Chapter 38: The Manufactured Dead Zone

Chapter 38: The Manufactured Dead Zone

Real World, Crustyroll.

As Tendou stood tall, utterly dominating Cromwell and claiming victory in the most absolute way possible, the audience outside the dimensional screen erupted in shock.

“I thought you were just showing off—but damn, you’re actually that good?!”

“Man, I’m hyped beyond words!”

“As expected of the man I’ve been stanning for!”

Everyone had expected Tendou to win.

Everyone knew he would win.

But no one thought he’d win like this.

Sure, victory comes in degrees—small wins, clean wins, overwhelming wins.

And if Tendou didn’t win handsomely enough, decisively enough, crushingly enough... then it wouldn’t count as a true victory.

Because a half-baked win would never live up to the audience’s image of him—the strongest, the pinnacle of power.

That was exactly why Tendou had spent two whole years meticulously preparing for this battle.

That’s right. Whether it was the dimensional spectators of Crustyroll, the test’s mastermind Tachibana, or even the defeated Cromwell himself.

They all naively believed he had stumbled into this fight unprepared, caught off guard by a sudden challenge.

But in truth, only Tendou himself knew that all those so-called “coincidences” were nothing but pieces of a plan he’d laid out long ago.

Unprepared?

Dead wrong.

Not only was he prepared—he’d been preparing for this very moment for two full years!

All to make sure that, in this so-called “random encounter,” he would shine brighter than anyone else.

After all, in the original story, after Chen Kong’s trio struggled to defeat the “Crab Beast” that Tachibana and Cromwell had set up for them, their final opponent had been none other than the powerful second-order Starbearer—The Coral Knight William Cromwell.

And in that fight, Chen Kong’s team had, of course, been utterly crushed.

But even in defeat, Cromwell had displayed his Star Origin most of his Stellar Techniques, giving Tendou plenty of useful intel to analyze later.

So while Tendou’s battle just now looked like a seamless exchange of counter-moves—as if it were his first time fighting Cromwell—in reality, he’d already simulated this confrontation in his mind countless times.

In a fight where one side had planned for everything and the other hadn’t planned at all—if Tendou still managed to lose, then no scriptwriter would need to kill him off; he could just go find a wall and bash his own head in.

But though his battle was over, Chen Kong and the others were still deep in theirs.

As faint sounds echoed from the mist ahead, Tendou—standing just beyond it—suddenly narrowed his eyes, an idea flashing through them.

He waved Tachibana and Cromwell over and whispered something.

As Tendou spoke, both of them widened their eyes in disbelief, clearly stunned that he’d come up with something that outrageous.

But in the end, Tachibana slapped her long, black-stockinged thigh and grinned excitedly.

“Good! We’ll do it exactly your way!”

Though Tachibana had already made up her mind, the ever-honest and upright Cromwell still hesitated.

His kind nature made him uneasy about the plan.

“Miss Tachibana, Tendou... isn’t this going a bit too far?”

Tendou waved him off casually.

“Nah, nah, Old man, you’re way too conservative. Think about it—this isn’t going to hurt Chen Kong’s group. On the contrary, it’ll push them to unlock their full potential. For them, this is nothing but good news.”

He grinned, eyes glinting mischievously.

“So relax. Trust me—this is absolutely the right call.”

Seeing how confidently Tendou spoke—and watching Tachibana beside him rubbing her hands together like an overexcited fly—Cromwell finally gave up trying to talk sense into them and reluctantly agreed to take part in their absurdly mischievous “Manufactured Dead Zone Plan.”

And the moment he nodded, Tendou and Tachibana—who’d clearly been itching to perform—leapt into action like a pair of over-caffeinated actors.

“Yume-nee, your acting’s way too amateurish. Who the hell looks mortally wounded while their stockings are still perfectly intact? What, are your black tights a Legendary-grade Star Gear with indestructible durability?”

“You’re right! Good catch. If you hadn’t reminded me, I probably would’ve blown our cover later.”

“And hey, don’t use up all the tomato juice! Save me some—I need it for my scene!”

“Tendou, what do you think of this pose? Too fake? Think Chen Kong and the others will notice?”

“Hmm, nah, too stiff. You gotta make it more natural—like this, see? Lie down this way.”

“There, that’s professional.”

“Wow~ as expected of the one who stood at the peak! With this setup, they’ll never realize I’m faking it, right?”

“Of course not!”

