Chapter 252: We Are All Living With All Our Might

The Weirdness Competition is, in essence, not a very difficult thing.

Its opponents have an upper limit of only the Elite level, and the difficulty of solving the puzzles is not great either.

This place is, in itself, a Dragon Gate for small fry.

The humans who can make it here, logically speaking, shouldn't be too strong either.

Suddenly hearing the question posed by Wen Xishu caused the host's brain to lag for a moment.

Then, it laughed:

"Theoretically feasible, but it won't be like that; the Demon Kings are very powerful. Hahahaha, but I really like this sense of humor."

"In an asymmetric confrontation match, the Hero's abilities are very weak; they must gather all the Heroes and work together in order to defeat the Demon King."

"One Hero fighting a group of Demon Kings? Impossible."

"Of course, the Demon King is also very challenging, and if the Demon King wins... there won't be any advantage; to obtain points, one must be a Hero."

"Defeating the Demon King, or surviving under the Demon King... both have high points that can be split equally, and the former will be very, very much."

"In the end, the qualification ranking will also be judged based on points, which will further determine the awards received."

Wen Xishu nodded; he could not control matters of probability, and although the Dice of Reversal also had the ability to determine probability, he had not rolled that kind of number this time.

Wen Xishu said:

"Alright, then how many rounds do we need in total?"

The host laughed:

"We will eventually determine the ten lucky ones who survive to the end; if the number is lower than ten, the competition will reach its final round."

Wen Xishu understood; as long as he kept the survivors to within ten, for example—leaving only himself and Zheng Zai—the competition could end early.

A truly excellent setting.

If there were endless challenge items later on, it would also make Wen Xishu feel troubled.

He did not speak further with the host, but instead went to other places with Zheng Zai to observe this area, while waiting for people from other areas to emerge from the second round of the competition.

"Brother... are you really thinking of challenging multiple Demon Kings as a Hero?" Zheng Zai heard it.

Wen Xishu first nodded and then shook his head:

"That is the plan, but the other side shouldn't be able to do it. I am temporarily unclear about this person's intentions, but if we are not classified as Demon Kings in the next stage, but instead become Heroes..."

"Then that means the official attitude of the Weirdness Competition has a certain malice toward us humans."

Zheng Zai was puzzled: "I don't understand."

Wen Xishu said:

"The host's explanation of the rules actually has a bias. He mentioned Demon Kings and Heroes, but in his words, he leaned toward letting us play as Heroes."

Zheng Zai said:

"Heroes get more points, aren't you also planning to play as a Hero, brother?"

Wen Xishu said:

"Yes, I do intend to play as someone who can get high points, but Old Zheng, its bias is meant to trap us."

"Look at the second round, a group of Rare species facing an Elite species Great Tree, but because of cowardice, they were eventually divided..."

"Heroes must work together to defeat the Demon King; when facing a Great Tree they could have defeated, they couldn't even work together, do you expect them to work together when facing a Demon King that is hard to defeat?"

"Did you notice what the host said? The game has two types of judgments: surviving from the Demon King's hands, which is to say, before time runs out, not killing the Demon King, but just ensuring one's own survival also counts as a win."

"And, killing the Demon King will get excess points—split equally. The point I'm making is the equal split."

Wen Xishu looked at Zheng Zai with a smile. He threw out the conclusion directly:

"If I weren't here, then the key to victory in the third round would be a contest of luck; whoever draws the Demon King wins."

Zheng Zai figured it out; it really was true. There is an old saying: one does not worry about scarcity, but about inequality.

An equal split seems to be the opposite of inequality, but in a game, an equal split is often actually inequality.

You get the MVP, you are 28-0-0, your teammates are 0-28-0, you are carrying the whole time, and your teammates are feeding the whole time.

In the end, you win; besides the settlement screen showing that you carried, dealt tons of damage, and turned the tide... in the end, the points you get are the same.

Do you think that's equal?

Dozens of Heroes, each one doing their best, never slacking, and selflessly contributing when facing the Demon King... is that possible?

Zheng Zai suddenly felt it was terrifying.

Drawing a Hero is just too miserable.

But Wen Xishu patted Zheng Zai on the shoulder:

"Don't be afraid, we will win."

……

……

Time passed slowly, until five hours later, when thirty-some people from the second competition zone emerged.

Another hour passed, and in the fourth competition zone, about a hundred people appeared.

Then, half an hour later, in the third competition zone, there were surprisingly about three hundred people.

