DTTM 19

Chapter 19: Do You Want To Win the Trophy?

The Wan Shu Church was even quieter at night. If it weren’t for the presence of the dark gray statue directly in front, it would be easy to mistake it for a huge library.

I quietly passed behind the believers who were reading, came to the left side of the church, opened the door of a confessional, and slipped inside.

The confessional was very cramped, barely big enough for one person to sit upright, and had no partitions. In place of a priest was an electronic screen directly in front of me.

I had just sat down when the black screen flashed and a line of white text slowly appeared.

[Do you wish to confess, my child?]

“I have no sins,” I said softly, staring at the words.

The text disappeared, then reappeared after a while.

[Do you wish to share your joys, my child?]

“I have no joy either.”

[Then do you wish to report a secret, my child?]

“Yes, I wish to inform. This secret can only be heard by the supreme leader of Free Will, and I need to speak with him.”

[Say your name, my child.]

“Jiang Man”.

After I said my name, the screen suddenly froze, and then, as if there was a problem with a circuit, the image flickered frequently, eventually turning into a screen full of static.

The static lasted for a good ten seconds, then went completely black. However, it quickly restarted and resumed normal operation. This time, however, instead of white text, the screen displayed a gentle-looking young man in a white lab coat.

“Ge, you were looking for me?”

The other party was my biological younger brother, Ye Shuer.

Compared to me, he looked more like my father. Sometimes when I looked at him, I felt disoriented, as if I’m seeing my father when he was young. But unlike our father, he was upright, kind, and scornful of fame and fortune.

“How’s the work going?” I asked him.

“It’s not going well. The key isn’t with Zong Shen’an. I suspect it’s already been transferred to Zong Yanlei. Ge, keep an eye out.” Ye Shuer sighed softly as he spoke. “The celebration day is only a few months away. Ge, I’m a little scared.”

Upon hearing the first part of his sentence, my fingertips, which were resting on my knees, twitched.

“What are you afraid of?”

“To destroy a nation, one must first plunge it into chaos. This country is becoming increasingly chaotic because of us, and I fear… I fear unforeseen changes, I fear meaningless deaths.”

After Scholar Ye was persecuted to death by Penglai, Ye Shuer secretly established “Free Will,” aiming to gather the strength of the people of Wo and resist the oppression of the royal power. The Wan Shu Church was ostensibly a preaching site for Free Will, but in reality, it was a vast information gathering center.

He used his knowledge to create an impregnable defense system for the confessional. Here, the people of Wo and even the people of Penglai could speak freely and frankly without fear of being monitored, reported, or punished.

Hatred, joy, secrets… everything was gathered together, and then AI filtered out key information, annotated and summarized it, forging sharp blades aimed at Penglai.

The two bishops of the Jing Shi religion, and the scandal involving Wuxi Chen, were only the prelude to our disturbance in Penglai.

That’s right.

Our.

Ye Shuer possessed remarkable talent and lofty ideals, but lacked decisiveness and was too indecisive.

At first, I simply couldn’t bear to watch and made a small decision for him, but he clung to me like a lifeline, pestering me to make more decisions. Later, as his dependence on me grew, I gradually entered the core of Free Will. Now, I have become another decision-maker behind Ye Shuer.

“Everything was a decision I made for you, and I should bear all the consequences and deaths. You don’t need to worry too much. The most important thing for you now is to hide your identity and wait for the right opportunity.” Whenever I talked to him, he was almost always depressed, so my words weren’t very sincere. “Is the key to the neuro-navigation pod really not at the Sun God Group headquarters? Should you look for it again?”

Three months from now, Penglai will hold a grand celebration to commemorate the 300th anniversary of its founding. Due to the advanced age of the King of Penglai and the Pope, who were unable to leave the Zhongyang District, and for their safety, this event will be held in the metaverse. At that time, all members of the royal family and church members will enter neuro-navigation pods.

This was the best time to launch a coup.

