Free Web NovelNews that the Carrion Zombies Guild had issued a three-day Kill Order against Bai Liu immediately sparked heated discussion among the players. The forum was already in an uproar.
[Rational Discussion: If the Carrion Zombies obtain Bai Liu’s weapons, could they break into the top twenty this year? I’m kind of tempted to place a bet on them.]
1L: Wake up, OP. One rookie’s weapon and you’ve already lost your mind? This is the League. It’s full of Great Gods. Everyone there is carrying top-tier weapons and items their guilds spent an entire year collecting. Bai Liu’s weapon really isn’t enough to stand out there.
2L: The Carrion Zombies are obviously just marketing themselves. Bai Liu’s whip only seems to have strong judgment right now; it can’t even deal proper damage to small mobs. How is that supposed to compare with top-tier weapons? I think Miao Feichi’s twin blades are better than that whip, at least in terms of raw output.
3L: OP, listen to me. The Carrion Zombies might make top twenty in doubles, but not in team competition.
OP: But the data for the two God-level NPC weapons in Bai Liu’s possession is still unknown, right? What if they’re bug-level weapons? If the Carrion Zombies get them, maybe they really can win by surprise!
5L: It’s over. Another OP has been brainwashed by the major guilds’ support-season marketing. Didn’t you see that the Queen of Hearts Guild sold the Ghost Mirror fragments to the Carrion Zombies? If they were really useful, why wouldn’t the Queen’s guild collect the whole set and complete the Ghost Mirror themselves? Why sell the fragments?
The Queen’s guild has item-appraisal and repair masters internally. They can evaluate and restore broken items. Obviously, that item was judged to have little value, so the Queen’s guild sold it!
6L: The Carrion Zombies are clearly just riding the hype. Didn’t Bai Liu just rush to second place on the Rising Star rankings? A lot of people are calling him the second Spades, but I think that’s way too exaggerated. His panel stats are too low. If the Carrion Zombies send two A-rank guild players to trap and hunt him, he’ll be done for.
7L: But isn’t Bai Liu tied to God Mu now? With God Mu around, it won’t be that easy for the Carrion Zombies to kill Bai Liu. God Mu’s movement speed is also basically a bug.
8L: If he’s tied to God Mu, then it depends who’s doing the chasing. If the Carrion Zombies send their main battle team after them, both of them are finished. Miao Gaojiang and Miao Feichi are both S-rank players. Miao Feichi’s attack skill is S-rank, and Miao Gaojiang’s defensive ability is S-rank.
Besides, because Miao Feichi has a “celebration mode” where he eats his opponent after every victory, the audience watching his small TV gets a huge adrenaline rush and charges points like crazy. So I don’t think Bai Liu and Mu Shicheng have any advantage here. Mainly, Bai Liu is too weak. Mu Shicheng’s speed skill can counter Miao Feichi a little, but once Miao Gaojiang is added in, they’ll have a hard time making any progress.
9L: Bai Liu isn’t a main attacker, he’s an intelligence-type player! He beat the Puppet Master, okay? Stop talking him down.
10L: Is the person above a rookie? That comment is kind of speechless.
First of all, the Puppet Master’s panel is only A-rank, and he’s never participated in the League. That’s worlds apart from players like Miao Feichi and Miao Gaojiang, who came out of the League.
Zhang Kui’s intelligence was very limited. Before this, his fans kept jumping around saying he would display divine power in the League, and the Queen’s guild marketed him and the Little Witch hard. I didn’t dare say anything back then, but now that he’s dead, I’ll say it straight: the way he played against Bai Liu did not look like something an intelligence-93 player would do. His playstyle was too low-end.
And as for Bai Liu being an intelligence-type player, the Carrion Zombies don’t only have output-type players. They have intelligence-type players too. Miao Gaojiang is an intelligence-type player. [Link: Top Ten Intelligence Counter-Kill Moments in the League.] In this video with over two million views, he has a segment—Miao Gaojiang once relied on strategy in a doubles match to counter-kill a duo from the Queen’s guild.
By the way, Miao Gaojiang’s intelligence stat is the same as the Bai Liu you people keep praising: both are 89. And Miao Gaojiang has much more PvP experience.
No matter how you look at it, comparing Miao Feichi and Miao Gaojiang to Bai Liu and Mu Shicheng really isn’t comparing players on the same level. It’s also unlikely those two would personally come out to hunt a rookie like Bai Liu. I’ve been following their guild lately. Miao Feichi and Miao Gaojiang have been training in large-scale instances, mostly Level Three instances.
