[World Forum - Peak Competition Section]
Today is the first day of the Peak Competition.
In this world of pure competition, unshackled by moral coercion or public opinion pressure, the division between the factions of the hundred contestants beca even more apparent. Many people on the forum were sprouting big talk, declaring that the player they supported was bound to win.
anwhile, in the sticky area of the board, the audience-initiated odds polling was constantly fluctuating.
Without a doubt, at the beginning, Su Ming’an had the highest winning odds, with the number of votes for him accounting for a hefty 40.1%. However, as ti passed, this percentage began to gradually decline.
After all, it was clear to everyone that Su Ming’an seed to have picked up an incredibly weak chess piece.
There were not a few audience mbers who detested Xiber, so even cursing her and wishing for her quick demise.
"The strength of those previous few guides... It’s absolutely preposterous, sothing that can’t be made up for with re instance strategy skills. Number One Player is really going to crash this ti."
"Damn! Why did Su Ming’an have to be matched with that Xiber... Her personality is so weird, and she’s so weak, how can she be worthy..."
"It’d be great if she would just die quickly."
These were so of the more common sentints.
According to the current intelligence, guides can be changed. After their own adventurer dies, the guide will lose their divine wisdom and wander around the arena. If players can find these wandering, mindless guides and sign a contract with them, they can change guides.
And the player’s original guide will automatically terminate the contract. These guides won’t lose their divine wisdom but will beco independent combat entities and continue to challenge the instance on their own.
Therefore, many comnts were saying that Number One Player should hurry up and find other wandering guides to switch with, as that Xiber isn’t of much use, with her prophecy ability being practically nonexistent.
The competition had just started, and the supporters of the players leading the boards had already begun hurling insults across different areas. Among them were many muddy waters, attempting to manipulate public opinion with unseen hands. So reporter-class casual players were even fanning the flas, hoping to stir the waters even murkier.
Take, for example, these trending thread titles:
[Eni’s little sister claims: Eni proclaid his ’declaration of victory’ before the fight, vowing to show Number One Player the legendary Fire Mystery!]
[Reliable sources say: Atlanda expressed in private that Su Ming’an’s era is over. He has learned everything there is to know about the small instance and securing this victory will be a piece of cake!]
[World Tree Guild bulletin: Bei Wang is set to challenge the perfect pass of the Qiongdi world, the ’Bai Shen line’ is smooth sailing for him, and no one understands perfect passing better than him!]
[Wang Wanyu of Hancheng broadcasting to his audience: Being matched with the seventh guide, he will be the champion of this instance. All others are nothing but autumn grasshoppers and petty jesters, at most flailing for a mont.]
It must be said, when it cos to getting players addicted to internal strife to self-corrupt, the organizers’ systemic chanisms are very well crafted.
The audience would co here to hurl insults, then hop to another section to do the sa. They likely felt even more imrsed than the participating players themselves.
Once public opinion consolidates into a unified front, occupying an entire section visible to people, the sense of dissonance they have toward the topic would naturally dissipate, and they would naturally blend into the existing discussions.
All sorts of redundant comnts burst out at this mont. Eni doesn’t even have a sister, and Bei Wang didn’t look for the ’Bai Shen line’ clue at all, yet these posters managed to draw from tiny details in their livestreams the content they needed, then exaggerated and evolved it into the narrative they wanted to see.
If there were scholars around, so self-proclaid "experts of a certain field" might erge to criticize these nonsensical comnts, offering their "unique" insights, confirming those in the sa field, critiquing those in different fields, and repeatedly ruminating on like-minded opinions—extolling the ultimate truth of their so-called faction, thus reducing the various discussions to exclusionary tribal-like entities.
If the top-ranked players anonymously posted themselves, they might also be denounced by these "experts".
Knowing all, short-sighted, in order to show their "unique" insights, countless numbers have done so. Even Hubert’s ticulously calculated data have been furiously criticized by many keyboard warriors after just a glance.
"It’s a bit cold..."
Lin Yin, wrapped in a fur cloak, exhaled a breath of air.
She was sitting in a large viewing park, surrounded by her companions.
