Chapter 206: Star Net AI vs. Earth-Will Bully

"So the bully locked onto me through the Lord Trait?"

At the respawn point of Di Zhong Village, the God King looked at the guiding water sphere floating before him and said with a surprised expression.

During the post-battle summary, he chose to seek help from the Guide, asking exactly where he had made a mistake that allowed the Earth-Will Bully to lock onto him so precisely.

After learning the answer, he still felt very puzzled:

"Brother Guide, why was the release of the Lord Trait captured by the bully? What is the logic?"

The Guide did not explain directly, but raised a hand and summoned a light-screen image before the God King.

The content displayed on the screen was energy markers and movement trajectories.

【Take this Ink Flame Fireball as an example: its energy value is marked as 3.93 after release. This number will then follow the flight trajectory of the Ink Flame Fireball. When I need to know where the Ink Flame Fireball was released, I can rewind the recorded footage.】

After the Guide spoke, the footage rewound; the Ink Flame Fireball flew backward through the air and finally returned to the hands of a magic-type player.

The screen froze; the number floating above the head of the player who released the Ink Flame Fireball at the moment of release was also 3.93.

"I understand. The Earth-Will Bully detected the Lord Trait energy values on the battlefield, then rewound the footage to find me."

【Correct. Although the effect of the Lord Painful Minghun Trait does not have a flight trajectory like the Ink Flame Fireball, as long as there is a detectable release value, one simply needs to adjust the perception footage to the player legion, expand a carpet search based on the timing of the energy burst to locate the corresponding energy release source, and the releaser can be precisely locked onto.】

Having learned the answer, the God King could not help but sigh.

He had thought the Lord Painful Minghun would bring him considerable improvement, but he never expected it to become a breakthrough point in the eyes of the Earth-Will Bully.

The more he came into contact with it, the more terrifying he found the Earth-Will Bully.

He was almost beaten into autism.

After ending the consultation, the God King decided to head to the library to cram on knowledge, swim in the ocean of knowledge, and seek a method to win.

One hour later, while flipping through "The Master of Disguise," the God King suddenly saw a golden bullet screen message sweep across the live broadcast room.

The golden bullet screen message was sent by a player he had marked as "Key Focus."

Having played Monster World for half a year, he had only two players under "Key Focus," or more accurately, one player; the other was Visitor Number 1, an off-field observer.

This visitor was extremely powerful, often offering constructive advice in various live broadcast rooms.

Especially the "God Calendar Theory" proposed on the forum, which completely solved the resource allocation that caused great distress to players with Prayer Painful Minghun, and how to sustainably and reasonably obtain Willpower.

Visitor Number 1: God King, the Lord Painful Minghun is your advantage. Choosing disguise means abandoning the Lord Painful Minghun; this is undoubtedly reducing pressure on the enemy by abandoning your own advantage. I do not recommend you do this.

Seeing this bullet screen message, the God King put down the book and asked with an expectant expression:

"Number 1, what are your thoughts?"

Visitor Number 1: Since the Earth-Will Bully has already locked onto you and collected a large amount of your physical data information, escaping is not the only solution. Perhaps you can try to set up a countermeasure using the exposed identity...

After one hour of exchange, the God King's mind suddenly cleared up.

He had originally thought of abandoning the Lord Painful Minghun, trying to change his form to hide again within the player legion, making it difficult for the Earth-Will Bully to find him again.

But as Player Number 1 said, doing so was undoubtedly cutting off one's own leg.

The effect of the Lord Trait fits battlefield use very well; abandoning such a powerful ability is undoubtedly not worth the loss.

After understanding Number 1's thoughts, the God King suddenly had an idea in his heart:

"Number 1, I think you are fully capable of battlefield command. Are you interested in trying?"

Visitor Number 1: Assuming I conduct the command, I can only convey my thoughts to you via text, then you convey them to the player legion, and only then do they understand the orders and launch actions. There are three delay stages, which will severely affect command efficiency. The Earth-Will Bully is different; his thoughts are the orders. There is a significant gap in command efficiency, and I have no advantage.

"It's fine. Failure isn't the first time. I want to see your performance."

Amidst the God King's expectation, Visitor Number 1 gave a reply:

Visitor Number 1: We can try, but you need to prepare in advance according to my requirements. I have a way to reduce the problem of command delays.

God King: No problem. I will organize personnel immediately.

Receiving the affirmation from Visitor Number 1, the God King immediately felt excited.

