OIAA: Chapter 33
Due to the incident where the mech went out of control, Zorfa Star successfully made the headlines. Combined with the upcoming Interstellar College Abilities League, it attracted a lot of attention. However, this clearly wasn’t a good thing for the leaders of Zorfa.
That evening, a secret meeting was held in the depths of the highest administrative building on the planet. Above the central area of the circular conference table was a holographic projection of the mech that caused the accident. There were only five people present and it wasn’t difficult to see from the badges on their uniforms that they had extremely noble identities.
Among them, Yang Xingwen was the president of the Second Galaxy’s Abilities Division Association. He had flown back directly from a nearby planet after receiving the news and headed straight to the meeting site.
At this time, he looked around at the solemn meeting room and put away the documents in his hands. “So it is confirmed that Arbiter was behind this incident?”
As the domain leader of Zorfa Star, Shanji always had a good political performance after the allied government transferred him here. He never expected that something like this would happen today.
He heard Yang Xingwen’s words and sweat dripped down his forehead.
However, among the people present, he was the one with the lowest identity and he could only use words to explain. “The researchers of the Mechanical Department have already inspected the wreck of the mech. In the residual program, there were indeed traces of Arbiter found. It is just that… during the introduction of mechs at the trade fair, we went through extremely vigorous investigations according to the procedures. We can be sure that there were no output-type energies in this mech. Therefore, the reason why such a serious accident occurred requires further investigation.”
Yang Xingwen frowned slightly, obviously not satisfied with this type of evasive rhetoric. He was silent for a moment before asking, “Who is the owner of this mech?”
“It has been confirmed that he is an ordinary mech collector. Three months ago, he bought this mech in the Seventh Galaxy. The formalities and documentation were all done through formal channels. No matter how we looked, it wasn’t a prohibited product.”
“Continue to follow up and find out more information from the Mechanical Department in the Seventh Galaxy to see if there are any new discoveries.” Yang Xingwen rubbed his temples due to his headache and couldn’t help complaining. “How long will it take for Meyan to come? Hasn’t he always wanted to advance the balance of abilities and machinery? He has always been in charge of investigating Arbiter, the rebel organization. I don’t know where he has gone at this critical time!”
The man next to him glanced at the terminal. “Mr Meyan just went to the Fifth Galaxy’s research institute yesterday. The fastest he can reach here is tomorrow afternoon.”
“Okay, organize the information and file it before he arrives.” A large number of ability masters weren’t friendly toward mechanics. Although Yang Xingwen wasn’t so extreme, he didn’t have much interest in them.
There was nothing more to say so he changed the topic. “I heard there was a college team on the scene when the incident happened today?”
Shanji nodded. “It was the team from Sublime Star. I was surprised. They didn’t panic and there were no casualties.”
“Sublime Star? Let’s go back and arrange for them to go to the hospital for a comprehensive examination. All of them will be top ability masters in the future and the league is about to start. We can’t be careless.” Yang Xingwen showed his first smile today when he heard Shanji’s response. “Speaking of which, tomorrow morning is the opening ceremony right?”
Shanji was slightly surprised. “Sir, are you interested?”
“In any case, Mr Meyan will arrive tomorrow and you don’t need me for the follow up. I have time to go and see.”
“I will send you a VIP ticket when I get back.”
Yang Xingwen sent him a deep look. “I don’t need a VIP ticket. Ordinary tickets are fine.”
“Yes,” Shanji replied without showing too much surprise on his face.
There might be no official competition for the opening ceremony of the Abilities League but the organizers would often arrange some entertainment links for the sake of viewing. This would allow the popular star players over the years to show themselves.
Yang Xingwen didn’t need a VIP ticket because he didn’t want to attract too much attention from the media. It seemed that the Abilities Association of the Second Galaxy was preparing to recruit potential newcomers in advance through this College Abilities League.
Shanji didn’t say much on the surface. Once the meeting was over, he returned to his office, took out a communicator and called a number. It was a rare opportunity to be able to show off in front of a person like Yang Xingwen.
***
Due to the mech incident, the first thing the Sublime Star members did after the placement drawing was over was to return to their rooms early. They were exhausted.
They had a night of rest and gathered in the lobby of the first floor the next morning.
Perhaps it was due to the excitement of the previous day but Deng Hao directly abandoned the use of a space car as a means of transportation. Instead, he took everyone onboard an aircraft and they went to the opening ceremony by air.
The opening ceremony was arranged to take place at the largest venue on Zorfa Star. From a distance, they could see giant balloons floating in the sky as well as a gorgeous, holographic scene. The holographic images referred to the most appreciative scenes from various leagues and were stunning. The highlights were played and suddenly, there was a bit of tension.