This strategy of targeting Bai Liu is probably just a promotional move, a marketing tactic. There’s nothing worth paying attention to. Everyone can disperse. Also, if OP likes the Carrion Zombies Guild, feel free to bet boldly. I’ve watched a few of Miao Feichi and Miao Gaojiang’s practice matches this year, and I think they’re in very good form.
...
36L: I’m here to slap the face of the person above. The Carrion Zombies Guild just released an announcement. The ones hunting 6-ge aren’t ordinary guild players. It’s their ace duo, the Carrion Zombie pair—Miao Feichi and Miao Gaojiang. Miao Feichi said that after he wins, he’s going to use Bai Liu for an eating broadcast. I’m waiting to follow his small TV.
37L: ?!?! Holy shit, seriously?! The Carrion Zombies are personally taking the field to hunt him?! Aren’t they in a training instance? Why are they entering an ordinary player’s instance?!
The forum exploded instantly.
—
Inside the Queen’s guild.
A serious-faced person holding a system panel hurried through the bustling crowd and toward an office. Above the office hung a bright red heart, shaped like a bleeding organ, dripping downward and staining the red skull-and-crossbones poison symbol below it.
The sight of that symbol made the person knocking at the door swallow hard.
In the end, however, he still knocked.
“Queen, Wang Shun’s comprehensive data analysis report on every episode of the Queen of Hearts’ small TV charging data is out. Do you want to see it now?”
“Come in.”
The person entered trembling.
A woman holding a pipe lounged lazily on a long black chair. She wore a black-and-red embroidered qipao with a high side slit, black stockings, and high heels, one leg crossed over the other. Her hair was gathered loosely at the back of her head, held in place by a long wooden hairpin. Long black tassel earrings hung beside her ears, brushing against her bare, fair shoulders. A shawl was draped over her wrist, having already slipped from her back.
The corners of her eyes were slightly rounded in the middle and lifted at the ends, her gaze hazy. Her full red lips lightly held the end of the pipe as she took a puff and slowly exhaled. Amid the white mist, there was a faint, languid sensuality to her, but the trace of weariness at the corners of her eyes made her seem cold, lofty, and untouchable.
She was not alone in the office. The room was packed with people, full of noisy ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) arguments.
“The Queen’s player charging support rate has shown a clear downward trend this month...”
“We need to find a solution. I believe team combat has obscured the Queen’s personal charisma, causing charging points to disperse among every team member...”
“I’ve said it before. We need to create star players, star players! Look at the number one, [Spades]! He relies on a powerful personal style to attract a massive audience...”
“I object. Team combat is the highlight of the League! The League starts in two months. We can’t put the cart before the horse. The Queen must begin practicing coordination with her teammates! Even [Spades] is training his team now!”
“...One of our backup members, Zhang Kui, died. We’ve lost one team playstyle. The new training methods still need time to mesh...”
“...Another important new member we need to coordinate with is the number one player on the Rising Star points list, [Little Witch]. Her personal skill can both deal damage and restore health. That’s extremely rare and valuable in the game. But she hasn’t practiced coordination with our other members yet because she seems to be thirteen games short of qualifying for registration and is currently grinding instances...” freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
The Queen of Hearts rubbed her brow and sat up, waving her hand lazily. Her voice was low, husky, and smoky.
“Enough. All operations managers, stop. Let’s hear the report first.”
Instantly, all noise ceased.
The people in the room bowed respectfully and backed away.
“Yes, Queen.”
The person who had come to report cautiously glanced at those legendary team members who helped the Queen of Hearts with operations, swallowed, and began reporting in a low voice.
“This month, the Queen of Hearts’ total charging points decreased by nineteen percentage points compared to last month. Peak audience numbers decreased by twenty-one percentage points... Comprehensive small TV data dropped by thirteen point six-seven percentage points...”
“The gap in the points rankings between us and the third-place player, [The Inverted Cross Believer], is narrowing further. According to current trends, it’s very likely... they will surpass us in the second half of the year. However, we have still firmly maintained [First Place on the High-Beauty Player Rankings]...”
The Queen of Hearts listened with lowered eyes for a moment, then raised her hand and interrupted the report.
“Tell me directly where my charging audience is flowing.”
“Oh, right.” The reporter tapped his system panel, flipped the page, and continued. “Regarding audience loss, Wang Shun conducted a comprehensive small TV data analysis. One direction is high-level audience loss, meaning viewers lost to high-level players who are in direct competition with you, Queen. Mainly [The Inverted Cross Believer]. But the proportion isn’t actually large, less than one-third.”
“The remaining two-thirds of audience loss...” The reporter gave a bitter smile. “All of it is going to low-level players. This batch of rookies is too strong. They have distinct personal characteristics, and their viewership rates have increased significantly.”
