Rebirth: The Universe's Hidden Heiress-Chapter 112: Things Went Wrong

The sky was covered by thick clouds, and with no sun, the morning fog had yet to disperse, leaving the whole valley blanketed in white.

Visibility was no more than three meters here.

Yuka had planned to memorize the path here for a quicker exit from the arena later, but given the limited view, she abandoned the idea.

Along the path, she spotted many Red Dragonfly drones used for live broadcasting, with one persistently following her.

Unfazed, Yuka continued forward. She was unaware that her livestream was drawing many viewers to admire her beauty. The comments were rapid, full of fans playfully claiming her as their "baby".

Meanwhile, Yonda sat in the commentary booth, watching these infatuated comments. He snorted, crossed his legs, and waited to see their reactions when they realized Yuka was the Chosen One.

As Yuka and the Alliance Army guiding her moved farther, getting closer to the mecha, the viewers grew restless.

["Did I just see Number 666?"]

["That’s the Chosen One, right?"]

["So the beauty is actually the Chosen One! I guessed right!"]

["My god, beautiful and lucky, what a winner."]

["Those who were calling her ’baby’ earlier, come out, the baby is strong enough to beat the crap out of you with one punch."]

The chat in the livestream took a bizarre turn, with viewers continuously posting playful comments. Yonda, greatly shocked, wondered if he was out of touch with the youth’s trends.

In the Misty Land map, the Alliance Army signaled Yuka to enter the mecha.

Sitting in the cockpit, she watched them leave and then heard Kenji’s voice through the communicator, "The match begins."

A map lit up on the control screen, showing five treasure chests’ locations. There were dark blue dots for UUA’s chests, red for Heraclitus Academy, light blue for Atlantis Academy, green for the Gaia Institute, and black for Confucius Academy.

The map also had a yellow dot, indicating Yuka’s position. Unlike the underground arena, it didn’t show her teammates’ locations.

Yuka turned off the team voice chat, and glanced at the nearest green chest, only a few hundred meters away. But she didn’t intend to go for the Gaia Institute’s chest.

Apologizing to UUA in her mind for possibly causing them shared embarrassment, she turned and examined the thick tree in front of her, backed up two steps, and rammed into it.

Crack.

The tree broke.

Yuka touched the mecha, which remained unscratched, and then looked at the tree she had just collided with.

Realizing it was dead and hollow inside, she fell silent.

[? What is she doing, why is she crashing into trees?]

[Is she trying to clear obstacles for herself?]

[The Chosen One’s baffling actions begin.]

[It can’t be that she wants to damage her mecha and then leave the arena, right?]

This comment was quickly lost in a sea of other messages. No one took it seriously, not even the person who wrote it, as they couldn’t believe the Chosen One would think like that.

In the valley, Yuka turned her attention to another tree. Just as she was about to crash into it, a shadow flickered through the dense fog nearby.

’Letting another player eliminate me might be more dignified than crashing into trees,’ Yuka thought. She stopped her forward charge and walked towards where she saw the shadow.

In the commentary booth, Yonda cleared his throat, ready to commentate on the first battle of the final showdown.

The viewers were excited:

[Here we go. Is the Chosen One about to make a move?]

[The player opposite her is from the Gaia Institute, right? Looks pretty handsome.]

[I know this guy, his name is Shawn, the eldest grandson of the prominent antique family.]

[That impressive? Does anyone know the Chosen One’s identity? With her looks, she couldn’t have been unknown before.]

[I searched on the interstellarnet, but couldn’t find any information about the Chosen One, not even a photo.]

[So, it means either the Chosen One is from some remote planet, or she’s protected by someone powerful, with a complicated background.]

Shawn wasn’t unaware that his background was being revealed, but he wouldn’t care even if he was. He wanted to earn recognition through his own efforts, not his family background.

In the Misty Land map, Shawn adjusted his breathing, lightening his footsteps as he approached the green dot representing the Gaia Institute’s treasure chest on the map.

Hearing the sound of branches breaking behind him, Shawn spun around, positioning his blade in front of his mecha’s sensor, warily watching his approaching opponent.

Yuka walked towards Shawn cheerfully. As Shawn retreated, he recognized the number on her mecha, 666, and felt conflicted. In the last match, 666 had helped him, and he didn’t want to confront her right at the start of this round.

So, Shawn retracted his blade and took a step back, indicating he had no intention of attacking. But to his surprise, 666 continued to approach him without wielding her weapon, not seeming to be aggressively seeking a fight.

Both Shawn and the audience were puzzled.

’What is she trying to do?’