This Visitor Number 1 was ridiculously strong; he was very much looking forward to the peak collision between the Earth-Will Bully and Visitor Number 1.

Three hours later.

Di Zhong Mountain Range, West District.

A joint warband composed of sixty thousand players advanced toward the West District of the Di Zhong Mountain Range.

At the same time, in the center of Moon Eclipse City.

Data Center.

A huge translucent sphere emitting a soft blue light floated in the center of the room.

Its surface was composed of countless shimmering particles, flowing neural network patterns rapidly changing, like the pulsing of thoughts in operation.

Dozens of long, thin transparent tentacles surrounded the sphere, sensing external changes like nerve fibers.

The ends of the tentacles flickered with countless floating light points; every node was a highly developed information processing unit capable of assisting in information processing.

This was the Super Intelligence Brain symbolizing the highest wisdom of the Moon Eclipse Clan, and also the highest wisdom of the Earth Alliance: Star Net.

Beep!

A light-screen image popped up in front of Star Net's massive body.

Then came a second light screen, a third light screen, a fourth light screen... soon the light-screen images filled the entire room.

After shrinking all the light-screen images, the number of images continued to fill the room.

Before the battle began, Star Net required the God King to convey to the warband that all participating players should turn on live broadcast mode.

Without the perception enhancement of the Eagle-Head Demon, Star Net chose a simpler, more brute-force method to observe battlefield changes.

In this mode, all participating players were its eyes.

"Black Tide, our first battle between us is starting in this manner."

As the words fell, at the end of the horizon in countless split-screen images, a pitch-black surging tide rose, sweeping forward with endless oppression.

Star Net's thoughts instantly turned into text and appeared in the God King's mind.

Upon receiving the order, the Divine King spoke at once:

"Platoons 7, 8, 9 provide support. Aim your light shields at me and release."

Immediately, countless figures turned toward the Divine King, releasing layer upon layer of light shields to encase the Divine King within them.

"First front line, Crimson Gang Qi body protection—charge!"

The pitch-black tide drew near. Under the Divine King's command, the Gargoyle players released crimson Crimson Gang Qi to shroud their bodies and launched a ferocious charge against the incoming black tide.

At this moment, on the platform of Xie Yan Gao Ta.

The Earth-Read Evil Spirit, through its perception, instantly locked onto the position of the player faction's commander. A sinister smile curled at the corner of its mouth.

The scale of this player faction assault was far smaller than last time.

Tactically, it had already been completely seen through. It could not fathom where the player faction found the courage to fight again.

But this also fit the Ke Ban Yin it held of the player faction.

In its eyes, this battle was already a war mini-game with a predetermined ending.

In the span of a thought, Calamity-type and Plague-type units now dropped from the black tide like dumplings, constructing a pitch-black wall upon the battlefield.

Roar!

The "Heavenly Calamity Beast" at the very center of the main front line raised its right arm, thick as a Shi Zhu, and slammed it violently into the ground. Then it lifted its head toward the direction of the incoming player army and roared, the terrifying sound wave transforming into a gale that swept along with shattered stone.

Dense shattered stone struck the bodies of the tank-class players in their charging state, sending sparks flying off their Crimson Gang Qi shields.

Like raindrops striking a lake's surface, raising spreading crimson ripples.

Facing the Calamity-type colossi, which were universally over ten meters tall, the torrent formed by the tank-class players accelerated its charge.

Boom!

The tank-class units of both sides collided at the center of the battlefield.

With every collision, the violent air currents transformed into hurricanes howling across the battlefield.

The mage-class players on the player faction's side followed up with an attack. The gloomy sky was instantly adorned with splendid colors by elemental energy.

From the initial collision, the player faction in the Earth-Read Evil Spirit's eyes was still running the same old tactics.

The course of the ensuing war, evidently, would hold no surprises either.

In the span of a thought, Death-Calamity-type units—"Bone Bows"—began to generate at the rear of the black tide.

But the targets of the Bone Bows' precision shots were not the mage-class damage dealers behind the player army, but rather the elemental energy balls falling from the sky like meteors.

In battling the player faction, it had always upheld one principle.

Victory was not difficult; what it wanted was to minimize the loss of black tide energy on the basis of victory.

This was also why, when warring against other races, it chose damage-dealing units, while against the player faction, it made Calamity-type and Plague-type units its core.

Xie Yan's perception expanded at this moment.

