138: Chapter 138 In the old days, I would play this when I was scared watching horror movies.

Saku Kenichi turned on the MP3 player's speaker, and a stirring, passionate piece of music immediately rang out—it was Chen Aoyun's voice:

"Listen, the horn of the new journey sounds,

The goal of a strong military beckons ahead.

If the country is to be strong, we must shoulder the responsibility,

The battle flag is inscribed with iron-blooded glory.

Soldiers..."

Saku Kenichi was stunned.

What the hell?

The MP3 player itself was fine; there were no traces of any [Heroic Spirit] exclusive skills, not even the traces of a Raider's ordinary abilities. It was just an MP3 player, as ordinary as could be, without any power enhancement.

Just one military song on the player?

So, this was the trick the Huaxia Civilization used to steal the edge?

What kind of logic is that?

Music can give people courage, but to send an MP3 player and have students wear headphones to listen to a song, and for that to siphon off the favorability of the escorting students—that's just too absurd, isn't it?

On the Huaxia Civilization side.

In the small inn.

"What?

What is 'Strong Army Battle Song'?

Are you saying that you've been urging me to work myself to the bone making money all these days just to buy a massive amount of MP3 players so the students can listen to this 'Strong Army Battle Song'?

Huh?

You recorded the song yourself? And you even found a sound engineer to tune your voice?

Are you planning to debut as a star or something?!"

Fan Ling looked at Chen Aoyun in disbelief, and the others were the same, all casting questioning glances.

A single song, a single MP3 player, and it siphoned off one-third of the escorting students' favorability? How could the plot of the Game of National Destiny be that simple?

Music might have played some role, but Chen Aoyun must have used other, more miraculous means.

Everyone's gaze bore into him, meaning: Chen Aoyun, come clean.

Chen Aoyun spread his hands.

"Aside from crushing a few more 'Coins', I really didn't use any other means.

Besides, do we have any other means?"

Everyone was taken aback. Chen Aoyun continued to explain:

"Everyone in the plot world carries various elements of civilization on them.

By crushing the coins, I magnified the characteristics of the Huaxia Civilization onto the students, so the students would be infected by this 'Strong Army Battle Song'.

The song has the function of inspiring people, but playing ordinary songs on the MP3 won't work; it must be this 'Strong Army Battle Song'.

Don't underestimate this song.

Back in the Old Era of the Huaxia Civilization, this song could make a coward walk down a dark road at night, make a soft-hearted girl watch a horror movie without hiding under the covers, and make..."

Seeing that everyone still wore an expression of disbelief, Chen Aoyun, whose authority was being questioned for the first time, didn't waste words. He pulled out an MP3 player, turned the volume to the maximum, and slammed it onto the table.

"Listen, the horn of the new journey sounds,

The goal of a strong military beckons ahead.

...

Capable of winning battles and possessing an excellent style,

Fearless of strong enemies,

Daring to contend,

Deciding the outcome on the battlefield for the motherland.

De · cide · the · out · come · on · the · bat · tle · field ~"

The rhythm was intense, the lyrics were uplifting, and the melody was stirring.

Fan Ling and the others were momentarily mesmerized. When they came to their senses, Fan Ling felt incredibly powerful.

His strength hadn't changed at all, but after listening to the song, his courage had inexplicably surged.

"Phew... Why do I suddenly feel like marching in step after listening to this song?" Xiao Zhenghong, who was sitting to the side, said after listening to the 'Strong Army Battle Song' once, suddenly unable to help but sit up straight.

Fan Ling's reaction was even more exaggerated,

"Marching in step?

Why do I feel like if I ran into a ghost after listening to this song, the ghost would have to march in step for us?"

Zhao Hongxiu looked at the MP3 player still playing the song on loop on the table, then looked at Chen Aoyun suspiciously. Chen Aoyun chuckled, opened his clenched fist on the table, and the shavings of a few coins scattered down.

"It turns out that the coin's magnification of civilization characteristics also works on Raiders.

I used the coins to magnify the characteristics of the Huaxia Civilization in this room, so that you could feel the charm of this song just like those students..."

No more explanation was needed; now everyone understood.

The students were trapped outside the 'Scar of Chaos'. There were no Calamity Demons in the 'Scar of Chaos', only fear.

Crushing the coins and bestowing upon the students the feelings that the people of the Old Era's Huaxia Civilization had for this song could boost the students' own courage.

Perhaps relying solely on this song as a companion wasn't enough to let the students cross the 'Scar of Chaos', but weren't there Raiders from other countries escorting them?!

The escort was the direct reason the students could cross the 'Scar of Chaos', so the escorting party took the lion's share of the three favorability points, with each successful escort of a student earning two points of favorability with the [Famous Scholar].

No encouragement was needed, and there was no need to release skills to strengthen courage during the escort. The 'Strong Army Battle Song' playing in the headphones had already done the work of strengthening the students' courage. Therefore, in the final settlement for escorting the students, the Huaxia Civilization, which provided the MP3 players, could reap one point of favorability for every student.

This was what Chen Aoyun had been doing these past few days.

It was absurd, but when you thought about it carefully, it was goddamn reasonable.

In the Game of National Destiny: [Underlying Rules] > [Chess Game Rules] > [Rules Derived from Heroic Spirit/wonder Abilities] > [Prop Rules].

The [Rules Derived from Heroic Spirit/wonder Abilities] were related to belief.

Weren't the characteristics of a civilization a manifestation of belief?

So as long as the characteristics were magnified, the effect of boosting the students' courage would be no less than, or even stronger than, the courage gained from skill enhancements!

After figuring out Chen Aoyun's method of winning favorability, Zhao Hongxiu, who was more meticulous, said with some worry,

"Having fallen into the Sakura Country's ambush, I'm afraid the MP3 tactic has already been discovered by the Sakura people.

Even your disguise might be noted. You'll have to be careful when giving MP3 players to students outside the 'Scar of Chaos' from now on!"

If the Sakura people knew, it meant that the [Strategists] of all factions knew. When it came to dealing with the Huaxia Civilization, the Sakura Country never spared any effort.

Chen Aoyun had already calculated this in his heart,

"Don't worry.

It doesn't matter if the disguise is noted.

It's not just students who are trapped outside the 'Scar of Chaos'; there are also merchant caravans traveling between cities..."

It was now the eighth day since the first act began.

The midnight bell rang again, and the favorability of various [Famous Scholars] in the compass changed once more.

[Character: Official;

Recommended Heroic Spirit Type: Career Advancement;

No. 1: Britain, Favorability 19;

...

No. 8: Sakura Country, Favorability 10;

No. 9: Huaxia Civilization, Favorability 0]

[Character: Dean;

Recommended Heroic Spirit Type: Success in Youth;

No. 1: USA, Favorability 88;

No. 2: Sakura Country, Favorability 86;

...

No. 9: Huaxia Civilization, Favorability 48]

The Huaxia Civilization had already caught up in favorability with the [Famous Scholar] [Dean]. The Huaxia Civilization could gain a dozen to nearly twenty points of favorability a day, while the favorability increase for other countries had dropped to single digits.

This was related to the fact that the enrollment deadline was approaching and there were fewer and fewer students outside the city.

It was even more related to Chen Aoyun siphoning off favorability with the MP3 players.

The enrollment deadline would end on the fifteenth day after the start of the first act. At this rate of catching up, the Huaxia Civilization could at least push its favorability with the [Dean] into the top three!

It was just that the favorability with the other [Famous Scholar], the [Official], was a bit miserable—still at zero. He would have to work harder...