Chapter 465: Negotiation
Chapter 465: Negotiation
"You’ve noticed the 'commentary' disappearance too, right?" Gui Xiao continued, posing the question.
"Yes…" Fei Chai Shu replied. "But… compared to that, the current situation is far more bizarre."
Gui Xiao picked up the thread. "The nature’s the same—they’re both system anomalies."
"How can that be?" Shidao Wei Wang interjected. "Maybe these are just special settings for the Peak Conquest Tournament? Like… when a player dies, their corpse remains, but their actual self returns to the Login Space."
"Heh… At first, I thought that too", Shiva said with a wry chuckle.
Gui Xiao took over. "But we discovered that even the command to exit the scenario is now unexecutable."
"What?" Fei Chai Shu turned his head, startled.
"Hah! You think I’ll fall for this?" Shidao Wei Wang scoffed coldly. "You expect me to try 'exitscenario' myself? That’s like those old traps in games where you told someone to press Alt+F4 to activate cheat plugins, then type '/disband guild' to transfer leadership. If I tried it, I’d just be getting tricked into exiting the scenario myself!"
"When you select the exitscenario option in the game menu, you have to confirm it once to execute", Gui Xiao countered. "You know that, don’t you?"
"Mm… True… No confirmation window popped up this time", Fei Chai Shu muttered as he tested it.
"Besides, if we wanted to kick you out of the scenario, would we need such underhanded tactics?" Shiva added. "Killing you gives us points. What’s the gain in tricking you into exiting?"
Harsh as the words were, they held truth. Shidao Wei Wang paused, then opened his game menu to test the exitscenario option. The result? No reaction at all. The confirmation window never appeared.
"Worst of all… even the option to disconnect the nerve link has failed", Gui Xiao noted, spotting Shidao Wei Wang’s rising Terror Value from the data layer. He drove the knife deeper with that final blow.
"Wait… are you saying we’re stuck inside the game?" Fei Chai Shu finished the thought. Even his temples began to sweat.
………
Beside the dried-up Blood Lake, a blurred Black Shadow approached slowly.
The figure towered at two meters, its silhouette humanoid but crowned with a pair of ram horns curving forward from its temples.
Its body constantly absorbed surrounding dark energy, shrouding a fifty-meter radius around it in an invisible, chaotic force field. Not even moonlight could fully pierce this barrier, leaving its form perpetually indistinct.
Watching from afar, Zui Wo Chang Ran, Sashimi, and Wu Si Can Xuan wore solemn expressions, as though facing an imminent threat. They already knew the Black Shadow’s identity—the 【Lord of Demons】, one of the Four Pillars Deities.
Of course, they’d never fought this monster directly. They’d only seen it once in a CG cutscene depicting an ancient divine war.
"That giant bloodless corpse earlier was horrifying enough", Zui Wo Chang Ran muttered. "Who’d expect this three-headed, six-armed half-serpent monster to be even worse?"
"I thought the half-serpent that one-shot the bloodless corpse was as monstrous as it got", Sashimi quipped. "Didn’t expect it to flee in panic."
Wu Si Can Xuan followed up. "Considering the half-serpent’s reaction and the scenario overview’s line—'Blood Rain wails, the Demon Head arrives'—this Black Shadow must be the Lord of Demons."
"Ungh—" The trio exhaled in unison, their voices dragging out the tension.
"Re-examining the finals’ rules now, those last two statements seem particularly intriguing", Sashimi mused. "The lines, 'Kill confirmed through this world’s factions grants one point. When only two players remain in the scenario, killing the opponent by any means grants five points,' provide a clear tactical framework."
"Exactly", Zui Wo Chang Ran agreed. "In this free-for-all setting, ignoring our usual guild-mate collaborations, the fifty contestants are fundamentally fifty hostile individuals. Everyone’s vitality value and stamina value are limited. As the saying goes—'Even a body of iron can only hammer so many nails.' Even someone like Gui Xiao, on a map this vast, can only encounter and kill so many opponents. Following standard tactics—wandering cities hunting targets—scoring over ten points in a match is already extraordinary. By then, even if you survive, your rivals will be nearly wiped out." He paused. "But with the Four Pillars Deity’s faction assistance, everything changes. Let Npcs do the killing while you hide in shadows, watching. It might seem less profitable than direct combat, but from safety and resource conservation perspectives, it’s a steal. Plus, every point you gain means two fewer points for competitors. If you survive till the end, you’ll gain an instant five-point bonus."
"A classic 'drive tigers to swallow wolves' strategy—using others’ blades to kill", Wu Si Can Xuan mused. "Shall we go negotiate with this deity?"
………
On the roof of a northern city shopping mall.
Guided by the Penitent, Feng Bu Jue arrived at the rooftop edge.
A colossal floating Skull phantom hovered midair, as if awaiting Feng Bu Jue’s arrival.
Beside the Soulstealer stood (or at least appeared to stand) a three-headed, six-armed half-serpent monster—the Bloodlust Demon, having fled back to the Blood Lake to report earlier.
"Hello there, gentlemen", Feng Bu Jue greeted, his usual dislike of socializing momentarily eclipsed by his talent for diplomacy. "Lovely moonlight tonight, and you two gentlemen look particularly radiant. A bit breezy, though…"
"Mad Bu Jue, I’ve heard many rumors about you", Soulstealer interrupted, using parallel structure to signal his razor-sharp clarity—difficult to manipulate. "Some say you’re frivolous, others cautious, clever, or even mad. So spare me the flattery and attempts to provoke my temper. I won’t fall for either." With a few words, he sealed Feng Bu Jue’s two strongest diplomatic weapons—performative charm and sarcastic baiting.
"I hope our conversation remains candid", Soulstealer turned, fixing Feng Bu Jue with an empty socket stare. "Straight to the point—what’s your purpose?"
(End of Chapter)
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