Chapter 238

Boris stepped down, the arguing gradually subsided, and the Adventurers' Association finally got a precious breather.

Meanwhile, Mi Yang was actively selling out the Association's interests and hastily began eliminating dissenters.

With Boris mired in scandal and Greyde silent, many of their personnel were easily fired and demoted.

Thus, within the Association, both high-level and mid-level forces, even cannon fodder, suffered severe losses, amounting to a major blow to vitality.

Thus, the Adventurers' Association, whose own headquarters had been blown into ruins, was forced to withdraw from the high-stakes stage of Sunshine City.

Perhaps Mi Yang's backstab was too sharp, and each faction needed time to calm their shocked feelings.

Or perhaps Mi Yang's wave of compensation comparable to Empress Dowager Cixi's was simply too extravagant, leaving neighbors big and small still busy exercising at home to digest.

In short, the following two days in Sunshine City were unusually quiet, with both strange activities and open or covert conflicts disappearing completely.

Even the small gangs in the outer city ceased their daily infighting, obediently retreating to their own turf and no longer showing their faces.

But no one would be happy about this, for everyone knew it was merely the calm before the storm.

Now, the longer each faction keeps its fists clenched, the more powerful the heavy punch they will later throw.

It could kill people, kill a swath of people! It might even cause Sunshine City to collapse entirely!

So Ji Ming also seized this time, having White Wolf Ferlo quickly design some small dungeons to urge player development.

Given the players' current strength, unless the Iron Hoof Tribe's minotaurs and the Demon Spirit Tribe's cyclopes collectively go berserk,

otherwise, the underground plains now have no opponent strong enough to mobilize their full strength, shoulder guns, bear cannons, or even launch a full-scale assault.

Or put another way, if Ji Ming didn't want the players exposed so quickly, he wouldn't have built a one-way air wall around the mercenaries' camp.

They would have long since smashed the mercenaries' shoddy defenses, burst out of the underground, and rushed to the free public test life.

Then, since the underground plains cannot exit, the internal hostile forces left are only some weak third-rate tribes that players could trample to death with a kick.

Using them as dungeons would fail to provide the intended impetus; they could only serve as special daily tasks for diligent players to sweep away.

The material for this upcoming large-scale version update seems to have become an unsolvable problem…

Ferlo stared at the map before him for a long time, then fixed his gaze on the northern part of the logistics center.

"Your Excellency Envoy, I heard they say there are many undead here that were transformed after the war; could we…?"

This reminded Ji Ming, who had initially guessed that the undead inside might be related to the Weird Council, so he has kept arranging various surveillance and scouting, fearing they might suddenly move south.

Yet after so long, the Weird Council has indeed been up and down with plenty of activity, but this group of undead seems to have collectively gone AFK, showing no movement at all.

So…

"Since we can't yet tell whether they are friend or foe, rashly sending people over would only worsen things."

"And that place is now the players' logistics base; if fighting really breaks out, smooth sailing would be fine, but if problems arise, the players' operations will collapse!"

Perhaps the early players could discard some life-risking guerrilla tactics, but now they have already put on shoes.

Behind these over a thousand people likely stands the will of tens of thousands, so having gained a stake, they can no longer return to their former barefoot state.

"Ah, then it really is a bit troublesome…"

He let out a faint sigh, and Ferlo's gaze wandered across the map.

He habitually tapped each marked spot with his finger, and indeed it elicited a bit of inspiration.

"Your Excellency Envoy, actually within our gang, the quickest way to advance is not by undertaking dangerous missions but by challenging various enforcers."

"The strongest fighter is the gang's absolute thigh; even I, as the boss, must yield a bit."

"But the player arena seems to have always been just a trial ground for players' advanced apprenticeship; couldn't we also let them practice opposition and training here?"

Opposition training?

Oh, the sect grand competition, right!

This sect grand competition is a good thing; countless protagonists of xianxia and xuanhuan novels first make their mark here.

One hand pretends to be cool and slaps faces, the other hand overpowers and slays superiors, winning the favor of beautiful sect masters, elders, senior and junior sisters, thus rising to prominence.