After waiting for half a day, Wen Xishu and Zheng Zai were finally about to face the third round.

The lounge finally became lively again.

The host's excited voice appeared once more:

"Congratulations to everyone; some of you have already obtained a huge amount of points in the previous round, and you are already very close to becoming the lucky ones of the Weirdness Competition."

"Next, you are about to start drawing lots; the method of drawing lots is the same as how you draw cards."

"I wish for everyone to become Heroes who can overcome all obstacles, and after defeating the Demon King, stand on the stage of becoming the strong and accept your honors."

"The third round of the competition is called Hero Fights Demon King."

Wen Xishu and Zheng Zai had actually already heard the rules, but clearly, in order to keep "humans" from appearing on the stage anymore, the host had made small changes to the rules.

All survivors would be unified into a single competition zone.

That is to say, a total of four hundred and fifty people would participate in "Hero Fights Demon King" together.

The larger the base, the greater the possibility of rare probability events occurring.

Wen Xishu did not draw lots immediately, but drew cards first.

This time, he still kept the God-tier card that allowed teammates to be exempt from negative attributes, while the remaining five card slots were all replaced by Wen Xishu with combat-slaughter type God-tier cards.

This also caused Wen Xishu's point consumption to be quite large; he eventually had 240,000 points remaining.

It was mainly because Wen Xishu had basically seen all the card types, so he did not continue to waste cards.

Zheng Zai really wanted to ask about Wen Xishu's six-piece God-tier equipment configuration, but Wen Xishu just smiled and said:

"Confidential, but you can rest assured, my card slots are all good cards."

"Unlike you all, I have seen all the cards and know how to combine them to maximize benefits."

"But you guys, basically being able to do a ten-draw is already pushing it, so just use whatever you have, don't be picky."

This was the confidence of having 530,000; Zheng Zai was convinced.

His luck in this round wasn't bad either. With over a thousand points, Zheng Zai went all-in twice on the 648-point Orange card pool.

There were no God-tier cards, but he did draw one Excellent card and one Magic Energy card.

[Card Name: Death Scarecrow.]

[Grade: Magic Energy.]

[Effect: The next three fatal damages will leave a scarecrow with the same attributes as you in place, while you are transferred to a relatively safe space and receive a certain degree of healing.]

[Card Name: Vajra]

[Grade: Excellent.]

[Effect: Your overall defensive ability will be greatly improved.]

As of now, Zheng Zai's card pool had the following cards.

Magic Energy cards: Malicious Randomness, Death Scarecrow.

Excellent card: Vajra.

Order cards: Aid of Qi and Blood, Aid of Speed.

Chaos cards: Silent Marathon, Good and Evil Have Rewards.

Zheng Zai finally discarded that Good and Evil Have Rewards card, and all cards in the six card pools were loaded.

Without a doubt...

His attributes were not bad; defense, qi and blood, and speed were all okay, and he had three instances of death immunity and the ability to randomly transfer aggro.

But with such a configuration, there was no chance of winning against a Demon King.

After the card drawing segment, Zheng Zai and Wen Xishu began to draw lots.

There was no suspense; they were Heroes.

It is worth mentioning that Heroes have shortcomings and advantages.

Wen Xishu's Hero was called Sword Hero, abbreviated as Sword Hero.

And Zheng Zai's Hero was called Shield Hero, abbreviated as Shield Hero.

Sword Hero's advantage: attack speed is fast, holding a sword unlocks certain sword technique skills, and using a sword to attack has a fifteen percent chance to trigger a chain slash.

Sword Hero's shortcoming is described as follows:

"You are a taciturn swordsman; people hate it when you open your mouth and speak obscure language like 'Hasagi' that they don't understand. Over time, no one is willing to communicate with you."

"Verbal expression ability -4. Inarticulate effect +3. Ability to stir emotions with language -2."

Wen Xishu was amused when he saw this.

Fortunately, at this moment, the game has not yet begun.

Wen Xishu said:

"Not only did they give us heroes, but they also took away my greatest advantage—my silver tongue... They really harbor great malice toward humanity."

"I don't quite believe this is a coincidence; I can feel it... We are being targeted, old Zheng."

Zheng Zai did not feel good either. If Brother Wen's linguistic ability was weakened... then how could he command the others?

How could everyone unite as one?

Zheng Zai's shortcoming is called "aggressive appearance."

