Chapter 96 Forced Update: Beast Tide Season

Liu Ai's neighbor has recently felt that something is off about the poor couple next door.

In the past, the woman in that family always looked worried, the man was paralyzed in a wheelchair, and the house was empty. Apart from the necessary daily necessities, there was almost nothing decent. They also needed the town's relief from time to time to barely make ends meet.

But things are different lately.

The couple not only bought a lot of furniture for their tent, but also ate good food every day.

Whenever I pass by around mealtimes, I can always smell the real aroma of food wafting from the gaps in the tents—definitely not the smell of nutritional paste.

What's even more surprising is that some people saw Liu Ai carrying a basket to the market several times. The basket was clearly filled with fresh vegetables and fruits, so she was going to sell vegetables!

These days, it's already difficult enough to have normal food, so how come she has the extra energy to sell vegetables? Where does she get her food from?

As the second month of autumn drew to a close, even more exciting news spread throughout the tent area.

Liu Ai and his wife rented a small house in the residential area of ​​the territory, and they are moving out.

In just one month, they went from struggling to make ends meet to being able to rent a place in the city.

Now, the neighbors couldn't hold back any longer. Under the pretext of helping with the move, one of them finally asked what he really wanted to say.

When asked, Liu Ai naturally didn't hold back. She smiled and said, "I joined an official gathering team recently and have been working there. I get paid and get a share of what I gather, so life is a little easier now."

Upon discovering that Liu Ai hadn't had a miraculous encounter but had joined an organization, the neighbors' eyes lit up. "Can we go with this data collection team you mentioned?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Ai shook her head with some difficulty: "I'm afraid that won't work. I heard from the team leader that the number of people has already been filled, and it has even been expanded into five teams. Now, if you want to join, you have to wait in line and it depends on your performance. It's not better to have more people in the collection team. Too many people are actually harder to manage and less safe."

The neighbors were disappointed when their hopes were dashed, but some of the more resourceful ones started to think: if the local authorities could hire people to collect materials, they could organize it themselves.

If even someone like Liu Ai, who has absolutely no fighting ability, can live a wealthy life in just one month, why can't they?

Find a few trustworthy people, form a small team, even if it's small, and split what you gather. It's better than going it alone, right?

It wasn't just Liu Ai's neighbors who discovered the benefits of the gathering team; even the combat players were envious of the team's gains, since focusing on gathering themselves wasn't very efficient.

This official gathering team has indeed set a good example, providing valuable insights for players in the territory who are still observing.

Soon, the market bulletin board in Star Territory became lively.

In addition to the original posts asking for teams to fight monsters or to buy supplies, a number of brand-new job advertisements suddenly appeared.

[Seeking 3-4 players with "basic gathering" skills to form a fixed team, operate in safe zones, and split the loot equally. Interested parties please contact me privately.]

[Urgently need 1-2 players with combat experience to serve as squad escorts. Excellent daily pay. Must be highly responsible!]

[Small gathering team recruiting. Preference will be given to those with bamboo hats. A level 25 warrior will be on the team for protection.]

Some even went so far as to post advertisements such as "Recruiting a full team of experienced combat players for long-term cooperation, responsible for escorting our resource gathering team. Excellent benefits, negotiable."

Lin Nanxing, the "instigator," felt quite relieved when he saw the gathering craze quietly emerging in his territory.

The people can rely more on this relatively safe way to obtain food and become self-sufficient, and the produce from her farms and pastures can be stored up to cope with truly unknown crises.

She firmly believes that stocking up is never a bad thing.

As it turns out, her long-standing concerns were not unfounded.

As the game entered the third month of autumn, Lin Nanxing habitually checked the weather forecast for the following month. An unprecedented update made her heart sink.

[Next month's seasonal forecast: Beast Frenzy Season.]

It was neither the expected eternal winter nor the prolonged autumn, but a season of ferocious beasts that had never appeared before, a season whose very name exuded an ominous aura.

Lin Nanxing immediately asked the system in his mind, "System, what does 'Beast Tide Season' mean?"

[Host, the Beast Frenzy Season is exactly what it sounds like. During this season, all monsters will enter a continuous berserk state, with their aggression, movement speed, and frequency of appearance greatly increased, and they will tend to move in groups.]

All monsters, constantly going berserk, swarming...

Lin Nanxing's heart sank suddenly, and a strong sense of urgency arose spontaneously.

Without any hesitation, she immediately sent the warning and a brief explanation of the system to all residents of the entire territory via a group announcement on the public channel, and also sent the message to all other safe zones she could contact.

The news instantly extinguished the brief joy of a bountiful harvest in the territory due to the spawning of resources in the wild, replaced by a tense atmosphere of impending doom.

The monsters have now increased in level, making the battles much more difficult. If they go into berserk mode in the next season, their fighting power will be unimaginable. Will they still be able to leave the territory safely?

The already burgeoning collecting craze was instantly pushed to its peak, and even went awry.

Almost no one is considering going out to hunt monsters alone anymore; everyone is stockpiling food.

After all, during the season when monsters go berserk, there will certainly be no shortage of opportunities to hunt monsters. The most important thing now is to ensure the supplies necessary for one's own survival.

On the market bulletin board, all posts about forming combat teams were quickly drowned out, replaced by a dense array of recruitment and group requests for gathering teams.

[Urgent! Expanding the collection team, recruiting 5 more people. Requirements: quick and efficient, absolutely obedient to commands, safety first!]

[A family-style mutual aid gathering team, currently consisting of five members, is missing one combat-class bodyguard. Those who provide bodyguards will receive an extra 10% of the loot.]

