Chapter 205: The Art of Language

"It's over!"

Seeing the Di Nian Bully hovering in midair right before him, the God King's inner shock was beyond measure.

He did not understand how exactly he had been selected by the Di Nian Bully from among over one hundred thousand players.

Before this, he had worried about this very issue.

It had long been proven that the Di Nian Bully possessed super-wide-range perception abilities similar to the Eagle-Headed Demon, as well as a database for recording language.

He had thought that he was selected from the player army because he had exposed too much information.

For this reason, he had made every effort to avoid showing himself.

He had required players in the war band not to mention him when facing the Di Nian Bully during communication, and to keep exchanges in the chat channel as much as possible.

During his command, he also communicated entirely through the internal channel, never opening his mouth to speak a single word that would expose his identity.

Secondly, to prevent the Evil Eye's perception investigation, he had blended into the crowd of players the entire time, never sticking his head out.

His position was not the core protection spot at the very center, but rather a magic-type position leaning toward the middle-rear.

So he could not figure out exactly which point had exposed him.

Such a situation had never occurred before.

Gazing at the Di Nian Bully hovering in midair before him, a grotesque smile floating on his face, the God King knew this battle was likely to end prematurely.

As the overall commander of the United War Band, he was actually about to be beheaded by the Bully.

What humiliation!

Before this, he had not been without failure.

It could be said that he had witnessed the Di Nian Bully's growth from its initial clumsiness to its current sharpness.

At the very start, he had been able to seize two Domain Nodes from the Di Nian Bully's hands with just over a thousand players.

The early Demon Fall Pits (Spirit Ore) and Cloud Fields (Spirit Fields), these two Domain Nodes were all secured by him leading veteran players.

At that time, he thought this was merely the starting point.

The Di Nian Bully was nothing more than a minor opponent in his command career.

He never expected that his own self at that time was actually the peak.

He was growing, but the Di Nian Bully's AI growth speed was even more astonishing.

From an initial stalemate to now being completely crushed, the Di Nian Bully's growth speed was far faster than he had imagined.

By now, in his entire engagement with the Di Nian Bully, he had been suppressed the whole time and had never won.

He had thought that obtaining the "Lord" Painful Painful Minghun would bring a turning point to the situation.

The facts were indeed so.

Compared to him, one of the Di Nian Bully's advantages was its influence over the direction of the war.

After all, the Di Nian Bully was essentially not a war commander; it was the Black Tide, and the Black Tide acted according to its own thoughts.

This was a significant gap in battlefield influence.

A single thought of the Di Nian Bully required him to convey it through communication, and then players needed to analyze and understand it; the efficiency was far inferior to the Bully's.

But the appearance of the Lord Painful Painful Minghun gave him a significant boost in his influence over the war, making up for some of the gap in this regard.

In the previous few confrontation tests, the effect of the Lord Painful Painful Minghun left him extremely satisfied.

Although the war against the Di Nian Bully still ended in failure, it at least proved that the Lord Painful Painful Minghun held promise for the future.

This time, launching a large-scale joint operation, he had planned to consume all the stockpiled Lord Power to attempt a larger-scale influence of Lord characteristics.

He never expected to be taught another lesson.

He was evolving, but the Di Nian Bully's evolution was even faster.

This time, it had precisely located and locked onto his position, capturing him via a decapitation strike.

Just then, the Di Nian Bully hovering before him bared its teeth in a grotesque smile:

"Player race war commander, correct?"

As the Di Nian Bully spoke, the battlefield observed through its perception perspective had already erupted into chaos.

The direction of the war had already proven that it successfully caught a big fish.

Before, it was testing and conjecture, but now the performance of the Player race on the battlefield had already confirmed its thoughts.

Realizing he had already lost, the God King sighed in despair.

He cursed inwardly that this Di Nian Bully's AI was truly excessive, leaving him absolutely no way to survive.

He had already worked very hard to improve, but the Di Nian Bully's speed of progress always stayed one step ahead of him.

Now, he only wanted to know one question: how exactly did the Di Nian Bully select him from the player war band and lock onto him precisely?

Facing the inquiry, the God King did not intend to disguise himself any further; he nodded calmly:

"It is me."

"Hahaha." The Di Nian Bully laughed very happily.

The taste of victory was indescribable.

Opponents from other races, it did not even bother to take seriously.

But this was the Player race!

A sense of accomplishment unlike any before surged in its heart.

