Chapter 117: Schemes and Plots

When she first entered the Holy Light Cathedral, Kamiyu knew that Priest An Dao was genuine—one of the first players to log into the Crimson Earth thirteen years ago.

Over the past decade, An Dao and his group had established a shadow government, influenced the world’s trajectory, deciphered ancient technology, and created the Black Sphere.

Using the Black Sphere three years ago, they summoned the “first batch” of players—people like Li Changde—into the Crimson Earth.

Everyone had been kept in the dark by them, except for herself.

After the Heavenly Father rewound time, An Dao’s behavior differed between their two encounters. During their second meeting, it was clear he was hiding many things.

Kamiyu feared the worst: the fall and occupation of Seriga, one of the two Main Cities back then, was their doing. Now, they wanted to replay that script, letting the Hell Tide breach Kaijistan.

That was why the Heavenly Father had given her the Altar fragments, tasking her to kill enough Aberrant Beast Demons no matter what, filling the Octahedral Crystal with their hatred to rebuild Seriga.

While Kamiyu was crafting Potions and Armor, An Dao and Lei Yao had everything meticulously arranged.

At Lei Yao’s Sanctuary on the western cliffs of Kaijistan, an unexpected visitor arrived.

Lei Yao glared at Priest An Dao with a displeased expression. “The Hell Tide is about to arrive. Why come now of all times?”

An Dao sat in a chair and replied, “I’m here to remind you—that Pink Hair Beta Tester seems to have discovered something.”

Lei Yao scoffed dismissively. “Someone without even a Sanctuary is nothing to fear. Without a Sanctuary, she has no fortress to rely on. A Main City full of leaks—she can’t possibly hold it.”

An Dao shook his head. “She gives me a very unusual feeling. If you don’t adjust your plans, you’ll have a hard time achieving your goals.”

Lei Yao snorted, tapping his fingers on the table as he carefully considered An Dao’s words.

After a long while, he said, “I won’t lose. I’ve never lost before. Everything proceeds according to the original plan. I will occupy Kaijistan and rule the entire Crimson Earth.”

An Dao replied, “It’s good that you have such confidence.”

With that, An Dao stood up. “Invincible’s spies are constantly watching the cathedral. I can’t be away for too long.”

Hearing this, Lei Yao paused, a flicker of doubt crossing his mind. Had that Pink Hair really discovered something?

An Dao then turned and left.

Not long after, at the Holy Light Cathedral.

“How are things with Lei Yao, Lord An Dao?” a Sneaky Priest asked.

“Unimpressive. Just another pawn for me to use,” An Dao replied, sitting down and gazing westward at Lei Yao’s castle-like Sanctuary.

“Praise the Holy Mother. Then our plan can proceed smoothly,” the Sneaky Priest remarked with emotion.

“When the time comes, Kaijistan will be crushed and the entire World destroyed by the Holy Mother’s army, just like Seriga thirteen years ago,” An Dao said, his eyes burning with fanaticism.

“Praise the Holy Mother,” several other priests chorused in unison.

“Praise the Holy Mother,” An Dao echoed.

The reason Sanctuaries could stand safely on the Crimson Earth, unafraid of even the Hell Tide and even more secure than Main Cities, lay in the difference of Power Factions.

Main Cities are built around the Heavenly Father Altar, belonging to the Heavenly Faction.

The Sanctuary is the Holy Mother’s Altar, belonging to the Hell Power Faction.

How could an army from Hell actively attack the Sanctuary? That would be like water flooding the Dragon King’s temple—family fighting family.

The reason Aberrant Beast Demons attack the Sanctuary is to target the humans inside. However, as long as human Players do not provoke or recklessly draw aggro, the Aberrant Beast Demons will almost never attack the Sanctuary.

This is precisely why so many people desperately try to squeeze into the Sanctuary.

At this moment, those remaining in the Main City Kaijistan were waiting for the arrival of the Hell Tide.

At night in Kaijistan, all four City Gates were tightly shut. A bleak, cold wind howled, carrying the roars of Aberrant Beast Demons from over ten miles away, sending chills down the spines of the Players guarding the city.

According to reports from frontline scouts and Sanctuary informants, the vanguard of the Aberrant Beast Demons had already reached the outermost Sanctuaries and would arrive at Kaijistan within a few hours.

On the city walls, the new Players, who had initially been somewhat optimistic without knowing the full situation, were now terrified by the “Slaughter Echo” from the Crimson Earth.

“Will we really die?”

“Sigh, I should have just gone Offline and hid in Reality. What’s the point of playing the Hero here?”

“We’re actually in a decent spot, assigned to defend the west side of the Main City. The Invincible Squad has to defend three City Gates,” said a Veteran Player.

“Why do you say that?” asked a Newbie.

“Lei Yao is the highest-level Beta Tester. His Sanctuary is also the highest level—a Level 3 Sanctuary that can accommodate thousands. I heard that besides the three thousand Official Players, he’s also taken in over a thousand Solo Players,” explained the Veteran Player.

“Then why didn’t he take us in?”

“Don’t interrupt. You’re just a Level 3 Newbie. They only accept Players above Level 10,” a nearby Player chimed in.

“With so many people in Lei Yao’s Sanctuary, it’s inevitable that some Solo Players might get trigger-happy, wanting to stay inside the Sanctuary to level up by firing a few Skills at the beast tide. That would attract the Aberrant Beast Demons and significantly reduce the pressure on our side,” the Veteran Player said, sounding very knowledgeable.

“So that’s how it is. The Sanctuary is so great—you can safely cast Skills from inside,” the Newbie said enviously.

“Sigh, why doesn’t that new Beta Tester build one for us to hang out in?” the Newbie continued.

“He’s still a Newbie, only Level 12. He’s not qualified to run the Keystone Dungeon yet. Even Lei Yao had to reach at least Level 20 to Clear it the fastest,” the Veteran Player said, referring to Jack.

While these Solo Players, small Guilds, and Squad members were discussing, Kamiyu and the others were in a meeting discussing the detailed directions for defense deployment.

This time, all the Captains and Deputy Captains from the Frontline, Second-Tier, Third Line, and Newbie Teams were gathered in the Guild’s war room for the meeting.

Li Changde pointed at the terrain sand table centered on Kaijistan, covering a 10-kilometer radius, and said, “To the west of Kaijistan is a north-south vertical mountain range. I’ve assigned others to guard the West Gate.

Therefore, we actually only need to defend the north, east, and south directions.”

“The east also has a north-south flowing river, which is relatively easier to defend. The most difficult directions to hold are the south and north, as both are vast plains.”

“Leave the difficult areas to our Frontline Team,” said Sen Qiang, Captain of the Frontline Team, patting his chest as he volunteered.

“Haha, how could our Second-Tier Team be left out? We’ll take responsibility for defending the south,” laughed Wu Ming, Captain of the Second-Tier Team.

The Third-Line Team and the newcomer squad also wanted to request battle, but Wu Yong stopped them.

“Listen to the Guild Leader’s arrangement,” Wu Yong said.

Li Changde glanced at Kamiyu. She had already secretly instructed earlier that she would guard the north, because the north gate was the closest to the Holy Light Cathedral after the west gate.

Although Kamiyu did not know what An Dao was up to, she had to guard against him.