Chapter 83: Exploiting Weaknesses to Break Through (Fourth Update, Requesting Monthly Tickets)

"Huff, huff, I can't go on."

"Hold on a bit longer; the mission rewards are waiting for us. You kid, hold the line and don't drag us down."

Snowy mountain, halfway up the slope.

Li Zheng and the others climbed with great difficulty, their legs trembling, clearly having reached the limit of their physical strength.

Behind them, Combat Instructor Kuang Sha watched them with cold eyes:

"If you can't hold on, you can choose to quit."

Hearing Kuang Sha's cold admonition devoid of any emotion, Li Zheng and the others immediately gritted their teeth and quickened their pace.

After the personnel assembled in the morning, they began their preliminary physical training.

Before this, Kuang Sha had distributed a suppression wristband to each of them; after wearing it, the device would detect their flesh-and-blood strength and automatically adjust the restrictions.

This was precisely the main culprit behind their arduous climb.

The first stage of the assessment was already proving unbearable for them.

In modern society, humans had long been liberated from manual labor; heavy physical work was completed by robots controlled by smart brains, so when had they ever suffered such hardship?

But thinking of the generous rewards awaiting them after completing the mission, they encouraged one another and continued to persevere.

Looking up toward the summit, most of the non-human reserve trainees had already neared the peak.

As for behind them, there was only Instructor Kuang Sha, hovering in mid-air with his arms crossed.

"I truly don't understand what Duan Xing sees in you lot with such fragile willpower; he actually used a quota from the Heavenly Talisman Clan to guarantee your entry into the Phase One Training Camp."

Li Zheng and the others did not reply, continuing to endure Kuang Sha's occasional mockery.

From Kuang Sha's words, they understood that their benefactor had paid some price to get them into the training camp.

This was also one of the reasons they chose to keep going.

Half an hour later, the non-human members who had reached the summit began their descent.

As they passed Li Zheng and the others, the contempt in their eyes was completely unhidden.

Just as Duan Xing had said, the training camp revered the strong and despised the weak; in all disputes, fists were the best explanation.

"A bunch of trash."

As Gui Tong passed Li Zheng and the others, he shouted the word "trash" right in front of Kuang Sha's Iron Face.

"Brother Li, I can't take it anymore; I'm going to get him!"

"Get him!"

Provocation, again and again.

Even Li Zheng, who had always suppressed his emotions, finally exploded; he decisively lunged at Gui Tong, while Chi Tu and the others followed suit.

Gui Tong sidestepped, then kicked Li Zheng squarely in the chest; while sending him flying, he twisted his hips to gain leverage, and as his left leg landed, he used the momentum to sweep his other leg horizontally.

Slap!

Chi Tu, rushing in from the side, was immediately kicked flying as well.

However, under the restraint of the suppression wristbands, Gui Tong's physical attributes were limited; unable to deal with the rest of the Liver Emperor group players, he was tackled to the ground by Sha Xin.

Thud!

Sha Xin slammed a heavy fist hard into the left side of Gui Tong's cheek:

"Damn it, do you really think we're easy to bully?"

But before Sha Xin could land a second punch, he was kicked flying by a side kick coming from his right.

Gui Tong's clansmen intervened at this moment, joining the brawl.

This immediately stirred up the emotions of the melon-eating crowd in the livestream room, who began flooding the chat with off-screen commentary and advice.

Both sides fought fiercely, but in terms of combat techniques, Li Zheng and the others were completely suppressed; within a short while, they were lying on the ground bruised and swollen, unable to get up.

"Brother Li, we can't win, but we must take revenge (wiping tears)."

"My head hurts; I feel like I've got a concussion. Fat nerd bursting into tears."

Hearing his brothers' tearful complaints in the voice channel, Li Zheng gritted his teeth and said:

"I've noted this grudge; we will definitely repay it!"

At this moment, the ten trainees from the Four-Eyed Clan were faring no better; their clothes were disheveled, and they all had scrapes on their bodies.

Throughout the entire ordeal, Kuang Sha watched coldly from the sidelines, speaking only one sentence when the fight ended:

"Training continues."

