Chapter 311: The Wealth Code in the Ads

The return of Ah Le Training Camp was met with wild delight by new players wandering outside.

To players, Ah Le Training Camp offered more than just passionate brawls—it was the cradle where many forged bonds.

Countless fixed teams, friend groups, and even emerging guilds were born amid the passionate clashes of the training camp.

The Frozen Winter Steppe was also the most lively regional chat channel, where players frequently called out to form fixed teams.

Whether teammates were suitable would be verified through subsequent combat coordination.

This was, in players' eyes, the most efficient teammate screening pool.

Many renowned potential newcomers' joint battle groups on forums also largely graduated from the Frozen Winter Steppe region.

But this return, Ah Le Training Camp added an unexpected twist.

This "Reflection Time" left players both amused and exasperated.

Whenever the mass brawl lasted about an hour, the Gatekeeper Deity would appear and forcefully halt all combat.

All players were forced to look up at the sky-screen, where bizarre advertisements were forcibly inserted; those who refused to watch were locked in a dark room for an hour.

The ad content genuinely baffled the new players on-site, ranging wildly in theme.

Players edited these bizarre ads and posted them on forums for discussion.

For example:

【Having devoured 999 strong ones, my divine art is now complete—here's a highlight reel of my kills.】

【Why didn't I die? Because I already achieved nirvana three thousand years ago—I'm a zombie now, hahaha.】

【I was sealed for five hundred years because I forgot to pay my property fees during my cultivation retreat—I'm back now!】

…

These were merely the relatively normal boasts.

The most abstract were some alien beings boasting about their fingernails growing one centimeter.

Forum players had also provided detailed interpretations of the reasons behind these abstract contents.

One such interpretation post, which thoroughly explained the logic behind the Bliss Lord's ad insertions, received massive upvotes from players.

【Detailed Interpretation of Mid-Battle Ad Insertions in Ah Le Training Camp: It's All About Profit.】

Poster: I Love Spe.

Content:

Seeing everyone discuss Reflection Time, after thorough investigation and inquiries, I'll give you a detailed breakdown of Ah Le's abstract behavior.

According to the guide, after the Frozen Winter Steppe arena shut down, Ah Le returned to his old trade (when entertainment cities closed, Ah Le always packed up and fled, reopening elsewhere—truly a professional escape artist).

But unlike the entertainment city model, building a military trial ground required Ah Le to consider many factors.

First, opponents must not be too strong.

Though Ah Le could fully create higher-tier troops, intense combat meant high resource expenditure; training low-tier troop AI was the most rational setup.

After searching, the cowardly Ah Le found the latest opened spatial node: Phantom Spirit Wasteland.

Everyone knows Ah Le's personality—when we were weak, he'd immediately shut the door and run. He couldn't tolerate even a speck of risk, so he dug thirty thousand feet deep and meticulously inspected the entire area.

The most fascinating thing about the Monster World is that it's not only players who can gain miraculous opportunities—villains can too.

Ah Le's luck was phenomenal: beneath the ruins of the Reflection Clan, he found the Reflection Rules left behind by the Reflection Clan.

Let me add some background: why were the Reflection Rules left behind?

According to the guide, during their war with the Eclipsing Light Clan, the Reflection Clan was driven to desperation and ultimately unleashed their entire civilization's power in a final counterattack.

This all-out expedition ended in failure.

But the Eclipsing Light Clan suffered grievously too—struck hard by the Reflection Clan, both sides were left crippled, and neither could hold onto victory.

The Eclipsing Light Clan was soon destroyed by a power from the other side of the realm, causing both the Reflection Clan and the Eclipsing Light Clan to exit the Monster World's history hand in hand.

The Reflection Rules were left behind, and ultimately, another lurking old villain—Ah Le—snatched up the spoils.

Now, let me explain the specific effects of the Reflection Rules.

The guide's explanation sounds complicated; I'll interpret it in my own way.

The Reflection Rules' effects can be divided into two parts.

The first part is randomly reading the deepest display desires of beings across countless worlds.

