Gamers Are Fierce-Chapter 675 - 673: The Beginning
"What? This thing was sold by me? Oh, well, that's fine then."
Li Ang's expression changed swiftly and naturally, and the next second he began to enjoy the scenes on the screen with relish.
"TSK, TSK. Who would have thought this Magic Potion, once diluted with water, would still be so potent? Even just a splash on the skin is quickly absorbed by the pores, traveling through the bloodstream to reach the digestive system and causing insane diarrhea."
On the screen, the entire street was covered in a brownish-yellow substance. Rival gunmen were rolling on the ground like maggots, clutching their stomachs in agony and completely losing their ability to fight. They were either finished off with a coup de grâce or captured and taken away.
The video didn't end there. The victorious gang members occupied the territory and began the street cleanup. They wore rubber boots, donned masks, and sprayed disinfectant with water trucks to clean the Pollution. But then the sun came out. The hot sunlight dried the whole street, causing a hazy vapor to rise, and the fully armed gang members suddenly began to suffer collective diarrhea—
The Magic Potion had seeped into the crevices of the cement pavement along with the water. As the sun baked the ground, the potion condensed into fine droplets suspended in the air, resulting in secondary Pollution.
According to experts, it would take at least one to two years for the Magic Potion that had infiltrated the soil to completely evaporate. During this time, every rainy day, the misty streets would have a Barrier effect, essentially trapping people in a dung heap. It was comparable to a nuclear radiation wasteland.
"Good news stays within the walls, bad news spreads far and wide."
Li Ang's eye twitched. Fortunately, these Brazilian gangs probably felt too embarrassed this time to disclose the name of the Immaculate Furnace.
Damn it, can't you use my diarrhea Magic Potion for some legitimate purposes? Like treating constipation patients, poisoning and harming a love rival, or assisting egg-bound birds in childbirth (birds have cloacas, so theoretically, diarrhea could aid childbirth).
Li Ang shook his head in complaint and continued browsing the forum news.
[Notice: The second stage of the Killing Field Game, the "Doorway Struggle" event, has officially begun. Players can find the event instructions in their personal panels.]
The abrupt System notification rang in his ear, and Li Ang's pupils suddenly contracted. At this moment, a few customers inside the Immaculate Furnace also showed surprise.
That's quick?
Li Ang took a deep breath and opened his personal panel to head straight for the instructions.
The so-called Doorway Struggle is a large-scale event that the Killing Field Game hosts once each phase. All players Lv20 and above can sign up.
The signup system will open in 24 hours and close sixteen days later. The signup location is the center of the Game Square. Players need only fill out a form with their personal information and then deposit it into a wooden cup burning with blue and white flames to complete their registration.
"...Isn't this just the freaking Goblet of Fire?? Why not just create a Triwizard Tournament?"
Li Ang's eye twitched, and his mind raced as he pondered.
During the last System notification, it was claimed that 1% of players had risen to Lv20 and above. This sixteen-day signup period was clearly for players below Lv20 to level up. After completing the Death Race scenario, which offered an abundant amount of Experience Points, Li Ang had been paying attention to forum posts. Quite a few players claimed that the Experience Point rewards for tasks they've been receiving lately were much greater than before.
Could this be a warm-up activity by the Killing Field Game System for the Doorway Struggle? Adjusting the Experience Point reward coefficient behind the scenes to help more mid- and low-level players reach level twenty sooner.
As for the specific rules of the event, this time's instructions weren't fully detailed, but they did announce the event rewards in advance.
[Players who rank 500-301 will receive two pieces of Excellent quality equipment or items of their choice and four thousand Game Coins.]
[Players who rank 300-101 will receive three pieces of Excellent quality equipment or items of their choice and eight thousand Game Coins.]
[Players who rank 100-51 will receive three pieces of Excellent quality equipment or items of their choice, eight thousand Game Coins, and a one-time Escape Ticket. This ticket can be used to immediately withdraw from most script missions or regular missions without incurring any failure penalties, including elimination.]
[Players who rank 50-21 will receive one Perfect Level equipment or item of their choice, ten thousand Game Coins, and a one-time Escape Ticket.]
Li Ang squinted at the event rewards, pondering silently.
The rewards for this Doorway Struggle were so generous they were almost absurd. The prize for those ranking from 500 to 101 was two to three pieces of Excellent quality equipment. For players at this level, that could drastically boost their combat power in an instant.
