Chapter 229: The Non-Tribe Affliction

Qin Yun suited up and boarded a helicopter in line.

It was a large helicopter, with ten people seated front and back, each fully equipped like him; a few clearly knew each other and exchanged brief greetings.

Soon, the aircraft took off and soon hovered high above.

The first person surged out without hesitation, leaping straight down; about a thousand meters below, a bright yellow parachute suddenly deployed, and he immediately adjusted his trajectory toward the target.

Soon after, the second person jumped right after the first's chute opened, and one by one they leapt like a suicide squad, not a single one hesitated.

When it came to Qin Yun, he did the same.

Facing a roaring wind, Qin Yun stabilized his body instantly; he glanced at the target below—two thousand meters down, the target was tiny but clearly visible, and he did not open his chute at a thousand meters like the others.

His body fell like freefall, and in moments he overtook those ahead.

"Fuck, is this guy insane? He hasn't opened his chute yet?"

"OMG, did his chute gear break?"

Watching Qin Yun streak past nearby, the other competitors were startled.

Only when his altitude neared six hundred meters did Qin Yun open his chute; by then, he was already in second place, just a hundred meters above the first.

It was downright insane.

Moments later, he saw the first competitor land precisely on the triple-ring mark—three centimeters from the electronic bullseye.

Qin Yun adjusted slightly; he felt hitting the bullseye was effortless, so he tugged the control line, gliding cleanly over the man's head and landing steadily on the opposite side.

Many watching overhead laughed.

They'd thought his late chute deployment meant he was a genius—turns out he was just showing off.

Qin Yun tried two or three more times, confirmed he could land flawlessly on the target from two thousand meters, then stopped practicing.

When he stepped down from the helicopter and met Zeng Luo and the others, a system panel suddenly dropped before his eyes, and a system voice rang out.

【Publishing check-in task: Host must complete a 13,000-meter high-altitude precision skydive in the Red Bull Extreme Precision Skydiving Exhibition, opening the chute at six hundred meters, and landing inside the Black Throat Abyss to complete check-in.】

Seeing this check-in task, Qin Yun's pupils shrank slightly.

Not because of the height—but because of the chute-opening altitude.

Six hundred meters was the limit of limits; one misstep and you'd be crushed into pulp, utterly disregarding life itself.

But the real problem wasn't that—it was landing inside the Black Throat Abyss.

The Black Throat Abyss was indeed wide, but its vertical depth from ground to surface was 398 meters; to complete the system's task, he'd have to open his chute at just two hundred meters above normal ground level.

This…

Even Qin Yun felt a chill run through him upon seeing this.

He didn't even respond when Zeng Luo and the others called his name.

"Master Qin, you okay?"

Qin Yun snapped back, saw their worried expressions, and smiled lightly: "Fine. Landing on the bullseye from two thousand meters? No problem at all. Don't worry."

"Good to hear."

Nie Jun and Jiang Shuangxing weren't sure if Qin Yun was boasting, but at least he looked confident—that was a good sign.

Back at the hotel, Su Huan had already finalized deals with sponsors.

PD provided the full set of primary and backup racing parachutes; Cypres supplied the automatic deployment system and high-altitude safety gear; PhoenixFly provided windproof and cold-resistant one-piece suits; Cookie supplied fully sealed communication helmets; AirLiquide provided oxygen systems; Salomon provided other auxiliary equipment.

Six sponsors brought him nearly one million euros in income.

Of course, only if he placed in the top three of the finals—otherwise, everything was void.

"Baby, amazing!"

Qin Yun pecked Su Huan's lips.

"How was training?"

Su Huan wrapped her arms around Qin Yun's neck, pressing her lips close to his, their breaths mingling.

"Pretty good, no pressure. Top competitors won't feel strain at two thousand meters—if no accidents, hitting the bullseye shouldn't be an issue."

That's what Qin Yun thought, but top competitors were few and far between.

The two lingered a while, then Qin Yun went to the bathroom to shower.

He didn't tell Su Huan the details of the check-in task—telling her would only make her more anxious; she just needed to know it was a ten-thousand-meter jump.

The process? Irrelevant.

For him, this check-in task was also extremely extreme.

"Damn, opening chute at only two hundred meters above ground? One slight misalignment and you're mashed into paste."

Qin Yun felt the pressure.

He did a quick calculation: falling from over ten thousand meters in freefall, he'd reach terminal velocity in about ten seconds, after which speed wouldn't increase.

At his weight, that speed was roughly 414 km/h—meaning he'd drop over a hundred meters in just one second.

And it took two to three seconds for the chute to fully deploy; if direction was wrong, death was certain—no room for error.

That meant he couldn't afford a single mistake: either land precisely inside the Black Throat Abyss, or open the chute at six or seven hundred meters above ground. So the problem was this:

If he missed the correct altitude to open the chute, he had no choice but to gamble on the Black Throat Abyss—otherwise, his life was no longer his own.

Of course, with his Master-level precision skydiving skill, he still had a chance of landing inside the Black Throat Abyss.

"Forget it, no more thinking—wait until I win the championship."

Since he entered this competition, Qin Yun was aiming for the title; telling Zeng Luo and the others he just wanted to reach the finals was just modesty. If he couldn't win with his Master-level skill, he'd just be unbelievably unlucky.

…

On competition day, the entire town of Saint-Amand was plunged into frenzy.

On camera, countless crowds gathered outside, throngs surging like rivers; hot-air balloons and ribbons floated in the sky, noise roaring like a storm.

