Chapter 143 - Incoming Bounty On Felix's Head!
"That concluded Landlord's replay!" Zoe wiped some drops of sweat on her forehead at this replay that was full of ups and downs.
She truly regretted focusing on Princess Bird instead of her gold laying goose Felix, who never failed to deliver outstanding performance.
"Let's see how Mastermania is doing after he escaped." She quickly removed the replay and swiped her finger on Mastermania's small screen.
Look and behold.
Mastermania was wearing a pitch-black outfit that had a hoodie covering his hair. As for his face? He got it hidden behind a pitch-black mask, showing only his bloodshot eyes.
"Hehe, he is probably hiding this look." Zoe giggled with a hidden sadistic glint on her eyes, as she displayed Mastermania's face after it got melted by Felix's acid inducement.
"Ouch!!"
Creeped out and somewhat sympathetic, the spectators drew in a deep breath at the sight of that hideous face on the screen.
They knew that Mastermania's agency was going to have trouble recovering from this. Who were they kidding?
Their idol face, his most prized possession, was disfigured beyond recognition, leaving him inside the game to roam wearing a mask and a hoodie to hide his burnt off marks on his head.
There was absolutely no coming back from this! The stream chat already spread the image in every corner of the network, making Mastermania a laughing stock to anyone who missed this game. Heck, there were even some who tuned in the stream just because of it.
No wonder Mastermania's fans were embarrassed. They already foresaw this happening before Zoe played the replay!
The majority of them already ditched the club the moment they saw Mastermania's face melt in front of their eyes. The image was too much for them to handle.
While the rest were somewhat hesitant about doing the same, as they knew that Mastermania's appearance would return to its original state after the game was over.
However, after seeing the great fanfare his hideous face caused on the network, their hesitation drifted in the air, as they immediately ditched the club as well.
Their decision was completely understandable, as, by the time the game ends, Mastermania's face would be planted on every media platform. And there was no way in hell, they would stay to associate themselves with him.
There was plenty of handsome fish in the sea to support.
Meanwhile, Landlord's fans' reason for laughing their asses off before, was because Mastermania taunted Felix during the interview segment, saying that he was going to show him a new version of himself.
The spectators might have forgotten, but for them? It was always on their mind, waiting to see what he meant by a new version.
In the end, the only thing they saw was his face getting melted like that, showcasing a truly new version.
It might not be what he meant, but he stayed true to his promise, and that's what mattered!
"Aya, Landlord didn't kill him, but he made sure to destroy everything about him." Zoe sighed and said, "I doubt that his agency would keep him around after this clusterf*ck." She coughed, "Excuse my language."
Her prediction was completely right. As, at this moment, the agent responsible for Mastermania's management was sitting in a half-destroyed VIP room with veins throbbing on his neck and forehead constantly.
"You f*cking retard! Why did you even have to go out of your way and fight that monster." He covered his eyes with his hands, not wanting to see Mastermania's hideous face on the screen anymore.
Although he was Mastermnia's manager, he wasn't biased towards his own people. After all, they only shared a business relationship between them, and he was definitely not going to get emotionally invested in something that was business-related.
The only reason he raged in the first place was because of Mastermania's foolishness of not sticking with the protocol, which clearly stated that he had to avoid fighting with strong players like Felix at all costs.
The protocol helped him survive through the games in one piece every time. But, he had to act on his own this time and ruin everything they built within an instant.
"I should probably apply for a newbie player this time." He sighed, "At least they would be easier to control."
Somewhat calm, he stood up and began fixing his messed up tie in front of a holographic mirror, displaying his entire body in peak quality.
A few moments later, he teleported outside of the staduim. There was nothing much to see anymore for him.
The one, who he was here for was being showered by mocking laughs and sympathetic sighs.
....
'I will make you regret the day you were born. Just wait, you bastard.' Mastermania lowered his hoodie even further, hiding his narrowed bloodshot eyes, and thought, 'You might have ruined my future, but my agency will make sure to put a bounty on your head if I said so.'
Although, Mastermania knew that his future was doomed inside the agency, and probably even as an idol after what happened to him. But, he was still pretty confident that his agency would put a bounty on Felix's head based on his request.
It wasn't because he had a high standing in the agency or to help him out of their goodwill. They would do so because Mastermania planned to leave them no choice!