Simply put, because his Shield Hero looks too fierce, it naturally makes his teammates distrust him.

Wen Xishu thought to himself that this was incredible.

One is distrusted, the other lacks eloquence; with these shortcomings, they still want to cooperate seamlessly?

Are they not even pretending anymore? Are they really just aiming to get people killed?

"After entering the game, I might have trouble expressing myself. In any case, old Zheng, you follow me; just keep killing."

"In the first two games, I still thought about using my brain, but now there's no need. I just want to stretch my muscles."

Zheng Zai nodded vigorously:

"I'll listen to you!"

The two's thoughts were quickly interrupted. Because bad news had arrived.

All the warriors looked ashen.

Because among the four hundred and fifty people... there were actually twenty-three Demon Kings.

In other words, even the minimum configuration of thirty warriors against one Demon King could not be achieved.

Moreover, the difficulty of thirty warriors cooperating tacitly was already quite exaggerated.

Let alone the tacit cooperation of over four hundred heroes.

For a moment, the morale of the hero camp dropped to freezing point.

At this time, a rare species that retained a human outline but was covered in sharp spikes sighed:

"Mom and Dad... and my big brother, they died for me. I thought I must survive; even if I have to eat the flesh and blood of my own kind, I must survive."

"In that cruel apocalypse, I had to keep eating people, eating people! To become someone above others!"

"But I couldn't do it. I never attacked them; I just hid, thinking of eating some corpses. I gnawed on rotten meat all the way and evolved into a rare species."

"I also received an invitation and had a chance to leap over the dragon gate, but I didn't expect... this would actually be a death invitation."

It muttered to itself there.

But because Wen Xishu had the blessing of a special god-tier card at this moment, his five senses were very powerful.

Wen Xishu actually didn't care much about these cannon fodder and small fry.

This world is just like this: the strong devour the weak. No matter how miserable the weak were in the past, if they don't have that destiny, then there is nothing to be done.

But he suddenly felt it was a bit interesting.

"No... I must survive, I must survive! Think carefully, I must still have a way!"

"I was able to see the patterns of the previous round, so in this round, I must also be able to survive by using my brain!"

"To kill the Demon King... this option for the highest score is unlikely. But the host said, as long as you survive, it's fine!"

"Also, I must find a way to make the Demon Kings have conflicts with each other."

"The host said that the final survivors will be ten people..."

"But there are twenty-three Demon Kings."

"As long as I can make the Demon Kings realize that the real enemy is not the heroes, but other Demon Kings..."

"Then, as a hero, it is possible to survive."

Wen Xishu was slightly surprised; he had actually thought of this when he heard the number of Demon Kings.

But his "eloquence" had been significantly weakened, and it was very likely that after the game started, he wouldn't be able to do such a thing.

And he truly did not expect that there would be someone who could think of this layer just like him.

Wen Xishu began to seriously size up this rare species.

Zheng Zai followed Wen Xishu's gaze and discovered that the other party was just an ordinary rare species.

Covered in rock-gray spikes, it looked like the statues from the second round.

In fact, in the second round, this rare species had posed as a statue to slowly observe the patterns.

"Brother, is there anything special about this guy? It caught your attention," Zheng Zai asked.

Wen Xishu said:

"Old Zheng, if you encounter this guy after the game starts, you be my mouthpiece and ask for his name for me. I want him to survive."

Zheng Zai was somewhat surprised:

"Is he very special?"

Wen Xishu laughed:

"People with brains are always worth cultivating. This bizarre competition is a stage for small fry to leap over the dragon gate."

"But it is also possible that it is a place for some strong people to screen for talent. If I encounter talent, I don't mind poaching them."

Zheng Zai became interested in someone who could be spoken of like that by Wen Xishu.

"He thought of a correct entry point to survive, which is very good. Rare species and elite species, apart from the gap in strength, also have a gap in brains compared to leader-level and sovereign-level."

"I think highly of this guy."

Zheng Zai asked:

"So... Brother, did you hear his method for dealing with those Demon Kings? Do you plan to win by wit in this round?"

Wen Xishu shook his head very seriously:

"No, I said, I am going to slaughter in this round. I need to give the host a little shock so that he will reveal the secrets behind the scenes."

"I plan to clear the level with violence and not follow the mechanics. I could have actually done that in the first two rounds, but I wanted to try clearing with technique."

"However, I'm tired of playing that way. Everyone is living with all their might, so I should also use my might, shouldn't I?"

(End of chapter)