The Villain Is Too Popular

In the real world, on Station 13.

The audience outside the dimensional screen was stunned, watching Tendo utterly dominate the Coral Knight and stand before him as the absolute victor.

No way, I thought you were just bragging, but you're genuinely amazing!

The Tendo era, boiling with anticipation!

As expected of the man I've set my eyes on!

Everyone had expected Tendo to win. Everyone knew Tendo would win. But what no one expected was how Tendo would win. After all, winning can be a small win, a medium win, or a big win.

If Tendo's victory today wasn't cool enough, wasn't thorough enough, wasn't overwhelmingly dominant, then his win wouldn't count as a win. Because such a win simply wouldn't live up to the audience's perception of him as an "innate powerhouse" and the "ceiling of Stars's combat strength."

And this was precisely why Tendo had spent two years meticulously preparing for this battle.

That's right, whether it was the dimensional audience on Station 13, Yunmeng who orchestrated this test, or the Coral Knight whom Tendo defeated, they all naively believed that Tendo had suddenly encountered the Coral Knight's challenge completely unprepared.

But in reality, only Tendo himself knew. All those seemingly accidental coincidences were merely carefully designed manipulations on his part.

Unprepared? A huge mistake! Tendo was not only prepared, but he had spent a full two years meticulously preparing for this very day! All for the sake of making a name for himself and shining brightly in this "encounter."

It's worth noting that in the original plot, after the trio led by Chenkong painstakingly defeated the 'Crab Beast' jointly arranged by Yunmeng and the Coral Knight, their final enemy was the powerful Second-Tier Star Emissary, the Coral Knight.

And in this confrontation with the Coral Knight, the trio led by the protagonist Chenkong, as expected, suffered a crushing defeat. However, the Coral Knight still displayed most of his Star Source characteristics, allowing Tendo to gather a lot of useful information.

Therefore, even though Tendo seemed to react on the fly during the recent battle, as if he were encountering the Coral Knight for the first time, in reality, he had simulated this battle countless times in his mind.

In such a situation, with one party having painstakingly planned and the other being unaware, if Tendo could still lose, there would be no need for the production team to arrange a plot kill. He could just bang his head against a wall and die himself.

However, although his battle was over, the battle for Chenkong and the others had not. Listening to the continuous commotion coming from the mist, Tendo, outside the mist, suddenly had an idea, though it was unclear what mischievous plan he concocted.

He then called Yunmeng and the Coral Knight over and quietly discussed it with them. Hearing Tendo's words, Yunmeng and the Coral Knight both showed expressions of surprise, seemingly not expecting Tendo to go to such extremes.

But in the end, Yunmeng decisively slapped her slender leg, encased in black stockings. She exclaimed with immense excitement, "Good! We'll do exactly as you say, little Tendo!"

Although Yunmeng had made up her mind, the honest and straightforward Coral Knight still had reservations. Being kind-hearted, he felt that doing this might not be good for Chenkong and the others.

"Ms. Yun, little brother Tendo, won't what you're doing be too..."

Hearing this, Tendo waved his hand indifferently. "No, no, Uncle Coral, if you ask me, you're just too conservative. You see, what we're doing won't harm Chenkong and the others at all. On the contrary, it will maximize their potential. It will only be beneficial to them, not harmful."

"So, relax, we're definitely doing the right thing."

Seeing Tendo speak so definitively, and with Yunmeng already eagerly rubbing her hands together, the Coral Knight ultimately couldn't win over the two of them and agreed to their maliciously amusing "Artificial Despair Plan."

After the Coral Knight agreed to join, Tendo and Yunmeng, who could no longer contain their desire to perform, immediately sprang into action.

"Sister, your acting is too unprofessional. How can someone be critically injured and dying, but their black stockings aren't torn at all? Do you think your black stockings are legendary Star-gear, indestructible?"

"You're right, you're right. Thanks to your attentiveness, little Tendo, otherwise I might have exposed myself."

"Sister, don't use all that tomato juice; save some for me, I'll need it later!"

"Little Tendo, what do you think of this pose? Will Xiaokong and the others see through it?"

