2:00 a.m. Beijing Ti, 3:00 a.m. Tokyo Ti.
"Brother Hao" Ono Shinichiro rubbed his swollen red eyes, got up, and twisted his sore back and waist. Ever since the National War kicked off three days ago, Ono Shinichiro had practically been in all-nighter mode the whole ti; the total ti he’d actually slept didn’t even add up to eight hours.
But now still wasn’t the ti to talk about being tired. Staring at the several large screens hanging on the wall of the workroom, Ono drew a cigarette with a grim expression. This was already his twentieth pack in just a few days.
Just three hours ago, Ono had received news from headquarters: the Sakura Group had been inexplicably wiped out to the last man, and even now they still couldn’t get into the Wine God Space. This failure directly pushed the Sakura Group’s advancent schedule back by a full month in real ti. And in a ga world that changes by the day and evolves by the hour, the consequences of a one-month delay were basically a devastating blow.
Nobody knew exactly why, but it was definitely related to Da Fei, because Da Fei had obtained a Wine God’s Cup in yesterday afternoon’s PK battle against the Sakura Group. Just obtaining a single item with no attributes whatsoever could trigger a breakthrough that huge—Da Fei’s terrifying nature had already gone beyond anything common sense could describe.
A player this strong could no longer be beaten through frontal confrontation. Which ant headquarters could only put their focus on him—win Da Fei’s trust, then use Da Fei as a razor‑sharp blade to kill by borrowed knife!
At this mont, Ono’s gaze grew even hazier through the curling cigarette smoke. Could he really make good use of Da Fei? Where exactly was this blade going to be swung? The United States? Could the United States and Da Fei really drag each other down in a mutual‑destruction fight?
As he was thinking, a call ca in from headquarters: "Ono-kun, our side is all set up. You can move now!"
Ono’s Spirit jolted: "Haai! This ti we’ll definitely make the China Region get completely carried away!"
The cold voice on the other end sneered: "I imagine the China Region is already full of themselves after winning again and again."
Ono laughed: "Exactly. Even though every single one of the commanders is shouting slogans about ’can’t get careless’ with their mouths, in their hearts they’ve already stopped taking things seriously. They’re all counting on their subordinates to stand watch while they themselves sleep."
"That’s exactly the effect we want.
...
For the National War, killing as many players as you want is actually aningless; the key is to eliminate NPCs that are extrely important to the opposing faction. So this ti the Mitsubishi Team’s tactics were still the sa as in the European Union Zone: lure and kill the NPCs of China’s Divine Punishnt City—in other words, the Angel Guardian in charge of defense, Ror. Of course, if they could also damage the strength of China’s players in the process of killing the NPC, so much the better. But China’s players’ progress in Divine Punishnt City lagged far behind the European Union Zone’s, so there wasn’t much worth farming there anyway.
And before killing the NPC, the first step was naturally to analyze the quest information Divine Punishnt City was giving to players. They were all tasks like going to nearby volcanoes to collect resources, harassing and robbing the Hell Army. At the sa ti, the NPCs’ alert radius was clearly defensive in nature, which completely didn’t match the attacking posture Divine Punishnt City had shown when it air‑dropped in front of the Hell Fortress.
Then the Mitsubishi Team’s 15 core mbers went over to the Hell Fortress side to run quests and gather intel, and finally drew a conclusion: because of that air‑drop operation, Divine Punishnt City had consud too much energy and probably no longer had the power to launch an attack on the Hell Fortress—this was a paper tiger that seed strong on the outside but was weak within!
However, since the Hell Fortress’s forr Volcano Air Cavalry General had been wiped out to the last man, the Hell Fortress also didn’t have any effective units capable of launching an offensive against Divine Punishnt City, so Hell’s Side was keeping to a defensive posture as well.
So the Mitsubishi Team’s lure‑and‑kill tactics were imdiately cooked up and rolled out: since Divine Punishnt City was in extre shortage of resources, their side would deliberately expose an underground Volcano Mine to them, luring Divine Punishnt City’s garrison officer Ror to set out, then block off the mine and slaughter her there!
The overall tactical direction was simple and clear, but in concrete execution it required a ton of careful thought; every single link had to be ticulously planned.
First off, how was this mine supposed to be "discovered"? This question was to be solved by Ono’s undercover account, Fresh Orange Treasure. But Fresh Orange Treasure’s account had already been way too high‑profile; if even the discovery of the mine entrance was "found" by him, it would be far too suspicious. So that part couldn’t be done by Fresh Orange Treasure; instead, it had to be "accidentally" completed by one of Fresh Orange Treasure’s subordinate team mbers while out "searching the mountains" under orders.
