Chapter 91: Shameless to the Extreme (First Update)

Snow Valley Training Camp.

Snow filled the sky as Li Zheng and the other grind-heavy players stood on the training grounds, bare-chested, raising stone hammers to strike the crystal wall before them again and again.

"Eighty! Eighty! Eighty!"

"So tired, I really want to eat; what's the point of hammering this thing?"

"All the physical labor I've done from childhood to now doesn't add up to what we've done in this broken training camp; they're simply training us like livestock. When will these days end?"

Complaints filled the voice channel, and Li Zheng, leading the group, helplessly said at this moment:

"Stop talking nonsense; we have to finish hammering anyway, so let's just finish quickly and rest."

"I hope the rewards this time are rich enough, otherwise I'll go crazy," Chi Tu couldn't help but complain again.

This training project from Kuang Sha required them to use stone hammers to shatter the crystal wall.

After continuous strikes, Li Zheng and the others felt their tiger's mouths go numb from the shock, yet the crystal wall's surface only bore faint scratches, showing no sign of breaking apart.

To continue the mission, they could only grit their teeth and persevere.

During this, their tiger's mouths split and bled, while sweat constantly streamed down their foreheads.

Turning to look, the livestock of various races appeared exceptionally vigorous in their training, disregarding bodily injury entirely, making the crystal walls before them ring with loud "clangs."

It was just that during the process of pounding the crystal walls, one could occasionally hear "gurgling" sounds coming from stomachs.

This was precisely the aftereffect of the cafeteria's hunger-endurance battle, and also the way students of Snow Valley Training Camp welcomed students from Water Valley Training Camp.

They had added an extra training course not required by the instructors for them: hunger-endurance training.

After three consecutive days of hunger-endurance training, the Po Luo race had lost the arrogance they possessed upon arrival, yet they still had not bowed in submission, demanding that meals be taken according to strength ranking as per Water Valley Training Camp's regulations.

Only after the Po Luo race had finished eating could students of other races take their turn.

Regarding this, Li Zheng and the others did not indulge them.

Their main strategy was to frantically steal food behind the scenes while ensuring no one ate openly.

In the eyes of the various races, their talent for enduring hunger was maxed out.

However, after successive group fights, Li Zheng and the other grind-heavy players also felt regret in their hearts.

Free spiritual food was equivalent to free body-tempering experience in their eyes; every extra bite was profit, an opportunity unavailable in the novice village.

But to resist bullying, they chose to persist in the manner of true men.

During this time, they had considered finding an opportunity during the melee to secretly stash spiritual food into their spatial bags, taking it out to eat after returning to their rooms at night.

But this idea proved unreliable after consulting the Guide.

Several supervisors in the cafeteria were observing their group fight movements; the moment spiritual food was placed into a spatial bag, it would be discovered.

Furthermore, one of the cafeteria's rules was that no spiritual food could be taken away, otherwise the fixed fifteen-minute dining period would lose its meaning.

The goal was to make them compete for every second.

According to Kuang Sha, this time limit would gradually decrease as they entered the second and third phases of the training camp.

After graduation, upon reaching the battlefield, it would be even more so.

The war between the front-line Ni Chao Legion and various powerful races was exceptionally fierce, sometimes so brutal that there was not even time to eat.

While explaining the regulatory requirements, Kuang Sha smiled and mentioned that during his worst times on the front lines, he had fought continuously against the "Hun Gui Race" for ten days, during which there was not even time to stop for rest or food, eventually fighting until his physical strength was exhausted and he fell into a coma, only to be carried back to the rear by his comrades.

The progressively stricter regulations of the training camp were designed to help them adapt in advance to the high-intensity front-line battlefield.

The rule prohibiting taking food away also eliminated Li Zheng and the others' thoughts of cheating, leaving them to barely survive each night by gnawing on canned goods purchased from the mall.

Occasionally, if luck was good, spiritual fish meat would be listed on the Exchange Row, and upon securing it, the brothers would fight to share and eat it.

Persisting until now, Li Zheng and the other grind-heavy players felt bitterness in their hearts.

High-intensity training could not be filled by canned food alone; without spiritual food to replenish excessive consumption, the sensation of hunger constantly lingered in their minds.

This also reminded Li Zheng of what the God of Wealth had once said: the food in cans was meaningless, even inferior to cultivating by absorbing the spiritual qi of heaven and earth.

At the time, he did not understand the meaning of those words, but now he understood the reason.

Once physical strength reached a certain level, ordinary food provided very limited supplementation to the body.

