Chapter 315

Although I've already seen plenty of heaven-defying contradictions and pacing on the internet, even something as trivial as the timing of closed beta and open beta entering the game can be forcibly split into two categories; such formidable civil-war capability still leaves Earth Mother wide-eyed.

However, those few who killed other players for their own gain in the closed beta and were directly banned still cry foul online as clowns; whether baring teeth and waving claws or clenching fists in anger, neither side dares to take further extreme action, fearing that if they provoked the conflict they'd be banned, so they only engage in lip service, trying to goad the opponent into striking first.

What are you looking at!

What's it to you!

Looking for a beating, huh? If you've got the guts, come fight me!

Fine, but you're only level 1; how about this: I, big brother, will stand still and let you hit me!

Nonsense, I'm a trained fighter; even at level 1 I can smack your face. If you've got the guts, make the first move, come on!

But the open beta guilds wanted to catch up to the closed beta guilds' first-mover advantage, while the closed beta guilds wanted to keep their lead; these things aren't achievable by mere bragging and fighting, so after exchanging trash talk for a while, both sides received a message from guild officials telling them to retreat.

But retreat is retreat—like two dogs forcibly pulled apart, knowing they can't fight this time, both sides actually poured even more venom into their harsh words.

Remember, it's you who doesn't dare to hit, not that I'm not giving you a chance!

You're being mouthy, huh? Don't know which bastard keeps shrinking back!

Now the Inner City of Sunshine City has already become a ruin; even when the closed beta players were there, they felt cleaning up was extremely arduous, let alone this period when they temporarily cannot enter the game.

So Ji Ming, after announcing the server shutdown, also left Yangyue World, adjusting the time flow between here and Earth to the slowest; thus, when the game's open beta arrives seven days later today, Sunshine City will have passed only a little over an hour, allowing all the players' previous arrangements to continue.

Therefore, as those professional fighters' angry street curses faded away, the Holy Light Church's cultivators stared blankly at the rescue site, where suddenly several times more Pioneers had appeared out of nowhere; they had only just made formal contact with these Life Sovereign believers the night before, and now, trying to grasp what was going on, they could find no suitable person to ask.

Moreover, having spent years grinding in the circles, seeing many ups and downs, Flower Uncle Fu Le, who had already begun shifting behind the scenes during the closed beta, had a flash of insight; he specially brought a few members of the Gun Blade with better demeanor to pay respects.

Not only did he meet the important NPC Archbishop Tenis, who yesterday was flinging AOE skills as Ping A wildly, but he also leveraged the explosive news of 【Life Sovereign Holy Face Great Joy, additionally summoning at least 300,000 Pioneers】 to fiercely establish his presence before this group of Holy Light cultivators.

Three hundred thousand...

After seeing off that group which repeatedly stressed they were from the Gun Blade Pioneers, Tenis then began pacing in his office, pulling at his hair, his mind in turmoil.

If it weren't for this suspicious group having official endorsement from their own deity, she would suspect this is a charade staged by the Life Sovereign and the Shadow God, for according to the latest investigative report, the number of citizens who died in the Inner City during this disaster is also about three hundred thousand—this is practically swapping the cage for the bird!

But regardless of these Pioneers' intentions, the sudden surge of manpower still greatly sped up the Inner City's cleanup and reconstruction, and as time passed, their visibly rapid growth in level and quality further boosted that speed.

Because, upon the game's open beta launch, the dungeon's practical training camp—one of the game's most important parts—instantly became a Spring Festival travel rush scene; the monsters, finally getting a break, began a nonstop twenty-four-hour infinite death hell, and although in the short term no player would grind to the experience cap, batch after batch of players who already had a certain level still marched in droves to the surface, starting their own otherworldly adventures.

But people are people; in this process, naturally some greedy guilds would want to seize one or two of the level-grinding rooms, monopolize certain monster types for profit, yet before they could clash with players or even the major guilds, the game immediately announced a strict ban on any player occupying level-grinding rooms, with heavy penalties upon discovery.

Most of those who were obsessed were scared off by the threat of 'heavy penalties'; in order to preserve their accounts they sheepishly dismantled the checkpoints they'd set up, fleeing in disgrace amid the players' applause and cheers.