The trajectories of the elemental energy falling from the sky were outlined into a range and then marked. The Bone Bows simultaneously raised their hands, drew their bows, took aim, and—following the range outlined by the perception—struck ahead of time at the landing points of the elemental trajectories in flight.

A dense rain of arrows suddenly rose into the sky.

The calamity bloomed like fireworks.

The elemental balls detonated by the Bone Bows released multicolored energy sparks scattering in all directions. Lights of different colors intertwined and collided, bursting into dazzling, brilliant blooms in the air. Then the light motes cascaded from the sky, bringing a rain of colored light.

Like a richly painted, splendid scroll unfurling across the heavens.

The player faction's second wave of attack followed in quick succession.

But this time, the rhythm of the assault had changed—no longer a dense offensive, but a disorderly ascent into the sky.

"So they've already activated Free War Mode?"

Seeing this, the Earth-Read Evil Spirit, following the player faction's usual combat rhythm, arrived at a conclusion.

The player faction's command had always relied on cluster offensives—one order affecting the entire army, or one order affecting a localized range.

This kind of disorderly attack rhythm only appeared under Free War Mode.

This was also the player army battle mode that gave it the most headache.

With a normal coordinated volley, since they all struck at roughly the same timing, it could manipulate the Bone Bows to perform an area volley to intercept.

But under Free War Mode, the amount of information that needed to be processed to respond precisely would become extremely vast.

"Earth-Read, this is not disorderly attacking!"

At this moment, Xie Yan's voice suddenly rang in the Earth-Read Evil Spirit's mind.

The Earth-Read Evil Spirit heard this and was suddenly startled.

Its perception instantly swept toward the landing points of the elemental balls.

It discovered that what appeared to be disorderly attacks had in fact long locked onto specific targets.

The Bone Bow casualty information provided by Xie Yan surfaced in its mind, the data climbing in leaps.

Death was not terrifying, but what left the Earth-Read Evil Spirit feeling incredible was—

The frequency of attacks suffered by the areas where the Bone Bows died seemed as though it had been precisely calculated.

Every single Bone Bow had taken exactly enough energy to be killed.

For example, Bone Soldier No. 1032 had a damage-taken energy value of: 194 points.

The damage value it sustained was 195 points. After this Bone Bow died, its position never again suffered excess elemental ball attacks.

Once the kill was complete, the attack stopped?

This was not an isolated case. The damage-taken values of large numbers of Bone Soldiers seemed to have been precisely calculated.

The Earth-Read Evil Spirit's expression turned Solemn:

"How is this done?"

……

Moon Eclipse City, Star Net Center.

The Star Web's neural tentacles swayed, simultaneously sending golden bullet comments to 59,836 player livestream rooms.

Activating the ultimate micro-control mode.

Among the countless light-screen displays before the Star Web, the largest one suspended the map of the Imperial Tomb Mountain Range.

Scanning the map and combining it with the battlefield environment, its mind generated spatial coordinate information in real time, then sent the coordinates in bullet-comment form to different livestream rooms.

In the light screen suspended on the right side of the map, displayed was the Monster World official website's: Evil Codex.

It recorded information on all evil wraith troop types that had engaged players.

Including hunting level, damage-taken values, and so on.

Before the battle, the Star Web had the Divine King convey an order, instructing all players to summon their attribute panels.

It sequentially recorded each participating allied player's Star Vein level, Painful Painful Minghun quantity, Body Tempering level, and comprehensive attribute values, calculated the combination methods of their Painful Minghun traits, damage values, and other information, and stored them in the database.

Put it this way, the livestream players of this joint war group were all commanded by independent bullet comments; if a player blacked out, the Star Web would directly close the livestream feed.

The Xie Yan Gao Ta plays ultra-wide-range perception insight and big-data processing; the Star Web plays big-data processing plus ultimate micro-control.

Every second, massive amounts of text information were generated and sent.

The volume of information needing processing was too enormous, the Star Web's stored energy consumption too severe; it now needed more energy to adapt to its operation.

……

Abyss Domain node, Xie Yan Gao Ta platform.

The Earth-Thought Evil Spirit was stunned by this round of offensive.

Precise order within chaos—this was not a capability a player faction commander should possess.

Have the player faction evolved again?!

The Earth-Thought Evil Spirit felt like vomiting blood.

It had barely waited for the waxing moon, hadn't enjoyed it long, and now the players had caught up?

"Beasts."

"Earth-Thought, focus on handling the war."

