Chapter 70: Awkward Smear, Is It? (Second Update)

Emperor Tomb Mountain Range.

Duan Xing gazed at the members of the Player Clan hunting evil spirits in the distance, the confusion in his heart only deepening after days of observation.

To investigate this ancient power calling itself the Player Clan, he had secretly observed and tracked them for a long time, finally arriving at an absurd conclusion.

The clan grounds of the Player Clan were likely established in an Outer Domain World.

During his observations, he discovered that members of the Player Clan appeared in the border regions of the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range.

He was unable to penetrate this area; it was highly probable that this was the world barrier separating the Monster World from the Outer Domain.

From this, it could be deduced that the Player Clan, which had fallen into slumber since ancient times, had arrived from the Outer Domain World, or perhaps even returned from other Plane Worlds.

Although he had never visited the Outer Domain World, he possessed some knowledge of it.

According to the Combat Instructor of the Reverse Black Tide Classroom, one of the new powers that rose in the last two hundred years, the "Immortal Clan," was a force from the Outer Domain.

Their homeland had been corroded and destroyed by the Black Black Tide; before their world collapsed, the remaining clansmen descended into the Monster World, where they joined hands with multiple racial forces suffering similar fates to establish a powerful legion against the Black Black Tide.

The situation of the Player Clan was exactly the opposite.

During the most fierce stage of the Black Black Tide's eruption, they retreated to the Outer Domain, only awakening and returning recently in an attempt to rekindle the flames of the Imperial Omen.

However, he did not doubt the players' loyalty.

From the Player Clan's continuous hunting of evil spirits, it was evident that their hatred for these entities was no less than his own; upon encountering evil spirits, they would inevitably erupt into battle, fighting to the death even when outmatched in strength.

Their avoidance of battle back then must have had its reasons.

Secondly, the thinking logic of the Player Clan differed significantly from his own way of pondering problems.

This point also aligned perfectly with the characteristics of ancient powers, whose values were completely different from those of lives born in this era.

Yet, there was one single point that baffled him.

The manner in which the Player Clan entered the Monster World was not a mass migration of the entire clan, but rather a successive crossing of the world barrier to descend, after which they roamed the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range seeking out evil spirits to engage in slaughter.

The feeling he got was that the Player Clan was taking turns rushing to their deaths, devoid of any tactical arrangement.

Compared to other racial forces in the Monster World, the Player Clan could not even be described as merely weak; they could barely fight against mindless evil spirits, and achieving victory remained a stretch.

However, the Player Clan was not without merit.

During these days of observation, he discovered that the Player Clan possessed enormous growth potential.

The growth speed of several specific Player Clan members he had been observing truly left him in disbelief.

From initially requiring combined efforts to barely kill a single Blood Corpse, to now being able to kill a Blood Corpse alone, they had completed a leapfrog growth in strength in just one week.

For instance, that member of the Player Clan to whom he had bestowed the Heavenly Rune Combat Technique had actually comprehended the method of using the technique within an extremely short time and was now able to easily draw in heaven and earth spiritual energy to temper his flesh.

Such terrifying speed of learning and progress was something he had never witnessed before.

His understanding was that the long slumber had caused a sharp decline in the strength of the Player Clan members, and through combat, they could gradually recover their lost power.

Secondly, there were the abilities of the Player Clan members.

They could transform into various forms of monsters, with different forms releasing different ability characteristics; some of these abilities even allowed him to glimpse the shadow of rule characteristics.

This discovery made Duan Xing firmer in his thoughts.

If possible, he hoped to incorporate the Player Clan into the Reverse Black Tide Legion, making them one of the many forces within the legion.

It was said that the Reverse Black Tide Legion's garrison in the Great Northern Border had already incorporated a force from the Outer Domain; they fought bravely and possessed extremely formidable strength, already ranking as one of the strongest Reverse Black Tide branch legions in the Great Northern Border region.

This idea took root in Duan Xing's mind, believing that incorporating the Player Clan would bring assistance to the development of the Reverse Black Tide Legion.

But the unsolvable problem was how he could establish contact with the Trial Supervisor, "Elder You."

Having lost the shuttle, his path back was cut off; his only hope lay in waiting for the supervisor to seek him out actively.

Since he himself could hardly return, how could he possibly lead the members of the Player Clan back with him?

He couldn't help but sigh, shifting his gaze toward the Player Clan members not far away.

Seeing them rushing toward him, Duan Xing decisively flew into the sky to escape.

The arrival of the Player Clan members clearly bore no good intentions; they would inevitably gift him bizarre items, only to then demand various tools, objects, or even information stones recording combat techniques from him.

In repayment for the debt of saving his life, he had already given away many of the tools and items he carried on his person.