It was foreseeable that in the future, as player levels continuously increased, spiritual food would become the primary solution for hunger, and cans costing one point of sacrificial power would be gradually phased out.

Aside from the torment brought by training and hunger endurance, there were also happy moments for Li Zheng and the others during their days in the training camp.

For example, the medicinal bath taken once every two days.

Each medicinal bath could bring an increase of over seven thousand points in body-tempering experience.

This yield was far superior to hunting evil influences or monsters outside.

Importantly, the increase in body-tempering experience also brought bonuses to all attributes of the main body.

Every player in the Grind-Heavy Group had already reached level three, with Li Zheng's body-tempering level even reaching level five.

This meant five fate souls could be inlaid upon the Star Vein, allowing the main body form to inherit all attribute bonuses from five types of fate souls.

Regrettably, within the training camp, one could not increase the level of inlaid fate souls through hunting, so the attributes that the initially inlaid fate souls could inherit were extremely limited.

Time arrived at dusk.

The last glimmer of sunset quietly vanished beyond the horizon, replaced by a deep and tranquil blue-purple sky, while the training camp grounds were covered by a thin veil of energy.

It was mealtime again.

Led by the instructor Kuang Sha, Li Zheng and the others arrived at the cafeteria.

The moment they entered the door, rich and tempting aromas of food instantly rushed to their noses.

Li Zheng's gaze swept across the food counter, where meat bones and various vegetables emitted steam, weaving together a mellow flavor mixed with the unique scent of spices; merely smelling it allowed one to foresee the wonderful taste of the rich energy particles contained within the broth.

Sweeping his vision to the other side of the counter, fresh spiritual fruits exuded a clear fragrance, and his gaze seemed to capture threads of sweetness, causing Li Zheng to subconsciously swallow saliva, his mouth watering.

On the counters further back, spiritual roots resembling noodles were paired with sizzling roasted meat, alongside various sauces arranged nearby, emitting an irresistible and tempting aroma.

Inside the cafeteria, the interwoven scents emanating from various spiritual foods formed a unique "gourmet symphony," which not only awakened all students' desire for food but also stirred bitterness in their hearts.

Because these spiritual foods were destined to be out of their reach.

At this moment, Li Zheng looked toward Gui Tong, who stood not far beside him.

This enemy, who had arrogantly asked what race they belonged to upon arrival, now looked at the food with unmasked greed, like a hungry wolf, with raging flames burning in the depths of his eyes, his craving for food akin to parched land longing for rain.

Merely from gazing, the stomachs of all the students emitted low, continuous gurgling sounds, initiating a pre-meal ensemble that rose and fell in waves.

But everyone understood that no one would get to eat this meal.

They had fought for three days and starved for three days; no one had yielded.

Before a victor and loser were decided, or before Grand Instructor Kuang Sha demanded an end to the cafeteria brawl, the great battle had to continue.

Yet precisely because the mutual beating was unavoidable, all the students particularly cherished the brief tranquility before the fight, their breathing becoming heavier during this period, as if trying to ingest the taste of food from the air through their breath.

"Hey! Luo Zi, come over and scratch your grandpa's itch!"

Just then, Li Zheng stepped forward.

His shout was like the starting pistol at a sports meet, shattering the pre-meal silence, making the cafeteria battle imminent.

In just a few short minutes, it was as if a violent storm had swept through this place that should have been orderly.

Dining tables were ruthlessly overturned, plates became weapons for brawling, and spiritual food placed on the counters mixed with sauces spilled all over the ground... the air was filled with the aroma of rice and dishes, along with the dull thuds of fists landing on flesh.

The chaotic scene lasted for fifteen minutes before ending.

When the figures of the cafeteria managers approached, the students who could still stand dragged out those who had collapsed, tossing them outside the cafeteria gates.

There were no winners in this battle; all students appeared utterly wretched.

Bruises on faces, footprints on clothes, disheveled hair... the most miserable was a student from the Iron Iron Face race of Water Valley Training Camp, who had been pinned to the ground and subjected to a mixed double-team beating by players and students of the Four-Eyed race, leaving his eyes swollen and his jaw dislocated, now lying on the ground gasping urgently.

The great battle had ended, but the training had not.

Kuang Sha arrived shortly after, reset the dislocated joints for the injured students, then led them to the training grounds to introduce the new training project.

The first-phase training camp contained no combat training nor learning of fighting techniques; all training projects had strengthening willpower as their core objective.

The goal was for them to endure pain, and then use willpower to overcome the inner struggle.

