178: Chapter 178 Qi Yuan's Bewilderment

She looked at Qin Ye standing beside Su Bai, and then at the championship badge on Qin Ye's chest, feeling as if her heart was blocked by something.

That [The World] Stand Card was originally prepared for her by Su Bai.

As long as she had been willing to accept the mental interrogation back then and confront the fear deep within her heart, the person standing on the championship podium today might have been her.

But she failed.

Her mind collapsed under the gaze of [The World], and she subsequently shifted all the blame onto Su Bai and the Stand Card, unhesitatingly choosing the Titan Furnace crafted based on Qi Yuan's theories.

She thought she had chosen a safer and more orthodox path.

And the result?

That Tier 5 SS-grade system, which had consumed a massive amount of high-tier materials and was personally crafted by Shen Ye, was beaten directly into scrap metal by Qin Ye using Su Bai's Tier 2 Stand.

From the first layer of armor to the ninth-layer barrier, not a single layer was able to block [The World].

Back then, she had mocked the posture Qin Ye struck as looking like a circus performance.

Now, that posture had been imitated by countless young professionals across the country, and even she herself felt it looked somewhat cool.

Wei Xiaoyu bit her lower lip tightly.

Regret, shame, and unwillingness intertwined, making her almost not dare to look Su Bai straight in the eye.

But there were some things she had to say.

Wei Xiaoyu walked up to Su Bai and lowered her head.

"I'm sorry."

Her voice was very soft.

Zhao Dahai pricked up his ears.

"What did you say?"

Wei Xiaoyu's body stiffened, and she raised her head to glare fiercely at him.

Zhao Dahai immediately hid behind Su Bai.

"It's not that I didn't hear it; even the live broadcast didn't catch it."

Wei Xiaoyu glanced at the densely packed cameras surrounding them, her cheeks instantly flushing red.

Of course she knew Zhao Dahai was deliberately fanning the flames.

But since she had previously humiliated Su Bai in front of many people, her apology now should also be heard by everyone.

Thinking of this, Wei Xiaoyu took a deep breath.

"Su Bai, I'm sorry!"

She bent down, her voice clearly spreading across the VIP area.

"I was too arrogant and too cowardly before."

"I couldn't withstand the mental interrogation of [The World], so I claimed your card had problems and even compared it with the Titan Furnace."

"The competition has proven that I was wrong."

Saying this, Wei Xiaoyu's fingers clenched tightly.

Admitting that she had missed out on the championship was not easy.

Admitting that her mental willpower had lost to Qin Ye was even more difficult.

Yet this time, she did not run away.

"I also want to apologize to Qin Ye."

Wei Xiaoyu turned to Qin Ye.

"I looked down on your choice before, and even thought you had just picked up the card I didn't want."

"Now it seems, I have no qualification to say those words."

"You were able to gain the recognition of [The World] because you are more suited to it than I am."

Qin Ye looked at her quietly.

"Do you regret it?"

"I do."

Wei Xiaoyu didn't stubbornly deny it.

"Very much."

"That's good."

Qin Ye nodded.

Wei Xiaoyu was stunned.

"Shouldn't you be comforting me?"

"Why should I?"

"Under normal circumstances, shouldn't you say you still have a chance and should keep working hard next time?"

"But you did miss out on [The World]."

Qin Ye answered seriously.

"You probably won't ever have a second one in this lifetime."

Wei Xiaoyu covered her chest.

She felt as though the wound just pierced through by [The World] had been given another punch by Qin Ye.

And it was psychological damage.

Su Bai held back his laughter and looked at War Emperor Wei Potian.

This Tier 9 War Emperor, whose aura once suppressed the entire Zijin Mountain, no longer had a shred of the bearing of an expert on his face at this moment.

War Emperor Wei Potian's inner feelings were equally complicated.

Back when Su Bai proposed the Stand System, he felt this design was dangerous, ridiculous, and would make his daughter strike strange postures in front of the national audience.

To confirm his judgment, he specifically asked Qi Yuan.

Qi Yuan cursed the Stand theory from beginning to end in the communication, even threatening to revoke the designer's Card Creator qualifications.

At that moment, War Emperor Wei Potian completely believed there were problems with Su Bai's design.

Later, when Qi Yuan brought out the two-way anchoring theory and Shen Ye crafted the Titan Furnace, he felt even more strongly that he had chosen the right path for his daughter.

Until today, he only learned that Qi Yuan's theory also came from Su Bai.

The orthodox system they took so much pride in was merely the most superficial layer of Su Bai's Stand concept.

If he had chosen to believe Su Bai back then, his daughter might have already overcome her inner knot and truly attained growth.

In the end, he had still pushed his daughter back into her comfortable shell.

War Emperor Wei Potian took a step forward, cupped his fists, and bowed solemnly.

"Mr. Su."

"Previously, this Wei was blind."

"You were willing to point out Xiaoyu's problems and even prepared the most suitable system for her, yet due to worry and prejudice, this Wei failed to give you the trust you deserved."

"Today's defeat is Xiaoyu's failure, and it is also the failure of me as a father."

Saying this, he bent his waist even lower.

"This Wei offers his apologies to you."

Gasps suddenly sounded all around.

