into Butterfly Arena. Those matches will have live broadcasts and video archives – both combatants' names will be revealed anyway." He sighed, "Looks like my days of staying low-key are over. Whether it takes four hours or half a month, I'll become famous sooner or later. What a hassle..."
Suddenly, a communication request popped up – from Si Yu.
Feng Bu Jue accepted. "You're early today."
"Bei Ling and Xiao Tan went into Duel Kill Game Mode again", Si Yu replied. "We'll queue up first."
"Hmm? Haven't they been spending a lot of time alone together recently?" Feng Bu Jue asked casually.
"What are you implying?" Si Yu responded in her usual icy tone.
"Nothing... just a random thought." Feng Bu Jue suddenly felt nervous, quickening his speech before awkwardly chuckling.
"Hmph..." Si Yu let out an ambiguous sound – neither a cold laugh nor a scoff, but faintly tinged with inexplicable amusement.
...
Meanwhile, in the real world at Dream Corporation headquarters.
Inside the largest office of the entire building, Wooly lounged comfortably in an executive chair, watching a chess match on a 70-inch Lcd TV.
"Watching mortals play chess? Interesting?" Wen Sent's figure suddenly appeared across the desk.
"I'm not watching their game", Wooly replied. "I'm analyzing their thinking patterns."
"Want to understand 'human hearts'?" Wen Sent smiled. "Staring at a screen won't reveal that."
"Did you come here to interrupt my TV time?" Wooly asked.
"I came to confirm..." Wen Sent leaned forward. "Are you truly confident in this strategy?"
"Ah... You think this question is boring?" Wooly chuckled.
"Of course... You've always been overly confident", Wen Sent sighed. "But... have you overlooked something?" He paused. "Competitiveness is one of humanity's most dangerous potentials. Words like 'Invited Player' and 'Seed Contestant' – aren't they too provocative? If you let those ten fight through Bug Arena normally, they'd easily conquer Butterfly Arena and enter the Top Five. But by forcing them directly into Butterfly Arena, you might actually create unexpected challenges."
"Nonono..." Wooly wagged his finger. "There are no true 'unexpected' outcomes." He grinned mischievously. "Whether opponents take them seriously or underestimate them, the result remains – victory or defeat. Losers prove their mediocrity; winners demonstrate strength." He turned to Wen Sent. "Throughout history and across universes, only those with extraordinary abilities stand atop others. The weak cling to the strong, worshipping and imitating them. If they dare covet the heavenly throne above, they must ask themselves if they possess the capacity and capability to grasp it."
"Hmph..." Wen Sent smiled. "That sounds exactly like Ximen's philosophy."
"Because those are precisely my words", Ximen's voice system activated as he stood hands-in-pockets by the floor-to-ceiling window, solemnly gazing at the city's night view. "Didn't I just finish telling Wooly this morning? Do you think that 'hehehe'-obsessed fool would dare act without my approval?"
"I see", Wen Sent said. "From a referee's perspective, having those ten quietly progress through Bug Arena first would actually be unfair to other players."
"Exactly!" Wooly pushed his white-rimmed glasses with his middle finger, grinning at his colleagues. "Instead of worrying about trivial 'accidents', you should look forward to Origin's performance this time... You're both dying to see if Feng Bu Jue can truly 'accomplish it'... Hehehehe..."
(End of Chapter)
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