Chapter 84 Swan Castle (Second Update Combined)
I don't know if it's a coincidence.
Despite having three chances to simulate a scenario in a reality show, and making the most of them, Yu Naixin never interacted with the person behind the scenes during any of the three simulations.
She has sensed "He" twice so far, both times in real-world instances.
This made Yu Naixin wary.
The simulator is arguably her biggest trump card. Neither the domain lord-level guest nor the mysterious audience members outside the show knew about it. However, as the behind-the-scenes manipulator of the entire "Heartbeat 1000%" program, "He" could very well know about the existence of the simulator!
After all, Yu Naixin had personally experienced that the gap between herself and "that person" was not just a matter of strength.
If one had to find a suitable metaphor, even "elephant and ant" wouldn't be enough to describe the difference.
A more accurate description would be that "He" is like a human being equipped with all sorts of advanced technologies and possessing extremely excellent qualities, while Yu Naixin herself is like a faint trace on a fragile piece of paper.
They are not even in the same dimension or on the same level.
Even ants can flee in panic when trampled by an elephant, but they can do nothing against human actions.
What humans want to do with this trace, whether it's erasing it, adding more color, or even drawing and extending other patterns on its basis, is simply a matter of chance.
Even when this trace becomes unrecognizable, turning into an insignificant part of other patterns, the trace itself is completely unaware of anything that happened from beginning to end.
So insignificant as to be almost pathetic.
Yu Naixin herself is still in the "Heartbeat 1000%" phase and has not yet found any way to control or break away from the other party.
The emulator is so powerful that, based on Yu Naixin's understanding of "Heartbeat 1000%", she estimates that no one else besides herself could possess something so overpowered that it could be called a "cheat".
At least the several special items that Yu Naixin herself obtained, including the Priest's Folding Fan, a domain lord-level special item, are far inferior to those in the simulator.
The program team's attitude towards "cheats" and "loopholes" is exemplified by the case of Luluna. If "He" notices the simulator, the most likely outcome is that it will be directly "erased" and "fixed"!
Even without a simulator, Yu Naixin is confident that she can survive one dungeon after another, but the difficulty would increase exponentially, and the rewards she could get would be greatly reduced.
More importantly, as a guest on the show who has used simulators so many times, Yu Naixin herself is very likely to face related sanctions.
So now, Yu Naixin was on high alert, staring intently at the photo frame next to her out of the corner of her eye.
The faint marks on that fragile piece of paper left her helpless, awaiting judgment from whoever held it.
...This is so annoying.
Yu Naixin's face was as cold as frost in the dead of winter.
Why should her fate be decided by "He"?!
The traces of "that person" were extremely subtle and barely perceptible; none of the guests and NPCs present, except for Yu Naixin, were able to detect them.
The four male guests in the audience, each more expressionless and silent than the last, noticed that Yu Naixin's expression suddenly changed.
They were all keeping a close eye on Yu Naixin, and when they noticed something was wrong, they immediately examined each other closely with hostile gazes.
After all, in the minds of the four male guests, all the NPCs in Swan Castle were just a series of negligible data. The factors that could affect Yu Naixin must have come from her competitors.
Suddenly, the already strained atmosphere at the wedding became even more tense.
【Huh? What's wrong? This is all so strange.】
[That expression on the Great Demon King's face looks familiar... Oh right, wasn't it when the Great Demon King's face turned this ugly shortly after the start of this episode, when he first switched to the "princess" identity and was receiving some identity information?]
[This female guest has a truly terrifying aura when she has a dark expression, especially given her outfit right now—she's a genuine queen!]
[Ahhh, production team, please bless the little witch's next episode so it's not this high-pressure, high-difficulty one! There are so many parts I don't understand what's going on. I want to properly witness the little witch's various tricks!]
[This time it's not just the big shot; all four male guests are acting strangely. What's wrong with letting the live stream know this information that all the guests already know, so that the viewers can know too?!]
The commotion of the four male guests did not attract any attention from Yu Naixin.
She simply kept a close eye on the picture frame the whole time, and then felt the thing that appeared out of nowhere in the frame vanish in a flash, as if it had never been there at all, disappearing completely.
The entire process took less than a full second.
Yu Naixin: "...??"
If it weren't for the fact that her perception abilities were now vastly different from before, Yu Naixin would have thought that everything that had just happened was just a momentary illusion.
What exactly is this guy doing here?
Because there have been more and more malfunctions in recent years, one of the wires short-circuited and leaked electricity to her.
