Chapter 333
On May 13th, the general voting ended automatically, and the voting Passageway for citizens on all planets of the Federation automatically closed. The next second, three lists were released simultaneously.
The first list is an automatically ranked list of candidates, sorted by the number of votes from highest to lowest. The second list is the list of those eliminated. In both the first and second lists, many names and their photos displayed on their basic data are grayed out to distinguish them from the data of other people in normal color. Therefore, the third list is a separate list of people who died unexpectedly during this general election and are being mourned separately.
The presidential election is fiercely contested, and the number of people who die unexpectedly during the election is likely to increase. Federation citizens have become so accustomed to this that when they see a third gray list, they automatically input data from previous elections for comparison.
However, this time, with the addition of Class 6), there was an extra step to separate the list of Class 6) members while making comparisons.
Not long after the list was announced, everyone's attention naturally focused on the people ranked at the top. Among them, those who came from Class 6) received a lot of attention because of Qin Su and the name of Class 6). He Muzhi, who ranked first in the general vote of the Federation's planets in his first election, attracted the attention of most people.
[6666 He Muzhi, you really are something else (lemon). Being tagged with Qin Su really makes you different (lemon). Patrick, aren't you going to do something?]
[Patrick: If you want me dead, just say so directly. Don't beat around the bush. Do I look like someone who's so easily fooled? But, is it just my imagination? The total number of voters announced before doesn't seem that many?]
[Don't worry about your former president. Didn't you see the leaked information? The reason Lawrence and his group on the gray list died was because they tried to harm the other students in Class 6 but ended up getting themselves killed. If the former president wanted to do something, he could just avoid the people in Class 6. (doge)]
[That's right, (Class 6 is living a peaceful life, we'll continue to do what their fathers do according to tradition]
[There were indeed a lot of people participating in the vote this year. I compared the number of participants with the previous year's votes (image). It's no exaggeration to say that the number of people suddenly increased dramatically. It's obvious that the enthusiasm of everyone participating has skyrocketed because of Class 6) brought by the God Su. And... some people are really clever. I seriously suspect that you are an undercover agent sent by the supporters of Class 6) to do dirty work so that the people in your Class 6) can watch others fight each other and reduce the number of competitors, right? If you don't want to die unexpectedly, you'd better behave yourselves. The God Su is watching. Be careful of the Su’s Punishment will come.]
Am I the only one paying attention to the words 'accidental death'? Don't I find that a bit irritating?
[Nostrils:? Why are you tearing me apart, you idiot? (rolls eyes)]
[I understand now, I've behaved myself, please let me go Qin Su]
[At least I won't dare to do it again this time. Next time... I'll see how things go next time.]
[+ID number please@Qinsubianzhongtei!]
What? You guys aren't going to do it? Then I won't do it either.
[So many people who were planning to cause trouble were exposed, is this all just an act by Zun Du?]
[Who cares? We'll find out by seeing how the voting goes in the next round on each planet. Even if nothing goes wrong in the next round, with the Federation Joint Council getting closer, someone will inevitably slip up.]
[What if no one else steps forward? (Just watching the drama unfold)]
[(Rolls eyes) Wouldn't that be even better? I thought everyone was just joking around at night, and no one would actually use the election to watch the various factions in the Federation use their Assassination tactics, would they?]
On May 14th, upon returning to the Comic World, Qin Su immediately checked the system's operation log from his departure the previous day until his return, in order to quickly grasp what had happened during his absence.
Seeing Qin Su meticulously examining his every move, even scrutinizing his chaotic search history, System 777 was dumbfounded: [Am I really that unreliable?]
Caught off guard, Qin Su's rapidly scanning gaze paused for a second, his eyes continuing to gleam guiltily, but his words were gentle. "It's just a habit, it has nothing to do with you, don't overthink it."
[This habit of yours is really bad for me. I have no privacy anymore. I seriously suspect you did it on purpose. You don't know what I found yesterday after you left. I was shocked! Good heavens, you added so many things to my database that I've never seen before!]
