In the end, there was no time left for the people of the Dawn team to rest.
Or to be more precise, the atmosphere in the instance was obviously too depressing, and it wasn’t a good time to sleep.
It was just as Chi Ting expected. The four teams that stayed behind to resist the third wave of monster attacks chose to abandon the No 1 stronghold after the attack. Now, they had gathered at the No 2 stronghold to meet up with them.
Judging from the number of people alone, there had been an obvious reduction in the number of personnel.
Even though the number of survivors in the instance on the virtual panel had already conveyed the result, the sight of the miserable appearance of these top teams still made one feel a bit touched.
He Yuanqing had already gone to investigate when these teams arrived at the No 2 stronghold. He heard the noise and turned around to greet the Dawn people from a distance. “You are back.”
His expression seemed a bit complicated. He glanced at the empty hands of the people in the group, paused, and asked, “Is everything settled?”
“Yes, it has been handled,” Lou Yueren responded while blending into the atmosphere very smoothly. “They are all here. What is the situation? Has the number in the third wave increased again?”
“It isn’t a matter of quantity.” Xi Qinxin’s originally neat and tidy clothes were now stained with blood, which showed how fierce the previous battle was. She didn’t say anything else after saying this, but at a glance, one could notice that the Satan team had lost a member.
It was hard to accept that a teammate had sacrificed himself in an instance, even if it wasn’t the first time this had happened.
Chi Ting stood not far away and watched Lou Yueren and He Yuanqing understand the situation. Xi Qinxin didn’t say much after that, but she vaguely guessed something and turned around to look at the person behind her.
Lu Nanling felt the gaze and pushed up his glasses. “The people in these four teams have become much more alienated than when we left.”
Chi Ting raised an eyebrow.
Sure enough.
Just like their previous experiences, the most critical issue in fighting against the alien species wasn’t the number of monsters. If he guessed correctly, the biggest trouble would come from…
Soon, Lou Yueren came back after talking to He Yuanqing. He caught a glimpse of Chi Ting’s thoughtful expression and waved his hand in front of Chi Ting. “What are you thinking about?”
Seeing Chi Ting look up, he smiled and started to introduce the news he had heard. “I heard from Old He that the teams left at the No 1 stronghold seem unable to withstand small shocks. It seems that someone in the team suddenly went crazy for no apparent reason during the battle. They had to distract themselves to deal with their own people. Speaking of which, this description does sound a bit familiar. It seems to be…”
Chi Ting continued, “It is the loss of control caused by excessive alienation.”
He frowned slightly. “Humans are easily affected when there are too many alien species. Once this influence accumulates to a certain extent, the final result is that they become monsters like those alien species. I originally thought that after killing those alien species, we could only bury the bodies as soon as possible to reduce this alien radiation. Now it seems that the number of monsters we need to face might not be controlled by this alone. If the third wave has reached this level, the next six waves might not only be a matter of whether we can resist them with our military strength. I am afraid…”
At this point, Chi Ting paused for a moment before looking at Lou Yueren meaningfully. “I’m afraid that by the end, before the monsters can make their move, all of us players who have entered the instance will have gone completely crazy.”
There was a short silence before Lou Yueren smiled. “Oh, so the setting of this instance with the countdown again and again isn’t a tower defense game at all, but a survival game.”
Chi Ting also laughed at this reaction. “Aren’t you afraid?”
“Afraid? The only thing I am afraid of is that I don’t want to see you go crazy, but..” Lou Yueren’s tone changed slightly. “In any case, I will never allow you to lose control before I do. If you think about it this way, by the time you lose control, I will have gone completely crazy anyway. If you think about it carefully, it doesn’t seem so hard to accept.”
Chi Ting stared at the playful expression in front of him, some emotion flashed in his eyes. After a few seconds, he said, “You won’t go crazy.”
Lou Yueren didn’t shy away from such a gaze. He smiled and blinked. “That’s perfect. I said, I will never let you lose control before I go crazy. As long as I don’t go crazy, you will be fine.”
This sounded like a beautiful idea, but Chi Ting knew very well that Lou Yueren wasn’t a person who liked to look forward to the future. After thinking about it, he vaguely felt that there seemed to be something hidden behind the words, but he didn’t think about it further. “In short, no matter what happens next, we still need to make as many preparations as possible.”
Lou Yueren asked, “What preparations?”
Chi Ting thought for a moment. “If it were us, we would usually take two measures when facing a large-scale alienation risk area. One is to summon enough healing superpowers with purification abilities to cooperate with us. From what I have observed, there is only Old Song in the instance who has this ability. It is obviously not realistic to expect him to take care of the entire battlefield.”