According to Ye Shuer, the Sun God Group had a command key. Whoever possessed this key could control the AI created by Sun God, and thus control the metaverse and all neuro-navigation pods. He had been secretly searching for this key since joining the Sun God Group, hoping to copy it. At the beginning of the year, he finally had a clue that the key should be with Zong Shen’an, but unexpectedly, the other party fell ill after only a few days.

Now, Ye Shuer said the key had been transferred to Zong Yanlei… Based on my understanding of him, his “suspicion” could basically be treated as confirmed information.

“Huh? It’s really not here. I’ve been looking for it for ages. Ge, what’s wrong? Is there a problem on your end?” Ye Shuer suddenly became anxious, moving even closer to the camera. “Did Zong Yanlei notice?”

“…No, not really.”

Although Ye Shuer knew that I had previously served as Zong Yanlei’s study companion, his understanding was superficial. He assumed our relationship was a normal employer-employee one and was unaware of the complicated history between us. If he had known, he probably wouldn’t have agreed to my plan.

Hearing this, he relaxed and leaned back: “That’s good. It’s quite a coincidence that Xiang Ze submitted your resume before he died. I was worried that Zong Yanlei would become suspicious.”

“Thanks to Manager Xu, if it weren’t for him, I might not even have had the chance to meet Zong Yanlei.”

“Yes, thanks to him. It’s hard to believe that someone as prominent and influential as him from Penglai would become a believer in Free Will.”

Xu Chengye joined Free Will two years ago. He probably used the Wan Shu Church as a place to confide, often venting his dissatisfaction with his work in the confessional. These complaints were meticulously analyzed, the useless parts were removed, and the essential ones were kept, eventually forming data points highlighted in red and presented to Ye Shuer, soft-hearted, kind, compassionate and fond of the Wo people, and exploitable.

Therefore, even without Xiang Ze, I would have tried to join the Sun God team, though it would have been more complicated. With Xiang Ze, everything became much more logical.

“He’s definitely a good person; he even has the symbol of free will tattooed on his body.” I chuckled softly at this point. “I’ll keep an eye on the key, and at the same time, I’ll continue to cultivate my ‘hero’ image.”

“Yes, I’ll keep you updated if there’s any news from Yu Xuan.”

Upon hearing Yu Xuan’s name, I paused slightly, thought for a moment, and then added, “Don’t trust him too much. His ambition is too great, and his hatred is too intense; it might not be a good thing for Wo.”

Ye Shuer paused for a moment, then smiled, a smile that was innocent and naive: “Ge, he wouldn’t do that, he’s a good person.”

In his eyes, there were probably no other villains in the world besides the nobles of Penglai.

Indeed, Yu Xuan had been secretly supporting Scholar Ye for many years, even taking care of things for him while he was in prison. After Scholar Ye passed away, Yu Xuan continued to sponsor Ye Shuer’s schooling, thus showing them a great deal of protection. Ye Shuer had always been clear about right and wrong, so why would he be wary of his benefactor?

After the neuro-navigation pod opened, I rubbed the area on the back of my neck where the chip was implanted. It was a bit hotter than normal skin there, and if I pressed it, I would feel a slight pain, but it didn’t affect my daily life.

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The Sun God Racing Team arrived in Fantong yesterday and checked into a local luxury hotel. To facilitate the athletes’ practice, four neuro-navigation pods were transported to the hotel in advance and placed in a temporary training room converted from a conference room. However, today, apart from me, no one else was using this place, Tan Yunmei and Yi You went out early this morning for an interview, and Zong Yanlei… he wouldn’t tell me where he’s going.

Thinking of him, I also thought of the bet I made with him yesterday.

Zong Yanlei had no reason not to accept the new bet I proposed, and indeed, he accepted. But he smiled as if I were already on my way to the underworld tomorrow.

“Alright, let’s bet. Don’t back out later.”

Thankfully, he accepted it.

I went back to my room, and as soon as I entered, I collapsed onto the soft sofa and let out a long sigh of relief.

When a group shares a common “hero” or “center of faith,” emotions are unified and order is strengthened, making the group easier to mobilize and guide. They will actively and wholeheartedly entrust the world, which they cannot control, to an entity that can easily achieve this “control.”

And I am that entity.