This sense of accomplishment was far beyond what could be compared to defeating other races.

Other races were nothing but ants in its eyes; even if they suffered temporary setbacks, the outcome was destined long ago.

But the Player race was different; they were opponents he detested deeply, placed by him in the position of "strong enemy."

This was also the reason he had not directly killed the other party.

Ant races were not worthy of communicating with him; the process of defeating them was as insignificant as crushing a grain of dust.

Just like the living beings in that city earlier—their struggle, despair, resistance… it couldn't even be bothered to give them a single glance, let alone care how complicated their inner drama was before perishing.

But the Player Clan is different.

This is a species that lets it feel the joy of victory.

Recalling how, back in the day, it had faced desperate situations under the Player Clan's oppression many times, nearly dying in the process.

The very first battle after arriving in Monster World, it ran into the Player Clan and almost perished before the Black Tide Legion could even be established.

After that, this species haunted its mind like a nightmare.

Even though it had already grown far stronger than when it first arrived, the Player Clan remained at its heels.

Every now and then, it made it feel a suffocating pressure.

Several times, it was driven into a Dire Situation where resources were nearly exhausted because of the players, which also gave it a near-twisted craving for energy resources.

It also often lost control and roared in fury, with the Evil Eye chiming in from the side to soothe it.

Past scenes flickered through its mind, finally freezing on the face of the Divine King.

The war commander hovering overhead, surveying the Player Clan, Di Nian Evil Spirit laughed heartily:

"What are you thinking now?"

Facing Di Nian Evil Overlord's inquiry, the Divine King suddenly understood what that damn Evil Overlord was thinking.

Not killing him was obviously not to investigate Player Clan intelligence, but to savor the process of victory.

He had become a part of Di Nian Evil Overlord's emotional sublimation.

"Have you ever heard that villains die because they talk too much?" the Divine King couldn't help rolling his eyes.

"What is a villain?" Di Nian Evil Overlord asked with a smile.

"You are."

"The definition?"

The Divine King also laughed:

"Our Player Clan's way of defining villains is very simple—no complicated moral trials. We always judge other species with different worldviews from the standpoint of our own kind. Those who oppose us are villains, those who submit are justice. We don't care that another species developed Ji De Xiang Fa different from ours because of different cultures, growth environments, or other factors."

The Divine King's words were utterly shameless.

He told Di Nian Evil Overlord straight out that the Player Clan has always defined other species' behavior by its own moral standards—those who submit are righteous, those who oppose are evil.

"Very much in line with the Player Clan's style, but I like your viewpoint." Di Nian Evil Overlord smiled and nodded.

Before descending into Monster World, it had waged war in the small worlds.

It had seen too many who held up their self-defined moral standards to judge others, prettily calling it 'Justice's Verdict.'

The core was nothing but borrowing the name of morality to serve selfish interests—standing on the so-called moral high ground, pointing fingers at others' behavior, yet never examining the greed and hypocrisy within.

Forcibly imposing their own will upon the masses, casting every living being that didn't meet their standards into the 'villain' hell.

This kind of moral standard is nothing but a cage woven to safeguard their own interests and privileges.

But Zu De Xiang Fa is very straightforward—frankly admitting they want to use their own thoughts to judge everything.

The Divine King's viewpoint aligned with the Black Tide's idea of Devour the World.

But there was one difference.

In the Black Tide's eyes, those who submit die, those who resist perish.

Weakness itself is the original sin.

The rules of this world are nothing but written by the strong and followed by the weak.

Are the beings of Monster World any different, operating under rules once written by Beneath Di Zhao?

"Satisfied?" the Divine King said, looking slightly helpless.

"You that eager to die?"

"Very eager. Or do you still want to torment me a bit more, enjoy yourself some more? Need me to play along begging for mercy, or weeping?"

Seeing the smile on the Divine King's face, Di Nian Evil Overlord immediately grew annoyed again.

The one holding the dominant position now was it; the other was a prisoner.

But remembering this was the Player Clan, it let it go again.

It had tormented the Player Clan before.

Back then, to investigate the rule characteristics on the Player Clan—and even to obtain the rule abilities on them—it tried capturing large numbers of the Player Clan for brutal torture and interrogation.

In the end, the one who broke down wasn't the captured Player Clan, but it, with its mentality exploding.

It knew that no matter how it tortured them, it couldn't get any useful intelligence from the Player Clan.

But it didn't want to kill this human commander so easily just yet.