In the boundless worlds of the void, countless beings' grand, absurd, hidden desires to show off are randomly captured by the Reflection Rules.

Whether it's a cultivator's ambition to announce their breakthrough to the heavens, or a commoner's secret urge to boast after finding a rare item, all become targets for the Reflection Rules.

Simply put: whoever wants to flex, the Reflection Rules catch their thoughts.

For example, the flexing jargon fishing players often use on forums: "How do you know I caught an 80-rank giant fish today?"

That's a form of display, a desire to show off.

Once these desires to show off are read by the Reflection Rules, they're turned into display visuals, materializing the inner thoughts of beings—each visual is a slice of a being's flexing urge.

This is the first part: collecting display desires.

The second part is display: the holder of the Reflection Rules can push these ads to other beings for viewing.

This is the core of the Reflection Rules: external traffic generation.

In other words, flexing must be seen.

Taking Ah Le Training Camp's mid-battle ad slots as an example, players, within the rule's operation, are the traffic.

It's like scrolling through videos and suddenly being served an ad.

Though players seem to pay no cost, they've already engaged in a special transaction governed by the rules—Ah Le has received ad revenue.

Each display generates rule profit.

The amount of profit isn't arbitrary—it's influenced by both the viewer's strength and the exhibitor's own strength.

The stronger the viewer, the greater their attention, like high-value traffic, bringing Ah Le substantial profit returns.

Thus, driven by the Reflection Rule, the display desires of beings across all realms, player traffic, and A Le's profits formed a chain of interests, continuously earning A Le advertising fees at the end.

But there is one point that many interpretation posts have not mentioned.

That is, the advertisers themselves must pay a price.

After their display desire is recorded by the Reflection Rule, each successful display requires them to pay a certain cost—also understood as paying advertising fees to A Le.

This portion of energy consists of various factors such as blood qi and spiritual power.

Each display extracts a portion of this energy via the Reflection Rule, converting it into rule energy; thus, the more beings watch the ads, the higher the cost paid.

It's like showing off and getting struck by lightning—too much showing off invites heavenly retribution (exploitation by the Reflection Rule).

Therefore, the profits generated by the Reflection Rule are also influenced by the "display target's" strength: the stronger it is, the more advertising fees it pays.

The difference is, viewers pay no cost, but exhibitors must pay.

Here, A Le acts as a platform, responsible for streaming.

Having explained this, I'm sure the forum brothers now understand what A Le is truly seeking behind its bizarre behavior.

Every second you look up during the intermission, A Le gains rule energy.

A Le now possesses a rule to profit from us players, somewhat resembling the Ancient God Arena—but sadly, the Ancient God Arena distributes resources to competitors, while A Le gives not a single coin in advertising fees, damn beast.

Strongly demand the official to intervene—free-riding on advertising fees is unacceptable; demand A Le distribute dividends to players.

…

Comments section:

RainClearSky: A Le has gone bad—daring to extend advertising time in the training camp, have you considered our feelings? Do our players' thoughts mean so little to you… Finally, one question: can VIP skip ads?

A Touch of Cold Light replies to RainClearSky: You want to skip ads? Sure—break the rules and the training camp guards will escort you straight to the black room, skipping the next 1-2 ad slots. No need for VIP, it's fast and convenient. Try it sometime (lol. jpg).

Thousand-Faced Guanyin: It gives me the vibe of a video platform—offering free, thrilling content (brawls for Shou Shou Jili), then forcing us to watch ads to profit the platform (A Le). I fear ad time will only get longer; modern capitalists will inevitably exploit platform users (training camp players) for profit.

DoYouPickDays: Are your comments really this funny? I'm laughing so hard I'm gasping—especially that guy upstairs who says: "This is just the entertainment city renovated and upgraded—now it has movie features, turned into an integrated entertainment-and-film venue." Isn't that perfectly logical? Hahaha, integrated entertainment-film model—A Le is getting more abstract by the day.

The Moon Rises Over the Sea: You guys are all pretty abstract too—actually expecting A Le to care about your feelings and hand out advertising dividends? Just take over the Paradise Entertainment City yourself, then become A Le's bouncers, getting regular entertainment + ad dividends (eating dirt, slapping table. jpg).

