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Feng closed her eyes temporarily, she felt her heart rate reached its limit.
The last time her heart beat so fast was probably her first time stepping into the Octagon as a professional. Coach Fujii put no pressure on her in her debut, but she spent a long time preparing herself mentally, yet still suffered a crushing defeat, resulting in a knockout. It was that painful defeat that taught her a lesson, burying her face in ice water to reflect on the pain. Since then, no matter what happens, her mindset has remained almost constant, like a "stone Buddha," unfazed by any major upheaval.
This time is an exception.
Her breathing and heartbeat gradually stabilized. Feng opened her eyes, and after a moment, translucent subtitles appeared on her retina.
You killed the character [Taosai] and gained 211 attribute points (which can be freely allocated).
You have acquired the skill [Observation - S-Rank]: Using this skill, you can choose to observe a parallel universe. The observed parallel universe is considered your subjective universe. Each time you use this skill, a ten-day cooldown period begins.
You have acquired the skill [Collapse - S-Rank]: With this skill, you can create a singularity. Objects within the singularity's range will collapse into it. You can control the singularity's opening and closing.
[You have acquired the skill [Space Warp A+]: After using this skill, you can open a wormhole and warp to any coordinate within the range, with a warp range of 1000 kilometers.]
[You have acquired the skill [Clone - Level A]: After using this skill, you can create a clone that is identical to your character. Your consciousness can switch between the two bodies at will. The clone lasts for 5 minutes.]
[You have acquired the skill [All-Around Adaptability - A-Rank]: After equipping this skill, you will be able to adapt to most situations without distinction.]
[You killed the player [Taosai], and the player information has been erased.]
You have taken [gold coins x9469140].
After quickly browsing the information, Feng closed the light curtain. She raised her head slightly and opened a miniature space vortex in front of her.
The other side of the wormhole lay in the depths of a roiling ocean. The maximum distance of an A+-level [Space Warp] was one thousand kilometers, still not enough to reach Paradise Island. She used [Space Warp] five times in a row before finally reaching the predetermined coordinates. However, due to excessive energy consumption, she was now nearly exhausted.
Looking out, the sea was endless, with no land or islands to land on. The wind moved slowly across the sea, finally hovering in an absolutely precise position. Here was the entrance to Paradise Island.
The real Paradise Island existed within the Small World, created by Liu He's skill, [Small World]. To the outside world, it appeared as a mere speck of dust. Therefore, even if outsiders knew the precise coordinates of Paradise Island, they couldn't find it or enter unless invited by the Small World's owner.
While waiting for the gate of Paradise Island to open, Feng guzzled recovery potions and nutrient solution to restore the energy he had previously depleted.
At this moment, a bright light flashed before my eyes, and an island suddenly appeared in the sea, as magical as a mirage, and this mirage was right in front of me.
Paradise Island revealed its true appearance to the wind: it is a small island deep in the ocean, with an area of about ten square kilometers. The overall terrain of the island is high in the north and low in the south. There is a large and beautiful beach on the south side. Beyond the beach is a relatively flat lowland with rows of villa buildings.
Feng moved forward a short distance before landing smoothly on the soft sand and heading towards the sea view villa complex. It was already late at night, and the villa complex was silent. There were no guards, no people, and not a single sound. Feng encountered no obstacles along the way.
There are no street lights, but trees that do not belong to this temperature zone are planted on both sides of the road. The treetops are wrapped with bright white light strips, which flicker brightly and brilliantly like fireworks.
The end of the road is the unknown, the result. She deliberately slowed down her pace, trying to find out the result as slowly as possible.
Ten minutes later, she successfully arrived in front of a yard and gently pushed open the gate of the wall.
Walking along the cobblestone path with grass on both sides, the wind stopped in the middle of the lawn.
At that moment, Liu He was sitting in the courtyard under a large umbrella, a chessboard spread out before him, illuminated by a dim lamp. He was playing against himself, black in his left hand, white in his right, both sides engaged in a long struggle, lost in thought.
Hearing Feng's footsteps, Liu He took back the chess piece on his finger, turned his head to look at Feng, and a look of joy appeared on his face.
He clapped his hands approvingly and said in a clear voice: "Congratulations, you made the right choice."
Feng asked expressionlessly, "Where is Coach Fujii?"
"Don't worry," Liu He calmly changed the subject, "Do you know how to play chess?"
"I won't."
"Come and sit down." Liu He waved at her.
