Abnormal Moon

"Master, I beg you, please don't cause trouble!"

Zhao Hufeng felt a dull ache in his stomach. Even after being his master's secretary for several years, he still couldn't get used to his master's occasional eccentricities.

"Haha, don't worry, I know what I'm doing!"

Fan Xinglu laughed, but her casual words were clearly meant to fool Zhao Hufeng.

Chapter 188 Phoenix Star Martial Arts Festival Opens

As August arrived, the weather in Rikka, despite being an artificial city floating on a lake, became noticeably hot, with pedestrians taking off their coats and putting on short sleeves.

Upon closer inspection, almost every pedestrian on the road seemed to be like a country bumpkin visiting the city, excitedly following the map's directions and taking photos everywhere, especially on the streets near the central area, where this phenomenon was particularly noticeable.

The Star Festival is about to open. This is the annual time when Rikka relaxes its entry policy to attract tourists from all over the world. Those people walking around here, dressed differently from the students, are tourists from all over the world who have come to watch the Star Festival.

In this world, the Star Martial Festival is far more famous than the Olympics, which has become merely a formality.

It is said that during the broadcast of the Star Festival, the number of viewers worldwide reached hundreds of millions. Every year, the auction of broadcasting rights in various countries and online can make the conglomerate a fortune, not to mention the other byproducts and benefits.

The champion of the Star Martial Arts Festival can enjoy the popularity of a world-class superstar, and can easily secure an advertising endorsement that will ensure a lifetime of financial security.

The reason why Sylvia, a world-class singer, lost to the Poisonous Witch Ophelia Landorufen and could only come in second place on the popularity-based website 60,000 Temple is because Ophelia, as the second person in history to win the King Dragon title twice in a row, and more likely to achieve an unprecedented three-peat, is no less popular than Sylvia globally. In addition, in the previous King Dragon competition, she defeated Sylvia, who had advanced all the way to the finals, which led to this result.

"We've arrived. This is the venue for the opening ceremony of the Star Martial Festival—the Sirius Dome."

In the city center, a black limousine stopped in front of an incredibly magnificent and enormous building, and a group of one man and three women stepped out of the open door.

All four were dressed in Seidoukan Academy uniforms, with Crimson Lotus badges on their chests, making it immediately clear that they were Seidoukan Academy students. Moreover, the group was handsome and beautiful, attracting many tourists to take photos as soon as they appeared, with the sound of camera clicks filling the air.

Looking closely, a huge number of tourists are waiting in front of this giant egg-shaped building, creating an unprecedented scene that is several times more lively than Sylvia's concert back then.

"It feels like a celebrity walking the red carpet."

Among the four, the white-haired, red-eyed boy made a sarcastic remark.

"Actually, it's about the same."

The girl with rose-colored hair agreed wholeheartedly.

"There are so many people..."

The silver-haired, youthful-looking, large-breasted girl looked around nervously. As soon as she was in front of the camera, she was startled and quickly hid behind Roy, the tallest of the girls, like a frightened little rabbit.

"After all, today is the opening day of the Phoenix Star Martial Arts Festival, so it's normal for there to be a lot of people. But it's okay, we have a special channel for contestants."

The blonde, curvaceous girl smiled gently and led the three of them into the contestants' private passage with practiced ease.

Compared to the crowded tourist passage, this place was much quieter. Only a few people walked by, and there was a cool breeze from the air conditioner in the venue. After getting away from the crowd, Kirin Toudou finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Stepping out of the passage, an enormous arena came into view. The stands, modeled after the ancient Roman Colosseum, stretched as far as the eye could see. The entire venue was unimaginably spacious, and countless people were gathered there, creating a truly bustling atmosphere.

"According to the information, this Sirius dome serves as the main stage for the Star Martial Arts Festival, and it is large enough to accommodate 100,000 people to watch the competition at the same time. The champion teams favored by the Operations Committee usually compete here."

As a senior who had already participated in one Star Martial Festival, Claudia was obviously very familiar with everything and introduced everything to the three of them with a smile.

"So, we're not the winning combination the committee favors?"

Yulis gave a soft snort, her tone revealing a hint of displeasure.

Kirin Toudou smiled to herself, not really caring about the matter.

This time, there are more than fifty teams from Seidoukan Academy participating, and 90% of the teams' matches are not held at Sirius Dome. The match between Yulis and Kirin Toudou is held at Nanhe San Dome.

To facilitate student duels, the City of Students has set up numerous dueling stages, the largest of which is the Sirius Dome right here. In addition, there are three large stages, seven medium-sized stages, and countless small stages.

However, only eleven large and medium-sized main stages, including the Sirius Dome, were used in the Star Martial Festival. The South River Three Domes was one of the three large stages, representing a team that, although not as dazzling as the champion team, was still favored by the committee.

Roy and Claudia's teams are playing their match at the Sirius Dome.

This means that the Star Martial Arts Festival's operations committee has high hopes for them and believes they have a chance to win the championship.

The most exciting matches will naturally be held on the Sirius Dome stage, which has the most visitors, while the better matches will be moved to the other three large stages.

That's right, this was just an arrangement made by the committee to generate buzz.

"It's time to gather."

As soon as Claudia said this, the three of them immediately became serious.

Under her guidance, the four of them entered the huge stage, where more than a hundred teams from the six university campuses had gathered.

By 8:00 PM, all 256 teams had gathered on the stage.

Roy's gaze pierced through the crowd and met that of the girl in the haori on the other side.

