Vol-2: 103. Cliché White Lotus Fantasy Plot Male Lead Li Aozi

103. Cliché White Lotus Fantasy Plot Male Lead Li Aozi

"Looks like the plan is going smoothly." In a corner of the banquet, a few Law III agents witnessed the farce unfold, smiling slightly.

"Our investigation was indeed correct. The only men who can resist Li Aozi's powerful charisma are people like Yanagimon Shinsuke, a Red Arrow-hating madman. It's hard for others to confront him directly."

The plan was simple and crude: find Yanagimon Shinsuke, a retainer of the Hojo family, tell him that Li Aozi was an elite of the Red Arrow Empire, and offer him some benefits. Yanagimon would gladly make things difficult for Li Aozi.

But that alone wasn't enough.

The president's order was to have Tianhuan people kill Li Aozi, and mere instigation and provocation wouldn't suffice.

After all, Li Aozi was an invited guest. As a figure leading the "anti-imperialist" movement, he had to maintain his image and couldn't start a fight on the host's turf.

"Reputation is a shackle. The better a person's image, the less room for error in the public eye. Failing to maintain it, even slightly, will lead to being overwhelmed by criticism—this is the mechanism of praise turning into destruction."

Law III's intelligence capabilities were impressive. They had long gathered evidence of the dealings between Tianhuan and Li Aozi, as well as his intentional support of Granter's independence. However, in the current international situation, anything Frost-Plated said would be dismissed. It was better to save this as a hidden arrow, to be used against Tianhuan when necessary.

"While that's true," one agent couldn't help but complain, "pawns like Yanagimon Shinsuke don't come easy. We spent a lot of effort finding someone so useful. As long as it's about opposing Red Arrow, his enthusiasm is unmatched, requiring little supervision. But now, we're about to burn him for this plan..."

"It's not just him we'll use up." His colleague, discussing the matter, also felt a twinge of regret: "We've mobilized a lot of people to take down Li Aozi, even bringing in someone from Frost-Plated headquarters."

"As long as the provocation succeeds, the situation will turn in our favor." The others reassured, "Li Aozi's existence is a constant instability for Frost-Plated, directly threatening our survival."

"Whether politically, in terms of international reputation, colonies, or military matters, we've suffered heavy losses. We must retaliate. Not only that, but according to the president's orders, we need to ruin Li Aozi's reputation, to crush the Granter people's will to resist."

Heads lowered, and when it came to patriotism, each one of them was serious:

"White Frost-Plated clothes, red blood on the ground."

"With our backing, Yanagimon's plan to severely fleece Li Aozi in the bet is set in stone."

"Exactly, and based on our profiling of Li Aozi and the psychological evaluation by the [Medium], Li Aozi is short-tempered and very protective of his personal interests. He won't be able to swallow this. All we need to do is repeat similar provocations, and sooner or later, Li Aozi will lash out."

"Heh, when that happens, how could the Tianhuan people, hosting such a grand event, stand by and watch Li Aozi start a fight at their celebration? Given Tianhuan's usual temperament, they'll have Gamma-tier forces punish Li Aozi—just wait and see."

The method wasn't sophisticated, and the trick was simple, but most conspiracies in history were. The simpler the plan, the higher the success rate. Even the most basic assassination method was often just walking up in public and shooting the target twice in the back with a shotgun—simple but lethal.

Often, this was how things worked. Execution was always more important than planning, and subtracting complexity always reduced the chances of failure.

As for whether Yanagimon was a fool for going along with this? Of course not. His hatred for Red Arrow far outweighed any feelings of being used by Frost-Plated.

'Poor beauty, but you're nothing more than a dog of the Red Arrow Empire. Blame yourself for choosing Red Arrow as your country!'

Yanagimon glanced at the catalog of renowned craftsmen in his hand, effortlessly selecting exhibition pieces from their works. Though the bet had been widely heard, not everyone was willing to play along with their antics. Some craftsmen, displeased with their behavior, refused to lend their items, forcing Yanagimon to promise to buy them.

After a round of selections, Yanagimon realized he hadn't gained much favor. Of the ten items he chose, he had to promise to purchase four just to secure them.

Even so, each item was a masterpiece from a famous artisan, with magnificent appearances and prestigious names. Their prices were bound to be high.

