Heroes' Prison

Chapter 224 - 220 Five Minutes, A Hundred Million

His name was Jin Xu Qi Wai. He was a player from the Singaporean-Malaysian Region and the first award recipient from that region at this year’s grand ceremony.

At this moment, the big screen at the venue began to play a one-minute highlight video of the awardee, detailing his achievements from the past year to help the audience better understand him.

After the highlight video concluded, Jin Xu Qi Wai immediately headed toward the stage, ready to receive his award.

Just then, a voice came through a tiny earpiece on his collar, "This is Number 5. There’s a task at hand; delay the proceedings by any means necessary."

Jin Xu Qi Wai’s eyelids twitched slightly as he nonchalantly slowed his pace and grabbed a complete stranger next to him, hugging them enthusiastically to convey the excitement of winning an award.

The person, caught off guard and assuming Jin Xu Qi Wai was just overly excited, also put on a smiling face and politely hugged back, appearing as if they were very familiar with each other.

Subsequently, Jin Xu Qi Wai embraced seven or eight strangers in the same manner before slowly making his way onto the award podium.

"Ouch!" Suddenly, he stumbled, taking an accidental fall, and lay on the ground for a moment before slowly getting up. He bowed apologetically to the audience and made his way gingerly to the podium.

The presenting guest immediately handed the trophy to Jin Xu Qi Wai and placed an exclusive gold medal around his neck.

Touching the trophy in his hand and the gold medal in his embrace, Jin Xu Qi Wai began his acceptance speech, "As everyone knows, my family is very wealthy. When I was little, I dreamt of travelling the world. I’ve been to the pyramids, I’ve been to the Great Wall. Oh, there’s this little shop at the foot of the Great Wall where they serve delicious stinky tofu, fragrant but not greasy. The owner’s daughter is also very beautiful; they say they came from Mang Mountain in the south. Speaking of which, there’s a beautiful legend about Mang Mountain. It’s said that in ancient times the Jade Emperor had a daughter—oh right, maybe you don’t know who the Jade Emperor is, let me briefly introduce him..." And with that, Jin Xu Qi Wai launched into a detailed monologue.

Five minutes passed, and Jin Xu Qi Wai had moved on to discussing the breeding techniques for sows. The audience exchanged puzzled glances, and the camera operators didn’t know what to focus on; a wave of boredom quickly spread throughout the venue, with some audience members even starting to curse under their breath.

Another five minutes elapsed, and as Jin Xu Qi Wai was still talking non-stop, a staff member finally couldn’t restrain himself and rushed onto the stage to whisper a few words in Jin Xu Qi Wai’s ear.

It was then that Jin Xu Qi Wai put on an enlightened expression, slapping his thigh, "Ah! Sorry, I’ve spoken a bit too much! Thank you all for your great support. Here, I would like to thank my parents, the organizers, and everyone for recognizing me. I will continue to work hard..." Jin Xu Qi Wai rattled on with his acceptance speech for another three minutes before finally stepping down from the stage.

The audience finally burst into enthusiastic applause, all breathing a sigh of relief.

The host returned to the stage with a slight smile, "Mr. Jin Xu Qi Wai has quite a way with words. Lucky for us he’s not in the hosting business, or we might be out of a job. Next, please welcome Olympic Epee Champion Zhou Xuan to announce the Best Berserker Award!"

A presenter dressed in a suit quickly took the stage and delivered an opening speech.

The big screen started to display highlight videos of the 100 finalists, allocating just five seconds each.

After that, the presenter opened the envelope and announced the 10 nominees, with each being showcased in a 20-second highlight video.

Only after that did he declare the final award recipient, as the screen began displaying the winner’s one-minute highlight video.

The winner was a young man from China, who coincidentally, was sitting near Jin Xu Qi Wai. Jin Xu Qi Wai enthusiastically approached and hugged the young man, giving off the impression that they were old friends reuniting after many years, when in reality, they didn’t know each other.

Taking advantage of the hug, Jin Xu Qi Wai whispered in the young man’s ear, "Speak an extra minute on stage and I’ll add ten million to your account, consider this a down payment," and then discreetly slipped a cheque into the young man’s hands. He patted his back and returned to his seat.

The young man was utterly shaken by what had just been said and looked down covertly at the cheque in his hand, which plainly read Ten Million US Dollars...

The young man’s body trembled, as he was momentarily frozen with shock.

"What’s got you startled? Can’t believe you won? Yes, it’s you! Hurry up and come get your award!" The award presenter on stage, thinking the young man was simply astonished with joy, quickly reminded him with a prompt.

Finally snapping back to reality, the young man hurriedly pocketed the cheque and made his way to the stage with a normal expression. However, his slightly trembling steps betrayed his inner turmoil; he felt no excitement for the award anymore, his mind preoccupied with Jin Xu Qi Wai’s words and the large cheque.

