Naiser's Lifeline

The numbers representing the twelve contestants are now in the hands of the audience. Please cast your vote. Voting will close in half an hour, and the results will determine who is the ultimate Great Hero of Humanity in 30 minutes.

On the big screen, a huge chart appeared, displaying rows of popularity scores, attracting everyone's attention. As voting began, the popularity bars of the contestants started to rise steadily.

This surge clearly revealed the difference in popularity. Several minor characters who died early on had almost no increase in popularity from beginning to end. A total of six people saw their popularity rise relatively quickly, but soon it became clear who was ahead and who was behind. Eventually, only two people's popularity continued to rise.

One was Gao Daquan, and the other was surprisingly Naiser. Although he was slightly shorter Gao Daquan. It seems that Naiser's words just now really had a lot of effect.

Despite Naiser's various shortcomings, he was right about one thing: if in reality he were the one to emerge victorious and bring back alien technology data, it would, in a sense, demonstrate his strength.

Therefore, many people felt that their thinking was more mature and that they shouldn't be so pedantic, so they started voting for Naiser. Others simply admired Naiser's boldness and decisiveness. There are quite a few people with darker minds these days, and those who felt that Naiser's behavior suited their tastes also voted for Naiser.

Seeing Naiser's popularity steadily rising, Xiao Yu knew something was wrong. If Naiser really came out, he would definitely seek revenge. His previous clenched teeth look was still fresh in his mind. He quickly took out his phone.

Quickly vote for Gao Daquan! Not only should you vote, but you should also get Chenghong Moli to vote too.

Gao Daquan's expression was also quite unpleasant. He had originally thought he had victory in the bag, but now he realized there seemed to be some doubt. This Naiser was too shameless, spouting such nonsense, and yet so many people believed him. Was he kidding?

Thirty minutes passed quickly, and Naiser and Gao Daquan's popularity scores were almost neck and neck, leaving everyone else far behind. Since the specific numbers weren't displayed, it was almost impossible to tell who was better.

"Alright everyone, our final result has been revealed," the host said, pressing a button on the remote control, and the two energy bars finally displayed their specific values.

"Gao Daquan's final popularity score is 921231!"

"And Naiser's final popularity score is 921,075!"

"This is amazing! Their popularity scores are only a little over a hundred points apart. This is the first time in the history of Great Hero of Humanity that their scores have been so close!" the host exclaimed excitedly.

"It's over!" Naiser thought with a wave of despair, thinking, "This is it, I'm doomed. I never thought I'd lose by such a small margin."

"So, Naiser lost, right?" Chenghong Moli asked curiously from the side, sitting in front of the TV.

She also knew something about the feud between Xiao Yu and Naiser, so she paid close attention.

Xiao Yu shook his head. "Not yet. This is just the vote from the audience outside the venue. Next, we need to count the votes from the audience inside the venue."

He was very familiar with the rules of this reality show, having looked up a lot of information about the competition rules during this period.

Each ticket from an audience member outside the venue is worth only 0.01 points, while each ticket from an audience member inside the venue is worth 100 points. That's the difference.

Sure enough, the host took out a remote control and pressed a button, and two new popularity bars appeared next to the two popularity bars on the big screen.

"These are the votes from the live audience. Now, we'll combine these popularity scores."

"Gao Daquan's popularity score has reached 964,031."

"And Naiser's popularity rating has become 965075."

"My goodness, Naiser actually overtook Gao Daquan thanks to the audience's votes! This is the first time something like this has ever happened."

The host exclaimed in even greater excitement.

(Holy crap, I won!) Naiser was overjoyed. He thought to himself, "Has my luck finally turned? I really am the protagonist!"

The host, however, remained excited, "Now it's time for the final vote and scoring!"

Huh? Why do we need to vote? Naiser was taken aback.

Chenghong Moli over there asked in surprise, "Haven't we already voted? Why are we still keeping track of scores?"

"It's a vote by the contestants, each vote is worth 1000 points," Xiao Yu explained, though he was even more nervous than Naiser at this moment.

Although he's not afraid of Naiser now, it's always good to have one less enemy.