The members of the Four-Eyed Clan continued down the mountain, while Li Zheng and the others rested on the ground for quite a while before gathering enough strength to stand and continue their arduous climb up the snowy mountain.

6:00 PM.

The ragged and battered Li Zheng and his group finally completed the test, coinciding with dinnertime; under Kuang Sha's lead, they arrived at the training camp cafeteria.

Starving as they were, the moment they entered the door, they were attracted by a rich aroma.

The first thing to catch their eyes were the uniquely shaped trays, row upon row of colorful fresh fruits and vegetables carefully arranged upon them; analyzing the information revealed that these foods were actually all spiritual plants of grade 2 or higher.

Sweeping their gaze to the other side of the food counter, they saw various kinds of monster meat, emitting an alluring luster and fragrance.

Clear Spirit Pear, Bathing Spirit Fruits, Star Ocean Clams, Iron Lizard Meat... various seafood, monster meats, and fruits and vegetables were arranged in an orderly fashion, causing Li Zheng and the others to unconsciously swallow saliva.

After high-intensity training, their already starving selves were stirred with a fierce desire to eat.

"Instructor, can we eat whatever we want here?"

"You have nine minutes left for eating time; eat whatever you want, as long as you can fit it down."

Hearing these words, Li Zheng and the others cheered in unison, decisively rushing toward the food counters, grabbing trays, and starting to pile on the food.

In their eyes, consuming food imbued with spirituality could increase their Body Tempering experience; free food was no different from being gifted sacrificial power.

Their previously suppressed moods vanished instantly; they all filled large plates to the brim and sat down at an empty table.

All their various dissatisfactions with the training camp disappeared amidst their hearty feasting.

"Delicious, so delicious; I've never eaten anything this good in my entire life."

"It feels like there are little particles of energy dancing in every bite; the taste feedback in this game is crafted incredibly well."

Tasting the cuisine of the Monster World for the first time, Li Zheng and the others were completely conquered.

This was also one of the manifestations of the difference in strength between world tiers.

Earth was a low-spirituality world, producing only coarse and mortal food items.

In the Monster World, however, flowers, grasses, and trees were all imbued with spiritual particles; even the most ordinary fruit, in terms of both texture and flavor, far surpassed all delicacies on Earth.

Added to the careful preparation by the training camp chefs, the spiritual food released layers of progressive flavors, containing both the vast depth of mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas, and the fresh elegance of flowers, grasses, fruits, and trees, causing Li Zheng and the others to become intoxicated; under the flushing of spiritual energy, the bruises on their bodies healed at a visible speed, and their exhaustion vanished completely.

Just as Li Zheng and the others were feasting heartily, the livestream room was flooded with scrolling comments.

The spectating players, who had originally been watching the fun, discovered that Li Zheng and the others were actually starting to enjoy a meal; feeling unable to accept this, they immediately began criticizing their behavior of indulging.

To this, Li Zheng paid no heed whatsoever, continuing to feast heartily.

Just then, a commotion coming from next door attracted Li Zheng and the others, and they all looked up.

They saw the ten trainees from the Four-Eyed Clan brutally beating a certain trainee; various foods were scattered all over the ground, and the figure being besieged, who had a head of red hair, was crouching on the ground holding his head, allowing the Four-Eyed Clan trainees to bully him at will.

"Those bastards are bullying the newcomers again."

"Don't worry about it; keep eating, hurry up and eat. I suspect they'll come to beat us up soon." While stuffing spiritual food into his mouth, Li Zheng stared fixedly at the figures of the Four-Eyed Clan members, fearing he wouldn't eat enough.

"That's right, hurry up and eat; let's get our Body Tempering level up first."

After a brief exchange, Li Zheng and the others continued their gluttonous feeding.

But just as they had anticipated, after eating for only a short while, the ten new recruits from the Four-Eyed Clan arrived at their dining table.

"Are you full?" asked the leader, Gui Tong, with a sinister smile.

Realizing they were about to be beaten again, Li Zheng and the others briefly communicated in the voice channel before taking the initiative; they picked up their food-laden trays and smashed them at the members of the Four-Eyed Clan.

