Full-Time Public Enemy-Chapter 757 - 7400

The official fan forum was already exploding with activity.

When Chen Gu agreed to the second impromptu surge-priced match, Alliance officials revealed benevolent, aunt-like smiles, quickly presenting Chen Gu with eight opponents!

Eight against one.

That's eight times the appearance fee, Chen Gu realized.

This time, the opponents for the "temporary" additional match weren't like the last-minute conscripts from before. Instead, they were a different group of behemoth contestants, primed and ready, having prepared meticulously in advance.

In terms of both condition and strength, they were far more formidable than those in the previous match.

An Alliance official adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses, his eyes gleaming with smug satisfaction as he looked out at the audience. We anticipated your move and came prepared, he thought.

Nevertheless, the outcome of the extra match was the same: Chen Gu and Combat Rooster still finished the battle in about fifteen minutes. Combining both matches, that was hardly half an hour—roughly the same time as a regular match for any other competitor.

The sham: A hard-fought battle!

The reality: A ninefold fee for a single match…

The forums were already spreading the word like wildfire: "Just call for a refund, and you get to watch one more match of the Righteous Iron Fist! Maybe that one will be the match where His Excellency is defeated!"

「Behemoth Alliance Secret Tip.」

The second topic that followed truly set the whole forum ablaze: previously, everyone thought Chen Gu's limit would be the third or fourth match. They wagered that later competitors might get lucky and defeat the already spent "Righteous Iron Fist"—which had led to a lot of betting pools.

So now, kids, are you a little lost?

Do you even remember which match you bet on?

Whichever match you bet on, you're doomed.

Just watching "Righteous Iron Fist" and Combat Rooster come out every day, fresh as daisies, for a six-versus-one or eight-versus-one extra match… This wasn't a question of Chen Gu's limit being the third or fourth match—his limit wouldn't even be the thirtieth or fortieth!

The fans eager to witness Righteous Iron Fist's first defeat in the ring mostly had a playful mindset, as if teasing their own idol. They were still doing okay, metaphorically rolling around on the forum, acting cute, and wailing, "We won't get to see it, we won't get to see it!"

The fans who placed bets were the real losers.

They had hoped to make a quick buck, only to lose even the secret savings they had painstakingly squirreled away from their wives.

And so, more and more fans began to clamor on the forum: "How could ordinary matches satisfy a man as magnificent as Righteous Iron Fist? Extra matches, there must be extra matches! If there's no extra match, we'll demand a refund! If there's no extra match, we'll cancel our subscriptions! If there's no extra match, we shall revolt! Victory is temporary, but extra matches can be eternal!"

...

The Alliance's auditing department was crying their hearts out. With every additional match, the appearance fees soared, and Chen Gu's fees were not cheap at all.

But the Alliance's operations department remained quite serene, having already consulted with numerous broadcasters.

"There are five more matches in the 'Seven Days of Epic Battle,'" they informed them.

"We've also prepared five very exciting additional matches.

"For the first two extra matches, our Alliance graciously allowed you to broadcast them for free. However, that won't be the case for the next five.

"So, how about this: everyone prepare your Starshield and head next door to sign a supplementary agreement with the legal department. It's time to pay the broadcasting fees for these additional matches."

Negotiations?

Nonexistent. Just pay up!

Do you really have the cheek to say you have a conscience? The Alliance is the number one black market enterprise in Star Sea! the broadcasters grumbled.

But they couldn't refuse to pay. The popularity of the extra matches was too high, and missing out would be a huge loss.

Besides, they reasoned, regarding the additional fees—there's enough time after Righteous Iron Fist's first match ends and before the extra matches begin to squeeze in all sorts of advertisements. That money will surely be recouped.

...

Chen Gu quickly figured out all these twists and turns and could only sigh. The Alliance is truly shadier than I am! Getting a few times the appearance fee already made me feel a bit remorseful, but you guys are skinning those broadcasters alive with such sharp knives.

Chen Gu was browsing Alliance news in his dorm, but his mind had drifted, no longer focused on the behemoth battles.

I wonder if Dr. Meng Ji and Dr. Obayan have already developed the technology to conduct mass, covert screening for iron thread worms, and if the internal large-scale search has already begun?

And that Number 21, suddenly showing goodwill towards me—what exactly does he want? Is it just a ploy to distract me, to temporarily keep me from interfering with the Bureau of Mystic Security's work?

...

「On the interstellar quantum network」

In a secluded corner, protected by layers upon layers of data insulation, lay a hiding place that not even the best hacker of this era could locate.

Number 21 was "arranging" various data sets there.

Yes, he could now manipulate some of the interstellar quantum network's big data, scheduling it to make certain "topics" ferment earlier or later than they naturally would, allowing some "situations" to be exposed sooner or draw attention later.

Within the entire Digital Group, no one knew he had already contacted Chen Gu. For now, at least, he was the sole "god" on the interstellar quantum network; as long as he kept silent, not even Zero Creation would know.

As for why he was doing this, probably only he himself knew.

But one thing was certain: he took this action because he had unearthed an ancient document from the vast, ocean-like expanse of the interstellar quantum network.

To describe it more vividly, finding this document was like piecing together a single, complete file from the paper shreds equivalent to tens of millions of tons of waste from a shredder.