Artificial Desperate Situation

The real world, Station 13.

They watched Tiandao utterly crush the Coral Knight and stand before him as the absolute victor.

The audience beyond the Dimensional Screen was stunned.

'Damn, Old Tian, I thought you were just showing off. Turns out you're the real deal!'

'The age of Tiandao—I can't wait for it to explode!'

'As expected of the man I have my eye on!'

Everyone had thought Tiandao would win.

Everyone had known Tiandao would win.

But no one had expected him to win like this.

After all, there were small wins, medium wins, and big wins.

If Tiandao's victory today had not been stylish enough, thorough enough, or overwhelming enough—

Then it could not be considered a victory at all.

Because such a victory would not have lived up to the image the audience had of him: a "Natural Strongman," the "Stellaris Combat Power Ceiling."

And that was why Tiandao had been willing to spend two whole years meticulously preparing for this battle.

That's right. Whether it was the dimensional audience at Station 13, Yun Meng, who had planned this test, or even the Coral Knight whom Tiandao had defeated—

They had all innocently believed that Tiandao had suddenly encountered the Coral Knight's challenge without any preparation.

But in truth, only Tiandao himself knew.

Every seemingly casual coincidence had been nothing more than a carefully designed arrangement of his own making.

Unprepared?

Couldn't be more wrong!

Not only had Tiandao prepared—he had meticulously prepared for this day for a full two years!

All so he could make his mark and shine brilliantly in this "chance encounter"!

In the original story, after Chen Kong's trio had struggled to defeat the Crab Exotic Beast arranged jointly by Yun Meng and the Coral Knight—

The final enemy they faced was the powerful Rank 2 Star Envoy, the Coral Knight.

And while the trio led by protagonist Chen Kong had, unsurprisingly, suffered a crushing defeat in their battle against the Coral Knight—

The Coral Knight had still displayed most of his Star Source traits.

That had allowed Tiandao to obtain quite a bit of useful intelligence.

So although Tiandao had appeared to react to each move as it came in the battle just now, as if he were facing the Coral Knight for the first time—

In reality, he had no idea how many times he had simulated this fight in his mind.

With the prepared calculating against the unprepared, if Tiandao could still lose, there would be no need for the production team to arrange a Plot Kill.

He could just find a wall and smash his head into it himself.

But although his own battle had ended, Chen Kong and the others' battle had not.

Listening to the constant commotion coming from within the mist, Tiandao, standing outside it, suddenly rolled his eyes as though some devilish idea had occurred to him.

He then called Yun Meng and the Coral Knight over and discussed it with them in low voices.

Upon hearing Tiandao's words, Yun Meng and the Coral Knight both revealed astonished expressions, seemingly never expecting Tiandao to go this far.

But in the end, Yun Meng fiercely slapped her long leg clad in black stockings.

With incomparable excitement, she said, "All right, we'll do it exactly as you said, Little Tiandao!"

Although Yun Meng had already made the decision, the upright and honest Coral Knight still had his reservations.

Kind-hearted as he was, he always felt that doing this to Chen Kong and the others was somewhat improper.

"Ms. Yun, little brother Tiandao, wouldn't this be a bit too—"

Tiandao waved his hand dismissively. "No, no, Uncle Coral, if you ask me, you're just too conservative."

"You have to understand, what we're doing won't hurt Chen Kong and the others. On the contrary, it'll stimulate their potential to the greatest extent possible. It'll only benefit them, never harm them."

"So relax. We definitely can't go wrong with this."

Seeing Tiandao speak with such certainty, while Yun Meng at his side was already so eager that she kept rubbing her hands together like a fly—

The Coral Knight ultimately could not resist the two of them and agreed to their maliciously entertaining "Artificial Desperate Situation Plan."

Once the Coral Knight agreed to join them—

Tiandao and Yun Meng, who had long been unable to suppress their urge to perform, immediately sprang into action in frantic haste.

"Sis, your acting is way too unprofessional. Who's on the verge of dying from severe injuries while the black stockings on their legs are completely intact? What, do you think those stockings are some legendary Star Tool, indestructible as diamond?"

"You're right, you're right. Good thing you're so attentive, Little Tiandao. Otherwise, I might have exposed myself later."

"Sis, don't use up all that tomato juice. Leave some for me—I need it later too!"

"Little Tiandao, what do you think of this pose? Will Little Kong and the others see through it?"

"Mm, not enough, not enough. You look way too deliberate like that. Come on, let me demonstrate. Lie down like I do."

"See? This is what you call professionalism."

