Tokyo Video Game Tycoon.

"Let us welcome the top three Super Mario winners from the four games: Tomoe Ohno, Tomokazu Ito, and Takasugi to the podium."

The host enthusiastically called out the names of the three people.

In that instant, Takasugi jumped to his feet, then waved triumphantly and excitedly to the players around him before quickly running towards the podium.

He was puzzled as to why he, who was ranked first, was being called after the second and third players.

Could it mean it's the grand finale?

"Congratulations to the three players who won the top three places in Super Mario. Such excellent results deserve higher honors, so the president of Yuxing Electronic Entertainment will personally present the awards. Please welcome President Yuxing."

The host gestured, and Zhu Youxing, who had been waiting for a while, walked forward from backstage, smiling at all the players.

All eyes were now on Zhu Youxing.

Compared to speedrunners in video games, Takeyusei, the god of games who created the gaming industry, is clearly more remarkable.

Adoring gazes immediately shifted to Zhu Youxing.

Takeyusei, on the other hand, smiled calmly at Ono Tomoe and the other two.

"Congratulations to the three of you. You are excellent players. However, before that, we have a little interaction. It won't take long. Once you complete this small task, you can win the grand prize at the end."

"what?"

Takasugi's expression changed slightly.

Why is there another little interaction?

This company is rubbish; they'd do something like this just to delay delivering the prizes.

"What kind of interaction is it?" Ohno Tomoe asked politely.

"This is a live exhibition match, please get your screens ready."

With a wave of his hand, Zhu Youxing revealed a huge LED display screen behind him.

Then, several employees quickly placed three SFC game consoles in front of them and connected the game consoles' displays to a huge LED screen.

The players in the audience immediately understood that this would be an opportunity to directly witness the amazing performances of the three players.

Everyone's eyes lit up immediately.

This is a rare opportunity!

They might be able to more directly compare the performances of the three strongest challengers, which would be a good learning opportunity.

Everyone immediately craned their necks to get a better look.

At this moment, Ohno Tomoe and another third player seemed eager to try.

But Takasugi's face turned green.

What kind of bizarre situation is this?

Why another exhibition match?

Nobody has mentioned this before.

He knows best how he won all four games: he adjusted the game's timer.

Doing it secretly is fine, but how could he possibly do such a thing in front of all the players?

"Please get ready, three players, for your moment of glory."

Zhu Youxing smiled kindly at the three of them.

Ono Tomoe and another player only felt that Takeyusei had a very friendly personality.

However, Takasugi felt that Takeyusei's smile was like the smile of a demon from hell.

It was a strange intuition, a feeling that something was terrified.

Mom, I don't really want to accept the award anymore. Can I leave?

However, when he thought about the 40 million yen and 28-day trip to Hawaii that he was about to receive, he held back.

Don't panic. It's just a performance. Even if I don't do well, it won't affect my receiving my prize.

So, he steeled himself, walked up to one of the game consoles, picked up the controller, and selected the Super Mario game option.

Soon, one-third of the background LED screen displayed the scene of Takasugi preparing to start the game.

Yue Ohno also picked up the game controller. At this moment, he took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down.

Although he was somewhat unwilling, he also wanted to see with his own eyes how Takasugi had done it.

In his mind, he also considered Takasugi to be a respectable player, after all, he was faster than him.

Another player picked up the controller with a hint of excitement.

He felt that he might not be as good as Ono Tomoe and Takasugi, but he could still prove his strength.

Third place doesn't necessarily mean you're really bad.

"Alright, everyone, get ready...begin!"

The three players simultaneously started the game, and from the audience's perspective, a huge timer was set up, allowing the three players to record their speedruns live.

Among them, Tomoe Ohno quickly controlled Mario to dash forward, while the third player was also very fast, and the two were evenly matched for a short time.

However, Takasugi, who was in first place, lost a life due to nervousness when he encountered the first chestnut-headed monster.

At this moment, Takasugi began to sweat profusely.

"It seems our Takasugi player is a bit nervous. Please give him some encouragement."

Zhu Youxing began to stir up trouble.

The players in the audience didn't take it too seriously. It's normal for some people to be naturally nervous, so everyone started to encourage them.

However, Takasugi's second life also failed to pass the first hurdle; he jumped off a cliff after reaching a certain point.

Everyone present fell silent for two seconds.

At this moment, Ohno Yue and the third-place player have reached the second level. Ohno Yue has already begun to subtly surpass the third-place player here, clearly showing that Ohno Yue is stronger in terms of memorizing the game's layout.

Chapter 192 Mental Torture

"What happened? Why did that Takasugi run out of lives in the second level?"

"He must be too nervous."

"But no matter how nervous you are, you still have some skills, right? Even when I'm nervous, I'm much better at these skills than him."

"Who knows?"

On stage, Takasugi had already lost all his life, only stopping near the end of the second stage.

At this point, Takasugi could no longer be described as being drenched in cold sweat.

In the slightly chilly November weather, he felt his thermal underwear was almost soaked with cold sweat.

"It's okay, you can start over."

Takeyusei kindly comforted Takasugi.

Takasugi could only awkwardly click the start game option again and start from the beginning.

Of course, he wouldn't give him another chance to recalculate the completion time from the beginning.

At this point, Ono Tomoe and the third player had already jumped to the fourth major level and were about to jump from the second sub-level of the fourth major level to the eighth level.

But Takasugi is still stuck on the first level of the game.

However, he was better this time and did not die too quickly.

However, his movements were clearly not as fluid as the other two.

This is not the kind of quality a speedrunner should have.

At this moment, the seeds of doubt have already been sown in the hearts of many players in the audience.

Finally, when Tomoe Ohno successfully completed the level at 6 minutes and 48 seconds, the third player completed it at 9 minutes and 21 seconds.

However, Takasugi was still cautiously jumping from the second small level to the fourth big level, which was far slower than Ohno Tomoe and the others.

"Alright, thank you very much for the exhibition match by the three players. Next, let's announce the speedrun results of Contra. Please welcome Tomoe Ohno, Kyumori Takemoto, and Sugimoto Takasugi."

The third Contra player, who had been waiting for a long time in the audience, happily walked up.

However, as he walked up, he gave Takasugi a strange look.

This guy doesn't look like a player who can actually speedrun.

Or is it just my imagination?

They just don't show off?

"Next, we will have another small interactive session, which is a Contra speedrun exhibition match."

Not again?! When will this ever end?!

Takasugi is a little overwhelmed.

It was already quite an achievement that he managed to hold on just now.

Now they're saying there will be another exhibition match.

"Mr. Takasugi, what's wrong?"

"No, it's nothing, I'm just a little... nervous."

Takasugi felt extremely uncomfortable, an embarrassment emanating from his very bones that he could hardly contain himself.

The Contra exhibition match has begun again.

This time, even more people are suspicious.

Because Takasugi's many operations seem quite clumsy.

To avoid death, he deliberately walked very carefully, fearing that he might suddenly die.

However, Ono Tomoe and another player operated the game with ease, their characters acting like superhumans who could foresee everything. The two players completed the game in fifteen minutes and nineteen minutes respectively.

Meanwhile, Takasugi had only just reached the fourth level.