Chapter 252

Magic City, Heaven Thunder Entertainment Company headquarters.

Just as tech companies often don't like technology much but are keen on real estate and agriculture, the office environment of entertainment companies is actually not entertaining at all.

Relentless KPIs, laterally jumping publicity plans, and from time to time a heavy-duty emergency PR event...

Beneath the stars' glamorous façades are overworked workers struggling to get by, and under the steady progress of projects are shoddy troupes barely holding on.

Everyone together cradles a patched-up broken-down vehicle, waiting for it to gradually fade, age, and be scrapped, or simply to explode with a shocking scandal and ascend to heaven on the spot.

And today, they seem to be attending the funeral of a "car" again, and it's a top-tier luxury car personally smashed by the client.

Pounding the plunging ratings on the screen, the directly plummeting topic value, and the program heat whose decline rivals the surrender speed of the French white flag.

Howard lowered his gaze, scanning each person at the table.

"Is this the top-tier variety show of the new era you promised me during negotiations?"

"This..."

Although everyone here is silent as cicadas now, if we really talk about it, those who can sit here are all prominent backbone figures in the industry.

Thus, the previously smug and seemingly certain-to-win program producer Liu Zhen now can only obediently shrink into a corner, sweating profusely.

Unfortunately, even if he shrinks his head under the table, he cannot escape today's fate of being settled, and can only hear the patron father's soft call like a Death God.

"Producer Liu, come and explain to all the leaders present?"

"Explain? What's there left to explain?"

Other companies do full-time live broadcasts as a hidden strength test, with daily highlights, while our these stars have been poked all the way to the numb tendons!

【New-generation top star Lin Xiao refuses labels, does all his action scenes personally】

Then during the live broadcast he was beaten up by several dog-headed people like monkeys, and if it weren't for the bodyguards helping out, he would almost have been taken down on the spot as a woman.

【Three praises a day, everyone sings his praises, why does Xia Qiu always become the team's pet?】

Then when visiting the Sharp-Tooth Tribe, he wore a smug, farting face the whole time and refused to eat anything, shattering his "handsome-voiced-high-EQ" persona.

And the others, because they rarely stir up scandals in daily life, don't have as many laughingstocks for others to seize.

But if we don't compare the trash, just bumping into the gimmicks and performances of top-tier players like "Blade Brothers," "Nomadic Cavalry," and "Suicidal Heroes" would quickly leave us with our pants down.

Such an outcome is that after the initial phenomenon-level hype, the show "Crazy Another Dimension" lost all points of interest and successfully achieved a burst-open-burst-run.

Lacking strength in battle, courage in negotiation, and patience in farming, they became a minor transparent among players, unanimously chosen to be forgotten by the group.

Even as of last night, their ratings were already inferior to the neighboring "Goblin Tribe Farming Chronicles," a pure amateur pastime directed by slimes...

Moreover, in this bleak situation, the seven guests actually developed disagreements among themselves.

The stars look down on streamers, the doers look down on ornaments, split into several factions, they are outwardly united but inwardly divided.

If we don't call a halt, the ratings might surge—referring to a few guests fighting on the spot, this ruthless act the crowd would surely love to see.

Of course, from Howard's perspective, choosing to end this column also carries another thought.

——He regretted it.

If we were to turn the mental journey of this top-tier second-generation heir from across the ocean into words, it would roughly be……

"I'm really stupid, truly, I only knew to make a big splash at launch to attract more players, I didn't expect the quality to be so bad!"

Superficially throwing money around can indeed recruit manpower, but where can genuine talent be had just by throwing out a bit of cash?

Even if he uses the classic last-place elimination and wage raises to boost staff initiative, giving Jiang Gan more money won't turn him into Zhuge Liang.

On the contrary, to maintain his "Rich Guy" persona and positioning, he burned through the activity funds cleanly, and even poured in extra money of his own.

If it weren't for snagging the contemporary khan "Let the Arrow Fly" to serve as tactical core, he would have prepared to tell his uncle the mission failed.

