Star Dome Railway, I am surrounded by strange things!

Pinocchio's grand plan was drawing closer. If others failed, they could just start over. But if he jumped in without gathering enough chips, he would be doomed. Therefore, he was more eager than anyone else to take on the task at hand. No matter what support he needed, even if it meant paying for it himself, he would bite the bullet and throw himself into it.

And more importantly, it wasn't him who was embarrassed, it was Topa, so why should he worry about it? Shajin even planned to privately sponsor a few million credits for the promotional video, striving for maximum special effects and chuunibaku (middle school/middle school) flair, and broadcast it throughout Pierpoint, becoming his source of joy for the rest of the year.

Toppa was in a dilemma, but even though he knew that the bastard Shajin was waiting to see him make a fool of himself, he had no way to refuse.

As happy as he was when he first went on the business trip, Topa is under as much pressure now.

I'd applied for a government-funded vacation, built a pet park, and enjoyed all the benefits I was entitled to. If everything went smoothly, no one would care. But if everything went to waste, and nothing was accomplished, and I'd abandoned my work and taken my pet for such a long time, the Diamonds wouldn't be so easy going. Especially since I'd already stumbled once on this planet before, and a second failure would severely impact my credibility and even my future.

Compared to being criticized by everyone at the roundtable meeting, I'm already planning to quit the game, so what's the big deal about making a childish promotional video?

After Topa reluctantly agreed, Xing had no choice but to give up resisting.

The long period of simulated universe testing has allowed her to understand Ms. Black Tower far better than anyone else.

Competing with a genius who could even simulate a star god? Was his brain broken?

What's wrong with shooting a silly promotional video? Isn't that more reliable than memorizing math formulas? From now on, I'm the Dark Duel Master. Losers, surrender your souls!

After all, Xing, whose mental age is not that old, is in her prime. Without waiting for others to persuade her, she got into the state first and began to think about how to face all the enemies in the universe as the big devil. Even her sitting posture changed unconsciously.

Soon, everyone was busy with their own duties.

Xing and March Seven hurriedly contacted Estelle to try to confirm the situation, and asked her to help hint at whether Ms. Black Tower could let some sea out during the competition.

Fearing that Sha Jin might do something bad, Topa took the initiative to take on the task of contacting Star Peace Film and Television, and was ready to mobilize people as soon as possible to complete the filming and promotion of the promotional video as soon as possible.

Gold Sand poured even more energy into cooperating with and tracking Giovanni. After this brutal experience, he no longer dared to underestimate the masked wealthy businessman. A single genius had nearly ruined everyone's plan. If only the all-powerful Giovanni could go to Screw Star and set up a branch venue, inviting the Screw Star's emperor to participate with his stellar differential instrument, everyone would be able to go to bed.

As for Jiang Yan, although he didn't say anything, all his friends had enough confidence in him - this guy would never sit idle, and he would definitely come up with something big secretly.

Jiang Yan certainly wouldn't let everyone down. After returning to his room, he contacted Silver Wolf:

"Ms. Black Tower is participating in this year's Ether Front Competition. Do you want to get back at her in the area you are most familiar with?"

It's a very simple and straightforward way of adding fuel to the fire, but it has an incredible special attack effect on the Silver Wolf.

Ever since 76 game accounts were deleted, the relationship between Silver Wolf and Black Tower has become a one-sided blood feud.

Even Silver Wolf had to admit that she had no way to deal with this genius who was always confined to the lab, interacting only with puppets. Even if she could successfully invade the Black Tower Station ten thousand times, what would it mean if the other party didn't care?

If she didn't care about something, it meant she had no weaknesses. If she didn't even have weaknesses, what could a hacker do? She couldn't hack into the energy center of the space station and blow it up!

But now, this bastard had emerged from his own lab? And even came to his own territory?

After hearing Jiang Yan's words, Silver Wolf instantly became excited:

"Is the news true? Never mind, I'll confirm it myself!"

This kind of public contract was not confidential information, and Silver Wolf quickly found a copy in the document library of the Black Tower Space Station.

However, after all the information in her body fell into extreme ecstasy, she calmed down.

Because she needed to build a host for Sam, she often went to the simulated universe database to retrieve things, so of course she knew how powerful the Black Tower was. If it was a game that required reaction and tactics, Silver Wolf would naturally not be afraid. But for a game like Ether Front that required algorithms and computing power, wasn't it a bit too much of a dimensionality reduction attack for this bastard to play?

