Chapter 20: He’s Finally Figured This Game Out
In the early morning, the rising sun slowly cast its rays into the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.
Inside the hall’s lounge.
Before Lin Qi could get up from the bed, ten figures were already standing neatly at his bedside. Ten heads surrounded the bed, twenty eyes fixed on Lin Qi, silent, their exhausted, bloodshot eyes filled with excitement and agitation.
“Are you all… trying to play some kind of doctor game?” Looking at the ten heads in his field of view, Lin Qi suddenly felt that his recent insomnia was completely cured.
“Master of the Pavilion, the task you requested has been completed,” Fang Zhen looked at the now-awake Lin Qi, his face full of urgency. “We are just waiting for your review now.”
“Good, you seven newcomers, report your numbers yourselves.” Lin Qi got up and swept his gaze over the seven newcomers drenched in sweat. Clearly, the seven of them were still not very used to such high-intensity underground work.
“We report for ourselves?” Saiwai Qiangke was a bit surprised. “Is that okay?”
Although what they did was definitely under the system’s monitoring and normally absolutely could not escape an NPC’s control, he had heard from Twilight of the Gods before that this NPC was a bit dumb.
If someone lied about the area they had opened up and this NPC actually believed it, then all their efforts throughout the night would be in vain.
The temptation of the two martial skills Lin Qi had put forward this time was too great. The group had originally agreed to gloss things over together, but that plan was completely scrapped. The ten of them directly split into three teams, each team with its own intentions.
In particular, the other four newcomers formed a team. All four were ordinary players who had previously played different virtual games. They had only preordered High Martial Arts Descend because it claimed 100% virtual immersion, and by luck they were selected.
Originally, these people wanted to follow them, the professional players, but once martial skills appeared, their thoughts changed. They believed that even if the mecha team and the Pilgrimage team obtained martial skills, it would be hard in the short term for those skills to be passed on to them, not to mention that both teams had experts whose progress in High Martial Arts Descend would be very fast, making it even harder to catch up later.
So the four joined forces, and with one extra person, they had a high chance of seizing first place. Then they could learn martial skills one step ahead of the other two teams.
Because of this, competition among the three teams was extremely intense. They did not rest at all for 12 hours. Whenever their stamina could not keep up, they would simply die and resurrect, instantly restoring their stamina. You could call it a bug-style tactic, though a costly one.
Over one night, the three-person mecha team each died at least ten times, which was not a small expense even for professional competitors like them.
If they did not obtain a martial skill in the end, then the steamed buns for this month would have been gnawed in vain.
“There is nothing wrong with this. If the numbers are false, the worst is expulsion from the martial arts hall.” Seeing Saiwai Qiangke’s worry, Lin Qi just smiled. “Alright, you seven newcomers, report your numbers.”
Checking the area of Energy Land these players had opened would be too time-consuming, and no one would know better than the players themselves how much they had actually developed.
He just needed to invoke his permissions. He believed no player would be stubborn enough to choose to miss this express lane into the High Martial Arts World.
And everything went exactly as Lin Qi expected. When the ten people present heard the word “expulsion,” their expressions became much more serious, especially the seven newcomers who had just arrived.
Before entering High Martial Arts Descend, they had thought at most that it was just a game with a higher virtual degree. Only after really entering did they understand.
This was a divine work. It would definitely become explosively popular worldwide in the future.
And now High Martial Arts Descend was running an experience test. This kind of test did not mention any data wipe, which meant their accumulation in High Martial Arts Descend would persist. This was their best chance to surpass other players. Only an idiot would give it up.
Everyone then began to report.
“Seventy-three square meters!”
“One square meter!”
“One square meter!”
“One square meter!”
The four-man team members each reported their numbers with pride, especially the leading one, a poised young man with a natural air of nobility named Yi Ye Fu Yun. He looked even younger than Twilight of the Gods, at most eighteen, but had become the core of the four-person team.
“You opened up that much in one night?” Lin Qi was taken aback when he heard this.
Leaving aside the issue of the underground Energy Land map distribution, the idea of four people digging out seventy-six square meters in one night was, under normal circumstances, impossible. Previously, even with Fang Zhen and the others digging hard all night, it was only twelve or thirteen square meters. Yet these four were complete newcomers, each claiming nineteen square meters in one night. That was simply inhuman.
As for the other three newcomers all calling out one square meter, he guessed they were worried about failing the task and being punished, so they used one square meter as a token figure. Otherwise, the other three would definitely have put all their results under a single person.
