Chapter 492

"Ah, customer, you don't want the dish you ordered?"

He threw down a few silver coins, Buluowa rushed out of the tavern like the wind, and hurried toward the direction of the Fallen God Mountain Range.

However, if the chaos in the Royal Capital is akin to a rural temple fair, then the chaos here is on the level of a top-tier pop star's farewell concert.

——The road leading to the Fallen God Mountain Range is not just crowded on the ground; even the sky is somewhat packed with people.

As a result, she cast a spell that could conceal her form, avoided several powerful auras, and detoured past the plain where humans and beasts were locked in a bloody melee, plasma covering the ground, a vast battlefield worthy of being called purgatory.

After rushing back and forth with difficulty, she finally followed the crackling purple lightning in the sky to the foot of the Fallen God Peak.

But while the sage was still pondering how to use the elves' mountain‑piled ten‑thousand‑year wisdom to break this impregnable isolation formation, he saw the thunderclouds above suddenly become violently extreme, rolling thunderbolts crashing down, and the towering peak that pierced the clouds was actually split clean in half.

Buluowa:???

And it collapsed so cleanly—such a huge mountain, that~~~high, it directly collapsed into a little plain of rubble?

But Lao Nv Shi didn't think that Ji Ming, such a calamitous thing, could die so easily, so she wasn't too panicked; instead, she continued to stay hidden and quietly approached.

Then she saw…… Well, Ji Ming was indeed safe and sound, wriggling about inside like a catfish.

Moreover, after putting on a show and exchanging a few moves of spear technique with others, taking advantage of nobody noticing him, he turned and transformed into a streak of escaping light, fleeing.

"How come I'm not surprised at all?"

After that, everyone knows what happened: she pursued him, discovered that her student had been captured by Suliya, then they broke the encirclement, smoothly regrouped, the crisis was resolved, and it ended.

Ji Ming first explained why he had come here, then, after editing his own experience on Fallen God Peak, he gave her a brief description.

"Purple Lightning God, Evil Spirit Magic Dragon, the suddenly appearing Deep Forest people……"

As a former sage, Buluowa certainly knew these things, so after hearing them he really felt a chill down his back.

He couldn't help but let out a sigh.

"Even a Zhen Shen could barely survive such a great danger, and you managed to come out completely unscathed?"

Ji Ming, of course, replied with conviction.

"Maybe it's because I usually do good deeds and am good‑looking, so the magic dragons look after me—lucky, lucky!"

Buluowa: ……

"Haha."

After eating breakfast in peace, Ji Ming, not forgetting his duty, brought Lao Nv Shi back to the resting station at the foot of the Fallen God Mountain Range.

By now this place had also settled down, after all, nearly a million players and the Hui Guang Kingdom's armed nobles fought side by side, and the magic beasts couldn't take it.

Therefore, although the Falcon Demon King was fierce, he was ultimately lured into the encirclement by the Eight Trigrams Wandering Body and blown into heroic fragments by several demon‑shattering armor‑piercing rounds from the Huaxia military.

Although the Bear Demon King was brave, he was no match for four‑handed combat, being jointly strangled by the White Eagle's dishonorable Alliance of the Sorrowful Fathers, becoming yet another backdrop in a world‑famous painting.

As for the Lizard Demon King……

"Haha, I've understood, I've understood!"

Indeed, a talking lizard is still a lizard; as long as it's a lizard, how could it possibly withstand the bloodline pressure of the Tianzhu people?

Naturally, its mind was overwhelmed by the soul‑seizing Buddhist chant, it was directly converted and became the old immortal's mount, earning the title Lizard God.

When this news broke, the entire Tianzhu nation erupted, Tianzhu descendants worldwide flooded the internet, starting a global tour of showing off from big black X to steel pipe, then from scarf to quick joy, and even to Disney site and post bar.

【@Huaxia @White Eagle, we've got a level‑70 powerhouse here—speak up!】

【Bro thinks he can beat Tianzhu? This is the strength of the leader of the global South!】

【Proud, honorable, with no shame as the number one nation】

Global netizens: ……

However, at this very moment when even holding a ball was hard to manage, everyone suddenly discovered that the Tianzhu people who had been everywhere just a moment ago had suddenly vanished by half.

Then they received the news that because too many people were online using electricity, Tianzhu's national power and network systems had collapsed, and it was estimated they wouldn't be repaired for three days.

