Chapter 836: Chapter 800: Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to Everyone

Just as Chu Changge said, Gu Mian is very confident in his own luck.

Originally, having bad luck was one thing, but now he also had an uncontrollable wish system installed on him by the Evil God, which might fulfill his heart’s desire at any unexpected moment.

Who knows, maybe while he’s halfway up the ladder, he slips and subconsciously thinks the ladder has broken, and the wish system hears his wish, understandingly helping him achieve it.

It’s best to find a way to restrain this wish mechanism, although it has become more restrained since it came to Gu Mian. Previously, when this wish system was on the Evil God statue, it was completely uncontrollable; whatever you wanted, it brought. Now, at least it requires triggering "Strong Expectation" or "Subconscious Belief" for the wish to come true.

As he pondered, suddenly a "bang" echoed from the square.

The air fell silent for a moment, even the chatter ceased abruptly, leaving only the speakers on either side of the stage still playing cheerful music.

But soon, screams, noises, and cheers filled the entire square.

Perhaps due to lack of energy, or maybe a slip of the foot, a lower-class person fell from the high ladder, leaving only a scream as the final sound.

He fell right onto the glass canopy of the audience seating, face down, directly facing the audience below. The Upper Class People below just had to look up to see his tragic end.

He lay motionless; he was undoubtedly dead.

broke out in a cold sweat, silently watching the lower-class person who had fallen to his death on the glass canopy, his eyes wide open, seemingly locked in a stare with 007.

She forced herself to look away from the dead person’s eyes, but not too far, to avoid revealing anything in front of the other Upper Class People.

Around them, the Upper Class audience was cheering for this tragic death.

forcibly focused her gaze on the dead person’s chest, where his number plate hung.

"Look, number 1178 made a tremendous contribution, receiving the loudest applause since the start of today’s game. Let’s thank number 1178!" Teacher Slaughter’s voice came just in time.

At this moment, several filming drones gathered around number 1178, capturing close-up shots of him. One even went under the glass canopy to shoot a close-up of his face from below.

pretended to dodge the drone overhead, tilting her head to divert her gaze.

Number 1178 was filmed from multiple angles, and the footage was displayed on the big screen.

The Upper Class people cheered, while some lower-class people screamed or remained stunned, seemingly not yet comprehending the situation.

The people on the ladder also stopped, cautiously looking down at the glass canopy tainted with the aura of death.

"Contestants, time is of the essence. The first place has already received two hundred fifty-two votes, but none of you have a single vote yet," Teacher Slaughter said, somewhat displeased as he looked at the halted lower-class individuals.

He urged the contestants on the field: "What are you waiting for? Climb up quickly. Don’t you want to escape your lower-class identity and remember why you came here?"

Upon hearing this, the lower-class people on the ladder began to climb up desperately again. They dared not look at the corpse on the glass canopy again, fearing that another glance would strip them of the courage to climb.

turned her head and spoke to Chu Changge beside her: "Gu... he definitely can’t climb the ladder. How will he get votes then?"

She and Chu Changge could only give Gu Mian four votes, and it was obvious that four votes would never make it into the top fifty.

Moreover, Gu Mian also had the ever-demanding Mr. Green beside him.

Chu Changge continued staring at the various balloons in the sky: "There’s no direct connection."

"What?"

"Climbing the ladder and the number of votes, there’s no direct connection," Chu Changge replied.

was somewhat puzzled, also looking up at those hot air balloons in the sky.

Though some hot air balloons were similar, each one looked quite different. In a short time, 007 spotted four eyeball-shaped hot air balloons, but each was distinct. One was slightly yellow, one had bloodshot sclera, and the other two each had different traits.

Ladders beneath the four eyeball hot air balloons were being climbed by lower-class people.

One of them had already climbed more than halfway; with a little more persistence, they could reach the top and obtain a Stage License from the hot air balloon basket. At this moment, they surpassed the previously tallest contestant, becoming the highest climber among them.

Teacher Slaughter also noticed this and shouted, "Look at the eyeball ladder on the south side of the square! Someone has reached an unprecedented height!"

A filming drone flew toward that hot air balloon, but halfway there, it got distracted by another bloodshot eyeball and veered off course.

"South side! South side! You idiot!" Teacher Slaughter cursed from the stage.

The drone circled around for a while, found its correct position, and buzzed towards the climber, concentrating on filming the lower-class individual on the ladder.

"It’s number 1089. Now, among everyone, the highest climber is number 1089. Let’s give him a round of applause!" Teacher Slaughter started clapping.

But not many people in the audience responded to him, and he awkwardly redirected his attention to the climbing lower-class individuals.

Just then, another "bang" sounded.

The crowd turned towards the noise, only to see another lower-class person fall, this one having climbed even higher than the previous, making their fall even more catastrophic.

This time, the person fell near the edge of the square and did not crash onto the glass canopy, saving 007 from having to witness it up close.

"Oh, it’s the person who fell from our ’dead fish’ hot air balloon," Teacher Slaughter narrated.

There was only one fish-shaped hot air balloon, and just the right two filming drones were focused on it, soon flying down to have a comprehensive shoot of the body on the ground.

Simultaneously, another series of "bang" sounds occurred.

