Chapter 40

Chapter 40

Most specters tend to prey on the weak and cower before the strong. Witnessing the swift prostration of the audience member dragged in from the live performance, the efficiency-driven interim squad leader of the Information Department, standing beside Su Jianglou, waved him off, signaling his dismissal.

The next moment, on another computer screen, a somewhat more defiant audience member was pulled out.

Following a similar procedure, everyone worked in parallel, processing about ten individuals every five seconds.

Finally, a miraculous scene unfolded in the venue…

After the first group of trainees concluded their dance, the stage lights and the large screen illuminated simultaneously.

Perhaps to better capture the trainees' nervous expressions, during the audience voting period, all trainees faced the audience, their backs to the large screen displaying real-time vote counts.

To ascertain their vote tally and potential elimination, the trainees could only infer from the audience's reactions.

At this critical juncture, even the "four-protect-one" team members, who had been confident moments before, couldn't help but feel a surge of apprehension.

Wang Xingxing stole a glance at Director Lin, who was several seats away, thinking to himself that he'd rather be standing under the guillotine himself.

Lately, every night he closed his eyes, the faces of his younger sister and grandfather would involuntarily appear in his mind.

During his novice period, he had once lost a life in a dungeon. After emerging, he had even sought out the bureau's psychological therapist for hypnosis to erase the memories of that experience.

If he, an adult, struggled so much, he couldn't imagine how he would cope if Director Lin wasn't protected this time.

With this thought, he couldn't help but scan the audience for familiar faces.

Selection Manager Su was seated prominently, making him easy to spot.

Wang Xingxing gazed at Selection Manager Su in the audience. If this weren't a supernatural dungeon, most people would likely believe the young man sitting there was just an ordinary college student.

He observed Selection Manager Su's eyes, sparkling as he glanced at the large screen, then individually scanned each of them.

Wang Xingxing began to doubt whether he had misinterpreted the meaning behind that gaze.

Judging by Selection Manager Su's consistently cheerful yet slightly nervous expression, he surmised that perhaps none of the nineteen trainees on stage would be eliminated.

But was that even possible?

So, in the end, he was probably just overthinking it...

Selection Manager Su likely harbored no ill will towards them, but the emotional shifts of a specter couldn't be predicted by conventional logic.

Just as he was contemplating this, Wang Xingxing noticed some commotion in the audience.

Voting was nearing its end, and almost every audience member he could see was staring at the stage with expressions of disbelief.

Finally, a loud *ding* resonated throughout the entire stadium.

Voting closed.

At that moment, all the trainees on stage noticed the angry expressions of the audience.

Some audience members even stood up and forcefully hurled the light sticks they had received upon entry onto the stage, shouting, "It's rigged!"

"A hand reached out and voted for me! This is an unforgivable fraud!"

"Refund! If you don't, I'll kill your whole family!"

This outcry seemed to be the signal for the rest of the enraged audience.

In an instant, all the spectators stirred, and a tidal wave of boos and shouts surged like a turbulent sea, threatening to shatter the calm surface.

The mentors, having received their fees from the production team, considered speaking but, after a moment's thought, sheepishly put down their microphones.

A more polite way to describe "bullying the weak and fearing the strong" is "assessing the situation."

Seeing that all the audience members were dissatisfied with the voting results, speaking up now would only provoke mass outrage.

The change happened too quickly. By the time the trainees on stage realized the voting segment had temporarily ended and they could turn to see the results, the next second, they all froze in their turning posture.

Nineteen bar graphs, representing each trainee's individual vote count, appeared on the screen, identical in size, height, and width—as if directly copied and pasted.

The screen displayed that 12 audience members had abstained.

The remaining nineteen trainees each received 52 votes.

The results were so perfectly balanced that it made one suspect an invisible hand was manipulating even the 12 abstentions.

Unlike the angry audience, some trainees who felt their performance today wasn't particularly good found their hearts skip a beat at the sight of these numbers.

Only then did one trainee realize his palms were clammy. Opening his hand, he saw several crescent-shaped marks where his short nails had dug into his skin, now bleeding slightly.

"Does this mean none of us will be eliminated or punished?" he asked.

His question went unanswered by the audience and the mentors.

But a fellow trainee beside him replied, "Yes. Rules are rules."

For players, rules are both a trap and a form of protection.

So, no matter how dissatisfied the audience was, the assistant director, who had been backstage, had no choice but to step to the center of the stage and forcefully quell the audience's discontent.

"Refunds?" The assistant director spoke into the microphone, his tone resolute. "Not a chance!"

"My entire family consists of 24,896 members. Go ahead, try to kill them all!"

Such bravado is common here.

"Security! Seal the arena! Let's see who dares to cause trouble!"

Though the assistant director appeared firm, he was actually nervous. He had always been relieved that the director seemed dead, but now he somewhat missed the director, who was stronger than him.