Or rather, I am about to become that entity.

There could be no more inspiring, uplifting, and moving story than that of a commoner who fought his way up from malice and contempt to become the GTC champion.

I will become a hero to all the people of Wo, a rebel who turns the impossible into the possible, a super idol in the secular sense. I will use GTC, use Zong Yanlei, and use this corrupt class that has long been hollowed out by power.

Therefore, before the “god” is created, I must stay in the Sun God team and by Zong Yanlei’s side.

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The following day, Fantong’s regional competition was held as scheduled. Compared to the grand opening match, the venue was smaller this time, and the way people entered was changed to a lift platform that led directly to the center of the stage.

As the champions of the previous leg, we were the first to go out, but Zong Yanlei was nowhere to be seen before we reached the lift platform. Xu Chengye was sweating profusely, making a phone call while gesturing for us to go first.

Led by the staff, the three of us headed to the elevator platform to prepare. After passing through a long corridor, Tan Yunmei, who was in the first position, suddenly stopped.

“The Demon King.” She pointed ahead.

At the bend in the corridor, Zong Yanlei, dressed in a white racing outfit, was talking to someone. The other person was standing further inside, so their face couldn’t be seen, but judging from the exposed blue hem of their clothes and the leg of their trousers, they were likely a contestant.

“Mr. Zong, it’s almost time to enter…” a staff member reminded him.

Zong Yanlei turned his head and then saw us.

As we approached, the person who was talking to Zong Yanlei gradually revealed himself.

“Damn it, it’s Lance.” Yi You cursed in a voice only the two of us could hear.

Lance, Zong Yanlei’s former navigator, suddenly joined Maria team two years ago, which led to the decline of the Sun God team.

Last time, the Maria team entered the track from the entrance opposite us, which was quite far away, and their results were outside the top three, so I didn’t have much of an impression of Lance.

But seeing him up close today, he was truly a beauty.

Beneath his short, fluffy white curly hair was a small face, about 170 cm tall, similar to Qi Zhan of Black Diamond. However, perhaps due to his slender build, he didn’t appear short; instead, he looked fragile. His blue eyes, purer than the sky, further enhanced this fragility, giving him an aura that was almost indistinguishable from a lily of the valley.

“Then I’ll be going now.” He said to Zong Yanlei as he looked over here.

I don’t know why, but I felt that he stared at me for an unusually long time, and his eyes were a bit… cold.

He didn’t greet his former colleagues; he turned and left without looking back.

“Let’s go.” Seeing that he had left, Zong Yanlei also did not intend to explain, and joined us to continue towards the elevator platform.

I stared at the tall white figure in front of me for a moment, then turned to look at the blue figure that was moving further and further away, before finally looking away and following the group.

After all the teams had presented themselves, the contestants, just like in the previous competition, all entered their neuro-navigation pod. The difference this time was that I was in the same pod as Tan Yunmei.

I meticulously planned the route, not returning to the waiting room until the very last moment. During the discussion, I diligently fulfilled my role as the co-driver, never overstepping my bounds, only occasionally adding a few words and speaking little else.

In the actual race, Tan Yunmei and I cleared obstacles for the main car in the first half according to the tactics we had discussed. But in the second half, we separated from the main car and went our separate ways. Without any warning, I brought up another possibility to Tan Yunmei.

“Do you want to win the trophy?”

Our car was leaping through the air, with a bottomless abyss below. Tan Yunmei, abandoning her usual detached demeanor, gripped the steering wheel and laughed. She felt no fear, only adrenaline-fueled ecstasy.

“A trophy?” Her laughter stopped abruptly, and she looked at me suspiciously.

“I can get you into the top three.”

The secondary rook should assist the primary rook, just as in chess, the bishop is always the king’s defensive line. It’s a convention, and there’s no logic to it.

But GTC was a game that pursued excitement, conquered the limits, and was entertaining to the point of death, so how could its drivers follow the rules?

“Okay, let’s win the trophy together. What do you need me to do?” Without any hesitation, Tan Yunmei’s eyes shone brightly through her goggles, like two dark blue flames.