Chapter 19 Evening of April 19th

April 19th, evening, Feng Bujue's home.

At this moment, Brother Jue, having just finished washing the dishes, was sitting in front of his computer browsing the web.

Needless to say, all sorts of forums related to Thriller Paradise had been discussing the [Gates of Paradise]'s forfeit all day long. The game media were also sparing no effort in creating a large number of articles with highly misleading titles but no substance.

Feng Bujue naturally wouldn't pay too much attention to this practically useless information, at most just glancing at it casually. The truly valuable intelligence he needed to see was the official statement from Dream Inc...

However, Dream Inc. didn't offer any explanation. They simply posted a new announcement: Due to the [Gates of Paradise]'s forfeit, the semi-final match between [Hell Front] and [Order] is now upgraded to the S3 final. The final will be held as scheduled at midnight on April 20th, with the Artifact Rules remaining the same.

Although many players felt that this announcement was as good as nothing, there was nothing wrong with Dream Inc.'s handling of it.

The forfeit was a decision made by the members of [Gates of Paradise]. Because this matter was too incomprehensible, it could easily be seen as the organizer engaging in shady dealings, so the members of the Paradise team had even specifically announced it through a video livestream. As for the reason for the forfeit, that was their own business. Forfeiting was their right, but explaining the reason to the public was not their obligation... If the parties involved didn't speak, what could Dream Inc. say?

Anyway, Dream Inc. was just continuing the competition according to the rules. With only two teams remaining that hadn't been eliminated, the duel between these two teams was naturally the final.

"Ding—"

Just as Feng Bujue was checking the announcement, suddenly, a voice chat request window popped up in the corner of his desktop.

The window showed that a strange user with the ID "Michael" was inviting Brother Jue to chat online, and the source of the request was "unknown," a source display item that simply didn't exist in the chat software.

After thinking for two seconds, Feng Bujue picked up the headset on his computer desk, put it on, and clicked "Accept."

The next second, the voice chat connection was established, and a man's voice immediately came through the headset: "I think you should know who I am."

"Ah..." Feng Bujue replied, "Of course I know. You guys who use your real names as your online names are basically salesmen."

"Your sense of humor is as impressive as rumored, but I don't think these irrelevant words are conducive to our communication," Michael said.

"That's true," Feng Bujue said. "Then let's cut the small talk... What can I do for you?"

"First, I want to apologize on behalf of my subordinates for some of the unpleasant things that happened to you in the past," Michael said, "and inform you... Uriel has received his due punishment."

"Punishment?" Feng Bujue asked suspiciously, "What punishment? A few slaps on the ass and it's over? Wasn't he still participating with you? I don't see anything wrong with him."

"The reason he can participate with me is naturally because he has already paid the price for his behavior..." Michael replied, "Intimidating several candidates, including you and Shi Long, interfering with gambling, speaking disrespectfully in the council, and so on are all serious crimes... For this, Uriel not only suffered the private punishment of the referees, but also received the punishment of 'breaking a feather' from the council. Afterward, he himself also made a deep repentance... At least in my opinion, that's enough."

"Oh," Feng Bujue replied in an unperturbed tone, "I see..." He smiled, "Heh... But in my opinion, he still has to personally apologize to us parties involved before it can be considered 'enough.'"

"Unfortunately, he will not be allowed to communicate with humans in the real world for the next thousand years, including voice calls like this..." Michael said, "So, I, as his superior and brother, can only apologize on his behalf."

"I see..." Feng Bujue murmured, "You seem to be quite a reasonable person, unlike your brothers."

"I'm not a 'person,' but I accept the positive part of that sentence," Michael said. "I have to admit that many of my brothers and sisters have varying degrees of antipathy towards humans. Part of this antipathy comes from objective differences at the biological level, and another part comes from the depravity of the human race and your contempt for us after you lost your faith. In this 'post-apocalyptic era,' the 'rulers of the earth' have forgotten the majesty of us 'followers of heaven,' but we cannot therefore abandon our glory and arrogance. That's where the contradiction lies..."

"Then what about you? Why can you communicate with me so equally?" Feng Bujue asked.

"I never said that I am equal to you, and apologizing to you doesn't mean that I'm groveling," Michael said. "You can think that... I'm actually more arrogant than them, so my attitude towards you seems more peaceful."

"Simply put, the degree of godhood is stronger than theirs," Feng Bujue said. "Just say it directly, I understand."

"Oh?" Michael's tone changed slightly, "It seems that Woody has told you a lot of things..."

"Since you mentioned 'Hehehe,' I'll ask by the way, how has he been lately? I haven't been able to contact him for a long time," Feng Bujue replied.

"Didn't you hear what I just said?" Michael said. "'Interfering with gambling, speaking disrespectfully in the council,' and so on are all serious crimes."

"Hmm..." Feng Bujue pondered, "Understood... Although I don't know to what extent Woody has done it, judging from my experience dealing with him and Uriel separately... his crime is probably more than ten times more serious than Uriel's, right?"

"Regarding the handling of him, I'm sorry I can't tell you," Michael said. "All I can tell you is... your act of retrieving the 'Crown' for him greatly reduced his punishment, and may even have saved his life."