"What are you looking at?"

Beside the haori-wearing girl, a red-haired girl with twin tails followed her gaze and met Roy's eyes.

"nothing."

Okita Souji withdrew his gaze and looked straight ahead toward the podium.

Stella gave her a strange look, feeling helpless.

She had become quite familiar with Okita Souji over the past month, but she still couldn't understand her occasional strange behavior.

On the other side, Roy pressed the earphone he was wearing.

For a magician, multitasking is incredibly easy.

Meanwhile, the opening ceremony of this year's Phoenix Star Martial Arts Festival has finally officially begun.

The audience seating, divided into many tiers, was completely full, with all 100,000 seats occupied. From their perspective, the contestants below looked as small as sesame seeds.

On the stage, the first speaker of the Six Flowers Council Hall gave a speech, a monotonous and uninteresting remark. Then the chairman of the Star Warrior Festival Operations Committee gave a speech.

"Good morning, everyone. I'm glad to see you all showcasing your talents on stage again this year. I am Matthias Mesa, Chairman of the Star Martial Festival Operations Committee."

Chapter 189 The First Match (43, almost 1000 monthly votes, extra chapter added ahead of schedule)

Appearing on the stage was a man in his prime, who looked to be only about thirty-five or thirty-six years old. The man greeted everyone in a clear and steady voice, with a kind and friendly smile on his face.

With his sharp appearance, cheerful tone, and relaxed and composed demeanor, even from a distance, one could see his well-trained and perfectly built physique. He was clearly a member of the Star Pulse Generation and a master at that.

"This person is also an alumnus of Seidokan Academy, and once dominated the Phoenix Star Martial Arts Festival!"

Claudia whispered to Roy and the other two.

The chairman of the Star Festival Operations Committee, who is also the general commander in charge of all matters related to the Star Festival, is like the director on set or the teacher in a class. Considering the importance of the Star Festival, he is undoubtedly a senior figure in the conglomerate, even higher in status than Kirin's uncle, Koichiro.

“He doesn’t look like he’s undergone mental health reformation.”

Roy raised an eyebrow and subtly observed Matthias Mesa on the stage.

The conglomerates in this world have a peculiar rule: to become a manager of a conglomerate, one must undergo a mental adjustment, abandon personal selfishness, and adopt a spirit of fairness and impartiality to become a member of the management team.

In other words, no matter how high-ranking the manager is, they are essentially just a cog in the machine of the conglomerate, with almost no personal desires.

To become the top executive of a conglomerate, the requirements are even stricter. One must cultivate a mindset of "being willing to sacrifice even one's beloved family members or one's own flesh and blood for the benefit of the conglomerate."

Why was Roy's hypnosis of the galaxy's top executive discovered?

It wasn't because he failed in his manipulation; in fact, his hypnosis at the time was incredibly successful with the help of the Magic Eye. It was just that when he later used the top executives to seek personal gain, the other executives noticed that he was acting strangely. The top executives actually had selfish desires? How could that be? That's when he was exposed and had to leave Tokyo.

The cadres who have undergone mental adjustment are incapable of having any personal desires. They all look like robots, with almost no individual characteristics.

However, even from the perspective of having no features, the features are extremely obvious.

But the Matthias Mesa in front of me seemed enthusiastic and didn't look like he had undergone any mental adjustment at all; he was fully expressing himself.

"He became the chairman of the operations committee through his wish to become the champion of the Star Martial Festival."

Claudia lowered her voice even further this time, to the point that only Roy could hear her, as if she was also wary of the topic.

But then Roy understood.

The Star Martial Festival champion's wish is absolute. There is an unwritten rule among the six major conglomerates that the Star Martial Festival champion's wish must take precedence over all other projects. If necessary, the conglomerates must cooperate fully. Because the top executives have no personal desires, this rule has never been broken.

Becoming a corporate executive through wishing is indeed a shortcut, and the Star Festival's operations do not interfere with the corporate's direction. Furthermore, Matthias has done a good job since taking office, so the corporate has tacitly accepted his existence.

"Talking too much will dampen everyone's enthusiasm, so in the end I will only announce one new change—with the advancement of technology, some regulations will always seem outdated. Specifically, should autonomous motorized machines be considered weapons?"

"We do not wish to impose restrictions on any rules lightly, as restrictions can lead to stagnation and ultimately decline. Therefore, we hope everyone understands that this measure is only intended as a reference for the next competition—limited to this competition, where autonomous motorized machines will be recognized as 'agents' for participation."

A slight commotion began to break out in the audience.

Not only the audience, but even some of the students on stage began to stir.

But among these 512 people, two girls remained motionless and even showed happy smiles.

The two women wore badges of wise owls on their chests; they were students of the Alcant Institute, and the rule was clearly in their favor.

"We hope that you all can understand that this regulation is not intended to favor any particular academy, but rather to ensure equality in the near future. We have always strived to arrange the rules that are most beneficial to you. We ask those who love and support the Star Festival to look forward to this new regulation, which will take the Star Festival to the next level. The Star Festival will always be the best entertainment event in the world, a stage that creates unparalleled excitement and emotion, and the ultimate battle performance that shakes the soul!"

The moment the words were spoken, all the commotion vanished from the audience, replaced by a thunderous roar of applause.

The audience doesn't care whether the rules change or not; they only care whether the game is exciting and intense. As long as the reforms bring new excitement to the game, the audience is very willing to accept them.

"That's really clever rhetoric."