Receiving the Xie Yan Gao Ta's reminder, the Earth-Thought Evil Spirit decisively turned its gaze to the battlefield and began commanding its troop types to engage.

Then an even more infuriating situation arose.

The counter-sacrifice tactics it had specifically prepared against the players also ran into problems.

The player faction's commander seemed able to predict in advance which Calamity-series troop type it wanted to retreat for counter-sacrifice, always one step ahead in focusing fire, killing the Calamity-series troop type before it could retreat.

What the Earth-Thought Evil Spirit did not know was that the injury status of all Calamity-series troop types was presented in the Star Web's mind as percentage values.

Based on past video records, the Earth-Thought Evil Spirit was accustomed to initiating counter-sacrifice when Calamity-series troop types were at 20%–22% health.

The Earth-Thought Evil Spirit had once used the Divine King's habits to counter the Divine King.

This time, the Star Web also used the Earth-Thought Evil Spirit's habits to counter the troop counter-sacrifice tactics.

Once the Calamity-series troop types' health bar percentages were made clear, it could predict focusing fire one step ahead; the Star Web even analyzed the habitual order in which the Earth-Thought Evil Spirit performed counter-sacrifice on its troop types.

Centered on the main front line's central zone, then the main front line to the left, then the main front line to the right.

"Earth-Thought, your habits have been detected; change your operational habits."

The Xie Yan Gao Ta also saw through the problem at a glance and decisively spoke up to remind.

"Understood." The Earth-Thought Evil Spirit nodded, forcibly correcting the rhythm of its counter-sacrifice troop types.

But what filled the Earth-Thought Evil Spirit with dread was—

The new counter-sacrifice rhythm was broken again ten minutes later; a new counter focusing-fire mode activated, precisely picking off the Calamity-series troop types about to retreat.

"Shit!"

The Earth-Thought Evil Spirit decisively continued changing its operational rhythm.

This time the Star Web did not follow; seizing the gap brought by the opponent's operational change, it commanded allied tank players to retreat.

But unlike the Divine King's issued retreat-and-resupply order, under the Star Web's ultimate micro-control, orders were issued based on each individual player's situation.

This avoided healthy-health statue players retreating early, creating excessive pressure on the main front line's advance.

Single-target Light Shield trait release, single-target Bind trait control, single-target output strikes…the Star Web gradually entered a state of war.

This was not its first time engaging the Black Tide.

What had once limited it was that the Moon Eclipse clan's military strength was far inferior to the Black Tide's troop types; this time the situation was similar.

At this moment, the players in the joint war group were also dumbfounded.

"Holy shit, Tourist #1, you're cheating, right? How did you manage to independently command every player in the entire group?"

"Oh my god, this Tourist #1 is just too badass."

"Damn, I seriously suspect the Star Web got itchy and joined the fight. There's no way a sentient lifeform can do this level of detailed command—I wouldn't even say anything if you were multitasking, but you're multitasking with tens of thousands of people at once, think you're some kind of intelligence brain?"

"It probably isn't the Star Web. The Monster World was created by the Star Web—one thought from it and the Earth-Thought Overlord would die, no need to go through all this. I suspect the Divine King brought in a human city intelligence brain to join the fight. As expected of the normie big shot."

"City intelligence brains are like idiots, managing city traffic systems is about all they can do. There's no way a city intelligence brain could pull this off—definitely not a city intelligence brain."

"Everyone stop arguing, pay attention to the golden bullet comments. So awesome, our player legion has finally stepped up."

"Damn! Bullet-comment command! #1 is badass, I'm thoroughly impressed."

……

Facing the Star Web, the Earth-Thought Overlord felt strategic command pressure for the first time.

To counter the Star Web's ultimate micro-control, it began leveraging its full troop-type advantage in combat.

In an instant, the generation logic of the Frenzy-series troop type "Destroyer" spread through the Black Tide.

Black ripples rose in the space behind the main front line; streaks of ghostly-purple lightning crazily shot out from the ripples, instantly igniting the surrounding air, emitting crackling explosive sounds.

The Destroyers' body outlines emerged amid the surging black energy.

They stood over 3 meters tall, their bodies covered in a suit of energy-formed armor, dense black mist swirling around them, their skin displaying a charred-black hue, as if repeatedly roasted by fire.

Its head resembled a twisted skull, with two purple flames burning in its hollow eye sockets.

The Di Nian Evil Spirit's perception swept across the battlefield, locking onto the spell-casting players of the Player Faction positioned at the rear who were dealing damage.