So, should we miss this opportunity?

So, do I have to admit that I am not as good as her in some aspects even in gaming?

Don’t even want to die!

Without any hesitation, Silver Wolf replied:

"Genius? When it comes to games, I'm a genius! As long as the bubbles are mine, don't mess with Prometheus. She's bound to lose!"

Oops, I've Been Caught by a Fool!: Chapter 121: Dark Duel

Compared to ordinary humans, the digital life form Silver Wolf does not have much fear of the Genius Club. After all, the smart brains led by that group of machine brains are only interested in exploring the ultimate answer to the universe rather than the wisdom in reality.

"Intelligence" only cares about those best at unlocking the answers to the universe's questions. When it comes to these, Silver Wolf admits that even if he put ten thousand of himself together, they wouldn't be as good as Black Tower. But when it comes to algorithms and computing power, Silver Wolf doesn't believe the gap between them is significant.

Data, algorithms, and computing power are her flesh, blood, and soul. Completing them as fully as possible is the instinct and purpose of the "Silver Wolf." And in this regard, how much energy does a brilliant mind, fixated on the starry sky above, have to focus on the ground below, avoid the pitfalls of reality, and pluck up the wisdom readily available to them?

This confidence wasn't arrogance on Silver Wolf's part. After all, she had already challenged even the true expert, Screw-Gum. Although she hadn't been able to break through the stellar differential instrument, she didn't feel ashamed of failing to defeat a genius and a stellar supercomputer. Nor did she believe that the Black Tower, which primarily studied imaginary number overflow, would be any more difficult to deal with than Screw-Gum.

Wouldn't it be great if they could go together this time like last time?

The Silver Wolf, who possessed Prometheus, the "god" of Punklord, could not wait to see how he would win in a duel with a genius with the blessing of the same stellar-level computing power.

"I'm about to start special training with Prometheus. If you need my cooperation, tell me now. Don't bother us after we start."

Silver Wolf certainly didn't believe that Jiang Yan's blatant fanning the flames was a kind reminder, but considering that he brought such good news and Prometheus, she didn't mind helping him out a little.

"Um, I'm working with the marketing department of Interstellar Peace Corporation and the Star Train. Is it okay to let them know in advance that you're planning to participate?"

Facing Jiang Yan's concern, Silver Wolf said disdainfully:

"Why, are you afraid they'll take advantage of the opportunity to arrest me? They'd better not dare."

"A while ago, a little guy with a pacifier in his mouth on Star Peace Entertainment challenged me, so I gave all the player accounts on the server full rewards. If the marketing department wants to cause trouble, I don't mind canceling all their debts as well. What do you think? Should we give them a try?"

Why didn't you tell me earlier? It's such a big deal. Why did you wait until Beloberg paid off his debts? If you had done this a year earlier, wouldn't Bronya have worshipped you like an ancestor?

Faced with this ruthless person who bombed the server without saying a word, Jiang Yan could only silently criticize him and then continue:

"One more thing. It's okay to lend you Bubble in advance, but you also know that all of these designs are designed so that Xing can defeat that masked rich businessman. So after you defeat the Black Tower, you need to do the same as Toppa and lose Bubble to Xing in the Dark Duel. Then you won't win the championship. Do you mind this?"

In Jiang Yan's eyes, this guy is a loyal believer of "playing games is to win". If after finally defeating the Black Tower, this guy also knocks down Xing, the script will be too humorous.

"Wait a minute, the previous champion is going to lose on purpose too?" Another main reason why Silver Wolf participated in this competition was to get back at Toppa and avenge last year's defeat. When he heard that Toppa was also going to withdraw from the competition, he instantly became anxious.

"Um, her script was to lose all her Ether Spirits and Honor to Xing in the Dark Duel before the competition even started." Although he didn't know what Silver Wolf was anxious about, Jiang Yan still explained the whole story to her in detail. However, after listening to Jiang Yan's detailed explanation of the Dark Duel's script, Silver Wolf immediately objected fiercely:

"Want to win and run? No way! You want my help? No problem, get Topa to come out and fight me, otherwise don't even think about asking me to cooperate with your stupid show."

