Chapter 561: Settlement

The five-minute countdown for mission completion ended, and Li Cheng and Huiyu returned to Earth's surface, their bodies reverting to solid form.

"The 【Network Duizhan Qibing】—so it really happened within the network domain."

Li Cheng muttered to himself; in the instant of return, he and Huiyu's bodies consisted of green code data for about one millisecond.

"? What's so special about that?" Huiyu asked, puzzled.

"Normally, mission return is direct teleportation."

Li Cheng explained offhandedly: "When the Death Arena first launched, multinational conglomerates ran experiments.

They first placed players in completely dark, lightless rooms, lying inside glass containers filled with diluted milk. Players executed script missions, vanishing instantly from their original location. After completing the mission in the script world, the player donned a tight-fitting suit covered in femtosecond laser emitters, returned to a supine position, activated the lasers, and waited for the five-minute countdown to end. At the moment of return, the femtosecond lasers passed through the diluted milk, captured by an ultra-high-speed compression imaging system operating at 10 trillion frames per second.

The results proved that the players' return time was far shorter than a picosecond or femtosecond—that is, one ten-quadrillionth of a second.

"Hmm…"

Huiyu blinked, thought for a moment, and understood Li Cheng's meaning: "When players return, their body posture changes, meaning the surrounding air or liquid is compressed.

The average human volume is 0.07 cubic meters. If it's air, it's fine—but if it's liquid, pushing aside 0.07 cubic meters of water in one ten-quadrillionth of a second would generate an enormous explosive shockwave underwater.

The only explanation for why this doesn't happen is that the Death Arena itself intervenes, nullifying the effects of teleportation."

"Exactly."

Li Cheng felt a quiet satisfaction—his books hadn't been read in vain, his 【Silver Wing Light Path】 hadn't been installed for nothing; Huiyu's intelligence was now drawing ever closer to normal human levels.

"If player return weren't interfered with by the Death Arena, major guilds wouldn't need to research weapons of mass destruction—they'd just hire a hundred players, fatten them up until they're bloated, turn them into Liangzi, and have them infiltrate underwater near enemy coastlines, using the return effect to trigger tsunamis and drown coastal cities."

Li Cheng paused, his expression complex as he clicked his tongue, "Death Arena players grow fast, yes—but they're still under the Death Arena's control.

Even top-tier强者 like Michael, the Side of Truth, cannot resist teleportation."

"It has its downsides and upsides."

Huiyu said casually: "The higher the Death Arena's upper limit, the higher the ceiling players can reach, right? After the next update, maybe they'll unlock level caps—Lv50, Lv60, even Lv100."

"True enough."

Li Cheng nodded. Great wisdom appears foolish; great foolishness appears wise—Huiyu saw through this quite clearly.

"Oh, the Evil Science Alliance's reality show just updated."

A notification popped up on Huiyu's phone; her eyes lit up, and she immediately projected the screen onto the living room's LCD TV, grabbed snacks and drinks, and comfortably sank into the sofa to eat and watch.

"This summer, 39 brave challengers were thrown into a survival game beyond reality. Some planned with flawless strategy, breaking through困境 with wit. Some understood human nature deeply, manipulating its darkness to gain advantage. Some charged forward fearlessly, undaunted by peril…"

The TV blared passionate narration, accompanied by flashy, spectacular preview visuals and individual character introduction animations.

"Contestant One: I'm Ma Jiajue. I'm going to start lying."

"Contestant Two: The most important thing in life is maturity—that's the life creed Hannibal taught me, from Zhao Chuan Yizheng."

"Contestant Three: The only one who saw through the truth was Kaczynski—a man who outwardly appeared to be a mathematics professor from UC Berkeley, yet whose criminal intellect surpassed ordinary human limits!"

???

Li Cheng nearly spat out his salt soda, "What the hell is this?"

"It's the Evil Science Alliance's new reality show—called 【Death Game】. It just launched on FeiNet last week and has aired three episodes."

