“Hehehe…what brings you here?” A lewd voice echoed over the martial arts stage.

This man in the black suit and glasses had arrived the instant Infinite completed his “evolution.” But…neither the players nor the NPCs could perceive his existence.

“To monitor you.” Another calm, cold voice replied.

This was also a man in a black suit, with short brown hair. His aura was in stark contrast to the lewd fellow beside him.

These two “people” had appeared in the air as if teleporting, like some American TV show (yes, I’m talking about *Supernatural*) trying to save money with that “cut scene, now they’re there” technique… silently, abruptly.

And their identities, I presume, you’ve already guessed—Woody, and Simon.

“Hehehe…do you think I’d do something weird?” Woody asked with a sinister laugh, the white glint of his glasses hinting at a chilling aura.

“Not ‘would do’…” Simon continued, “but ‘already did’.”

“Hehe…you mean ‘Special Plan F’?” Woody chuckled. “That has nothing to do with me, Infinite wasn’t programmed by me.” He spread his hands. “Speaking of which…I’m quite impressed with Ed and Link this time…they actually combined the ‘Truth Sequence’ and ‘Matrix Code’ from two different dimensions to create this monster…”

“Don’t change the subject.” Simon interrupted Woody. “I said you ‘did it’, and I have my reasons.” He turned his head, looking directly at Woody. “According to my investigation, the situation is as follows…” His tone was like reading a sentence. “After the Peak Tournament S1 ended…Feng Bujue not only didn’t eliminate Lute, but chose to cooperate with him. This action…exceeded your calculations. So, you went to Zero, used one of your pre-set ‘language keys’ to trigger a set of ‘processing solutions’ (see Chapter 460 - Emergency Maintenance).” He paused. “Then, Zero, at the cost of sacrificing some of its power, forcibly infiltrated the ‘space-time data transmission layer’, found the not-yet-fully-formed Infinite, and implanted ‘Special Plan F’ into him.”

Listening to Simon's words, Woody still looked certain, his lewd smile even more pronounced.

“On the surface, you just said a few vague words to a special Derivative, with no real substance.” Simon continued, “But in reality…”

“In reality…it really has nothing to do with me.” Woody cut him off. “Hehehe…I don’t know anything about pre-set ‘processing solutions.’ Everything Zero did was never said by me. So…everything you said is just speculation.” He pushed his glasses up with his middle finger. “As a referee, judging based on speculation is inappropriate, isn’t it?”

“Hmph…Vincent was right.” Simon snorted. “Without concrete evidence, you will certainly deny everything to the end.”

“Hehehe…that bastard…is really too talkative…” Woody laughed. “In all senses…”

“Even if he didn’t say it, I would have thought of it…” Simon continued. “Presumably…when the ‘First Era’ of Thriller Paradise was destroyed, you had secretly laid many foreshadowing elements for future use. These foreshadowing elements can reverse the situation for you when the outcome of some key events gets out of control. And the way to activate them may be ‘a word’, ‘an event’, or ‘the arrival of a certain point in time’.”

“Hehe…it sounds very plausible.” Woody’s tone was still relaxed. “But I won’t admit that it’s the truth…” He scratched the back of his neck. “Assuming…please note, just ‘assuming’…everything you said is true, so what?” He replied fearlessly. “To prove that I guided the development of the game using the above methods, there are only two ways…one is to force me to confess, which is obviously impossible; the other is to lock onto a ‘pre-set plan’ that I haven’t activated yet, and then break open, crush, and thoroughly analyze the program that carries this plan…hehehe…not to mention that there are countless programs in this game, even if you have a clear target, it’s probably a very critical set of data. Performing this destructive check on it…I’m afraid…will instead bring irreversible and huge impact on the entire game’s trend.”

“In short…” Simon looked at Woody with disdain. “As the referee, I can’t get any evidence of the game you set up.”

“Hehehe…I’ll say it again, I didn’t do anything, and I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Woody answered this question very carefully. Even if he lost the game, he didn’t want to “violate the rules (at least not be caught red-handed)”, because the result of violating the rules would be directly facing Simon’s annihilation.

“Heh…” Simon sneered and asked, “Do you think I can’t do anything to you with that?”

“At least you don’t have a clear motive to kill me.” Woody said. “That’s enough.”

“‘Enough’…is it…” Simon continued, “Then, as a referee, I can interfere with the target you bet on within the scope of my authority, right?”