This process was already full of torment, and the additionally added hunger-endurance training even stripped away the last enjoyment within the training.

The pain came to an end at ten o'clock at night.

Returning to their rooms, Li Zheng and the others closed the doors and immediately opened the Exchange Row to search for ingredients.

"Wow, there's a piece of insect meat for sale in the mall; this stuff tastes good."

"Insect meat looks a bit disgusting; it even has folds resembling a brain, and the taste is far inferior compared to spiritual fish meat. It's a pity fish meat is too hard to buy; every time it's listed, it gets swept empty. It's unclear whether there are too few fishing enthusiasts or if they always return empty-handed without catching fish."

"Have you contacted the fishing enthusiasts from the Demonic Sect? Their spiritual fish production is quite large."

"We contacted them, but their spiritual fish were already reserved by several guilds long ago; how could there be any left for us?"

"Stop complaining; the taste of insect meat is much better than canned food. We should thank the emergence of the Battle Insect Race for giving me another choice while gnawing on cans."

"Let's eat, let's eat; I'm almost fainting from hunger. When will these days end? I want to eat the grand meals in the cafeteria."

After sharing the insect meat, Li Zheng and the others began to gnaw heavily on canned food.

But the taste of the canned food was extremely poor.

Having eaten spiritual food, the demands of their taste buds and bodies toward food had changed, making cheap foods like canned goods difficult to swallow.

Eating too much of it also induced a greasy, cloying feeling.

But in order to train normally tomorrow, they still chose to continue eating.

Half an hour later, having finished their meal, the grind-heavy players chatted about daily life in the training camp.

Sha Xin Dong asked: "I wonder what those livestock are doing tonight?"

Qiong Dao Chi Tu replied: "What else could they be doing? Lying in bed on empty stomachs, tossing and turning unable to sleep, their minds filled with thoughts of all kinds of spiritual food in the cafeteria; the more they think, the hungrier they get, and the hungrier they get, the more they think, then the next day they continue training listlessly."

Jia Ting Gong Xiang Yi Fu said: "At least we still have something to eat; they are truly enduring it. They are too strong, especially the Po Luo race; their hunger-endurance capability is clearly much stronger than that of the Four-Eyed race."

You Xi Ban Zhuan Dang said: "I think the Four-Eyed race can endure hunger better; their poor condition is because their energy was exhausted by us during the previous period, and they haven't recovered after suffering great damage to their vital energy. I don't believe the Po Luo race can withstand seven days without eating as firmly as the Four-Eyed race."

Just then, Zero Pay, who was rubbing his belly, cut in with a remark:

Leopard Head Zero Pay: "Say, are night fights forbidden in the training camp?"

So Poor I Eat Dirt: "Night fight? What night fight?"

Before Eat Dirt could even finish speaking, he suddenly froze; everyone's gaze snapped toward Zero Pay as they abruptly realized what was on his mind.

Game Brick Mover: "What do you mean by that, kid?"

Leopard Head Zero Pay: "We just ate and are full of stamina, while they are staying up late enduring hunger; in terms of condition, we hold an absolute advantage. Since the advantage is ours, why not use the cover of night to sneak over and hit them once?"

So Poor I Eat Dirt: "You kid... you're smart. Kuang Sha never said we couldn't beat people up during sleep hours. If we sneak over and give them a thorough beating, wouldn't that be delightful?"

Game Brick Mover: "I raise both hands and both feet in agreement. Let's ramp up the intensity even more; not only will we prevent them from eating, we'll make sure they can't sleep either."

Family Share Godfather: "Holy crap, Zero Pay, you usually act so dull, yet I didn't expect you to be this black-bellied; even you could come up with such a sinister trick."

Fun Without Paying: "Hahaha, absolutely feasible. We can fix the problem of mental exhaustion by buying Mental Healing Potions in the mall, while they are truly suffering through it."

With the idea formed, Li Zheng and the others immediately opened the mall, purchased a bottle of Mental Healing Potion, and drank it down.

Like a gentle warm breeze brushing across the heart, their mentally exhausted energy rapidly recovered under the nourishment.

Subsequently, they opened their door and, under the cover of night, made their way to the room where the Four-Eyed Clan novices were staying.

Before they even drew near, they heard strange sounds.

Killing Heart frowned slightly at this moment: "There are so many frogs croaking; did you hear them?"

So Poor I Eat Dirt: "Hear your head; that clearly sounds like stomachs protesting, you idiot Killing Heart."

Amidst the exchange, Li Zheng arrived before the Four-Eyed Clan's door and raised his hand to knock lightly:

"Little Eye, are you asleep?"