By this day, what did he have left to gift the players?

Unless it was this set of rune battle armor on his body.

It was certain that the members of the Player Clan would have the audacity to ask for it, but there was absolutely no possibility of him giving it away.

The battle armor was a relic left by his father, connected to his heart; even in death, it was impossible for him to remove it.

With the debt of saving his life still outstanding, he could not act against the members of the Player Clan again; avoiding them was the best strategy.

Primordial Altar.

At this moment, Qi Sheng was browsing a popular post on the forum.

The content discussed in this post concerned the first-generation Primordial Monster, "Mud Demon," which had been contained three hours ago.

The Mud Demon resembled a clump of clay polymer; it was an accidental find by a novice player squad while exploring near the Spirit Artifact Valley, and its ability characteristic was named "Dissolution."

It could spit slime to inflict continuous strong acid corrosion damage on contacted targets.

The appearance of a new Fate Soul should have been a joyous occasion for all.

However, the Mud Demon's appearance was so ugly that it was despised by various players on the forum, even being called the most disgusting Primordial Monster; the vast majority of players believed that no one would buy or embed the Mud Demon's monster form and ability characteristics.

Yet, on that very day, a player developed a hunting Cultivation Mode suitable for the "Dissolution" Fate Soul.

The player who pioneered this hunting Cultivation Mode enthusiastically posted their conceptualization and combat video on the forum, naming it the Trap Flow Tactic.

The power of this tactic lay in its ability to complete hunting across levels in a very easy manner.

In the attached demonstration video footage:

A five-player squad dug a tunnel two meters deep and over ten meters long in the Ancient Battlefield region, then placed ordinary items purchased from the Mall, such as ground spikes and torches, sequentially inside the tunnel, turning the passage into a trap corridor where moving forward would incur damage.

At the end of the corridor was a pool of solution spat out by a player who had transformed into the Mud Demon.

The hunting process was quite simple: one member of the squad acted as a flesh bait to lure several Blood Corpses into falling into the tunnel.

The player standing at the end of the tunnel would then become the target of the Blood Corpses.

What followed was a layout reminiscent of Plants vs. Zombies.

With every step the Blood Corpses took, they suffered damage; meanwhile, the four players standing at the very back of the tunnel continuously threw fireballs in their Bone Fire form, exacerbating the injuries sustained by the Blood Corpses.

Eventually, the Blood Corpses fell into a pit dug in front of the area where the players stood, soaking in the dissolution pool to meet their death.

This tactic received many likes from forum players, giving the poorly reviewed Dissolution Fate Soul a purpose; Trap Flow also became the first tactic since the server launch to complete hunting without direct frontal combat, sparking interest among many players in the gameplay of setting traps.

And this was precisely the content Qi Sheng wanted to see.

The creative ingenuity of the players was gradually manifesting in the Monster World.

Every option among the various Fate Souls could find a practical method of use through creative combinations.

Tianfengcheng, Slums.

Exiting the game, Li Zheng shifted his gaze from the virtual desktop back to reality.

An intense sense of weakness made Li Zheng somewhat unable to adapt, even stirring in him the desire to log back into "Land of Darkness."

The disparity between the game and reality became particularly obvious after leveling up.

In the game, his main human form perfectly inherited the attributes of the Level 24 Black Armored Snake and the Level 11 Strength Barbarian Axe; his comprehensive attributes were fifteen times those of his initial main form, so describing him as a superhuman in reality would not be an exaggeration.

The enhancement of attributes brought about more than just changes in numbers on a panel.

His senses had also undergone a transformation with the level increase, making the entire world appear sharper in his perception.

Regarding vision, for instance, it became keener with each level up; distant scenes that were once blurry were now clear at a glance, even fine dust particles under the light became exceptionally distinct, and the layers of color in the world grew richer.

In terms of hearing, the sounds he perceived became three-dimensional and delicate; the rustling of wind through leaves, the low roars of distant monsters, and even the faint sound of falling leaves touching the ground could all be clearly heard.

Regarding touch, within the game he could detect finer differences in texture through feeling.

Smell and taste were the same; fragrances and odors in the air could be precisely captured, and the flavors of food entering his mouth had more distinct layers.

Importantly, the sharpening of the senses was not merely a physical improvement; it was accompanied by a mental awakening, with individual perception and comprehension enhancing simultaneously.

The feeling he got was as if his body had merged with nature, reaching the realm of unity between heaven and man that existed only in movies and novels, offering a wonderful feedback unexperienceable in reality.

This was also the reason why a huge sense of disparity arose in his heart after logging off and returning to reality.

His former body felt as though it bore heavy shackles; he had simply grown accustomed to this feeling before, but in the game, his body shed these heavy shackles, allowing his physical perception to be completely liberated, making both action and thought keen.