【I recall it's summer in the northern hemisphere now, bro, you're probably about to swelter】

【I've got high merit, so I'll say it first: seeing this, my buddies' air‑conditioners automatically drop by one degree, wow】

All three demon kings fell here; the heavily damaged monster horde then dispersed, leaving the Hui Guang nobles and the Pioneers staring at each other, while the atmosphere gradually grew somewhat eerie.

"Cough, how can there be so many Pioneers here? This is the Jingji region just outside the capital's gates!"

Note: Jingji is a Chinese term, pronounced jingji, referring to the capital and its surrounding areas; it feels appropriate to use here.

I feel these big bugs aren't looking very friendly; why don't we take the initiative and give them a surprise?

But before the players could even move, they received a global announcement from the game officials saying that, due to the number of participants in this major event far exceeding expectations, they needed about a day of stage settlement before rewards could be issued, and asked all players to await good news.

This is definitely nonsense; the game has been out for half a year since closed beta, and Ji Ming even opened the Royal Capital server to a million‑slot large space—how could there be any doubt about the players' initiative?

He actually designed this mainly with the Hui Guang people in mind; after all, if you time‑traveled to ancient times and became a lord, only to step outside and suddenly find hundreds of thousands of vigorous, able‑bodied laborers spawning out of nowhere near your home, not to mention the exceptionally troublesome workforce, you'd surely be shocked into gasping.

So if the nobles who rushed to the Royal Capital yesterday were coming to reinforce Qixia City and block the monster tide, then the nobles arriving today with their arms can already be considered as coming to guard the royal court and prevent the Pioneers from rebelling.

Therefore, following that announcement was a reminder message similarly sent to all players.

【Notice: The 'Evil Spirit Calamity' major event has ended; player capacity on the major servers will soon return to normal levels】

【To avoid property issues caused by server shrinkage, please all players promptly adjust your server locations, ensuring that when the stage settlement finishes, your characters are on servers with surplus capacity】

Seeing this, some might ask—what if players enter a rebellious phase and, at settlement time, insist on staying in an overflowing server?

What else can be done? Die.

This is no ordinary player; we must bring out heavy blows, ruthlessly crush the fans to purify!

Directly rule the player's character as a violation, and have them all roll back into the urine chamber to reflect on the wall, slowly reading the conditions for resurrection.

Of course, a slap and a sweet date—players can't possibly all understand the Production Team's difficulties, so the group reward that doesn't need separate settlement soon arrived.

【To reward players for their outstanding performance in this major event, for having blocked this beast tide in the Fallen God Mountain Range and achieved a perfect ending, all servers within the Hui Guang Kingdom will be fully opened at once, and the triple capacity during the event will be permanently retained】

But the Royal Capital's overly large million‑slot server will certainly not be retained, so it's only being opened up to a three‑hundred‑thousand‑slot level.

However, three hundred thousand is still no small number; understand that Qixia City together with its surrounding towns and villages has a total population of only four million, so this increase amounts to a direct 5% rise.

But.

For this big event, we Pioneers defended the king, guarded the monarch, and all earned merit; what's the problem with a few more people staying here? It's not as if we won't let you pay taxes!

Nothing's wrong! If the lords of the Radiant Realm keep bringing this up, it'll really be impolite!

But the rewards don't stop there; at the end of the notice the officials also announced that in about half a month the Shen Lin Wang Guo server will be gradually opened, so players should be ready.

There's no choice; since Ji Ming didn't catch the tail of the Dark Flame Remnant in the Radiant Realm, they must have hidden in Shen Lin Wang Guo.

Deep Forest differs from the Radiant Realm; its waters are deep, so we must quickly have players scout a path for him.

And besides these gameplay "updates and iterations," material rewards for players are also indispensable.

It was said the settlement would take about a day, but it was calculated on the spot; every player who took part in the big event can obtain generous item rewards based on their battle merits.

So the question arises: Sun Month is a real world, items can't be generated from thin air; where does the Production Team get such massive resources?

Damn, there's no way around it; after all, selling at a loss is one of the most profitable methods in this world.

As the designated middleman for player trades, the Production Team doesn't even need to actively "print money"; just collecting fees makes them filthy rich.