Rustling sounds came from within, after which the door opened; Gui Tong, looking haggard, gazed at Li Zheng with a puzzled expression:

"Li Zheng, what business brings you here so late, kid?"

Li Zheng glanced at the brothers behind him, then pointed toward the room:

"Let's talk inside."

"Alright." Gui Tong stepped aside, and Li Zheng and the others immediately entered the room.

Under the puzzled gazes of the Four-Eyed Clan novices, Li Zheng and the others explained the purpose of their visit after entering.

Upon hearing his account, the corner of Gui Tong's mouth twitched:

"If they can't sleep, doesn't that mean we can't sleep either?"

"Exactly; we'll just outlast them, adding an extra overnight training session until they collapse," Li Zheng nodded righteously.

Hearing these words, Gui Tong and his clansmen wore complex expressions.

It seemed the beasts of the Player Clan were about to pull another big stunt, wagering their own sleep time while trying to drag them into staying awake as well.

To the Four-Eyed Clan novices, this behavior was simply the worst of the worst, not even sparing the camp's final rest period.

Yet they found it difficult to refuse.

Because the Player Clan proposing this suggestion had the courage to do it, if they lacked the courage to follow, it would be truly shameful.

Two thoughts fought fiercely in his mind; as the representative of the Four-Eyed Clan, Gui Tong took a deep breath and said with a firm tone:

"We're in."

"Little Eye, I knew you were reliable, kid."

"Don't pat my shoulder; we're only temporarily allied against the Polo Clan. Once the Polo Clan leaves, we'll settle scores with you."

"Oh, I'm so scared, hahaha."

"Truly asking for a beating; I want to beat you up right now."

After reaching a consensus, Li Zheng and the others split up to act, heading to the rooms of other clans in the Snow Valley Training Camp to propose the idea of adding an extra training session.

On the other side.

Polo, who was sitting cross-legged cultivating and nourishing his body by absorbing spiritual qi from heaven and earth, suddenly opened his eyes and spoke in a deep voice:

"Open your eyes; I have an idea."

The clansmen, who were already awake, all opened their eyes to look at E Luo.

"Enduring like this is no solution; relying solely on absorbing spiritual qi from heaven and earth cannot make up for our physical consumption. We should use our advantages to attack their weaknesses."

Speaking thus, Polo's gaze swept over his clansmen:

"Our Polo Clan's racial talent allows us to rapidly recover our mental state through cultivation. Since they have set up hunger training for us, we will also add an extra training session for them."

As he spoke, a smile appeared on the corner of Polo's mouth:

"I will make sure they don't sleep well."

With that, Polo stood up:

"Scatter and notify the novices of the other few clans; tonight we raid the Snow Valley, letting them experience what pain truly is."

The night was ink-black, the training camp shrouded in a heavy curtain.

Energy lamps hanging on metal poles by the roadside swayed in the wind, their ends rubbing together with a "creak-creak" sound.

Borrowing the faint light cast down by the aurora in the sky, a group of figures merged into the night, hastening their pace toward the rest area of the Water Valley Training Camp.

Soon, bypassing the fence beside the barracks, the students of the Snow Valley Training Camp, led by Li Zheng, entered the barracks rest area of the Water Valley students.

"Shh, lighten your steps; we've arrived. In a moment, we'll split into five routes, push the doors open, and start beating; the main point is to catch them off guard."

At this moment, Li Zheng raised his hand to quietly instruct the battle plan, and the novices of various clans behind him all stopped in their tracks.

By the moonlight, one could see bad smiles on all their faces; like a pack of yellow weasels preparing to steal chickens, they could hardly conceal their excitement.

Having fought each other for so many days, thinking of the impending moment of revenge, they felt immense satisfaction in their hearts.

But just as Li Zheng and the others prepared to advance further, they discovered a group of figures not far away sneaking out of the rooms one after another, heading toward the gate of the camp where they were located.

Seeing this scene, the expressions on Li Zheng and the others became extremely strange.

At this moment, the black shadows rushing over quickly also spotted them; they all froze in place, after which a familiar voice rang out:

"Who's there?"

Faced with the questioning from a familiar voice, how could Li Zheng and the others not understand what was happening.

After a brief silence, Li Zheng let out a loud cry and, leading the brothers from the Snow Valley Training Camp, pounced on the Water Valley Training Camp novices:

"Shameless! You are simply too shameless, actually trying to sneak attack us under the cover of night; caught you red-handed!"