Next, an NPC mine would definitely be heavily guarded. Don’t even talk about normal players going in—they’d be crap in there. Even if Angel NPCs were deployed, they might still get wiped. Which ant the 15 main mbers on the Mitsubishi side had to lend a hand—using barricades to block the tunnels and prevent the mine’s defending troops from effectively resisting an attack from Divine Punishnt City. When it ca to sabotaging their own NPCs, the Japan side were the experts; naturally there wouldn’t be much problem.
This would make the China Region’s command think that attacking this mine wasn’t actually that hard. Then, after smoothly completing a few recon missions, even the NPCs would be misled. Because NPCs usually looked only at results, not at process—the Angel Leader NPC in the European Union Zone had died precisely because of this fatal mistake.
Now that these two key steps were done, Ono began to move.
...
At Bloodrose Studio, Guild leader Zhou Qing had gone to bed right after dinner and slept straight till midnight, then took over Bloodrose Holy Spear’s night shift.
Tonight, big shots from all the major Guilds were gathered in the chat room, dozing off and resting up to witness the arrival of a critical historic mont. Because sothing big was happening in the China Region tonight: Fleeting Blossom’s canal cutting across the Lionheart Empire’s human heartland was finally about to be completed.
This ant that all kinds of goods in the inland regions that couldn’t be sold at high prices because of transportation issues would finally get an outlet to the sea. For every rchant‑running player, this was hugely significant, not to ntion for the large guilds. At the sa ti, the impact on the entire human NPC power structure would undoubtedly be Epic Level.
After so many days, if not for this matter, Zhou Qing would almost have forgotten about this Fleeting Blossom’s existence. It had to be said, for Fleeting Blossom to quietly focus and accomplish sothing this major really did qualify her as a strong woman. Zhou Qing still vaguely rembered how dazzling her personal performance had been at the start of the server, which had once triggered a war of words among players over "Bloodrose’s vase," making things quite unpleasant for both Bloodrose and her.
But now, through commanding the National War, the Bloodrose Guild had gained enormous prestige in the China Region, utterly incomparable to back then. Zhou Qing also felt it was about ti to take this opportunity to have a good talk with her; things between won weren’t limited to cat‑fighting.
However, Fleeting Blossom still hadn’t co into the chat room yet, and her low‑key mystery only made Zhou Qing even more interested in her.
Just as Zhou Qing was pondering, a ssage ca from Blood Arrow Linglong: "Guild leader, Fresh Orange Treasure has sothing important he wants to discuss with you."
Zhou Qing frowned. Although she admitted this Fresh Orange Treasure was both strong and lucky, and his fa had shot up fast, as a beautiful guild leader she had a certain ingrained pride and, subconsciously, still felt a bit resistant toward this nouveau‑riche type of player. Zhou Qing didn’t think he was qualified to speak to her directly; at most he could discuss things with Bloodrose Holy Spear.
So Zhou Qing said indifferently, "Little Li, you’re a main front‑line mber now. You should be able to hold your own. When Sister Ann’s not around, matters on Divine Punishnt City’s side can be handled by you and him. We few guild leaders have things to do tonight."
Blood Arrow Linglong made an acknowledging sound: "Oh. Then I’ll report the situation. One of his team mbers discovered a hidden cave entrance in a volcanic area near the Hell Fortress, and he wants to go scout it out. He thinks his manpower isn’t enough and wants us to send troops too."
Zhou Qing was suddenly taken aback: "A hidden cave entrance? Alright, you go with him, then. You’re in charge of handling this. Just keep updated on the battle at all tis."
"Got it."
At this ti, in the Divine Punishnt City Square, the entire Fresh Orange Treasure team was gathered around Blood Arrow Linglong, waiting for her reply. Ever since last night’s battle, when Fresh Orange Treasure had miraculously rescued Little Li and Little Fang’s troops, Little Li and Little Fang had added Fresh Orange Treasure as a friend and chatted with him quite pleasantly and politely.
Honestly speaking, Little Li was quite surprised that this Fresh Orange Treasure, who’d always acted so high‑profile, actually had such an elegant and tasteful way of speaking. That only deepened her favorable impression of him.
So, now that she had the guild leader’s authorization, Little Li smiled and replied, "The guild leader is busy in a eting, so she’s leaving this matter to . Let’s move out."
Fresh Orange Treasure hurriedly asked, "How many troops are we bringing?"
Little Li answered without thinking: "All of them, of course!"
Fresh Orange Treasure’s team mbers were shocked: "No way, right? That’s our entire main force in Divine Punishnt City!"
But now that Little Li had a super big brother backing her, she was no longer the Little Li from last night. Brimming with confidence, she said, "Can’t we?"
Fresh Orange Treasure said joyfully, "Good! Let’s go!"
The result was even better than expected! Ono excitedly sent a ssage to headquarters at once: "Operation successful, plan is underway!"
(Sorry for the late update. The ashtray keeps conking out face‑down on the keyboard halfway through writing, what bad luck.) (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you’re welco to co to Qidian (qidian) to vote for recomndations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please read at m.qidian.)
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