Feng did not resist, walked straight over, sat on the chair opposite him, and looked at him calmly through the dim light.
Liu He smiled and squinted his eyes and said, "It may sound a little perverted to say this, but I have actually been monitoring your every move these past few days, but I was quite surprised to see you make this decision with my own eyes."
He continued in a soft voice, "I have to praise you. You are indeed a ruthless fighter. You are very good at hiding yourself and seizing opportunities."
After throwing out those two options, even Liu He himself thought that Feng would most likely abandon the hostages and choose to fight alongside the other side. After all, he had no credibility.
He is fickle, just like his chess playing style, capricious and unpredictable. He is a pioneer and never does things that are pedantic and conventional.
Yet, he had underestimated the bond between her and coach Fujii Token. From his vantage point, he saw clearly how Feng, despite his severe injuries, had managed to inconspicuously mark Tao Sai, then patiently recuperate, even appearing to be ready to assimilate into the Hailou group. Finally, he took advantage of the season's end, waiting for Tao Sai to be at her weakest, teleported to her face, and delivered a fatal blow. Without hesitation, his strike was like a venomous snake in the bushes, steady, precise, and ruthless.
As expected from the beginning, she is an absolutely sharp weapon and a model favored by "God".
The girl named Tao Sai is also a sharp weapon, but unfortunately she is rebellious, and keeping her around is a big hidden danger.
If it cannot be utilized, then it can only be destroyed.
Liu He thought conquering the third district would be more difficult, especially after he learned that Tao Sai was aiming for the top spot in the [S2 Season] rankings. If she succeeded, she would obtain a second S-level skill. A double S-level skill would be a headache for him, and he was even planning to send more people to the third district. After all, the third district was a super large district, and he had to take it, no matter the cost.
But now it seems that it is completely unnecessary, Xiaofeng gave him a big gift.
While the third zone had a large number of players, their overall quality was low, and elite players were scarce. At this stage, Tao Sai was essentially the only one worth considering. With her death, the player base would be like a house with its beams and pillars removed, leaving behind a ragtag group of people who were completely unimportant. A few random people could easily clear them out like cutting melons and vegetables. But he had no plans to do so for now.
In fact, Liu He has changed some of his strategies now. He no longer blindly searches for player coordinates and hunts down players to seize resources as he did before.
Instead, he began to sit back and allow most of the bottom players enough time to develop and give them more gaming experience.
This shift in strategy stemmed from a surge of confidence after overwhelming the enemy with overwhelming strength. After all, wheat ears must be harvested only after they mature, and pigs must be fattened before being slaughtered for the New Year to achieve optimal economic returns. The better the player's development, the more resources they would gain from their kills. He figuratively called this the "pig-raising plan."
All he had to do was to take some time out from playing chess to deal with a few tough problems.
The bones of the third area have been gnawed away, so only the fifth area is left.
I heard that those guys have been trying to talk to "God" recently, which is absolutely not allowed.
He is the only one who can be the agent of "God" in the game.
Liu He casually threw the black piece in his hand into the chess box and snapped his fingers.
The sound was particularly penetrating in the quiet environment. In the darkness, two tall and burly men walked over side by side. They stopped outside the umbrella stand, and the light illuminated their empty and lifeless eyes.
Liu He didn't look at the two tool carriers next to him. His eyes were always on Feng, with a hint of expectation in his eyes.
He raised his eyebrows slightly and used his eyes to signal Feng to do what she should do - choose these two tools as her own characters, and then equip them with the two S-level magical skills she snatched from Tao Sai. If he killed the tools, he would be able to transfer the S-level magical skills to himself.
Getting two S-rank skills at once is a bit of an exaggeration. The probability of a player getting an S-rank skill through a [Skill Blind Box] is even lower than winning the lottery, and is basically negligible. The only way to get one is as a reward for "overlookers" after the season ends.
Logically, the game is divided into 24 regions. After a season begins, players compete for rankings within these relatively independent regions, and at the end of the season, the rewards should be proportional. Naturally, this leads to extremely fierce competition in regions with larger player bases, where there's only one "overlord" in each region. Meanwhile, regions with fewer players, by virtue of their inherent advantages, can easily secure the highest rewards. This is unfair to players in larger regions.
The game designers seem to have considered fairness, setting the level of settlement rewards based on the number of players in each server. In servers with a small player base, even if you reach the top of the leaderboard, you will only receive A or B-level designated skills at the settlement. In small servers with only a few dozen players, "overlookers" can only get C-level skills.