The number of people falling was increasing.

watched from afar as the people fell. Most of those who fell lay still afterward, appearing dead, while a small number hadn’t climbed too high and survived the fall with broken bones, rolling on the ground and screaming in agony.

The other lower-class people gradually became numb. Slowly, they stopped looking at the ones who fell with terror and hesitation in their eyes and just focused on climbing up.

In the fast-paced music and in the wails of the injured lower-class people, those on the ladder climbed up vigorously, as if they couldn’t hear anything.

noticed that a lower-class person was about to reach the top.

He climbed a ladder hanging from a sheep-head-shaped hot air balloon, just four or five meters away from reaching the top.

Teacher Slaughter and the filming devices hadn’t noticed him yet, so 007 could only watch his thin and hunched figure from afar.

At this moment, Teacher Slaughter onstage finally noticed over there.

He exclaimed, "Center of the square, someone is reaching the top at the sheep-head hot air balloon, the center one with the broken horn!"

There were two other sheep-head hot air balloons in the square, but one was a goat head, and the other was a black sheep head.

Not far from the sheep head, several filming devices were recording a ghost-face hot air balloon; one of them flew towards the sheep head and projected the recorded footage onto the central big screen.

As the filming device got closer, 007 finally saw what that person looked like.

His cheeks were sunken due to long-term malnutrition, with deep grey shadows under his eyes, as if he had never had a good night’s sleep.

Judging by his build, he seemed to be a teenager, but his haggard appearance made him look like he was already in his thirties or forties.

Yet at this moment, his eyes were filled with intense yearning. He supported his head with his thin neck, looking upward on the swaying ladder.

"Just a bit more, just a bit more..." he murmured to himself.

Teacher Slaughter also kept a keen eye on the ladder under the sheep-head balloon, his face brimming with frenzy, "It’s number 1133, just a few meters away! Just a few meters to successfully reach the top! But you know, the last few steps on the road to success are always the hardest. Can 1133 overcome the difficulties to become the first to reach the top?"

Teacher Slaughter wasn’t wrong; climbing to this height had already consumed most of a person’s strength. These lower-class people were constantly underfed and underdressed, with physical endurance less than that of normal people.

It was evident that number 1133 had already exhausted his strength, his arms and legs trembling, nearly out of power, climbing with bare instinct.

At this moment, all eyes were on him.

He panted heavily, shakily crawling up inch by inch, slowly but without stopping.

He knew that if he stopped, he’d have no strength to climb any further.

Climb! Climb! He silently encouraged himself, mouth open as he climbed like a caterpillar scaling an unreachable tall tree, like a seed burrowing through dry, barren soil.

Finally, he saw hope.

He finally climbed to the very top, grasping the edge of the balloon’s basket with both hands and using his last ounce of strength to flip inside.

In the basket, which had room for just one person, he saw a neatly placed, white envelope in the center.

He reached for the envelope and sat down on the ground, filled with joy, crying.

"I did it, I really did it."

At this moment, filming devices flew in from all directions, surrounding and focusing on the envelope in his hands.

Teacher Slaughter had said that reaching the top of the Heavenly Ladder would earn one a Stage License, so presumably, the envelope held that license. Number 1133 was the first qualified to get on stage and draw votes, surely the number would be high. 007 thought to herself and then remembered Gu Mian. It was impossible for Gu Mian to climb the ladder, so how would he draw his votes?

turned her head to look for Gu Mian but noticed Chu Changge gazing intently at Teacher Slaughter on the edge of the high platform out of the corner of her eye.

Previously, Chu Changge had been staring at the hot air balloons and the filming devices flying around, and now he focused on Teacher Slaughter.

followed Chu Changge’s gaze to Teacher Slaughter.

"So, number 1133, show everyone the fruits of your effort, display this honor to everyone," Teacher Slaughter’s voice echoed from the speakers, reaching the high sky.

Number 1133 rested for a while, already capable of standing.

He wiped away his tears and stood up in the basket, excitedly presenting the envelope to the people below.

Several filming devices captured the envelope in his hands and projected it onto the large screen.

"Yes, that’s it. Take out the license from the envelope, then come onto the stage," Teacher Slaughter intently watched the direction of the sheep-head balloon, revealing a smile full of intrigue.

Seeing his expression, 007 vaguely sensed something was wrong.

She immediately looked at number 1133.

He was already cautiously, gingerly opening the seal of the envelope, afraid of damaging the license inside.

It took him half a minute to finally open the seal, pulling out a palm-sized card.

Upon seeing the card, a look of deep confusion appeared on his face.

Before he could react further, the sheep-head balloon above him suddenly exploded. Without the hot air balloon, number 1133 and the basket plummeted from tens of meters high.

His face was etched with deep terror, but his hand still clutched tightly the hard-won "license" until he hit the ground with a thud, never letting go.

"What a pity," Teacher Slaughter’s voice was laced with deep regret, "not all balloon baskets contain a license. Some contain a little ’surprise’. Sadly, our number 1133 got the surprise."

As Teacher Slaughter spoke, a filming device flew down from high above, capturing the "surprise" tightly clutched in number 1133’s hand and projecting it onto the large screen.

It was a skull symbolizing death.