Chapter 248: No Skill, All Stats

Wen Xishu certainly knows that points do not represent combat power, but in a certain sense...

If in a card game, others are still relying on daily check-ins and grinding to build their card pools, while you already have unlimited draws...

Then it is hard to say that your combat power would not be the one doing the crushing.

Wen Xishu has indeed never fought such a wealthy battle.

Zheng Zai was stunned:

"How... how much? Brother, how much did you just say?"

Wen Xishu made a shushing gesture:

"You heard me right. Keep it low-key, old Zheng, I will protect you as much as I can."

Zheng Zai felt a wave of dizziness in his brain.

Of course, this number had nothing to do with him, but even so, hearing it still felt absurd.

It was as absurd as if, in a martial arts world, others were still practicing some sword manual and fighting to the death, while you had already comprehended the Heaven and Earth Manifestation.

The gap in this number was so large it didn't seem like the same game. And as a contestant in the Weird Competition—Zheng Zai could see the card pools.

He also understood what such a massive point gap meant.

The white card pool can draw Chaos-attribute cards. The price is 6 points per draw.

Of course, if you are lucky, there is a small probability of drawing Order cards, a tiny probability of drawing Elite cards, a super-low probability of drawing Magic Energy cards, and an extremely low probability of drawing Weird God cards.

The blue card pool can draw Chaos cards or Order cards, with a small probability of Elite cards, a super-low probability of Magic Energy cards, and an extremely low probability of Weird God cards; the cost is 30 points per draw.

Seeing this, Zheng Zai basically understood that with his score, the best card pool he could choose was the blue one.

The subsequent purple card pool, at 128 points per draw, starts with Order cards, with a small probability of Elite cards, a tiny probability of Magic Energy cards, and an extremely low probability of Weird God cards.

Zheng Zai felt he wasn't in a position to be extravagant yet...

And further on, the orange card pool, at 648 points per draw, has a high probability of drawing Elite cards, a small probability of drawing Order cards, a small probability of drawing Magic Energy cards, and a super-low probability of Weird God cards.

The probability of Weird God cards advances from extremely low to super-low, and the probability of drawing good cards is also significantly increased.

But even that Innocent Cockroach could only afford one such high-stakes gamble.

There are even higher ones. The black card pool at 1888 points per draw. A tiny probability of drawing Weird God cards, a thirty percent chance of drawing Magic Energy cards, and a fifty percent chance of drawing Elite cards.

This is not something Zheng Zai can hope for.

Zheng Zai is even wondering how many times he would have to pass trials in the Weird Competition... to be able to afford one such draw?

After all, even those monsters seem unable to afford it.

His own sequence, attributes, runes, and items only added up to a three-digit point total; if he could draw cards from a four-digit point pool, the improvement would surely be much greater than his original abilities, right?

But that is all too far away.

He still has an extremely vast point gap from the top-tier card pools.

Zheng Zai originally thought that even for brother Wen... he could probably only afford a few draws in the early stages?

It turns out he was wrong.

Five hundred and thirty thousand... what an exaggerated number.

He can not only draw, but he wouldn't even consume half his points after a hundred draws.

"Brother... you, you are really no longer human. Isn't this too perverted?" Zheng Zai was very happy.

But because of the excessive surprise, the joy was clearly suppressed and not very visible.

Wen Xishu hadn't expected it to be like this either.

"My items are worth much more than my attributes... of course, I have to admit, I do have a few rather absurd sequences and runes."

"Now that I think about it, I seem to have quite a lot of treasures. If the game had kept my original abilities, perhaps I wouldn't have had such a big advantage, but this game chose to quantify my items and abilities..."

"In this way, it actually amplified my advantage."

Wen Xishu was quite calm.

Old Zheng's items, only the Sunshine Rainbow Little White Horse Chainsaw is quite awesome, and his sequence... is indeed very useful, but it could only be exchanged for two or three points.