"Too detestable; as reserve warriors, you actually harbor thoughts of a sneak attack; utterly shameful. Fortunately, we anticipated your shameless actions in advance, otherwise you would have succeeded," Gui Tong added, cursing in perfect coordination.

"Bastards, always playing dirty tricks; if you have the ability, come out in the open; what kind of skill is a sneak attack?"

"Good, luckily we had a premonition that you would come to sneak attack and made preparations in advance; now we've caught you, pah!"

Under Li Zheng and the group of hardcore players' shameless counter-accusations, the students of the Snow Valley Training Camp followed suit, adopting the strategy of "the villain suing first," loudly denouncing the shameless conduct of the Water Valley Training Camp students before pouncing and unleashing heavy blows.

On the other side, the students of the Water Valley Training Camp also understood the situation.

Apparently, the students of the Snow Valley Training Camp had coincidentally come up with the same idea as them; both sides wanted to use the night to launch a sneak attack and mentally torment the other, resulting in this collision.

But what angered all the novices of the Water Valley Training Camp was:

Everyone was playing dirty, yet the Snow Valley Training Camp students spoke with such righteousness, turning the tables and accusing them instead.

Most importantly, this damn place was their Water Valley Training Camp's grounds; they had already entered within their camp's fence, yet they still dared to claim they had anticipated the sneak attack and set up an ambush in advance.

This level of shamelessness rivaled that of the sinister beasts of the Player Clan.

And it was very likely they had learned it from the Player Clan.

"Beat them!" E Luo, who was leading them, shouted angrily at this moment, then took the lead, grabbing a Bronze Clan student who pounced forward, pinning him to the ground and raining two heavy punches squarely on his Iron Face.

The overnight great battle was about to erupt.

Students from both sides vented the anger accumulated in their hearts with every punch thrown at the students of the opposing training camp.

But with remarkable tacit understanding, whether it was the novices of the Snow Valley Training Camp or the rising stars of the Water Valley Training Camp, even when beaten black and blue, none emitted cries of pain.

They feared that overly fierce mutual brawling would wake the instructors sleeping in other rest areas.

It was fine if they didn't sleep, but if the instructors couldn't sleep, the ones suffering would be them.

Right now, they all wanted to beat the other side into submission; how could they be willing for the mutual brawling to end easily.

Even while holding back the pain, they had to continue fighting.

In the midst of the brawl, figures kept falling, but whether it was the novices of the Snow Valley Training Camp or those of the Water Valley Training Camp, they all tacitly refrained from attacking downed students, instead shifting their targets to other standing students from the hostile training camps.

This brawl differed from the cafeteria battle; there was no fifteen-minute time limit.

Therefore, the thinking on both sides was remarkably tacit: knocking down everyone on the opposing side meant victory!

Early morning.

The first ray of sunlight peeked over the horizon, red light spreading across the sky; the world beneath the falling snow swayed on the edge between dream and wakefulness.

Distant snow-capped mountains refracted golden light under the illumination, several snowbirds cried out as they flew over the training camp, the tranquility shrouded by night quietly departed, and vibrant life spread and revived.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The sound of war drums beating the earth rang out; early training time had arrived.

Kuang Sha arrived at the training ground with three instructors right on time, but when their gazes swept over the assembly point, they couldn't help but freeze.

Not a single student had arrived at the assembly point; everyone was late.

Kuang Sha's Iron Face instantly became extremely ugly; in his eyes, not following the rules was absolutely impermissible, and these students had already violated his taboos.

Unable to endure any longer, Kuang Sha turned into a streak of light and flew toward the rest area of the Snow Valley Training Camp students.

After landing, he released his perception.

To his surprise, as his perceptual view swept through every room, he discovered not a single trainee in the rest area.

Puzzled, he immediately flew into the sky, speeding toward the new trainee rest area of the Shuigu Training Camp.

A few minutes later, Kuang Sha landed in the rest area where the Shuigu Training Camp trainees were located.

When he saw the scene before him, the anger in his heart dissipated, replaced by an expression of utter helplessness.

Trainees from both camps lay on the ground bruised and battered; the scene was incredibly gruesome. A glance revealed not a single intact Iron Face—all were swollen by one circle, or even several.

This included the strongest fighters from both sides, Po Luo and Gui Tong, who had collapsed while maintaining a fighting stance with their fists pressed against each other's cheeks.

"Sigh."

Kuang Sha couldn't help but let out a sigh.

Having managed the Xuegu Training Camp for so many years, this was the first time he had ever seen extra training pushed to such an extent.

(End of Chapter)