Chapter 1 Forty Minutes into the Match

Forty minutes into the match, in the desert.

"Brother Jue, I've been wanting to ask for ten minutes now..." Xiao Tan, sitting in the sidecar of Feng Bujue's motorcycle, wiped sweat from his brow and asked, "Where are we going? Why aren't we heading in the direction of King Kakaru and the others?"

"I don't know where this is either, but according to the calculations of *Numinous Foresight*, heading in this direction should allow us to encounter the thing on this planet most likely to kill us," Feng Bujue replied.

"Oh... so that's what you calculated just now... eh?" Xiao Tan started to respond, then realized something was wrong. "Hey! Why are we intentionally going in the most dangerous direction?" he shouted. "Since you're calculating... why not calculate 'where are the members of the opposing team'... instead of calculating 'which direction to go to encounter the strongest enemy'?"

"Idiot, of course it's because the current calculation yields more information," Little Ling, riding the motorcycle behind them, interjected before Brother Jue could reply.

"That's right," Feng Bujue responded, turning to explain to Xiao Tan, "If I calculate 'where are the members of the opposing team', then the only information I get is the location of the opposing team's members. But... if I calculate 'which direction to go to encounter the strongest enemy', I can learn many other things..." He paused, elaborating, "Yesterday, I watched some of the match recordings of Corpse Blade Second Team, and I have a rough understanding of the specializations and combat styles of several of their members, but... that's all; they didn't encounter any strong teams in the preliminaries, and most of their matches were crushing victories. Simply put... it's impossible to see the 'limit' of this team based solely on the preliminary recordings."

"Uh... so..." Xiao Tan continued, "Does this have anything to do with what you just calculated?"

"I'm getting to that, don't rush me," Feng Bujue continued, "Let's talk about the situation in this script... there's a reason I fought Kakaru for so long just now. I deliberately held back my strength and entangled with him, just to test Kakaru's combat power; by observing this 'minion boss', I roughly estimated how powerful the big Boss of this script is."

Brother Jue's words made Xiao Tan even more confused. He almost blurted out, "Can't you see through the data? Is it necessary to confirm it through combat?"

Fortunately... Xiao Tan didn't say those words, because he realized something in time...

In the next second, Wang Tanzhi's gaze towards Feng Bujue changed, and the latter immediately responded with a subtle, almost imperceptible expression.

If the tacit understanding between Brother Jue and Ruo Yu was telepathy, then the tacit understanding between Brother Jue and Xiao Tan was practically wifi.

With just a moment's exchange, they seemed to be able to communicate countless things.

Right now, Xiao Tan instantly understood – Brother Jue was acting, and... he needed his cooperation.

"The conclusion is... about the same level as the Time Official and the Juror NPCs," half a second later, Feng Bujue continued from where he left off, seemingly without pause or abnormality. "So... let's go back to the question you raised earlier – why calculate 'the thing most likely to kill us'? Because by doing so... we can deduce the 'upper limit' of Corpse Blade Second Team's combat power based on who the enemy that appears before us is."

"Hmm..." Xiao Tan responded, thoughtfully, "What if... we encounter the script Boss and get beaten to a pulp or even wiped out?"

"Ha!" Feng Bujue laughed. "How could that be possible?" He tilted his head. "If we encounter an NPC, we can always try to negotiate with him, her, or it. It would be best if we could borrow their power, and if not... we'll just run away with all our might. What's the loss?"

At this point, Little Ling chimed in, "And if we directly encounter the four members of Corpse Blade Second Team later, that proves that... at least according to the system's standards, their strength is even greater than the strongest NPC on this planet."

"Oh~ I understand now that you've explained it..." Xiao Tan recited in a pretentious manner, "If we encounter an NPC, we have a chance to borrow their power, and even if it doesn't work out, there's no loss. And if we encounter the opposing team... from the results, it's the same as calculating 'where are the members of the opposing team'." He stroked his chin, shaking his head. "But in either case... we can use the condition 'most likely to kill us' to speculate on the upper limit of Corpse Blade Second Team's strength."

