“It’s kind of within my expectations.”
Qiu Ren chatted with Herring as he ate the bread in his hand in the Central Research Institute.
The Central Research Institute was actively preparing for the Alaina Cup.
After Xiao Zhou and Willa accepted Qiu Ren’s job, Willa rarely went to the world of Dark Souls to be the Ashen One anymore. She kept practicing on Jedi Island with Xiao Zhou.
The Dream Explorers of the Central Research Institute agreed that if they were matched on the same battlefield, they would gather together and eliminate all the other enemies first.
Qiu Ren understood this decision. After all, the most important goal of all the forces joining the Alaina Cup this time was to get the top 150 spots on the leaderboard.
The more members from their own force who won a spot in the top 150, the higher the chance they could get that Lord of Nightmare, Alaina.
If they could take half of the spots, Alaina’s custody would basically fall into their hands.
As for the fairness of the game?
No one would treat a battle in a Level S Nightmare Dungeon as a game, let alone comply with the rules of the game.
“So, what are you going to do? Sending us to different battlefields as much as possible?”
This was the only solution Herring could think of: spread the members of the invasion organizations to different battlefields.
This could effectively lower the chance of them controlling the entire game, turning the battlefield, which was supposed to be thrilling, into a pig farm.
“This can be one of the solutions, but I still want to see how you perform before making a decision,” Qiu Ren said.
See how we perform before making a decision?
What Qiu Ren said angered Herring. She didn’t say anything else but directly sent Qiu Ren the link to a live broadcast on Twitch.
“The Dream Eaters were dismissed because Dark Side left… Don’t underestimate any dream invasion organization in the world, not to mention working with them!” Herring warned Qiu Ren seriously.
Qiu Ren opened the live broadcast link Herring sent him as he listened to her warning.
He found that it was the live broadcast of the most popular male live streamer, Felic, on Twitch.
This live streamer wasn’t like Willa. Willa was a live streamer who became popular by relying on Battle Royale.
Instead, he was the live streamer who made Battle Royale popular with his fame. He was a well-deserved top gun on Twitch, and his position couldn’t be moved by anyone.
When the Alaina Cup started, he brought two of his friends to “Battle Royale: Warzone.”
“This is the most exciting parachuting experience for me. This seems to be a hospital? The structure inside is truly complicated! I told you before that the design and construction of the buildings on Jedi Island sucks. It was like having no buildings at all! The design of the extended version seems to be very nice, though!”
As a live streamer of Twitch, Felic had strong eloquence.
Ever since he landed, he had been talking about all sorts of design on Jedi Island that didn’t make sense. After that, he complimented the warzone version that it finally looked like the interior a city should have.
Qiu Ren could only listen to his huge amount of complaints speechlessly. After Felic landed near a hospital in the city center, he started searching for resources very quickly.
“A huge stack of US dollars! There should be more than $4000? It’d be great if I could bring it out of this Nightmare Dungeon. But now, I’m going to use it to buy something cool, the official, built-in unmanned aerial vehicle that can scan through things!”
1
Felic also introduced various mechanisms that had newly appeared in Warzone to the audience, including buying tactical equipment at the Buying Stations. The UAVs were undoubtedly the most useful combat device.
It cost 4000 coins. After it was turned on, it could show the locations of the enemies on the map for a period of time!
“I’ve already turned on the UAV. Pay attention to the map projection on the tactical watch,” Felic yelled at his two teammates. At the same time, he also opened the tactical map on his watch.
When the UAV swept over, four red dots immediately appeared in the hospital region where he was located.
“Be careful of the…” Before Felic finished talking, the screen suddenly turned dark.
After watching for a while, Qiu Ren was sure that he was kidnapped by the Dream Eaters or other dream invasion organizations. The invader had put a mask on him. After that, the sound of a car starting came.
Before this poor live streamer could shoot, his hands and legs were tied, and he was thrown inside a building.