We are buying all durable food, grains, and medicines at high prices. We'll take as much as you have!

Everyone has come to understand a very basic truth: before the season arrives when it may be impossible to go out, or when the risk of going out is extremely high, we must stock up as much as possible!

Stock up on enough food and supplies, fill your own warehouse to the brim, and you'll have the confidence to face the unknown seasons.

The following month was a month of almost frantic food hoarding.

As everyone waited anxiously, autumn finally ended, the system time jumped, and a cold notification rang in the minds of all players. The reality was far crueler than they had imagined.

[Congratulations to all players for successfully surviving for twelve years and completing the first playthrough objective. Global data anomaly detected; forced update mode has been entered.]

[Update: The rules for the Beast Tide Season are now in effect.]

[1. All monsters enter a permanent "Berserk" state, greatly increasing their aggressiveness, cooperativeness, and respawn rate.]

[2. Defeating berserk monsters will no longer drop any materials, in-game currency, or experience points.]

3. All fixed resource spawn points in the wild will be gradually phased out and will cease producing resources.

Lin Nanxing stared at those lines of text, stunned, unable to come to his senses for a long time, his mind buzzing.

Isn't this update a bit too drastic?

What does this mean? It means that, apart from places like Star Territory, which have established a certain scale of internal farmland and pastures and are capable of partial self-sufficiency, the conventional ways for most other safe zones and players to obtain survival resources have been completely cut off!

Previously, researchers in Beihai City had considered moving the farmland of the Star Territory to their own safe zone, but this was prohibited by the system.

All infrastructure materials and creature cubs obtained directly from the game system are marked as "Exclusive to Star Territory" and cannot be transferred.

If killing monsters yields no reward and they don't respawn in the wild, how will others survive? Will they just sit around and live off their savings?

How long can that little bit of inventory last?

Before Lin Nanxing could even process this devastating news, a noticeable tremor suddenly came from the ground beneath his feet.

Immediately afterwards, a piercing barrier alarm and a system notification rang out simultaneously.

[Warning! The territory is under attack by a large-scale monster invasion! The barrier's durability is rapidly decreasing.]

[Warning! An extremely high-energy reaction has been detected approaching!]

Lin Nanxing suddenly looked up at the window. The night was deep, and the clock had just passed midnight.

Seriously? They're not giving us any time to adjust? The Beast Tide Season has already started? And on this scale right from the start?!

A commotion arose within the territory.

The residents were jolted awake from their sleep, and after a brief moment of panic, they acted as if by reflex.

Combat players grabbed their weapons and rushed out of their homes, while casual players quickly closed doors and windows and helped evacuate the elderly and infirm. Patrol team and police station members, following the pre-rehearsed plan, headed to their respective defensive posts.

Star Territory had been preparing for the Beast Tide season for a month. Although the first wave of attacks came suddenly at midnight, catching everyone off guard, the territory's long-standing alert system was immediately activated.

However, the size and ferocity of the attacking monsters still exceeded many people's expectations.

Almost simultaneously, the territory was surrounded by monsters from all directions. The monsters, with their ferocious, scarlet faces, appeared in dense numbers like a black tide surging from the ground, relentlessly crashing into the barrier's light screen.

Although the barrier has the function of reflecting damage, it cannot withstand the large number of monsters and its self-repair function is insufficient, resulting in significant damage. Players had to immediately split up to provide support, and the defensive line was stretched out instantly.

"There are too many monsters! We can't possibly cover all these areas with defensive magic traps!" A mage in charge of the eastern defense line was sweating profusely. Looking at the monsters in the distance that easily bypassed the scattered trap areas, he couldn't help but curse, "This stupid game is killing us!"

"Whoosh! Whoosh whoosh!"

On the southwest watchtower, a young archer's face turned pale. He pulled the bowstring so hard it hummed, and although he shot arrows swiftly, he missed every single one.

"Damn it, I can't aim at them at all, they're too fast!" the archer practically wailed, as if all his previous combat experience was useless.

A burly man wielding a chain hammer under the watchtower had just knocked away a stinging scorpion trying to climb the wall, but he was also wounded. He spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva: "Save your arrows, wait until they get closer before you... Ouch!"

While the chain-hammer-wielding burly man was distracted by talking, a shadowy cat suddenly pounced on his neck from his blind spot!

A stench filled the air, and the burly man's pupils constricted; it was too late to parry...

"Snap!" A dull thud rang out.

The expected pain did not come. Instead, a staghorn limb as thick as an adult man's arm blocked his path, firmly preventing the shadow cat's fatal attack.

The air root vibrated slightly, sending the shadow cat flying away.

Everyone looked on in shock, only to see the banyan tree spirit that had been guarding the territory arrive.

They were immediately stunned speechless by what they saw.

The banyan tree, which was already exceptionally tall, was now expanding and stretching its trunk and branches at a visible speed. Its aerial roots, like a group of giant pythons that had come to life, were hanging down, plunging into the ground, and then rapidly thickening and extending.

In just a few dozen seconds, it swelled from an ordinary tree into a towering giant that covered half of the city wall.

The banyan tree spirit's canopy, like a giant umbrella reaching to the sky, not only completely blocked the view of the five or six watchtowers behind it, but also firmly blocked the raging monsters rushing into the area with a three-dimensional barrier composed of thick branches and aerial roots.

"My God..." The archer looked up, his mouth agape.

Beside it, the giant barrier formed by the Iron Tree Spirit, the Man-eating Flower, and other magical plants, along with the Banyan Tree Spirit, demonstrated the dominance expected of top-tier magical plants, greatly reducing the pressure on the southwest defense line.

However, not all regions are so fortunate.