Fortunately, the moment he asserted his authority, intending to forcefully suppress the entire crowd, some of the most rebellious audience members, on the verge of protesting, were swiftly knocked unconscious by black hands reaching out from the darkness!

The unconscious specters were unceremoniously kicked under the audience seats.

The massive stadium fell silent.

The audience's reaction made the assistant director feel as light as a feather.

He gazed down at the crowd with drunken greed, feeling that at this moment, his specter life had reached its peak. His already towering authority seemed to grow even stronger.

He truly embodied the demeanor of a chief director now.

"The show goes on. No one from the first group is eliminated. Get off the stage," the assistant director lowered his voice, sounding deep and authoritative. "Second group, take the stage."

The specter's luck was on a roll, and even the players cooperated with him. The first group of trainees scrambled to line up in perfect formation, keeping their eyes forward and quickly descending the stage.

The second group, a bunch of trainees with sleeves flapping chaotically, clattered onto the stage in a rush.

This time, the dance accompaniment was no longer a cello but a piano.

Amid the elegant piano melody, every trainee on stage moved with expressions and gestures reminiscent of a gender-bent version of the Venus de Milo, utterly captivating.

After the performance, the audience began voting as usual.

Some audience members, having learned their lesson, kept their eyes fixed on their voting screens.

And then… out of nowhere, another phantom hand appeared!

Subsequently, IT department staff, who had already arrived as reinforcements from headquarters, straightened their collars and casually took their seats in the now-vacant audience rows.

The final voting results: 18 trainees, 10 audience members abstained, and each trainee received 55 votes.

By this point, some of the smarter audience members had realized that this was a vote manipulation ring operating with arrogant disregard.

Clearly, the arrogance of those in power lies in their disregard for the audience's opinions—they only care about achieving their desired outcome.

With the first two groups setting the precedent, the identical results from the next three groups of trainees were no longer as shocking to the specters.

By the end of the entire performance, it was clear that the promise to eliminate a large number of trainees had been broken.

The so-called "punishment spectacle" meant for the audience had turned into a farce.

The audience felt they had fallen for the biggest scam of the century, seething with frustration with no outlet.

Unlike the real world, where dark, negative emotions occasionally arise but positivity and light are generally pursued, the ordinary residents of the specter world are deeply influenced by the negative emotions emanating from powerful specters.

Many ordinary specter residents have lived their entire lives within the sphere of influence of these powerful specters.

They are reflections and vessels of the twisted emotions and obsessions of these powerful entities.

A powerful specter suffering in agony cannot raise kind, happy little specters.

It can only impart pain, distortion, greed, demands, arrogance, malice…

Until its followers find pleasure in pain.

As the audience dispersed after the performance, Su Ximu inadvertently noticed one audience member with a twisted expression, savagely gnawing on their own arm while their gaze remained fixed on the empty stage.

Faint, muffled words seemed to escape through their gritted teeth—words like "anticipation" and "happiness."

But in the blink of an eye, the audience member stood up and hurried off.

Soon, the audience had mostly left.

Su Ximu also stood up to escort his "big brother" out of the stadium.

Standing outside the stadium, listening to his "big brother's" words of concern, Su Ximu hesitated for a moment before saying, "Big brother, our program team will have time off next week. When I return home, there's something very important I want to discuss with you."

"Um… it would be best if Second Brother and Third Brother are there too."

Since Su Ximu mentioned it was something to discuss next week, Su Xuanxiao didn’t press further and simply nodded. "Alright, I understand. I’ll notify them."

Then, opening his wallet, he handed over another stack of pocket money.

***

After the performance, the program team staff and trainees had to return to Supernatural Island.

However, for everyone, this night was destined to be a sleepless one.

Rao Fei tossed and turned while replaying every detail of the voting incident from that night.

While it was certainly a relief that no trainees were eliminated today, it also indicated that something unknown had once again altered the course of this instance.

It was highly likely that a third-party specter group with even greater power had intervened in this audition instance.

After much deliberation, Rao Fei went into the bathroom, retrieved an ultra-thin, phone-shaped supernatural tool from the sole of his shoe, and used one of his precious opportunities to contact the outside world.

By the time the performance ended, it was almost midnight. This was a rare opportunity to stay up late.

He drafted a message detailing the anomalies of the day and requested off-site analytical support, then clicked send.

Two hours later, he received a reply from Director Zhao. In addition to some analytical suggestions regarding the information he had sent, there was one line: "Additional latest materials about the instance are attached. Please review and analyze carefully."

Materials about this instance?

Rao Fei raised an eyebrow, returning to the bathroom, and opened the two-page document.

He suspected the materials likely came from that Writer Specter again.

Much of their bureau’s intel on instances was sourced from Writer Specter.

That specter was practically the biggest leak in the supernatural world.

Opening the document, he found a photo labeled: "Specter 101 Instance Boss."

Rao Fei’s eyes widened in shock.

He had seen the half-fish monster in the photo before!

And not just once!

Author's Note:

Rao Fei, always first in line for instance gossip: "Thank you~"