Dark Duel? Come on, this guy knows a lot about it!

Silver Wolf, who has been addicted to games for many years, is also a typical middle school girl. She instantly felt involved in Jiang Yan's new setting.

Since there are dark duel rules, shouldn’t I have a dark duel with the previous champion first? If I win, it will be equivalent to forcing the opponent to retreat and completely regaining my ground?

Thinking of this, Silver Wolf made the request without hesitation.

Jiang Yan certainly had no objection to this small request and agreed very readily. He then used Prometheus to directly pull her over via the Internet cable.

Isn't it just a private match? Toppa even planned to shoot a ridiculously cheesy promotional video about "The Demon King Falls, the New King Rises to the Throne." So what's the big deal about playing a couple of games in private?

So Jiang Yan brought Silver Wolf to the living room and called everyone back together:

"Everyone, I've successfully persuaded Miss Silver Wolf to join our team. She will sign up for the Black Tower Space Station competition and use Bubble to defeat Ms. Black Tower. Then, she will lose Bubble to Xing in a dark duel. Everyone, please welcome her!"

However, the only response he got was the stunned looks of the three people.

Although Xing and March Seven already knew that Silver Wolf had set his sights on Bubble, and therefore agreed to help Jiang Yan, they still didn't expect that this guy would be so brave as to challenge Ms. Black Tower in public with a bounty of 51 billion credit points.

Was he truly not afraid of bounty hunters and the Interstellar Peace Company's security department setting up a dragnet for her to capture mid-fight on the Ether Front? That's 51 billion credits. If it weren't for the delicate relationship between the Star Train and the Star Core Hunters, Xing and March Seven would be tempted to cash in on the extra cash, right?

Compared to them, Topa was even more shocked and stunned:

"Are you the Star Core Hunter, Silver Wolf?"

Seeing the other person dressed exactly like in the wanted poster, Topa felt sick.

Although she had long known that Jiang Yan had a Punklord hacker helping him behind the scenes, there was still a difference between wanted criminals and wanted criminals. She never expected that the person helping Jiang Yan would be such a heavyweight figure.

Finding a wanted criminal to help secretly and letting a universe-level wanted criminal participate in the competition in public are two completely different things!

Although due to work relations, there had been no conflicts between the other party and the Strategic Investment Department, but this influential figure before him, without even looking through the wanted posters, Topa knew that whether it was the Security Department, the Marketing Department, Interstellar Peace Entertainment, or Interstellar Internet, they were all desperately wanting this Star Core Hunter's head, and they wanted to kill her a hundred times. How could a single P44 protect him?

"Yeah, what? You want to arrest me?"

As a Punklord, Silver Wolf never treats the employees of Interstellar Peace Company well, even if they are partners.

At this time, Topa was no longer in the mood to care about Silver Wolf's attitude. He just turned to look at Jiang Yan and said:

"You really gave me a huge surprise. I really can't carry such a big pot by myself. It's better to ask your new friend Shajin to help me carry it."

After that, he immediately started the communication:

"What's wrong? Has something changed?" Sha Jin, who was on his way to the airport, responded in surprise.

"Yeah, what a big surprise. You'll know when you come back." Topa said helplessly.

"Okay, I'll be right back."

Of course, Shajin didn't think that Topa contacted him just because he was bored, so he quickly ended the call and ordered the driver to turn around and go back.

Topa faced the Silver Wolf and tried to communicate something, but she found that she had nothing to say to this lawless star core hunter.

I can't promise anything, and all the promises made by the other party are meaningless. It seems that the best option is for everyone to pretend that they don't know each other.

After all, this guy had hacked into the EtherFront server last year and used a fake identity to become the regional champion. It wasn't until he was defeated and revealed his true identity that the tournament organizers were mortified to discover that he was a wanted criminal.

If it is repeated this year, the worst that can happen is that the gold sand will be blamed for "inadequate supervision", which seems to be acceptable.

Of course, the prerequisite is that he must first unify his statements with Sha Jin and report to "Jade" and "Diamond" in advance, otherwise, the two of them will not be able to take the blame no matter what.

The Star Core Hunters are not just any wanted criminals. The losses they have caused to the company cannot be summed up in credit points. They can easily steal the star cores of an entire planet under the company's control, completely causing the company to lose control of it and the potential for subsequent development.