But even though Chong Ba Ge was so ruthless he'd nearly used every severe punishment under the sun, he still couldn't extinguish the greed in every greedy person's eyes, let alone a mere threat on paper from the so-called game officials; therefore, there are still clever sorts trying to commit offenses despite the crackdown.

We haven't occupied any level-grinding rooms; we just painstakingly cleaned the ground in front of its door. If you want to dirty it, you ought to give us some hard-earned money anyway.

Yeah, if you really can't, you can fly past like birds or dig a tunnel like moles; we won't stop you, hahaha...

Ji Ming: pleased.

What petty thieves dare to play word games with my rules? In this regard I'm your ancestor!

But this sort of rabble isn't worthy of his personal action, so Ji Ming raised his hand and sent a message to Mouse Kid—perfect for letting Mouse Kid practice with this thing; next, the Underground World's dragon-head staff will be its crutch.

Moreover, during this time, this group, who were naturally domineering in reality but had been forced to reform due to the crackdown, have gradually come into conflict with the angry onlookers.

Hey, you guys aren't just being pure scoundrels, are you?

No, do you really think the Great Holy Seat is vegetarian? You dare to play tricks with them?

Exactly! I tell you, the Justice guild hates nothing more than your overbearing, domineering types; they'll come to clean you up!

Bang!

A sudden loud bang cut through the players' fervor; it turned out to be the leader of the bullies, who had fallen off a stool and stood up, shouting.

Round them up, round them up, gather whatever birds! Anyone who dares step forward another pace, I'll tear him apart alive!

No wonder he reacted like a startled cat, huffing and puffing; mainly, this society big brother with a flower‑arm tattoo had indeed been cleaned up before, having just come out of two years in lockup—this remark is as painful as sticking an egg‑beater in his wound and stirring.

——Pain! Too painful!

But the game isn't reality; everyone gathered from all over are lucky—why should players have to endure your temper just because they feel like it?

Immediately someone rolled up their sleeves, glared, and opened their mouth to shout 'Mom!'

Holy shit! What's so great about you? A level‑4 little Karami dares to shout here and even wants to overturn the heavens!

Good grief, another keyword!

Hey you, if I can't hit the baton I'll still hit you!

Now the big brother was utterly furious; he let out a strange shout, his eyes bulged, and he immediately lunged forward to grapple.

But just then, a gray figure shot out like a bolt of lightning; before Society Bro could even grasp what was happening, he felt a heavy blow to his abdomen, and his hefty body flew backward like a torn sack, clattering to the ground.

Holy fuck……damn……

He swallowed the sweet‑bloody taste rising in his throat, struggled to rise to see what kind of hero had KO'd him with one punch, but what met his eyes was……

As one of the earliest mice to follow the savior Gao Wei, Mouse Kid, while feeling his way across the river with Ji Ming and continually developing his own small force, also strives to leverage strengths and avoid weaknesses through differentiated competition, constantly researching new tactics based on the current version environment to seek new directions.

Thus, while vigorously promoting the Rat Person Project, Mouse Kid clearly realizes that for a long time to come he will be dealing with this group of mainly sentient human life, so he has abandoned some terrifying, evil evolutionary paths and instead chosen to ruthlessly raise his own appearance, striving to look harmless to humans and beasts alike.

And as everyone knows, among rodents the animal with the best reputation, most stable emotions, and highest popularity is——

Capybara?

Although there had been an intention to shift in this direction before, Mouse Kid now looks outwardly no different from a real capybara, lying calmly on the spot with eyes half‑closed; it seems the magic rat that just flew over and beat up the big guy wasn't it.

However, as the monarch of the macroscopic concept of the rat race, for it to personally take action against the enemy is already a lowering of its noble status; therefore, the ones stepping forward to negotiate with this group of Pioneers are, from its retinue, the currently smartest and most likable‑looking group of mole people.

After a period of optimization and training, they, who originally only knew the beast‑folk common tongue, have now learned human language; and after calming the onlookers, the mole people's first move was to pull out ropes and truss up this troublemaking gang of bullies with intricate bindings.

What are you doing!

I warn you not to touch me!

Yikes!