"Hello everyone! I’m from a little place in northern China called Niu Jiacun. Our village is beautiful, and legend has it that the Jade Emperor once visited our place and fought Sun Wukong for three hundred rounds, the scene was truly astonishing..." The young man too began to ramble on, talking ceaselessly.

Gradually, the audience started to look confused again, and the camera operators were switching back and forth, unsure how to smooth over the awkwardness that filled the room.

And so, the entire award ceremony took a bizarre turn, with one awardee after another inexplicably starting to spout nonsense. Some who were usually not talkative persisted in speaking, stuttering and stumbling, determined to keep going as the atmosphere took a decidedly strange turn.

...

Gradually, three hours had passed.

In The Second World, Huang Yi had already led the entire group of six hundred thousand people into the final breakout stage. Now, there were basically no more BOSSes in the Skeleton Ocean, and the strength of the Skeleton Army had greatly diminished. It was estimated that in just over ten more minutes, they would be able to break out!

At this time, Huang Yi was unaware that his backing organization was using all sorts of methods to buy him time; this breakout wasn’t for the Best Newcomer Award, but just an ordinary action. Moreover, he believed that according to the original schedule, the annual celebration of The Second World should have already ended. He didn’t know whether he had received the Best Newcomer Award or not, and he could only check the results on the forum after the breakout.

Seeing that the breakout was almost certain to be successful, Huang Yi finally relaxed. He looked at Xiao Chunzi, who had been clinging to his arm all this time, and voiced the doubt in his heart, "Sister, since you’re a player, why have I never seen you go offline?"

"Because I’m a Cold Storer!" Xiao Chunzi looked up at Huang Yi and said obediently, "I’m so lonely in the virtual world. My world only has you. Every time you go offline, I wait alone at the place where you logged out. I’m so afraid that one day you won’t log on again."

"No wonder!" Huang Yi nodded. He had seen Little White Cat every time he logged on and had never seen her go offline – only a Cold Storer could do that. "Sister, we have just over ten minutes left, and then we’ll be able to leave this Skeleton Ocean. Can you hold on?"

"As long as you are here, I can hold on!" Xiao Chunzi nodded.

Huang Yi looked towards the end of the Skeleton Ocean. After struggling for dozens of hours, there were now only ten more minutes to go!

...

At this moment, The Second World’s annual celebration had only the last six awards remaining!

After this award was presented, it would be time for the Best Newcomer Award.

The global viewership had reached its peak. Previously, some people might have skipped the award ceremony, but these last five top-level awards were a must-watch. The Second World had nearly emptied. The online player count was less than two million, as almost all players had gone to watch the award ceremony.

At this point, a voice came through Jin Xu Qi Wai’s earpiece again: "This is Number 5, time is of the essence. According to our calculations, you need to delay for another five minutes! The final five minutes! Number 1 is about to succeed!"

Jin Xu Qi Wai took a deep breath and turned to watch the award presentation stage.

"The recipient of the Best Wealth Award of the year is—Dugu Lengcang!" Just then, the last of the ordinary awards was presented, and a thunderous applause resounded throughout the venue, lingering on and on.

Immediately after, a one-minute promotional video for Dugu Lengcang began playing on the large screen.

Jin Xu Qi Wai quickly stood up, and during this time dashed to the other side of the venue. He came beside Dugu Lengcang and embraced him warmly, pretending they were very familiar with each other.

Dugu Lengcang was a man in his twenties. Seeing Jin Xu Qi Wai being so enthusiastic, he was somewhat puzzled since they didn’t know each other at all before. But as a matter of courtesy, he hugged him back.

At this moment, Jin Xu Qi Wai pulled out a stack of checks and stuffed them into Dugu’s hands, taking a deep breath and saying, "If you talk for just five minutes on stage, I’ll give you one hundred million US dollars!"

Dugu blinked, laughed, and promptly put the stack of checks back into Jin Xu Qi Wai’s hands, replying, "I don’t need the money."

Jin Xu Qi Wai trembled for a moment, his mind went blank. This was the first time his financial offensive had failed; he’d never imagined anyone refusing such a huge money temptation so cleanly.

The promotional video on the big screen ended, and Dugu Lengcang strode towards the stage, stepping into the spotlight of countless cameras, the center of attention.

"It’s over!" Jin Xu Qi Wai muttered to himself, feeling as if he had lost his soul. He had strived for so long and squandered an enormous fortune. It was hard-won to delay until now, but unexpectedly, everything fell apart at the last moment!

All he needed was five minutes!

Just the last five minutes were missing!

By then, Dugu Lengcang had already stepped onto the stage. He took the heavy trophy and gold medal from the hands of the presenter and moved in front of the microphone.