For example, every person in Class 6), every member of the Federation Joint Council, every person in every region of every planet in the comics, regardless of their fame, what they like to eat every day, what they do, who they have met, etc., are all specially monitored, organized, and uploaded to Qin Su every day. Qin Su will set up keyword extraction and check the parts that trigger keywords separately every day. These many trivial and unnecessary things make it confused.
[Fortunately.] After venting, 777 didn't forget to honestly exclaim, [There are so many things I like in there.]
Among those messy records were many treasures of novels, TV series, comics, short dramas, etc., that it loved—things far more useful than those boring trinkets. It stared at them, unable to put them down, and even when Qin Su wasn't around, it never got bored.
Qin Su: "..."
Upon hearing 777's voice, and seeing 777's historical operation record, it was indeed as he had predicted. Within thirty seconds of reviewing the documents he had added, his attention was diverted by the targeted content he had deliberately placed in various documents based on 777's past browsing history and preferences. These push notifications included, but were not limited to, "My grandma told me to post this online? LOL! Which system would be bored enough to watch this stuff?!", "Don't you systems know how bizarre this video is?", "Who understands, my fellow systems? After reading this text, the system's mystique surrounding the main god system is dispelled!", "You other systems are too tight-lipped! You don't even promote this good stuff?", "The system world has welcomed its strictest mother!", "Main God: Just you wait and see, you bunch of ancestral systems!"... and so on, each with a more sensationalist title than the last.
Later on, even though 777 knew it was clickbait, according to its operation log, it still fell for it every time. It even ignored other documents stored in the same folder several times, only clicking on those titles that looked tempting, without even glancing at the truly important content. Unsurprisingly, it galloped wildly down the path of being 'fooled'.
Furthermore, given that it's currently openly and honestly cricketing while uncontrollably continuing its enthusiastic activity in the database it customized for itself, with each new cricket appearing different every day, it's unlikely that even ten oxen could bring it back to its senses for a long time to come.
Although his conscience was a little aching, Qin Su had no intention of 'withdrawing' his decision. He couldn't help it; he'd always been hypocritical, enjoying understanding others but disliking others understanding him, even if the object of his affections was the seemingly innocent 777. Who knew if 777 had been putting on an act all these years? In short, knowing he couldn't sever ties with the system—as its Optical Brain —he was forced to 'share' many things with it, exposing countless secrets of his world to it. Unable to change this situation, he could only rely on the system's preferences, using this shameless method to divert its attention and reduce its 'spying' on him.
777 waited a few seconds, but didn't hear Qin Su, who always answered its questions, respond. It was used to being answered by Qin Su and felt a little uncomfortable: [Did I hit the nail on the head? You really did it on purpose...]
Qin Su, though unjustified, immediately and skillfully shifted the blame that should have been rightfully his onto 777: "What a joke! How did I do it on purpose? After you bound yourself to me, my Optical Brain is you. You're with me in this world all the time. What don't you know about me? It's been like this for so many years, okay? Don't just spout nonsense with your eyes wide open. It's been difficult for me. Sometimes you should think more about your own reasons, okay? Has your trust in me grown over the years? Have you really tried to understand me as a person?"
In the Comic World, his privacy is completely exposed to the system. Whatever he does, the system can know anytime, anywhere, as long as it wants. If it weren't for his deception, he and the system would never have reached the 'peaceful' state he likes. It's the system that's indulging in 'free-range' behavior. He doesn't even need to round it off; he feels he's perfectly fine.
