Translator: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97
After the match with Xu Huai Shang, the public’s impression of Feng Bujue was something else. It was a mixture of hatred, fear, and condescension laced with respect. It was even worse for Xu Huai Shang’s rabid fans. The thing that they most wanted to tell Brother Jue was, “Eat my beep!”
All the general public had to say of Brother Jue was, “That b*stard is very despicable.”
It was clear that not many players had a good impression of Brother Jue. His supporters either had a unique eye for talent or were equally as morally twisted as Brother Jue, so they found comfort in each other. In this environment, Feng Bujue’s strange performance on the player level ranking drew attention and suspicion from everyone who had heard about it.
If it was Phantom Dawn or Shiva who had earned twenty to thirty million EXP per day, perhaps no one would say anything. After all, they were players of Regulation and Brahman, and those were highly reputable gaming groups. Those who dared to speak up against them would have to weigh how much their words would be worth. However, if a player was merely from the Flashes of Swords, a group perceived to be basic and not extraordinary, perhaps a small portion of players would dare to speak up and spread rumors. If Feng Bujue had lived in the sixtieth to seventieth centuries, he would have been beaten up about ten times whenever he went for a stroll around his neighborhood.
The man was a walking hatred collector. No matter how you looked at it, he was the quintessential ‘bad guy’. As mentioned earlier, even when he tried to do volunteer work, he was shown the door.
If Feng Bujue had become famous even before the Battle of the Butterfly, perhaps his rise would not have grabbed as much attention. But now that public resentment toward him had solidified, more and more people became prejudiced against him. No one talked about the facts, because people were more willing to believe the “fact” that Feng Bujue was a cheater. There were many threads discussing this view on the forum. There were many threads discussing baseless accusations against Feng Bujue, but the thread that gained the most attention was the one titled ‘Disqualify Feng Bujue and have Xu Huai Shang take his place in the finals!’ For many players, it was already a well-known truth that Feng Bujue had cheated. They were already pushing for his punishment for violation of rules.
That went on from the third day after the Battle of the Butterfly until the 29th of May. The public outcry did not stop. If anything, it got louder. Perhaps it was because as the finals drew closer, Xu Huai Shang’s supporters became more desperate.
However, Xu Huai Shang herself actually believed in Brother Jue. She had been trying to talk to Feng Bujue about it, but the latter did not accept her friend request and did not reply to her emails, so there was nothing she could do. Xu Huai Shang also did nothing. She didn’t entertain her fans and didn’t respond to their pleas because she knew that nothing she said could change the situation. Even if she openly stated her support for Feng Bujue, it would not have helped. She felt that perhaps her fans saw her as naive and innocent, and that could have further fueled their anger for Feng Bujue. Thus, the rumors and controversies surrounding Feng Bujue persisted until the afternoon of the 29th of May, on which a powerful person suddenly came forth to side with him.
Dream Inc., which had always ignored controversies and rumors, decided to respond this time.
At 2 pm that afternoon, an announcement appeared on the official website.
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“Recently, threads about ‘a certain player gaining exorbitant amounts of EXP through illegal methods’ have been circling around the forum. The company’s customer service received plenty of complaints about it. The company now officially confirms that such statements are completely untrue. The said player has executed perfectly rational and reasonable methods to acquire his EXP, and they can be retraced by the system. The company wishes for its players to process such information rationally and to not fall for the trappings of simple rumors.”
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When Feng Bujue saw the announcement, he instantly knew who wrote it. Even though Brother Jue himself did not mind the rumor, it was quite comforting to know that he was looked after by someone of high value and credible reputation.
However, the announcement had a different effect on most players.
People started to think about it. If Feng Bujue really was not cheating, then how scary could this person be in the game? A player’s daily gaming time was limited, and he was getting over 20,000,000 EXP per day. How efficient could he be? That was pure madness!
Of course, these people had no idea that Brother Jue was actually holding back. He could have pushed further and gained more EXP, but he didn’t.
Of the past five days, Feng Bujue had been spamming Solo Survival Normal Mode, because this mode had the easiest clear rate. For Brother Jue, clearing scenarios meant additional reward. Every day, he would only take two extra EXP and other additional reward. He would go for the equipment. He would keep the equipment he found useful, while he would throw off the useless ones in the magical disintegrator. If he hadn’t, the man could have easily gotten to the top of the level ranking in the past five days.
On the 30th of May, at 12:54 am, the public announcement seemed to have stabilized Feng Bujue’s image as some sort of evil demon boss. Even at that point, people were still talking about him. The day before the finals, Feng Bujue became one of the better hopefuls in the public’s eyes. They believed he would soar to the Top 50, especially because he was only behind Phantom Dawn.
With this sudden support for him, some of Brother Jue’s fans finally showed their fangs.
A few days prior to that, due to pressure and the tension, his supporters kept silent. They could only hide among the public and did not dare to admit that they were in support of Feng Bujue. This time, they could not hold it in anymore. A group of strange males and females entered Market Server 10 (because they heard from rumors that Feng Bujue would often use this server). They came from different guilds and wore different outfits, but they all held the same banner with the words: “The Craziest MOFO.”
Many others who did not understand what was going on were all thinking about it. Have these people lost their minds from reading too much Yu Yu Hakusho?
Feng Bujue, though, was in his log-in lobby, and with his pair of dead-fish eyes, pulled on the lever on the magical disintegrator.
The machine creaked and cracked, and the concave glass started to gather light.
He had seen this so many times before. The light always materialized into a ‘powerless trash’. But Feng Bujue was like a slot machine gambler. This was his philosophy: “I give you one chance, and you give me a pile of sh*t. I give you ten chances, and you give me back ten slaps. I give you a hundred chances…At least you have to show me some respect and raise the probability of me getting a good item.”
Finally, the gods took pity on the hardworking.
When Brother Jue rose the success rate to 63.01 percent, his luck had finally turned around.
The white light pooled to birth a legendary quality item.