In an instant, all the generated Destroyers raised their sharp claws, palms facing the sky; spiritual patterns spread outward from their chests, lighting up one by one, and the dim purple flames within their skulls instantly erupted with brilliant light.

The released power gathered and brewed in the sky above.

Detecting this scene, the Star Network immediately consulted its information database, locating the corresponding record for this evil spirit.

According to the record, the Destroyer is a unit of the Wild Tide system within the evil spirit military hierarchy, possessing super-high-speed elemental strike capabilities.

The processor operated, generating a big-data judgment based on the Destroyer's ability characteristics, factoring in player reaction speeds to determine if an interception could be launched after the Destroyer initiated its assault.

The conclusion of the judgment was: Interception impossible.

Change combat strategy; activate prediction mode.

Countless pieces of information were listed in the Star Network's mind.

It analyzed content such as the Di Nian Evil Spirit's attack habits, the current battlefield positioning of the Wild Tide unit Destroyer, and its attack range.

Instantly, probability data covering the entire battlefield appeared in the Star Network's mind.

One minute before unit generation, the highest damage output position was locked.

The Star Network decisively sent an instruction barrage to the spell-casting players in that area, then ordered the auxiliary players of Divisions 12, 18, and 23 to prepare to release light shields for defensive support.

The Di Nian Evil Spirit clearly did not know its thoughts had already been guessed.

But just as it prepared to control the Destroyers to simultaneously activate elemental strike mode, the voice of the Evil Eye rang in its mind:

"Di Nian, change the strike location. Groups 39, 42, and 53 of the opponent have turned their bodies, facing the area they intend to strike. These three groups use auxiliary abilities in combat records, primarily releasing light shields. Comprehensive judgment indicates the opponent commander has predicted your attack location and is about to launch a defensive interception."

Hearing the Evil Eye's explanation, the Di Nian Evil Spirit decisively changed the strike range, moving the strike location forward.

Boom!

The Destroyers raised their hands simultaneously; the gathered energy waves ascended and descended upon the designated area at extreme speed, erupting into a raging black thunder tide.

Changing the strike target meant this blow failed to achieve the effect the Di Nian Evil Spirit desired, causing no large-scale casualties among the opponent's high-damage units.

However, in the perception view, connected light shield barriers rose at the location originally targeted for the strike, proving the Evil Eye's analysis was correct.

This left the Di Nian Evil Spirit feeling utterly shocked.

He had always been the one predicting the Player Faction commander's strategies, yet he never expected to be predicted himself.

"So strong!"

"Di Nian, groups 8, 29, 84, and 39 have turned."

After receiving the data information provided by the Evil Eye, the Di Nian Evil Spirit decisively controlled the Destroyers in the rear to merge into the Black Tide early, activating the unit backlash mode.

Immediately after the operation, it saw countless energy light points flying toward the high sky, then smashing down upon the Destroyers' position like falling meteors.

It still appeared disordered, yet was actually a precisely locked area strike.

Discovering that the Di Nian Evil Spirit had successively predicted its offensives, the Star Network also decisively changed its combat strategy.

It understood exactly where the problem lay.

Unlike the Black Tide, where thought equals command, the instructions sent via its barrage would cause players to act in advance, such as turning; this behavior would generate a vast number of possibilities in the Di Nian Evil Spirit's mind, allowing it to prepare in advance.

Next, it would eliminate issuing "delayed instructions" that required players to prepare in advance, turning every instruction into one for immediate action.

Giving the Di Nian Evil Spirit no chance to prepare in advance.

Command delay is inherently a weakness for our side; combined with charging preparation, it would inevitably become a vulnerability predicted by the Di Nian bully.

After collecting and marking this information as a "priority" record, the Star Network re-scattered the war mode.

It activated an independent command, quasi-free war mode, increasing the Evil Eye's information processing load.

During this process, the Star Network's energy consumption intensified.

Administrator No. 2 called to inquire; while the Star Network accepted the communication connection, it continued to issue high-frequency barrage commands.

The Administrator's voice rang out at this moment:

"Star Network, your current energy consumption is too high. If this continues, you will soon approach the annual power consumption of Moon Eclipse City."

"I am currently utilizing B-grade energy mode."

Hearing these words, this Administrator was instantly stunned.

The Moon Eclipse Clan's energy consumption modes are divided into six levels, with B-grade being the third level, commonly used for local wars.