Lou Yueren glanced at the figure who had been quietly dozing off in a corner and said sincerely, “Indeed, regardless of whether he can handle it or not, it is already unrealistic to ask Brother Song to accept such a huge workload.”
“So, now we can only consider another measure,” Chi Ting said while looking at the No 2 stronghold. “It is too late now. We can only wait until the fourth wave of monster attacks to see if there are other means of assisting the battle, such as the existence of alienation inhibitors. Just like what is said in Rule 4, there should be so-called supplies in various places in this fortress. I think it should be more than just water and ordinary food.”
“The alienation inhibitor you mentioned might not be there, but I think there might be some other things.” Lou Yueren said this, and it wasn’t difficult to see from his sneer that he didn’t hold much hope. “Rather than a surprise, I prefer to think it would be a shock.”
Chi Ting was noncommittal. “But at least, we can’t just sit there and wait for death.”
Lou Yueren said softly, “Indeed.”
According to the core rules of the unlimited world, any instance designed must leave a way out for the participating players. No matter how difficult or hard it was to use that method or whether it was easy to find, it must at least exist. For example, this Doomsday Tower Defense instance had become visibly difficult to advance. It was basically beyond doubt that they had to find an opportunity for a breakthrough in other places.
However, thinking about the original intention of No 7 in arranging this instance, it was really hard for Lou Yueren to think that this guy would be kind enough to arrange something good.
There was one thing that Lou Yueren said correctly. Song Xuefeng really didn’t want to work as usual.
The moment Chi Ting walked up to him, Song Xuefeng felt someone coming and slowly raised his drooping eyelids. Then he closed them again very neatly as if any hesitation for a second would be disrespectful to his certification as a salted fish.
But Chi Ting still stood there without moving. In the silent confrontation, Song Xuefeng could only sigh helplessly with obvious resentment in his eyes.
In the end, Old Song had no choice but to be a professional.
Even though they didn’t want to move, according to Lu Nanling’s evaluation results, the alienation level of the four teams that stayed at the No 1 stronghold to fight had increased somewhat alarmingly. If it wasn’t controlled soon, compared to the alien armies that would launch another attack, these completely alienated top players might become their most difficult problem to solve.
From a certain perspective, the series of measures taken by the Superpower Supervisory Bureau were indeed necessary. It was a fact that the greater the ability, the greater the responsibility. However, once the ability couldn’t be used for one’s own benefit, the greater the ability often meant the greater the risk.
The players of these top teams were indeed the biggest risk at the moment.
After all, these people were different from the Dawn team. Even though they had been reminded to bury and isolate the disposed alien corpses, they still had no experience in many details and could easily make many low-level mistakes that even rookies wouldn’t make in a real apocalypse.
After Song Xuefeng returned the favor by providing free care to each team, the originally dark sky gradually brightened up.
The countdown gradually reached zero. Once the sky was completely bright, the fourth wave of monster attacks would officially break out. By then, the No 1 stronghold would be unguarded. These armies would rush straight to the No 2 stronghold as if it was no man’s land.
It was currently the fourth wave, and they had three strongholds left. If even the last three strongholds were all lost after the next nine waves, it would mean the failure of the tower defense. This instance would also be like the apocalyptic world where Chi Ting and the others were. It would completely become a paradise for the aliens.
Human beings would no longer exist.
Chi Ting didn’t sleep all night.
He stood firmly at the entrance of the stronghold, looking at the quiet plains in the distance. His fingers gently stroked the newly added bone beads on the red string.
He had always believed that death in battle should be the final destination for people like them, but he failed to protect the residents of the fortress back then. Now he finally had the opportunity to revisit the old place. Even if the settings of the instance meant that their names couldn’t be saved, at least this time, he had to take Conrad and the others away from here completely.
As a human being, he still needed to keep his promises.
The countdown came to an end, and the end of his field of view was still boundless. There were only faint vibrations coming through the ground.
Obviously, a new wave of armies had launched an attack on the No 1 stronghold. Once the No 1 stronghold was completely destroyed, the next step should be to head towards them.
The fourth wave.
As long as they could hold on this time, the progress of this tower defense instance would be almost halfway achieved.
The morning light fell on Chi Ting’s body, while the other half not in the light was hidden by the silent darkness.
Suddenly, a pair of hands reached out from behind and gently massaged his shoulders.
Lou Yueren’s technique was good, and there was a smile in his voice. “Captain Chi, do you mind letting me show you more later?”
Chi Ting looked back. He met the other person’s eyes and showed some interest. “How do you want to play?”
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