Chapter 2
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“Goo…”
As the gaze of the entire universe focused on the glowing sphere, the scene that appeared within it plunged the whole universe into silence.
The host, Makarmaka, stared at the luminous sphere before him. His green face shifted from green to blue, then back from blue to green. The jointed lower half of his body twisted and knotted restlessly, his humanoid mouthparts opening and closing, while even his two pairs of humanoid arms had no idea where to put themselves.
Oh…
What a perfect—and adorable—human baby!
He… he had to be human, right?!
That soft, pale, milky skin was even more tender than the skin of a Winged baby!
Those chubby little fists, each with the faintest dimples!
Under the radiance of the glowing sphere, his soft, pale-golden hair seemed almost to emit a captivating halo of holy light.
Oh!
Even the way he clutched his stuffed bear was enough to melt anyone’s heart!
How could there be such an adorable little creature?!
Although his eyes were still closed, Makarmaka firmly believed that once he opened them, he would certainly be the cutest little darling in the entire universe!
The green-skinned host gazed at the little one inside the glowing sphere with utter fascination, completely forgetting that he was supposed to be hosting a super-soldier variety show.
And he was not the only one.
The audience’s spiritual forms inside the virtual livestream sphere had also descended into madness!
[Ooooooh! A baby! A human baby!]
[It has to be, right? This must be a human baby, right? Otherwise, why would such an adorable creature exist in this world?]
[I don’t care! I want to kiss his little cheeks so badly. Baby, open your eyes and look at Mommy!]
[Wait! You heartless creature, why are you asking such an adorable baby to open his eyes? Let him sleep! Wouldn’t it be better to let him have a good nap?]
[Waaah, I can’t take it anymore! My snake tail can’t stop curling up. He’s so cute, so cute, so cute!]
[Shh! Did you hear that? Shh! Keep your voices down, you lunatics! Don’t wake our baby!]
Inside the virtual livestream sphere, every spiritual form had transformed into something resembling an inflated ball of light. They could no longer control their emotions and bounced around the open space of the livestream room like rubber balls.
Too cute!
Far too cute!
Just as the audience’s spiritual forms were so excited they seemed ready to swell up and explode, a faint voice suddenly rang out amid the scrolling comments in the spatial sphere—
[Waaah, how can there be such an adorable super-soldier candidate?!]
?
It was an entirely ordinary sentence.
Yet in an instant, the audience’s spiritual forms, which had been bouncing about in excitement, froze as if someone had pressed a pause button.
The overly excited spiritual forms were forced to perform an emergency group stop in the audience area—
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!
One after another, the spiritual forms plopped back into their respective places.
Oh!
That’s right!
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A super-soldier!
Even Makarmaka, the host, had only just remembered—oh heavens, this was a super-soldier battle variety show!
And the peerless little darling before them had been selected by the most highly anticipated “Overgod”-class super-soldier system, System 001, as a…
3S-rank super-soldier candidate?!
The air inside the virtual livestream sphere seemed to stop flowing at that very moment.
The audience’s spiritual forms looked at one another, then could not help turning their gazes back toward the tiny figure inside the glowing sphere.
Perhaps sensing that the audience’s emotions had finally stabilized, Super-Soldier System 001, which had remained silent until now, finally began introducing the “super-soldier candidate” sleeping soundly inside the sphere.
[Super-soldier candidate number 001. Species: unknown. Species advantages: unknown. Multidimensional comprehensive potential: SSS. Current strength assessment: N/SSS. Overall candidate rating: N/SSS.]
When Super-Soldier System 001 finished describing the baby’s overall abilities in its gentle, resonant voice, strange rustling sounds rose from the audience’s spiritual forms inside the virtual livestream sphere.
[Super-soldier candidate 001?]
[He’s so adorable, and he looks so frail. He should be placed in an incubator and carefully protected!]
[Comprehensive potential: SSS. Current strength assessment: N/SSS?]
[This show’s strength ratings actually include an N value?! (Eyes widening behind bubble-like pupils.)]
[So what exactly does N/SSS mean?]
[The important thing is… is this really the strongest super-soldier candidate we were supposed to be looking forward to most?!]
In an instant, the audience inside the livestream sphere seemed to have been set ablaze with fury once more. Some spiritual forms even wriggled and squirmed until different-colored flames sprayed from their mouths.
When the age of universal entertainment arrived, the various galaxies throughout the universe had long since freed themselves from basic labor. Entertainment became something pursued collectively by the entire universe.
Under the fervent spirit of universal entertainment, more and more cosmic viewers mentally regressed into emotional automatons, easily provoked into extreme reactions.
Only those who retained the ability to think for themselves could preserve a measure of self-awareness and the right to make themselves heard in this age of universal entertainment.