“Hehehe…so you’re not here to ‘monitor me’.” Woody shrugged. “But to kill the chicken to scare the monkey in front of me…”

“Kill the chicken to scare the monkey?” Simon glared at Woody. “Who do you think you’re dealing with? Some rebellious teenager?”

Woody heard the words, knew that his “guidance” had been seen through, and replied helplessly: “Tch…I’ve been seen through.”

“Of course.” Simon continued. “I know very well that ‘Special Plan F’ seems to be an insurance to protect Feng Bujue, but in reality, it’s a protective umbrella for Infinite.” He paused. “This plan can effectively prevent Infinite from having a head-on conflict with Feng Bujue before completing all the evolution tasks, and reduce their contact.” He crossed his hands on his chest and pondered: “So far, every Derivative that has been defeated by Feng Bujue has made almost the same mistake…that is, underestimating the ability of this human. Letting them face Feng Bujue too early often leads to failure. And Special Plan F allows Infinite, an existence that is expected to lead to ‘infinity’…to avoid this risk. Because he cannot fight Feng Bujue and cannot be equal to him on the information level, Infinite will inevitably keep a respectful distance from Feng Bujue. In this way, until he completes the final evolution and releases the plan himself, he is relatively safe.”

Speaking of this, Simon squinted at Woody again: “You arranged for the players to enter this scenario not to let them witness the birth of ‘infinity’, but to let Infinite see as early as possible…the biggest ‘threat’ he will encounter in the future. In this way…when it comes to the Peak Tournament S2, he will be able to carry out your plan more easily.”

*clap clap clap clap*

Woody clapped for Simon: “Hehehe…you’ve seen through everything, although that Special Plan F has nothing to do with me, I can’t help but want to cheer for you~”

“Hmph…” Simon turned his head away. “Is it really worth it to plot against the target you bet on for ‘another game’ outside of the game?”

Woody’s expression changed slightly, and he asked: “Don’t tell me…it’s not worth it?”

Simon didn’t continue this topic, and both of them had answers in their hearts.

“Things have come to this…” After a few seconds, Simon spoke again, “I can only…” He shook his head, “…I can’t believe I would say this…” As he spoke, a mass of dark energy with a faint red glow had condensed in his hand, “…only to improve Feng Bujue’s ability to smooth out the gap that your ‘calculations’ may bring in the future.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he turned his palm over, and a condensed magical energy rushed towards the martial arts stage, directly hitting Feng Bujue’s body.

In the next second, Brother Jue, who knew nothing about this, only felt a heat in his back, and his body could not move…

Speaking of which, it was really a coincidence…

At this moment, it was the moment when Brother Jue and Ruoyu each took a stance, accumulating their moves and preparing to unleash them. How could Feng Bujue’s obvious stiffness and stagnation escape Ruoyu’s eyes? The latter immediately moved her sword and attacked!

“What’s going on?” Feng Bujue exclaimed in his heart, “There’s no reaction in the data on her body at all, why can’t I suddenly move?” His thoughts flashed, and his eyes scanned, “Could it be Lu Bu?”

This was obviously impossible…Lu Fengxian was standing on the other side of the arena at this moment, more than two hundred meters away, pondering the previous changes with a bewildered expression.

“Or…” Feng Bujue was still thinking, “Has Huajian approached us, but I didn’t notice?”

Now, it was useless for him to think about anything, he couldn’t move…he just couldn’t move.

The power given by Simon, whether from the data level of the game world or the spiritual level of the real world, was something that Feng Bujue could not digest in a short period of time. It was like pouring a high concentration of chemical solution into a soft drink paper package—the difference in levels was too great, and it would become a burden instead.

On the other side…Ruoyu didn’t know what was going on with Brother Jue, she just normally used a move \[Swift Light Secret Style. White Rose], as a tentative attack at the beginning of the battle.

Unexpectedly…this sword actually decided the outcome.

*Chi—*

Blood splattered, and the head fell.

\[Player, Feng Bujue, has died.]

Even Ruoyu herself looked back with an unbelievable expression. In the next dozens of seconds, she still didn’t relax her vigilance…as if she was worried that everything she saw was an illusion, and the system prompt in her ears was imitated by Feng Bujue with a cheating watch.

A full minute later, she realized it belatedly and asked suspiciously: “I…won?”