22 Chapter 22

If the competition going on in the red ballot box is the "icing on the cake" among the popular contestants, then the competition going on in the blue ballot box on the back page of the popular contestant voting is a matter of life and death.

In a tavern in a remote corner of the city that never sleeps, a man with a rough face and a sturdy build was sitting by the window drinking boredly. He picked up peanuts from the plate and threw them into his mouth, listening to the discussions that happened to be heard around him from time to time with a disdainful smile.

They are all green hands who judge people by appearance. They really don't know what's good about those women who look weak and delicate. Even when they sing or dance, they look weak. How can they be as energetic as the strong girl who grew up in the wind and rain!

This cultivator was the one who had strongly supported Tieying at the audition. He himself was a fisherman from a fishing village. Later, with his tenacity, he tempered his body and became a physical cultivator. Although he had been away from birth, old age, sickness and death since then, he had never heard the voice of his hometown again.

Therefore, when he heard Tieying's singing for the first time, he felt particularly familiar with her. Moreover, Tieying's skin had a healthy brown color that had been exposed to wind and sun, and her shoulders, waist and abdomen were full of strength. How could she not look better than those skinny women?

In short, I don’t know if it’s because of the filter of his hometown, but he thinks Tieying, who has a similar background to him, is the best. Who knew that the others are all bastards who don’t know their value? Tieying was eliminated, which made him so angry that he almost hit someone. From then on, he refused to pay attention to any news about the Hehuan Sect.

Just as everyone else was excitedly discussing various popular contestants, a thin, sage-like Taoist priest, twirling his mustache, leisurely stopped in front of the physical cultivator.

"Brother Hongbao, so many days have passed, are you still angry?"

Hong Baosheng was a big, strong man. When he was unhappy, he would yell so loudly that even people outside the door could hear him: "Who's angry? What does it have to do with me if those witches take who they want as their apprentices?" He poured the wine in the bowl into his mouth in one gulp: "Heng Wen, you don't have to persuade me. No matter what, I will never pay attention to those tactless witches again!"

"Really? That's a shame." Despite saying that, the Immortal Lord Hengwen didn't seem to have any regrets: "It seems I'll vote for someone else to be resurrected."

"What resurrection ticket?" Hong Bao was confused.

Then, Immortal Hengwen pulled out a thin book with a picture of a beauty from his bosom and spread it out on the table. He flipped directly to the last page and pointed at the area outlined by the dotted line:

"The Hehuan Sect has a new way of playing. It says that for every book you buy, you can write the name of an eliminated contestant and put it in the blue ballot box. The votes will be counted a week before the selection competition begins. The top two vote-getters will be resurrected and participate in the selection with the other contestants..."

"Are you serious?! The top two vote-getters get to continue competing?" Hong Bao snatched the magazine and double-checked, then eagerly called for the waiter to bring a pen and ink. "Hey, Brother Hengwen, you're really nice! I'll buy you a drink after Sister Tieying is resurrected!"

"Ah, I think it's difficult!" Heng Wen Xianjun sat down and sighed, helping Hong Bao tear the ballot with his name written on it from the magazine. "There are thousands of eliminated contestants in total. If you want to vote her into the top two, I'm afraid it won't be achieved with just one or two votes."

"What's there to be afraid of?" Hong Bao didn't think it was a big deal at all. He picked up the storage bag containing the spirit stones and threw it on the table. The bulging bag hit the table with a loud "bang". "That magazine doesn't cost much. I can still afford it with these few spirit stones!"

Their physical cultivation is different from those magic cultivations that like to use spirit stones to set up spirit gathering arrays for cultivation. Their demand for spirit stones is actually not that great.

"This... I'm afraid it's not just a matter of spirit stones." Heng Wen sighed helplessly, and brought Hong Bao to the place where magazines were sold. He pointed to the voting station some distance away across the street. There, the votes of each contestant were counted in real time. Under the phantoms of various contestants in the air was a bar chart marked with specific numbers, and the voting results of each person were clearly visible.

The area was filled with monks who were arguing with each other until their faces turned red and their necks were thick. People who supported different candidates had unconsciously formed an alliance. If you supported a different candidate from them, it would be a hard struggle just to cast your vote.

Seeing the angry expressions of the cultivators, who seemed ready to fight each other, even the physical cultivators, who were known for their short tempers, could not help but remain silent. Standing aside and observing for a long time, Hong Bao scratched the back of his head in confusion: "Isn't it just a vote? Why has it become like this?"