The oppressive feeling, as if it came from a higher dimension, finally disappeared. Yu Naixin turned her head and stepped forward, reaching out to pick up the photo frame on the groom's seat.
The picture frame was still the same, but it was completely blank inside. Yu Naixin frowned and examined it carefully, but she couldn't find anything wrong with it.
Yu Naixin: "..."
What would happen if she took this broken picture frame apart?
Just then, the entire Swan Castle suddenly shook violently as if struck by a severe earthquake. Then, all the NPCs in the banquet hall vanished without a trace, and the furniture and the castle itself began to turn into blank spaces.
Having learned from her experience with "Cocoon Village," Yu Naixin knew that "Swan Castle" was a perfect creation that she had perfected, and the entire program was about to be completely eliminated.
The picture frame incident was like an unexpected little episode, and once this little episode ended quickly, the normal process of "Heartbeat 1000%" resumed.
【!! We've finally waited for this moment!】
[Congratulations to the female guest on the show "Heartbeat 1000%"! You have received 12 Sweet Coins from a viewer with the ID "Glory Belongs to the Future"!]
[Congratulations to the Great Demon King for once again achieving a perfect victory in the program's dungeon! No dungeon the Great Demon King participates in is ever left unfinished!]
[Congratulations to the female guest on the show "Heartbeat 1000%"! You have received 39 Sweet Coins from a viewer with the ID "So what if I admire strength!"]
[Looking forward to the next episode featuring this expert! I feel like we don't even need to wait for her real name, we should be eagerly anticipating what her title will be! Only a very small number of top-tier guests are granted exclusive titles by the system!]
[Congratulations to the female guest on the show "Heartbeat 1000%"! You have received 45 Sweet Coins from a viewer with the ID "Why Not?"!]
What is the Purple Star?! This is what the Purple Star is!!!
[Congratulations to the female guest on the show "Heartbeat 1000%"! You have received 66 Sweet Coins from a viewer with the ID "Karenina"!]
The abundant donations echoed the lavish praise for Yu Naixin, like physical flowers and applause, celebrating the perfect conclusion of this episode.
Many viewers in the live stream couldn't help but start speculating and discussing what kind of special magical artifacts the four male guests might transform into.
[Ahhhhh, I'm so excited! All four male guests seem to have a strong liking for the Little Witch, and judging by their infatuated expressions, it must be positive love and obsession. The Little Witch is probably going to get all four special magical artifacts in one go, right?!]
[When did special spiritual artifacts become as common as cabbages at the market?! Aside from this Ziwei Star expert, I've never seen any other show guest possess so many special spiritual artifacts! Normally, even getting one special spiritual artifact makes you a very powerful veteran guest, since special spiritual artifacts are never weak!]
[I remember it looked like this when "Cocoon Village" ended, but this "Swan Castle" event is almost over too. We can only catch a glimpse of what those special artifacts look like in the live stream. We'll only know their specific uses after the experts use them in later episodes!]
To be honest, even if the Great Demon King used a special magical artifact, we viewers might not be able to figure out how she used it or what its effect was...
[I wonder if werewolves will also transform into special magical artifacts in the shape of dogs. Will the paper puppy get jealous because another of its kind has arrived? Hahaha~]
[This father and son, an elf and a vampire, must at least have one of them transform into a rose-related artifact, right?]
[A question suddenly occurred to me! The show's guests can't create props imbued with spiritual power, but the guest from the alternate episodes can! The special magical artifacts created by ghosts should also have potion-making capabilities. Could he provide this powerful female guest with potions?!]
[Good question. There's absolutely no precedent to follow. In principle, anything containing spiritual energy is considered a special item. If the show's guests want it, it's basically monopolized by the show's special shop. But no show guest has ever managed to create a special spiritual artifact that can make these things before...]
During the "Swan Castle" segment of the show, the four male guests quickly realized what time it was and began to take action.
Whether it's the Vampire Duke, the Elf Prince, the Werewolf Knight, or the Ghost Wizard, they had all made up their minds long ago to dedicate their entire lives and spiritual power to becoming a magical artifact to follow Yu Naixin and to do their best to help her in the subsequent episodes.
Without hesitation, the four male guests launched into four streaks of light of different colors almost simultaneously, flying towards Yu Naixin's direction.
In stark contrast to the paper puppy and jade bone mahjong set in the previous episode, the shimmering figures transformed by the four guests in this episode clearly possess a degree of self-awareness.
During their flight, they even showed a competitive spirit, each vying to be the first to jump into Yu Naixin's arms.