There are only four regions in the entire server where you can get full rewards: Regions 3, 5, 6, and 19. These are also the four regions with the largest number of players. The number of players is not only related to the local population, but also to the level of technological development.
Region 3 corresponds to East Asia, primarily encompassing the five East Asian countries. Region 5 is Northwest Europe, encompassing parts of the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. Region 6 encompasses Southern Europe and the Mediterranean coast. Region 19 covers North America and the Western Pacific.
Of these four districts, Districts 6 and 19 have been completely conquered by Paradise Island, while District 3 was turned around when the situation was very good. Of course, it has now turned around again.
As for Region 5... The Nordic region boasts a highly developed gaming industry, even a pillar industry for many Scandinavian countries. Many world-famous high-quality games have been released, and the player base is large and active. So when "Insect Tide" appeared in game stores, it attracted a large number of players to purchase and play it, and naturally, among these players were designers from numerous game companies.
According to the information Liu He has currently obtained, the leader of District 5, Shay Simon, has a dual background in gaming companies and the military. He is a very capable doer and leader.
At the beginning of the game, Simon relied on his gaming experience and professional acumen to keenly understand the general principles and basic gameplay of the game, and he is still exploring it today.
When the Zerg swarm ravaged Scandinavia, Simon once again used his influence to rally a large number of players and refugees, evacuating the land and entering the Arctic Ocean region of Greenland. Zerg repel water, and also its other form: ice. Therefore, they initially constructed a sturdy fortress in the tundra using ice and snow to support their refuge through the most difficult early stages. Later, as the players prospered, they, like Paradise Island, also created a small world that appeared only as a speck of dust.
Although Paradise Island had, through various means, learned the precise coordinates of this small world, Simon had consolidated the vast majority of players in Sector 5, forming a formidable force. In Sector 5, Paradise Island's attack met with stiff resistance. A delicate balance had formed between the two sides, with neither able to exert any influence over the other for a while.
However, as long as these two S-level magical skills are added, the current stalemate will be completely broken.
There are only ten S-level magical skills, which are the ten cards with question marks on the back that the "overlooker" sees.
But Paradise Island only lit up five of them in total, and there were some duplicates, because Area 6 and Area 19 were not conquered at the beginning, and Liu He could not control the cards selected by the "Overlooker" in [Season S1].
Currently, they possess magical skills such as [Soul Stripping], [Matter Decomposition], [Small World], [Unlimited] and [Definition of Laws]. They have two each of [Soul Stripping] and [Small World], for a total of seven.
[S2 Season] is over, Simon in Zone 5 should have two S-level skills, one of which is [Small World], and the other is unknown.
As for Tao Sai's S-rank divine skill, Liu He had no information about it. She seemed to dislike using it, or perhaps she had used it, but he had no idea it was an S-rank divine skill. If he hadn't been certain that Tao Sai, as the "Overlooker," would definitely unleash an S-rank divine skill after the end of [S1 Season], he would have questioned whether she truly possessed it.
Liu He was looking forward to seeing what magical skill Feng would snatch from Tao Sai. It would be best if it wasn't a duplicate. God knew how much this collector like him wanted to light up all ten cards as soon as possible.
Feng remained unmoved, staring at him intently, "I need to see Coach Fujii first, otherwise I won't give you the S-rank skill."
This was a gamble, a life-or-death statement, because if she pushed him too far, killing her would also allow her to take the S-rank skill. Then she would be forced to resort to survival tactics. But she had to exert some pressure; she couldn't let him have the S-rank skill so easily.
Feng was prepared, holding his breath, his eyes determined.
But unexpectedly, Liu He did not get angry. This request seemed to make him embarrassed.
He frowned slightly and said gently, "This is it, Xiaofeng, listen to my explanation first. You know, I hate doing things that will lose money. I'm a bit suspicious. I'm worried that you and Tao Sai will work together to come up with some trick and rescue Mr. Fujii unharmed. Then I'll lose a lot of money."
He paused, "So just in case, I killed Mr. Fujii first."
When he spoke, his brows were relaxed and his voice was light, as if he was talking about something as insignificant as "The sea breeze is very cool tonight."
The light voice entered Feng's ears, but it was extremely heavy for her. She felt as if something hit her heart, and Coach Fujii's face flashed through her mind like a kaleidoscope.
But she still sat there, not showing too much surprise, and her mood was not too fluctuating.
This answer was not too surprising. In fact, she had anticipated it before coming here, or made plans for the worst. She had given up hope and did not hold any expectations.