Wen Xishu thinks about it now... some of the items on him are truly terrifying. It just so happens that this time he chose a "Wing-to-Wing" effect, which is a topsy-turvy throwing effect that can amplify his own attributes.

The result is that his stats are overpowered.

He felt completely at ease. This is a good thing; this way, he can deeply experience this game. The fault tolerance is so high that he almost cannot make a mistake.

"Next, let's see how this Weird Competition is organized."

"We actually still have a significant disadvantage. The competition events for the Weird Competition are not yet clear, so we cannot underestimate the enemy, but what is certain is that our human bodies will definitely put us in a relatively unfavorable state in certain segments."

Yes, although everyone's abilities and items have been converted into points, for example, the cockroach's powerful body, agile crawling ability... and that van with centipede legs, their natural physical qualities are right there.

Those with wings can fly, those with iron skin can take a beating. These are advantages humans do not have.

Zheng Zai also nodded; he still hadn't recovered from the number five hundred and thirty thousand.

And now, it seems no one can draw cards yet. In the lounge, everyone is staying in their original positions, as if waiting for something.

Because Wen Xishu and Zheng Zai were too normal, they were out of place in this environment, and after everyone stopped being curious about why humans had come here...

No one paid any attention to them.

The lounge is very lively, with all kinds of weird creatures communicating; most of them are "rare species" or "common species."

Innocent Cockroach should have touched the threshold of an elite species.

Compared to elite species and leaders, most of the creatures here are very weak, and Wen Xishu is also curious, what kind of competition is this?

It looks like... he won't encounter any interesting existences.

Wen Xishu looked at Zheng Zai:

"Old Zheng, if... if we win this Weird Competition, but I end up getting a rare sequence or item and you don't, would you be unwilling?"

Zheng Zai shook his head:

"What are you saying, brother? If I can climb the tower with you, you can have all the rewards; as long as I can survive, that's enough."

Zheng Zai was telling the truth; after all, climbing the tower with Wen Xishu, he felt it relied mainly on Wen Xishu.

This time is the same, with two hundred initial points, fighting those seven or eight hundred, eight or nine hundred point monsters... his disadvantage is huge, not to mention the physical gap.

You have to know, he doesn't have a sequence now, and he really can't stomach those weird things.

Wen Xishu felt a little better inside.

Actually, logically speaking...

The "Coincidence" effect would make him steal the fruits of his opponent's labor, and if he stole them, he stole them; he shouldn't have any psychological burden.

After all, he is confident that in the Weird Tower, he will definitely be the one who carries.

However, facing old Zheng, Wen Xishu still felt guilty, thinking he must let old Zheng make a good profit.

Before long—

All discussion stopped, and all the weird creatures saw a huge stage appear at the center.

A character wearing a gray suit and a ridiculous big-head mask, suspected to be the host, appeared.

It held a microphone in its hand.

"Wow, this is truly the largest-scale Weird Competition in recent years; just in this division alone, there are nearly a thousand people."

"Hello, little minions, welcome to the Weird Competition! This is the highest-rated program in the Three Towers World!"

"Let me hear your cheers first! Get rowdy!"

The host pointed the microphone toward the audience, as if those below were not contestants, but fans who had come to listen to its concert.

The key is that all the weird creatures actually cooperated and got rowdy.

The deafening cheers made even Wen Xishu feel his eardrums vibrating.

Especially that van with centipede legs; the sound it made was a car horn, which was unusually piercing.

"Very good, very enthusiastic. I believe that in your division, there will be one person, or even more than one, standing on the final awards stage."

"You must crave higher evolution, you must crave having stronger qualifications! And the Weird Competition is the stage that provides you with dreams!"

"It's not just the humans in the bunkers who are qualified to progress as if they are cheating! You can too, as long as you pass the layers of tests in the Weird Competition and win in the end! Then congratulations, from now on you are no longer cannon fodder in the Three Towers War; you will become a significant existence!"