"Hmm... not enough, not enough. You're too deliberate like that. Come, come, let me demonstrate. Lie down like this, copy me."

"See, this is what you call professionalism."

"Wow, you're amazing, little Tendo! This way, Xiaokong and the others definitely won't see that I'm faking it, right?"

"Of course they won't!"

To the bewildered expressions of the dimensional audience, Tendo and Yunmeng, this unscrupulous brother-sister duo, actually began a highly professional on-site setup and costume and prop arrangement in plain sight.

Yunmeng lay down in the crater that Tendo's elbow strike had created for the Coral Knight, her face and body smeared with special tomato juice resembling blood.

Not only that, but to make her "critically injured and unconscious" act more convincing and less likely to be seen through by Chenkong and the others, Tendo directly had Yunmeng tear open part of her shirt, revealing her alluring, slender abdominal muscles.

In addition, Tendo also had her tear some of the black stockings on her thigh. The pretext was that the partially torn black stockings, revealing glimpses of fair skin beneath, combined with the bloodstains, would have a greater impact.

And if Yunmeng's performance was so realistic, then Tendo, as both director and lead actor, naturally surpassed her. Tendo lay "dying" beside a wrecked, abandoned car, his entire body "covered" in purple coral thorns.

Not only that, but to make himself appear deeply poisoned, he even acquired some non-toxic purple coral liquid from the Coral Knight. He meticulously smeared it along the veins on his neck, not even missing his fingernail.

As a result, at this moment, Tendo, from a distance, looked as if coral venom had completely entered his body and spread throughout via his veins, absolutely on the verge of death. His acting was so realistic that if the audience outside the dimensional screen hadn't been watching the entire time, they might have thought Tendo had been beaten half to death by the Coral Knight.

At this point, the dimensional audience clearly understood what mischief Tendo was up to. He was obviously trying to fake a crushing defeat for himself and Yunmeng at the hands of the Coral Knight, thereby thoroughly igniting the anger and potential within Chenkong and the others.

While this plan was somewhat cruel to Chenkong and the others, the dimensional audience had to admit that they were incredibly excited about Chenkong and the others' reactions. After all, human happiness is often built upon the suffering of others!

Good heavens, Tendo is so bad, but I love it.

Artificial despair? Interesting!

I originally thought I hated tearjerkers, but now I know: I hate real tearjerkers. As for fake ones... not only do I not hate them, I actually love them!

Meanwhile, beside the abandoned car in the parking lot.

Although Tendo had closed his eyes at this moment, he was observing every movement in the Stars world by watching the dimensional screen. This, naturally, included the bullet comments that thought they had seen through Tendo's plan. Watching these people's remarks, Tendo couldn't help but let out an evil laugh in his heart.

Was the tearjerker Tendo was directing at this moment solely aimed at Chenkong and the others? In reality, this meticulously directed tearjerker, besides targeting Chenkong and the others, also included the audience outside the dimensional screen. That's right, the audience outside the dimensional screen... was also a part of Tendo's plan!

Because when this fake tearjerker ended, both Caroline and the dimensional audience would instinctively convince themselves that everything before their eyes was just a fabrication, another self-directed performance by Tendo.

He would, as before, laugh and tell them they had been fooled. The basis for this would be Tendo's past similar actions.

But when they despairingly discovered that this time, Tendo could no longer 'awaken' with a smile as he did before, this tearing sensation—first filled with despair, then hope, and finally despair again—would be like a cold, merciless bayonet, brutally piercing through their last remaining illusions. It would transform into an ineffable pain, firmly occupying their hearts for a long time.

And this was the true purpose of Tendo's plan to direct this 'Artificial Despair.'

What kind of 'knife' hurts the most? Tendo's answer to this was: only a 'knife' laced with beautiful memories and hope hurts the most. Therefore, Tendo not only intended to use this 'escort mission' to continuously create beautiful memories between himself and Caroline, but he also wanted to bring precious 'hope' to the audience outside the dimensional screen.

Because only when memories truly become just memories, and hope truly remains just hope, can such a 'knife' cut deeper into people's hearts, and be even more... shocking.

When it comes to manipulating hearts and popularity, Tendo... is a professional!