“I can’t move. Damn it! I always encounter these bastards who like to kidnap people in the Nightmare Dungeons!”
Felic sounded extremely angry. He could still accept it if he was killed by someone using a gun fair and square in this warzone survival battle.
But what was this behavior of not killing him and even tying him up to torture him?
However, he wasn’t the only one who was abducted. As Qiu Ren watched Felic’s live broadcast, the shouts from other participants came around gradually.
They were captured from all over the map. Then, someone drove them here and grouped them together like… pigs waiting to be slaughtered.
Finally, almost all players in the game had been captured by these invaders. Felic’s mask was then taken off.
“I truly feel shameful for your behavior, buddy!” Felic shouted. But soon, he was dumbfounded.
He saw all the participants, who competed normally, densely packed in the entire room.
The culprits were staring at them with tilted heads. They had a face helmet with a skull logo branded on it.
The Black Mist Army!
Everyone recognized the style of this outfit almost immediately. It was the nightmare organization that had landed on the Atlantic Ocean a week ago, which claimed that they would enslave all humans.
Of course, this couldn’t possibly be the real Black Mist Army. They were just the dream invasion organizations from different countries, who had put on such outfits on purpose to pin the blame on the Black Mist Army.
However, their actions right now were indeed… things that the Black Mist Army would do.
That invader in the front raised the Desert Eagle in his hand and aimed it right at Felic’s forehead. He said with a deep voice…
“This has never been a game that children should participate in.”
He pulled the trigger and directly killed Felic.
After Felic was killed, he refused to go into prison for a second chance of resurrection. Instead, he entered the spectator mode.
His two teammates were also abducted… They kept shaking their heads with fear and anxiousness, watching those invaders execute the participants in this competition shot after shot!
At this moment, Felic and the live broadcast audience finally realized that this was not a competition that casual players without any support could take part in! This wasn’t even a game!
Instead, it was an extremely cruel Nightmare Dungeon. Weak participants would become the pigs kept by these powerful people if they entered recklessly. In the end, they would be killed and turned into bloody pieces of meat for the powerhouses to devour!
This orderly but terrifying massacre ended in an uninteresting way after these invaders in the armor of the Black Mist Army killed the casual participants one by one.
After the first competition ended, the leaderboard immediately showed that the first place got a score of 103, while the second and third place got 65 and 73, respectively. The further seventh place had just 7 points.
This was a super high score after gathering all the participants on the entire map and killing them all at once!
Felic couldn’t believe it, so he played three more rounds. He ended up the same in these three rounds. He didn’t have the chance to shoot before he was caught, grouped together with the other participants like pigs, and shot one after another by these invaders!
The invaders were also telling all… the casual players around the whole world that this was a cruel battlefield, not a game which everyone could join!
The black hands of the invaders had touched more than half of the games. They also started to climb into the top 150 spots on the league leaderboard in this way!
“Do you… understand now?” Herring said to Qiu Ren in a weak voice.
Herring wasn’t the only one who hoped that Qiu Ren would curb the behavior of… forming teams illegally and kidnapping and grouping normal participants together.
The casual players around the world who participated in this league were cursing the whole family of the Black Mist Army. They wanted the officials to quickly block these guys who formed teams illegally.
The problem was that Qiu Ren couldn’t block them; these dream invaders were indeed very powerful. Even if there were only twenty of them matched in one game, they could still control the entire map.
“Kind of,” Qiu Ren said.
“Then, you should scatter us invaders as much as possible!” This was the only solution Herring could think of.
While ordinary players were still passionate about joining this league, the number of these invaders matched in each game should be spread out as much as possible.
“That’s not necessary. I want to gather all of you in one game right now.” Qiu Ren introduced another solution.
“If you do so, you’ll make it easier for us to fiddle with the rankings of the league! We only need to gather around and control the scores!”
