Free Web NovelChapter 321: Chapter 319: Can You Call Yourself a Simp If You Don’t Overthink?
A single person’s voice is almost negligible, incapable of changing anything.
But if everyone agrees and bravely speaks out, the wave they create is something those in power can hardly ignore.
At this moment, on the solo match stage, when everyone discovered that in every match, only the Northern Alliance managed to win, while everyone else faced the same predicament, and even non-Northern Alliance contestants encountered similar situations, the outcry from the participants grew louder.
Even the Northern Alliance’s League Committee, facing the united indignation of the crowd, didn’t dare to continue claiming everything was fair; the committee higher-ups on site hurried to their feet to appease the contestants, promising they would get to the bottom of what was happening.
But, of course, their words sounded a little perfunctory.
Basically, it’s the equivalent of a sincere apology with absolute refusal to change anything.
After all, with all the Northern Alliance’s contestants winning, why would they want to do anything about it?
But then in the second and third rounds of contestants, the non-Northern Alliance members all stood dazed onstage after their matches started, or babbled nonsense, like they were sleepwalking, while only the Northern Alliance contestants stayed calm and dispatch their opponents swiftly and cleanly.
The committee had no choice but to step in, suspending the matches and issuing invitations to delegates and team leaders from the various countries to investigate together. Then they gathered all solo contestants, including those from the Northern Alliance, and returned backstage for an investigation.
Meanwhile, the audience was already buzzing with discussion.
"What happened today is just as weird as when we were all late the other day."
"Even weirder than before. Back then we could say it was a temp who gave us the wrong start time, but now? How are they going to explain this?"
"Maybe all the Northern Alliance contestants were given a new potion that makes everyone else temporarily confused."
"Then how do you explain the matches without Northern Alliance members? Both sides babble incoherently—it’s just a race to see who gets back to normal first."
"Then it must be the referees’ fault!"
"..."
When Hilia woke up at noon, she overheard Encore and Doris in the middle of discussing today’s match fiasco.
Nibbling on the lunch Benovia brought, Hilia was doing her utmost not to burst out laughing.
The girl was thoroughly delighted, and even greeted Rose, "Good morning, Mr. Rose! The matches really went exactly as we predicted!"
"Go see what people are saying outside," Rose urged.
He loved nothing more than to watch a good show.
"Let me finish eating first~!"
Hilia muttered as she finished off her steak in a few quick bites, then tossed her things in the trash and dashed outside.
Doris called after her, "Hilia, where are you going?"
"Going for a walk."
"Wait—why are you running off so fast, damn it!"
"..."
Hilia quickly made her way to the newspaper stand as usual, but paused just as she was about to buy something.
"Wait a second, what happened this morning—how could the newspaper already be out at noon...?"
Rose laughed, "News these days is all about speed—whoever prints the story first wins; someone probably already printed papers and put them up for sale."
Even in the normal world, you could get a newspaper at noon about something that happened in the morning. So in a supernatural world?
With magitech running at full power, printed materials come out in a flash, right?
Once the Teleportation Device is online, the whole world knows!
The Star Spirit Network still has major limitations for now; the world isn’t quite at the point where everyone instantly knows everything.
"That makes sense,"
Hilia went up to ask, and sure enough, got the latest edition—fresh off the press, the ink still fragrant.
The headline was, of course, about the morning’s strange events.
Hilia found one theory particularly amusing: that this was all an Ista Empire plot, deliberately letting the Northern Alliance sweep the unimportant solo matches in order to "shed" suspicion from Ista itself.
It must be Ista’s doing.jpg.
Just as Hilia was devouring the section where some "reader" was shamelessly spreading conspiracy theories, a voice piped up beside her.
"Hilia?"
Hilia looked up and saw Mier.
He exclaimed happily, "It really is you! So you also like reading newspapers? There’s not much to them, so many words—they make your eyes spin. Why not just buy a radio to listen instead..."
"Yeah, yeah, I know you love the radio."
Hilia closed the newspaper and left immediately.
Apparently, even family disaster couldn’t change this guy’s nature. Or so Hilia thought.
As she hurried away, Hilia paused, turned, and called back, "Here’s some advice: Kost might get messy soon. Before you head back, best not to go out without reason, and especially don’t leave the central districts—absolutely do not go to the western slums."
After saying this, Hilia left, leaving a dazed Mier behind.
As far as Hilia was concerned, using Mier’s name and likeness to barge into the Heretic Base was just because she found him disgusting—a little payback, that’s all.
But having realized someone survived that base and remembered Mier, and that person might pose a threat to him, it changed things.
As a classmate, Hilia still had a duty to warn him. If Mier ignored her and insisted on going to the most dangerous spot... well, that just meant he deserved whatever happened, right?
The excuse was simple enough—just say Kost was about to be hit by unrest or something.
This actually wasn’t Hilia’s own idea—Rose had told her to say it this way.
The reason was to let him know specifically where the danger was.
Hilia felt like this was a bit too "on the nose," but...
Well, whatever!
Miss Hilia just needed to listen to what the God said.
...
Back at the inn, Mier’s head was still spinning with Hilia’s words.
His roommates, noticing, asked, "What’s got you so happy? You’re drooling all over yourself."
Mier wiped his mouth, practically giddy. "Hilia actually talked to me in such a gentle voice!"
His roommates scratched their heads, confused.
Isn’t Miss Hilia always gentle to everyone?
"So what did she say?" one roommate asked.
"She told me not to go out these days, not to visit the western slums—she’s worried about me!"
The roommates were stunned: "She gave you a special warning?"
"Exactly! Why else would I be like this? Hehehe... I feel like I’ve got this in the bag."
Mier giggled stupidly, counting on his fingers. "It’s Hilia’s birthday soon, in a few days, right? She’s being nicer to me, even gave me a special warning! It means she cares about me!"
"Maybe she’s saying the opposite, and actually dropping a hint that there’s something she likes in the slums, and is testing me, wanting me to go buy her a birthday present?"
One roommate couldn’t help interrupting, "Or maybe she just meant it literally? There’s danger, don’t go?"
"Possible, but I think she’s hinting! It’s decided—I’ll go check it out tomorrow!"