"Fight!"

Compared to the red-haired non-human warrior who had weakly endured the bullying, Li Zheng and the others chose to confront them head-on.

But their resistance proved utterly powerless; they were quickly pinned to the ground amidst the beating, and the leader, Gui Tong, even stepped heavily on Li Zheng's head:

"With abilities like yours, do you even deserve to be in the training camp? The weak do not belong here."

Although Li Zheng and the others, completely beaten down, could hardly move, their mouths did not stop; they continued to express their dissatisfaction with eloquent language, which only invited even more fierce pounding from the Four-Eyed Clan members.

The dining period ended at this moment; a figure walked out of the cafeteria, and with a wave of his hand, all the spiritual food inside was stored into a spatial item:

"All of you, get out!"

Although arrogant, the Four-Eyed Clan trainees did not dare to act presumptuously toward the cafeteria administrator; they immediately dragged Li Zheng and the others, who had lost all ability to resist, out of the cafeteria, dumped them by the roadside, and then walked toward the training grounds.

Li Zheng and the others lay prostrate on the ground, their expressions despairing.

Just then, a weak and feeble voice came through:

"Brother... Brother Li, why can't I see anything?"

Everyone turned to look at the Family Shared Godfather who had spoken, and seeing his appearance, they couldn't help but find it amusing:

"Both your eyes are swollen shut; of course you can't see."

"Hahaha, you're too miserable; how could you get beaten so badly?"

"Several of them were holding me, punching my Iron Face again and again; I... wanted to dodge... but I couldn't," explained the Family Shared Godfather, his Iron Face bruised and swollen, his eyes puffed into narrow slits, his words slurred and unclear.

"We must take revenge!"

"Yes, we must take revenge, but before that, let me lie here a bit longer; I'm so tired."

"Same here; I didn't get full, I'm so hungry."

During the night training session, Li Zheng and the others dragged their exhausted bodies to the training grounds.

The brightly lit training grounds had already commenced a new round of drills; a combat instructor was unleashing abilities to test the new recruits' dodging skills, while Grand Instructor Kuang Sha watched the entire proceedings with cold indifference.

Noticing Li Zheng and the others arriving, Kuang Sha didn't even glance their way, stating coldly:

"You lot will handle the next round of dodging training."

Knowing Kuang Sha's temper, Li Zheng and the others remained silent, obediently standing aside to wait, though the voice channel was filled with incessant cursing.

Time reached 10 PM.

Exhausted, Li Zheng and the others were led by Kuang Sha to the recovery room.

There, they received physical treatment; instantly, their fatigue and injuries were healed, bringing an end to the day's devilish training.

Back in their rooms, Li Zheng and the few others began pondering how to counter the bullying.

During this day's training, they discovered that those bullying other recruits weren't just the Four-Eyed Clan, but members of other alien races as well.

Just as Seeing Duan Xing had said, here, weakness invites bullying.

While conversing, they also scrolled through live stream comments, searching for a way to break the deadlock.

Most opinions offered by the onlookers held little reference value; as veteran players, Li Zheng knew clearly just how unreliable this crowd of forum players could be.

The previous victim had already been turned into a meme, widely circulated and completely reduced to a laughingstock among the forum players.

Yet, he still found inspiration in a single danmu comment from the live stream.

"The idea of fighting to the death when you can't win isn't wrong, but your ferocity poses no threat to the Four-Eyed Clan; if you're going to fight, you must strike where it hurts, find a point they find unbearable and hammer it relentlessly until they feel fear—that is the key to overcoming bullying."

This comment prompted Li Zheng to consider a question: what fatal weakness did the Four-Eyed Clan possess?

But clearly, no answer could be found to that question.

Just then, a remark from Iron Iron Face gave Li Zheng inspiration.

"Hey, so much spiritual food went to waste, I'm not even full; let's buy some canned goods to fill our stomachs."

It was precisely this sentence that suddenly reminded Li Zheng of a rule within the training camp.

The cafeteria provided two meals daily, at 8 AM and 6 PM respectively, with each dining session lasting only 15 minutes; missing the window meant no further food was allowed.

