Chapter 344 - 253: Zog Has Everything Perfectly Arranged

Chapter 344: Chapter 253: Zog Has Everything Perfectly Arranged

"Astrid! Astrid!"

In Twin Tower City’s Grand Arena, tens of thousands of spectators shouted the Saintess’s name.

In the final round of the Feilin’s Best Songs finale, Astrid took the stage as the closing act, delivering a perfect performance.

The enchanting melody, the magnificent lyrics, the elegant stage presence, the nearly flawless vocals—even her image and background were exceptional.

During her final song, she sang with a confidence that made her seem less like a contestant and more like a long-established superstar simply enjoying the stage.

Although the final voting results weren’t out yet, everyone knew the championship belonged to her.

If not, it would definitely be a fix, and the Saintess’s uniformly dressed fan club would probably tear the stage apart.

But with celebrities, where there are fans, there are haters. Astrid was no exception.

There were some in the audience who weren’t interested in her.

Like Lori and his roommate.

Lori simply didn’t care for her style.

As for his roommate, his situation was a bit more complicated.

"Why is *this* woman performing last? What about my Galina? She sings so much better. The champion should be Galina! Not only are her songs amazing, she’s also adorable, heheh..."

The roommate had become a die-hard Galina fan and had been in this state ever since.

"What is this garbage Astrid is singing? I can’t even understand it. She’s nothing compared to Galina. It’s a fix!"

The roommate activated his Skill: trashing one idol to praise another.

Lori glanced nervously at the nearby seating sections. This place was now practically the Saintess’s home turf.

Provoking them on their home turf was extremely risky.

Lori had already noticed a few guys nearby giving the two of them unfriendly looks.

"Hey," Lori said, grabbing his roommate. "Stop talking. Galina is just a guest performer; she can’t win the championship."

"So what? Shouldn’t the rules be flexible? They should give more opportunities to more talented people."

The roommate continued his rant.

Lori had a feeling that getting out of here after the show might be difficult.

"How about we leave now?"

"Why?"

For their personal safety.

The fan conflicts here weren’t just flame wars fought from behind a screen.

"Anyway, all that’s left is the award ceremony, acceptance speeches, and all that. Galina won’t be there, so we might as well leave early. When the show officially ends, it’s going to be absolutely gridlocked outside."

"Hey, that makes sense."

Lori hadn’t just pulled that excuse out of thin air. For any large-scale event with tens of thousands of people, the traffic at the end was bound to be a complete disaster.

Not many people could afford teleportation, and Twin Tower City’s public transport system was underdeveloped. The square outside the Arena was densely packed with horse-drawn carriages; you wouldn’t even be able to make your way through on foot.

Lori and his roommate slipped out of the Arena early. There were a few other people scattered around the exit, who probably had the same idea.

"The tickets were so expensive. I can’t help but feel like leaving early means we missed out on a few Silver Coins’ worth of show," the roommate said as they walked.

"Come on. If we hadn’t left early, what you’d lose might not be just a few Silver Coins," Lori explained. "When you were badmouthing the Saintess, a few of her fans were staring us down. If it weren’t for the crowd, they might have rushed up and started a fight."

Although they were both Mages from Repin Academy, the Mage Schools had become so specialized that not all Mages had any combat ability.

And those two belonged to the completely non-combatant type.

Lori now worked in education, and his roommate’s daily routine involved sitting in a lab.

"They’d actually dare to hit someone? Have they no sense of decency?!"

"You’re actually trying to reason with that kind of fan." Lori rolled his eyes.

As the entertainment industry developed, many people discovered that fans came in two types: normal and not-so-normal.

When communicating with the not-so-normal ones, you’d get a helpless feeling, as if you were speaking different languages.

After saying this, Lori realized he seemed to be communicating with a not-so-normal fan right at this moment.

His roommate’s head was full of Galina. "Say, do you think Galina could like me?"

"Huh?"

"You don’t know, but in a Rune elective we took, she and I were in the same group. I did the entire group project by myself. She praised me, said I was amazing, and even bought me milk tea," the roommate said, his expression dreamy.

"Wait, are you saying that all it took was one cup of milk tea and a couple of compliments for her to get you to do the entire group project by yourself?"

"It was two cups of milk tea."

Lori fell silent.

’This roommate of mine is a lost cause,’ he thought.

"Look, it’s Galina!"

Lori said, exasperated, "Are you hallucinating? Where would you see Galina on a public street?"

"In the Magic Vision Device!" his roommate said, pointing at a shop window.

Lori looked in the direction he was pointing.

’It really was her.’

On the screen, which was broadcasting the finale’s award ceremony live, Galina was receiving some "Most Popular Guest Performance" award.

’What kind of ridiculous name is that?’

Lori highly suspected that the production team had arranged some sort of consolation prize for every singer who appeared in the finale.

The roommate stared at the Magic Vision Device, rooted to the spot.

Lori had no choice but to watch with him.

"Oh, she’s so beautiful even on the Demon Vision..."

Before the roommate could finish his sigh of admiration, the screen suddenly went black.

"What happened? Where’s the picture?"

Immediately after, the symbol of a red circle with a cross embedded off-center to the left appeared on an infinite loop.

"Don’t look at the Magic Vision Device!"

Lori immediately realized what was happening and rushed forward to push his roommate away.

"It’s the Mammon Sect! They’re back again!"

The last time this happened, he had been in the school cafeteria, watching the show with everyone else.

That dangerous and chaotic memory still frequently haunted him in his nightmares.