Yuka was equally confused. She had boldly stood in front of her opponent, exposing all her weaknesses and leaving her sensors unguarded, yet he kept retreating instead of attacking.

After a minute of this back-and-forth, Yuka couldn’t hold back any longer. She strode up to Shawn and loudly said, "Attack me, come on!" She even helpfully lifted her mechanical arm, pointing at her cockpit’s sensor, and showed it to Shawn, "Hit here, see?"

The audience and Shawn were so confused. Shawn was utterly baffled by her behavior and began to wonder why player 666 wanted him to eliminate her.

A thought struck Shawn. ’Can it be that 666’s teammates are also hidden nearby, ready to jump out from the fog and attack me if I try to strike her, then steal the Gaia Institute’s treasure chest?’

The more Shawn thought about it, the more convinced he became that this was the case. He became wary, stepped back, and made a feigned attack with his blade.

Yuka, seeing him finally attacking, stood still happily, waiting for the emergency button to pop up so she could be taken out of the match by the Alliance Army. But the expected blow never hit her sensor.

Shawn swung his blade in a feigned strike and then immediately turned and fled into the fog. Yuka blinked and quickly followed, but soon lost sight of him in the valley’s low visibility, stopping in disappointment.

While Yuka was sighing and preparing to find another tree to crash into, the audience was heatedly discussing the intention behind the Chosen One’s actions and why her opponent had fled.

[No normal person would just rush up to their opponent and ask to be killed, right?]

[And no normal person would readily agree to kill someone who just rushed up to them like that!]

Yonda tried to save some face for UUA and Yuka, "Her... way of thinking is quite unique."

[LMAF, no need to explain, we get it!]

Yonda: ... He had tried his best.

After some discussion and information provided by other students watching the event, the audience collectively came up with a less far-fetched explanation: although the Chosen One was physically strong, her stamina and attack techniques were weak, and she was not adept in combat. Facing Shawn, she was likely to lose. So, to avoid being eliminated early, the Chosen One played a psychological game, successfully driving her opponent away.

[What a brilliant strategy!]

[Impressive, the Chosen One, what other surprises do you have up your sleeve?]

Kenji, not in the commentary booth, was watching the live broadcast on his opticomputer. He saw the viewers’ comments and couldn’t help but smirk at their wild speculations. According to his understanding of Yuka, she wasn’t employing any strategy; she probably just wanted to leave the competition early due to laziness. They were overthinking her simple motive.

On the other hand, Roukujou was contemplating a message in his chat box that read, "The Chosen One really resembles Pinky," but eventually he decided not to send it and deleted it. When he saw the Chosen One’s weapon was a chained hammer, he had a moment of realization but couldn’t conclude if the Chosen One and Pinky were the same person, as she hadn’t had a chance to use her weapon.

With mixed feelings of excitement and confusion, Roukujou reopened the livestream to observe the Chosen One more closely.

Suddenly, all the players’ screens in the broadcast turned into static, flickered twice, and then went completely dark.

The chat was flooded with question marks, wondering what had happened.

Outside the broadcast, Kenji’s expression turned icy as he listened to the head of logistics report in a trembling voice, "Commander, our system has been hacked. We’ve lost contact with the students temporarily..."

"Fix it," Kenji commanded with a terse and intense tone.

The logistics head nodded frantically and hung up, diving into urgent countermeasures with his team to restore the broadcast before anything dangerous occurred.

After ending the call, Kenji immediately communicated with his subordinates guarding the outskirts of the Misty Land map.

It took several seconds for the call to be answered, and a weak voice came through, "Admiral Kuba, there’s a traitor in the Alliance Army, space pirates have infiltrated, and there are many of them..."

The communication was cut off.

Kenji’s grip tightened as he quickly requested backup from the Alliance Army headquarters and pulled out his own mecha, rushing into the valley.

As Kenji raced towards the scene, he attempted to relay information to the students through the main communicator, but unsurprisingly, he couldn’t get the message through.

Yonda, also informed of the situation, addressed the restless audience in the live stream, "There’s a minor issue, but it’ll be resolved shortly. Please be patient."

Turning off his microphone, Yonda’s expression was gravely serious. He understood that the space pirates’ attack aimed to eliminate the future pillars of the Alliance. They wanted to demonstrate to all citizens that the Alliance Army couldn’t protect these youths, and only the space pirates could control the Alliance.

Before the situation was under control, it was crucial not to spread the news to avoid causing panic across the Alliance. If people learned that space pirates had breached the competition, it would only increase fear and help the pirates achieve their goal.

Yonda hoped the students could hold on until the Alliance Army’s rescue arrived.