Chapter 99: Shift in Concepts

Su Sheng walked to a secluded corner and picked up the phone.

The incoming number was special, only six digits.

Exactly, six digits.

Su Sheng was also very familiar with this number.

"Huaxia Azure Dragon War Zone, Hidden Dragon Special Forces Brigade, retired soldier, Su Sheng reporting!"

"Hehe, you little brat, why so formal? You are my sharpest Dragon Claw." A vigorous voice came from the other end of the phone.

"Azure Dragon Chief, I am no longer a Dragon Claw now." Su Sheng said solemnly.

"What? Still holding a grudge?" Azure Dragon's voice came over.

"Report, no."

"Sigh... I also don't want you, this Dragon Claw, to retire, after all you're still young, but regarding the earlier incident, from the perspective of being a soldier and a comrade, you were right."

"But in the eyes of the leadership, you indeed violated discipline."

"Azure Dragon Chief, it's already in the past, and I have already retired." Su Sheng answered calmly.

"Haha, that's also..."

"How are you, are you used to retired life?"

"Pretty good."

"Recently, that hot game 'Zhu Lu', you should be playing it."

"Yes." Su Sheng answered truthfully, though he was somewhat surprised—how would the military pay attention to a game?

Especially, the unit he used to be in would have no reason to pay attention to such things.

Immediately after, Su Sheng thought of Shen Yang's little guy, whose father is an active-duty soldier yet sent him a game helmet from the unit?

"The one at the top of the leaderboard, that's you, right?"

Su Sheng startled, then answered truthfully: "It's me."

Although Teng Long Company announced externally that all players' personal information is absolutely confidential.

But if it's a military investigation, Teng Long Company absolutely cannot keep it confidential.

"Hahaha, truly worthy of being my soldier."

"Very good, keep striving, as much as possible, in the game, seek more advantages."

Su Sheng felt a bit confused, not understanding why his former superior would care about him playing games after retirement.

"This involves some secrets, and it's also an agreement between countries; anyway, do your best in the game, the country might need your help later."

"Consider this my final task as your chief."

"Rest assured, Azure Dragon, Five Claw, I guarantee to complete the mission!" Su Sheng's expression turned serious.

The Dragon Claw Special Forces Squad, five-member team, with code names One Claw through Five Claw.

Among them, Five Claw is the captain.

……

"Strange, one of the senior chiefs of the Azure Dragon War Zone personally called to tell me to play the game well?"

Su Sheng pondered all day, what is this situation?

"But recalling when Teng Long Company was in its promotion phase, it seemed the central media were all promoting this thing."

At that time, Su Sheng was puzzled.

(Purely game competition, there will be no plot of invading reality.)

"Forget it, no need to dwell on it."

"Basically, when I returned to the game, at first I was indeed persuaded by my parents to help Huan Jie."

"But now I've run into the Assassin Alliance, plus Qiancheng Muxue, and Du Juan..."

Su Sheng knows that in the game, he has some debts yet to collect, and also some debts not yet repaid.

"Many brothers of the Assassin Alliance have waited for him for seven years."

"This time, bringing them to the peak again, what's the harm?"

"Plus, just now seeing the old chief's phone call."

"So this time, let's strive!"

…

…

Returning to the game, Su Sheng appeared at the location of the magic-pattern wild boars.

There was still a while before the agreed time to attack the Demon Energy Castle, so Su Sheng planned to kill some monsters here first.

He glanced at the experience bar; if nothing unexpected, after clearing the Demon Energy Castle today, he should be able to level up.

So, around that time he would go back once to take out the prepared equipment from the warehouse, then switch gear directly upon leveling up.

Anyway, the Demon Energy Castle has been pushed so many times it's unknown, and nothing unexpected will happen.

Not long after, that previous squad also came online and began farming magic-pattern wild boars.

Originally Su Sheng intended to farm for a while, but Huan Jie's private chat came in.

After seeing the message, Su Sheng froze for a moment, then his expression grew somewhat gloomy.

Although this day was bound to come eventually, it's too soon.

The Demon Energy Castle has been discovered by other players.

However, at this moment the Demon Energy Castle's countdown still has over an hour, and the surrounding monsters haven't refreshed.

So players are just curious what the Demon Energy Castle is, but no one has stayed.

"No, this Demon Energy Castle, if we can seize it, we need to occupy it a bit longer."

At this stage, there aren't many players overall who will go look for a level‑30 monster‑grinding area.

So only a few players wander over to the Demon Energy Castle; they probably see no monsters there, and although they're curious, most players wouldn't stay.

After all, more than an hour of game time is still quite precious.

A fixed‑spawn level‑35 Elite Boss must absolutely not be given to Qiancheng Muxue in the short term.

Among the top ten guilds stationed in Wutong Town, only the former Qiancheng Muxue guild is present.

If the Demon Energy Castle is exposed, no guild in all of Wutong Town can compete with Qiancheng Muxue.

The Assassin Alliance… also won't work.

After all, the Assassin Alliance is just a group of assassins; they cannot match Qiancheng Muxue in open combat.

Moreover, the Assassin Alliance now has only a thousand members.

Although Su Sheng and Huakai's little sister have already taken down several Ultimate Magic Puppets these past days and gathered quite a bit of gear,

but it's still not enough.

At the very least, we need to grind as many as possible.

For a fixed‑spawn boss like this, the more times you grind it, the lower the chance of getting good drops.

Of course, there's also a chance of a fluke like last time when a purple item dropped, but that possibility is pitifully low—still, the more you grind, the lower the odds.

Now, players have occasionally started wandering around that area; if they aren't fast enough, being seen by other players will expose them.

Shall we call the Assassin Alliance to come over and grind monsters together?

When the minor monsters around the Demon Energy Castle respawn, if we clear them promptly and then rush the boss, the castle will enter a countdown.

Just…

Su Sheng recalled the incident with that rhino boss last time—there's a traitor in the Assassin Alliance.

If the traitor finds out…

However, the eight Ten Court Yanluo, Shen Yang, and Shadow Wing are all trustworthy now.

Su Sheng thought it over and decided to let the Ten Court Yanluo and Shadow Wing come over.

Just have the Ten Court Yanluo spread out and clear out the players.

Send back any players heading toward the castle; anyway, at this stage there aren't many players wandering over here.

In the short term, the Demon Energy Castle must not be exposed to Qiancheng Muxue.

Don't blame Su Sheng for ruthlessly clearing people; often, if you're not ruthless, you can't stand firm.

Even if we politely urge them to go back, some players will still be curious.

So we can only send them back dead.

Often, making them respect you is actually less effective than making them fear you.

Su Sheng believes that if the Assassin Alliance's Ten Court Yanluo personally takes action, they can kill the vast majority of players before they even react.

A level‑20 assassin already possesses terrifying burst damage.

Du Xue's combo almost one‑shotted Su Sheng before, which shows as much.

Su Sheng has principles and a bottom line, but that doesn't mean he can't adapt.

The former Dragon Claw Special Forces' Five Claw Captain was absolutely decisive in killing.

If it were earlier, Su Sheng might not have paid so much attention to this Demon Energy Castle.

If they're discovered, they're discovered; anyway, they've already gotten their fill.

But that phone call today also counts as having completely changed Su Sheng's mind.