Heng Wen pointed at the bar graph of votes floating in the air and said, "Originally, it shouldn't have been like that, but things have changed since this thing appeared.

Look at the voting area for the most popular contestants. Liu Pianpian and Shangguan Huaijin are only three votes apart, and Xiao Lihua, who is in third place, is only a dozen votes behind. Would you be willing to lose if you did?"

Facts have proved that although people may not have cared much about the result, no one was willing to admit defeat with only three votes difference.

"Everyone, hold on! Think about how much hardship Miss Shangguan has endured all the way to where she is now!" A cultivator who clearly supported Shangguan Huaijin shouted at his fellow monks at the top of his lungs:

"We couldn't help Miss Shangguan when she was being bullied by her family, so are we just going to stand by and watch something as trivial as voting?!

It's just three votes. If that's not enough, what's the point of us? We absolutely cannot lose! Let Miss Shangguan see our support!"

"We can't lose!" Several monks were moved to tears by what he said. They tore off the ballots from the magazines and threw them into the box. The voting rankings were reversed. Liu Pianpian, who was originally ranked first and surrounded by flowers, instantly became Shangguan Huaijin, who was playing the piano with his head down.

"Do you people rely on those stories of the past to survive?" A cultivator who supported Liu Pianpian sneered and turned to cast a few votes into the ballot box. "Isn't Miss Pianpian pitiful when it comes to the past? We don't talk about it so much to take advantage of it like you do!"

Another monk also walked over to vote: "Exactly! Our Miss Pianpian relies on her superb dancing skills! Even if you flatter the night-lighting city's top courtesan, you can't compare to her!"

So in just a few words, the situation was reversed, and Shangguan Huaijin was still three votes short.

"You! You country bumpkins who only care about appearances! I still have tickets! The capacity of my storage bag is larger than your cave!"

"Hmph! What's wrong with appearance? Even our Oiran is perfect in appearance! I'm going to fight you, those fake second-generation rich kids! In terms of numbers, we will never lose!"

Seeing that another round of fierce competition was about to begin, Hong Bao scratched the back of his head: "I always feel that... do they have some personal grudges?"

"It's some personal grudge." Heng Wenxianjun said helplessly, "It's probably a conflict between the children of the aristocratic families and the independent cultivators. They've been disliking each other for a long time."

"I see. So this is why we're clashing again." Hong Bao looked away disinterestedly. "I'm not voting for popular contestants. Where's Tieying's voting box? How many votes did she get?"

"Over there." Heng Wenjun pointed to a ballot box on the other side that was also surrounded by cultivators. "Because this is a crucial vote for survival, and because contestants who haven't yet joined the Hehuan Sect are free to move, many contestants have come here in person to canvass for votes, including your sister Tieying."

So Hong Bao looked in the direction of Heng Wen's finger. The first few very popular contestants were interacting with their supporters with bright and eager smiles on their faces. The inspired monks became more and more excited, going back and forth between the magazine stand and the ballot box, and there was a lot of laughter and joy around the front row of the ballot box.

The contestant Tie Ying, who had a loud and clear singing voice and a healthy and strong body, was silently waiting in the corner of the line and no one paid attention to him because his appearance and talent did not meet the public's aesthetic standards.

The hot midday sun shone directly on her, casting a desolate figure behind her. Beads of sweat appeared on Tieying's forehead. She lowered her head silently, clutching the tattered hem of her clothes with her hands helplessly. Although her expression could not be seen clearly, she always felt that she was about to give up and leave.

How can this be? Women who grew up by the sea... uh... the great lake don't give up easily! Hong Bao turned and headed straight for the magazine stand, scooping up the entire box of new goods she had just brought in. She tossed down a bag of spirit stones without much concern, then shouldered the magazines and headed straight for Tieying in the corner.

Tieying was originally a fisherman who grew up by the Acacia Lake and made a living by fishing. Because she could shout a few times when rowing the boat to cast the net, and her uncles and aunts also praised her for her clear voice, so when she saw the notice of the Hehuan Sect, she bravely signed up.

Originally, she thought she would just give it a try, and if she was not selected, she would just go home and fish. Who knew that the road to the election would be so full of twists and turns? She was originally selected, but in the end she was eliminated.

