Chapter 154
Chapter 154
Jiang Li hesitated.
Perhaps sensing Jiang Li’s distrust, the Elevator Attendant took the dagger from her pocket and handed it to Jiang Li.
“If I wanted to hurt you, you could use the Human Blood Dagger to kill me at any time.”
What she handed to Jiang Li was not only the dagger, but also a Score Sheet.
The Score Sheet was an evaluation of Jiang Li’s service. The highest possible score on it was 10.
Jiang Li did not refuse again.
She put away the Score Sheet and the dagger, then leaned onto the Elevator Attendant’s shoulder.
Carrying Jiang Li on her back, the Elevator Attendant floated through the corridor, descending floor by floor.
After leaving the building, the Elevator Attendant crouched down and set Jiang Li on the ground.
Then, without looking back, the Elevator Attendant floated straight to a spot several meters away.
Under Jiang Li’s gaze, the Elevator Attendant lay down on the ground in a curled-up, fetal position.
At that moment, above the hotel building, a pale blue, semi-transparent, ghostlike figure fell from upstairs with a thud.
After the pale blue figure landed, it overlapped with the Elevator Attendant lying on the ground.
Three seconds later, the Elevator Attendant’s body turned into a pile of ashes and scattered in the wind…
[Congratulations, Chosen One Jiang Li. You have successfully sent off all the “strange guests” of Clear Spring Hotel and obtained a Positive Review.]
[The plot exploration rate for the “Clear Spring Hotel” Instance is: 100%.]
[Your clearance rank this time is SSS Rank. You have successfully achieved a perfect clearance.]
[Clearance rewards will now be issued to you-]
Three Skull Cards hovered before Jiang Li’s eyes.
The glowing text beside them flashed a reminder: all three cards belonged to the SSS Rank category.
Jiang Li looked at the cards for a few seconds, then took a heart out of her Space and casually handed it to Red Infant on her shoulder.
“Baby, help Mommy pick one.”
Red Infant hugged the heart, his eyes shining as he sucked in a mouthful of drool.
Without even lifting his head, he directly took down the card floating in the middle and handed it to Jiang Li.
“Here, Mommy. Mommy is too tired. You need a good rest!”
Hearing Red Infant’s words, Jiang Li held the card as her brow twitched.
She flipped the card over and glanced at it.
Two rewards were written on it.
[Within Huaguo: The group designated by the Chosen One will have their “pollution resistance” increased by 50%.]
[For the Chosen One personally: You will receive three days of rest. Within these three days, the Chosen One may return to their country and move about freely.]
When they saw the rewards on the card, cheers erupted throughout the Huaguo Live Streaming Room.
-“Help! Jiang Li can finally rest. This really hasn’t been easy for her! [clapping.jpg]”
-“That Red Boy has pretty good luck.”
-“? What Red Boy? Do you even know how to talk? That’s clearly my precious Yingying! [starry eyes.jpg]”
-“Uh, I’ve been watching this stream for so long. Am I the only one who thinks Jiang Li is really stupid…”
-“Is there a hater in the Live Streaming Room?”
-“Kick the hater out!! Kick him far, far away! Mute him!!”
“…”
While the netizens were making a racket, Jiang Li made another move.
Jiang Li now needed to designate a certain group of people and grant them a higher level of “pollution resistance.”
The System was waiting for Jiang Li to make her choice.
Three images appeared in front of Jiang Li, representing three types of people.
They were Supporters, Neutrals, and Slanderers.
Jiang Li had to designate one of these three groups as the recipient of the “pollution resistance” reward.
This was also the “privilege” Jiang Li had traded for by narrowly surviving countless dangers during her adventures in the Aberration World.
However, as she looked at the choices before her, Jiang Li gradually furrowed her brows.
“Mommy, why aren’t you choosing?” Red Infant asked in confusion, gnawing on the heart as he glanced at Jiang Li.
Jiang Li pressed her lips together and fell silent for a few seconds.
Was this… really a privilege?
Jiang Li’s eyes flickered.
This choice seemed like a privilege granted to Jiang Li, but in reality… there seemed to be some ulterior motive behind it.
