Chapter 712

Ling Huanxi summoned the Divine Spear of Ice and Snow, unleashed a powerful attack, and spoke with high spirits.

"Ha, it's rare to see Fourth Sister so eager to fight. It seems you're also looking forward to this battle," Yan Jinghong drew her sword. "I'm sorry, due to the rules, I probably can't hold back. You'd better be careful."

The battle for Spirit Transformation is about to erupt.

Yu Shuying was second in line, piloted the Vermilion Bird Profound Armor, avoiding the traps one by one and moving quickly through the trap zone. Although the Vermilion Bird Profound Armor could only fly at low altitudes, there was no need to worry about ground-triggered traps such as pits and landmines, which saved a lot of energy. Therefore, her speed was not much slower than Ling Huanxi's, and soon the checkpoint was in sight.

"I was able to pass through the trap zone so smoothly thanks to the Profound Armor. Other non- Spirit Transformation artists would have taken much longer... Clearly, the difficulty is gradually increasing. The first two levels were set up to be very simple. Logically speaking, this is to avoid eliminating a large number of contestants at the beginning, which would reduce the entertainment value. However, the organizers obviously won't let everyone reach the finish line safely. Therefore, the real challenge should be the last two checkpoints. The real test will begin after that."

Just as I was pondering this, the Narrator-kun's announcement echoed throughout the entire competition area.

"Announcement: Contestant Ling Huanxi has been eliminated."

Yu Shuying was startled. Although her guess had been confirmed, the fact that the person with the strongest combat ability among them was the first to be eliminated still made her expression serious.

When she arrived at the checkpoint and listened to Su Yingbo's explanation, she finally understood why Ling Huanxi had lost.

"Looks like we've met a formidable opponent. What a pity..."

Su Yingbo sighed, relieved that it was just a recreational competition and there was nothing to be sad or upset about. He immediately fulfilled his duty and asked, "Young lady, would you like to accept the challenge?"

"Of course, I'm very confident in my luck—I'll definitely abstain."

Without a second thought, Yu Shuying decisively chose to give up, obediently walked to the side, and started the ten-minute countdown. Although doing so would definitely allow her to be overtaken by the other contestants, it was still better than losing her qualification. She could clearly distinguish between these gains and losses.

Waiting idly would be boring, so Yu Shuying shouted to the sky, "Narrator-kun!"

The next moment, the Clone Narrator-kun, appeared and respectfully said, "Narrator-kun Android 18 is at your service. Is there anything you need?"

"Could you give me a spoiler? If I choose to accept the challenge, who will my opponent be? The War God of the Military School Ba Shenhuang?"

"Let me check the information."

Android 18 Narrator-kun took out a thick book with the word "Outline" written on the cover, and also took out a magnifying glass, and carefully examined it.

"... Found it, the 2018th branch of the timeline. If contestant Yu Shuying chooses to accept the challenge, she will be confronted by an invincible being whose aura is as vast as the universe. The other party will say, 'Too insignificant,' and light will flash in their palm. The entire world will turn into a white expanse, and infinite energy will shatter the space of consciousness. Then, the 'Spring Festival Special' will end prematurely."

"Hey! Judging from the description, that's not a character from the story at all. Where did that guy come from? Is there such a terrifying being in the Sea Continent?"

"For this individual, breaking down the 'work barrier' is an easy thing."

"What the heck is this 'works wall'?!" Yu Shuying couldn't help but exclaim. "Seriously, is my luck really that bad?"

The Narrator-kun, Android 18, pulled out a book with "Settings" written on the cover, flipped through it, and said, "According to the character settings, you are indeed the unluckiest among the protagonist's companions. Your selling point is that although you can read people's minds and are good at scheming, unexpected changes always occur due to variables—Note: This setting was added after the Russia arc."

"So it was an addition midway through the story! No wonder I appeared so distraught at the beginning of the university arc; that's where it all started!"

Yu Shuying was furious. She rushed over and grabbed the Narrator-kun, Android 18, by the neck, shaking him violently. "Give me back my original character design! What's the point of this kind of tortuous selling point? Nobody's looking forward to it!"

"Ahem... This isn't something a narrator like me can decide."

Narrator-kun Android 18 quickly used his time-stopping ability to break free from his restraints and then explained, "'That person' was doing this for your own good. Adding attributes to you was to enhance your presence. Otherwise, just being a 'wise man who can read minds' would feel half-baked. Besides, your secret of 'reading minds' was exposed in the Russia arc. The only attributes left are being sharp-tongued and wise, which overlaps with Si Jingyu's character. And Si Jingyu also has the attribute of being a brother-complex, making him much more popular than you."

"I don't care whether I'm popular or not! Even if I gained an unlucky attribute, my popularity wouldn't increase much compared to before; I'd still be third-rate," Yu Shuying added at the end, "Although I don't care at all."

"Well, there's no point in you complaining to me about this kind of thing."

"Besides, high popularity doesn't necessarily mean strong presence. There's that character with such low presence, often forgotten by everyone, sometimes not even having a single line in a whole chapter, and whose name appears less often than some second-tier supporting characters, yet their popularity remains high, doesn't it? Ultimately, it's impossible for every character in a work to be likable. Some are popular, and some are not. My character was never likable from the beginning, isn't it too late to think about changing it now?"

After speaking with a resentful tone, Yu Shuying quickly added, "Besides, I don't care at all."

"Isn't this something you care about a lot...? Okay, since you've said so, I'll report it to 'that person' and keep your settings in place."

"Wait a minute, it would be better to remove the 'bad luck' attribute."

Didn't you say you didn't want to change?

"These are two different things!"

As the two were arguing, Yu Shuying sensed a familiar presence rapidly approaching.

"This is Hongdou, right? Looks like she's caught up too... Wait a minute, show me the character design book."

Yu Shuying snatched the "Settings Collection" from the Narrator-kun Android 18, quickly flipped to the page about Hongdou, skimmed through it, and suddenly realized, muttering, "No wonder I always feel an invisible pressure whenever I see Hongdou, it turns out it's the natural suppression of those below them by those above them in the luck chain!"

Narrator-kun Android 18 muttered, "It could also be suppression from other places."

"What did you say?"

There's nothing there!

Chinese New Year Special (Part 4)

With her thickened True Qi armor, Hongdou safely reached the third checkpoint. After listening to Su Yingbo's explanation, she instinctively wanted to give up, since she didn't like fighting and, even with her extraordinary cultivation, she lacked the corresponding self-awareness.

Finally, Yu Shuying, who had been waiting on the sidelines, couldn't help but suggest, "Choose to accept it; you'll definitely win."

Despite being rivals, Hongdou was the closest female companion Yu Shuying knew. Mind-Reading Technique was meaningless to her; whether she read it or not made no difference. Hongdou couldn't hide her thoughts at all, saying whatever came to mind without trying to conceal anything. Therefore, Yu Shuying felt no pressure when communicating with her and didn't feel the disgust of discovering inconsistencies between her words and actions.

Hongdou nodded and said, "Since Xiao Ying has said so, then I accept the challenge."

"Wait, wait a minute, does 'Xiao Ying' refer to me?" Yu Shuying felt goosebumps rising on her skin and quickly corrected, "That way of addressing me is indeed a bit inappropriate. Just call me by my name."

Su Yingbo said, "I'm sorry, she has already entered a state of consciousness battle. Let's talk to her when she wakes up."

"..."