"How about the casino?" the casino manager asked.

"The game isn't over yet," Ross turned his head to look at him. "For a game that hasn't concluded, who dares to be sure about the top ten rankings?

In the Resource Game, skills and cooperation are everything. Duge's enemies are over two hundred Alien Warriors united against him. What if he loses the war?

Tell those gamblers anything can happen. We're not running a charity here; these are just a bunch of sore losers looking to recoup their losses through dodgy means. If they think there's a problem with the game, they can go ahead and sue us at the Galactic Court."

"Ross, I also feel something's off about Duge; he always manages to turn the tables at critical moments," the head of the network department said. "It might not even be about protections like the will of the planet anymore; should we really keep letting him be the protagonist?"

"What else?" Ross said. "Duge has spoiled the viewers of the Resource Game. Without him, ratings would drop by more than half."

"But Duge will eventually retire from the competition due to his age," the planning department's manager said. "What then? Do we end the Resource Game?"

"..." Ross paused for a moment then asked, "Hord, do you have any new ideas?"

"The best way is to cultivate several players who can contest Duge, to divert the audience's attention," the manager of the planning department, Hord, said. "Then, find an opportunity for Duge to die a plausible death, and we can escape this vicious circle."

"But you've seen it, the remaining planets are too weak compared to Duge; those guys are like fools," Ross said. "It's too hard to find a seed player like Duge."

"Then let's nurture a few ourselves," Hord said. "Cracking soul properties is tricky, and even if we find people who can carry soul properties into the battlefield, it would only make the game's rules worse, but spiritual power is something we can control..."

"What do you mean?" Ross asked.

"Allow viewers to participate in the selection of seed players in a simulation trial," Hord said. "Give the slots for entering the Alien Battlefield to viewers, not natives. Viewers can choose their favorite warriors directly from the simulation. That way, they can bestow spiritual power on the warriors they select in the simulation.

Viewers will always care more about the warriors they've nurtured. With this method, we can dilute Duge's influence on the audience.

Just one or two standouts, and we have replacements even if Duge dies.

The most crucial point is, when their handpicked warriors are defeated by Duge, they won't be able to fault us anymore.

By doing so, it doesn't matter if Duge keeps winning. He'll become an anchor, and they will tirelessly select new warriors to defeat the Great Demon King Duge."

"Indeed, an interesting idea," Ross's eyes lit up. "Let the viewers pick Duge's opponents, invest in them, and we've found ourselves another source of income."

"Exactly," Hord said.

"But what if Duge fails or dies?" the network department's manager suddenly interjected.

"Not actively suppressing Duge's keywords, I don't think there's a big chance of him failing," Hord said. "If he really dies... I've seen this argument on the forums: extract his soul, insert it into the body of an Alien Warrior, and let him be reborn with memories. That way, we'd have a new Great Demon King."

"Good idea," Ross snapped his fingers. "Hord, fine-tune this plan. I want to see a mature proposal as soon as possible; I plan to do this in the next game."

"And what about Qiyuan Star?" the head of the marketing department asked. "If we leave the selection of qualifiers to the viewers, given their taste for mischief, they might saddle Duge with a bunch of trash helpers! Doing so, once Duge develops a rebellious attitude..."

"The rules of Qiyuan Star remain unchanged," Ross said with a smile. "Duge is our golden goose; we always have to leave him an out."

...

At dusk.

Gao Ming and his companions arrived at the Imperial Capital, and no one intercepted or harassed them along the way.

All the Alien Warriors were busy making final preparations for joining the space frontline, with no energy to spare for anything else, and besides, attacking Gao Ming and provoking Duge's retaliation would be a losing proposition.

The Alien Warriors from various forces were very clever.

Yin Feng wrapped up the elite and ace pilots of the 16th army group; the Benevolent Association enlisted many business tycoons and government officials; Zhang Yueru from the 8th army group also wrapped up pilots from within the group...

Since Duge fought under the banner of Green Star, its warriors and civilians were their amulets, ensuring they wouldn't be attacked by Duge on the way to the space frontline.

After all, if Duge started slaughtering Green Star's warriors and civilians recklessly to eliminate them, the hard-earned credibility he had built would vanish.

Without the support of Green Star's people, he was nothing...

...

"Brother Du, how do we manipulate our keywords?" Gao Ming, Feng Zhong, and the others gathered around Duge, eagerly asking.

Having watched all of Duge's moves along the way and finally arriving at the Imperial Capital, they naturally wanted to boost their own rankings and abilities.