【Feng Bujue, Level 50】
【Siyu Ruoli, Level 47】
【Bei Lingxiaogu, Level 46】
【Wang Tanzhi, Level 46】
【Shishang Huajian, Level 40】
【Please select the game mode you want the team to join.】
【You have selected the Peak Conquest S2 Practice Mode, please confirm.】
【Confirmed. Please select an observer for this battle.】

At this point in the voiceover, a submenu appeared on the screen, listing the IDs of the five team members. Feng Bujue immediately selected himself.
【Confirmed. Please set your team's "Privacy Protection Options."】

The "Privacy Protection" related options allow the team leader to choose "whether to blur the appearance of team members" and "whether to inform the opposing team of the team's name."

The existence of these two options is obviously very necessary...

As mentioned earlier, S2 is not only a contest of strength between teams, but also an intelligence war. The more information about a team that is leaked before the official match, the more disadvantageous it will be during the match.

So, when your team name and members' appearances are known to others, you are already taking on risk.

Don't think you can relax your guard in practice matches... What if, after the battle, your opponents go straight to the forums and expose you, revealing information like "beware of so-and-so's skills" or "exploit so-and-so's weaknesses"... What would you do?

Even if they don't do it right away, at some point in the future... like when your team enters the finals, those teams that fought you before might jump out and say, "Hey~ this team made it to the finals? Our team fought them before! We didn't lose by much! We remember so-and-so in their team, they were like this and that..." Wouldn't you want to cry?

Of course, if your team isn't competing for any ranking, just a group of casual players getting together to have fun, play together, and show off a little... then it doesn't matter. Show it all, because you basically have no chance of being "studied."

And if your team is so strong that... even if others have a lot of information about you, you can still win, then there's no need to hide either.

For example, Order, Gods, Jianghu, Red Cherry, and other top-tier guilds basically don't use the "privacy protection" function at all. They have at least two good reasons for doing so: first, for game studios, increasing visibility and influence is extremely important, even more important than the competition itself; second, their names alone can bring a kind of "deterrent" effect to the other side. The average non-professional or even semi-professional player will feel psychological pressure just by seeing these famous team names.

As for... Hell Front...

With Feng Bujue being so cunning... oh, no... so resourceful, with Brother Jue as such a resourceful captain, how could they possibly leak information...

In fact, until the late stages of the S2 preliminaries (the privacy protection function will be removed in the last few rounds of the preliminaries), when the true face of the Hell Front team finally surfaced, everyone had no impression of them at all. Even the teams that had fought them before couldn't say for sure whether they had actually encountered this group. And the reason for this outcome... will soon be revealed...

【You have selected "appearance blurring" and "do not inform the opposing team of your team name," please confirm.】
【Confirmed. Your team has entered the queue and is searching for other ready teams.】
【Match complete, coordinating neural connection, script generation in progress...】
【Loading begins, please wait.】

As the voice fell, Feng Bujue's body was weightless, and his vision went black.

There is no "opening speech" in this mode. After a moment of silence, then...

【Loading complete. You are currently in Peak Conquest S2 Practice Mode.】
【This mode provides a script introduction and has a chance to trigger side hidden quests and special worldviews.】
【Script victory reward: 0.02% of current experience cap】

As mentioned earlier, in this mode, "the experience, game currency, and skill point rewards provided by the system are similar to the Kill Mode, but the acquisition rate of items and skills will be lower than the average Survival Mode, similar to the Beginner Practice Mode." Also... the script victory reward will be relatively average, and it is unlikely to find puzzle cards or equipment, mostly just a low percentage experience reward.

【Script introduction will begin shortly. The game will start immediately after the introduction is played.】

After a slight pause, the opening CG began to play.

【In this world, there are three black birds.】
【In this world, there are three red eyes.】

In the ethereal and distant female voiceover, a mottled, obscure sky appeared before the two teams of players.

Rather than calling it a sky, it was more like a palette from the mind of a mental patient. On the dark gray background, many twisted, oil-paint-like patterns were irregularly distributed and flowing...