When the live stream's viewer count neared its peak, Qin Yun finally spoke.

"Hello everyone, I'm Qin Yun, a temporary precision skydiving enthusiast, currently located in Saint-Amand, France. Local time: May 18th, 9:30 AM. The sun is warm, the weather is comfortable, and tens of thousands of competitors from countries around the world are already eager to show their skills."

"Hahaha, the temp just showed up."

"Laughing my ass off—tens of thousands of countries."

"Qin Zhen is funny."

"Which event is Qin Ye participating in? I love watching stunts."

"Can Qin Ye win the championship? I see many top international clubs are competing."

"I haven't watched Qin Ye perform much before—I think it's gonna be tough."

"Trust Qin Ye."

Looking at the comments in various languages, Qin Yun smiled: "I'm competing in precision skydiving, representing our country's Changkong Club. See that guy? Everyone probably knows him well—Bo Lang Ge himself, and also the owner of Changkong Club."

"WOW, a rich playboy, so hot."

"Damn, birds of a feather flock together—Qin Ye's handsome, fine, but this guy's so young and so rich? The world's unfair."

"Hmm, that gaze is kinda melancholy—looks like he's in low spirits."

Zeng Luo also saw it. Though he felt helpless inside, he kept a calm exterior and waved: "Hello everyone, I'm Zeng Luo from Changkong Club. Thank you for supporting Qin Ye and Changkong Club."

Qin Yun's drone wandered freely through the town, and domestic viewers, seeing the exotic little town, immediately felt their anticipation rise.

"Qin Ye, how will the livestream work during the competition?"

"Qin Ye, can you send me that handsome guy's phone?"

"Qin, turn around—I'm behind you."

"Qin Ye, good luck."

The comment section refreshed too fast for Qin Yun to keep up.

He said: "Just now, Zeng Luo's mood was low because all the Changkong Club competitors in his group had bad draws—he felt like he'd been cursed by bad luck, so his face naturally turned dark."

"You probably know this already—Red Bull invited every top parachute team in the world. Just in my group, there are seven or eight top clubs: TEMU from the U. S., the British Royal team, Australia's Cyberpunk, and so on."

"It's obvious how hard it'll be to secure a top-five spot to advance to the semifinals, with all these people gunning for you."

"But don't worry—I can enter the semifinals with my eyes closed."

Seeing Qin Yun's confident demeanor, domestic and international reactions differed.

Domestically, people already had blind trust in him—whatever Qin Yun said, even if it was full of bravado, they'd laugh and choose to believe; but international viewers, having followed Qin Yun's livestreams for only a short time, though optimistic about him, were skeptical of his slightly arrogant attitude.

"Qin, don't underestimate them. Every club you mentioned is top-tier—each athlete from them is a beast."

"Yeah, Qin, don't you Chinese have a saying: 'Careful driving ensures a thousand-year journey'?"

"Qin, I support you, but I support my own country's people more—haha."

Qin read these comments but didn't refute them—only calmly said everyone would know when the time came.

"As for the livestream, don't worry—my drone is connected to Red Bull's official signal. The drone's AI director will automatically switch angles. Don't worry—the livestream won't cut out."

Soon, Qin Yun rejoined the team. By then, the domestic Douyin livestream had already reached five million viewers, its popularity surging to #1 with a cliff-like lead. Many outdoor streamers, seeing this, could only reluctantly go offline to avoid the spotlight.

Shu Han, You Jundu, and the others looked at their phones—the livestream viewer count and the nonstop stream of gifts made them insanely envious.

Indeed, people can't be compared—the gap is too huge.

In just that short time, Shu Han saw over a hundred Carnival gifts flash by—three thousand each, totaling three hundred thousand—absolutely insane.

Only now did they understand the true value of the name Qin Yun.

Before the competition began, he pulled aside several Changkong Club competitors for a quick interview, leaving them all nervous.

Anyone would be nervous knowing millions were watching.

As the opening ceremony began, Qin Yun narrated while waiting quietly.

"Damn, these foreigners' meetings are just as boring and long as ours."

"Haha, if not for Qin Ye's commentary, who'd know what these foreigners are yapping about?"

"Don't you think Changkong Club's uniforms are cool?"

"Xiao Luo's taste is good."

At this point, the opening ceremony neared its end. The large screen on the stage displayed every competitor's name, sorted by event.

This competition is called Extreme Precision Skydiving—precision skydiving is the main event, the rest are side events, but not unimportant—just far less popular than precision skydiving.

Professional competition, professional judges, professional venue, professional commentary, professional broadcasting!

Red Bull spared no expense—bringing in the world's most famous judges and commentators, even some international superstars as guest commentators.

Qin Yun pointed to a row on the screen and smiled: "Look—my name is the forty-second in that row. My group includes Edru from TEMU, Ilya from the British Royal team, Edmund from Cyberpunk, Sharu from the Pharaohs..."

Every name Qin Yun mentioned was a top-tier athlete, but since domestic viewers were unfamiliar with parachute sports, they felt little impact.

When he finished, Nie Jun sighed beside him.

"Qin Ye, just do your best."

Seeing his lack of confidence, livestream viewers instantly grew dissatisfied.

"This old guy hasn't even competed yet, and he's already acting like he's gonna lose."

"If you don't even have confidence, why even enter the competition?"

"Old man, you're the coach—what's going on?"

"Don't say that—Coach Nie knows exactly what he's talking about. I just checked—Qin Ye's entire team is full of beasts."