The Evil Eye behind it, under Di Nian Evil Spirit's instruction, extended a tentacle to link with the Divine King, transmitting the perception feed.

In the feed, the united warband that had lost the Divine King descended into chaos; players could only issue combat commands through the sub-group channel permissions.

Seeing this, the Divine King decisively activated warband shielding mode.

Then he sighed with a helpless expression:

"Brothers, let me explain the situation—I've been captured by Di Nian Evil Overlord. My perception can't reach the battlefield; I can only observe through the shared view of Di Nian Evil Spirit."

Immediately, several voices rang out in his mind:

"Divine King, you're really unlucky. When the map showed you at Di Nian Evil Spirit's Gao Ta node, I knew something big had happened."

"Damn Divine King, don't you know there's a rule in chess that the general and the marshal can't face each other? You crossed the line!"

"Di Nian Evil Overlord has gone too far—even the strategy of capturing our main general has appeared. If it keeps evolving like this, it's going to take off. I won't allow such an overpowered existence in the newbie village. Kill it."

"Divine King is awesome—tearing the void with supreme power, charging into the enemy camp with world-destroying might. Taking the Evil Overlord's head must be as easy as reaching into a bag."

"Good, good, good—our main general has already captured the enemy Evil Overlord alive. Spread the word, we're winning big."

"Quick, go post on the forum to celebrate. Say the Divine King gained supreme power, tore through the void and descended upon the Tianyuan Gao Ta, and has now pinned down Di Nian Evil Overlord."

……

Listening to the voices in the warband, the Divine King was instantly struck by helplessness.

Although his capture had caused no small stir, in fact it had not affected the players' mindset in the warband.

Many voices were still joking and teasing him.

This too was precisely what made their players special.

Set this problem before any other race, and one's own commander being captured would mean the sky had fallen.

But they were players.

No matter how dire the situation, the floor had long since been locked in.

It was nothing more than a one-hour resurrection cooldown.

Unless the Di Nian Overlord could follow the network cable into reality and cut down their physical bodies.

But that was clearly impossible.

Raising his head, the Divine King looked toward the Di Nian Evil Spirit:

"Overlord, what's the meaning of you sharing my battlefield view?"

"No particular meaning. I just wanted you to witness the annihilation of the player army alongside me."

"It's only a temporary setback. It hardly counts as annihilation."

"Indeed." The Di Nian Evil Spirit expressed agreement with the Divine King's view; it had never imagined that this victory would let it completely shake off the entanglement of the player clan.

At this moment, on the screen, the player army's offensive rhythm had become utterly chaotic.

It had already drifted toward a free-for-all mode of warfare.

The other commanders could only direct small-scale operations; they had never held battlefield-level command and were utterly unfit to fill the Divine King's position.

Facing the one-sided collapse, the Divine King suddenly thought of a question.

The Di Nian Overlord harbored no good intentions.

After much buildup, suddenly sharing his command view at this moment, prettily framed as witnessing the player clan's annihilation—

In reality, it was very likely conducting some sort of test.

For instance, the Di Nian Overlord wanted to know his effective command range; after sharing the view, it was testing whether he could still exert influence over the distant player army.

What the Divine King did not know was that his thoughts were precisely what the Di Nian Evil Spirit had in mind.

This was indeed probing whether, once the distance was stretched, the player clan's commander could still affect the battlefield.

But what mattered more was not observing the influence range, but detecting the frequency of spiritual fluctuations produced when the player clan communicated internally.

On the battlefield, layers of spiritual perception overlapped; it was impossible to determine which fluctuation belonged to the player clan's commander.

But on the Xie Yan Gao Ta platform, there was no external interference.

So long as the player clan's commander attempted to establish a link through spiritual connection, it might be able to find the spiritual connection frequency.

With a clear record of the spiritual frequency, in future clashes with the player clan, it could even tap into that connection frequency and eavesdrop on the player clan's next moves.

Although it enjoyed the joy of victory brought by the player clan's collapse, it would not go so far as to elevate that joy through such means.

At this moment, the Divine King clearly had not realized this and was still chatting with the players in the warband.

Yet not the slightest spiritual fluctuation was emitted during this process.

In fact, the spiritual fluctuations the Di Nian Evil Spirit sensed on the battlefield all came from the perception waves released by the Eagle-Headed Demon players, not from internal communication in a spiritual-connection state.