Based on his observations over the years of posting 'strategy notes' on Forums belonging to their respective systems from 777, it's highly likely that systems in different worlds can 'interoperate'. However, 80% of the time, only systems in worlds with extremely high host mission completion rates occasionally communicate with each other. Systems in other worlds with low mission completion rates are busy all day long vying for host slots that meet the binding criteria, extracting certain value from hosts to maintain the operation of their own worlds. Even if they have time to go on Forums, due to the competitive relationships between systems, they won't easily reply to posts or expose the status of their worlds to other world systems. Therefore, it's rare for systems in worlds with high completion rates to share their own or their bound hosts' successful experiences with other world systems.
So, it has been a full three years since 777 posted the strategy notes, and there are only sixteen replies in total, but the number of online users is always over ten thousand.
Without exception, all sixteen replies were either simply and crudely using emojis to roll their eyes and spit at 777, or using various sarcastic and mocking ways to diss and curse 777, questioning, "This is the first time I've seen someone not even bother to act anymore. The leader is so obviously, directly, and stupid. If you don't want to share, you don't have to share. Why do you want to kill them?"
In the three years since 777 posted his post, he has seen 777 receive many notifications saying "You have been blacklisted by system xxxxx". Obviously, many systems suspected that 777 was deliberately trying to scam them after seeing his post. In order to avoid being deceived by 777 in the future, they blacklisted 777 first to ensure their safety, which shows the intensity of competition between systems.
Although... putting aside the facts, judging solely from the content of 777's strategy notes, it does indeed seem like 'harming people,' which is one of the pieces of evidence that he darkly and twistedly suspected 777 of pretending to be honest.
Of those sixteen replies, the system icons for three had turned completely black over the past three years, while the system icons for the others remained normal. This easily led Qin Su to wonder if they had been formatted or erased along with their respective worlds.
Unconsciously, his thoughts had drifted far away. Qin Su blinked his sore eyes, pulled his wandering thoughts back, and focused his attention on the skin in front of him.
There are always people more capable than you, and heavens beyond heavens. Whether it's him or the world he inhabits, they are all extremely insignificant existences among the tens of thousands of small worlds. At present, if he wants to go to a higher place, he can only use the information he has so far as the basis for his judgment. Even if the current Protagonist Group disappears in this world in the future, and a new Protagonist Group appears, he will do everything he can to keep this world running and try his best to avoid the tragic ending that may be faced by the three reply systems and the hosts they are bound to.
Qin Su's brief remarks reminded 777 of how, over the years, its current host had been too independent. Except for the very beginning, for 99.99% of the time, the current host had never asked for help, let alone asked for anything. Unlike other hosts who were either criticizing it for being useless or preparing to do so, Qin Su, despite being busy, would always respond to whatever it said.
More importantly, Qin Su was worried that it would get bored. Even after leaving the Comic World, it still prepared surprise after surprise for it in its dull and tedious database. As for it, at first it knew to write strategy guides, thinking of ways to quickly increase the Life Points of future hosts. Later... it either slacked off or, in this world, even though its host had reached Qin Su's level, it still slandered Qin Su...
[...]
It's so damn damned!
777's entire tone suddenly became clear, the electronic consonant conveying a sense of sudden realization: [I'm sorry, it was my fault!]
It will never dare to doubt its host again.
After reviewing 777's operation log, Qin Su opened the information that the Modified Humans and ghosts, working in four shifts a day and scattered across various planets in the Comic World, had observed and reported during his absence. He shamelessly replied to 777's words in his usual tone, "It's alright, you're doing great."
Don't change it, that will only increase his workload in monitoring the system and distracting it with more things.
[!]
Waaaaah, it's already so lazy, yet Qin Su still lets it do whatever it wants. Qin Su is so considerate, it's heartbreaking!
--
After the routine public notice period ended, the second round of voting began on May 17th within the Federation's various planets.
The second round of voting will divide the list of successful candidates from the previous round into planetary units, and a new round of voting will be conducted at the planetary level within 48 hours.
The list is divided based on planets, and the top ten candidates from each planet will form a candidate group.
On May 20th, the candidates began their journey to various planets to deliver speeches over a ten-day period.