And for players ranking 100 to 21, they could get an Escape Ticket.
Even the highest-ranked players couldn't guarantee they would complete every mission successfully, so the existence of the Escape Ticket was like a get-out-of-jail-free card, preventing the worst-case scenario.
Furthermore, those ranking 50 to 21 could get a piece of Perfect Level equipment. A Perfect Level item meant not just a boost in combat ability but also another development path for the player.
Considering the Killing Field Game currently has one hundred thousand players, the top 1% would probably be about one thousand people. By that calculation, even the qualifiers for the top five hundred would likely involve competition among players who are generally Lv20. I'm only Lv18, so the pressure is a bit intense.
Li Ang clicked his tongue and continued reading.
[Players who rank 20-4 will receive one Perfect Level equipment or item of their choice, 15,000 Game Coins, a one-time use Escape Ticket, and a D-rank Doorway.]
Doorways again.
Li Ang frowned. He'd heard this term "Doorway" too many times recently, but no one had told him what exactly it was.
It couldn't possibly be the iron door the Iron Door Zombie from Plants vs. Zombies carries, could it?
[The third-place winner of the Doorway Struggle will receive one random Epic quality equipment or item, 20,000 Game Coins, a one-time use Escape Ticket, and a C-rank Doorway.] 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂
[The runner-up of the Doorway Struggle will receive one Epic quality equipment or item of their choice, 30,000 Game Coins, two one-time use Escape Tickets, and a B-rank Doorway.]
[The champion of the Doorway Struggle will receive one Epic quality equipment or item of their choice, 50,000 Game Coins, three one-time use Escape Tickets, and an A-rank Doorway.]
Epic!
Li Ang's eyes narrowed.
According to the System's explanation, item qualities, from lowest to highest, were: Broken, Common, Rare, Excellent, Perfect, Epic, Legendary, and Mythical.
If Perfect Level equipment was somewhat traceable, with quite a few strong players managing to acquire it, then Epic quality items were something no one had truly seen before.
For a long time now, the forums had been full of speculation, chasing shadows about which faction might possess Epic items. The Heterodox Academy, Bell Tower, and Temple Knights—secret organizations with millennia of history—were the most likely to hold ancestral heirlooms. Who knew? Perhaps simply cleaning out their storerooms might unearth some extraordinary items left by their forebears in some dusty corner.
But no matter how players speculated, these secret organizations never came forward to clarify or deny, well aware that silence is golden.
The fact that no one had seen them made Epic equipment all the more rare and precious.
Discussions on the forums never ceased, and there was even a DIY discussion board where players could upload entries for Epic equipment they had improvised themselves.
Things like the [GTX Tactical Nuclear Graphics Card], its Special Effect being to create a small nuclear explosion capable of wiping out an aircraft carrier battle group in one strike, with the note: [AMD! NO!]
[White Eye], its Special Effect allowing the user to see through objects, perceive the flow of Energy in the surroundings, and view an enemy's meridian system and acupressure points. The note was: [Ever since this man married, he has been receiving nothing but disdain from his entire family, all because a fox spirit resides in his heart.]
[DIY Killer Crab], its Special Effect being to eliminate the "sagely" DIY poster from the comment above.
[Water to Killer Crab], its Special Effect being to eliminate a spammer.
[Stale Meme Killer Crab], its Special Effect being to eliminate someone currently saying, "No way, right? Nooo way! Don't disgust me!"]
Fraudulent messages even circulated on the forums, like: [Hello, I am Emperor Qin Shi Huang. I've buried ten Epic items in my mausoleum at the northern foot of Mount Li. I urgently need 1,000 Game Coins to bribe my way through the Heterodox Academy's connections to unfreeze them. Add me as a friend and transfer the coins—my account is my forum ID. Once successful, I will reign supreme, gift you ten Epic items, and make you a Grand General commanding all three armies!]
The more unobtainable something is, the more one yearns for it. All these examples amply demonstrated the sacred status of Epic equipment in the hearts of the players.
Li Ang's heart fluttered with anticipation. He took a deep breath, and when he came back to his senses, he realized all the customers in the shop had left.
This Doorway Struggle promised fierce competition and rich rewards, not to mention the attention-grabbing mystery of the Doorways themselves. Any player with a shred of ambition was likely already discussing it frenziedly, rubbing their hands in eagerness, and preparing to make a name for themselves.