After waiting a long while and finding that no spiritual fluctuation ever appeared from the player clan's commander, the Di Nian Evil Spirit still chose to wait patiently.

Searching for any possible weakness in the player clan.

Just then, the Divine King spoke up of his own accord.

He raised his head to look at the Di Nian Evil Spirit suspended before him:

"Overlord, I know you bastard definitely have no good intentions."

"What makes you say that?"

"From what I know of you, once you've had your fun that's about enough; there's no need to go through the trouble of sharing my battlefield view, so you must be trying to get something from me."

Hearing this, the Di Nian Evil Spirit nodded without concealing its thoughts:

"That's right. Looks like the test failed."

At the end of its words, its tone suddenly shifted:

"Before we finish, I have one last question."

"Ask, but I may not answer." The Divine King nodded in cooperation.

"I'm very curious—what kind of ability is it that you players possess? According to the war data I've recorded, your player clan has a great many faces that recur, so do you possess a resurrection ability?"

"Added to what you just said, that you know me well, proves you've had contact with me before and are fairly familiar with my ways. Clearly it's not the first time we've crossed blades, yet several times I've wiped out the incoming player warbands with no survivors left at all. That seems to corroborate that you possess a resurrection ability."

"Of course, having a resurrection ability is quite normal; in Monster World there are no few races with similar abilities. What I'm more curious about is which kind of ability you possess."

"There's another possibility: each time the incoming player warband was wiped out, it transmitted the war situation to the rear beforehand, and you learned of me through intelligence."

"But I still lean more toward the idea that you possess a special resurrection ability."

"What's your guess?" the Divine King countered.

"I have three guesses."

"The first guess is a clone-like resurrection: every warrior who dies in war is reborn as a clone warrior and continues to be deployed onto the battlefield, but the original has essentially already died."

"The second guess is that you are merely troop types generated by some power behind the scenes, like the Hei Chao Xie Sui I created—all identical troop templates—but the Xie Sui don't possess the high independent intelligence your player clan has."

"The third guess is that your consciousness may have been uploaded to a shared consciousness network, with the body merely a temporary vessel carrying the consciousness. When the body dies, the consciousness immediately transfers to a new vessel, or is temporarily stored in the network awaiting reassignment. Through the uploading and downloading of consciousness, you are able to 'live forever' in different shells and keep fighting. The Soul-Return Race recorded in the node database possesses a similar ability."

"So, what's the answer?"

When the Di Nian Evil Spirit asked, it was not expecting the player clan's commander to give an answer; it was studying the changes in his expression.

With each point raised, it watched the subtle shifts on the player clan's commander's face.

When a secret is struck, there might be corresponding subtle reactions.

But the Di Nian Evil Spirit could not possibly know that the player did not even know the answer to this secret.

In the players' eyes, this is a game.

The players' ability to resurrect is a game setting, like the underlying code that constitutes the foundation of the world; since players exist, the resurrection setting must also exist.

Therefore, while observing the battle situation, the expression of the God King did not change in the slightest.

Nor was there any of the tension, caution, or even fear and other emotions that should exist when a secret is struck.

At this moment, facing the Di Nian Bully's inquiry, the God King spoke calmly:

"The answer is, I am of the Player Clan."

Without obtaining a clear answer through observation, the Di Nian Evil Spirit nodded with a smile:

"It doesn't matter if you don't say it; I will reveal the answer to this question personally in the future."

Having finished speaking, black tide energy gathered in the palm of the Di Nian Evil Spirit's right hand.

Realizing the conversation had ended, the Di Nian Bully prepared to act, but the God King decisively raised his middle finger:

"Is that all?"

The Di Nian Evil Spirit naturally understood what the middle finger represented.

Having been in contact with the Player Clan for a long time, it had learned quite a few lines of mockery and gestures.

The other party was obviously insulting him.

At this moment, the voice of the Evil Eye rang in its mind.

"Di Nian, I am here to aid you."

A vast amount of information from the Player Lexicon instantly flashed through the Di Nian Evil Spirit's mind; subsequently, it raised its left hand to the God King, giving the middle finger, and said with contempt:

"Your mother is dead, you stupid piece of trash."

God King:...

Before he could speak to retort, the Di Nian Evil Spirit's right arm suddenly smashed down, and the energy brewing in its palm exploded.

While the God King's blood pressure skyrocketed, his vision was instantly shrouded in darkness, and he was teleported to the Small Black Room.

"Damn it, I haven't even cursed back yet!"

(End of this chapter)