Huiyu explained matter-of-factly: "The director of the Evil Science Alliance's biology department made a major breakthrough in neuroscience. To continue his research and earn some funding, he simply launched a reality show, recruiting 39 death row inmates from various countries, removing their bodies while preserving their brains, implanting false memories, and linking their brains via servers—telling them they'd been selected to join the Master God Space's Death Game."

"Brain in a vat, huh."

Li Cheng's eye twitched, "Isn't this a violation of human rights, anti-human? How did the Global Supernatural Alliance approve this?"

"That's because every contestant is a bottom-tier scumbag stripped of all rights—including human rights."

Huiyu sneered, pressed fast-forward—the contestants included, but were not limited to: Charles Taylor, former president of Liberia, Africa—responsible for mass slaughter,

cannibalism, and forming child armies;

Pedro Alonso López, the Colombian serial killer known as the "Andes Beast," who committed over 300 murders while roaming Central America;

and a certain Italian intermediary who, during the Yugoslav Wars, invited over a hundred wealthy merchants from the US, Russia, Britain, France, and Germany to form a tourist group, then set up sniper rifles on a mountain beside Sarajevo, taking pleasure in shooting civilians in the city.

Each one was the worst of the worst, the lowest of the low in anti-human depravity. The bloodthirsty viewers of Lujie felt zero guilt watching them die on-screen.

They'd even welcome a voting segment where buying a specific brand of milk lets them vote to increase the contestants' difficulty.

"Even Kaczynski would break out in a sweat competing against these monsters."

Li Cheng's eyelid twitched—admittedly, the Evil Science Alliance's brain-in-a-vat tech was quite advanced: the visuals were clear, the effects realistic—but the plot was truly absurd, especially when characters screamed, "Master God! Zhongzhou Team, restore everyone! Deduct reward points from Ma Jiajue!"

Huiyu watched the reality show with great enjoyment; Li Cheng returned to his room to check his mission rewards.

【Player Overall Performance: S+, Game Coins and Experience Gained Increased to 160%】

【Reward Settlement In Progress】

Although the Phase Change Demon was a conceptual bio-weapon created artificially, lacking subjective initiative, its level was genuinely Lv33.

It was no weaker than Zhongtian Beiji, Wanli Fengdao, or White Horse Tombstone at the same level.

【Mission Reward 1: 3155 Experience Points】

【Mission Reward 2: 6720 Game Coins】

With the 1.6 multiplier, the Phase Change Demon granted Li Cheng 5048 experience points and 10752 game coins.

Li Cheng rose from Lv26 with 1572/2600 experience to Lv28 with 1320/2800 experience.

【Mission Reward 3: Randomly seize the highest-quality item or one skill from the Phase Change Demon's inventory】

The last death duel reward dated back to the 【Baekje Black Heaven】 mission, when he fought Jiang Zhihui in Seoul, South Korea—back then, the reward also included looting items and skills, and he had received the 【Familiar Swap】 skill and 【Proof of the Odd Mechanist】.

"This time I lost the Bat Hook Gun and Steel Flag Spear—至少 let me see some return on investment."

Li Cheng muttered, then shouted, "Open!"

A flash of Jin Guang appeared; at the end of his skill bar, a phantom named 【Illusion-Reality: Barrage Splendor】 materialized.

"This one's good!"

Illusion-Reality: Barrage Splendor could be used offensively or defensively, with low cost and short cooldown. Combined with skills like Dragon's Breath, a single blast could summon a sky of fire rain—terrifying the opponent into submission.

"Just 【Illusion-Reality: Barrage Splendor】 alone is worth at least a perfect-quality learning scroll—already not a loss. As for the other item…"

He rubbed his hands vigorously, clicked the chest, and as a bright flash of light passed, his expression turned strange—the box was filled with all sorts of random clutter.

"Cardboard box, old newspapers, a tattered tent, a handcart, a worn blanket, aluminum cans... isn't this the standard野外 gear of an American homeless person?"