Knights: The journey of support starting with Faiz

He gestured with his lip in the direction Jiang Ye had left.

"Earth Upgrade Buckle, what an interesting name."

Ukiyo Hidetoshi's heart skipped a beat.

Do you know the origin of that equipment?

"That's exactly what I need to find out."

Gene adjusted his bow tie.

"Come with me, JF. I think the production team should give us an explanation."

Meanwhile, in the core control room of the Desire Grand Prix, Nilam was staring at a scene frozen on the holographic screen—the moment Jiang Ye's sword pierced through the Zombie King.

He zoomed in on the image, carefully studying the subtle energy patterns on the sword.

"As expected..."

He muttered to himself.

The door was pushed open, and Gene walked in with Ukiyo Hidetoshi.

Nilam quickly turned off the screen and put on a professional smile.

"Mr. Gene, and our contestant, Extreme Fox, is there anything we can do to help you?"

Gene walked directly to the control panel and tapped his fingers on the table.

"I need an explanation for that Earth Upgrade Belt. It's clearly beyond the scope of regular equipment."

Nilam's smile remained unchanged..

All participating equipment has been certified by the system and fully complies with the competition rules.

"is it?"

Gene sneered.

"Then please explain why the equipment created by a civilian scientist could crush the evil foes meticulously designed by the program team? As far as I know, that guy named Kiryu Sento is not an official developer."

Hidetoshi Ukiyo stood quietly to the side, but his ears were perked up.

Kiryu Sento... He memorized that name.

Nilam sighed and pulled up a set of data.

"According to Article 37 of the competition rules, any equipment compatible with Desire Drive can be certified by the system. Mr. Sento simply... took full advantage of this clause."

He showed a video of a young man wearing goggles adjusting a device.

"He uploaded all the data for the Earth Upgrade Belt before the match, which was completely legal in terms of procedure."

Gene frowned.

"This is clearly exploiting loopholes in the rules."

"Innovation has always been the core spirit of the 2.3 Desire Grand Prix."

Nilam's smile remained unchanged.

"Moreover, viewers really enjoyed the surprise factor, and the ratings increased by 17 percentage points."

Ukiyo Hidetoshi suddenly spoke.

"Is that piece of equipment... really just a regular upgrade strap?"

There was a brief moment of silence in the control room.

Niram's gaze lingered on Hidetoshi Ukiyo's face for a few seconds, as if assessing something.

"Why do you ask?"

"intuition."

Fukiyo Hidetoshi shrugged.

Chapter 277 Resource Integration

"Jiang Ye's condition when using it... is not quite normal."

Niram chuckled softly.

"Great players always manage to maximize the potential of their equipment. However..."

He turned to Gene.

“I understand your concerns. In fact, we are already working on resolving this issue.”

He brought up a brand new interface, which displayed various equipment icons.

"We will be launching an in-game store where all new equipment, including those made by Mr. Zhan Tu, will be showcased. Viewers can use these items to help their favorite players gain access to them."

Gene raised an eyebrow.

"So you're planning to commercialize this illegal equipment?"

07 "It would be more appropriate to call it resource integration."

Nilam smiled.

"This maintains the balance of the competition while also satisfying the audience's desire for participation. As for Mr. War Rabbit's new invention..."

He paused meaningfully.

"We will make sure they appear in the store as soon as possible."

Hidetoshi Ukiyo keenly noticed the oddity in Niram's words.

What does "appear as soon as possible" mean?

Nilam did not answer directly.

"Just focus on the game. With your skill, it won't be difficult for you to gain the support of the audience."

After leaving the control room, Hidetoshi Ukiyo's thoughts became even more chaotic.

Nilam's words seemed reasonable, yet they were strange in every way.

More importantly, they seemed to deliberately avoid the question about Jiang Ye's condition.

That fleeting golden light... was definitely not an illusion.

Unseen by Hidetoshi Ukiyo, Niram reopened the interrupted analysis screen.

He zoomed in on Jiang Ye's eyes, and deep within the iris, a blurry symbol appeared faintly.

“Agito…”

Nilam murmured softly.

"As expected, they're still active."

He pulled up an encrypted file titled "Ancient Power Monitoring Report".

The archives contain detailed records of Jiang Ye's energy fluctuations in each battle, with recent data showing a clear upward trend.

Nilam's finger hovered over the Fusion rating, where the value had jumped from the initial 12% to 47%.

"It seems that the Earth Upgrade Belt is just a catalyst."

Nilam closed the file, a meaningful smile playing on his lips.

"The true power has always been dormant within Jiang Ye."

He turned on the communicator.

"Prepare for the second phase of testing. Target number A-107, codename Gray Wolf. Monitoring focus: Agito resonance response."

Meanwhile, in a secluded laboratory in the city, Kiryu Sento was staring at Eiha's combat data on the screen.

The goggles reflected a pulsating waveform.

"No... this energy reaction is too strong."

He muttered to himself.

"According to the design specifications, the Earth Upgrade Buckle shouldn't have this kind of power..."

He pulled up a set of comparative data and suddenly his eyes widened.

Unless... the driver activated something within him!

Zhan Tu stood up and began rummaging through the messy workbench.

"We need to contact him as soon as possible, before things get out of control—"

Before he could finish speaking, the laboratory alarm suddenly went off.

Zhan Tu quickly switched to the monitoring screen and saw several men in black breaking through the outer defenses.

"They've come knocking on our door so quickly?"

He gave a wry smile and quickly initiated the data destruction process.

"It seems the production team doesn't like others touching their cheese."

He took one last look at Jiang Ye's battle footage on the screen; the blurry phantom was faintly visible on the sword's edge.

"Watch out, Jiang Ye."

"War Rabbit said in a low voice."

"What you have awakened may be far more dangerous than the demons."

Nilam stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window of the Desire Grand Prix control center, her fingertips lightly tapping a crystal glass filled with amber liquid.

Outside the window is a giant holographic projection suspended in the air, displaying the support rate curves of each contestant in real time.

"What a delightful development!"

He took a sip of his drink and watched Gene's aircraft disappear into the clouds.

The metal door suddenly slid open, and the sound of high heels clicking on the ground echoed throughout the control room.

Nilam knew who it was without even turning around—Beloba always announced her arrival in this way.

"This competition is so boring!"

Belloba tossed her long, fluorescent pink hair, and the studs on her black leather jacket gleamed dangerously under the lights.

"Are you treating the contestants like kindergarten children?"

Nilam turned around, a perfect professional smile on her face.

“Miss Belloba, safety procedures are necessary. After all, the casualty rate last time gave the committee a real headache.”

"Headache?".

Chapter 278 Limit

Belloba chuckled, her black-nailed fingers gliding across the control panel.

"What I want to see is blood, screams, and genuine despair! Only that can push them to their limits!"

She suddenly leaned closer, her breath almost hitting Nilam's face.

"Especially that little genius named Zhan Tu and Daoist Wu Qi."

Nilam subtly took half a step back.

Are you very interested in them?

"Of course!"

Belloba spun around excitedly.

"The Taoist priest's hateful gaze is so delicious, and even your officials must be envious of Zhan Tu's belt modification skills, right?"

The holographic screen suddenly flickered, displaying Belloba's account's tipping history—the number of zeros after the amount was dizzying.

"Double the reward, half to the Taoist priest and half to Zhan Tu."

Belloba snapped her fingers.