"Very good, a promising child," Feng Bujue freed a hand and ruffled Xiao Tan's hair.

"Go, go, go... stop it," Xiao Tan pushed Brother Jue's hand away, redoing his hairstyle.

"But... honestly speaking..." At this moment, Feng Bujue suddenly changed the subject, "I personally prefer encountering Corpse Blade Second Team rather than some NPC..."

"Oh? Why is that?" Xiao Tan asked.

"Hmph..." Feng Bujue sneered, "I didn't have too high expectations for the strength of those Corpse Blade guys anyway..." He licked his lips. "Right now... if the system determines that their strength isn't even as good as a Juror or a Time Official... that would be too boring."

Yes... he said it.

He said these words in front of countless viewers, with a loud voice, an arrogant expression... without any scruples.

Regardless of Corpse Blade's reputation in the industry, in the eyes of the general public who don't know much about the professional gaming scene, Corpse Blade is still a well-known gaming studio.

However, Feng Bujue, a casual player, actually said such a thing publicly in this tone, as if Corpse Blade and other top-tier studios weren't even on the same level, and he didn't take them seriously at all.

This behavior... undoubtedly left the vast majority of viewers in awe.

"Wow, this guy really dares to talk..."

"I've never seen such an arrogant person..."

"I switched over to take a look just now, and their team only spent less than half a minute clearing the mobs, and he spent so long and still has the nerve to say..."

"But he said he was testing the NPC's strength, could he be deliberately holding back?"

"I think it's possible, don't forget that he was fighting alone from beginning to end, none of his three teammates helped, while Corpse Blade's side had four people working together."

"That's right, although he took longer, he always seemed to be handling the battle with ease."

"Give me a break... I think he's just showing off, if he really encounters Corpse Blade's professional players, he'll probably be killed in seconds."

For a time, viewers on various platforms launched heated discussions on Brother Jue's highly controversial remarks, with various viewpoints and no consensus.

And all of this... was within Feng Bujue's calculations.

Unknowingly, people had focused the discussion on Brother Jue's meaningless arrogant words, while the part where he communicated with Xiao Tan and Little Ling... seemed to have been taken for granted as facts...

…………

At the same time, on Corpse Blade Second Team's side...

The four members of Corpse Blade were riding the motorcycles they had snatched, advancing rapidly in the direction where the NPCs appeared. After about twenty minutes, they saw a fortress built in the desert.

The overall shape of this fortress was elliptical, covering a considerable area, like a small desert city.

The outer walls of the fortress were composed of a mixture of stone, sand, and metal, and had never stopped being repaired almost from the day it was completed... From a distance, it was obvious that the colors of the walls were different shades, and the degree of wear and tear of the various areas and building materials was also different.

This phenomenon... was mainly caused by the continuous "acid rain" in various seasons. Of course, there were also many complex reasons such as cutting corners and external damage.

"Captain, the rabbits on the watchtower seem to have spotted us already," the vice-captain, Shui Shi Qiangxi (Water Style Assault), said to San Yu Qiangxi (Three Jade Assault) when they were still a considerable distance from the fortress.

As a player specializing in marksmanship, Shui Shi Qiangxi's eyesight was naturally not bad. At this moment, he immediately saw a Rabbit Star Person on the watchtower on this side of the fortress pointing at them and signaling to the other rabbits.

"It doesn't matter, we'll be discovered sooner or later," San Yu Qiangxi replied.

What he said made sense. There were several watchtowers on the outer wall of this fortress, and each tower had a Rabbit Star Person watching; in the desert without any cover, to approach the fortress quietly, they either had to wait until night to act... or crawl under the sand...

