Chapter 253: Seizing, Setting the Tone

“Xiaomei, what do you think?” General Wu frowned deeply. Advancing now seemed unwise, but retreating would be even more humiliating.

The beautiful female player beside him closed her eyes and said, “This place is safe. I can’t sense any Aberrant Beast Demons, nor can I detect any frenzied humans.”

The reason this small, newly formed player Legion, led by Wu Qi whose highest level was only 10, dared to advance boldly was because of Xiaomei, who possessed a Perception Talent.

“I told you, this place is completely safe. My luck is great. Everyone, move forward and check out that circular earthen-walled structure ahead.” Wu Qi said with unrestrained arrogance.

“If it’s an Instance Dungeon, then we’ll strike it rich. The Black Sphere said the Experience and materials in the Tree World Dungeon are three to five times higher than outside. If we find the dungeon first, we’ll get a head start on leveling up. Ultimately, the Dungeon Boss of the Tree World Dungeon, Fear Emperor, will be slain by me, Wu Qi.” Wu Qi revealed a greedy, arrogant expression.

“Whoo-hoo!” His close-range Troops of several dozen people shouted in unison.

“Big Brother Wu is so cool. If you get that Dark Gold Weapon, you mustn’t forget me.” Xiaomei immediately fawned over Wu Qi, making his blood boil even more.

Where there is support, there is opposition.

“Tsk.” The scouting Small Squad at the very front sneered disdainfully at Wu Qi, who was positioned safely in the rear.

It turned out that Wu Qi wasn’t the sole power in the neighboring county. He had united dozens of scattered small and medium-sized player teams to form a large convoy to attack the Tree Realm together. They had agreed to split everything along the way equally, but Wu Qi, relying on their greater contribution and numerical advantage, monopolized all the Spoils of War. Moreover, he pushed everyone to the front to scout the way for them.

“This guy really treats the Real World like a game. These Artillery Shell craters, as big as buses, number in the hundreds. That proves an extremely intense battle took place here. And he still wants to advance?” a young man said.

“You’re right. The large number, high density, and size of the craters prove the Attack Power of the side that caused all this was incredibly strong. The fact that no corpses or other remnants are visible proves this side had excellent professionalism. Facing an unidentified, powerful enemy, the first choice should be to Retreat, not advance.” another man who seemed to have military service experience said.

“How about we find a chance to leave the team? Following that drunkard Wu Qi, we’ll end up getting buried with him sooner or later.” another person said.

“Hey, what are you guys talking about, sneaking around? If there’s something, include me.” a member of another player group nearby leaned over.

Just as everyone was discussing, Wu Qi, always the first to seize any advantage, knowing there were no enemies nearby, was the first to charge into the earthen-walled structure.

“Hey, Xiaomei, what is this?” Wu Qi walked up to a stone pillar resembling a single-person podium. A clear inscription was carved on the stone slab on top.

When members of the other teams arrived at the Stadium and saw the scene inside the earthen-walled Stadium, they were all startled.

They paid no attention to what Wu Qi was doing, stunned by the sight before them. Dense Artillery Shell craters covered the ground, even the earthen walls dozens of meters high were covered, densely packed. The number of craters was hundreds of times greater than outside. Even the ground had been blasted down by five or six meters.

“I know this place, this is Longming City Stadium. I came here to watch a soccer match just last month. How could it have turned into this?” The man pointed at the remnants of some seats.

“Longming City Stadium? Impossible. You call this a stadium? No, it’s more like an arena—no, a living hell.” This person gestured toward the severed limbs scattered on the ground, some still floating in blood pools within shell craters.

“Ugh…” One person couldn’t stand the foul stench and vomited behind a railing.

The man retracted his earlier statement: “What exceptional professionalism? The one who caused all this must be a Demon.”

Lying on the ground were the corpses of Aberrant Beast Demons whose names they couldn’t even identify. They were all new Players under Level 10, while Kamiyu had activated the highest difficulty—Torment Tier—where even the lowest-Level Monster was at least Level 45.

“Look! These are premium materials. I can’t even name them.” A bold Player ran into the stadium and picked up a bull horn.

“Ooh, wow! This is an Ancestral Legendary Weapon—a sword! Who would waste something like this?” One of Wu Qi’s underlings, sharp-eyed, rushed to the innermost area and picked up a Weapon from the ground.

“General Wu! There are dozens more Ancestral Legendary Weapons here!” the man exclaimed loudly.

“Are you stupid? Why shout so loudly?” Wu Qi snapped irritably, glancing nervously at Players from other teams.

With that, Wu Qi rushed over first and snatched away all dozens of Ancestral Legendary Weapons, breaking the prior agreement without even a hint of intention to share with the others.

These Weapons were actually discarded scraps left behind by Players who, to save space for transporting more Magic Crystal Ore—the raw material for Magic Artillery Shells—had thrown them away. Back then, everyone had farmed until they were sick of it, each possessing over a hundred Ancestral Legendary Weapons.

The reason so many materials and Weapons remained was due to the urgency of the battle at the time; these scraps were left behind in the rush.

“Hahahaha! We’re rich, we’re rich! We didn’t get Dark Gold Weapons, but we got dozens of Ancestral Legendary ones. This is a fortune!” Wu Qi jumped up excitedly.

His fair-weather friends all looked at him with fervent eyes.

Under their gaze, Wu Qi felt that if he didn’t share the spoils, they might turn against him. Quickly shifting the topic, he said, “Brothers, I’ve figured out how to operate this stone console.”

“It’s an Instance Dungeon control panel. You can set different difficulties for the Instance Dungeon to obtain different rewards. After opening the Instance Dungeon and clearing the Dungeon Boss, you can immediately start the next round.”

“As long as we farm this Instance Dungeon, more Ancestral Legendary Weapons will keep spawning. This time, we’re truly going to strike it rich.”

“Should we let those outsiders join in?” an underling asked.

That underling was immediately kicked flying dozens of meters by Wu Qi and died on the spot. Wu Qi loudly warned, “Dare they come in? I’ll cut them down the moment they try.”

“Ahahahaha! Ancestral Legendary Weapons really are something else.” Wu Qi immediately equipped one for himself.

His other fair-weather friends were momentarily stunned. Killing to establish authority—Wu Qi was indeed ruthless enough.

“Come on, hurry up and start the Instance Dungeon. Let’s farm until we’ve made our fortune.” Wu Qi promptly pressed the button to activate the Instance Dungeon on the stone panel.

Dozens of his other followers chimed in agreement, while the remaining few hundred people had no idea what to do next.

On the other side, could the Black Sphere War Room not see this? Of course not—they immediately reported it to Kamiyu.

Kamiyu waved her hand dismissively and said, “I’m studying what to do with the Fruit Core. Who wants to handle such a trivial matter?”

“I’ll do it,” Chu Feng shouted loudly.

“Me, me,” the other members of the Student Legion clamored forward.

The Frontline Team members all drew their blades in unison, declaring clearly, “Anyone who dares to encroach on Lady Kamiyu’s territory will face my blade.”

Kamiyu nodded, setting the tone for the matter: “Magic Crystal Ore is the lifeblood of our Sanctuary and the key to whether we can defeat the Fear Emperor.”

At that moment, Jack stepped forward and said calmly, “Leave it to me. I handle things cleanly.”

And indeed, Jack handled it cleanly—with one Hellfire Fist strike, it was the kind of clean that left everything reduced to ashes.

Everyone else gasped in shock.