The park was vast, dotted with many people who were also watching the ga. It was morning, and the park was bustling, with the slls of barbeque and beer floating in the cool air, while intense discussions filled one’s ears.
Who knew which techie was ssing with the weather architecture system? It was snowing from the sky again, causing great distress to many people who were trying to light fires for their barbeques.
At that mont, before Lin Yin, there was a huge screen resembling a cinema, curved so viewers at different angles could all enjoy a movie-like experience.
At the ti, the largest portion of the screen was occupied by Su Ming’an. Of course, viewers could also adjust their own screen perspectives to watch whatever part they were interested in alone.
"Lin Yin, it’s such a pity that you didn’t participate in this instance," her companion Lin Qi said. "Looking at the situation, even if the players get eliminated, they should still gain quite a bit of enhancent."
"I am still quite far from the top 100." Lin Yin smiled. "And besides, this instance actually depends a lot on luck, the probability of winning is too dependent on the initial Guide matching. Look at that guy who matched with the Number One Guide, he’s just too lucky..."
"Too lucky? I think it’s quite unfortunate too..." Lin Qi shook her head. "Too powerful to control, it can also be a tragedy for the adventurers."
"Who do you think will win?" Lin Yin asked.
"Hmm... Su Rin, I guess." Lin Qi said. "I really wasn’t expecting him to be one of the Players... And he’s matched with the Guide recognized as the likely final winner."
"What about Su Ming’an?"
"Ah..." Lin Qi smiled. "I know you have a lot of confidence in the Number One Player, but this ti... it’s not very likely. At least, until he changes his Guide, I don’t think he will win. Just the Guides ranked in the previous few places, I think, are no weaker than him."
"Many people think so." Lin Yin said. "Then if he changes his Guide, what about Xiber? If he breaks the contract with her, with her strength, trying to pass the challenges alone, I guess she wouldn’t survive a day."
"Well..." Lin Qi shrugged. "What does it matter, she’s just an NPC."
"Yinyin, you’re not still feeling sympathy for NPCs, are you?" The chubby young man next to her glanced at Lin Yin. "There are still plenty of people with more radical thoughts than ours. Look at that Number One Player’s live broadcast room, it’s in complete chaos, many even hope he personally kills Xiber, quickly changes Guides, perhaps even gets the Equipnt that Xiber drops."
"Hey, look." Lin Qi raised her head and glanced at the screen. "Xiber took the initiative to leave today; now’s a good chance to make a switch."
Lin Yin looked towards the screen.
At that mont, Su Ming’an, who was communicating with Teacher Fang, was preparing to head to the nearby large instance of the Fourth Tribe.
According to Teacher Fang’s guess, Xiber was probably going to suppress the curse on her body that day. People like her, burdened with a curse, needed to visit the ’Purification Chambers’ scattered throughout Qiongdi from ti to ti to purify the curse and delay the onset of an outbreak.
Because purifying the curse would bring about imnse pain and could potentially fail, leading to an outbreak, they generally wouldn’t want others to watch during purification.
Xiber left for that reason.
Many in the live stream were silently praying, hoping that Xiber would fail to purify the curse that day, hoping she would quickly die. After all, for them, Su Ming’an’s chances of victory were what mattered most. They wanted to see the Number One Player matched with the Number One Guide, a thrilling landslide victory, not dragging along a dead weight every day.
Because it’s simply not satisfying.
They don’t like looking at things that aren’t satisfying.
...
"Since Cici isn’t here, I’m going to head to the next house."
Teacher Fang placed the peeled potatoes in the basket and picked up the empty bamboo basket beside her.
She was a foreigner who had accidentally wandered into Qiongdi from the Black Wall over a decade ago.
Although foreigners tend to have blurry mories, Teacher Fang no longer rembered her past, but she could still read and write, and so she beca the teacher responsible for educating the young children of the First Tribe. Xiber was one of her forr students.
Xiber, the heir of the hereditary family, was the highest status student she had ever taught, but Xiber wasn’t arrogant at all, and her lively and endearing personality made her very popular within the tribe.
...But everything changed after a sudden massive fire broke out in the First Tribe.
Xiber, who was lucky enough to survive the fire, suddenly found herself sared with the aura of Jiu Shen. She was accused of worshipping Jiu Shen and was exiled from the tribe.