Right now, both of these plans were obviously not very realistic... because the waiting time for the former was unknown (they didn't know how long the daytime on Rabbit Star lasted), and the latter would also take a long time and waste a lot of stamina (even without burying themselves in the sand, their stamina would already be lost due to the heat), so... it was better to just drive over.

"I estimate..." Shui Shi Qiangxi continued, "When we get to the city, what awaits us will probably be another battle."

"Not necessarily..." At this time, Chongsheng Wei Wang (Reborn as King), who was responsible for strategizing, said from the side, "According to the general rules of apocalyptic scripts, population gathering places like this are roughly divided into two types... one is the 'shelter' type, which generally has an organization similar to a 'government' and a local armed force responsible for maintaining law and order and resisting foreign enemies." He paused, "The second is the 'outlaw' type, which is easier to understand... usually ruled by one or several of the most powerful people, and the people in the city are either thugs or slaves." Although he was analyzing the problem, his tone still had the "Corpse Blade style", with a rather wooden feeling. "If it's a shelter, their defensive forces might block us at the gate and conduct some negotiations; but if it's an outlaw hideout, then there's no need to say anything... the Chui Chui Qi gang we just killed were probably their people, they must have recognized the motorcycles we're riding and are preparing to rush out and attack us."

"It looks like the second possibility is more likely," Chuan Yue Wei Wang (Transcend as King), who was following beside Chongsheng Wei Wang, turned his head and responded, "Chui Chui Qi and the others appeared from this direction, and clearly stated that they were here to catch slaves."

"You're right, but... we can't rule out the possibility of a 'shelter'," Chongsheng Wei Wang replied, "You know... some 'shelter' type gathering places may also be doing the same or even dirtier things as 'outlaw' hideouts, but their political system is more advanced." He explained, "You have to understand... a social system composed of 'a very small ruling group', 'a large number of exploited ordinary people', and 'a small number of the lowest slaves' is far more stable than a system that only has 'overlords', 'thugs', and 'slaves'."

"Hmph..." At this time, San Yu Qiangxi snorted and continued, "I hope we can encounter an 'outlaw' hideout." He said in a deep voice, "As long as your fist is big enough, an idiot can also claim territory and be king... but a stable 'shelter' can only be built by people who are truly intelligent and capable."

Chongsheng Wei Wang deeply agreed with these words, and he followed up, "Captain is right, if Chui Chui Qi is a member of an outlaw hideout, or even the boss, then we can breathe a sigh of relief. But... if Chui Chui Qi is just a freebooter who takes his men around to catch slaves in exchange for rewards, then that's not good... because he's just an insignificant character compared to the big fish who rules this fortress."

The four people talked and analyzed the situation, and unknowingly arrived at the outer wall of the fortress.

Coming closer, they realized that the height of the walls here was actually more than fifteen meters...

Buildings like this built in barren areas are easily "underestimated" because the surrounding scenery is too monotonous. When people are actually under the city, they often realize that the actual size of the building is much larger than they estimated from a distance.

"Stop right there! Don't move!"

When the Corpse Blade members arrived at the foot of the city wall, five or six rabbit heads immediately poked out from the edge of the wall. One of them was responsible for shouting, and the others were holding crossbow-like weapons, aiming at the four people under the city wall.

"We don't have any malicious intent, please don't attack us," On Corpse Blade's side, the person responsible for negotiating was Chongsheng Wei Wang, "We're just looking for someone..."

"Shut up, Earthlings!" The Rabbit Star Person on the city wall interrupted Chongsheng Wei Wang and asked sternly, "Tell me quickly... where did you get your motorcycles?"

After a brief hesitation, Chongsheng Wei Wang truthfully replied, "We... were attacked by a Rabbit Star Person who claimed to be 'King Chui Chui Qi'..." As he spoke, he didn't forget to look back at his teammates, telling them to prepare for battle in case of an emergency, "... In self-defense, we defeated him and his men, and then rode away on their motorcycles..."