"Of course, if you perform well enough, you won't just become an elite species; you will even become a leader! At that time, the gates of the Sovereign will no longer be closed!"

After listening, Wen Xishu roughly understood that this was probably an opportunity for the vast common and rare species groups in the Three Towers World.

There were even a few elite species among them.

These monsters, who were originally mowed down in the Three Towers World, had a vast obsession with becoming stronger and evolving... which constructed a special obsession world—

The Weird Competition.

Ironically, the host mentioned that bunker humans could progress by climbing the tower, while Wen Xishu and Zheng Zai, who were bunker humans—

Had actually snuck into the Weird Competition.

At this moment, Wen Xishu remembered... this was almost something only old Zheng was qualified to enter.

Because old Zheng's guide said that old Zheng's bizarre way of killing people made the mechanism mistakenly think old Zheng was a monster.

Old Zheng likes to solve problems by eating, and this special method led to him being judged as non-human.

This is what led to old Zheng receiving the Weird Competition entry ticket.

The key is, it was a double ticket, damn it.

Wen Xishu was a bit amused; if they won... as humans, would they also receive elite or leader-level qualifications?

Regardless, this competition made Wen Xishu very interested.

As it happened, Wen Xishu and Zheng Zai were also about to face their first round of challenges.

"Although you all have bright futures, our elimination stage is very cruel. Are you ready? The first round, Punishment of the Ten Mirrors. There are nearly a thousand people in this division, and the same goes for other divisions."

"And you thousand people will be divided into ten groups. Each group has one hundred people."

The host let out a weird laugh:

"Tsk tsk tsk, the first round will eliminate ninety percent of the people; each group will likely only have ten survivors."

"However, everyone, you can all draw cards. The cards you draw might just help you survive the first round of eliminations, even if you make the wrong choice."

"So, next, the first round of the competition is about to begin. Everyone has three minutes to draw cards."

A massive countdown of one hundred and eighty seconds appeared above the host's head.

At the same time, Wen Xishu and Zheng Zai discovered that red boundary lines were beginning to appear all around them.

These dividing lines, also called boundary lines, appeared suddenly, splitting the hall into ten areas.

Cold sweat broke out on Zheng Zai:

"The first round... it's a narrow escape. It's roughly one survivor out of ten. Thank goodness, brother, thank goodness you and I are in the same area and weren't separated by the boundary lines."

Wen Xishu thought about it; he still needed to stay with Zheng Zai at all times to prevent old Zheng from being assigned to another area where he wouldn't be able to protect him.

As the dividing lines constructed the ten areas, the scene also began to shift.

Wen Xishu and Zheng Zai both saw ten square, giant mirrors appear in the sky.

They could no longer see the situation in other areas; just within their own area, ten mirrors appeared in the sky.

Wen Xishu looked at the mirrors, which were extremely strange. He couldn't see anyone else in the mirrors, only himself reflected fully, distorted into a square shape.

At the same time, all the display stands vanished. In their place, coffins appeared.

The scene appeared ghostly and eerie.

There were one hundred people in the area where Wen Xishu was, so one hundred coffins appeared.

The coffins were large, enough to accommodate beings with special body types.

The one hundred coffins were all numbered, from 01 to 100.

The host said:

"Start from one, end at ten. Everyone, the first round challenge, the Punishment of Ten Mirrors, is about to appear. The mirrors hide eerie creatures; they come from another world..."

"They will take your lives. Interesting, isn't it?"

"But only ten specially numbered coffins can allow you to resist the Punishment of Ten Mirrors. Pick your lucky numbers, hehe, good luck."

The host disappeared.

There were ninety-five seconds left on the one hundred and eighty-second countdown.

Zheng Zai panicked. He chose the blue card pool, the 30-point pool, and drew two cards. He didn't dare draw too many because there were many challenges ahead.

He worried that if he used them all now, he would be left helpless later.

