Fifty minutes after the invasion started, inside the game space.
Shopping center, Area 101.
"Phew … Haha … Hahaha …" Looking at the remains that disintegrated into data, Atobe wiped the blood from his face and gave a long sigh. He started to laugh. "Finally … they've all been killed! Hahaha … "
Atobe's crazed reaction was understandable because he had just escaped from a suffocating battle.
Other than him, the members of Brahma, Red Cherry, Jiang Hu, and Unit 2 who were in the same area all showed expressions of relief.
In the past half an hour, the members of these first-rate teams worked together for the first time and exhausted all their energy to eliminate a total of five "giants".
This group of giants also had a special name — [Devourers].
The difference between the Devourers and sweepers was that the Devourers weren't original data soldiers. They were created through the 'fusion' of other redundant soldiers.
Normally speaking, three hundred normal soldiers combined in data form to create one Devourer.
The combat ability of the Devourer was determined by the combined strength of the soldiers. If there were sweepers mixed in with the combined soldiers … then their combat ability would be counted as well.
In conclusion, this was a very powerful data soldier, and they were the trump card of the Red Cherry Army.
Even though the top players from Area 101 had successfully eliminated five Devourers, they had paid a heavy price.
Frost Monarch's Nameless Three were the first to die. They contributed greatly during the battle against the first Invader. It could be said that they risked their lives to discover many of the Invaders' characteristics. Red Cherry Blossom's Tie Haitang and Hyacinth, Second Order's Invincible Champion, Fearless Champion, Ye Zhi, and World of Martial Arts' Bladeless Swordsman were all killed during the battle against the second and third Invaders.
By then, the players had basically figured out how to deal with the Devourers, and there were only two Devourers left. Therefore, the battle that followed was relatively simple.
Even when all five Devourers were killed, the death toll did not increase.
However, overall, the losses from this battle were quite heavy. The only team that had not lost a single member was the God-Killers (only four of them had come). The other teams had all suffered different degrees of losses.
"Sigh … Why can't I laugh at all?" Looking at the laughing Atobe, Barcode raised the sniper rifle in his hand, sat down on the ground, and sighed.
This ace sniper of Order Studio was now the only surviving member of Order Team Two. At this moment, his mood could only be described as lonely as the snow ….
"All of you have worked hard." Asking the Heavens immediately turned to the non-professional players outside the battlefield and said, "Thank you."
He wasn't trying to win people's hearts by saying this. Instead, he was expressing his heartfelt gratitude.
Just now, when the five professional teams had joined hands to fight against the Devourers, the other players in Area 101 had spontaneously joined forces to help them block off the normal soldiers and sweepers outside the perimeter, clearing away any worries that might arise from the rear.
Without the help of these players, this battle would have been even more tragic … or even a crushing defeat.
"What are you talking about? If it weren't for you guys blocking those giants, we would have already lost all hope."
"That's right, we only did what we could."
Just as Asking the Heavens finished, the passersby who were closer to him very politely represented the majority of the players to respond to the leader of Jiang Hu.
By then, the emotion of 'fear' had basically disappeared from the players' hearts, and in its place was a sense of accomplishment from surviving a disaster.
Humans were highly adaptable animals, and fear was something they could adapt to. For example … a horror movie could scare you once or twice, but after you watched it three times, five times, or even ten times, the feeling of fear would fade away. But after you watched it one hundred times, the fear would completely disappear … because when you watched it one hundred and first times, you knew what would happen in the next second. In other words … the 'unknown' would become the 'known'; without the 'unknown', there would be no fear. This … was adaptation.
Similarly, when faced with a sudden threat, a human's psychological reaction was the same. Fear would make people feel shocked and helpless, and at that time, 'instinct' would replace 'thought' and take over a person's actions.
Instinct was a valuable asset that a creature obtained during the process of evolution. It was one of the guarantees that a species could survive and reproduce. Most of the creatures in the food chain would have a similar reaction when they encountered an unknown danger — run, hide, observe, test …
Humans were no exception.
The development of technology and maturity of cognition did not change our instincts that much, but fortunately, as a highly intelligent creature, humans could overcome their instincts through training.
In a perilous situation, individuals who had more experience in overcoming fear would adapt to the situation faster than other individuals. They only needed a short time to let their "thinking" return to the high ground occupied by their "instincts" and play a very good role in leading the way. (Author's note: Feng Bujue should be excluded from this group of people because the high ground in his mind was occupied by 'thought' for a long time, and 'instinct' could only wait at the mountainside.)
As long as there was a small group of people, or even one person, who could quickly make the correct reaction based on thought, they would have a chance to influence all of their kind around them. This was because … 'imitation' was an important part of human adaptability. When they saw someone of their kind do something and come out unscathed, their fear of the thing would decrease, and they would feel that … they could do the same thing to a certain extent.
The situation at Area 101 was similar to that. With the leadership of a small number of elite players, the normal players soon tossed their fear to the back of their minds and joined the battle.
Facing the hopeless situation, no one gave up, and no one ran. In the end, they successfully wiped out all the Anomalies that had invaded the area.
…
It was worth mentioning that … in this battle, two groups of people played a key role.
The first group was an organization that wore white trench coats and had the word 'Shang' written in blood on the back — 'Shang's Personal Guards'. The other group was an organization that wore blue trench coats and had the word 'Shang' written in blood on the back — 'Xu Huai Shang's Official Fan Club'.
The nature of these two groups could not be more obvious, and there was not much to introduce. Among the large group of non-professional players, these two groups were practically suicide squads. After the appearance of the first invader, most of the normal players had retreated. Only these two groups of people … were completely unmoved. They stayed behind the five strong teams (actually, it was only Red Sakura's team), and they were determined to fight until the end.
