After finishing his review, Xu Xi closed his eyes to rest. Once he felt sufficiently rested, he chose to continue entering the instance.
Following his earlier self-analysis, his current mindset had shifted once more.
Rather than dawdling and wasting time waiting for the instance to descend upon him, it was better to be proactive and actively challenge the instances.
For him, there were ultimately only two outcomes: either die inside the instance, or successfully climb the ladder.
Since both were inevitable sooner or later, he shouldn't keep turtling up in the player space anymore.
When Xu Xi opened his eyes, he found himself standing on a dirt road.
There were five other people around him.
The first was a man in a suit who looked like the picture of an elite.
The second was a young man wearing a baseball cap, who appeared quite sunny.
The third was a girl in a long dress who seemed gentle and soft-spoken.
The fourth was a tall, thin man with a gloomy aura.
The last was a woman with permed hair and a fashionable style.
——
Meanwhile, in the outside world.
Blue Star, Hua Nation, J Province Television Station.
At the program team for "The Glittering Players," the host, Song Yan, looked at the barrage of scathing live stream comments flooding the large screen, feeling quite awkward inside.
Sigh, how did this mess end up landing on her?
The expressions of the two invited experts sitting beside her were also somewhat stiff.
They weren't unaware of how poor this program's reputation was. They hadn't wanted to come initially, but the program team's offer was simply too generous.
But now, seeing the barrage of comments that could almost be described as utterly unsightly, both of them simultaneously felt regret.
Why couldn't they resist the temptation?
Now they just had to sit here and endure the personal attacks.
[You actually still have the nerve to keep running this program???]
[Please, I'm begging you, stop. If you keep broadcasting, our J Province will be wiped out sooner or later.]
[Our province finally got another genius player, and you just can't wait to ruin him?]
[I'll f*ck your *@&＃% (User Muted)]
[If Master Xu Xi gets poisoned to death by you, I'll hang myself at your doorstep!]
[Die die die die die die]
[Already reported. I don't believe we can't eradicate a cancer like you.]
"...Dear audience friends, hello everyone! Welcome to 'The Glittering Players' program. I am your host, Song Yan." Even though she was being cursed out and personally wished for the program team to go bankrupt, Song Yan still displayed her professional composure as a host, turning a smiling face towards the large screen.
Ignoring the creatively diverse barrage of insults, Song Yan introduced with a smile, "Sitting beside me are two experts. One is the renowned psychology expert, Mr. Cao Hongbo, author of influential books such as 'The Hidden Depths of Human Nature' and 'The Science of Psychological Suggestion.' The other is the famous suspense writer, Mr. Ge Ying, author of acclaimed works like 'I Killed Myself' and 'Innocent.' It is our honor to have both experts join our program team."
Regardless of their inner thoughts, Cao Hongbo and Ge Ying both put on amiable smiles on the surface and greeted the large screen.
After both had finished their greetings, Song Yan steeled herself and continued with the opening remarks.
"Recently, a certain instance video has been spreading like wildfire online, its popularity so high it once dominated the trending charts. The video's view count has even soared to 800 million to this day. I believe friends listening now probably already know who I'm talking about, right? That's right, it's the player who cleared his first instance in just 2 minutes and 48 seconds on his very first game—Xu Xi!"
"He is also the subject of our program's live stream today."
[We'd rather you didn't stream him at all.]
[What grudge do you people have against the players? Why must you curse them?]
[Do you even understand the weight of '248'? It's the only one in the entire world! If you poison him to death, can you even afford to compensate? I'm asking!]
[Stupid program team, I hope you get selected to enter an instance soon. We only want to watch *your* live stream.]
[I'm putting my words here today. If Master Xu Xi dies, I won't live either.]
[...Dude in front, what use is that threat?]
Song Yan didn't feel good inside either.
She didn't want to be the host for this stupid program team either, but she was just an ordinary worker. Since none of the higher-ups were willing to come take the abuse, they forcibly transferred her here to be the abuse sponge.
She was already the 28th host this program had gone through.
The higher-ups initially thought this 'jinx' was related to the host or the invited experts, so they kept changing people batch after batch. They even switched venues several times in a row, only to finally discover that the problem seemed to genuinely lie with the program itself. Yet, for some reason the higher-ups couldn't fathom, they simply refused to cancel the program.
Among the 28 hosts before her, the one who lasted the longest live-streamed over twenty players before being mentally broken by the barrage of comments. Rumor had it they're still receiving psychological treatment.
Song Yan didn't think she was tougher than that colleague. She had already made up her mind: after live-streaming this player named Xu Xi, she would apply for a transfer. If the higher-ups refused, she would resign.
At worst, she just wouldn't do this job anymore.
It was just a pity for this genius player.
2 minutes and 48 seconds, ah! Who said she didn't understand the weight of that data? Having hosted many instance analysis channels, she understood it all too well!
"Mr. Cao Hongbo and Mr. Ge Ying will conduct in-depth analysis and discussion on this instance and the players' operations. Let's look forward to the brilliant performances of player Xu Xi and his teammates." Secretly sighing, Song Yan forced herself to perk up and said, "Next, let's turn our attention to the large screen."
As her words fell, the large screen instantly lit up, displaying the six players, including Xu Xi.
[Huh? Didn't expect Cheng Xu to be here too. He actually got matched with Master Xu Xi.]
[Damn, then this instance is stable! With these two together, wouldn't they just slaughter everything?]
[You're thinking too much. Forgot the nature of this program team? By then, forget Xu Xi, even Cheng Xu might end up 'gone' together.]
[I remember Master Cheng Xu entered his first instance about a month earlier than Master Xu Xi, right? He's already ranked 89th on the leaderboard now.]
[Yes, I think this is his 7th instance.]
[Cheng Xu's instance entry times follow God Hunt's default seven-day interval. Xu Xi just finished an instance the day before yesterday and is entering another today. He'll probably be climbing the rankings soon.]
[What climbing? He's going to be poisoned to death today.]
[Damn you, shut the hell up! I say he can climb, so he can climb!]
[By the way, what does Cheng Xu look like? I haven't watched his instances. Is he the one with the baseball cap? Looks pretty sunny and cheerful.]
[No, he's the gloomy, tall, thin one.]
[??? Uh... that really doesn't match the name very well.]
Seeing the barrage temporarily shift its focus, Song Yan secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Ji Yang was crouched in front of his home computer, watching the screen showing the "Glittering Play" program team's broadcast, feeling particularly upset.
The external public opinion hadn't exerted any effective pressure on the program team.
At this moment, he somehow empathized with that comment saying they wouldn't live if Xu Xi died.
This was a seed of hope he had personally unearthed with his own hands!