Before the dimensional audience—who were all staring in stunned silence—Tendou and Tachibana, this utterly shameless duo, began a highly professional stage setup session complete with props, lighting, and “makeup.”

Tachibana lay down in the crater Tendou had smashed Cromwell into earlier, her face and body smeared with a special tomato-like mixture that looked way too much like real blood.

But Tendou wasn’t satisfied. To make her “severe injury and unconsciousness” look more convincing, he had Tachibana rip open the front of her blouse slightly, exposing her toned abs and graceful waistline.

And of course, he insisted she tear her black stockings too—

“Because, listen—just a peek of white skin beneath torn black silk, mixed with blood? That’s visual storytelling, okay? Impact factor: maxed out.”

And if Tachibana’s performance was top-tier, then Tendou—as both the director and the lead actor—was going to outdo even her.

He lay sprawled beside a wrecked, half-crushed car, “barely breathing,” his whole body “impaled” by Cromwell’s violet coral spikes.

And to sell the illusion even further, he even borrowed some of Cromwell’s non-toxic purple coral fluid, applying it meticulously along his neck veins and under his nails.

From a distance, it looked terrifyingly real—like the poison had completely seeped through his bloodstream, spreading through every inch of his body.

The realism was so convincing that if the real world audience hadn’t seen the entire setup themselves, they might have truly believed Tendou had been beaten within an inch of his life.

By this point, everyone watching had already figured out Tendou’s real intention.

He planned to fake both his and Tachibana’s defeat—make it look as if they had been crushed by Cromwell—to trigger a massive emotional explosion in Chen Kong and his team, forcing them to awaken their hidden potential.

It was cruel. Definitely cruel.

But the viewers had to admit—they couldn’t wait to see what would happen next.

After all, human joy often feeds on someone else’s suffering.

“Damn, Tendou’s so mischievous… but I can’t help loving it.”

“A man-made crisis, huh? Now this I gotta see.”

“I used to hate tragic arcs. But I’ve realized—I only hate real tragedy. Fake tragedy? Oh, I’m all in for that drama!”

Meanwhile, beside the wrecked car in the parking lot—

Tendou lay perfectly still, eyes closed, looking every bit the dying hero.

But behind those closed lids, he was quietly watching everything unfold through the dimensional screen—his expression hidden, but his mind already several steps ahead.

Among the many things Tendou was observing—were, of course, the audience messages flying across the dimensional screen.

All those smug comments from people who thought they had seen through his plan.

Seeing their words scroll by, Tendou couldn’t help but let out a dark, silent chuckle in his mind.

‘Heh~ you really think you’ve got me figured out?’

Did they truly believe this whole melodramatic act was only for Chen Kong and his team?

How adorably naïve.

In truth, this carefully directed tragedy wasn’t just meant to deceive the characters inside the story—it was also aimed squarely at the audience outside of it.

That’s right—those dimensional viewers themselves were an essential part of his plan.

Because when this fake tragedy came to an end—

When both Caroline and the audience were left with that deep, lingering impression of “Tendou’s over-the-top fake-out”—

They’d be walking straight into his trap.

When the real tragedy finally struck at the end of Season One—

When Tendou truly fell—

Both Caroline and the audience would instinctively dismiss it as another one of his acts, another clever setup for a later twist.

“He’s just doing it again,” they’d think.

“He’ll get up any second now, laughing like before.”

Because he’d conditioned them to believe it.

Because he had done it before.

But when that final, shattering moment arrived—when they realized that this time, Tendou wouldn’t wake up smiling—

That fleeting hope would collapse into despair.

And that cycle—first despair, then hope, then crushing despair again—would hit harder than any physical wound ever could.

It would tear through their hearts like a cold, merciless blade—one that pierced not flesh, but faith.

That was the true purpose behind his so-called “Manufactured Dead Zone Plan.”

He wasn’t just staging a fake tragedy.

He was setting up the foundation for a real one—a tragedy that would scar every soul who watched it.

After all, what kind of blade hurts the most?

The answer was simple:

The kind that’s wrapped in beauty and hope.

That was why, during this “escort mission,” he made sure to fill every moment with warmth—every glance, every shared smile, every bond with Caroline—all carefully woven into unforgettable memories.

And not just for her.

He wanted the audience, too, to carry those same emotions—that same hope.

Because only when memories become truly unreachable, and hope becomes something you can never grasp again, does the knife cut the deepest. Does the story strike the hardest.

When it came to manipulating hearts—and riding the wave of human emotion and popularity—Tendou was a consummate professional.

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