…

Regarding A Le's training camp update, player discussions gradually drifted off-topic.

Players don't mind watching 73-second ads; the main issue is they can't profit from them, leaving many new players frustrated.

Yet they understand A Le needs revenue to grow—only when A Le thrives can it offer players more opportunities to extract profits.

As for skipping ads, players' current strength lacks the leverage to negotiate with A Le.

Even if they had the strength, players dare not do it.

A Le's attitude toward the strong is simple: pack up and run.

You want to negotiate, but A Le grants no opportunity for negotiation.

If they did, they'd be flooded with criticism from the new player base—it would cut off their fastest path to growth.

So you still have to watch the ads—just treat them as extra intermission time in the training camp.

At the designated time, everyone stops fighting, takes medicine to restore HP and stamina, then resumes brawling after the ads end.

This indirectly enhances players' combat endurance.

While forum players were still hotly debating the "Reflection Time,"

The Eternal Frozen Lake.

Biting winds froze the lake's surface into a vast glassy mirror, cracks winding beneath the ice like spiderwebs.

Snowstorms, laden with ice crystals, fell softly; distant peaks of piled ice ridges emerged and vanished in the snow mist, resembling a shattered crown dropped by a god.

Amid the howling wind and snow, a figure sat cross-legged at the lake's center.

Before him stood a large pot steaming vigorously, its thick milky broth bubbling with snow-white fish slices, topped with green scallions and oil sheen; the rising steam condensed into tiny droplets on the pot's side, sliding down and scorching wisps of white smoke into the ice.

Snowflakes landing in the pot instantly melted into the broth.

The man stirred gently with a wooden spoon; when he lifted a spoonful, the broth stretched into threads, the fish's fragrance mingling with spicy steam bursting through the snowstorm.

"Brothers, hold on—let me finish eating before we continue exploring."

Facing the live stream viewers' urging, the explorer's attention remained fixed on the pot before him.

He brought the wooden spoon to his lips, blew gently; the milky broth formed a trembling amber glaze on the spoon's surface, the snow-white fish meat wrapped in green scallion and oil, steaming with a sweet aroma.

The main ingredient in the pot was pre-ordered from a spiritual chef fan in his live stream.

Named "Thousand-Wave Silver Scale," this fish dwells only in the boiling vortices of the Abyssal Sea Eye; catching it is extremely difficult, with total server stock under 1,000, and none available on the trading market.

Originally poisonous, the fish requires special handling by spiritual chef players to remove toxins hidden within its flesh fibers.

After processing, the fish meat becomes unbelievably delicious.

On the forum's "Delicious Ingredients Ranking" compiled by spiritual chef players, Thousand-Wave Silver Scale ranks third.

Amid the live stream viewers' expectant gazes, the explorer brought the wooden spoon to his lips and took a small sip.

As the broth slid down his throat, a scalding umami surged like crashing waves; his tongue touched the crisp minerality of the deep sea, then was enveloped by the rich, silky fat from simmered fish brain, finishing with a faint, icy glacial melt sweetness.

The explorer's Adam's apple rolled as he shoved the spoon into his mouth and bit down hard on a large chunk of fish.

The tender flesh burst with scalding juice, the spicy secret seasoning blasting straight into his nasal cavity; the steam he exhaled instantly vaporized nearby snowflakes into mist.

"Brothers, I highly recommend it—Thousand-Wave Silver Scale tastes incredible. If you ever get the chance, you must try it."

Hearing this, the live stream viewers erupted in curses.

"Asshole explorer, can us common players even afford this? Or are you buying it for us?"

"Holy shit, when will the live stream get taste-sharing? I'm a Hunter, but I love food—feeling so lucky in the Monster World, everywhere's delicious. I'll definitely buy this fish to try later."

"I'm starving. Look at my can of rations, then look at your feast… Stop eating, you beast—get back to exploring."

…

The live stream's comments refreshed too fast for the explorer to read.

As the player in the Player Camp with the most background data, the Explorer's live stream is characterized by a wealth of educational content.