Yu Naixin: "..."
Yu Naixin was still holding that blank photo frame in her hand, and her furrowed brows remained furrowed.
As the four streaks of light drew ever closer, Yu Naixin's disgust and rejection were all too obvious.
She didn't want those four things.
In the previous episode of the show "Cocoon Village", Yu Naixin was caught completely off guard and became entangled by the special magical artifacts transformed from the three bastards, the Paper Boy, the White Bone Scholar, and the Fox Demon Priest. At that time, she was barely able to maintain her identity as the "Mountain God" and simply did not have the extra mind and energy to deal with these things.
Moreover, throughout the entire program "Cocoon Village", Yu Naixin was able to clearly know that the Paper Doll Boy, a guest character who was born after the formation of Cocoon Village, had not harmed any innocent people. The White Bone Scholar also mutated into a guest character after entering Cocoon Village, and he also had no blood on his hands.
The only person these two male guests owed a life to was Yu Naixin herself in the simulator. They then sacrificed their lives and spiritual power to become special spiritual artifacts to serve Yu Naixin. In Yu Naixin's view, it was a life for a life, which was quite fair.
As for the fox demon priest, this complete bastard of unknown origin is a domain lord that Yu Naixin still doesn't quite understand. The priest's folding fan was a complete forced sale to Yu Naixin.
The fox spirit priestess was quite ruthless in her treatment of the NPCs in "Cocoon Village," but based on the information available, Yu Naixin knew very well that "Cocoon Village" was a pioneering program instance, and she herself was the first program guest to arrive in this instance program.
Before her arrival, the entire "Cocoon Village" was a closed little world. In other words, the fox demon priest did not kill any of the show's guests other than Yu Naixin during "Heartbeat 1000%".
In this episode of "Swan Castle," not to mention the cruel ways Yu Naixin witnessed these four male guests slaughtering NPCs during several simulations, just consider the previous episodes "Rose Spire" and "Moonlight Town," where each of the Vampire Duke, Elf Prince, Werewolf Knight, and Ghost Wizard had blood on their hands.
Yu Naixin doesn't approve of the indiscriminate killing of innocent NPCs. Even if NPCs are essentially just a string of data, their outward appearance is that of living, breathing people.
If you treat them as objects to be slaughtered at will, then you have taken the first step on the road to no return.
This is "Heartbeat 1000%", a cruel survival game disguised as a dating reality show. Once it happens once, how could it not happen a second or a third time?
Once people get used to doing this, their reverence for the phenomenon of "life" will be gradually weakened and diluted. What will it eventually become?
By then, how different will I be from these demons and monsters who are just guest characters in the game?
Yu Naixin would not allow herself to go down this path.
She wants to live a good life.
Live well as a human being.
The four male guests in the "Swan Castle" episode did far more than just wantonly slaughter NPCs. In "Rose Spire" and "Moonlight Town," they actually killed countless female guests before they were able to reach "Swan Castle."
Each female guest is a vibrant life just like Yu Naixin herself.
Yu Naixin didn't know exactly how many lives they had taken. As the "Heartbeat 1000%" encyclopedia, Priest Folding Fan could only give a vague number: the number of show guests consumed by the two guest characters in the same episode should be greater than one hundred.
one hundred.
The two episodes combined account for at least two hundred deaths!
The blood and tears of Rosluna are still vivid in my mind.
There are even the ninety-nine innocent girls that the Elf Prince killed "outside," and the other three male guests may also owe even more blood debts.
The thought that the executioners who had taken so many lives would come to her, and that they could even transform into special magical artifacts with a certain degree of self-awareness to bind to her and achieve a certain degree of life continuation, made Yu Naixin feel disgusted from the bottom of her heart.
It's too dirty.
She didn't want something so dirty.
Using the only way in "Heartbeat 1000%" to completely destroy them, Yu Naixin won them over to 100% and then let them disappear along with the rest of the show. She felt she had been merciful enough.
The most powerful of the four streams of light, the blood-red one that was the one transformed from the vampire duke, was almost touching Yu Naixin's hand.
Yu Naixin didn't make any move, just stared at it coldly.
She really didn't want it at all.
Even though each of these special magical artifacts is a very useful tool.
Even if the four male guests in this episode are the strongest below the Domain Lord, the special magical artifacts they transform into must be extremely powerful.
It's not like Yu Naixin can't clear the program's levels without these few special magical artifacts.
[What's going on? Why does the Demon King look even worse than before?]
