Chapter 1 Killing the "Corn Kernels" Team

[Killed four members of the "Corn Kernels" team.]

The content of the main quest was concise and to the point.

Because the captain of the opposing team didn't choose privacy protection, their team name was specified in the main quest of the Hell Frontline team.

Correspondingly, the main quest received by the opposing team was [Kill four members of the enemy team], without specifying the Hell Frontline team's name.

"Ah...I really can't see anything." Xiao Tan, after opening the game menu, noticed that the team interface in this mode was different from ordinary slaughter games.

The official website's rules post had also stated in advance: in this mode, players can only see their teammates' nicknames, levels, and survival status when they open the game menu; the enemy's information is not displayed.

Compared to the slaughter game's setting of "being able to see the enemy's ID and real-time survival status from the beginning," the new rules in this S2 team battle undoubtedly added many uncertainties to the competition.

You have to know... the skills in Thriller Paradise are ever-changing, and anything can happen before an opponent's corpse turns into white light and disappears. Therefore... finishing the kill has become a very important habit in this mode.

"Of course you can't see it..." Hua Jian chimed in.

"I'm talking about you..." Xiao Ling looked at Xiao Tan with narrowed eyes and said, "Haven't you read the posts on the official website carefully yet?"

"That...I have read them," Xiao Tan replied with some lack of confidence.

"I said 'carefully'," Xiao Ling raised her hand and made a quotation mark gesture.

"Okay...I just read through the pinned posts on the official website, and didn't memorize all the details..." Xiao Tan immediately replied in an apologetic tone.

Actually... he didn't need to be like this, because his behavior was very "normal." The vast majority of players won't bother to memorize all the rules and settings in detail. In fact, not many people even "read through" them once; many people just focus on the content they're interested in and skim over everything else.

Unfortunately... Xiao Tan wasn't in a "normal" team, and his teammates were definitely not among the "vast majority of players."

The members of Hell Frontline were all the type who would completely and thoroughly memorize the competition rules beforehand. To the point where Xiao Tan's behavior, which seemed perfectly fine to outsiders, seemed like "slacking off."

"Forget it, just make it up after this match," Xiao Ling said, looking up and smiling at Xiao Tan, and even raised her hand to ruffle the latter's hair.

This scene looked like pet training no matter how you looked at it...

"Mmm, mmm." And Xiao Tan accepted the other party's actions with a very cheerful smile.

"These two guys... are openly showing affection..." Feng Bujue, who was spectating from the sidelines, couldn't help but complain after seeing this, "And it's a human-pet relationship..."

Of course, the other players in the script couldn't hear what Feng Bujue was saying. At this time, Jue Ge didn't have a "physical body"; simply put... the system didn't generate a body for him. So he always maintained a "first-person" perspective, just like watching the opening CG; he could see, he could hear, and he could complain (only he could hear it), but he couldn't exert any influence on the people or things in the script.

"Speaking of... this [Spectator] perspective feels similar to the 'dead observer perspective' in CS (i.e., Counter-Strike, a shooting game series developed by Valve)," Feng Bujue then muttered, "However, CS's dead observer perspective can have multiple observation modes, while this spectator perspective can only switch back and forth behind one's teammates."

Although Jue Ge felt that this restriction was a bit inconvenient, he could understand the official's intentions in doing so...

Obviously, switching to "full-view" or repositioning wasn't technically difficult. The people who made the competition rules would limit the freedom of the spectator perspective for a reason...

In a game like CS, where "a single map is less than an acre in size, and there are at most 32 rough-textured character models distributed on the map," it's fine to let observers fly around and look wherever they want. But in a game like Thriller Paradise, where character details are realistic, there are many NPCs, and the maps are huge, letting spectators watch anywhere they want without restrictions... they could do all sorts of wretched things. To prevent this, fixing the observer's perspective to a bird's-eye view behind the character, similar to a "third-person shooter," is undoubtedly a good choice.

"By the way." On the other side, just as Xiao Ling and Xiao Tan finished speaking, Hua Jian made a suggestion to her teammates, "Let's use the resurrection effect of the Staff of Asclepius first."

The effect three of her legendary weapon—Immortal Power—could be used once in each script, and there was no "duration" limit, so they could consider using it on someone at the beginning of the script.

"Hmm..." Xiao Ling pursed her lips, thoughtfully replying, "Generally speaking, this kind of effect that 'stores an extra life in advance' should be used on the strongest person, so..."

As she said this, her gaze had already shifted to Ruo Yu, and Xiao Tan and Hua Jian also looked at the latter in unison. It seemed... everyone agreed on who the strongest member of the team was.

"Okay, let's use it then." Ruo Yu didn't refuse.

In Feng Bujue's absence, Ruo Yu had to act as the team leader. She was a very responsible person, and when she bore the title of "leader," both her strategy-making and actual actions would be affected by this "responsibility," somewhat restricting her. But with the guarantee of "resurrection," she could perform more freely and confidently.

Thus, Hua Jian quickly applied the "Immortal Power" effect to Ruo Yu. After completing it, the group began to discuss their next battle strategy...