Inside the same Spaceship, the other members of the candidate group, except for those from Class 6), looked at the group of people from Class 6), who made up two-thirds of the entire candidate group. Thinking of Qin Su, they tacitly stood together in the same camp, dividing the people from Class 6) into their opposite side. They were extremely wary of Class 6), fearing that Qin Su might, for the sake of Class 6), or that Class 6) might unite themselves to eliminate them silently and equally in order to reduce the number of competitors.
Because of Leopold's incident, they will no longer dare to act recklessly and do those messy things as before. However, Qin Su, who is in charge of the Leopold incident, and Class 6), which Qin Su favors, will never be able to empathize with them.
"..."
Looking at the other candidates from Class 6 who had tacitly stood together the moment they stepped into the Spaceship, along with their entourage and media, the Class 6 candidates thought that in a public setting, surrounded by media from all over the Federation's planets, they tried their best to control their mouths and eyebrows that were about to twitch wildly. Following the usual practice, they sat down in the remaining seats.
As they sat down, they exchanged glances and, without prior arrangement, squeezed He Muzhi into the very center of the remaining arc-shaped space, so that He Muzhi and one other person would face the most and most "ardent" gazes of their 'seniors'.
(Class 6 sat down, their expressions ranging from smiling to blank, looking straight ahead in front of the camera, their peripheral vision scanning their surroundings.
Looking at the seat his classmates had reserved for him, He Muzhi had no choice but to sit down. He belatedly realized why the "old acquaintances" in the candidate group had worked together to "leave" the people from Class 6 behind them before Spaceship the spaceship. At first, he naively thought that they wanted to show off their "senior" status in front of the "newcomers" from Class 6. He didn't expect that he had been judging others by his own petty standards. The seniors' actions were just to find a seat that was not "related" to the people from Class 6 in the live broadcast that would be broadcast for the next ten days.
Who would have thought that before they came, this group of people from Class 6 had agreed to fight each other to the death, but after they arrived, they still had to sit together in a row.
That wasn't all; he was also tricked by his classmates in a coordinated effort.
"..."
Everyone is laughing at Class 6), but judging from the current position where he has been squeezed by his classmates, he is actually the funniest one. He was told to be reserved, and now he deserves it.
He could imagine how the other students from Class 6 who weren't there would laugh at him if they saw this on their screens.
Although he found the situation amusing, He Muzhi continued to feign aloofness and maintain a humble facade until the 'seniors' across from him spoke, all the while comforting himself that it wasn't so bad. At least he was in the center position, which meant he would be more talked about than his classmates, so it was a blessing in disguise.
In front of the camera, the other students in Class 6) also maintained a humble facade, their eyes, like He Muzhi's, turned to the other side, waiting for them to speak first.
When the other candidates saw that the group from Class 6) sat down, they all looked in their direction with a half-smile and remained silent, acting like 'VIPs' waiting to be entertained. It was clear that they were provoking them because Qin Su was backing them up.
'They knew that with Qin Su around, Class 6) couldn't possibly get away with anything good!'
[(Funny)]
[Is it really necessary to be so afraid? Don't be a coward, everyone. Although they say Qin Su is doing it for their own good, deep down they are just as afraid of Qin Su as you are. You all have something in common on this point, so hurry up and become friends!]
Whether it's true or not, they're still a rather polite group of kids.
[Others commented: Very polite, please prohibit this next time.]
[Most MVP of this episode: "Always Provoking"]
The media, who had accompanied the candidates, had already set up and tested all their equipment. Looking at the candidates, who were sitting together in a circle symbolizing harmony and unity, yet the atmosphere was tense and fraught with tension, they exchanged bewildered glances. According to the rules of their filming, they could only record and broadcast, not ask any questions. Faced with the eerie silence, they were at a loss for what to do.
Forgive them for following so many candidate speeches, this is the first time they've encountered such a situation. They seem to be waiting calmly, but their eyes are actually darting around, they're at their wits' end.