Chapter 20: A Perfect Ending
Luo Wen, the ‘actor’ sent in by the Spark Organizing Committee, had finally collected the Spark Stamps from the desert and rainforest areas and was preparing to enter the wetland area.
Some of the contestants in this competition were particularly outstanding. They had collected four to five Spark Stamps in just over ten days. Because he had wasted too much time in the thorn forest in the desert, his progress was only slightly ahead of these people.
It seemed he had to hurry up.
He absolutely could not disappoint the organizing committee.
After entering the wetland area, Luo Wen prepared to follow the route that had been revealed to him in advance. Suddenly, his eyes were flashed by some light.
There seemed to be something in the shallow grass pile.
Luo Wen turned his steps, walked over, and flipped it open to find that it was actually a Spark Stamp! And a full five of them!
The marking points the organizing committee had given him did not have five placed together. This should belong to another contestant.
Could it be a trap?
He warily scanned the surroundings and, after confirming that there was indeed no one around, he quickly stepped forward and took the Spark Stamps.
Besides the three desert stamps he had already collected, the remaining two were from the wetland. In an instant, he was only one wetland stamp away.
It was truly effortless!
Luo Wen was overjoyed. Following the inside information given by the organizing committee, he found the last wetland stamp and rushed to the central area of the arena without stopping.
It took half the time originally planned.
Luo Wen could already envision the expressions of the audience and the organizing committee when they saw him rush to the finish line and take first place.
Luo Wen couldn’t help but laugh out loud, completely unaware that his spotlight had long been stolen by another person.
That person even had no interest in the champion’s throne.
Luo Wen climbed to the top of the mountain and inlaid the Spark Stamps from his waist bag into the center of the corresponding area’s high platform until all three high platforms were lit up.
Jin Jiu’s voice echoed throughout the entire arena from the broadcast.
【Attention all contestants, the champion of this Spark Rush Forward has been born. Congratulations to the contestant with the ID ‘I am Luo Wen’ for winning this competition. The arena will close in ten minutes, at which time all contestants will be teleported out of the arena. Repeat!】
Everyone tacitly looked up towards the highest mountain peak.
“Damn it!”
Everyone put away their weapons. Those who were fighting fiercely over the stamps stopped fighting, and those who were still searching for clues stopped searching. They all sat down where they were and waited to be teleported back to the arena in ten minutes.
In contrast, after hearing this news, Jiang Ning and Ke Lai were as if they had been injected with chicken blood. Their movements were even faster than before.
“What are they doing?” the audience asked, looking at the only moving feed.
Jin Jiu enlarged the screen. After everyone quieted down, the sound reception of the live broadcast equipment improved.
The crowd outside the arena heard the conversation between the two.
Ke Lai held up a plant and asked, “This one?”
Jiang Ning glanced at it and said, “For hair growth.”
Ke Lai stored it in her nano-ring, then she picked up another plant. “This one?”
Jiang Ning: “For refreshing the mind.”
Ke Lai: “These, these, and those, are they useful?”
Jiang Ning looked up and pointed them out to her one by one, “This is for improving eyesight, this is for laxatives, this is for moisturizing the intestines…”
Ke Lai stored them all in her nano-ring, her face beaming with a wide smile.
She’s rich, she’s rich!
On the judges’ panel, the hearts of the several judges were bleeding as they watched the swept-clean arena.
It’s over, it’s over!
The five people on the judges’ panel had never felt that ten minutes were so long.
The ecology of Mount Dora had been transplanted by the Yuan Xia Group at a great cost. Now that so much had been lost, they would surely face a huge amount of compensation.
The few of them unanimously decided in their hearts that in the future, Spark Rush Forward must add a rule in advance to prohibit contestants from picking plants in the arena.
Seeing that the two in the live broadcast feed were not satisfied with ravaging the plants in the arena and had turned to hunting low-level mutated beasts.
The few of them silently added another rule in their hearts, including that mutated beasts could not be taken out.
These two rules must be added.
Unlike the restless judges, the audience was all at a loss. “?”
A doubt simultaneously arose in their minds: How did she know all this?
“Does anyone know what that hair growth thing is?” someone in the audience suddenly raised their hand weakly. “I really need it!”
“I need that laxative one too!”
Ten minutes passed.
A barrier simultaneously rose around the feet of all the contestants still in the Mount Dora competition area.
“Sigh,” Jiang Ning sighed.
It ended too quickly. She hadn’t even been to the desert area yet.
In the blink of an eye, everyone was teleported back to the audience site, including Luo Wen at the finish line.
Luo Wen had thought that cheers and applause would welcome him. He waited for a long time, but nothing happened.
Even the host Jin Jiu’s gaze did not sweep towards him.
A trace of disappointment flashed in Luo Wen’s eyes. He looked towards the judges’ panel, and the several judges nodded at him, their expressions looking satisfied.
Jin Jiu: “I declare that the first Spark Rush Forward has officially ended. Let us first congratulate the first-place winner, contestant Luo Wen, for coming to the center of the arena.”