What Herring was referring to was that if everyone in a game was invaders, the invaders wouldn’t have to abduct anyone at all. They could directly gather together to discuss who had a lower score and then use those invaders to earn points in that round.
“I mean gathering a part of the invaders from the organizations who break the rules, a part of normal players, and a real member of the Black Mist Army.” Qiu Ren said, “It’s even a leader of the army. Hm… It seems that there are two now.”
“What?!” Herring was shocked.
Qiu Ren happened to sense two powerful leaders of the Black Mist Army trying to invade Battle Royale: Warzone right now. Judging from their characteristics, they should be the Sharpshooter, Alma, and the Hidden Court Master, Riper.
Qiu Ren picked up the intelligence report of Riper, the Hidden Court Master.
“Due to the misjudgment of a battle in the early years, he sent a huge number of compatriots to death and was banished to the Hidden Court. Even though he no longer engages in any frontline command, he still can’t forget about the past… He wants to prove his ability to everyone else if given the opportunity. It’s just that the Hidden Court is home to mostly assassins who work alone, so nobody is willing to follow him. The title of Master is just ridicule and warning.
“At the same time, he dislikes the abuse of the weak.”
“Let me see. Can you abduct two members of the Black Mist Army who have the level of the Lords of Nightmare?” Qiu Ren said.
“You’re planning to let two monsters in?”
It was already too late when Herring asked. It was shown on her end that she had been matched to an opponent. Fifty-five invaders were matched to the same battlefield this time!
At this moment, Herring also heard the complaints from the matched comrades of the Dream Eaters and the Purifier.
“Another boring round.”
“Remember, we’re on a battlefield mission! Team T, you’ll be responsible for controlling the city center. Gather all the targets in the TV station tower this time.”
“Yes, madam.”
“Copy that!”
The pig-raising plan of the invaders was proceeding as usual. Herring looked at the screen, which showed the countdown to the battle. Should she look forward to seeing those two monsters in the city center or not?
Anyway, catch those wild casual players and surround them first!
“It’s kind of within my expectations.”
Qiu Ren chatted with Herring as he ate the bread in his hand in the Central Research Institute.
The Central Research Institute was actively preparing for the Alaina Cup.
After Xiao Zhou and Willa accepted Qiu Ren’s job, Willa rarely went to the world of Dark Souls to be the Ashen One anymore. She kept practicing on Jedi Island with Xiao Zhou.
The Dream Explorers of the Central Research Institute agreed that if they were matched on the same battlefield, they would gather together and eliminate all the other enemies first.
Qiu Ren understood this decision. After all, the most important goal of all the forces joining the Alaina Cup this time was to get the top 150 spots on the leaderboard.
The more members from their own force who won a spot in the top 150, the higher the chance they could get that Lord of Nightmare, Alaina.
If they could take half of the spots, Alaina’s custody would basically fall into their hands.
As for the fairness of the game?
No one would treat a battle in a Level S Nightmare Dungeon as a game, let alone comply with the rules of the game.
“So, what are you going to do? Sending us to different battlefields as much as possible?”
This was the only solution Herring could think of: spread the members of the invasion organizations to different battlefields.
This could effectively lower the chance of them controlling the entire game, turning the battlefield, which was supposed to be thrilling, into a pig farm.
“This can be one of the solutions, but I still want to see how you perform before making a decision,” Qiu Ren said.
See how we perform before making a decision?
What Qiu Ren said angered Herring. She didn’t say anything else but directly sent Qiu Ren the link to a live broadcast on Twitch.
“The Dream Eaters were dismissed because Dark Side left… Don’t underestimate any dream invasion organization in the world, not to mention working with them!” Herring warned Qiu Ren seriously.
Qiu Ren opened the live broadcast link Herring sent him as he listened to her warning.
He found that it was the live broadcast of the most popular male live streamer, Felic, on Twitch.
This live streamer wasn’t like Willa. Willa was a live streamer who became popular by relying on Battle Royale.