Clearly, a number of such spiritual forms had infiltrated the livestream of Super-Dimensional Super-Soldier Battle Royale. One moment, they were twisting and shrieking over how adorable the baby in the glowing sphere was; the next, they were exploding with fury over having been “deceived.”
Colorful slime began appearing across the audience seats, left behind by the spiritual forms that had burst apart in anger like jelly balloons.
This slime was the “negative review” of the universal entertainment era. Only when the spiritual-form audience member personally returned to the livestream and became “delighted” once more could the negative review it had left on the show be washed away.
In a corner of the audience area, Makarmaka looked at the “negative-review slime” and felt so miserable that even the green skin covering his body seemed ready to wither.
“Oh, my dear audience friends, could you please remain calm?”
“Makarmaka believes that you are surely the most well-mannered audience in the entire universe—bar none!”
Makarmaka hurriedly straightened his slightly rumpled bow tie with his first pair of humanoid arms, twisting his body as he tried to restore the rhythm of the show!
Clearly…
Clearly, while everyone had been watching the adorable little baby numbered 001, some audience members had almost been moved into a state of “delight”!
That was the highest courtesy a spiritual-form viewer could offer a variety show!
But damn it, the entire mood had been derailed!
This show was supposed to be the finest variety program in the entire universe…
And yet “negative-review slime” had appeared in the very first episode!
Makarmaka suppressed the sharp ringing in his mind and did his best to adjust his tone, attempting to bring the show back on track.
Unfortunately, the emotional automatons whose moods had been manipulated were not so easily restored to reason.
[What a terrible production team!]
[You’ve completely destroyed all my expectations for super-soldier candidate 001!]
[So candidate 002 is actually the strongest super-soldier candidate in this round, right?]
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[He really is powerful, but the production team promised us a “3S-rated super-soldier candidate”! Now that promise has vanished… Argh, I’m so angry! Waaah, I feel like I’m about to explode!]
It was easy to ignite the emotions of such automatons, but extinguishing them was far more difficult.
Under the spotlight, Makarmaka was at a loss. Worse still, Super-Soldier System 001—the strongest system of the second season of Super-Dimensional Super-Soldier Battle Royale, possessing Overgod-level power—showed no intention whatsoever of stepping in to take charge.
Inside Makarmaka’s mind, a shrill cry rang out again and again:
001! This whole mess is your fault!
In truth, Super-Soldier System 001 was also facing the greatest predicament of its entire existence.
It naturally understood that it was a super-soldier system.
But what did “super-soldier system” mean?
It meant assisting its bound host in embarking on challenges across different dimensional universes during the upcoming Super-Dimensional Super-Soldier Battle Royale.
Whether it was a planet of magma or a planet of desert, its host would have to personally train and survive on worlds like those.
Super-Soldier System 001 looked at the host bound before it. Even its Overgod-level computational abilities were struggling to meet the demands of its current thoughts.
What a disastrous beginning…
001 gazed at the baby before it with faint melancholy. The little one was sleeping soundly while hugging a teddy bear, and even so, the system could not bring itself to wake him.
Unfortunately, peaceful moments never lasted long.
001 was about to face yet another entirely new challenge in its existence!
“Goo…”
Inside the soft little bed, the seemingly tender and well-behaved baby awoke!
Half-asleep, he blinked his large blue-green eyes, then climbed up from the bed in confusion. His watery eyes looked around curiously before he immediately grabbed his teddy bear.
“Goo, where is this?”
On the empty main stage of the virtual livestream sphere, Makarmaka had still been trying desperately to calm one audience spiritual form after another, preventing them from exploding and turning into slime.
Because the automatons’ attention had been diverted, the glowing sphere that had originally occupied the center of the main stage had been left unattended.
Until this very moment.
A soft, slightly timid child’s voice rang out. The clear little voice seemed to possess a magical power of its own. As it spread throughout the virtual livestream sphere, the audience spiritual forms that had been spewing flames only a moment before suddenly hiccupped. The roaring flames vanished, leaving not even a wisp of smoke.
Every audience member in the livestream sphere was drawn toward that clear child’s voice.
[Who was that? Who?!]
[I feel as though my soul has been cleansed. What a sweet and beautiful voice!]
[Waaah! Waaah!]
[It’s the little darling! Aaaah, it’s Daddy’s precious little darling!]
The moment they discovered the source of the voice, all the audience spiritual forms finally seemed to remember how adorable the little one inside the glowing sphere had been all along.
The spiritual forms began surging wildly toward the main stage. They piled one atop another in a riot of colors, stacking their bodies as they eagerly strained to look toward the glowing sphere.
[Oh my heavens! He’s awake!]
[What an adorable little fellow!]
[What a cute baby, waaah! So what if there’s an N among the values for his potential and overall rating? He’s still the cutest baby I’ve ever seen!]
[Look! He opened his eyes! Even after opening them, he still looks so much like a human! Incredible—his humanoid index must be above ninety-eight percent, right?]
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