Looking at this group of staggering, continually approaching humanoid creatures, what makes these burly men repeatedly scream in shock is naturally not that they look exactly like the protagonist of some cartoon, nor even that they perfectly replicate the cute appearance of three tufts of hair on the head and a red‑tip nose; rather, it is……

Ow, hiss—ah, what kind of rat are you guys!

They tragically realized they truly couldn't beat these mole people; they don't know whose 'byd' they learned their shovel technique from, just smacking people on the back of the head!

Be honest, you hateful humans—this is your punishment for having just slandered our mole‑rat clan, who only know how to dig tunnels, squeak!

No matter how you say it, this is an open beta with ever‑growing player numbers, so Ji Ming can't and won't manage it as strictly as in the closed beta; thus, although these idiots really did commit offenses against the wind, they didn't cause any serious incidents, so they definitely can't be banned outright.

But there are many things in this world scarier than death, so after being dragged through the streets like a female knight captured by goblins, with the mole‑rat people pulling their ropes, under the strange gazes of players and NPCs and the live‑camera lenses, the bullies were led halfway through the dungeon into a deep, dark cave that seemed bottomless.

"Big brother, I'm scared…"

Looking at everything before them, the tallest of the thugs trembled, lowered his head, and begged Society Bro for help, but all he got in return was a rough utterance from Society Bro.

"What's there to fear? Even if we get a bowl‑sized scar on our heads, we can just quit the game!"

Actually, he had already wanted to log off and be done with it, but just as the mole‑rat people were tying the ropes, the system sent a notice: 【Because you violated the game's basic rules, you must accept the corresponding punishment measures. If you refuse to cooperate or continue violating the rules, we will have to impose stricter penalties, ultimately reaching the level of account banning.】

For the sake of this money tree, even if he were wilder and more arrogant, right now he can only grit his teeth, bury his head, and endure people's jokes all the way—after all, they laugh at poverty but not at that thing, for the sake of money I'll endure today! Guys, be bold!

But that tall guy's next sentence immediately deflated those guys' spirits.

"Big brother, I've watched those fantasy‑themed animations; in them, when a small‑statured race brings someone like this into a cave, they always end up…"

In an instant, Society Bro's eyes were about to pop out of his head.

"Hey, little brother, are you telling the truth?"

The tall guy nodded vigorously, and another thug came over to add a sentence.

"Well, if they're lucky, they're just looking for a suitable seedbed to lay eggs; if it's live birth, they might even be parasitic…"

Society Bro couldn't stand to hear any more and quickly interrupted his horrible speculation.

"But… but this game doesn't have that kind of content, does it? It's the sort that even Kuchaizi can't strip off!"

All they got in return was two lackeys looking at him like he was an idiot, simultaneously raising their eyelids and speaking in unison.

"But this is an open beta, big brother—have you tried it?"

……

"Wah!!! Master, save me!"

Just as Society Bro was gripping a skin drum, preparing to quit the game outright, his party had already reached the deepest point of this newly opened entrance to the Iron Mine Cave, and a string of text refreshed in their view.

【You are charged with "violating the game's basic rules," "actively violating the game's rules with provocative intent," and "openly resisting law‑enforcement officers' arrests," and are sentenced to labor punishment in the Iron Mine Cave; considering you're a first‑offender, we have dealt with it leniently】

【Punishment duty: compulsory mining】

【Mission details: submit the iron ore required by the mission; leaving this space is forbidden before the mission ends】

【Remaining debt: one hundred tons】

"Huh? Making me step on a sewing machine in real life was bad enough, but now I have to do labor reform in the game too?"

The bullies were utterly dumbfounded, but as the ropes on them were loosened, the mole‑rat people actually threw them iron picks and other mining tools.

If it were an adult male who already had a certain level, was fairly strong, and skilled at labor, a hundred tons of ore would actually not be a large number; as long as he dug diligently for over a week, even if he suffered, he'd eventually see results.

But the premise is that the worker must be a "normal person"; for this gang that's used to bullying men and women, making quick money through brute force and violence—essentially a bunch of lazy scoundrels—forced labor is simply……

"This is the ultimate humiliation, this truly is the ultimate humiliation, damn it!"