Free Web NovelThe forum debate over whether Bai Liu’s gameplay was actually any good had already descended into chaos, but Wang Shun had expected this from the beginning.
Bai Liu’s earlier performance had simply been too dazzling. The charging points he earned at that single node were absurdly high. His total had already surpassed five hundred points, whereas the previous record holder for Siren Town, Mu Shicheng, had only accumulated a little over a thousand by the end of the entire instance.
For a pure newcomer, breaking five hundred points this early was already an astonishing achievement. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
And whenever someone shines too brightly, envy naturally follows.
Most low-level players entering Siren Town spent the entire run trembling in fear, narrowly escaping death over and over again, only to end up with barely one or two hundred points after deducting item expenses. Meanwhile, Bai Liu was casually using items worth a few dozen points to crush monsters while turning a profit of several hundred points in return.
Both the spectacle and the efficiency of his clear were outrageously high. In Wang Shun’s eyes, as long as nothing unexpected happened, Bai Liu would absolutely secure a place on the Nightmare Rising Star Ranking in the future.
Still, Wang Shun couldn’t understand one thing.
What exactly was Bai Liu planning to do with those extra barrels of alcohol?
He had always felt Bai Liu was the type of player who wouldn’t waste even a single point, yet he genuinely couldn’t make sense of this move—leaving five barrels of alcohol unused while also purchasing “Bubbles in Water.”
According to the game progression, the player would soon reach shore.
The coastline was covered in Mermaid Wax Statues, creatures that couldn’t be burned with alcohol at all. And even if the alcohol were ignited, the flames wouldn’t qualify as “strong light”... while the Mermaid Wax Statues were specifically afraid of strong light.
Wang Shun stared at Bai Liu’s small television screen, now promoted into the Single Player Game Zone, and fell into thought.
The Single Player Game Zone where Bai Liu’s stream was located was far larger than the previous Death Comedy Zone, which had resembled a shabby arcade from the 1980s.
This place looked more like a spacious, spotless gaming hall divided into separate recommendation sections.
Bai Liu’s stream was currently positioned in the [System Recommendation] section.
Located right at the entrance to the Single Player Game Zone, the System Recommendation section enjoyed excellent viewer traffic, and the requirements for entering it were comparatively lenient. Because of that, competition for the spot had always been fierce.
Normally, veteran players with established fanbases relied on audiences accumulated from previous games to force their way onto this promotional slot as soon as a new game began.
It was considered one of the standard springboards for rising players: high traffic, prime placement, and relatively forgiving requirements. As long as a player performed well enough, they could continue climbing into even more valuable recommendation slots. Because of that, it was practically contested territory.
This slot was usually dominated by experienced players and their fans. Mid- and lower-tier players fought each other viciously for the chance to occupy it, and newcomers almost never managed to break in.
Which was exactly why Bai Liu’s appearance here as a pure newcomer had caused such a massive stir.
Combined with the heated arguments spreading across the forum over his earlier gameplay decisions, more and more viewers were flocking over out of curiosity to watch this newcomer with the bizarre style of play.
While Wang Shun was still lost in thought, the crowd gathering behind him continued to grow larger.
The viewing area surrounding each player’s small television possessed infinite expansion space. From the outside, it looked no bigger than a tiny point of light, but once inside, it could accommodate tens of thousands of viewers.
The densely packed audience buzzed with discussion beneath Bai Liu’s screen.
“Isn’t competition for the System Recommendation slot insanely fierce lately? How did a newcomer get up there?”
“Damn... this newbie’s stream stats are kind of monstrous. For a pure newcomer, these numbers are ridiculous. No wonder the system pushed him.”
“But if this newcomer got promoted, someone else must’ve been pushed out of the recommendation slot... Who did this Bai Liu guy replace?”
“Wait, let me check... Holy shit! He pushed out Gou-ge!”
(T/N: [name]-ge → Brother [name]. ‘Gege’ or ‘~ge’ means older brother.)
“HOLY SHIT. This newbie’s dead.”
“I saw on the forum that Gou-ge already cleared his game and came out. He definitely knows by now that someone stole his slot. Light a candle for the newcomer.”