Instead, he was the live streamer who made Battle Royale popular with his fame. He was a well-deserved top gun on Twitch, and his position couldn’t be moved by anyone.
When the Alaina Cup started, he brought two of his friends to “Battle Royale: Warzone.”
“This is the most exciting parachuting experience for me. This seems to be a hospital? The structure inside is truly complicated! I told you before that the design and construction of the buildings on Jedi Island sucks. It was like having no buildings at all! The design of the extended version seems to be very nice, though!”
As a live streamer of Twitch, Felic had strong eloquence.
Ever since he landed, he had been talking about all sorts of design on Jedi Island that didn’t make sense. After that, he complimented the warzone version that it finally looked like the interior a city should have.
Qiu Ren could only listen to his huge amount of complaints speechlessly. After Felic landed near a hospital in the city center, he started searching for resources very quickly.
“A huge stack of US dollars! There should be more than $4000? It’d be great if I could bring it out of this Nightmare Dungeon. But now, I’m going to use it to buy something cool, the official, built-in unmanned aerial vehicle that can scan through things!”
1
Felic also introduced various mechanisms that had newly appeared in Warzone to the audience, including buying tactical equipment at the Buying Stations. The UAVs were undoubtedly the most useful combat device.
It cost 4000 coins. After it was turned on, it could show the locations of the enemies on the map for a period of time!
“I’ve already turned on the UAV. Pay attention to the map projection on the tactical watch,” Felic yelled at his two teammates. At the same time, he also opened the tactical map on his watch.
When the UAV swept over, four red dots immediately appeared in the hospital region where he was located.
“Be careful of the…” Before Felic finished talking, the screen suddenly turned dark.
After watching for a while, Qiu Ren was sure that he was kidnapped by the Dream Eaters or other dream invasion organizations. The invader had put a mask on him. After that, the sound of a car starting came.
Before this poor live streamer could shoot, his hands and legs were tied, and he was thrown inside a building.
“I can’t move. Damn it! I always encounter these bastards who like to kidnap people in the Nightmare Dungeons!”
Felic sounded extremely angry. He could still accept it if he was killed by someone using a gun fair and square in this warzone survival battle.
But what was this behavior of not killing him and even tying him up to torture him?
However, he wasn’t the only one who was abducted. As Qiu Ren watched Felic’s live broadcast, the shouts from other participants came around gradually.
They were captured from all over the map. Then, someone drove them here and grouped them together like… pigs waiting to be slaughtered.
Finally, almost all players in the game had been captured by these invaders. Felic’s mask was then taken off.
“I truly feel shameful for your behavior, buddy!” Felic shouted. But soon, he was dumbfounded.
He saw all the participants, who competed normally, densely packed in the entire room.
The culprits were staring at them with tilted heads. They had a face helmet with a skull logo branded on it.
The Black Mist Army!
Everyone recognized the style of this outfit almost immediately. It was the nightmare organization that had landed on the Atlantic Ocean a week ago, which claimed that they would enslave all humans.
Of course, this couldn’t possibly be the real Black Mist Army. They were just the dream invasion organizations from different countries, who had put on such outfits on purpose to pin the blame on the Black Mist Army.
However, their actions right now were indeed… things that the Black Mist Army would do.
That invader in the front raised the Desert Eagle in his hand and aimed it right at Felic’s forehead. He said with a deep voice…
“This has never been a game that children should participate in.”
He pulled the trigger and directly killed Felic.
After Felic was killed, he refused to go into prison for a second chance of resurrection. Instead, he entered the spectator mode.
His two teammates were also abducted… They kept shaking their heads with fear and anxiousness, watching those invaders execute the participants in this competition shot after shot!
At this moment, Felic and the live broadcast audience finally realized that this was not a competition that casual players without any support could take part in! This wasn’t even a game!