The host then said, "Next, it's time for the final voting. All participants can vote once, with each vote worth one thousand points."

What?! Naiser thought to himself, "Oh my god, bro, are you serious? Why are you taking such a long breath? Can't you just cast all your votes at once?"

The contestants over there have already started voting.

Naiser and Gao Daquan naturally voted for themselves directly. A few others also voted for themselves, but most people could see that they had no chance, so they voted for the one they liked more Gao Daquan or Naiser.

This is where the difference in popularity becomes apparent.

As each contestant cast their votes, the two continued to gain popularity.

The host kept reporting the data.

"Gao Daquan's popularity score has reached 970031."

"And Naiser's popularity rating has reached 970045."

"Eleven people have already cast their votes, and there's one last person who hasn't voted yet. Let's see who it is!"

Everyone looked at the last person, with Naiser and Gao Daquan craning their necks.

When Naiser saw who it was, a chill ran through him. It was Li Li, the Li Li he had personally killed. For her to side with him would be tantamount to adultery, unless—

"Oh dear, it's contestant Li Li! So, who will contestant Li Li vote for? She voted for contestant Gao Daquan! The final results of our competition are in, and contestant Gao Daquan has won the final victory, becoming the 36th Great Hero of Humanity."

As the host roared, Naiser collapsed to the ground. "It's over!" he thought. "I knew I was overthinking it. This is it, I'm completely finished."

Seeing this, Xiao Yu secretly felt a pang of sympathy for Naiser. Naiser was incredibly unlucky, and to be completely wiped out by his old flame in the game was just too dramatic. He wondered what Naiser was thinking right now. But it was good, at least he wouldn't have to worry about being retaliated against in the future.

He stretched. "Alright, the show's finally over. I'm going to bed. You should go to sleep early too. We're organizing a guild activity tomorrow..."

As he spoke, he turned off the TV.

That night, Xiao Yu slept exceptionally soundly.

However, some people couldn't sleep at all.

This person was Naiser.

He had already left the show about Great Hero of Humanity and was sent back to prison, lying in his small cell.

Staring blankly at the ceiling, he suddenly missed the endless yellow sands of the game. Because of the competition defeat, his sentence was not reduced at all; it was life imprisonment. Moreover, because he said he wanted revenge on the show, he was considered to have a bad attitude towards admitting his guilt, and his sentence would never be reduced. In other words, he would really have to stay in prison until he died.

Moreover, the prison he was in was no longer the safe zone of the National Network Bureau, but a real prison for serious offenders, where there were no computer games, making his life worse than death.

"Naiser, someone has come to visit."

A mechanical and cold electronic voice came from the room's communicator.

Huh? Naiser was taken aback, wondering who would come to visit him.

You know, because of the last scandal, his family had basically stopped caring about him. Now that they've pulled this stunt, he thought he was going to be completely cut off from the world.

Unexpectedly, someone actually came to visit him.

But since I have nothing to do in prison anyway, I might as well go and take a look.

Under the control of the mechanical guards, Naiser arrived at the visiting room. Sitting in a small cubicle, Naiser did not recognize the person who came to visit him; it was a kind-looking old man with a white beard.

"Hello Mr. Naiser, how have you been lately?"

Naiser sat down coldly, without saying a word.

"Mr. Naiser certainly doesn't want to spend the rest of his life like this, but don't worry, there's an opportunity for Naiser. We can get you out of prison. As long as you serve us, you can become our company's special technical consultant and serve your sentence outside of prison."

"Why me?" Naiser asked coldly.

The old man chuckled. "Because I can see you want revenge, don't you? And now there's a perfect opportunity that will allow you to both take your revenge and leave this godforsaken place. Mr. Naiser, are you interested?"

Naiser sneered, "How can I be sure you're not some other production team trying to trick me into participating in some **** reality show?"

The old man smiled slightly. "Mr. Naiser, do you think you have any other choice? Either rot away in this prison, or take a gamble. I understand your mindset right now; even a straw is a lifeline."

Naiser sighed. "Sure, what do you want me to do?"

"Of course, we'll do what you do best—play a game."

Upon hearing this, Naiser's heart skipped a beat, thinking, "Again?"