"Wow, you're amazing, Little Tiandao. This way, Little Kong and the others definitely won't be able to tell I'm faking it, right?"

"They definitely won't!"

Amid the dumbfounded expressions of the dimensional audience, Tiandao and Yun Meng, this unscrupulous brother-sister pair, openly began an exceptionally professional arrangement of the set, costumes, and props.

Yun Meng lay down in the crater where the Coral Knight had originally been smashed by Tiandao's elbow, smearing her face and body with special tomato juice that looked almost exactly like blood.

Not only that, to make her "severely injured and unconscious" act more realistic and harder for Chen Kong and the others to see through—

Tiandao directly had Yun Meng tear open part of the shirt over her chest, exposing the alluring, long abdominal muscles on her waist.

Besides that, Tiandao also had her tear open parts of the black stockings on her thighs.

Under the pretext that glimpses of snowy-white skin beneath torn black stockings, paired with bloodstains, would make for a greater visual impact.

Since Yun Meng's performance was already so realistic, Tiandao, as both director and leading actor, naturally outdid even his teacher.

Tiandao lay "barely alive" beside a wrecked, scrapped car, his entire body "pierced" with purple Coral Spikes.

What was more, to make it seem as though he had been deeply poisoned—

He even asked the Coral Knight for some non-toxic purple coral fluid.

He carefully applied it along the veins in his neck, not even sparing his fingernails.

As a result, Tiandao now looked from afar as though Coral Venom had completely entered his body and spread throughout him along his veins. He looked absolutely on the brink of death.

His acting was so lifelike that, had the audience beyond the Dimensional Screen not watched the entire process—

They might have believed that Tiandao had truly been beaten half to death by the Coral Knight.

And by this point, how could the dimensional audience possibly fail to understand what Tiandao was plotting?

He clearly wanted to pretend that both he and Yun Meng had suffered disastrous defeats at the Coral Knight's hands, thoroughly igniting the anger and potential in Chen Kong and the others.

Though this plan was somewhat cruel to Chen Kong and the others—

The dimensional audience had to admit that they were eagerly anticipating Chen Kong and the others' reactions next.

After all, human happiness was always built upon someone else's pain!

'Good grief, Tiandao is so wicked—but I love it.'

'An Artificial Desperate Situation? That's kind of interesting!'

'I used to think I hated tragic melodrama, but now I know that I only hate real tragic melodrama. As for fake ones, not only do I not hate them—I love them!'

Meanwhile, beside the scrapped car in the parking lot.

Although Tiandao had already closed his eyes, he was observing every movement in the Stellaris World through the Dimensional Screen.

That naturally included the comments from those who believed they had seen through his plan.

Looking at what these people were saying, Tiandao could not help letting out an evil laugh in his heart.

Was the tragic drama Tiandao was directing only aimed at Chen Kong and the others?

In truth, aside from targeting Chen Kong and the others, this painstakingly staged tragic drama also included the audience beyond the Dimensional Screen.

That's right—the audience beyond the Dimensional Screen was also part of Tiandao's plan!

Because once this fake tragic drama came to an end—

Whether it was Caroline or the dimensional audience, they would inevitably be left with an incomparably deep impression of it.

And once that happened, they would have fallen into Tiandao's trap.

Because when the real tragic drama appeared at the end of Season 1—

Whether Caroline or the current dimensional audience, they would instinctively convince themselves that everything before their eyes was fake, the result of Tiandao once again writing, directing, and acting out his own performance.

Just as before, he would get back up with a smile and tell them they had been fooled.

Their basis for believing so would be that Tiandao had done something similar before.

But when they discovered in despair that this time, Tiandao could no longer "wake up" smiling as he had before—

That tearing sensation of first being filled with despair, then hope, and finally despair again—

Would be like a cold, merciless bayonet, viciously piercing the last illusion in their hearts.

It would transform into an indescribable agony that occupied their hearts for a long, long time.

And that was the true purpose behind Tiandao's plan to direct this "Artificial Desperate Situation."

What kind of blade hurt people the most?

Tiandao's answer was that only a blade carrying beautiful memories and hope hurt the most.

Therefore, Tiandao not only wanted to use this Guard Mission to continuously create beautiful memories between himself and Caroline.

He also wanted to give the audience beyond the Dimensional Screen precious "hope."

Because only when memories could truly become nothing but memories, and hope could truly be nothing but hope—

Could such a "blade" sink deeper into people's hearts and shake them even more profoundly.

When it came to playing with people's hearts and popularity, Tiandao was a professional!

PS: As always, please keep reading and send those monthly tickets!