Just then, Xu Yi remembered something. “Speaking of which, there should be performance arrangements this year, just like there were in previous years. Have you received any specific notices? How many all-star players are on our team this time?”
Zhou Ming raised his hand up high. “Me, me, I am!”
Lu Zexiu didn’t want to speak but he felt the eyes of others and cleared his throat. “Yes, I received a notice.”
Xu Yi turned and looked at the back seat. “What about you?”
Gu Yesheng leaned back in his seat and smiled. “What do you think?”
Xu Yi, “…I shouldn’t have asked.”
It might be a government-sponsored game but the organizers still had to profit. In order to win the favour of audiences from all walks of life, the online voting method was adopted for the annual all-star performance.
Once the voting was opened, it led to the large-scale performance scene of a large number of contestants who ‘lived using their face’. Due to this, the only time Gu Yesheng didn’t appear was the first year he participated. Since then, he opened a direct passage to be selected with a high number of votes.
In Sublime Star’s current team, in addition to Gu Yesheng, Lu Zexiu was also a resident guest of the all-star performance. After losing by several votes in the previous two years, Zhou Ming was finally successfully selected this year. In this way, Sublime Star actually accounted for three of the 15 all-stars.
Xu Yi inevitably felt a bit envious but there was no way.
After all, there were so many players. In order to stand out, one either needed a peak ability like Lu Zexiu or an enchanting appearance like Gu Yesheng. Xu Yi wasn’t bad in everything but he was missing a bit to reach the top.
Zhou Ming was suddenly excited by the mention of the opening performance. He raised his head and met Xu Yi’s gaze filled with obvious envy and hatred. He couldn’t help asking, “Why are you looking at me like this?”
Xu Yi replied honestly, “I was thinking that you are an omega who doesn’t look like an omega. Why were you selected?”
Zhuo Ming, “???”
Half a second later, a pillow smashed heavily into Xu Yi. “What’s wrong with me? Believe it or not, my popularity is much higher than yours among the omega audience!”
Xu Yi took the pillow and was speechless for a moment. “…You are an omega. Why are you so proud of attracting omega supporters? Do you have the ability to attract alphas… hey? Are you still hitting me?”
“There is nothing to be proud of.” Zhou Ming arrogantly stuck out his tongue. “However, I was selected for the all-stars performance and you weren’t selected!”
Xu Yi, “……” So angry!
In the midst of the noisy conversation, Yi Jiamu retracted his gaze from the window and glanced at Gu Yesheng next to him. “Senior, are you going to participate in the opening performance?”
Gu Yesheng raised his head and looked over. “Are you interested?”
Yi Jiamu had searched up a lot of information regarding the opening ceremony over the years so he nodded. “It seems that the personal display and the group competition are very interesting.”
Gu Yesheng didn’t like to join in the fun like Xu Yi. He had no interest in performing such tricks in public. Now he heard Yi Jiamu’s words and thought about it. “The personal display probably isn’t very good for me. I don’t know what rules are prepared for the group competition this year but I can take part in it.”
Generally speaking, a personal display would have some elemental players perform. For example, using ice to make a huge castle or using fire to draw the shape of an ancient firebird. Meanwhile, Gu Yesheng had a mental ability. What performance could he do except for kneeling on the spot and showing his face?
Even so, Yi Jiamu seemed satisfied. He heard Gu Yesheng say this and looked very interested. “Then I will go install an app first and then set your positioning perspective.”
Thanks to this attitude, Gu Yesheng was inexplicably looking forward to this year’s opening performance.
Upon arriving at the venue, Deng Hao led everyone through a special passageway to the rest room. After a while, there was a knock on the door. The staff looked in and greeted the three all-star players. Then they started to confirm the content of the performance.
Zhou Ming was a speed type ability so he didn’t hesitate to choose the obstacle race challenge as his event. Lu Zexiu thought about it and chose the personal display.
After Gu Yesheng completed the registration, the staff member couldn’t help being silent as he saw the group competition selected.
The players didn’t know the specific content of the performances but the staff behind the scenes knew. Simply put, this year’s group competition happened to be tailored to a certain someone’s abilities.
It was unknown what type of grouping the system would make in the end. The staff member could only pay silent tribute to Gu Yesheng’s future opponents in advance…
Just as the staff was closing the register and preparing to leave, Lu Zexiu suddenly spoke. “Sorry, can I trouble you to adjust it? I will participate in the group competition instead.”
The staff member was stunned for a moment. “Ah, okay.”