One can even lay foreshadowing ahead of time, arranging a few sycophantic lemon essences eyeing the new heroine to serve as the protagonist's stepping stone, giggling and brushing up satisfaction.

And even in the real world, a grand military competition back then uncovered many legendary figures worthy of being called the captain of Huaxia.

Now Sunshine City is about to turmoil, exactly the time to employ people.

Since we cannot rely on external warfare to gauge strength, an internal showdown to sound out the players' foundations is perfectly fine!

Thus, under the banner of 【The 300th Trainee Player Finally Born】, the first Underground City Tournament began.

The competition is divided into two types; the first is team matches, whose design is relatively simple—players just need to gather five of their own to sign up.

However, during combat the use of heavy weapons, biochemical weapons, and other types of mass destruction weapons is prohibited.

Each person may use at most four equipment items; they pair off to fight, eliminating in rounds until a final champion emerges.

But if individual duels also used this format, it would inevitably be too bulky and drawn out.

So Ji Ming referred to Mount & Blade: each round ten people are thrown in, and the three who remain standing advance.

As for the prizes, excellent players who make it into the top 100 each receive a personal title corresponding to their rank.

The top ten receive a specially made outfit, the top three a specially made cloak, and the champion is awarded a super-super-super-super-super powerful, awesome-exploding crown.

Though called specially made, these accessories actually have nothing special about them.

They are merely dyed so‑called imperial purple to match the arena's Roman aesthetic.

But…

This is a closed‑beta limited‑edition skin!

Limited, limited—it's a top‑tier game's limited item, likely an 80% chance of being that absolute‑edition limited!

So there's no need to wonder whether players will show up; however many of the over 1,400 players there are, that many will come.

Even a mere level‑three loafing demon will don the novice set and rush in just to get a familiar face.

Of course, at the end of the competition rules.

【All interpretation rights for this event belong to the Great Holy Seat Company】

After thinking, Ji Ming still felt a chill down his back, so he added another sentence.

【The company reserves the right to add or remove related clauses at any time】

Fact proved, his aggressively adding overbearing clauses was correct, because on opening night the players came up with a super big stunt for him.

First——falling down ≠ I died.

To make it convenient for players to pick up others' weapons and keep fighting, Ji Ming specially added a new setting in this special event: 【Player corpses do not disappear immediately upon death】.

Then immediately, clever ghosts noticed the loophole, and not long after the battle started, they took advantage of the crowd and chaos to quietly lie on the ground pretending to be dead.

Surely someone in the audience noticed his old-six behavior, fearing others would interfere with the players' performance, the venue and stands have soundproof and obstruction designs.

So when the last three survivors realized the battle wasn't settling, they, puzzled, signaled to the arbitration team jointly formed by Fei Er Luo and the instructor team.

The Pretend-to-be-Dead Heavenly Sovereign suddenly burst forth and fiercely stabbed one of the lucky ones.

Then——your prohibition ≠ I cannot use.

The regulations only stipulate the quantity of props; the other settings are actually rather rough.

So since 'one' earth element counts as one item, a 'clump' of earth element also counts as one item—what about 'a big pile'?

That was a match between the challengers and the Starry Sky Team Two; the battle had just begun when Death God took out a large nest of earth elements and started 3D printing on the spot.

Ancient machinery isn't that complicated; as long as you beforehand pack some irreplaceable components into your backpack, you can easily obtain a bed crossbow.

Starry Sky Team Two: Zhuo!

Next——your flat terrain ≠ I lack geographical advantage.

Similar to the challengers' tactic, the Spear Blade Team Three all switched to bows and crossbows, directly using earth elements as a foundation to build an arrow tower.

Even if their opponents weren't clean either, they sneakily brought some components that could assist in hand-crafting a ballista.

Yet even if such weapons for flat-ground combat were built, they could do nothing against such sturdy defensive structures; they could only reluctantly surrender.

Thus the so-called team battle became a cyber arena: trebuchet beats tower, tower beats bed crossbow, bed crossbow beats trebuchet.

Equipment slots are limited, so the weapons players can handcraft are also limited; therefore everyone is betting on which type the opposing side will choose.

Moreover, aside from those with exceptionally large average power gaps, almost no team can escape the influence of the counter-restriction law.