War Emperor Wei Potian was the War Emperor of the Dragon Kingdom and the Tier 9 powerhouse ranked first on the global warrior leaderboard.

With his status, even when facing the Empress, he only needed to perform a subject's bow.

Now, however, he was solemnly apologizing to a Tier 3 Card Creator in front of the national audience.

Wei Tianlong stood nearby, his face alternating between blue and white.

Among the three of them, the things he had said before were the harshest.

He had called the Stand Card a heretical path, mocked Su Bai for only being able to make cardboard that made people yell randomly like monkeys, and swore confidently that the Titan Furnace would achieve a numerical crushing in the National Competition.

As a result, every single sentence was thrown right back at him.

Especially the phrase "absolute numerical crushing".

Qin Ye had indeed achieved a numerical crushing.

Yet the side being crushed turned out to be the Titan Furnace.

Wei Tianlong wished he could find a spatial rift and crawl into it.

But since his elder brother and niece had both apologized, if he continued to pretend nothing had happened, it would only look even uglier.

Wei Tianlong gritted his teeth and followed suit by bowing.

"Mr. Su, what I said before was harsh."

"Out of an eager desire to protect Xiaoyu, I lost my judgment and mistook a true divine card for a heretical path."

"Regardless of whether you forgive me or not, I must make this apology."

Su Bai looked at the three of them.

Wei Xiaoyu was so nervous that the palms of her hands were sweating.

War Emperor Wei Potian still maintained his cupped-fist posture.

Wei Tianlong didn't even dare to raise his head.

After a moment, Su Bai finally spoke.

"I have received the apology."

The three of them breathed a sigh of relief simultaneously.

Wei Xiaoyu raised her head and asked cautiously,

"Then do I still have a chance to awaken a Stand in the future?"

"Yes."

Su Bai gave a definitive reply.

Wei Xiaoyu's eyes lit up instantly.

"However, [The World] has been permanently bound to Qin Ye; it is impossible for you to awaken the same Stand again."

"Then what can I awaken?"

"It depends on your mental growth."

Su Bai paused for a moment.

"If you are still the same as before, the result of forcibly activating it will most likely still be vines."

The excitement on Wei Xiaoyu's face quickly vanished.

That ugly mass of vines that had almost strangled her to death had become the thing she least wanted to recall recently.

"I will change."

Wei Xiaoyu clenched her fists.

"Next time, I will definitely make you admit that I am qualified."

Su Bai nodded.

"Then I'll wait for it."

In the distance, Shen Ye watched this scene quietly.

He did not walk over with the three members of the Wei family.

The fragments of the Titan Furnace had already been recovered by the competition organizers, and the main core had also developed large-scale cracks due to overload.

The masterpiece he had spent days crafting with countless precious materials with his own hands ended up not even lasting twenty seconds.

Judging from the competition results, the Stand had achieved a complete victory.

A victory in mechanics.

A victory in energy conversion.

A victory in basic strength as well.

Shen Ye could not find any place to defend the Titan Furnace.

Yet he was still unwilling to believe that his path was wrong from the very beginning.

Heavy armor, furnaces, energy amplification, and multi-layered defensive structures—these theories had been verified by the Card Creation world for thousands of years, and they should by no means be meaningless.

Perhaps the problem lay in the details.

Perhaps the completion degree of the Titan Furnace was not high enough.

Or perhaps the Stand Card used some special structure that testing instruments could not detect.

As long as he obtained the complete data, he would have a chance to find the answer.

Shen Ye slowly raised his head and looked toward the competition testing center.

It preserved the most detailed testing records of the two Tier 2 cards, including spiritual circuits, energy flow paths, law fluctuations, and manifestation parameters at every single instant.

Thinking of this, Shen Ye immediately strode toward the competition staff members.

"I am Shen Ye, the creator of the Titan Forge System."

"I am applying to view the complete testing structure of the Stand Card."

The staff member was stunned for a moment, showing a troubled expression.

"Mr. Shen, that is Mr. Su Bai's core technical data. According to the competition's confidentiality rules, without the personal permission of the creator..."

"I will only view the competition testing data and will not touch the original blueprints."

Shen Ye said seriously,

"The performance displayed by the Stand Card in the competition has already surpassed conventional Tier 2 concept cards. I have reason to apply for an academic review."

"This..."

Just as the staff member was about to contact a superior, a burst of hurried footsteps suddenly came from the end of the corridor.

The two of them turned their heads simultaneously.

They saw Qi Yuan lifting the hem of his robe and running wildly all the way at a speed completely inconsistent with his identity as a Tier 9 Grandmaster, followed by several panting Holy Temple researchers.

"Grandmaster Qi Yuan?"

Shen Ye was stunned.

Qi Yuan didn't stop at all.

He rushed past Shen Ye like a gust of wind, shouting as he ran:

"Where is the testing center?"

"Pull up the structural data of the Stand Card for this old man!"

"No one is to fight this old man for the first research spot!"

Shen Ye: "……"

Staff member: "……"

Qi Yuan rushed forward more than ten meters, then suddenly retreated back.

He grabbed Shen Ye by the shoulder, his expression fanatical.

"What are you still standing there dazed for?"

"Hurry up and keep up!"

"If we're a step late, that protective woman Li Qingyue is going to encrypt all the data!"