No matter how curious he was about Jiang Ning, his professionalism as a host still required him to cue the next part of the process.
Jin Jiu invited Luo Wen from the crowd to the highest platform. “Congratulations on winning the 5000 star coin reward. Do you have anything you want to say to everyone?”
Luo Wen was very excited. He took out the promotional speech he had prepared in advance and introduced the Spark training camp with great enthusiasm.
Next was the award presentation by the judges themselves.
Jiang Ning was not interested. Her gaze wandered around the arena.
“?”
Why was the audience all looking at her?
“Do you think these audience members are very strange?” Jiang Ning lowered her voice and whispered to Ke Lai beside her.
Ke Lai shivered. “Yes, their eyes are really creepy today.”
After the competition ended perfectly, everyone walked out of the arena.
When Jiang Ning and Ke Lai reached the exit, many audience members were waiting there.
“Excuse me, can you sell me some of the plants you picked? I really need them,” one of them asked cautiously.
“Yes, yes,” Ke Lai’s eyes lit up, and she nodded repeatedly in agreement. “What do you need? I have everything here, all fresh.”
The tourists who came to Planet Aurora were all financially well-off. They had already had the desire to buy when they heard Jiang Ning talk about the effects of those plants. The so-called Planet Aurora local specialties were not only expensive, but their authenticity was also unknown. These plants were different; they had all seen the two of them pick them with their own eyes, so they felt at ease using them.
After getting Ke Lai’s answer, the audience swarmed up and scrambled to buy the plants brought out from the Mount Dora arena.
The plants Jiang Ning and Ke Lai had picked were quickly sold out.
The audience who didn’t get any showed a look of disappointment. Ke Lai put on a mature air and comforted them, “It’s okay, it’s okay. My family also has natural spirit tools for everyone to buy. You can add me as a Star Brain friend and are welcome to purchase at any time.”
The crowd did not doubt the words of a child and all took out their Star Brains to add her ID.
A microphone was suddenly thrust to Jiang Ning’s lips from the crowd. “Excuse me, you were so close to the championship. Why did you give up halfway?”
As soon as she asked this question, everyone’s gaze turned to Jiang Ning.
Jiang Ning smiled slightly and spread her hands. “Things that are too easy to get are not interesting. I prefer something more challenging.”
“…”
Alright, they didn’t understand the troubles of a lucky king.
Luo Wen, who was passing by her, paused at her words.
He had just learned from the organizing committee that his championship was a fluke.
Turning his head, he actually ran into the person who was surrounded by the crowd, the one who should have been the champion.
The clothes she was wearing were as old as his, but her face had a confidence that he lacked.
Luo Wen lowered his head, his eyes filled with gloom.
After bidding farewell to the enthusiastic audience, Jiang Ning and Ke Lai stayed at the previous hotel for another day.
The next morning, the two of them luxuriously took a maglev bus back to the interstellar airline station on Planet Aurora.
The interstellar airline station was the same as when they had arrived. After checking their tickets, the two walked into the inner area and waited for half an hour before boarding the return spacecraft again.
Jiang Ning looked at the vast and boundless stars outside the window. Time seemed to stand still at this moment.
Humans seemed so small in the face of the universe.
Jiang Ning slept on the spacecraft until it landed smoothly and the broadcast announced their arrival at Planet M412. Only then did she wake up with drowsy eyes.
“You’ve been away for so many days. Aren’t your parents worried about you?” Jiang Ning asked Ke Lai.
“They found out the second day and were about to buy tickets to Planet Aurora to see me, but I refused,” Ke Lai said with a feigned casualness. “I sent them the flight number this morning. They should be waiting for me outside the airline station now.”
She had gone on this trip originally to awaken her ability, but now her ability had not awakened, and she had lost a few pounds instead. Her parents would cry again when they saw her.
What Ke Lai couldn’t stand the most was her parents crying. They were already very good to her, but they always felt as if they had wronged her.
After leaving the airline station, Ke Lai indeed saw her parents in the square outside. She took a deep breath and said to Jiang Ning, “Goodbye, I’ll be going now. We’ll see each other again at the ability test.”
After saying that, she ran towards her parents.
Jiang Ning waved at her, watching the three of them fly away in a flying vehicle.
She withdrew her envious gaze and walked into the maglev bus station.
In the interstellar era, flying vehicles had replaced traditional four-wheeled cars as the mainstream mode of transportation. People’s dreams had also changed from buying a car to buying a flying vehicle.
But her current money was not even enough to buy a scooter.
Jiang Ning took a maglev bus to the mutated beast trading market.
The audience on Planet Aurora only wanted the plants they brought out; they were completely uninterested in the corpses of mutated beasts.
When Jiang Ning arrived at the trading market, Li Xiang’s family and Ji Fan’s family were also there.
“Jiang Ning, where have you been these days?” Auntie Li hurried forward and asked. “You had us worried for a long time.”
Auntie Li hadn’t seen Jiang Ning for many days. She had knocked on her door, but no one was there. If it weren’t for the fact that the plants in her garden showed signs of being watered every day, she would have almost called the police.