And in that sky, there were indeed three black, crow-like giant shadows circling.

【No one can escape the predation of those birds, no one can escape the gaze of those eyes.】

The camera then moved, and a barren land appeared in the picture.

On the rugged, barren land, various strange creatures' bones were scattered sporadically. Some amazingly large building ruins were distributed on this continent, each pile looking like half a building.

【In this world, there was also once a white kingdom.】
【In this world, there was also once a golden king.】

Again, two lines of monologue sounded, and the CG screen instantly became covered with a hazy color, as if entering a "memory" perspective.

In the blink of an eye, the barren land became a fertile grassland, and the building ruins became magnificent temples and statues; even the bizarre sky became pleasing to the eye after being covered with warm colors...

【How prosperous that kingdom was, how extraordinary that king was.】

At this time, many men, women, and children wearing ancient Greek clothing appeared in the picture. They were either walking, riding in a vehicle pulled by a strange creature (similar to a camel, but with horns on its head and twice the width and size of a camel), or floating in the air.

Roads and markets also appeared around those large buildings. Pedestrians were constantly flowing, looking very lively.

【Until one day, the king saw that goddess.】

The next second, the camera turned to a temple on a high mountain. The scale of the temple made it feel as large as a city, with the gate alone being twenty meters high. The buildings were all made of white, seemingly unadorned, flat giant stones, which could be described as divine craftsmanship, not of this mortal world.

After a brief pause, a graceful figure walked out of the temple gate.

Then, the camera zoomed in, and the figure gradually became clear.

She was undoubtedly a stunningly beautiful woman. Just looking at her figure and gait from afar made people's minds wander. Looking at her up close was even more mesmerizing.

She had golden, wavy hair, and bright, lake-like pure eyes. Her high, straight nose showed a beautiful curve; her full lips exuded a fatal temptation.

And beneath her light blue gauze dress was a sexy, fiery body. The breathtaking curves were about to burst forth, and anyone who saw them could never erase them from their mind.

【The goddess's beauty ignited the desire and madness in the king's heart. He wanted to possess her at all costs.】

The camera turned again, and a man appeared in the picture. He looked to be around forty years old, wearing a gorgeous golden armor, with a red cloak draped over his shoulders. His figure was tall and majestic, and his face was handsome and charming.

Objectively speaking, this was indeed a mature, handsome man, with extraordinary appearance and temperament, outstanding and exceptional.

But... after seeing "that goddess," the feeling he gave people was... that he was, after all, just a mortal.

【He came to the goddess and promised to offer her the queen's throne.】
【The goddess refused indifferently.】
【He came to the goddess again and promised to offer her the wealth of the entire kingdom.】
【The goddess was disdainful.】
【He came to the goddess a third time, wanting to offer her the position of queen, giving her the whole country as a gift.】
【The goddess scoffed.】
【Finally, he was enraged. He launched a war, wanting to use force to obtain what he wanted.】

Next, the CG switched to a war scene. Fully armed, brave soldiers, neatly lined up wizard legions, and siege beasts, giant cannons, and even giants... marched towards the temple in high spirits.

However... when the camera turned again, the war was over.

【How could a mortal army contend with the power of a god?】
【The desecration and challenge of the gods led the king down the path of destruction.】
【The white kingdom became barren scorched earth.】
【The golden king became bones on the side of the road.】

At this time, the picture had unknowingly returned to the scene at the beginning of the CG. Three giant crows circled in the sky, and only ruins and dead people's bones remained on the ground.

【Before the king died, the goddess came to him.】
【"You were a great king, but in the end, you were defeated by human desire."】
【"The greatness of mortals will eventually be buried by time and return to dust, while the beauty of gods will last forever, untouchable."】
【This is the final declaration, and also an indisputable fact.】
【But the king was still unwilling. Before his death, he left a curse.】
【If I can't have it, then no one else can!】

The words stopped abruptly.

The ethereal monologue became impassioned in this final passage, but ended at the most crucial part.

Immediately afterward, the fourth member of Hell Front appeared next to a building ruin, and the system voice immediately came: 【Main quest triggered.】