Since Jue Ge wasn't around, the job of analyzing the plot fell to Xiao Ling.

"Hmm... for now, I don't see any misleading words or hidden hints in the script introduction..." About two minutes later, Xiao Ling put her hand to her lips in a thinking pose, and said to her teammates while thinking, "Everyone also knows the plot... it's not a very complicated story. And I think the more important things to pay attention to are mainly the following..." She analyzed the problem very methodically, "First, the 'three birds' and 'three eyes' must be the key to this script. Deciphering their true meaning will bring great help to the players. Second, the 'king's' curse is a major suspense left in the introduction, and unlocking it will inevitably bring considerable benefits. Third, judging from the CG, there are magic, siege beasts, black technology, and so on in this script world. So the 'human army' here must be very strong, at least more powerful than the ancient armies in our real world. Based on this... the 'goddess' side's combat power is probably ridiculously high. According to my experience... it's extremely difficult to directly 'borrow power' from the 'goddess' side under such a setting, and you can easily get burned. Besides... as the relatively strong side, we don't really need to rely on the power of NPCs. Therefore, I suggest... it's best not to make related attempts."

"Eh? How did we become the relatively strong side?" Xiao Tan asked in confusion at this time.

"Idiot." Xiao Ling knocked him on the head, "You're also a master who made it into the top 50 in the Peak Melee S1, so compared to casual players whose strength is at the average level, you're worth 1.5 people, right?" She pointed to Ruo Yu again, "My cousin's strength is even stronger than yours, and she now has 'two lives,' so it's okay to count her as 3.5 people, right?"

Hua Jian also added, "So, our combat power is at least 7:4 compared to theirs."

"Hey, hey..." Xiao Tan muttered, "We haven't even seen the enemy team members yet, so is it appropriate to define them as 'casual players whose strength is at the average level'..."

"Do you think a team called 'Corn Kernels,' and that didn't even enable privacy protection, would be a professional team?" Xiao Ling asked.

"Uh..." Xiao Tan couldn't refute.

............

At the same moment, more than ten kilometers away, in another part of the White Kingdom ruins.

The captain of the Corn Kernels team, [Elementary School Dog], was also asking their team's strategist, [Flowing Three Maples], for strategy.

And the other two members standing aside were called [Most Lonely When I Miss You] and [Mighty and Overbearing].

Let's briefly introduce these four...

First of all, [Elementary School Dog]. Although the nickname this person uses isn't very elegant, but upon closer inspection... this is probably a name that only old beta players could register.

From the attitude he has when naming himself, it's not hard to see that... this is most likely a person who thinks highly of himself, is good at using retreat as an advance, and likes to use the method of playing the fool to achieve the effect of showing off.

In fact, he really is such a person...

[Elementary School Dog] is an individual professional player, and his strength is indeed not bad, and can be said to be "above blue-collar, but not yet a star." But it is precisely this kind of strength positioning that makes his professional path very awkward...

If he stays in a first-tier game studio, he can only do blue-collar work; if he goes to a second-tier studio, although he becomes the main force, he can't become a trump card; if he goes to a third-tier studio... he can become a trump card, but that kind of small company itself is very unstable, and many of them disband after being open for a month or two without making any money. Moreover, the income may not be as much as that of a blue-collar player in a first-tier studio, and he can't make a name for himself.

In short, [Elementary School Dog] belongs to the level of a "big fish in a small pond." He is usually very confident and has a sense of superiority when facing ordinary players, but he can also feel the gap in strength when facing top players, and quickly feels powerless in his heart...

In terms of appearance, Dog Bro is very simple, which is quite in line with his "playing the fool" personality - unadorned appearance, neat short hair, and a well-proportioned figure. He is wearing a very practical set of assault soldier clothing, with many pockets, easy to move in, and good heat and cold resistance.

For this competition, Dog Bro found three non-professional players whom he thought were quite capable to form a team (the spectator is his friend, a purely casual player, who was found to make up the numbers), and the goal set wasn't very ambitious - to be in the top 100 in the qualifiers.

He also knows very well that with this team's configuration, it is probably impossible to reach a higher goal, and whether they can enter the top 100 in the qualifiers depends on some luck.

Let's look at the second person, [Flowing Three Maples].

This is a teammate that [Elementary School Dog] is very optimistic about, and is also the first teammate he invited.

[Flowing Three Maples] is also an old player who created his account during the beta, and although he is not a professional, he is quite a rare, "civilian and military all-rounder" player. He feels a bit like Pikachu... oh no... like [Autumn Wind Ser], except that Pika... uh... Autumn Wind Ser is stronger than him in all aspects.

In terms of appearance, Flowing Three Maples' style is completely opposite to Dog Bro's, and he looks quite flashy. He adjusted his appearance in the game to a "very" handsome level, with shoulder-length hair, a slender figure, and wearing a black and gold bodysuit that shows off his figure.

Next, is the third person... [Most Lonely When I Miss You].