“Damn, how many times did they die?” Twilight of the Gods looked at the four-person team, thinking these people were really rich.
To let newcomers average nineteen square meters of Energy Land in one night, the only way was to die whenever they were tired. The number of deaths in one night had to be at least twenty or thirty times. With four of them, that was over a hundred deaths, equal to spending more than a hundred packs of
“So this is the power of money?”
When Lin Qi heard Twilight of the Gods, he instantly understood and was filled with shock.
This four-person team had actually used money to exploit a system bug. In some sense, players like this were even more formidable than professional players like Fang Zhen.
“Not bad. With results like that, no wonder you looked down on teaming up with us.” Luo Wu Shang smiled after hearing this. “Unfortunately, we are the ones who will win this contest.”
Zhang Qing Wei also nodded and said directly, “Seventy-eight square meters.”
“That’s impossible!” Yi Ye Fu Yun stared at Zhang Qing Wei in disbelief.
To obtain the martial skill, he had pushed the four of them to keep resurrecting. In some ways, that was already the limit of what they could open up in one night.
The Pilgrimage team only had three people. Even with an expert sitting in, they still should not be able to surpass them.
“You spent quite a bit of time hauling soil, right?” Twilight of the Gods said with a smile.
“You all… you mean…” Yi Ye Fu Yun instantly understood after hearing that.
The most troublesome part of underground development was transporting the soil. You needed someone constantly hauling it out, even two people, or digging would be pointless.
“Too bad you came later than us. When I was digging a tunnel, I found a large fissure deep underground. We almost never needed to go to the surface to dump soil,” Twilight of the Gods explained.
“Then I can accept this loss,” Yi Ye Fu Yun said, involuntarily admiring Twilight of the Gods. As expected of the man who could exploit a bug in Lin Qi the NPC.
“What about you?” Lin Qi looked toward Fang Zhen’s group of three.
Although the result was basically settled, he still had to ask, as part of his NPC role.
“I didn’t do well, only one square meter,” Yi Qiang Ba Jue said with a casual wave and a smile.
“I have eighty-four square meters.” Saiwai Qiangke revealed a proud grin.
“Eighty-four? How did you manage that?” Twilight of the Gods looked at Saiwai Qiangke in surprise.
Even though Saiwai Qiangke’s group had Fang Zhen, that veteran player, leading them, they still should not have been able to dig faster than his group. He had definitely not told anyone else about that big fissure.
“Nothing special, just good luck. While digging, I accidentally broke into a small tunnel. That tunnel had no pollution and dense energy, about forty-two square meters,” Saiwai Qiangke said with a smile. “That tunnel does not count as cheating. I dug into it myself, and the rules never said it had to be dug out entirely by hand, only that we had to open up Energy Land.”
“Damn, you even managed to run into that.” Twilight of the Gods was speechless.
They had not lost to money but to luck. They could not complain; the rules indeed had not said it had to be dug out personally.
“Alright, the rankings are set. You can choose one of these two martial skills.” Lin Qi was in a very good mood. In just one night, they had opened more than two hundred square meters of Energy Land. This efficiency was much faster than going to the wilderness for planting.
“Then I choose…” Saiwai Qiangke reached toward the two martial skills in Lin Qi’s hands, going straight for Crushing Stone Fist.
For a man, nothing was more tempting than an increase in strength.
“Gunner, don’t choose that one. Choose Leopard Shadow Steps!” Fang Zhen shouted anxiously as he saw Saiwai Qiangke reaching for Crushing Stone Fist.
“Leopard Shadow Steps?” Saiwai Qiangke looked at Fang Zhen in confusion, not understanding what he meant.
“Are you stupid?” Fang Zhen said, exasperated. “What do you think is the biggest hassle in our development work?”
After digging all night, Saiwai Qiangke answered almost instinctively, “Hauling soil?”
“Exactly. If we learn Leopard Shadow Steps and our speed shoots up, not only will we improve hauling efficiency, we can also use it to train Leopard Shadow Steps. Two birds with one stone. Don’t be dumb.” Fang Zhen nodded with a “promising student” look.
“Right, how did I not think of that?” Saiwai Qiangke suddenly saw the light and chose Leopard Shadow Steps directly, not giving Crushing Stone Fist another glance.
Off to the side, Lin Qi was stunned as he listened.
Fang Zhen’s words were simply a wake-up call.
Refreshing and sobering.
He had to admit, this game was truly being played to its fullest by Fang Zhen.
