You're Telling Me You're... Chopping Down Trees?

Ailiya felt a little awkward, and even more like crying without tears.

She had originally hoped that switching to Andrew's feed would let her steer things in his favor in certain ways, earning him a higher score in the later evaluation.

But now, no matter how hard she tried,

There was just no way to steer it!

With a teammate dragging her down, no amount of steering on her part would help.

Brian felt a little awkward too.

He really wanted to charge into the show, pin Andrew down and beat him up. Couldn't he just act normal?

Even if he did just about anything, they could hype it to the skies!

But he wasn't doing anything at all, so what were they supposed to do?

What a pig teammate, a pig teammate!

As carefully selected hosts backed by powerful capital, they knew some of the secrets and specific arrangements behind the scenes.

The show's backstage operations were under close watch.

The world's most powerful top-tier countries were all involved, and supposedly there were some unmentionable reasons behind it as well. It would be extremely difficult for anyone to pull any tricks.

Otherwise, they would have already leaked some things to Andrew.

But looking at the situation now, it was a little despair-inducing.

Replacing him was out of the question.

They could only hope he would pull himself together and strive to do better later, so they could make something of it.

Otherwise, his score would keep tanking all the way.

Sea Eagle Country wouldn't know where to put its face.

Surpass Ye Jin?

They didn't even dare think about it.

That guy wasn't human.

But they had other calculations in mind. Ye Jin kept courting death, taking on all kinds of extreme sports. Maybe one day a serious accident would kill him.

When that happened...

They built castles in the air.

Then they sighed at the same time and exchanged a glance. First, they had to deal with the matter in front of them.

Brian gave an awkward but polite smile.

"Andrew may not have recovered yet. Let's give him some time. I hope everyone can understand his behavior."

"After all, when people suffer a major blow, it's easy for them to be left with some psychological trauma. I believe Andrew can recover quickly, so please be a little more tolerant of him."

They were from the same country, after all.

No matter how Brian looked at it, he had to protect and salvage some of Andrew's image.

If it had been someone from another country, he would have already been stomping on them for all he was worth.

He coughed lightly twice and changed the subject.

He switched the feed to Duke of Iris Country.

"What we're seeing now is Duke of Iris Country. He seems to have been immersed in opera this whole time."

"Now he seems to have recovered somewhat. He hasn't lost control of his emotions again."

"But he seems a little lost now. The heavy blow has made him subconsciously start to escape from life and his surroundings, imagining himself as the protagonist of an opera. He has begun to sink into it."

Brian shook his head.

If they were in Duke's place, they might have retreated even further from real life.

Then the camera switched again.

"What we're seeing now is Yige'er of Iron Bear Country. He's driving a big pickup truck, and we can see that his pickup is actually towing a machine gun. My god, where is he going to wreak havoc?"

Yige'er was driving an imposing pickup, with a large crate of fine liquor beside his seat.

He drank as he drove.

His face was flushed red, and he was excited.

Brian thought he was going out to vent, just like Andrew.

Ailiya was a little puzzled and picked up the conversation.

"But his vehicle seems to be heading toward the outskirts. What is he taking a machine gun out there for?"

She couldn't figure it out, no matter how she thought about it.

The viewers began guessing too.

"He's taking such a big machine gun to shoot birds, right? Knowing how the fighting nation operates, it's not impossible."

"A machine gun that big, and so much ammunition? He's doing more than shooting birds. He's going to wipe out the whole species. That's just too savage."

"There are still birds in the woods on the outskirts?"

"There should be, right? The production team couldn't be so inhumane as to kill every bird. I'd guess there are animals too, not just birds. Otherwise, wouldn't there be a flaw in the show?"

"True. That guess is the most likely."

"So smart, so clear and logical. Give yourself an extra chicken leg!"

Yige'er drove the heavy pickup on a rampage.

He was the only person in the world anyway, so it didn't matter how he drove.

Road signs, motorcycles, whatever he came across on the road, he floored the gas and smashed them all aside.

The viewers' eyes lit up a little as they watched, suddenly feeling that this kind of violence was beautiful too.

It couldn't compare to Ye Jin, but it seemed worth watching.

Most of all, they were eager to see what he was going to do with the machine gun out in the suburbs.

Once he fired a burst, whether he was shooting birds or fish, they'd probably die in droves.

As they waited in anticipation,

A few minutes later,

Yige'er stopped in a dense forest.

"I was right, wasn't I? He's definitely here to shoot birds, or maybe animals."

"Anyway, the whole world has disappeared and there's nobody to stop him, so there's no harm in having some fun. Talking about it is making me want to do it too. I'd love to take a machine gun and give my neighbor a burst."

"Fuck, Ron, you bastard, I'm coming over right now."

Everyone: ...

They could even run into an old acquaintance while posting a barrage comment.

Yige'er threw several sandbags off the pickup and piled them up as a mounting platform, then secured the machine gun.

He loaded it to capacity, with several spare machine-gun magazines and a box of ammunition beside it.

Everyone couldn't help gaping at the setup.

If this were at the mouth of a canyon, that one machine gun alone could seal off the entire canyon.

They really wanted to experience a thrill like that.

As they watched, their eyes burning with anticipation,

The machine gun in Yige'er's hands spat a wild tongue of flame. In the dark, it would have looked like a line of fire.

An endless stream of bullets poured out.

Every single one slammed into the tree in front of him.

In just ten seconds, a tree that was decades old crashed down, smashing the branches beside it, kicking up clouds of dust and startling birds into flight from the forest.

After bringing down one tree, he swung the muzzle toward a second. Another tree, only decades old, fell as wood chips flew everywhere.

Judging by his stance, he wasn't shooting at random, and he didn't look at all like he was taking revenge on the world. Who would run into a forest to take revenge on the world?

All the bullets were concentrated at the bases of the trees.

It looked more like he was... chopping down trees.

All the viewers: ...

Although viewers around the world didn't speak the same language, the same words flashed through all their minds: Holy shit!

They had seen fierce, but never this fierce.

He was using a machine gun to chop down trees.

This was the fucking first time they'd ever seen that!!

He could at least take revenge on the city! Or shoot some birds! Failing that, couldn't he use it to blast a mountain?

It was the first time they had seen anything like it.

Then again, chopping down trees this way was pretty effective. A tree decades old was done for in ten seconds.

There weren't any other major drawbacks. It just used up a few bullets.

Yige'er drank expensive liquor while wildly pouring out bullets with one hand, and somehow the two didn't seem all that much at odds on him.

Everyone thought: ...

What was this?

Logging under the influence?

The host switched the feed.

"Viewers, Professor Chase of Harvard University is ready, and we're preparing to connect with him. The other countries haven't shown many highlights, so we'll look at them when we have time."

"All right, we're getting ready to put him on the main screen."

Rose of Sharon Country: ...

Night Cherry Country: ...

Non-Black Flame Country: ...

Peacock Country: ...

For fuck's sake, what about our countries?

You're just not going to watch us?

So we're just extras, huh?