After experiencing such a sudden ups and downs, she was truly depressed for a while after returning home. The uncles and aunts who had watched the game nearby looked at her with deep regret. Even her father, who had always been taciturn, couldn't help but sigh and stroked her cheek:

"I'm sorry, child. Your parents didn't give you a good life... If you didn't have to be exposed to the wind and sun every day... you could be as fair and clean as other girls..." The father couldn't finish the rest of the words, and hugged his white-haired mother and burst into tears.

If she was as fair and clean as other girls and could sing many beautiful songs, how could she have been eliminated?

They were the ones who dragged their daughter down. If Tieying wasn't a fisherman's daughter, she could have gone to practice Taoism.

Tieying's heart tightened a little. She took a deep breath to hold back the tears in her eyes, pretending to be indifferent and turned around to wave her hand. Her tone was full of indifference:

"What's so good about cultivating immortality? I'm so tired of being in and out of the clouds and fog every day! I don't have the patience to cultivate immortality! I think fishing on the lake every day is pretty good! How free!"

So she tried her best to pretend that she didn't care every day, and still hummed the fishing song while rowing the boat and casting the net on Acacia Lake. The dream of cultivating immortals was like the fry that had not grown up in the fishing net to her. She had it for a short time, but was soon thrown back into this endless lake.

It was an ordinary evening when she received the notice of the Hehuan Sect's resurrection competition. A pure white bird gently landed on her fishing boat as she was about to turn around and dock. The sound transmission note in its beak was like a stone thrown into the lake, disturbing her already restless heart.

I shouldn't go there anymore. I wouldn't even be ranked in terms of popularity.

I don't look sweet or pretty, so no one would vote for me.

If I fail again, my parents will be even more sad, so it’s better to pretend that this matter never happened.

But what if?

What if someone is willing to vote for me?

Even if I don't get selected, shouldn't I meet them?

With complicated emotions that she couldn't explain, she lied to her parents and said she wanted to take a day off to relax in the city, and then she mustered up the courage to stand here.

A warrior who grew up in the wind and waves never retreats. Tieying stood in the corner of the polling station with his fists clenched.

one person,

Even if one person votes for me,

My presence here is meaningful, just to witness that moment.

【Author’s words】

Thank you all for your love. This article is expected to be published on April 4th (this Friday). Three chapters will be updated on the same day. Please support me! In addition, there is also a pre-collected article posted here!

Article Title: NPCs build the strongest novice village by deceiving the fourth natural disaster

After traveling through time, Susan discovered that something was wrong with this world.

There were often strangers with strange names running around in his village. They would always kill the villagers' chickens and get beaten up, go to the mountains with branches to hunt bears and leave their bodies exposed in the wilderness, and jump from cliffs and fall to pieces...

No matter how many times they commit suicide, these people will always come back to life and continue to tease cats and dogs in the village, which annoys the villagers so much that they finally ignore them as if they don't exist.

Susan, who had been squatting at the village entrance observing for several days, rubbed her chin and smacked her lips: "I have a bold idea."

So she used scraps of cloth and straw rope to weave a large yellow exclamation mark pattern for herself and wore it on her head. She stood at the entrance of the Black Forest, where no one dared to enter, and cried:

"Wow, wow, kind and brave lords, is there anyone who can help me hunt down a few ferocious frost wolves? Bring back their fur for me, and I'll give you the wreath I've carefully woven..."

This loss-making business attracted many brave men to come, and Susan, who had made a lot of money, continued to work hard:

"Wow, wow, kind heroes, the bandits in the western mountains always bully us..."

"Good heroes, we need your help in reclaiming our fields..."

Later, in order to keep this group of environmentally friendly and energy-saving cyber cattle and horses, Susan had to make up a fascinating story background.

"Actually, this place is called the Cursed Land..."

"Look at us, we have black hair and black eyes, but the Church slanders us as children of the devil..."

"Wow, wow, we've been wronged. The nobles and the Church are in cahoots..."

"Good hero, please help us fight against the hypocritical God of Light!" She unfolded the black iron armor piled in the warehouse of the village blacksmith shop. "This is the battle robe we prepared for you! Please wear it and bring back news of victory!"

At the same time, in a holographic game forum, players rushed to post:

#That lord's hidden mission actually gives away free SSR skins! Hurry up, brothers! #

#Haha! I knew this NPC was special! Sure enough, there is a hidden mission! #

#25 suspicious points about Susan, the NPC! She definitely has a hidden identity! If not, I'll do a live performance of a handstand into the game cabin! #

# Requesting a guide to gaining favor with City Lord Susan! What gifts can I give her to increase her favorability? When will the romance system be updated? Urgent! Urgent! #