In other words, the impressions of the official personnel from both sides over the past month and a half are roughly……

"Really envious, really envious, how do they have so much activity funding and manpower under them, even the little flies secretly stealing money can be well kept."

"Really envious, really envious, how do they have so many excellent talents and output under them, even a little girl can participate in firearms R&D and testing."

Damn, if I had known earlier I would have poured all that money into smashing the star players, just how many detours have I taken!

Howard seethed the more he thought, about to use his long-honed negotiation skills to harshly interrogate Liu Zhen, when he suddenly received a message from internal staff.

"Really reflect on why everything concerning you entertainment companies is always so terrible!"

Leaving a single questioning sentence, he walked out of the meeting room to a nearby deserted corner.

"Handling real-world matters, what's up?"

Having just heard two sentences, his calm and steady expression suddenly stiffened, followed by a distorted low growl.

"What the heck?"

Since An De Lu's plan is to make a quick profit and cut losses, it's natural to try to tear off the biggest, fattest chunk of meat from the Pioneers in one go.

Not only can he eat his fill with greasy lips, but he can also maximally provoke the enemy's anger to help himself clear out the mercenary squads left behind.

Therefore, after finalizing the plan, he beforehand sent personnel to conduct reconnaissance and layout, figuring out the Pioneers' convoys' travel times and directions during the day.

The result showed it might be because they had just pacified the Sharp-Tooth Tribe and Demon Spirit Tribe's troubles, the relaxed environment made the Pioneers' market transactions unusually frequent.

Moreover, a considerable portion of those goods were being escorted by the underground city's official convoys, transporting them toward those two tribes.

And they happen to be located at the two north-south corners of the eastern underground plain, far from the underground city but close to the mercenary camp.

This place is already considered at the junction of the two major forces, the Pioneers' control is infinitely weakened, making it very suitable for operation.

If so, heavenly timing, earthly advantage, and human harmony all stand on his side; if he doesn't act boldly now, he would be wasting the opportunity they created for him!

Thus, at around eleven o'clock that morning, when the mercenaries calculated that the Pioneers had the fewest people active outside, An De Lu personally led the team to launch an attack.

However, rather than calling it an attack, it's more like an ambush.

They had hidden in advance in the hazardous terrain that the convoys must pass through, preparing to wait by the tree for a rabbit.

Moreover, because most players have other matters to handle near year-end, the convoys of the past two days have been autonomously operated by NPCs of the underground city.

Thus, looking around, the convoys mostly consist of dog people and lizard people who have gained some trust.

Unfortunately, just a few days of training cannot yet make them qualified convoy guards, and this route, which they haven't run many times, they are also not proficient in.

The few players in the convoy were merely small streamers doing jobs for money, completely unable to match the vigilance and combat strength of the core players.

So although they knew from some literary works that there might be an ambush here, by the time they reacted it was already too late.

"Charge, seize their goods!"

With the vice alliance leader's promise of unlimited plunder, this band of brigands erupted with two hundred percent of their initiative.

Breaking their usual habit of loafing, they immediately surrounded this weak beastman group without a word.

Normally they might have played around, capturing a few to torture to death for fun.

But the vice captain said, since they wanted to snatch more meat from the Pioneers' hands, they had to be fast, not leaving a single survivor!

Actually, from the players' perspective, this order was essentially meaningless whether it existed or not.

After all, with the public channel in place, players could communicate anytime, anywhere—nothing like life and death could stop it.

This didn't hinder the mercenaries from perfectly carrying out An De Lu's orders; they gave the convoy no chance to flee, drawing their knives and slashing.

The convoy guards were quickly slaughtered to a man, and all the cargo fell into their hands.

With An De Lu's plan and prodding, their looting of the underground city convoys proceeded smoothly to a deadly degree.

The massive haul then turned into fighting spirit, driving them to launch an assault on the next convoy.

Unfortunately, only with An De Lu's full‑time design and command could such orderly execution be achieved; other units had no such luck.

As the saying goes, a crafty rabbit has three burrows—likewise for banditry. To cover his own clean retreat, he also dispatched many units to disrupt sight and sound.