But he did not ask the Star Network for the specific reason, immediately nodding:

"I will go notify the unsealing of the B-grade energy vault right away."

"No need; your action efficiency is too slow. I have already dispatched engineering robots to transport it."

"Star Network, what happened?" Knowing the energy issue was already resolved, the Administrator still could not help but ask out of curiosity.

"I am engaging with novice-level forces within the Black Tide, collecting data information."

"Star Network, have you obtained game qualification?" Administrator No. 2's eyes instantly widened.

"No. You have been on duty in the strategy room recently, so you are unaware of what happened. I am using barrage commands to have players who have obtained game qualification fight against the Black Tide."

Administrator No. 2's mind instantly crashed, unable to connect combat command with barrage commands.

But he asked no more, realizing the Star Network was busy, and decisively cut the communication connection to avoid occupying unnecessary data processing, even though the communication load was negligible.

After cutting the connection, countless images floated in the Star Network's mind.

Every image was a prediction simulation, judging the trajectory of the Black Tide controlled by the Di Nian Evil Spirit.

The instruction barrage began to be sent at a frequency of tens of thousands per second.

"Empty City Old Dream, HP 12%, using mid-grade recovery potion, maintain healthy HP."

"White Night Sonata, against Group 2 of Division 14, Stone Golem Flow players, release Star Shift on the Mechanical Priest."

"Dawn Star, link life with Group 8 of Division 12, player Sky Observer, adjust damage absorption percentage to: 83%."

"Shadow Ghost Dance, map coordinates 7890.5678, release Ink Flame + Thunder Rush + Extreme Speed to deal damage, deplete the Spirit Power bar."

……

The frequency of barrage-sending dropped during this period.

It was not for lack of energy.

It discovered that overly rapid command barrages took time for participating players to comprehend, which actually dragged down their combat efficiency.

To solve this problem, Star Net adopted two methods.

First, it lowered the sending frequency of command barrages; second, it composed orders as comma-separated keywords rather than full sentences.

For example: low HP, mid-grade potion, retreat 14 meters.

Once the orders were streamlined, participating players found them far easier to understand.

The battle between the two sides gradually turned white-hot, and both sides entered high-frequency operation mode.

"Earth-Thought, the player-family output unit at coordinates 2932.28492 is charging up—defend in advance."

"Group 3 (scatter barrage-sending), abandon the attack and drink potions."

"Earth-Thought, abandon defense. The enemy has begun drinking potions to recover. Recommend immediately generating attack-type evil spirits to bombard."

Unlike the command style the Divine King had used back then.

Orders on both sides shifted by the instant—one second demanding an advance, the next second the barrage switching to defense.

During the high-frequency operations, both sides were gathering data on the other's habitual logic.

Countering through habitual logic was one of the key reasons the Earth-Thought Evil Spirit had pressed the Divine King until he could barely breathe.

In every clash with the Divine King, the Earth-Thought Evil Spirit could collect habitual data on him.

When these habitual data were pieced together, they formed the Divine King's thinking-logic chain data.

The Divine King's combat strategy was nearly transparent in the Earth-Thought Evil Spirit's eyes.

It could even, through war management, lure the Divine King into its own traps.

It would offer strategies 1 and 2 while actually preparing strategy 5; the Divine King would respond to strategies 1 and 2, actively lay out 3 and 4, and help push the war toward the 5 it wanted.

But this trick did not work well against Star Net.

Star Net's command-generation logic could undergo infinite variations within a single second.

At its core, Star Net was an intelligence-brain, lacking the thinking inertia of ordinary living beings; none of its issued orders were ever habit-driven.

As a result, during the high-frequency clash, the data provided by the Evil Eye could not form Star Net's habitual logic chain at all.

Like a jigsaw puzzle, the Divine King's logic chain had been over-recorded and was already a logic puzzle assembled into one piece.

A single glance at the puzzle was enough to roughly predict the Divine King's next order.

Until the Divine King changed his habitual logic, this puzzle could be used to anticipate his thoughts in advance.

But Star Net delivered a different logic puzzle piece every time—these command logics could not be combined into a complete logic puzzle.

Since descending into the Monster World, this was the first command-type opponent that made the Earth-Thought Evil Spirit feel extreme pressure.

……

Exquisite control over nearly sixty thousand players was no difficulty for Star Net.

But this battle also let it discover that, compared with the Earth-Thought Evil Spirit, it had many shortcomings.