Making deals with the devil is the norm, and the devil will never let you gain even the slightest advantage.
Feng had a B-level skill long ago called [Induction]. Equipped on a character, it could communicate with the other party in real time.
However, such communication is not a simple dialogue between the two parties, nor is it the transmission of sound. It cannot be directly expressed in words. Instead, it is a kind of tacit understanding that cannot be explained or seen, which is probably equivalent to brain waves or telepathy.
[Induction] has no distance or spatial limitations, and cannot be blocked. When Feng first worked for Paradise Island, Coach Fujii was left hostage on Paradise Island, and she equipped him with [Induction].
Before this, Feng had always been able to receive signals from Coach Fujii, and feel his thoughts, his thinking, and his judgment.
But just yesterday, the sensation was suddenly cut off, and she could no longer receive the "voice" coming from far away.
Feng tried her best to control her emotions, maintain steady breathing, and try to think. Coach Fujii had taught her that the brain is the most delicate organ in the human body, and that she must always be thinking, treating thinking as a natural instinct. She must play the game, and not stop thinking even in the moment of a life-or-death struggle in the octagon.
What puzzled her was that if Liu He wanted to take away the S-level magical skill, he could just kill her directly, so why did he need a carrier?
If Liu He had been closely monitoring her every move, he would have clearly seen that she rushed to Paradise Island immediately after killing Tao Sai, leaving her no time to transfer her newly acquired S-rank skills to other characters. Was he holding her back for now because he felt she still had some value?
"But Xiaofeng, don't worry." Liu He remained relaxed and pressed his hand down. "Even though Mr. Fujii is dead, it doesn't mean you will never see him again."
He slid his chair back so his thigh wouldn't hit the marble tabletop when he stood up. He stood up and walked out of the umbrella stand, clasping his hands behind his back and looking up at the stars.
He looked at the starry sky and spoke, "Mr. Fujii mentioned to me that you enjoy playing games outside of competitions and training. What you're playing now is a game, except that the background, monsters, and NPCs are more realistic than any game you've ever played, but that doesn't change the fact that it's a game. Since it's a game, everything in it can be represented by data and code. You are code, I am code, and Mr. Fujii is also code. What I want to tell you is that although Mr. Fujii is dead, he has only been temporarily removed from the game, and the data is not permanently deleted. It can be restored. Do you know how to reset the game?"
Feng quickly came up with an answer in her mind, but before she could reply, Liu He spoke first, "Yes, it is T clearance."
"When you played the tutorial for Zerg on your computer, it wasn't difficult, and you should have been able to complete it. After completing it, you could start the next game, reset everything, and start over. This is proof of that."
"Then the question is, how do we pass the level?" Liu He turned and looked at Feng.
Feng suppressed his emotions and focused his thoughts. The tutorial version of "Insect Tide" is a single-player game with only one player. To complete it, the player must achieve all ten achievements. These include: surviving for at least ten years; reaching level 4 or higher on the refuge ship; hosting at least 100 refugees and ensuring their physical and mental health; reaching the maximum player level of 25; achieving level 25 for all five characters; mastering 20 skills, including three A-rank skills; exploring 60% of the map; killing 100 million insects; killing 1,000 queens; and destroying 100 insect academies.
If the real game is a further extension of the stand-alone version of "Insect Tide", then the requirements for clearance should be similar, and the achievements required should be similar, or the difficulty should be slightly increased.
But this is just a deduction. There is too little evidence to directly explain the problem. There are too many supernatural things that cannot be explained by simple games.
She's a player, but also a character in the game, controlled by invisible hands. Just like a creature living on a two-dimensional surface, how can it perceive a three-dimensional world? She's in the game, so how can she understand the gameplay? Who can guarantee that achieving an achievement is the only way to complete the game? Can you really start over from scratch after completing a level?
As if he could see what Feng was thinking, Liu He explained it to her.
"Don't doubt it. I'm the only one who knows how to beat the game. Once you do, everything will go back to the very beginning. You'll wake up like a dream, back to that day when you pulled an all-nighter playing games on your day off to catch up on some sleep. Mr. Fujii will call you to get to the training gym. I promise."
"Why do you know?" Feng asked.
Liu He pursed his lips and said, "It's very simple, because I talked to the game planner."
"Game... planning?!" Feng's eyes trembled.
"Yes, that's what you think. The game's planner. If you don't understand, you could also think of him as a god. A god that's nowhere to be found, yet omnipresent."
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