All three groups contained enormous numbers of people.
If Jiang Li had to designate a specific group to receive resistance, she would inevitably prioritize her own “Supporters.”
But this choice was not meant to help Jiang Li win people over. It was meant to make Jiang Li divide them.
Within Huaguo, those who had originally belonged to the “Neutrals” would receive no reward because of Jiang Li’s choice, planting the seeds of resentment toward her.
“Neutrals” would become “Slanderers.”
The number of people who hated Jiang Li would skyrocket.
And by coincidence, Jiang Li’s reward this time was: “Return to Huaguo and rest for three days.”
Think about it. Would that really be “three days of rest,” and not “three days of being hunted”?
Once Jiang Li returned to Huaguo, she would no longer be tied to the Instance or to the nation’s interests.
If Jiang Li died unexpectedly outside the Instance, it would do no harm to the country or its people.
On the contrary, they could rally behind a new Chosen One.
Undercurrents surged throughout Huaguo.
Countless restless Eyes were fixed on Jiang Li in the Live Streaming Room.
Even though they all knew that, as Neutrals or Slanderers, Jiang Li would most likely not choose them when distributing the Anti-Contamination Reward,
they still wanted to wait for a definite answer.
It was both an answer and a reason.
A reason that would let them “openly form a group and hate Jiang Li” with perfect justification.
At this moment, their sense of belonging to a collective reached its peak.
The experts in the Intelligence Department had clearly realized the scheme hidden within as well.
Their expressions were grave. Each of them fell silent, thinking through possible countermeasures.
A few seconds of silence passed.
Xia Guofeng held his fountain pen and tapped it twice against the table.
He was the first to speak. “If Jiang Li truly ends up surrounded by enemies on all sides, then our Intelligence Department must build a Safe Houses. We must guarantee Jiang Li’s safety.”
The other experts immediately added,
“That’s right. We should also arrange security personnel, layers upon layers of them, to surround the house inside and out! I don’t believe those people would dare charge in!”
Someone raised a doubt. “But how can we determine that there aren’t resentful ‘Neutrals’ and ‘Slanderers’ among those security personnel? After all, the human heart is hard to read…”
“Actually, if those ‘neutral citizens’ hadn’t been turned against her, the threat to Jiang Li wouldn’t be that great. No matter how you look at it, the citizens who slander Jiang Li are still in the minority.”
“Exactly. But that’s the problem. The Aberration World is trying to create opposition! They want to stir up hatred among the ‘neutral citizens’ and use their overwhelming numbers against Jiang Li.”
The conference room fell silent again.
There was no solution.
The Aberration World had truly mastered this tactic of tearing people’s hearts apart.
No matter what Jiang Li chose, something would go wrong!
Panic spread through the conference room. Only Xiao Wu, seated in the front row, showed not the slightest hint of worry on his face.
Seeing Xiao Wu remain so calm, Elder Fan, who sat across from him, could not help speaking up.
“What is it, Xiao Wu? As the biggest ‘ringleader of the haters,’ you’re not worried at all about not getting the reward?”
Elder Fan stared at him, half joking.
Xiao Wu’s lips curved. “Senior, you really know how to joke. As a ‘Supporters,’ it’s already set in stone that I’ll receive the reward.
“What worries me most right now is Jiang Li’s safety. Sigh. I wonder what choice Jiang Li will make.”
Xiao Wu modestly hid his sharpness and did not take the initiative to offer a way out of the predicament, lest he appear too outstanding.
Elder Fan fixed his eyes on him for a moment, then pursed his lips. “From the look of you, you don’t seem worried about Jiang Li.”
Xiao Wu smiled and did not answer.
In truth, Elder Fan was right. He really was not particularly worried about Jiang Li.
Xiao Wu looked at Jiang Li on the livestream screen.
He was certain that Jiang Li should be thinking… the same thing he was.
If Jiang Li had noticed where the real problem lay, then she would not fall into this trap.
So there was nothing to worry about.
On the livestream screen,
Jiang Li loosened her clenched fist, extended her right hand, and made her choice.