“Whether it’s the player ranked first on the Rising Star list, who possesses both healing and burst damage, [Little Witch]; the control-type player who just jumped to second place, [Bai Liu]; the player ranked third with one hundred percent luck, [Parrot (Du Sanying)]; or the player ranked fourth, who once stole something from Spades and escaped unscathed, [Monkey Thief]...” freewёbnoνel.com
“Their competitiveness on small TV far exceeds the average level expected of rookies,” the reporter sighed.
“The Witch is one of ours. It doesn’t matter if viewers flow to her.” The Queen leaned back lazily and took a puff from her pipe. “Bai Liu? Is that the rookie the system titled ‘Second Spades’?”
The reporter hesitated briefly, looked at the Queen’s expression, and said carefully, “Yes. This rookie killed Zhang Kui. His personal skill also appears to be control-type, but since we have been preparing for the League recently, we haven’t pursued the matter of his killing Zhang Kui. Because of that incident, we discovered that Zhang Kui was indeed incompetent...”
“...After the mirror fragments we obtained were appraised by our internal department and found likely to be of little use, we sold them. In terms of strength, I believe this Bai Liu is far inferior to the original Mr. Spades. But I think another reason the system calls him the Second Spades is because...”
“The weapon, right?” the Queen said calmly. “This person’s weapon is indeed the same as Spades’. Both are bone whips. Spades’ weapon is a pure black lizard-bone whip, while his is a white Siren’s Bone whip.”
“They do look a little like a pair of lovers’ whips.”
As the Queen finished speaking in that lazy tone, everyone in the meeting room held their breath. No one dared make a sound as they secretly glanced at the Queen sitting in the chair.
It was common knowledge that the Queen of Hearts liked King Spades.
How much did she like him?
Even the Queen’s guild had originally been founded by the Queen of Hearts for Spades, which was why it was named [The King’s Crown].
The Queen wanted to use this enormous, wealthy guild as a coronation gift for King Spades’ victory. The only condition was that he follow her.
But Spades rejected her.
And the way Spades rejected her was very direct: he nearly killed the Queen in a match.
Yet despite Spades trying to kill the Queen so many times, whenever the players gathered for the League, the Queen would still proactively go over to greet him.
And Spades would only ask with an indifferent face:
“Who are you?”
...It was as though he had never once remembered the Queen, this top-tier beauty ranked first in the game’s beauty section, who had wanted to “marry” her entire guild to him.
For every male player in the game who liked the Queen of Hearts, it was a heart-wrenching tale of unrequited love.
But they did not dare say anything about Spades.
After all, a man like Spades did not look like someone who would ever fall in love.
Then, even more cruelly, Spades would continue trying to kill the Queen without mercy in future matches.
The Queen of Hearts’ gaze deepened, as though she had finally developed a trace of interest. Propping her cheek on one hand, she smiled lazily.
“That whip really is interesting. It even carries a layer of God-level NPC attributes. The data is unknown.”
The reporter froze.
“The Carrion Zombies have issued a pursuit order to seize that whip. If you are interested, Queen, then we need to...”
“No. I’m not interested.” The Queen’s expression turned tired and languid again. “He’s only a rookie. He won’t be dancing in front of me this year. And I’ve already experienced Spades’ whip. Can anyone else’s whip compare to his?”
She leaned indolently against the sofa chair, the tip of her shoe swaying back and forth. Her eyes fixed on some unknown point, her gaze slightly unfocused, as if lost in memory.
Softly, she said, “Spades is the best.”
“Whether it’s his whip or the person himself.”
—
Game Login Point.
Mu Shicheng and Bai Liu stood together.
Bai Liu was looking around, searching for Mu Ke. He had told Mu Ke to wait for him at the Login Point.
Mu Shicheng had also disguised his appearance, and his disguise was clearly more advanced than Bai Liu’s. He had used an item to transform himself into a bearded man and had not been followed while walking alone.
But Mu Shicheng soon noticed people trailing Bai Liu.
He had no choice but to come over and give a warning, only to quickly realize that something was wrong.
Mu Shicheng looked at Bai Liu suspiciously.
“What level of appearance adjustment are you using?”
Bai Liu blinked.
“The free one.”
Mu Shicheng: “...”
Mu Shicheng completely broke down and began ranting wildly.
“Bai Liu, can you be any stingier?! You’re being hunted, for fuck’s sake!”
“There’s no need to spend money on this.” Bai Liu’s gaze remained fixed on the game wall. “After I enter a game, there will be a gap before the player count fills, but by then my small TV will already alert everyone that I’ve entered. For a guild with that many eyes, finding me among the hundred games on the wall would be easy.”
That was true.
Mu Shicheng’s brows gradually furrowed.