Some people must remember this nickname. That's right, he is one of the high school student couples that Feng Bujue and Wang Tanzhi met when they first queued for the team survival mode. The girl who was with him at the time was called [Most Lonely When I Miss You].

There is no doubt that he is also a beta player. In terms of strength... he is very strong now.

Why do I say "now"? Because more than a month ago, he broke up with his girlfriend...

That... was a rainy day.

At the station after school, that [Most Lonely When I Miss You] student, broke up with Lonely Bro on the grounds that "my parents said that I would be delaying my studies."

When the word "break up" was said, a thunderclap suddenly sounded in the sky.

In Lonely Bro's chest, it was as if something had shattered...

At that moment, the melody of "All Out of Love" suddenly sounded on the electronic billboards across the street - "I'm all out of love~ what am I without you~ I can't be too late~ to say that I was so wrong~"

Okay, the actual situation may not have been so dramatic... but that's how it seems in his memory.

In short, his girlfriend never spoke to him again, and even if they occasionally passed by each other at school, she turned a blind eye to him. Even the game account... was deleted.

In a sense, from that time on, Lonely Bro's nickname became an irony, and... also lived up to its name...

But... heartbreak is a double-edged sword. Lonely Bro, who was frustrated in love, immediately put all his energy into the game world. He spent the time he originally used to eat, go shopping, and watch movies on playing games; he spent the money he originally used to eat, go shopping, and watch movies on games; he spent all the energy he originally put on his girlfriend on games...

Lonely Bro shifted his attention through games, gradually smoothed out the pain in his heart, and unconsciously... became a very strong player.

He has known [Elementary School Dog] for a while, and Dog Bro's choice of him as a teammate also reflects his ability from the side.

Finally, let's look at the fourth person - [Mighty and Overbearing].

This is the only non-beta player in the "Corn Kernels" team. He hasn't been in contact with Thriller Paradise for a long time. When the Peak Melee S1 entered the final stage, this person had just joined the game. From the "丶" in his name, you can see that... it was a bit difficult for players who applied for accounts at that time to think of a nickname that hadn't been used and didn't contain characters (after the v1.10 version update, the official relaxed the nickname limit, and now Thriller Paradise players can use names with up to eighteen characters, which can also contain one or two special characters).

As for Mighty Bro's appearance... he is indeed very mighty, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, a square face and a straight forehead... If he were in a movie in the 1980s and 1990s, he would have to be a positive character. Those with small eyes and bald heads would betray, and those with thick eyebrows and big eyes, even if they were in the enemy camp, would mostly be underground party members.

In terms of strength, Mighty Bro is also quite strong. As a casual player, being able to rush from level one to level forty-two in just over two months, in addition to "having money and leisure," his own ability cannot be ignored.

Of course, this is also related to the current game environment... After all, the game has been open for so long, and there are already various leveling guides on the forums; there are also "leading leveling" services from various studios, which can allow new players to easily improve their levels and equipment.

Taking another player, [Tired Dream Still], i.e., the former [Corpse Blade as King], as an example. It only took him less than a month to level all the way from level one to level thirty-four (see Chapter 582), and now he is heading towards level fifty... So, in this version, the difficulty of leveling is much smaller than in the "pioneering era."

As long as you make full use of your daily game time, read more guides, prepare double experience cards, and your own strength is not too bad... even casual players can dream of leveling to forty in two months.

The above are the four members of the Corn Kernels team. The strength of the whole team... is indeed a bit stronger than the team formed by "casual players whose strength is at the average level." But if they really meet a professional team, they basically have no chance of winning.

As for the reason why they didn't enable the privacy protection function... there are mainly two points. First, it is due to the personality of the captain, [Elementary School Dog]. A person who likes to "play the fool" actually wants to show himself, but their way of showing themselves is not as flamboyant as "forced showing off," nor as profound as "invisible showing off." But in any case, Dog Bro definitely wouldn't want to be anonymous or anything. Besides... he has his own little plan in his heart... He hopes to make a name for himself "personally" in S2, and then he can join a first-tier studio and become a main force, so as to get rid of his current awkward situation. If he hides his "appearance" and "team name," how can he be remembered?

The second reason... is that their strategist, [Flowing Three Maples], really didn't think so deeply about the "privacy protection function" issue. That's why he's not as good as Pikachu... When he realized the problem later, the qualifiers had already been played for more than a dozen rounds. At that time, their team's information had basically been studied by everyone, and it was too late to hide it.

"Okay, it's settled then."

Five minutes after the script started, the five members of the Corn Kernels team had already formulated a strategy.

Their tactical thinking was actually the same as the Hell Frontline team's...

But the process of thinking was very different...

Their thinking was: You can't deduce anything from the script introduction, so let's not bother with the plot; The opposite team doesn't even show their team name, so they are probably an unknown team, so it is very likely that they are casual players... We have a professional-level player sitting in charge, who can be worth two people, so our combat power is at least 5:4 compared to theirs; So we don't need to borrow power, let's quickly destroy them, it's more beneficial for us.

That's... probably the process...

And such a strategy undoubtedly opened a tragedy.