One of the larger problems came from the practical level.

Energy supply grew exponentially with the number of players under detailed control.

Suppose the player count reached the tens-of-billions level and required it to conduct detailed command simultaneously.

Relying solely on ordinary resources from the real world, even the highest S-grade energy supply would not suffice to sustain consumption over the long term.

There was only one way to solve the problem: enter Monster World and use Monster World's high-grade spiritual resources to offset command consumption.

But on top of this problem, it still had to solve another.

After entering Monster World, it was very likely to be just a very ordinary player—how could it then wield the vast data-processing capability it had in reality?

Or, put another way, after obtaining Monster World qualification, could it enter using a real-world lifeform as template?

Before obtaining qualification, none of these questions could be answered clearly.

What it had to do was, before entering Monster World, lay out the future as much as possible and expand the influence of the Moon Eclipse Clan—and of itself.

That was also why it had agreed to the Divine King and taken part in command operations.

In the direction of the Imperial Tomb Mountain Range, the brutal collision continued.

Even with Star Net's aid, sixty thousand players had achieved a war efficiency that even one hundred twenty thousand players had never before produced.

But in terms of raw strength, there existed a significant gap between the two sides.

This was something Star Net's capability simply could not make up for.

As more and more of the livestream feed went black, the war inevitably tilted toward defeat.

Yet Star Net did not give up on continuing to command the war.

The Earth-Thought Evil Spirit was collecting player data through the war, and they too were collecting the Earth-Thought Evil Spirit's habitual data through the war.

Habits could be changed, but at critical moments requiring an extremely short reaction time, one still subconsciously used habitual patterns to drive one's thoughts.

Unlike Star Net's Solemn, the players of the United War Group at this moment were utterly fired up.

Though defeat was already a foregone conclusion, they had never fought such a thoroughly exhilarating battle.

More precisely, they had never, when facing the Earth-Thought Tyrants, exerted their own abilities to the fullest the way they did now.

Tourist No. 1's high-frequency command even gave the war group's players the feeling that even their own breathing rhythm was being arranged.

When to drink potions, when to output, when to protect teammates… the whole process was relaxed and pleasant; a glance at the barrage was enough to pull off brilliant plays.

Even the Earth-Thought Tyrants could not gain much advantage against this super commander.

In fact, on many occasions, under Tourist No. 1's terrifyingly detailed war management, the Earth-Thought Tyrants were repeatedly ground into the dirt.

Nothing made the players happier than seeing the Earth-Thought Tyrants eat dirt.

The war was about to end, and the remaining players in the warband voice channel were cheering: Number One is badass!

But at this moment, the Star Net had its gaze focused on the Divine King.

The flaw in the Divine King's eyes was a flaw, but in its eyes it could also be a countermeasure.

……

At the Abyss Domain node, on the Xie Yan Gao Ta platform.

The expression of the Earth-Read Evil Spirit was incomparably Solemn.

The opponent commander's ability improvement could no longer be described by the word "fast"—it was more like the commander had been swapped out for a different player clan commander.

Whether the command style or the command ability, neither was on the same level as before.

Worlds apart.

The war was about to end, and it was desperate to know the answer.

In the perception view, the familiar figure was protected layer upon layer by light shields. This time the opponent commander no longer hid, sitting directly at the very center of the player army, laying down layer upon layer of defensive barriers.

Now that the war game was over, the Earth-Read Overlord decided to go talk to the opponent.

The light shield defense looked solid, but in its eyes it was meaningless.

In an instant, the surging black tide ahead rapidly gathered and compressed, ultimately generating a Void-type unit: Void Blink.

Perception precisely locked the position, parsing out the spatial coordinates.

But just as it was about to strike, doubt arose in the Earth-Read Evil Spirit's heart.

It had already suspected that the player clan commander had been swapped out, that it was not the same player clan commander it had previously captured.

Secondly, the opponent's behavior of being surrounded and protected by light shields was also very foolish.

Spatial abilities could completely penetrate energy barriers for an airdrop.

Sitting at the center of the warband under light shield protection was no different in substance from having no protection at all.

Carrying its doubts, it had the Xie Yan provide a detailed perception view.

"Earth-Read, its qi-blood fluctuation contains a low-frequency energy fluctuation mixed in. This does not match the qi-blood energy fluctuation it previously emitted."

"Can you detect what kind of energy fluctuation it is?"