Regardless of their motivation, their actions had truly inspired the players around them. Their attitude of 'facing death with equanimity' boosted the morale of the crowd, and they barely managed to maintain the defense line that was on the verge of collapse.
It had to be said that … in the victory of this battle, a certain female player had contributed greatly …
…
In conclusion, after a series of epic battles, this area finally returned to peace.
And this moment of safety was undoubtedly the result of everyone's hard work.
For the normal players, the feeling they had at that moment … was like a group of new recruits who had just participated in their first battle. Just surviving was enough for them to change their temperament greatly. In the future, when they faced similar situations, they would be able to 'adapt' much faster.
In real life, this was the difference between a veteran and a new recruit. It was this kind of 'adaptability' that decided whether you would be stunned or not. Trust me … most of the time, the one who was stunned would die.
"Then, here comes the question …" After a moment of silence, Shiva looked at the people around him and asked, "Is this the end?"
As he spoke, he raised his eyes to look at the border of the area. At that moment, other than the dome, even the walls around the mall were torn open. Even from afar, one could see the twisted space formed by data streams clearly.
"When the third, fourth, and fifth giants came in … they destroyed most of the outer wall of the area. Even the elevator doors to the log-in space were destroyed. How are we supposed to return?" Shiva asked.
"In any case, we cannot force our way out," Brahma quickly replied. "I tried that earlier."
"Hmm … and those players who are dead are still unreachable." Black White Gray scratched their chin and said.
"Could it be …" At that moment, a very bad thought crossed Xu Huai Shang's mind. "… the system wants us to kill each other until there is only one person left?"
Her words caused everyone present to suck in a breath of cold air.
Fortunately, what happened in the next second … disproved her hypothesis.
Buzz!
At that moment, all the players heard a strange hum, and their vision was blinded by white light.
The feeling that followed was similar to teleportation but slightly different … but the players could not pinpoint the difference.
About five seconds later, when the players regained their senses, they were already in a new space.
This was not a shopping mall, but a white, boundless world.
The sky and ground before them were both pure white. The whole sky was like an unreachable ceiling, glowing with a moderate amount of light. On the white ground, there were many sceneries of different sizes … There were skyscrapers, forests, mountains, rivers, and so on. These sceneries were all pure white. There were only silhouettes and no details. Some of them stood there like giant geometric blocks.
Other than these 'sceneries', there were many smaller objects in this space, such as cars, lampposts, merry-go-rounds, dressers, bathtubs … These countless objects were also white silhouettes, and there was no pattern to them. It was as if they were randomly picked out from an encyclopedia, and they were evenly scattered on this white ground.
"Eh? Isn't that Weighty Words from Heaven and Earth? "
"Oh right, there is also Sad Fruit."
"That is Autumn Breeze from Mountains and Rivers, right?"
"Hey! That is one of the Four Heavenly Kings! "
"Eh? Jiang Hu's Blade Runner and Not a Scaredy Cat, were they in the same area as us earlier? "
"Wow! 'I see Goddess Xu. Am I dead?' Is this heaven? "
Not long after the teleportation ended, the players realized something … It seemed like the survivors from the various shopping centers had all been sent to this strange space.
Just as the players were still scratching their heads in confusion …
Boom — boom — boom —
Rhythmic and heavy footsteps were heard from all directions, and the ground beneath the players' feet trembled as well.
"What's going on? Are there more giants? "
"Ah! Over there! "
"Over there too!"
Indeed, these sounds and tremors were the footsteps of the invaders.
At this moment, there were four Devourers running towards the 3,000 players from four different directions …
"Tsk … Who's afraid of you!"
"F * ck! If you don't like it, then let's fight! "
"They don't come with good intentions. Everyone, prepare for the attack!"
The players who were able to stand there alive were all strong players who had survived the battles in various areas. Even though not every sector was attacked by multiple Invaders (the Redundancy tracked their targets by sniffing data, and sector 101 had a large amount of powerful data, so the number of Invaders was the highest, while the other sectors only had one Invader at most), everyone present was confident that they could withstand the assault of the four giants.
However, they misunderstood one thing.
The four Invaders weren't charging at the Players, but rather …
Bang, bang, bang, bang!
However, before the invaders even got close to the players, they had already leaped into the air. They jumped at almost the same time, and they jumped very high. When they reached the highest point, the four invaders moved at the same time … and self-destructed.
"What are they doing? Are they setting off fireworks? "
"If they want to self-destruct, they should be closer. Jumping so high won't affect us at all."
In the first three seconds, the players were still wondering what the giants were up to, until the fourth second … The four light sources in the sky suddenly turned into four streams of light and converged toward the center.
Hum —
Boom —
Then, the players heard two loud noises.
The first was a long hum.
The second sound was a loud explosion.
Along with the sound, a tsunami-like sound wave swept out and pressed down on the players.
Even though the players quickly raised their hands to cover their ears, the sound wave still caused their eardrums to hurt, and their legs went weak. Some of the players with lower Life Points … were turned into white light by the sound wave.
"This is bad …" Twelve seconds later, the explosion stopped. Shiva, who was kneeling on one knee, resisted the dizziness and lifted his head to look at the sky.
At this moment, about a hundred meters above the ground, where the four streams of light had converged, a spherical spatial crack with a radius of about twenty meters had appeared. It looked as deep as a black hole in all directions, and the edges of the sphere were surging with electric light.
Shiva had a deep impression of this thing. In fact, before he raised his head, he had already guessed what he was going to face.
"… It's the explosion tunnel again."
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