But Teacher Fang only knew that Cici was a good child. Therefore, she had been delivering food to those banished for violating tribal rules, not only to Xiber but also to many lives living on the margins of Qiongdi.
"Cici’s life... has been hard. Having you with her in her last days, she must have had it good," she said, looking at Su Ming’an with bright, pitch-black eyes, "Please... try not to despise her, abandon her. She’s just a fifteen-year-old child."
Her fingers, gripping the bamboo basket, were rough, not like those of soone who writes or draws. Clearly, she had suffered a lot in helping those unacknowledged lives.
She turned around, her jet-black braids swishing behind her.
After Teacher Fang left, Su Ming’an checked the potatoes for anything unusual; the food appeared to be poison-free.
... It seems that in any world, there are those with a heart of pure goodness.
He left the log cabin.
After walking for half an hour, he arrived at the ’Fourth Tribe’.
The people here worshipped Bai Shen, believing that Bai Shen was light and brilliance itself, and wherever the sun touched signified the place of authority. Only the most devoted and passionate hearts could hear the Oracles.
n and won of the tribe were both tall with darker skin, living in stone houses, believing that sunlight could cure diseases. Each household had skylights, and they were obligated to bask in the morning sunlight and recite prayers every day.
At this mont, the tribe was assembled with many n and won chanting their prayers, heads bowed, utterly focused.
When Su Ming’an arrived, the other Players who were waiting all turned their heads, eyeing him with extre vigilance.
The Fourth Tribe would open at ten in the morning; there was still so ti left. The Players were currently kept outside by the tribe’s wooden fence.
Su Ming’an saw the nas above these Players’ heads, most of which were strange to him. The more conspicuous ones included the familiar Yamada Machiichi, the very prominent Leslie at the start... and Lv Shu.
Seeing him, Yamada Machiichi lowered his head as if he didn’t want to make eye contact. Lv Shu, on the other hand, nodded at him.
Other Players began to converse; so were already thinking of backing out.
"Why is it Number One Player... Should we switch to a different instance?"
"This is a rare large-scale instance... If we look for another nearby, it’ll take a lot of ti... Besides, it may not be a competitive instance; eliminations probably won’t happen that quickly."
"—Su Ming’an! Number One Player!"
While the Players were still discussing, a clear-headed fellow with [Fuer] above his head ca barreling over: "Number One Player! Number One Player, I don’t want to be your enemy, I really like you, how about we cooperate in the upcoming instance? I have two exploration-type Skills, and I’m sure I can help you... "
Following behind him was a Guide who looked quite aloof and seed sowhat reluctant to deal with him.
"..." Before Su Ming’an could respond, the wooden fence to the side suddenly opened,
an elderly man with well-defined crow’s feet and a kindly smile, carrying a cane, walked out.
"Everyone... esteed Guides participating in the war, as well as the adventurers summoned here, greetings," said the old man with a beaming smile on his face.
Behind him followed eight tribespeople in various outfits.
...
[Do you choose to enter this instance?]
[Instance Na: Cursed Ghost and Human]
[Difficulty: 4 Silver Stars (The winner will receive 4 Silver Stars)]
[Recomnded Number of Participants: 16 (8 Players and 8 NPCs)]
[Suggested Player Expertise: Force, Acuity, Insight]
[Note: This instance is a ’Large-scale’ ’Difficult’ instance, lasting three days.]
...
[Instance Rules: Among these 16 participants, there will be ’Ghosts’ and ’Humans.’ Players touched on the back of the neck by ’Ghosts’ will be directly eliminated (elimination ans leaving the instance, not death).]
[’Humans’ can collect scattered Oracles within Qiongdi. Each Oracle submission will lead to an exile vote.]
[The individual with the highest votes, if a ’Ghost,’ will be eliminated. If a ’Human,’ they won’t be eliminated and will receive a 100% strength boost.]
[’Humans’ Victory Condition: Survive for three days, or all ’Ghosts’ are eliminated.]
[’Ghosts’ Victory Condition: Eliminate all ’Humans’ within three days.]
...
[Allocating identities... (This identity is known only to oneself; ’Ghosts’ are not aware of their counterparts)]
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