At that moment, a tall, powerfully built man nearly two meters in height stepped into the viewing area. A long scar slashed across his right eye.
His face was covered in coarse, brutal-looking flesh, with heavy cheeks sagging downward. His jaw remained tightly clenched, making him resemble a vicious Shar-Pei on the verge of biting someone. He wore no shirt, exposing his swollen upper body, while a black studded leather strap crossed diagonally over his shoulder, supporting a machete nearly as wide as two palms.
Several viewers quietly moved aside.
This man was Gou-ge.
Rumor had it that his previous game had been a multiplayer instance. In order to create “entertainment value” and rob additional rewards, he had killed his own teammates before clearing the stage, looting all of their items and points for himself. Quite a few twisted spectators in this game world enjoyed watching that sort of thing.
And judging from how naturally Gou-ge carried himself, he had almost certainly stained his hands with blood long before entering the game.
Gou-ge strode over to Wang Shun’s side and shot him a sideways glare with his left eye. Wang Shun immediately stiffened and tactfully gave up the best viewing position.
With a domineering snort, Gou-ge sat down cross-legged and fixed his gaze on the screen without blinking.
“I wanna see what kind of little bastard dared steal my spot,” he sneered. “I’ll follow him into his next game and find out exactly how capable he is.”
The crowd that had been whispering moments earlier instantly fell silent.
Although Bai Liu had earned this ranking through sheer ability, provoking someone as vicious as Gou-ge meant that even if he survived this game, he might not survive the next one.
In his previous game alone, Gou-ge had earned more than thirty-six thousand points by murdering and robbing his teammates, along with several valuable items. His resources were enormous—far beyond what a tiny newcomer could contend against.
Wang Shun frowned and opened his game manager, activating a skill to investigate Gou-ge’s player profile.
[Player Name: Li Gou]
[Player Occupation (Before Entering the Game): Butcher]
[Reason for Entering the Game: During his trial for the brutal rape and murder of a high school girl who came to buy meat from him, an intense survival instinct was triggered, causing him to enter the game.]
[Core Desire: Escape prison. Take revenge on everyone who testified against him. A detailed revenge plan has already been formulated: accumulate enough points to escape prison, then burn alive the family of the high school girl who testified against him.]
[Recommended Store Items for Fulfilling This Desire: “Guilt-Erasing Face Cream” (Allows criminals burdened by capital offenses to obtain an entirely new appearance and identity. One bottle lasts ten years. Price: 12,000 points), “Traceless Arson Matches” (Simply strike one match to create a fire disguised as an accidental incident. Remember—it’s an accident~ completely unrelated to you. Price: 21,000 points each.)]
Beneath the profile was a complete record of Li Gou’s crimes.
Wang Shun hesitated briefly before opening it.
Li Gou’s case involved the rape and murder of a high school girl in a narrow alleyway. ƒгeewёbnovel.com
The girl had been in her final year of high school. During a break from studying, she had gone downstairs to help her parents buy meat while they cooked dinner. Li Gou targeted her, dragged her into an alley, and assaulted her.
She fought back desperately.
Enraged by her resistance, Li Gou chopped off both her hands. She eventually bled to death.
Afterward, fearing discovery, Li Gou destroyed both the evidence and the body.
Because their daughter had been gone so long, her parents initially assumed she had gone for a walk to clear her head after studying too hard. They even went downstairs themselves to buy the meat she never returned with.
By the time they learned the truth, they nearly collapsed from grief.
Yet even then, Li Gou stubbornly insisted it ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) had merely been “manslaughter.” He claimed he only wanted to “tease her a little” because she was pretty, and that he never intended to kill her. According to him, destroying the body afterward had been an act of panic and remorse—not deliberate cruelty.
The girl’s parents refused to let him escape responsibility. They spent everything they had pursuing the case to the very end.
Li Gou was ultimately sentenced to death.
And it was that sentence—along with the hatred and desire for revenge it awakened—that became the trigger for his entry into the game.
(T/N: I hope Li Gou dies a horrific, painful, humiliating death. Preferably slowly.)