But after exiting the game, these heavy shackles returned.

His vision grew dim, his perception became dull, and all feedback was so terrible that it made him feel extremely uncomfortable.

The game pod lid opened, and Li Zheng stood up.

Entering the bathroom to wash off the nutrient fluid from his body, he returned to sit before his desk and began reviewing recent transfer statements.

Comparing them one by one, after confirming that all sold Sacrificial Power had been paid out, feeling hungry he immediately ordered a luxurious takeout meal, deciding to properly treat himself.

Before the release of "Land of Darkness," there were people online predicting that this game would usher in a new myth of wealth creation, capable of producing a large number of new-era tycoons.

Just like historical waves such as the internet boom, the artificial intelligence revolution, digital transformation, and the advent of virtual worlds, it was predicted that the launch of Land of Darkness would see an emergence of many new-era pioneers.

The predictions of that time had now become reality within the game.

The initial performance of Land of Darkness brought a trend of wealth redistribution; whale players in the game were willing to purchase the labor of gold-farming players at high prices, and such transactions allowed gold-farming players to convert their "labor results" in the game into real-world income, without deductions like taxes.

More importantly, the game Land of Darkness had changed his quality of life.

He had also decided that for the rest of his life, he would rely on the game Land of Darkness for his livelihood.

Perhaps, leveraging his first-mover advantage, he could accomplish something significant within the game.

Waiting for the takeout to arrive, Li Zheng ate while browsing the largest Star Net forum of the Human Federation: Human Rise.

After finding the Land of Darkness section, the posts in the list were basically recruitment information, with very few players discussing game content.

Regarding this, Li Zheng did not find it strange.

Every game developed by the Moon Eclipse Clan featured a built-in forum, including Dark Land, which he was currently playing; the in-game forum was fully equipped, making external forums unnecessary for discussing game content.

While browsing, the title of a post caught his eye.

[Dark Land: The Greatest Marketing Scam in History; Although Priced at 128,888, It Falls Far Short of the Epoch-Making Game Concept Mentioned in the Promotions.]

Poster: Birth Certificate (IP: Yelan City)

Filled with curiosity, Li Zheng controlled the mouse and clicked on the title.

The content inside made Li Zheng's eyes widen.

The poster first addressed the issue of the game's realism.

He claimed that the one hundred percent realism advertised by the Moon Eclipse Clan was impossible to achieve, reaching at most ninety percent, and that upon close inspection, many issues remained with the game environment's feedback and model texture.

Secondly, the poster mentioned the issue of Star Net feedback latency.

He stated that loading in the game occasionally suffered from delays and stuttering; for instance, after a player suddenly teleported to a new area, a mosaic scene would appear before their eyes, requiring several seconds for the models to gradually render during loading.

There were also issues with physical representation; players could actually fly into the sky by exploiting bugs, and after repeatedly exiting and entering the game, characters would sometimes get stuck inside the map scenery.

Other problems included interaction feedback frequency, data processing speed, and so on.

In his final summary, the posting player believed that while this game could thoroughly crush the virtual game Sin Land released five years ago in every aspect, it simply failed to reach the level of epoch-making progress, meriting only an "excellent" rating but differing significantly from the promotional advertisements.

The poster hoped the Moon Eclipse Clan officials would optimize the game content as soon as possible, stating that the game still held huge potential for development and should not be ruined by optimization issues and the like.

After reading the post's content, only one thought existed in Li Zheng's mind.

The posting player had clearly been stimulated by something and was simply talking nonsense.

The critical descriptions of the game were even more outrageous, consisting entirely of rumors and smears against Dark Land.

Since the server opened, he had experienced the game content for nearly a month; how could he not know the merits and faults of Dark Land?

None of the issues mentioned by the poster had he ever encountered in the game; one could say that Dark Land had already reached a level of perfection indistinguishable from reality, with no flaws to be found in any detail.

This point had been discussed many times in the in-game forum, where all players believed the game had surpassed the level of modern technology, equivalent to creating a brand new world.

Clicking to view the poster's profile, he discovered the avatar was a purchase verification receipt, proving the posting player had indeed purchased and experienced the game content.

But this discovery only made Li Zheng angrier, believing the other party was spreading baseless rumors.

So you're just awkwardly blackening us, huh?

He immediately screenshot the content of this post and shared it in the Liver Emperor Group.

The Liver Emperor Group players, who had been discussing the next day's gathering for group members, upon seeing the screenshot Li Zheng shared, immediately began cursing profusely, declaring they would head to the Human Race Rise Forum to seek justice for Dark Land and spray that rumor-mongering, smear-spreading player to death.

(End of Chapter)