Chapter 242: Strength is Original Sin
Such a violent outburst naturally drew the attention of many mutated creatures in the forest.
Xiao Mingyue also knew that it wouldn't be long before more enemies arrived. With no power to resist now, he had no chance of victory, not even the strength to put up a fight. Therefore, he decisively chose to end the trial.
Although he was in a virtual world and there was no risk of true death, he still didn't want to experience the feeling of being at the mercy of others.
Xiao Mingyue, whose entire body was sore and weak from Spirit Energy overdraft, was immediately teleported to the recovery room on the first floor of Tiancong Hall after ending his trial.
A burst of white light suddenly appeared from above, enveloping him completely. Ten seconds later, he felt that all his expended Spirit Energy had fully recovered, and all his injuries had healed.
"It still doesn't work, does it?" With only one Spirit Art model left in his mind, and the other still not recovered, Xiao Mingyue sighed.
He remembered that the Contribution Points system also had a similar high-level Spirit Art, but its cultivation method cost 3,500 Contribution Points, which amounted to over 300,000 Huaxia currency.
This was clearly beyond Xiao Mingyue's acceptable range. As a low-level Ability User whose basic attributes were only two or three times that of an ordinary person, his annual income was approximately 400,000 Huaxia currency.
This number seemed quite good, but after deducting taxes, normal cultivation expenses, and daily living costs for his entire family, his actual disposable income was only twenty to thirty thousand. The main reason, of course, was the excessively high cost of persistent cultivation.
Moreover, rumors had persisted in the market that the concentration of Spirit Qi had actually begun a slow decline, making everyone's cultivation increasingly difficult.
Originally, a group of people who first gained abilities could slowly enter the Unmelting Realm even by just lying down, with the only hurdle being the Spirit Energy conversion of the brain. Now, many people would get stuck in the Life Field Stage.
Each of these panic-inducing rumors subtly contributed to the rise in prices of Spirit Materials, making the livelihoods of ordinary people even harder.
"We are very sorry, you did not meet the requirements to unlock the third floor trial of the Tongtian Pagoda. Thank you for participating." Such a voice echoed in the trial space.
"Below are your test results for this session." The voice stopped abruptly here, and the following part could only be heard by Xiao Mingyue.
"Point Attack Power: 2.13, Area Attack Power: 1.92, Defense: 3.89, Speed and Evasion: 2.72, Constitution and Recovery: 1.85, Mental Power and Perception: 4.01, Combat Intuition and Experience: 3.12, Overall Assessment: First Tier Upper Level. Reward Points: 12. Please go to Tianfu Hall to exchange for prizes."
The audience watching the reality show in front of their screens didn't know all this. They only saw Xiao Mingyue choose to end the trial after a burst of power killed all the monsters. Immediately, many people started cursing him as a coward.
As spectators, watching others fight is naturally most thrilling when the fighter is covered in wounds and collapses. But for someone personally fighting, when it's clear they are no match, the best course of action is, of course, to withdraw.
This wasn't some life-and-death grudge; it was just a bunch of data in virtual reality. Stubbornly enduring a pointless fight meant losing, as the pain was transmitted at one hundred percent.
"Mr. Xiao, why didn't you continue? You could have achieved better results if you had persevered, couldn't you?" After the test ended, the host also posed this question to him.
"I'm not an actor." Having wasted a mental imprint worth hundreds of thousands, Xiao Mingyue was clearly not in a good mood at this point, and he merely gave the host such an evasive answer.
The entire live broadcast ended abruptly, with a strong start but a weak finish. After their curses, the audience in front of their screens shifted their attention elsewhere.
"Bai Mo, how is what you're doing any different from just giving them money?" Many people in the Huaxia Federation government had this question. In their eyes, the standardized test, constructed with immense national financial resources, not only charged no fees but also distributed rewards based on performance—it was simply incomprehensible.
"In your eyes, perhaps running a country means always doing business that makes money. But in my eyes, this is just a game."
"It's like some people enjoy tipping streamers; if I find someone pleasing to the eye, I just send them a few rockets."
"The money accumulated in the Contribution Points system is already moldy from disuse. What's wrong with letting it out into the sun? Surplus is just a number; what flows is currency."
As he spoke, he had already openly treated the Contribution Points system as his private property.
Moreover, in the eyes of these middle-aged officials, as a young man, such words almost amounted to pointing at their noses and calling them incompetent, making many of the officials present feel utterly disgraced.
"You!" One official couldn't help but retort, "I don't need you to teach us how to govern!"
Bai Mo ignored the official from the fiscal department and directly ended the video call. He had many other things to do, having only managed to spare time for their video conference, not to waste it discussing management theory.
"He's truly arrogant!" The middle-aged man, thoroughly exasperated, cursed again after the screen went black.
"Director Li, please calm down."
"Yes, don't get too worked up."
The others offered words of comfort, but what they truly thought in their hearts remained unknown.
"This guy is too presumptuous. Can't we elevate someone who can stand against them?"
"Chen Bo and Bai Mo were both supported by Speaker Cheng and his group," someone immediately thought to themselves. "It's just that now, why should they still listen to you? Not openly challenging you is already a kindness..."
Of course, many people were well aware of these unspoken truths, but constrained by the atmosphere, no one voiced them, and a perfectly good meeting devolved into a complaints session.
They were mostly former mid-to-high-level officials. In the past, which researcher wasn't polite to them, fearing their funding would be cut or they would be targeted?
But now the world had changed. They had become mere rubber stamps; whenever the research institute applied for funds, they practically had to agree immediately, acting completely like housekeepers.
Some had once put on airs and withheld funds, but they disappeared from this world within a few days.
The Spirit Energy Research Institute had over two hundred researchers in the Unmelting Realm; they simply didn't understand the ways of officialdom and played completely outside the rules, killing at will.
Especially with Bai Mo's subtle backing, even the top few leaders were somewhat helpless. Yet, they couldn't do without them for many things, so they could only turn a blind eye.
And some people, by their very existence, even if they did nothing, were like the sun—impossible for anyone to ignore.
Although the major factions within Huaxia were rife with contradictions, they had never completely erupted, maintaining a fragile balance precisely because of Bai Mo, this unstable factor.
While his outward stance had always been non-involvement in factional disputes, most people viewed this as merely a cover for being the oriole.
Once all sides fought until they were severely weakened, he would emerge to clean up the mess.
Strength, too, is an original sin; even if one does nothing, the weak will harbor deep suspicions.
Comments