As long as they launched their attack during this window, they could force the Four-Eyed Clan into the awkward predicament of being unable to eat.

Although they would have to go hungry as well.

But bolstered by the Mall function, they could completely purchase various canned rations within the Mall, or even buy spiritual ingredients like fish meat from the Exchange.

Theoretically, as long as they were willing to spend Sacrificial Power, there was no possibility of them going hungry.

With inspiration struck, Li Zheng immediately shared his idea with the brothers of the Liver Emperor Group.

Upon hearing his plan, everyone applauded enthusiastically, declaring they would rather go without spiritual food than let this grievance stand.

The next day at 8 AM.

Warm-up drills concluded, and the training camp recruits, led by Kuang Sha, arrived at the cafeteria.

Before any could eat, amidst the astonished gazes of the alien recruits, Li Zheng and the others roared and pounced upon the Four-Eyed Clan members who were collecting their meals.

"Eat your grandpa's foot, put those down, all of you!"

"Come on, you like fighting, do you? Today I'm definitely going to beat you to death."

"Crow Dives Airplane..."

Amidst the stunned expressions of the Four-Eyed Clan recruits, Li Zheng and the others pounced viciously.

Facing the sneak attack, the Four-Eyed Clan recruits decisively set down their trays and engaged.

In terms of combat technique, Li Zheng and the others were simply no match; within a short time, they were all beaten flat onto the ground.

Not yet satisfied, the Four-Eyed Clan warriors delivered heavy blows to Li Zheng and the other Liver Emperor Group players lying on the ground, beating them until they howled in pain.

But just as the Four-Eyed Clan recruits finished fighting and prepared to go eat, the bruised and swollen Liver Emperor Group players struggled to their feet, with Li Zheng at the forefront pointing a single finger remotely at Seeing Gui Tong and casually flicking his hair:

"Tong-zi, your daddy doesn't hurt at all; come give your daddy another massage for his bones and muscles."

Seeing Gui Tong, who was collecting his meal, slowly set down his tray and stepped toward the Liver Emperor Group players, his clansmen following close behind at that moment.

A new round of brutal beating descended once more.

This round of combat only ended when the cafeteria administrator appeared; ultimately, Li Zheng and the others were dragged out of the dining hall by the Four-Eyed Clan yet again.

Watching the Four-Eyed Clan depart, the bruised and swollen Li Zheng wore a remarkably happy smile:

"Ha... ha... ha, they didn't eat breakfast; they're going to go hungry during training later."

"Brother Li... luckily we... before coming... gnawed on some canned goods, so we're not hungry at all, just our faces hurt a bit."

This day's training, after enduring snow mountain climbing, dodging drills, mental shock resistance training, and a series of other exercises, once again reached dinner time.

Having recovered their condition through treatment in the recovery room at noon, Li Zheng, under the astonished gazes of the general recruits, once again took the initiative to attack.

"Hey, you four-eyes... Tong-zi, yes, I'm talking to you, come over and get beaten."

"Tong-zi, you didn't eat breakfast, do you still have any strength left?"

"Tong-zi, what are you glaring at? Didn't you see your Grandpa, Second Grandpa, Third Grandpa... calling you? Hurry over and serve us."

Facing the provocation, Seeing Gui Tong casually tossed aside his metal tray and led his clansmen striding over.

Seeing this, other nearby alien recruits scattered one after another, fearing being caught in the crossfire.

Amidst the miserable screams of Li Zheng and the others, a new round of brutal beating descended.

During this, the Liver Emperor Group players were not idle either; while getting beaten, they also employed dirty tricks.

Chokeholds, groin kicks, eye-gouging... this scene made Grand Combat Instructor "Kuang Sha"'s forehead veins throb violently.

As a Reverse Black Tide Warrior, the warriors in his eyes bore sacred glory.

But this group of specially recruited player-clan members had shattered his worldview; how could this be the fighting style a warrior ought to have?

Just then, Kuang Sha witnessed a scene that left him in disbelief.