The purpose of these cannon‑fodder units was to attack convoys nearer the underground city and to assault the Pioneers' market, which was almost impossible to capture.

Even such a simple suicide mission was carried out by these mercenaries in a dragging, disgraceful manner.

Especially the unit tasked with attacking the Pioneers' market, which was habitually lax, not only failed to reach the target on schedule but arrived nearly half an hour late.

Who would have thought that this half‑hour delay would, invisibly, lend An De Lu a powerful hand.

After all, "Code Name: Yangyue" is ultimately just a "game"; few players can drop their real‑world responsibilities and log in instantly.

By the time they finally managed to free up time to prepare a pursuit of the enemy, they learned that the market had also suffered a fierce attack.

Almost everyone thought this was the mercenaries' "feign‑attack‑the‑west‑to‑strike‑the‑east" tactic, and the players hurried back to the market.

They discovered that the so‑called attackers were merely a bunch of clueless troublemakers who hadn't even fled—worthless scraps that could amount to nothing.

But after this back‑and‑forth, by the time they realized and returned to the eastern plains, An De Lu had already fled with a huge haul, nonstop, back to the underground encampment.

The furious, impotent lot could only bring back the convoy guards' incomplete corpses, painstakingly searching to find out whose bodies they were.

Finally they were shocked to discover that, aside from the heavy losses among the already few lizardmen troops, Doggy Village had suffered casualties exceeding half…

In an instant, whether they were already online or still busy in reality, whether they were participating players or merely watching the proceedings, everyone flew into a rage.

"When we closed‑beta players fought three thousand goblins for three days and three nights, we barely saved all the dogs' lives—now over half are gone just like that???"

【What the heck, why did the mercenaries suddenly take the initiative? Who can tell me what stage‑design logic this is?】

【I think these mercenaries have given up, brothers—this grudge must be repaid!】

Yet amid the surge of public anger, the Player Council did not follow the majority's plan; instead it poured cold water on them and prioritized raising objections.

【It's true that when we players unite we are indeed strong, but no matter how chaotic and lawless those mercenaries are, they are still thousands of sane, strong humans】

【It's noon now; the vast majority of players, especially the core players, cannot go online, our strength is lacking—this is not a good time to strike at the mountain mercenaries】

【Therefore our suggestion is to meet at ten tonight at the Underground City gate, strike as one, and raze the mercenaries' lair!】

At that very moment, a transparent box popped up in the lower‑right corner of every online player's view.

【Final Trial: Fourth Calamity Descends】

【Mission Briefing: This is the last main‑line mission of the internal test phase—give them a little player shock】

【Mission Objective: Spare no expense, hunt down and exterminate the fleeing mountain mercenaries】

【Mission Reward: Distributed according to the number of surviving mercenaries; the maximum is the resurrection of all NPCs who died in this event, plus a limited title】

【Current number of surviving mercenaries: 5259】

This is actually similar to the final trial from the original closed beta!

Originally still hesitating how to explain the sudden mass deaths to Big Yellow Qimis and the others, the players breathed a sigh of relief and turned their eyes to this reward.

As long as we kill these mercenaries, the dead NPCs can be revived……

In fact there's no need to wait until evening; all players who can go online this whole afternoon do so.

Those rushing to level up in battle, those earning money for gear, those discussing the night offensive—everyone is earnestly preparing their forces.

Although we haven't reached the near‑unity of the closed beta, the sight of over a thousand people pulling in the same direction is still quite shocking.

Moreover, even in this urgent special situation, some players still noticed the "hint" hidden in the mission description.

【Did you notice? The NPCs that can be revived are not those killed by the mercenaries, but the NPCs who died in this event!】

【In other words, we can also go ask other tribes for help; as long as we make the mission succeed perfectly we can achieve a perfect ending with zero deaths!】

Although this speculation is bold, carrying it out would also feel like a gamble.

But while the Player Council was still debating whether to ask the Underground Plain's tribes for reinforcements, Pure Love Old Ox Argus unexpectedly led hundreds of minotaurs to the city gate.