CHAPTER 67: CHAPTER 36: SINISTER SCHEMES

The live interview has ended, but the waves it stirred across the internet have yet to subside, and there is even a tendency for them to grow stronger.

Perhaps someone is fanning the flames behind the scenes, or maybe it’s a spontaneous reaction from the public... In any case, this internet wave spreading slowly beyond its initial circle doesn’t seem like it’s going to stop anytime soon.

However, none of this matters to Yan Luo; he doesn’t care about the commotion he’s caused online or how many people are arguing over him.

Yan Luo is currently only concerned about the upcoming competition.

In front of tens of thousands of viewers, he boasted that he would claim first place in the competition, and his deal with the Hunter’s Guild leaves him with no room for retreat; failure means missing out on the A-grade exoskeleton.

With an A-grade exoskeleton, Yan Luo can slaughter Dangerous-level Demons like chickens and attempt to take on those more powerful deadly-level Demons.

The magic power that deadly-level demons can provide is far greater than that of Dangerous-level demons, and the materials they yield are often more valuable, capable of supporting foundational academic development.

Yan Luo never goes on a hunt unprepared. He is well-versed in demons from the Abyss but lacks much knowledge about mutant creatures.

Since the day the interview ended, until just before the competition began, Yan Luo has been staying in a luxury apartment, researching and learning about the competition location and mutant creature data for this year’s Hunter Skill Tournament.

The competition location is situated in the central part of the Rocky Mountains, on the side near the west coast, with almost the entire large basin serving as the contestants’ hunting ground.

Before the competition starts, the city-breaking level mutant creatures living there will be hunted by the competition organizers. Since this isn’t the Abyss, many weapons can be used, so there’s no need to deploy Sequence Three Engravers; rocket launchers can easily dispatch the targets.

The competition rules do not specify that the contestants must hunt their prey on their own, which means that confrontations between contestants are permitted, allowing them to seize each other’s prey.

This rule is not good news for Yan Luo because of his previous boastful remarks, as his participation is a venture by the Hunter’s Guild to counteract misconceptions about hunters arising from this program.

The fact that the Hunter Skill Tournament has lasted so long and has been consistently popular indicates that there must be sponsors supporting it.

Unsurprisingly, these sponsors are most likely those supporting the contestants.

Additionally, Yan Luo’s entry into the competition is explicitly aimed at disrupting other contestants’ livelihoods, so they will certainly try everything to deal with him. They’re probably already discussing how to limit his performance in the competition.

......

Just as Yan Luo anticipated, apart from him, fifty-four other contestants gathered in a villa to discuss how to handle Yan Luo in this year’s Hunter Skill Tournament.

They all received indications from their sponsoring companies that Yan Luo must not win this competition’s championship.

Besides that, whoever wins will be rewarded.

Anyone can take first place, except Yan Luo!

Everyone present knew Yan Luo was there to disrupt their livelihood, even without instructions from their sponsors, they would take action themselves, at most not as united as they currently were.

"Tomorrow is the competition. We must come up with a plan today."

The speaker was a man from the Eastern Domain, with long bangs covering one eye, but his handsome face made this look not sleazy; instead, it gave him an air of brooding charisma.

Those sitting or standing cast their eyes towards him, awaiting his impassioned speech.

Maeda Makoto said unswervingly, "We need to assign a few people to block that guy; we can’t let him score!"

"That’s right, but..."

No sooner had he spoken than someone expressed skepticism, "Everyone knows we can’t let that guy score, at the very least not let him score easily. But who will do it? During the competition, we’re all exposed under the live broadcast cameras; if we seem too focused on shadowing Yan Luo, our careers will be ruined!"

Indeed, if someone were to shadow Yan Luo to prevent him from scoring, then whoever’s tasked with shadowing and scoring might as well bid farewell to the Hunter Skill Tournament forever.

The Hunter Skill Tournament has been held numerous times over the years, and contestants have never focused on exclusively targeting one person to score.

Occasional scoring attempts might add to the enjoyment of the competition, but specifically targeting one person will instead trigger audience resentment.

If met with numerous viewer complaints, contestants would not receive invitations to participate in future competitions.

The pre-competition segment where people trash-talk has long existed; most of them had boasted during their pre-competition interviews.

"In comparison, defying our sponsors’ wishes would be even more serious."

With these words, everyone looked over.

The speaker was lounging on a sofa, idlely mashing remote controls, flipping through TV channels.

He spoke in a lazy tone, "If worse comes to worst, we can still take things behind the scenes; but if we anger our sponsoring lords... Hey, everyone, who remembers how much loan debt each of us has, and how many years you’d need to work for our sponsors before fully paying it off?"

Everyone instantly recalled their debts, and their hearts sank.

The fact they could become contestants in the Hunter Skill Tournament, and possess such strength without entering the Abyss, was not due solely to their own abilities.

Their sponsors provided them with exoskeletons; even their participation earned them a salary, but attracting more audience, gaining more attention requires strength.

And ’strength’ doesn’t come for free.

Everyone owed money, and losing their contestant status meant transitioning backstage, where they might earn slightly less, but angering their sponsors could mean never repaying their loans.

Failing to repay loans was only the beginning; a mere flick of their sponsors’ fingers could send them to prison.

Prison inmates undergo labor reform, and if during this process they suffer accidents leading to disability or death, their families won’t receive any compensation, for in this world, no one knows better than the wealthy how to manipulate laws and find loopholes.

Their compensation would eventually circulate back to the companies and, after several hands, return to the wealthy’s coffers.

Thinking of this, everyone fell silent.

After a while, they began discussing their subsequent plans in a more amicable manner.

Ultimately, they decided that those contestants whose persona during the live stream was relatively dark would shadow Yan Luo. Such actions aligned with their persona and wouldn’t trigger fan resentment.

These individuals were not arranged to act together, otherwise anyone could see that the contestants had united, exerting their utmost efforts to tackle Yan Luo.

Only one person would shadow during the same period. Once their shadowing time exceeded ten to twelve hours, they could leave on their own. The following day, another person would take over.

Though contestants are ostensibly deployed randomly, they can request their sponsors behind the scenes to alter deployment locations with a little leniency.

Otherwise, given the huge size of the hunting ground, locating Yan Luo is challenging enough, let alone preventing him from scoring.

This was already the least impactful option they could think of.

With the plan confirmed, the contestants dispersed silently, ensuring no one knew they had held a pre-competition meeting.

Everything was ready; now they just had to await the competition’s arrival.

Thus, amidst the continuous turbulence and undercurrents of the internet, the much-anticipated Hunter Skill Tournament finally commenced!

A flightcraft carrying fifty-five contestants was already hovering over the large basin, ready to deploy the contestants downwards.

Yan Luo opened his eyes, stood up from his seat, walked towards the slowly opening cabin door, and leapt out of the flightcraft.

Heading into an uninhabited territory filled with mutant creatures!