CHAPTER 331: CHAPTER 331: SOPHISTRY

"Stingy?"

Hearing this word, Ji You, with sharp ears, suddenly lifted her head from her deep thoughts, her gaze following the source of the sound towards a corner of the spectator stands—

What she saw was a dense crowd of people, indistinguishable from each other, and the constant chirping of discussions around her... These disturbances prevented Ji You from finding the person who called her stingy right away.

The person had said it only once and didn’t continue, so after looking around, Ji You had no choice but to give up.

But—

Thinking about how this person inadvertently pointed out the true reason she used an antique mech, Ji You couldn’t help but twitch her lips slightly, but it was just for an instant. She quickly returned to normal and then grinned, thinking: "So what if you figured it out? Nobody believes it anyway."

Hmm~

Even if she steadfastly denied it, could that person actually find any evidence to expose her?

Impossible.

Besides, Ji You genuinely believed that being ’stingy’, apart from sounding slightly unpleasant, wasn’t something to be ashamed of. Being extremely frugal is essentially being stingy, right?

Hmm~

Right.

That’s it.

Convincing herself with a twisted logic, in an instant, Ji You didn’t feel ashamed at all, nor was she afraid of being exposed. She even thought, what does it matter if her real reason for using the antique mech gets revealed?

She had to be stingy, and she would still be stingy.

In the spectator stands, aside from discussing the recent battle between Rag Queen and King’s Expedition, the most pressing question on the minds of these audience members was:

"The countdown to the end of the event is almost up, I wonder how many points the Rag Queen will earn this time?"

"Conservatively speaking, at least 20,000 points, right?"

"Only 20,000? I think it might be 50,000 points!"

"50,000, that guess might still be too conservative. I estimate at least 100,000!"

"100,000, that much? It’s not much! I think so too."

"With King’s Expedition betting odds at 1.5 times and Rag Queen’s at 3.5 times, with so many fans of King’s Expedition out there, at least several hundred thousand must have bet on King’s Expedition, right? All those people lost, Rag Queen is the real big winner. So, I also think her points this round should start from 100,000."

...

Staring at her own points entry information, Ji You’s lips twitched and twitched again. Now hearing the audience’s discussions, her whole face stiffened.

20,000?

50,000?

100,000?

These clueless spectators, aren’t they holding her in too high regard?

In reality?

System: [Points from this round: 2250 points.]

2250!

Believe it?

Ji You’s eyes widened, she nearly stared the digits into forming a flower, but she still couldn’t convince herself to believe this number.

The system must have made a mistake.

Impossible!

In a competition watched by over a million spectators, even if each person only bet 1 point, I shouldn’t be getting so little in commissions. If it’s not a system error, then what could it be?

However—

She had just sent a request to the system to investigate the commission error, but it was rejected. The Star Network system, with robust evidence, fiercely gauged Ji You and told her the calculations were not wrong.

As for the reason behind so few points, the Star Network system also provided a very reasonable explanation.

It turned out, among the million spectators on site, 90% were fans of King’s Expedition, but for some reason, only 5% of these fans chose to bet on King’s Expedition, while the remaining 85% abstained.

Abstaining meant voluntarily giving up the right to bet in this competition.

Ji You twitched the corner of her mouth and couldn’t help but mock, "Turns out, not only my fans are fake, but the fans of King’s Expedition are too. And to think they cheered so vigorously in the arena."

In this way, Ji You felt somewhat consoled.

Afterwards.

She immediately decided to leave the arena.

Ji You checked her number of participations, reaching 50 times with a win rate of 80%. Advancing to the next round was a sure thing.

Continue fighting?

Or exit?

Ji You checked the time; there was still 1 hour left until her regular bedtime, but these past few days, in order to make the most of her time competing, she hadn’t completed many assignments for her Material Department. After weighing it out in her mind, Ji You decided to go offline.

After logging off Star Network, Ji You hurried to finish her homework. First, she had to redo the assignment that Professor Ye Hong had returned, and then, catch up on the others.

Elsewhere.

After the competition ended, the atmosphere in the entire room where King’s Expedition and Hero King were staying turned sour, as they both appeared quite upset.

After a while.

Hero King said, "Ajing, since it’s already in the past, don’t think too much about it. Overthinking is useless. Get ready for the upcoming qualifier."

The preliminary round had, after all, become a thing of the past.

King’s Expedition furrowed his brows, biting his lip, "I really can’t understand—why did I lose to her?"

In terms of speed, combat skills, experience, strength, mecha... he didn’t believe he could lose, but the reality was, he had lost.

Lost.

And it was a crushing defeat!

In 15 seconds—he was defeated by his opponent.

King’s Expedition couldn’t accept this fact.

Looking at King’s Expedition still stubbornly sinking in that thought, Hero King slightly displeased, furrowed his eyebrows, "Ajing, you losing to her is not unjust at all. Before the match, I had warned you, instructed you not to be careless. But during the official match, instead of seizing the initiative to secure victory, you chose to flaunt your speed in front of her—"

King’s Expedition, upon hearing this, lifted his head and said, "I didn’t—"

Hero King waved his hand, "Don’t be hasty to refute me. Rag Queen is aggressive and defensive, fast and powerful in her burst strength. Although you slightly surpass her in speed, in all other aspects, you’re not as good as her, whether in adaptability or combat consciousness... you’re simply not her match. I’ve watched all her match videos and found that she’s very adept at assessing the situation and using it to her advantage... Well, what’s the big deal in admitting defeat? Just be more vigilant next time."

King’s Expedition didn’t say more.

Hero King didn’t try to console further, in reality, these words were meant not just for King’s Expedition, but also for himself. He thought his careful planning would allow them to trample over Rag Queen and become an overnight sensation on the network, but unexpectedly, the plan totally backfired, and the loss was devastating. Hero King, if not for his deep resourcefulness, would have taken a long time to recover from this blow.

Originally, Hero King had approached King’s Expedition to let him take advantage of his speed to defeat Rag Queen. If Rag Queen’s current momentum had collapsed, it would have transferred to his side’s King’s Expedition.

Having tried twice without success, Hero King said, "Next, let’s prepare well for the qualifier and make sure to perform well in it."