[Seriously? This big shot doesn't even want a special magical artifact?! Even if he doesn't want one, there's no need to act like this. Good heavens, that look is practically hostile! What did these male guests do to offend this big shot so much?!]
Are all Ziwei stars this arrogant?!
[I'm speechless! There were hardly any parts of this entire live stream that I understood! I don't even know where to begin with my questions!]
The live stream is about to close!!
The crimson light did indeed possess a certain degree of self-awareness, like a vampire duke. Under Yu Naixin's cold gaze, it hesitated, unsure of what had happened to make Yu Naixin hate it so much.
So, just before it finally fell into Yu Naixin's hands, it paused for a second.
In that brief pause, Yu Naixin seemed to sense something, took something out of her system inventory, and placed it in her palm.
—That was the golden key given to me by Rosluna.
The golden key emitted an extremely dazzling light the moment it appeared. Starting with the blood-red stream of light, the four streams of light that were not far from Yu Naixin were all enveloped by this light.
Then, Yu Naixin clearly heard the terrible screams of the four male guests amidst the light.
It's like... the last remnants of the souls of the female guests they killed in the past are finally able to take revenge and personally kill their enemies who are now just a fleeting glimmer of light.
Four streaks of light, and the last lives and souls of the four male guests vanished within the remaining frame of the Swan Castle.
But the light emitted by the golden key became even brighter.
They returned to Yu Naixin's palm, like a warm, gentle flame that wouldn't burn, and merged into her body.
[Congratulations, female guest! You have received spiritual power from the male guest "Vampire Duke," increasing your spiritual power coefficient. Please refer to the final settlement list for detailed calculations.]
[Congratulations, female guest! You have received spiritual power from the male guest "Elf Prince," and your spiritual power coefficient will increase. Please refer to the final settlement list for detailed calculations.]
[Congratulations, female guest! You have received spiritual power from the male guest "Werewolf Knight," increasing your spiritual power coefficient. Please refer to the final settlement list for detailed calculations.]
[Congratulations, female guest! You have received spiritual power from the male guest "Ghost Wizard," increasing your spiritual power coefficient. Please refer to the final settlement list for detailed calculations.]
Four neatly arranged program announcements appeared in Yu Naixin's mind.
The notifications sent by this system to Yu Naixin can also be received synchronously by the priest folding fan that is bound to Yu Naixin.
The venue for the "Swan Castle" program is about to close, and the paper puppy was taken back into Yu Naixin's props before the wedding was even held. Only a priest's folding fan was left outside to wait in case of any accidents.
The priest's folding fan had already flown to Yu Naixin's side, waiting for her master's command to return to the inventory for understanding, but suddenly she heard these four reminders.
Priest with folding fan: "...Holy crap?!"
The priest, folding fan in hand, couldn't help but utter a curse.
The fox's head, drawn in a simple style, stared wide-eyed, its entire face filled with shock.
Is that even possible?!
"You...you actually managed to gain an increase in spiritual power from a guest in the instance?!" The priest with the folding fan was completely dumbfounded. "My God! How is this possible?!"
"It is extremely difficult to increase one's spiritual power level! Especially for program guests who did not originally have spiritual power in their bodies and whose spiritual power was forcibly developed by the Spirit Awakening Pill!"
"In addition to the 10 initial spiritual power coefficients that each guest receives as a bonus from the Spirit Awakening Pill, according to the rules of 'Heartbeat 1000%,' guests can only obtain corresponding spiritual power coefficients based on the degree of cleansing they have achieved in each instance of the show after participating in it."
"The purification level must reach at least 10% to have 1 point of spiritual power coefficient, and 20% to have 2 points of spiritual power coefficient. Single digits are not counted."
"In other words, only by achieving a 100% complete cleansing can the program's guests gain 10 points of spiritual energy in a single instance of the program!"
"This is the only way for the show's guests to increase their spiritual power! I've never heard of any other method that can increase the spiritual power of the show's guests!"
The priest, folding fan, became increasingly incredulous as he spoke: "Even if we're just calculating the theoretical possibility, we'd have to wait until the show's guests 'become gods' before there are any other ways to increase the spiritual power coefficient. Let alone considering how many show guests have ever 'become gods' in the entire history of 'Heartbeat 1000%', even those few who did 'become gods' haven't discovered any methods to further increase their spiritual power coefficient!"
“Miss Yu, I don’t know how much spiritual power you will ultimately gain, but even if you only gain 1 point of spiritual power, it will be far more valuable than obtaining a special spiritual artifact!”
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