If Felix defeated Mastermania and left him be, or even killed him. The agency wouldn't give a crap about it at all.
They had hundreds of idols and upcoming ones desperate to replace the older generation. Mastermania was merely one of them.
However, when Felix ruined his face, or in other words, his future as an idol without killing him, he created a massive headache for them.
As of now, Mastermania's market value was absolute garbage without any way to salvage it. Yet, they still needed to waste resources on marketing and helping him get more exposure just like before. Simply because they were bound by a contract that could be terminated only if he died or broke its terms!
Mastermania neither was he dead nor did he break his end of the contract. This meant, he was within his rights to benefit fully from their assistance without care if he brought them more percentage revenue during the games or none!
He was literary the real meaning of a freeloader, getting all benefits without doing anything. Yet! Mastermania planned to give up on all of this, only if his agency put a heavy bounty on Felix's head.
He was confident about them agreeing, as it was much better to lose a couple of hundred million on a bounty than to waste almost a billion or more on his marketing.
After all, with his cockroach playstyle, he was probably going to survive even the deadliest games.
'Let's see how you are going to deal with tens of players, aiming at your head in every game you join.' He smiled diabolically with half of his mouth exposing his blacked teeth inside.
Good thing the mask hid it pretty well. Otherwise even the sympathetic sighs he was receiving would turn into disgusting spits.
But honestly, if those spectators knew that he was planning to put a bounty on Felix's head, forget about spitting on him, they would throw their shoes, uncaring if they hit him or the ones sitting in front of them!
The term bounty was forbidden in the SG platform, and for a good reason as well.
Personal bounties on players ruined the gameplay for everyone. The players, the MCs, and especially the spectators.
After all, if a player had a 500 million SC bounty on his head. It meant that he was a moving cash pig on the battleground.
Any player who killed him would turn rich instantly. Plus, he was not even breaking the rules or anything! He was simply playing naturally.
It would be all fine and dandy if those bounties were on top of most hated players' heads, but if the opposite was true, no one would be able to handle the spectators' outrage.
There were cases before when players, who had almost billions of fans galaxywide getting targeted by hundreds of players in one game due to having a couple of billions SC bounty on their heads.
What else could they do besides dying? No matter how strong their bloodline abilities were, no one could contest against hundreds of players who had the same level of strength as him.
So, getting a bounty that big was the same as putting a death sentence on a beloved player for everyone. One could only imagine the outrage those cases caused.
If their player died fair and square within the games, they would simply mourn for him a bit and move on, but when his cause of death was a bounty, something that was clearly based on a personal vendetta that had nothing to do with the games, it was unforgivable action.
The SG rules committee was on the same page with the spectators on this one, as they had officially banned the use of bounties and put strict rules forbidding anyone from doing so.
For anyone caught in the act, death would be the least of his worry, as in some serious cases, the punishment could spread to the family members and even the future generations of the offender!
The Supremacy Games' integrity must not be dirtied by the filth outside of its walls!!
Unfortunately, regardless of the ban and those heavy punishments, bounties were still being used secretly to this day.
Hell, there was even a website created in the dark network, to collect those bounties and display them to the players who planned to earn quick coins inside their games.
They just had to ask the queen to find a match from the endless bounties list on the website with the list in the game they were about to participate in.
They had nothing to lose at all. They were planning to fight and kill anyway, better know if they had a bounty head on their game to not miss such a juicy free target.
The reason Felix never bothered to check the Bounty Website in the darknet although he knew of its existence, was because the first game had only bronze players and newbies that no one would bother to target.
As for this game? The wager was his top priority, exceeding even the championship priority. Don't even mention chasing after bounties.
Although, it might seem like those rules and punishments changed absolutely nothing. But in reality, they affected only the high profiled players who could cause a massive outrage solo.
As for a pleb like Felix who played only two games? He wasn't that hot yet for him to cause outrage and force the SG committee to take his upcoming bounty seriously. Thus, he was on his own, dealing with the repercussions of not straight away killing Mastermania.
Just because he wore a mask and had his identity hidden, it didn't mean that he could offend whoever he wished without being dealt with properly inside the UVR.
There were plenty of ways to take care of him besides getting a bounty. It just depended if the offended knew about them or not.
The UVR and SG were oceans that even Felix with two lives, was still without a single clue about their infinite secrets.