Chapter 162: Prestige

Chapter 162: Chapter 162: Prestige

The team prize is split among 501 people, which is a number that makes all players happy.

But the champion prize doesn’t need splitting—after all, there’s only one champion.

Bama’s heart was pounding uncontrollably; he squeezed closer: "So, how much exactly is it?"

Boland was surprised—how did he not know this?

Bama scratched his head. "I forgot how many zeros there are in the champion prize."

When he got the recommendation, he just joined the contest to try his luck. Other than being skilled, he had no real advantages.

If he got picked and lucked into a team prize, he’d basically be set for life—never have to worry about food or drink again, right?

Of course, if he wanted to live well, he could coast for a few years. Honestly, calling it "overnight wealth" wouldn’t even be exaggerating.

As for the champion prize, he didn’t even look closely—he knew with his skill level, there was no way he’d ever win it. At least he was self-aware.

Boland glanced at him calmly and replied, "I forgot too."

...

"Congrats to all Team Blue members for winning the competition!"

"Congrats to Renee Morgan for scoring 140 points and becoming the champion!"

Two electronic voices sounded almost simultaneously in the headsets of fifteen group members, echoing through the entire livestream.

Renee Morgan’s team won.

Renee Morgan took the champion’s top score.

Netizens from the mainland bombarded the comments in excitement.

[I’m crying—my goddess actually won the championship.]

[The base isn’t as famous as Olympic Champion, but word is Olympic Champion’s prize money can’t even compare to a fraction of hers. Envious...]

[Come on, that’s not fair. Olympic Champion has fame—all kinds of cash rewards when returning home, plus endorsements thanks to the reputation. That adds up.]

[LOL, people overseas already leaked the base’s champion prize—those zeros, even Olympic Champion couldn’t make that in a lifetime, even if they never retire.]

A single stone stirs up a thousand waves.

Jealousy can twist faces—haters were especially fired up.

[They say there’s a script, a character setup, and an inside job. See, told you...]

[When capital throws that much cash in, if they don’t win the championship, how else are they gonna earn it back? Just wait, tomorrow she’ll be cashing in back home.]

[Capital treats the masses like idiots, and the masses gladly lick boots.]

Haters’ destructive power is right up there with a level seven hurricane.

They even dragged netizens from the comments into it, completely igniting the crowd’s rage.

A flame war was about to break out. Suddenly, the comments got flooded with messages.

[30 seconds]

[31 seconds]

[...]

[50 seconds]

[51 seconds]

Other netizens, totally confused, typed out questions: [Are you counting down to midnight?]

Now there were only a few seconds until midnight.

Someone answered: [Yep, we’re counting down with the Global Network.]

Foreign sites are called Global Network, gathering multiple countries.

Second hand hit 59, then zero.

After a second of silence, the comments exploded in perfect sync:

[Look at the foreign headlines NOW!!]

Everyone else was clueless—had no idea where the foreign headlines were.

But soon, they didn’t even have to check, they figured it out right away.

Because those headlines started rotating onto the mainland’s hot searches.

On the hour at midnight, first Meridia’s Argentis Victory Plaza big screen lit up with the base’s logo—then came the Coronada flag, and under the bright colors, Renee Morgan appeared with a sniper rifle, followed by a line of text congratulating her for clinching the champion’s top score in the base tournament.

Netizens were shocked, didn’t get how an entertainment variety show could use the Coronada national flag...

It wasn’t even over—after Argentis Victory Plaza got lit up, Albia’s Westhorpe landmark followed right after, repeating the same content, celebrating Renee’s victory.

Freyonne’s Orleance, Kryvorsk, Strossen Gendarme Plaza... even Coronada’s Capital Plaza was included.

The haters, who were about to make a big fuss over the Coronada flag, all went silent.

Coronada Capital Plaza running this ad is basically the same as an official announcement.

No matter how dumb they were, they know better than to stir up trouble at this moment.

Plenty of netizens who often browse foreign sites kind of got why, but not fully—they knew the base’s influence was huge for Coronada, but didn’t know exactly why it was so important.

[I remember someone from the livestream, some Shadow, joked: "Renee Morgan just gets two points and her fans hype her up like crazy—if she actually makes it to number one on the leaderboard, wouldn’t they have to crowd-fund a giant ad in Argentis Plaza to celebrate her, just to match her star power?"]

[Yeah yeah, I remember the haters talking about that. One of them was being really snide, saying, "They can’t even crowd-fund an Argentis Plaza ad space."]

The original line from that netizen was: "LOL! Renee Morgan’s fans are still crowd-funding her minimum living expenses. How can they possibly cover an Argentis Plaza ad?"

Basically, they were mocking the crowd-funding for an Argentis Victory Plaza ad.

Guess what...

[Haha, we all wanted to pay for it, but Morgan was so damn competent that the whole world’s cheering for her—our money doesn’t even have anywhere to go.]

[Crowd-funding? There’s actually no shortage of ad spaces! Global resources—nothing else even comes close, isn’t that infuriating?]

[Not convinced? Crowd-fund an ad for your idol, remember to get it on at midnight, globally synced—that’s how you show real status!]

[Bootlickers? Nope, at most we’re quality viewers. Renee Morgan stands where everyone can see her, with worldwide attention. We spectate and discuss—not embarrassing at all. But you haters, rotten away in some unseen corner, spewing hate through the screen, and getting smug about it.]

The haters got roasted so hard they couldn’t even form a reply.

...

The contest ended, and the show’s fifteen team members gathered up.

Lynn Miller, Kyle Beckett, Zayed, and a few others were assigned to Team Blue, but ended up as hostages for Team Red.

Team Blue won, so they get a share of the team prize too.

Lynn Miller was dazzled by the news—seeing Renee Morgan walking toward them, she couldn’t hold it back anymore, let out a huge cry and rushed over.

"Morgan, we won—we actually won! And you got the championship, you’re so awesome!" Lynn hugged Renee, cheeks flushed with excitement.

Renee Morgan had barely caught her breath when Kyle, Zayed, and some other teammates jumped in and hugged her too.

In the end, even the production crew joined in for group hugs—including Renee’s personal PD staff.

Seeing this, everyone else got brave, came up to congratulate her and compete for a group hug and selfie.

Miles Yates and Zara Chapman were assigned to Team Red.

Team Red lost—not that they cared much. They only came to the base to compete as a sudden thing, really didn’t understand what the contest meant—just figured a win meant prize money.

Now their team lost, which just meant missing out on a bit of cash.