“Besides...” Bai Liu suddenly turned to Mu Shicheng with a crescent-eyed smile. In his current feminine disguise, that clean smile made Mu Shicheng freeze for a moment. “If they want to catch me, perhaps I also want to catch them.”
Mu Shicheng snapped back to himself at once.
“You catch them?! Why would you catch them?”
Bai Liu’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“They want the Siren’s Bone and mirror fragments on me. I also want the things they have.”
Mu Shicheng frowned.
“What things do you want from them?”
Bai Liu looked up at him.
“The mirror fragments, and their guild.”
“I noticed that all the other players in the competition have guilds, but we don’t have one yet.” Bai Liu’s expression and tone were both very calm, as if he were ordering an extra egg with his noodles at a roadside stall. “I want to get one too. I can’t think of a good method for the major guilds, but for this ‘Herbivore’ Guild or whatever, I can give it a try.”
Mu Shicheng’s face went blank.
“...”
For a moment, he did not know where to begin complaining.
“It’s Carrion Guild, not Herbivore Guild.” Mu Shicheng pressed a hand over his face. Looking at the calm Bai Liu, he felt an enormous headache coming on. “Bai Liu, can I call you Dad? Please don’t use the same tone you’d use to pick up something from a roadside stall when saying you want to snatch a guild, okay? How many times do I have to tell you that this Herbivore—shit, I mean Carrion Guild—is not a small guild.”
Mu Shicheng let out a long sigh.
“It would definitely be much better for us to have a guild handling things behind us during the competition, but it’s too late to build one now. We don’t have enough resources, points, or players. And the Carrion Guild really isn’t something you can just snatch. Their leaders are a father-and-son pair who counter-killed a Queen’s guild battle team in the League. You saw the video too. They aren’t people we can provoke easily.”
“I thought you were already prepared to enter as independent players.” Mu Shicheng felt like his head had doubled in size. “I didn’t expect you to be thinking about snatching a guild. Give it up, Bai Liu. It’s simply impossible.”
“I didn’t say I was going to snatch it.” Bai Liu glanced at Mu Shicheng coolly. “I only want to control their leaders and make use of their guild’s resources.”
Mu Shicheng thought for a moment, then quickly refuted him.
“That won’t work. Miao Feichi and Miao Gaojiang have already registered for the competition. Even if you control them, they can’t withdraw and join our team. Players who have already registered with a specific team cannot switch teams. That’s the rule.”
“Under that premise, unless they forfeit, they’ll do everything possible to use the guild’s resources on themselves. Because guild support can sometimes even save your life during League matches. With your ‘transaction’ level of control, even if you control them, I don’t think you can bypass this father-and-son pair who are competing in the League and make use of their guild’s resources.”
Bai Liu stopped wasting breath on Mu Shicheng and continued looking at the game wall.
But Mu Shicheng remained quite persistent.
“And what about the mirror fragments on them?” Mu Shicheng frowned. “What’s that about?”
This time, Bai Liu explained unhurriedly.
“In this game, I can place mirror fragments on someone else, or I can buy fake mirror fragments and pretend they’re real. There are too many ways to confuse items. Part of the reason they’re hunting me is for publicity and gimmick value. Another part is for the mirror fragments and items in my possession.”
“But in order to ensure the items I have are genuine, they will definitely need to inspect the goods once they obtain my mirror fragments.”
Bai Liu looked at Mu Shicheng.
“Mu Shicheng, from your perspective as a professional thief, what do you think is the best, absolutely foolproof way to inspect the goods?”
“...Piece them together.” Mu Shicheng thought for a moment. “If it were me, after getting your fragments, I’d piece them together. If they can form the item, they’re real. If they can’t, they’re fake.”
“So you suspect they’re carrying mirror fragments because of that?” Mu Shicheng narrowed his eyes at Bai Liu, who was now a head shorter than him. “But they could also kill you, take your fragments back, and piece them together afterward.”
“Exactly. They certainly could take my fragments back and piece them together later, but I think that’s unlikely.” As Bai Liu spoke, his eyes continued searching the game wall.
Mu Shicheng asked, “Why is it unlikely?”
“Because killing me and inspecting the goods on the spot would create the best live-broadcast effect.” Bai Liu turned to look at Mu Shicheng, his tone utterly flat. “Aren’t they planning to use me for support-season publicity? Killing someone and looting their items at the same time would produce the strongest promotional effect, wouldn’t it?”
Mu Shicheng fell silent.
—
Author’s Note:
6: This “Herbivore Guild” you people keep talking about—what kind of guild is it exactly?
Mu Shicheng: It’s the kind that’s very special, very unique. Although it’s a bit small, it’s just, you know—it’s the Scavenger Guild!!!