The people watching Ji Ming at the sidelines were almost seeing red, but whoever rushes loses; as the game developer, he couldn't change the rules on the spot.

Just as he swallowed that breath, he saw the night's biggest stunt.

He completely smashed the solo match's——participating ≠ fighting!

One Aurora Dance went out wearing three layers of iron armor, not to mention, and also mobilized earth elements to build a safety hut right where they stood, refusing to come out no matter what.

This was a pure outlast stalemate, forcing the three players who had previously agreed to ally to turn against each other on the spot, and only after drawing lots to kill one of them did the battle end.

Originally thinking it was just two rounds, she would surely be sanctioned in the subsequent formal confrontation.

But this time, as soon as the Aurora landed, she picked up two flintlock guns and fired two shots at the opposition, then immediately retreated to the safety hut to play the turtle.

——Since it's a match, it naturally has a set time, and the victory condition for the confrontation is……

Three minutes later, the one with the least injuries wins!

Excellent!

As long as you're quick-handed, this is a surefire way to win!

Thus the spectators' eyes all began to glow, and they started borrowing earth elements from friends, family, and even major guilds.

Just as they had roughly arranged that, they saw a notification in their field of view that a new message had arrived.

【No bringing multiple pets to the competition; only one main pet may be selected。。】

But how could the players' whimsical ideas be restrained by just a few ridiculous regulations?

Some teams adopted a four-protection-one tactic.

Four people, carrying a total of twenty earth elements on their backs, at the start of the match, following the preset design, turned them all into thick armor, strapping it onto their nearly level-twenty thighs, and then watched this nearly forty-health super land tank charge back and forth, crushing the five opponents to death.

Some players also adopted an extreme armament tactic.

They specifically selected higher-level earth elements capable of producing larger parts and sturdier materials, and with over ten components they cobbled together a simplified heavy weapon, killing an unsuspecting opponent.

Even a tactic combining personal traits with digital monsters.

Death God combined earth elements with his two small turtle-back beasts, creating a super spiked armored turtle covered in spikes; wherever it went, it left only holes, directly beating to death enemies who couldn't dodge, and in one go it grew a large bunch of heart-eyes.

And these were merely special operations using the game mechanics.

As for the open and covert struggles, off‑field bribery, and sneaky tricks that often appear in regular matches, those are too many to count.

Consequently, Ji Ming had to add a new rule after every segment of the match he watched, while the players, after each round, had to devise a new loophole.

——This is hardly a player arena; it's clearly a player war plot!

Moreover, perhaps there are many messed‑up things in PVP, but when PVP is done well its popularity is indeed higher than that of a pure PVE game.

Pulling off such a stunt, the game's heat, which had been somewhat low, instantly returned to its peak.

Moreover, even though this is such an unprofessional event, its global viewership has already far surpassed the World Cup final.

After all, the big shots only get to play ball once every four years; after all these years, what big scene haven't they seen?

But five female players, over output issues, started tearing into each other on the spot; five male players, over operation issues, traded insults about each other's parents; even two couples, over coordination issues, exposed each other's green hats—it really is excessively exciting!

So Ji Ming, this modern person, could still wipe the sweat from his brow and keep adding clauses, while Fei Er Luo and the other judges had already been petrified in the stands.

「Gee, small potatoes, there'll be plenty more of this kind of thing later。」

Added a clause prohibiting tying explosives to oneself or teammates, turning into a crazy Ivan, Ji Ming was about to see what stunt the next round's players could pull off when he suddenly received a report from Cloi.

【Emergency event: The daughter of the cyclops chieftain, Wa Li Ya, requests to enter the dungeon!】

???

Ji Ming casually opened the game map, about to direct Cloi to clarify the other party's intentions, but then he froze.

The cyclopses that had always been holed up in the forest, refusing to come out, suddenly appeared in large numbers on the plains.

Moreover, they were all split into very small teams, either not in other tribes or on the way to other tribes.

As for the reason behind all this, although he doesn't know, he can also roughly guess.

That is the easternmost edge of the underground plain, the only place players have not set foot in.

Before, there were only a few hundred mercenaries in the mercenary camp, but now the number has at least tripled!

Dean An, is it your turn now?