Moreover, what appears to be a safeguard for players' droughts and floods is actually making the officials the biggest source and capital, using it to control price recovery.

With a constant flow in and out, Ji Ming can easily amass a terrifying stockpile of supplies.

So much so that if they hadn't promptly used spatial magic to create massive storage gear, even the huge Great Holy Seat warship probably couldn't hold that much.

So this wave is basically like toy and clothing manufacturers running a Double 11 sale, claiming to give discounts to customers, but actually using it as an excuse to clear inventory and free up space for next year's scarcer and more expensive new goods.

"Hope everyone can keep cursing while playing next year, self‑torturing as suckers, and bravely chase our new products from the officials' dumping!"

Finally, besides the rewards available now, Ji Ming also added some potential hidden rewards that require players to work hard to obtain.

Indeed, they're the so‑called "Demon Dragon Treasures" – dozens to hundreds of them – provided to him by the Demon Lord.

The locations are scattered, acquisition is complicated, and the contents may not even be useful; Ji Ming certainly doesn't want to run around for such trivial items.

Then it's better to give them to players as rewards; after all, they're part of the plan—when players grow strong, Ji Ming grows strong too.

If there really is something good… we can just buy it at a high price; after all, I'm the house, and the house never loses.

Although Ji Ming does all this simply to advance the "Fourth Day Disaster Plan" and the "Behind‑the‑Scenes Black Hand Uncover Plan," players see it entirely differently.

"As everyone knows, 'Double Moon Struggle' is an extremely lazy game; suddenly announcing a big event and rolling out so many major updates at once must have various reasons behind it. Tonight at eight, join my livestream for a detailed explanation!"

"【'Double Moon Struggle' sudden major move? The most comprehensive, strongest, detailed analysis across the web, ten‑thousand‑word deep dive!】"

"All‑in, must go all‑in; the market opens tomorrow, the stock market will see huge swings! Our old leeks finally have a chance to turn the tables!"

Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority are just wishful ramblings from the know‑it‑alls, and only one thing is barely guessed correctly: the public test of 'Double Moon Struggle' is about to reach half a year, so the game officials must have a big move.

After all, according to Ji Ming's player growth plan at launch, the player count will exceed three million by then, and the 【Exploration Phase】 will have concluded satisfactorily.

The next stage is the so‑called 【Growth Phase】, starting with a one‑time opening for one million players to enter the game.

Meanwhile, daily new players double, i. e., 200,000 new per week, and it's expected that a year later we'll reach the ten‑million‑player era.

Even without considering what's next, just that one‑million surge would cause player numbers to explode; if we don't quickly expand servers and reduce regional density, will the restless players end up stabbing each other in the remote deep mountain forests?

Yet under Ji Ming's various maneuvers, hundreds of thousands of Pioneers have left this contentious land in an orderly fashion, but what about the vassals who rushed to the capital to rescue the monarch?

"..."

The sun shone brightly; standing atop the wall of the Royal Capital, the Sun King silently watched everything below the city, sighing for the eighth time.

The so‑called imperial mindset is really the art of balance.

So in his original plan, summoning various vassals to the capital carried risk, but their danger level was certainly less than that of the million monsters.

As long as the final clash ends in a mutual loss, and the king steps in to soothe, perhaps he can pull back the royal influence and control that fell, turning bad into good.

Yet he never imagined that the first to charge onto the battlefield would be Pioneers, whose origin was unknown but whose numbers swarmed like cockroaches.

He had originally thought he could just tweak a bit, letting them naturally replace the monsters' role, becoming a tool to balance the incoming vassal forces and keep the Royal Capital stable.

In reality, after the battle, the Pioneers didn't partake in any power struggles at all; like a group of saviors summoned by fate to rescue the Radiant Realm's people, they drifted away from the Royal Capital.

"Huh?"

Worse still, the Sword‑Shield faction and the Money‑Bag faction, which he had arranged to duel within the capital to achieve balance, both suffered severe energy loss in the fierce fight.

So the question arises: the side that should have won lost, the winners left; who is actually winning Qixia City now?

Indeed, it's the hurried and the slow—clearly like a great loyal minister who rushes to the capital to protect the monarch, only to idle at the battlefield's edge.

Some may even have arrived "too late", unable to join the battlefield before the monsters retreated, such as the wild aristocrats led by the Duke of Radiant Light.