Instead, it was an extremely cruel Nightmare Dungeon. Weak participants would become the pigs kept by these powerful people if they entered recklessly. In the end, they would be killed and turned into bloody pieces of meat for the powerhouses to devour!
This orderly but terrifying massacre ended in an uninteresting way after these invaders in the armor of the Black Mist Army killed the casual participants one by one.
After the first competition ended, the leaderboard immediately showed that the first place got a score of 103, while the second and third place got 65 and 73, respectively. The further seventh place had just 7 points.
This was a super high score after gathering all the participants on the entire map and killing them all at once!
Felic couldn’t believe it, so he played three more rounds. He ended up the same in these three rounds. He didn’t have the chance to shoot before he was caught, grouped together with the other participants like pigs, and shot one after another by these invaders!
The invaders were also telling all… the casual players around the whole world that this was a cruel battlefield, not a game which everyone could join!
The black hands of the invaders had touched more than half of the games. They also started to climb into the top 150 spots on the league leaderboard in this way!
“Do you… understand now?” Herring said to Qiu Ren in a weak voice.
Herring wasn’t the only one who hoped that Qiu Ren would curb the behavior of… forming teams illegally and kidnapping and grouping normal participants together.
The casual players around the world who participated in this league were cursing the whole family of the Black Mist Army. They wanted the officials to quickly block these guys who formed teams illegally.
The problem was that Qiu Ren couldn’t block them; these dream invaders were indeed very powerful. Even if there were only twenty of them matched in one game, they could still control the entire map.
“Kind of,” Qiu Ren said.
“Then, you should scatter us invaders as much as possible!” This was the only solution Herring could think of.
While ordinary players were still passionate about joining this league, the number of these invaders matched in each game should be spread out as much as possible.
“That’s not necessary. I want to gather all of you in one game right now.” Qiu Ren introduced another solution.
“If you do so, you’ll make it easier for us to fiddle with the rankings of the league! We only need to gather around and control the scores!”
What Herring was referring to was that if everyone in a game was invaders, the invaders wouldn’t have to abduct anyone at all. They could directly gather together to discuss who had a lower score and then use those invaders to earn points in that round.
“I mean gathering a part of the invaders from the organizations who break the rules, a part of normal players, and a real member of the Black Mist Army.” Qiu Ren said, “It’s even a leader of the army. Hm… It seems that there are two now.”
“What?!” Herring was shocked.
Qiu Ren happened to sense two powerful leaders of the Black Mist Army trying to invade Battle Royale: Warzone right now. Judging from their characteristics, they should be the Sharpshooter, Alma, and the Hidden Court Master, Riper.
Qiu Ren picked up the intelligence report of Riper, the Hidden Court Master.
“Due to the misjudgment of a battle in the early years, he sent a huge number of compatriots to death and was banished to the Hidden Court. Even though he no longer engages in any frontline command, he still can’t forget about the past… He wants to prove his ability to everyone else if given the opportunity. It’s just that the Hidden Court is home to mostly assassins who work alone, so nobody is willing to follow him. The title of Master is just ridicule and warning.
“At the same time, he dislikes the abuse of the weak.”
“Let me see. Can you abduct two members of the Black Mist Army who have the level of the Lords of Nightmare?” Qiu Ren said.
“You’re planning to let two monsters in?”
It was already too late when Herring asked. It was shown on her end that she had been matched to an opponent. Fifty-five invaders were matched to the same battlefield this time!
At this moment, Herring also heard the complaints from the matched comrades of the Dream Eaters and the Purifier.
“Another boring round.”
“Remember, we’re on a battlefield mission! Team T, you’ll be responsible for controlling the city center. Gather all the targets in the TV station tower this time.”
“Yes, madam.”
“Copy that!”
The pig-raising plan of the invaders was proceeding as usual. Herring looked at the screen, which showed the countdown to the battle. Should she look forward to seeing those two monsters in the city center or not?
Anyway, catch those wild casual players and surround them first!