So he only drew two cards, consuming 60 points. His heart ached, but he was even more panicked because both cards... were Chaos cards.

The trashiest cards; so-called Chaos means the cards might even bring negative effects.

For example, the card Zheng Zai drew—"Silent Marathon."

[Card Name: Silent Marathon.]

[Grade: Chaos Card.]

[Effect: You will be unable to speak, but your running speed will double.]

For the first stage, the Punishment of Ten Mirrors, it was completely meaningless.

Zheng Zai had a total of four card slots. He didn't equip this card immediately but looked at the second card.

[Card Name: Good and Evil Have Rewards]

[Grade: Chaos Card]

[Effect: If you are evil enough, you will be lucky enough; if you are kind enough, misfortune will entangle you.]

Two useless cards.

Sixty points, just like that, gone!

Zheng Zai was on the verge of despair. At this moment, Zheng Zai received a prompt—

[Detected that you have no extra cards and have remaining card slots; the drawn cards will be forcibly equipped.]

He couldn't speak anymore.

Because of the effect of Silent Marathon. Zheng Zai panicked completely. He began to gesture with his hands, trying to let Wen Xishu know that his situation was dire.

He didn't know which numbered coffin to choose. If he chose based on luck... he had no luck to speak of right now.

Zheng Zai felt it now; there was nothing easy about the Eerie Tower.

But soon after, Zheng Zai discovered he could speak again.

"Damn, brother Wen... I just found out I couldn't speak, and I was so anxious. What... what exactly happened?"

"It's fine, old Zheng. In my card slots, all four are God cards now. I reckon there will be ways to expand card slots later. Oh, right, one of the God cards is called 'Great Healer,' which can make teammates immune to negative card effects."

Zheng Zai said with pleasant surprise:

"That's divine! Brother, you are simply too divine!"

Wen Xishu smiled faintly.

As long as you have enough points, what card can't you draw? He even sacrificed a pile of cards. Wen Xishu did a ten-draw from the top-tier card pool right from the start, and the prompt he received was that the cards were over-spec, allowing him to choose to sacrifice cards to increase the probability of getting good cards next time.

This game design was actually quite conscientious.

In short, Wen Xishu had only consumed forty thousand points and was already fully equipped with four God cards.

One of the cards directly made old Zheng immune to negative attributes.

And there was another card that allowed Wen Xishu to find a scapegoat.

In other words, in this round, Wen Xishu could choose someone to die in his place.

Among these one hundred coffins, no matter which one he chose, he would survive the Punishment of Ten Mirrors.

[Card: Calamity Transfer. Consumable.]

[Grade: Eerie God Card.]

[Effect: You will not receive any damage this round, but in exchange, you will designate one person to bear all the damage you receive until the end of this turn.]

This was an Eerie God Card; the card's ability was so powerful it could almost directly influence the outcome.

Normally, Wen Xishu would need to constantly clear stages and accumulate points, and only by the final stage might he have one.

But now, still in the elimination selection stage... he was fully equipped with four God cards.

"No need for technique; I can win this stage purely on stats... but I happen to want to try."

Theoretically, he didn't need to play the puzzle-solving part; he could just brute-force it.

But Wen Xishu was also curious if he could try to clear it without using God-tier equipment.

There were twenty-five seconds left on the countdown.

Start from one, end at ten...

This was the only hint the host gave. It looked like a riddle. Wen Xishu also saw that the coffins numbered one through ten had already been occupied by various eerie creatures.

After all, interpreting it literally, it seemed one through ten were the lucky numbers; hiding in these ten numbered coffins would allow one to survive.

But Wen Xishu didn't think so.

He looked at the ten mirrors in the sky, a smile on his lips. At this moment, nineteen seconds remained. Zheng Zai was anxious:

"Brother, time is running out!"

Wen Xishu said:

"It's fine, I think I've found the answer."

(End of chapter)