Who Stands Below, and Why Are You Accusing This Official?!

The eighteen commentators present stared at him in shock.

Their faces were a picture of disbelief.

Damn it, was the production team really pulling a stunt like this?

They even had veto power over a vote.

It would have been one thing if that happened somewhere else.

But I came here to vote, and they had it here too!!!

How were they supposed to vote now?

Only Dong Wending was overjoyed. He had already prepared himself to lose, but unexpectedly, the road had taken a turn for the better.

Now he wouldn't have to disappoint the leadership.

Andrew lost his composure on the spot.

He looked up at the high-ranking official above, hoping he would step forward and say something, only to find that the man had tacitly accepted the move.

He wanted to spit blood.

Damn it, could this vote even continue?

If they were going to play like this, why bother voting at all? Were they voting for nothing?

He was practically sick.

If you had veto power, why didn't you say so earlier?!

You had me jumping up and down here like a clown. If the media got hold of this, what would become of my lifelong reputation?

What he didn't know was this.

The five high-ranking officials had only learned about the veto power after arriving here themselves.

The director announced another vote.

Brandon felt as sick as if he had swallowed a fly.

He canvassed for votes again.

Sea Eagle Country lived up to expectations and took first place once more.

Brandon looked smugly up at Xia Country's high-ranking official. They had voted again, and he was first again. What could the man do about it?

Did he have another veto?

To his surprise, Nine Domains Nation's high-ranking official exercised his veto yet again.

He stared at the stunt unfolding before him, dumbstruck.

Gritting his teeth, he proceeded to a third vote.

Sea Eagle Country came first again.

Brandon looked at Xia Country's high-ranking official with the eyes of a man nursing a bitter grudge. Who said rabbits were gentle?

Seeing that Nine Domains Nation's high-ranking official was about to exercise his veto again,

Sea Eagle Country's high-ranking official lost his composure. Another veto? Were they going to get anywhere today or not?

Before he had been appointed to oversee the production team, the supreme leader had discreetly revealed a few things to him. He knew there would be discrepancies in the process, but he had never expected things to be this rigid.

Because of his rank, he didn't know the deepest reason behind it.

He only knew that Sea Eagle Country had better take first place.

"Mr. Liang, if we keep voting like this, going back and forth, we'll never reach a result. My Sea Eagle Country has always been first, and it must be first this time too."

"Why don't we each take a step back? Sea Eagle Country takes first, and Nine Domains Nation takes second. What do you say?"

His words sounded grand and high-minded.

In reality, they served no useful purpose whatsoever.

Mr. Liang of Nine Domains Nation glanced at him as though looking at a prancing clown. Without another word, he exercised his veto again.

Sea Eagle Country's high-ranking official: ...

He was furious.

Furious beyond compare.

He gave a cold smile. "Director, I propose abolishing Nine Domains Nation's veto power."

As soon as he said it,

the room erupted in an uproar.

They had seen arrogance before, but never anything this arrogant.

He was openly abolishing the veto power.

But after he finished speaking,

Nine Domains Nation's high-ranking official slapped the button in front of him again.

James: "Nine Domains Nation has vetoed Sea Eagle Country's proposal to abolish Nine Domains Nation's veto power."

Sea Eagle Country's high-ranking official: ...

Everyone: ...

Holy shit!

Damn it!

They had thought Sea Eagle Country was ruthless, but Nine Domains Nation was even more ruthless!

Awesome!

I veto your veto of me!

That was the equivalent of: "Who stands below, and why are you accusing this official?"

Was there anything more badass on the face of the earth?

No!

Even Sea Eagle Country, badass enough to explode,

was left questioning its life when faced with his veto once again.

If it had been any other country, he would have slapped sanctions on it long ago.

But the other side was just like him.

Both were among the strongest teams on the face of the earth.

It was only slightly weaker than his.

After exercising his veto for the fourth time, Mr. Liang raised his head and smiled at him.

"You can't take away the veto power granted to me from above. I'll respect a reasonable result, but if the result is unreasonable, don't blame me for exercising my right."

His words were mild,

but the thunderous force behind their mildness

was envied by every country present.

Not everyone had the ability, the nerve, or the standing to go head-to-head with Sea Eagle Country.

Before you could have that kind of strength, you had to fight your way through the vast majority of the world's countries.

You had to fight every one of the four rogue nations.

That was epic, hell-level difficulty.

How many countries had once tried to take up the challenge?

Xia Country was the only one that had cleared the final dungeon.

Seeing that he couldn't get his way, Sea Eagle Country's high-ranking official also lost heart. The other man couldn't deprive him of his rights, and he likewise couldn't deprive the other man of his.

Matters at the highest level should be resolved by those at the highest level,

not by people like them who had been pushed onto the stage.

"Director, please suspend the scoring round and report this to the higher-ups..."

The person in charge from Sea Eagle Country suspended the program.

The specially invited commentators from countries all over the world suddenly discovered that the glass in front of them had gone opaque, and all the audio equipment had been removed. They couldn't make out a single word the Sea Eagle Country representative was saying!

Soon, they were told

that there had been some oversights in the scoring round,

and some things had yet to be finalized.

They would come back online in half an hour.

At the same time, everything discussed at today's meeting was top secret. Anyone who leaked it would face joint sanctions from the Human Destiny Alliance.

Every commentator's heart trembled.

Joint sanctions from the Human Destiny Alliance.

The consequences were too terrible to contemplate.

They could only bury these secrets deep in their hearts, perhaps even take them to their graves.

Soon, they all went offline.

Elsewhere, at the headquarters of the Human Destiny Alliance,

the alliance's decision-makers, who were not so in the true sense, began talks over a video link.

If this scene were broadcast live, who knew what a commotion it would cause?

It would probably be no less sensational than a small-scale world war.

For the sake of a single program, the five top decision-makers of some of the most powerful countries in the world had actually begun talks.

How terrifying was that?

The thought alone was enough to chill the heart.

Unfortunately, people outside would never learn the truth. All they knew was that this was a reality show where the winner could receive over a hundred million US dollars, while the losers could still receive tens of millions in compensation.

The five true decision-makers had already received word.

"Ye Jin performed the best of anyone there. No one could compare to him, and you should know that perfectly well yourself. Why do you keep pressing the issue?"

"You were the ones who proposed the God's Chosen Son plan. Now you want to manipulate the competition and go back on your word. If that's the case, we might as well not do it."

The person in overall charge of Nine Domains Nation spoke with an authority that needed no anger.

They had proposed the plan, only to go back on their word.

That was something he hadn't expected.

You were the one who said we should play, weren't you?

And you're the one who can't take losing!

He hadn't expected the other party to be so thick-skinned as to secretly manipulate the competition. How many viewers were they disregarding?

It wasn't hard to imagine how great a negative impact there would be once the competition results were made public.

He would never give way!

It's a new day, let's go! Charge, charge, charge! Brothers and sisters, come smash me to death with your recommendation votes!

Here's one chapter first. There'll be two more tomorrow, so remember to come back and read them. Thank you, everyone!

Also, thanks to The Spring Breeze and I Are Both Passersby for 300 book coins, 854***899 for 100 book coins, and 8UIC for 200 book coins (I couldn't find a single letter of your name, so I used this instead!). Thank you to all three of you for the tips.