Sure enough, before presenting them to the judges, Frost-Plated had domestic experts evaluate them. The ten pieces were worth at least 30 million Debis, and considering the inflated prices at the Kowloon Gathering, the total could easily exceed 190 million Debis.

This wasn't a small sum. The added value of a renowned name was terrifying. Even Yanagimon, a retainer of the Hojo family, was stunned by the figure—it was equivalent to the price of a heavy fighter jet. Yet these were just cold weapons.

At this point, the staggering number made Yanagimon hesitate, a thought creeping into his mind: What if I lose and have to buy all of these? How many lifetimes would it take to pay off?

But he quickly shook the thought away.

How could that be? With such valuable items, he was certain to win.

As if to reinforce his belief, he turned to glance at Li Aozi, unable to stop himself from laughing.

"Look at him—he's picking items from nobodies, from washed-up middle-aged men, and from a rookie who just rose to fame this year. Not a single famous artisan. Is he joking? Does he think he can win with that? What a joke!"

He couldn't help but mock aloud. In truth, it wasn't just him—many were pointing and commenting on Li Aozi's choices.

No matter how you looked at it, Li Aozi didn't seem like someone who knew what he was doing. He didn't use any detection instruments, didn't test the items, didn't even seem to know how to screen for renowned artisans. He just glanced and picked them.

Li Aozi paid no attention to their opinions.

To others, it seemed like he was just messing around.

In reality, he was messing around.

Ever since that idiot showed up looking for trouble, it was clear he wouldn't let Yanagimon get what he wanted. Thanks to the effect of [Benevolence Aura], Yanagimon wouldn't attack him, but being constantly annoyed was getting on Li Aozi's nerves.

He didn't even bother using [Eye of Truth], walking straight to an obscure young swordsmith's booth. He casually picked up a short blade, weighed it in his hand, found it pleasing, and tossed it into his cart before the craftsman even had time to react. The craftsman, seeing Li Aozi's attitude, thought he was giving up and cautiously suggested, "Do you want to reconsider? It might not be that good…"

"Have some confidence in your own product."

—In fact, Li Aozi hadn't even looked at the blade's craftsmanship, but his comment made Yanagimon's face darken.

Just a moment ago, Yanagimon had been going on about "defending Tianhuan's honor," but now Li Aozi's words sounded far more genuine and friendly.

"But so what? Reputation won't cover the fact that you're destined to lose."

Yanagimon snorted coldly.

A few players, posing as volunteers, wandered around the event. Seeing the drama unfold, some couldn't help but comment:

"This is such a brainless, cliché web novel plot. I can already predict what'll happen next—Li Aozi will use [Eye of Truth] to secretly evaluate the items, act all humble, and then completely destroy Yanagimon."

"Yeah, sure, Li Aozi's hot, but the writing here is too dumb. Maybe they should throw in a beautiful auctioneer who falls in love with him at first sight to make it spicier."

"Li Aozi! Omega Energy, triple the power! Don't underestimate the young, don't underestimate the middle-aged, and don't underestimate the elderly—respect the dead! Hiss, this kid is terrifying, and he must be eliminated."

"If the game writers don't know how to write a plot, they shouldn't bother. I can handle a lack of story, but I can't stand brainless clichés. If I wanted that, I wouldn't be paying to play this game. This is just ruining the quality of"Star Abyss "."

Li Aozi walked a few more steps and this time found a moderately famous swordsmith.

The swordsmith was a burly, solidly built man with a wax-yellow face named Honda Isshin. Li Aozi, without a word, pointed to a katana with a black lacquered scabbard, white cord wrapping, and a deep purple pierced tsuba, and said:

"That Tsu: Shadow's Edge—I'll take it."

Honda Isshin didn't hesitate. His booth had a lot of traffic, but few buyers. Since someone wanted to buy the blade, he was happy to sell it.

Tsu: Shadow's Edge was a famous sword, reputed to be a demon blade capable of "slaying heavenly thunder," passed down for centuries. However, despite its history, its price never increased, largely due to the radioactive minerals it contained, which gave it a "cursed" nature. Most people just came to see it, but no one ever bought it.

A Law III agent, watching Li Aozi purchase the blade, calmly remarked, "1.3 million Debis."

That price was quite low. Up to this point, the total value of all the weapons in Li Aozi's cart didn't even exceed 6 million Debis, and this one was considered one of the more expensive items.

Now, Li Aozi only had one slot left, and the outcome was all but decided.