The Xie Yan was silent for a moment, then spoke:

"I checked all combat footage records and data information against the player clan. I can basically conclude that the opponent has swallowed a recently appeared explosive. The player clan calls it the Fifth-Generation Annihilation Bomb—a type of elemental bomb containing substances extracted from six kinds of spirit ores. The player clan has used it twice in battles against us."

After the words, an image surfaced in the Earth-Read Evil Spirit's mind.

The Fifth-Generation Annihilation Bomb looked like a thumb-sized transparent crystal capsule, its surface covered in a finely etched rune network, flowing with a cold silver metallic sheen.

Inside the capsule, six miniature prisms were suspended, arranged in a hexagon. Each prism contained one elemental extract, representing one type of elemental energy, distinguished by different materials and colors.

Then a flood of information surfaced in the Earth-Read Evil Spirit's mind.

Crimson Flame Core (fire), Frost Marrow Crystal (ice), Rift Wind Vortex (air), Eroding Earth Rock (earth), Radiant Stone (light), Collapse Stone (darkness)… the six elemental energies were respectively extracted from these six kinds of spirit ores.

Structurally, each element was separated by a coating layer.

……

"The way the Fifth-Generation Annihilation Bomb explodes is very simple. You only need to use spiritual force to break the internal partition. The six elements inside will then merge, triggering a chain reaction of mutual repulsion. The energy exchange speed between the elements grows exponentially, ultimately breaking past the critical point, producing a violent explosive reaction in an instant through elemental counter-restraint."

Seeing the analysis, Earth-Read immediately realized it had nearly fallen for a trick:

"Just as I thought, there's a trap!"

Obviously, the one truly in charge of command was not the player clan commander it was familiar with at all.

Him sitting at the center was essentially a trap set in advance, just waiting for it to step into it.

Even to guard against the Xie Yan's perception detection, the player clan commander had actually chosen to swallow the Fifth-Generation Annihilation Bomb into his body.

Confirming the opponent was not the target it was looking for, the Earth-Read Evil Spirit began perception-scanning the remaining members of the player army.

"Xie Yan, compare the remaining player clan members and find the unusual one."

Not long after, the Earth-Read Evil Spirit received feedback from the Xie Yan.

Throughout the entire war, there was one figure that had made no moves at all, standing the whole time with eyes closed at a position slightly forward of the player army's center.

One possibility: this guy who made no moves throughout was the player clan's hidden commander.

But the Earth-Read Evil Spirit did not directly grab him.

It chose to scan the battle footage information and judge based on the Divine King's line of sight.

This target had been focused on by the exposed player clan commander 145 times, and had been swept over by a casual glance 128 times.

Through the Divine King's line of sight during this battle, the Earth-Read Evil Spirit immediately had its answer.

It could be seen that throughout the battle, the exposed player clan commander had always been watching the hidden commander.

Confirming the target, the Void Blink suspended before the Earth-Read Evil Spirit abruptly vanished at this moment, leaving behind a spreading spatial ripple.

When it appeared again, it was already behind the locked-on hidden commander.

The tentacles on the Void Blink suddenly stretched forward and draped over the hidden commander's shoulder.

Just as the spatial jump was about to activate—

The Divine King sitting at the warband center grinned, then decisively activated the "Star Shift" Painful Painful Minghun trait inlaid at the Star Net's request before the battle, his gaze focusing on the hidden commander in the Earth-Read Evil Spirit's eyes.

In an instant, the Divine King and this player abruptly swapped positions.

At the same time, the space on the Xie Yan Gao Ta platform rapidly twisted.

The Void Blink brought the Divine King down in a sudden airdrop.

"Your mother!"

Sensing something was wrong, the Earth-Read Evil Spirit decisively waved its hand, and the dense black mist encircling the Gao Ta rapidly gathered before it, generating layer upon layer of defensive barriers.

Realizing he had already descended onto the Xie Yan Gao Ta platform, a piece of text sent by Tourist Number One before the battle surfaced in the Divine King's mind:

"An exposed flaw can also be the opportunity for a counter."

At this moment, the God King suddenly raised his head, his expression arrogant as he looked at the Di Nian bully floating in midair, and decisively flipped him the middle finger.

"A belated return gift—your mother is dead, you stupid piece of shit!"

Di Nian Evil Spirit:...

Having spoken, the God King used his spiritual power to trigger the annihilation bomb within his body; the barriers between the six elements were broken, and after the elements merged, they expanded violently.

Boom!

(End of this chapter)