How could the Marketing Department and other departments not be filled with hatred for such lawless behavior? If they were found to be colluding with the other party, not only would P44, but even Jade P46 would probably be handed over as a scapegoat.

So Topa could only be polite and say:

"Ms. Silver Wolf, can we wait for my other colleague to come back so we can discuss in detail how we can reach some understanding between us?"

However, facing Topa's politeness, Silver Wolf just waved his hand in boredom and said disdainfully:

"A tacit understanding? I'm not interested in any tacit understanding with the people in the company. My duel with the Black Tower, whether you know about it or not, whether you agree or not, it doesn't matter. If you want to stop it, you can try. I'm here to fight you on the ether front, that's all."

"Attack the ether front?" Faced with this magical development, even Topa's train of thought was instantly stuck.

"Yeah, aren't you going to quit? It will be too late if I don't beat you now. I'm not interested in your ether spirit, so let's bet all our honor on a dark duel!" The excited Silver Wolf got into the state as he spoke.

This guy Jiang Yan is really something. Dark Duel? It's so exciting!

"Dark Duel?" Topa turned his head towards Jiang Yan with a dark face.

Your setting is spreading too quickly. If the reputation of the Ether Front becomes a mess, it will definitely be your fault!

As the champion of the Ether Front, Topa, even though he is about to retire, does not want this game to become a gathering of weirdos where everyone dresses up in all kinds of strange costumes, holds all kinds of cheating artifacts, and challenges others to dark duels with souls at stake.

However, Jiang Yan, who had no love for the game, didn't care about this at all. He just hinted to Topa with his eyes:

"Play a few games with her to cheer her up."

There was no other way, so Topa, who had to ask for help, had to glare at Jiang Yan fiercely, then took out his own ether coin and connected to Jiang Yan's private server, then started the duel with Silver Wolf in the courtyard.

Just like that, when Sha Jin returned to Topa's house exhausted, he saw an abstract scene in which his colleague was happily playing a game against a wanted criminal with a bounty of 51 billion credit points, while several other friends were cheering them on.

What the hell is going on? Is this a surprise you're talking about, a plan to split 51 billion credits with me?

Just as Gold Sand was about to come over to ask what was going on, he saw the Silver Wolf, having won a complete victory, speak triumphantly as Topa's last Ether Spirit exploded into nothingness:

"So, you know how strong I am now! It seems that only that guy named Black Tower can force me to use my full strength. Wait and witness the strongest showdown in the history of this game!"

Silver Wolf was incredibly happy at the moment. Having solved her storage problem, she could now easily use her full computing power even when playing games. Even Toppa, known as a humanoid computer, could never defeat a true humanoid AI and supercomputer like her.

After defeating Topa cleanly and neatly, Silver Wolf was full of anticipation for the showdown with Black Tower. Without waiting for Jiang Yan's consent, he immediately digitized himself and dove into his arms. After leaving Jiang Yan with only one sentence, he began a close-quarters closed-door training with Prometheus:

"I've recently recruited Prometheus. If you want me to win, don't mess around!"

Seeing this walking 51 billion credits suddenly transform into a pixelated figure and disappear without a trace, Gold Dust was completely confused. He couldn't help but walk up to the disappointed Topa and ask:

"Since I've gone through so much trouble, could you please explain to me what a surprise is?"

After a long time, he returned to the living room and finally understood the situation after Jiang Yan's explanation. He quickly put on a mask of pain:

"Damn it! Is this the only "good thing" you can selflessly share with me?"

Shajin doesn't mind taking the blame for "ineffective supervision", but he cannot bear the big blame of "colluding with the Star Core Hunters" no matter what.

But once this report is submitted, whose fault will "Jade" and "Diamond" think it is?

Is it Topa, who always prioritizes people and plays it safe? Or is it me, who always enjoys gambling and taking small risks for big gains?

This is the case even within the department. Once the news leaks, who will become the scapegoat?

Even if everything goes well and this Star Core Hunter defeats Ms. Black Tower in a live broadcast across the universe, other departments will inevitably launch a capture operation. In the chaos, if he fails, who will take the blame?

It must be all me!

When Sha Jin thought about a huge pot that was about to fall from the sky and hit his head, he couldn't help but look at Topa and Jiang Yan with displeasure.

These two guys work so well together.