The kill-hungry one pinned to the ground actually spat a mouthful of saliva at a Four-Eyed Clan recruit; Kuang Sha took a deep breath, forcibly suppressed his rage, and abruptly turned away, unwilling to watch any longer.

He feared he wouldn't be able to stop himself from intervening.

Deep in his heart, he had already sentenced this group of recruits to death.

He would wait until the first round of training concluded, then kick them out of the training camp.

This meal session ultimately ended only after the cafeteria administrator appeared; neither the Liver Emperor Group players nor the Four-Eyed Clan managed to eat dinner, having spent the entire time brawling.

That night.

In the Four-Eyed Clan's room.

"Big Brother, I'm a little hungry."

"Endure it!"

Hearing his clansman's complaint, Seeing Gui Tong glared fiercely at him.

After a day of high-intensity training and having gone without food the entire time, the members of Seeing Gui Tong's clan were now incredibly hungry, and Seeing Gui Tong was no exception.

Upon arriving this time, apart from the clothes on their backs, they had brought nothing else.

Having missed the meal window, there was nowhere to eat even if they wanted to.

"The player-clan didn't eat either; if they can endure it, why can't we?"

Saying this, Seeing Gui Tong lay down on the bed and closed his eyes.

Seeing this, the other clansmen one after another climbed onto their beds, closed their eyes, and began to rest, preparing to welcome tomorrow's devilish training.

But deep in their hearts, what they anticipated was the cafeteria opening for the 8 AM training session tomorrow morning.

At the same time, in the player-clan's room.

"Canned rations taste terrible; I really want to eat spiritual food. Once you've tasted it, you can't forget it; the taste feedback in the game is simply ridiculous—I'm afraid after logging off I won't be able to eat real food anymore."

"Having something to eat is good enough; our battle with Tong-zi has only just begun, we must persist. The melon-eating masses in the live stream are all waiting to see us make fools of ourselves; how can we let them get their wish? None of you want to become memes, do you?"

"Yeah, we must persist; starve these dog-things to death!"

"I managed to grab a piece of freshly listed spiritual fish meat on the Exchange; although I bought it at a premium, just being able to snag it is good enough. Do you guys want to share some?"

"Unfilial son, hurry and give your godfather a bite; I've had enough of the taste of these canned rations."

"Everyone don't move, let me eat first; I want to properly critique the flavor of this piece of fish meat."

The next morning at 8 AM.

Training camp cafeteria.

Just entering the cafeteria, Li Zheng and the others did not rush to attack; instead, they found an empty table and sat down, watching as the Four-Eyed Clan recruits took their trays and began loading them with spiritual food.

But just as the Four-Eyed Clan finished plating their food and prepared to sit, Li Zheng suddenly slammed the table, sprang to his feet, and extended a hand to point remotely at Seeing Gui Tong, whose mouth was already open:

"Tong-zi, your grandpa has arrived!"

As soon as the words fell, Li Zheng began his run-up, then delivered a flying kick straight toward Seeing Gui Tong's Iron Face.

"Eat your grandpa's foot; I'll smash everything of yours to pieces!"

Arriving at the Four-Eyed Clan recruits' table, Iron Iron Face, following right behind Li Zheng, kicked the table over, instantly spilling the spiritual food all over the floor.

"Third Grandpa's Ultimate Technique: Monkey Steals the Peach."

"Fourth Grandpa's Ultimate Technique: Tripping from Below."

"Fifth Grandpa's Ultimate Technique: Macho Elbow Strike."

"Sixth Grandpa's Ultimate Technique: Groin Grab and Chokehold."

Accompanied by hearty shouts of dirty tricks, Li Zheng and the other hardcore players unleashed their "Hunger Tactics" with fierce momentum.

At this moment, the Four-Pupils Clan disciples felt complex emotions.

Seeing the spiritual food spilled on the ground, they felt great reluctance, but anger dominated even more.

These bastards from the Player Clan can truly endure hunger!

They even pick fights right after treatment ends in the Recovery Room, exactly at mealtime; they are bastards among bastards.

(w) Vote for monthly tickets quickly; the backlog is being consumed too slowly. I want to add more chapters, so hurry up!

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(End of Chapter)