Chapter 45

No one expected that the situation had reached this point.

The Federation had not yet given up.

Following the start of the Dunkirk evacuation in Bai Xiang's livestream, a steady stream of soldiers was picked up by fishing boats, taking them back to the British Federation.

And in Mo Xiaomo's livestream, the armored army she was with still had not received the advance order from the Empire's leader.

Watching as the Federation soldiers retreated more and more.

The players standing on the Empire's side had already started cursing anxiously, even doubting the rationality of this game.

They felt that Zhao Ming had intentionally designed the plot this way.

For this situation to allow over 300,000 out of 400,000 people to escape was a forced lowering of intelligence, so they rushed to Zhao Ming's account on the Federation Headline to launch an assault.

Zhao Ming could only express that it was just that dramatic.

He couldn't help it either.

And this explanation only further incited the netizens' anger.

In just a few short days.

The growth rate of the emotion value in Zhao Ming's system was extremely fast.

But soon.

The netizens' attention was drawn away by the game. As most of the soldiers at Dunkirk evacuated and there was no more resistance, Dunkirk was completely occupied by the Empire.

The plot in Mo Xiaomo's and Bai Xiang's livestreams also progressed steadily over these few days.

And on the French Federation side, because of the breakthrough of the army group, before anyone could react.

The French Federation surrendered directly.

Mo Xiaomo's livestream was filled with question marks—what kind of plot was this?

They just surrendered like that?

Weren't they the strongest army in Europe? Why not resist a little more?

In reality.

Because of the strategic mistakes at the start, the chaos in the Federation's command system, and the breakthrough of the Empire's armored forces, the French Federation soldiers, who were retreating steadily, had long since lost confidence.

And within the French Federation, a split had occurred, and a surrender faction had appeared.

Various reasons combined to create the current situation.

With the surrender of the French Federation and the internal split, the Empire's territory expanded once again.

The Empire, which originally only occupied a piece of Europe.

At this moment, it had actually conquered almost the entire Europe.

Then, according to the Empire's current territory, it would soon face the Soviet Federation, right?!

This shifted the netizens' attention away.

Because to enter the game's Hall of Fame and be listed alongside WWII celebrities, one had to obtain the 【Normandy Landing Medal】, 【Stalingrad Medal】, and 【Moscow Defense Medal】.

And through the players' exploration, everyone knew that Stalingrad and Moscow were in the Soviet Federation.

Two wars.

With casualties totaling nearly five million, what kind of tragic war could it be?

To cause such casualties.

Although they knew through the medal descriptions that these two war-themed national battle dungeons would be opened later, whether they could experience them in the immersive plot sparked discussion among players.

Many people ran to Zhao Ming's account to ask.

【Old Thief, in the immersive plot, can we participate in the two wars of 【Moscow】 and 【Stalingrad】?】

【Polar Star Games Zhao Ming: Yes, as long as the plot's timeline reaches that point, most players will participate in it. After all, so many people died, you will always be randomly assigned to it.】

【When will the background story be fully released? And will that World War I thing be in the subsequent plot?】

【Polar Star Games Zhao Ming: The background story requires players to explore and collect. As for World War I, it will be there later... By the way, let me tell you a secret: during World War I, although there were tanks, there were no complete tank armored tactics yet.】

【Polar Star Games Zhao Ming: Study Blitzkrieg well; maybe you will be randomly assigned as a general, command tank armor, and become the 'Guderian' of WWI~~~】

【Holy crap?!】

【Really? Then I'll directly blitz France with armor!】

【No, you damn well finish World War II first!】

【Brothers, don't believe him! This dog thief definitely dug a pit!】

【I haven't even finished playing World War II, and you're bringing out WWI to whet my appetite!!!】

【Polar Star Games Zhao Ming: There's not only WWI, there's also modern warfare~~】

【???】

【Holy crap? Really?!】

【How big of a background did you actually make?!】

【I have just one question... for modern warfare, can there be teammate voice chat? Playing World War II has suffocated me to death!】

【No, where are you guys taking this? Forget everything else for a moment, can you handle the 【Normandy Landing】 battlefield? It's unplayable!】

【Polar Star Games Zhao Ming: What's the situation?】

【The leaderboard is all damn military units. Is this a military competition? Why not set up a separate leaderboard for the military? Otherwise, there's no motivation to strive; how can we compete with the military?】

【Polar Star Games Zhao Ming: Don't worry, I'll go check it out right now.】

【At least you can get things done! Hurry up and check!】

After Zhao Ming communicated with the players, he exited the Federation Headline and then entered the game forum to search for complaints about this aspect.

There were quite a few.

The immersive plot had been very popular during this period, and he hadn't paid attention to the leaderboard issue before; now it seemed like an oversight.

Zhao Ming opened the game's backend and took a quick look at the leaderboard.

【Current Leaderboard 【Normandy Landing: Omaha Beach】】

【First Place Team: Daxia Federation Central Army, First Army Group..., Time: 48 minutes.】

【Second Place Team: Daxia Federation Northern Army, Third Army Group..., Time: 51 minutes.】

【Third Place Team: Daxia Federation Southern Army...】

【...】

【Fiftieth Place Team: Antarctic Federation, A Army Group... Time: 1 hour 17 minutes.】

Zhao Ming's eyebrows twitched. This...

The speed of the fiftieth place had already reached 1 hour and 17 minutes; ordinary players forming teams couldn't even come close to this result even if they cleared the level.

Zhao Ming then pulled up the video recordings of the teams on these leaderboards.

The more he watched, the more Zhao Ming frowned.

Well-trained military units, after figuring out the terrain of the beach, although their attack methods were different, the general direction was consistent.

It had already become a competition of overall military quality and coordination.

Even in the first-place Daxia Federation Central Army, First Army Group, there were outrageous existences. Before the assault boat had even rushed onto the beach and the boat hadn't even docked steadily.

They actually opened fire and took out a machine gun nest in seconds.

If it weren't for the fact that he made the game and the backend data was fine, Zhao Ming would have suspected that this was cheating???

What kind of Blue Star soldier king is this?

Outrageous.

Looking at these military units from various federations, Zhao Ming frowned deeply:

"No, I have to increase the intensity."

The NPC settings were actually fixed; the Empire's garrison firepower was very powerful and enough to suppress ordinary players, but it seemed somewhat insufficient when facing well-trained military units that were constantly exploring.

With constant training, these military units had already figured out the configuration of each firepower point.

They knew the best timing to attack and when to just hide, and it had already become a matter of grinding the leaderboard.

Zhao Ming pondered how to change it.

A moment later.

Zhao Ming sat up straight and began to set up a new 【Normandy Landing】 battlefield in the backend. Compared to the fixed settings of NPCs, players were more unpredictable.

Perhaps... he could open up the Empire's garrison faction.

Originally, it was just a single Allied force faction charging, so these Federation military units could figure out the firepower point situation of the Empire's garrison on the beach because they were all fixed.

But if the Empire's garrison faction was opened, allowing ordinary players to serve as the garrison, they could choose to deploy the fortress positions.

This would not only turn it into a faction confrontation between the two sides, but the unpredictability would also be greater.

The gameplay would also be more interesting.

Otherwise, the intensity of 【Normandy Landing】 was indeed very discouraging for ordinary players.

If the game wants to retain people, besides the game plot.

It also needs to let players feel the competitive battlefield; otherwise, if they can't see hope, naturally no one will play.

Thinking of this.

Zhao Ming immediately started to modify it.