While enjoying the delicious meal, he also introduced relevant information about the Spirit Fish:

"A Spirit Chef friend told me that Thousand-Wave Silver Scales must be slow-stewed with Spirit Fire until the fish bones are boiled down to essence. Now, every molecule in the broth is concentrated with the taste of the entire deep sea. Once you've tasted it, you'll never forget it."

Before he finished speaking, he tilted his head back and drank the remaining soup from the spoon, letting out a satisfied sigh from his throat:

"Exquisite."

Continuing to enjoy the delicacy, the Explorer summoned the forum interface.

He began to browse the forum information.

The hottest event on the forum right now is that the Lord of Bliss has updated the Training Camp mode and added ad time.

Newbie players die if they don't watch the ads, but if they finish watching the ads, they can safely grind with the Bliss Legion.

While browsing various discussion threads, he also left his own opinions and comments in different posts.

He was not interested in fighting personally, but watching other players fight and hunt was a completely different experience.

At least he didn't feel the pain.

But compared to combat-related content, his biggest goal right now was to perfect the "Scenic Poem" plugin he created.

By adding background data and scene BGM to different scenes within it, he wanted every player using the plugin to understand the historical information of the Monster World during exploration, and also to make players feel more immersed during their gaming experience.

However, lacking perfect equipment, the idea of recording music into the plugin could not be realized for the time being.

While browsing forum posts, he saw many players posting "Reflection Time" content, all of which were ad clips edited from the A-Le Training Camp.

To him, many ad contents were truly abstract; he completely didn't understand why certain boring contents were worth showing off in the eyes of the alien races.

This might be the cognitive difference brought about by differences in culture, customs, and other aspects.

Some of the ads even made him subconsciously laugh out loud.

Just then, an ad content came into view.

The scene was in a dense forest, where an alien race with dark purple scales was excitedly roaring at the camera:

"I found that ancient ruin full of treasures. I will definitely become a powerhouse through the treasures in this ruin."

Saying this, the alien race pointed its finger at a stone slab on the ground partially covered by weeds.

The Explorer felt speechless and casually swiped to the next Reflection ad video.

But as if thinking of something, he swiped back to the previous video and carefully observed a red plant in the scene.

"Brothers, I think I've seen this plant somewhere. Let me think."

Afterwards, the Explorer activated Brain Overclock Mode.

Immediately, information from the depths of his memory surged upward, and with the help of the Brain Overclock trait, he remembered everything.

As a good student who often studied in the library, he had detailed knowledge of various plants and Spirit Plants in the Colorful Mist Coast region, and even the adjacent Cang Star Sea area.

During that time, in a book titled "Cang Star Ten Thousand Spirits Codex - Volume 23", he had seen this red plant.

Its name in the data was "Blood Poison Grass", a special plant that only grew on certain islands in the Cang Star Sea.

If the plant was a specialty of the Cang Star Sea.

Then could it be said that this alien race showing off its discovery of an ancient ruin in the scene was on one of the islands in the Cang Star Sea, and the ancient ruin was within the reach of players?

Thinking of this, he suddenly looked up at the Guidance floating beside him:

"Guidance, this is indeed Blood Poison Grass, right?"

【Correct.】

Hearing the Guidance give a clear answer, the Explorer immediately became interested.

Afterwards, he detailed his thoughts to the players in the live stream.

He believed the ruin mentioned by the alien race in the ad scene must be on one of the islands in the Cang Star Sea.

After listening to his analysis, various exclamations and bullet comments popped up in the live stream.

They all said knowledge is wealth, and this was the best proof on the Explorer.

As the player in the Player Camp with the richest knowledge reserve and the most detailed understanding of background data, finding the wealth code just by watching a Reflection ad was simply godlike.

After explaining his thoughts, the Explorer scooped up another spoonful of fish meat and said excitedly to the camera:

"Brothers, it seems there's work to do. Next, we will enter the treasure-hunting phase of searching for the ancient ruin."

Immediately, the entire screen was filled with bullet comments saying: Stop eating, work is more important!

(End of Chapter)