"Crown?" Feng Bujue thought for a second, and then replied, "The 'Atari Crown' that I got from Snow?"

"Yes," Michael said. "That's an important prop for the 'Candidate Game.' Although it has gradually become something of purely symbolic significance over the years, according to tradition, they still have to be used... Therefore, the council decided to use the actual objects as the basis to generate the 'Four Divine Artifacts' that you use in Thriller Paradise. This matter... would have been quite troublesome, because there was too much 'karma' associated with those four items, and it would have been difficult to retrieve them. Unexpectedly, Woody quickly completed the retrieval work with almost no resources... This achievement became his lifeline."

"So it's such an important thing..." Feng Bujue murmured, "Damn... I feel like I've lost out again. I have to rip him off again next time I see him."

"I highly doubt you'll ever see him again," Michael said coldly. "Of course, that's none of my business..."

"Okay," Brother Jue pouted and then said, "Back to the topic... You shouldn't have contacted me just to apologize for your brother, right? What else is there?"

"I'm here to notify... and congratulate you on winning the Candidate Game," Michael replied.

"Huh?" This time, Feng Bujue was a little stunned.

However, as a cunning person, he reacted like this after two seconds: "Wait... you're not trying to trick me into letting my guard down or forfeiting in the final, are you?"

"Whether you believe it or not is irrelevant. I'm just here to inform you of this result," Michael replied. "Among all the candidates, you are undoubtedly one of the most outstanding...

"Comparing abilities horizontally... since the 'Game' began, you have used your intelligence and force to defeat every candidate of the same level who was in competition with you, in different forms and at different points in time.

"And starting from personal charm and social skills, considering from the perspective of a 'politician'... your popularity in the main universe and the underworld of Thriller Paradise is also unmatched, far surpassing any other player or even virtual creature...

"As for those 'ambiguous' and 'pending discussion' candidates, in this S3 competition, I and several of my brothers have also personally screened them one by one to ensure that no potential competitors who might have a chance to compete with you were missed.

"In summary, the Candidate Game is over... Although Woody is still 'accepting punishment,' he did win. He successfully demonstrated the correctness of his philosophy to the council.

"From now on, at least until the next era arrives, the 'Candidate Game' will be disguised as 'the most popular interactive entertainment product of human society in the same period.' Humans no longer need to bleed for this...

"The era of exchanging blood and life for glory is over, and whether it will ever return... is not something you need to consider."

After listening to his narration, Feng Bujue basically believed it, because he really couldn't find a reason for the other party to lie.

So, Brother Jue's instinctive malice began to rise: "Okay, okay, okay... that's fine." After saying "okay" several times, he then said in a playful tone, "Then here comes the question... As the winner, I should get some benefits, right? Like mountains of gold and silver, wine pools and meat forests, seventy-odd virgins or something?"

"You..." At this moment, Michael was seemingly suppressed by Brother Jue's cheapness, "... You seem to be living with your girlfriend, right? Saying such things so loudly..."

"Stop talking nonsense, she went to the supermarket to buy things." Feng Bujue didn't even wait for the other party to finish, and he raised his voice again, interrupting, "Hurry up and tell me, what are the benefits!"

"Hmm..." Michael pondered, "There are no benefits."

"What a load of bullsh*t! Did your cloaca grow into a mouth?" In the real world, Brother Jue could freely use all kinds of swear words, which improved his expressiveness by more than one level. "A game of such a long cycle and related to the fate of all mankind, and you're telling me that the person involved won without any rewards? Tell me! Did you eat all the benefits that the Taijun gave me... and pocketed the kickbacks!"

Hearing this, Michael was silent for a long time, but he still couldn't fully understand how dirty this sentence was and how many references it contained, so he gave up and directly explained: "According to tradition, the selected winner... can be protected by the council and become the only being in this world whose actions do not generate 'karma,' and can obtain the special physique of 'being able to control both holy power and demonic power, these two opposite forces.'" He paused, "But... you are not a creature of this universe, you come from another universe... That is to say, you are not affected by the 'karma' of this universe, which is one of the reasons why Woody asked you to help retrieve the 'Crown.' Similarly, since you are not 'one of our people,' the 'dual power blessing' cannot be implemented." He paused again for two seconds, "... You should understand what I'm saying, right?"

"Understood." Feng Bujue suddenly replied with an extremely calm tone.

"Then..." Michael was a little afraid to continue, "Regarding this matter, do you have anything else to say?"

"F*ck." Brother Jue's answer was short and powerful.

"Hmm..." Michael muttered again, "If there's nothing else..."

Just as he was about to hang up, Feng Bujue quickly asked, "By the way, if I win the final, can I make additional requests?"

Michael wouldn't lie. He said whatever he had to say, "No... The remaining match is just an ordinary game competition between humans that is unrelated to the Candidate Game. We can't..."

DiDi—

Before he could finish speaking, Brother Jue had already taken the initiative to cut off the voice connection.

Feng Bujue was using his actions to express—since that's the case, then we humans have nothing to talk to you about.