The Big One Is Coming

The Restaurant's second floor looked more upscale than the first. There were fewer communal seats, and the shops along both sides had much more luxurious decor.

Himeko immediately zeroed in on the café and decided that, no matter what, she was going to give it a taste.

"But why is there Pig Trotter Rice here too?"

Himeko was puzzled. The surrounding restaurants had their menus on display, and even a random dish cost several hundred yuan.

Logically, an 8.8-yuan serving of Pig Trotter Rice shouldn't have appeared up here.

The monster stationed here wasn't a cup of *bucks coffee worth fifty yuan. She was very disappointed.

With her experience dealing with Pig Trotter Rice downstairs, Himeko easily dispatched the second floor's delicacies as well, turning them into scraps with her own cookware.

[Successfully cleared all dangers in the Restaurant. Huaxia's food production increased by 5%. Citizens' cooking skills increased by 10% (except yours).]

[Your food-wasting behavior has enraged the Pig Trotter Rice King. In sixty seconds, Level Three Danger: Pig Trotter Rice King will appear in the center of the Restaurant. Please evacuate as soon as possible.]

Himeko stood amid a heap of scraps. Before she could consider what sort of creature the Pig Trotter Rice King was, the eyes of someone hiding in the shadows lit up, and a beam struck her.

A dizzying sensation washed over her, and the scene before Himeko's eyes blurred.

At the same time, another notification immediately flashed before her eyes.

[Pyramid Country has used "Weak and Powerless" on you. For the next ten minutes, your physical capabilities will be greatly reduced.]

Sure enough, Himeko felt her strength rapidly draining away. The suitcase in her hand grew progressively heavier and soon fell to the floor.

Besides the physical exhaustion, Himeko also felt as though something was affecting her mind.

Seeing that Himeko had fallen victim to his trick, Ali, the mastermind wearing a white robe and carrying a short staff, cheered inwardly.

"Wonderful! The Huaxia contestant is nothing special!"

But he didn't stop there. To claim the reward, he had to go a step further and kill this Huaxia contestant who struck terror into everyone's hearts.

WarGreymon, who had been watching Himeko the entire time, realized something was wrong and immediately used External Assistance. Three different options appeared before them.

[Dizziness and Blurred Vision: The Pyramid Country contestant will immediately suffer severely blurred vision for five minutes, accompanied by reduced balance, nausea, and other effects.]

[Guardian Deity Disabled: Immediately prevents the Pyramid Country contestant from using one randomly selected Guardian Deity for the next thirty minutes.]

[The Big One Is Coming: Immediately fires a missile at the Pyramid Country contestant's location.]

"Can we get something even slightly useful?! Where are the developers?! I demand a reroll!"

The National Destiny Instance offered no such considerate option as a reroll when the choices were unsatisfactory. Whatever they drew, they had to live with it.

The selection screen was visible to everyone, including the viewers, and the comments immediately began offering suggestions.

[The Big One Is Coming.]

[The Big One Is Coming.]

[The Big One Is Coming.]*N

[Blowing him up sounds great, but have you considered that Himeko is in the blast radius too?! There are another two people downstairs!]

[Oh? Buy one, get three free? Interesting.]

[Stop standing around! Just pick something!]

[I still think the missile is better. Himeko's done for anyway, so they might as well go down together.]

[The last time we thought she was done for, she smashed a Level Three Danger with her saw, then stood there and waited out her debuffs.]

After weighing the situation at the scene, WarGreymon concluded that the first of the three options was the most suitable.

Himeko's mind was being affected because of Ali's Guardian Deity.

[Mystic Staff: Three-Star Guardian Deity. Can impose mind control on designated targets, controlling up to three targets simultaneously. If the target has a strong will, the control effect will fail and become mental damage instead.]

Launching a missile was absolutely out of the question, and the second option, Guardian Deity Disabled, would do nothing to help Himeko now.

The effect had already taken hold. Even if the Mystic Staff's effect was disabled afterward, it would not change the current situation.

In that case, it would be better to inflict a debuff on her opponent too and let Himeko and Ali duke it out.

Even if this effect wasn't as strong as Pyramid Country's, they couldn't forget that Himeko's base strength was far above that of the other contestants.

"Then what else is there to say?! If he can beat Himeko to death with minus-eight-diopter vision, I'll accept it!"

WarGreymon decisively selected [Dizziness and Blurred Vision]. Zhang San tried to activate External Assistance as well, only to discover that it could only be used once within a short period.

They would have to wait an hour before using it again.

Inside the Restaurant, fifty seconds remained until the Pig Trotter Rice King appeared.

A notification likewise flashed before Ali's eyes.

[Huaxia has used Dizziness and Blurred Vision on you. Your balance has decreased.]

His previously clear vision suddenly became blurrier than a mosaic, but Ali didn't panic. Instead, he stepped forward and kicked the suitcase away.

"With such a huge chainsaw inside, I thought it would be heavy. Looks like your train has plenty of secrets."

Dizziness and Blurred Vision was certainly a serious problem, but Ali didn't believe Himeko, who had suffered a mental attack, could pose much of a threat without her weapon.

By his assessment, more than half of Himeko's strength lay in that chainsaw capable of cutting through anything.

Having studied martial arts, he had a very good chance of taking Himeko down!

"Looks like there's nothing to discuss."

Himeko forced down her discomfort. Her usual gentleness vanished, replaced by an unyielding resolve.

[Name: Himeko (Astral Express coffee manager)]

[Roleplay fidelity: 5% (Memories of classic old-school martial arts films from childhood gradually resurface, including the incident during your student days when you punched someone into a river despite being afflicted with a wind erosion curse.)]

"Himeko, that's your name, isn't it? Don't worry. I couldn't bear to kill you. You have plenty of things I need. As long as you open your mind and accept my control, I'll be merciful and spare your life. A beauty like you has plenty of uses-"

Before he could finish, Himeko had already stepped forward and smashed a fully powered punch into Ali's face.

Clean and crisp, as though she had thrown that punch thousands of times before.

The sound of bones shattering rang out. Ali tried to say something, but Himeko stepped forward again, moving directly in front of him.

After an uppercut, Himeko immediately followed with a vicious kick to his knee, then another punch square in his chest.

Ali flew backward, while Himeko used the momentum to retreat and grab her suitcase.

Ali trembled inwardly.

Judging by Himeko's behavior just now, she should have barely been able to walk. How could she unleash so much strength?

Could it be... she was playing weak?!

When Ali heard the Monomolecular Saw roar, he tried to beg for mercy, only to discover that his jaw had been smashed to pieces. There was nothing but excruciating pain, and he couldn't speak at all.

He wanted to flee, but one leg had completely stopped responding. Combined with Huaxia's External Assistance, he now couldn't see, couldn't beg for mercy, and had a broken leg when he wanted to run.

Having confirmed that he was an irredeemable enemy, Himeko had no intention of indulging him.

The Trailblazer's kindness was only ever shown to those who deserved it.

[Killed Pyramid Country contestant: Ali. Huaxia citizens' physical constitution increased by 10%. Contestant skill draws +1.]

[Achievement obtained: First Blood (If you spare an unquestionably evil person out of kindness, does that also make you an accomplice? No need to answer. You have once again taken a new step along the path of Trailblaze.)]

[Reward: Satellite Blueprint (You know what its firepower is like. You've always known.)]

Himeko didn't examine the rewards closely. Instead, she dragged her exhausted body along, forced herself to stay alert, and hurried downstairs.

Thirty seconds remained until the Pig Trotter Rice King appeared.