To speak of a studio's overall power, Order was definitely much stronger than Corpse Blade, but when it came to playing dirty tricks, Corpse Blade was very experienced.

After Devouring Ghost-Wyvern completed the feat of being the first to reach max level on the entire server, Corpse Blade only spent half a day coming up with a countermeasure. Their "water army (网络水军, internet water army, i.e., network personnel hired by online PR companies to post, reply, and create momentum for others)" was mobilized after receiving their marching orders, and immediately launched all kinds of veiled, fabricated, malicious attacks on Order and Ghost-Wyvern himself...

For a time, all sorts of baseless, even inexplicable rumors spread on all forums related to Thriller Paradise... leading to all sorts of replies.

Doubts, guesses, provocations, unwarranted smears... as the saying goes, "The forest is big, and there are all kinds of birds." The internet is a great window, allowing us to see all aspects of human nature, and also allowing us to see clearly the intelligence, quality, character, and personality of many people...

Of course... internet water armies can only blind a small group of people for a period of time. People with discerning eyes can tell at a glance who is behind these water armies... Anyone with a certain amount of intelligence and awareness has the ability to distinguish right from wrong.

In less than two days, the internet water army sent by Corpse Blade had already been blasted into oblivion, because they really couldn't reply in their own posts... No matter how they quibbled, they were just humiliating themselves.

This off-game battle can be described as a quick victory. Corpse Blade's last-ditch effort as a loser didn't even hurt Order's skin, but instead, they got a face full of dirt.

"Ah... it seems like a lot of things have happened in the past half month..." Feng Bujue complained after reading the post, "If Corpse Blade's water army is cheap and cute, then Order's water army is stupid and cute..."

Then, he flipped through hundreds of pages of forum records, skimming through almost all the posts (titles) from the previous ten days or so, and browsing some of the popular and interesting posts.

Posts with sharp viewpoints, such as "On the correct use of Puzzle Cards," "How to level up to level 40 in a month," "Wake up, you rich shooting dogs!" "Dear students! Please don't underestimate growth-type equipment and skills!" and so on... had all become hot posts that received widespread attention and discussion.

Obviously... as time went on, players' understanding of Thriller Paradise had become increasingly mature. Nowadays, whether it's character attributes, equipment, skills, specializations, spirit weapons, or even soul intent... people are already discussing them, and many of the viewpoints are quite correct and insightful.

"There are still quite a few smart people..." After spending more than two hours browsing the forum, Feng Bujue suddenly felt that he was a bit behind the times, "Some of the strange arguments I haven't even considered... Hmm... I really should come to the forum more often in the future."

…………

Two hours later (only 12 minutes had passed in the real world), the members of Hell's Frontline still hadn't logged on.

So, Brother Jue went to the Scare Box again and began to browse those "growth-type" equipment and skills.

Previously, Ruoyu's [Consecration] and [Mingyu Gong] had already given Feng Bujue some inspiration. And today, after reading a post on the forum, he immediately made up his mind to buy a powerful growth-type item.

The poster's ID was [Blood Rose], and she used herself as an example to explain in detail the late-game advantages of growth-type equipment, which was reasonable, well-founded, and convincing.

Speaking of which... she seemed to be a professional player from "Red Sakura," that is, Xuhuaishang's colleague. Before entering Thriller Paradise, she was just a second-tier blue-collar player. But recently, as her level increased, her strength had already entered the ranks of the first-tier, and she relied on... the help of those growth-type items.

"Ah... there are so many things here now that I can't even finish looking at them..." Feng Bujue came to the Scare Box, opened the familiar interface, but what awaited him... was a huge amount of data spanning tens of thousands of pages.

These... were just skills, and the equipment and props combined might have tens of thousands of pages, and this data was still updated in real-time, constantly changing.

"There's no way around it... let's filter it." Brother Jue hesitated for a few seconds and decided to use the system's built-in filtering function.

He filtered out all the things he couldn't use, as well as the things that were too cheap, and only looked at the items "above 10,000 skill points."

After half an hour, he locked onto an item—

[Name: i_wAnnA_Be_A_BeLt]

[Type: Armor]

[Quality: Excellent]

[Defense: Weak]

[Attribute: None]

[Effect: Each time attacked, this equipment will increase a tiny bit of defense]

[Equipment Requirements: Waist size below 32 (Binds on pickup)]

[Note: Each death signifies a new beginning, each beginning signifies a new death. When your blood is shed on every corner you pass, pain will be as natural as breathing.]

A name with an unclear meaning, equipment conditions with an unclear meaning, a note with an unclear meaning... This item with an unclear meaning also had an unbelievable price—12,000 skill points.

Feng Bujue currently had a total of 12,134 skill points. If he bought this, he would only have a little change left.

However, Brother Jue resolutely bought this item... He wasn't "rich and willful," but felt... it was worth it.

Most people, after seeing the description and price of this item, would often ignore and forget it. But Brother Jue was different. He would think... why is this thing so expensive?

The system is fair. The price given by the system is more reliable than any player's subjective evaluation. So, this item definitely wasn't mispriced or anything... It must have hidden secrets.

After reading the description over and over again, Feng Bujue understood... the problem was in the effect, "Each time attacked, this equipment will increase a tiny bit of defense."

This effect had no "duration," no "cooldown time," and no "upper limit." If you thought about it carefully, you would realize... this was a very terrifying thing.

"Di Di—"

Just a few seconds after Brother Jue bought the item, two short beeps sounded in his ears. He looked at the game menu and found that Xiao Tan had sent a message and a team invitation.

"Ah... just in time." Brother Jue muttered, already turning towards the login space.

On the way back to the elevator, he had already replaced [Echo Armor] with [i_wAnnA_Be_A_BeLt] (both items were belts). The latter could be considered an old piece of equipment that had accompanied Brother Jue for a long time, and now, it could be considered to have reached the end of its life... just waiting to enter the shredder.

"Yo, Xiao Tan, long time no see, how have you been lately?" Feng Bujue came to the touch screen, connected to the communication, and said.

"Uh... it hasn't been that long, only two weeks or so..." Xiao Tan replied, "The recent changes... probably that Xiao Ling and I live together..."

"What?" Feng Bujue's voice suddenly became high-pitched.

"We've been dating for quite a while, she suggested living together, so I agreed." Xiao Tan continued.

"Beast." Feng Bujue replied.

"Hey, hey... she was the one who suggested it, okay?" Xiao Tan lowered his voice and replied, "Besides... that little thing between us... don't you and Sister Yu also know about it?"

"I don't know anything, and you don't need to explain it to me. I'm a pure person, and I don't want to hear about your dirty daily lives." Feng Bujue replied shamelessly.

That's how friendship between men is. All our blessings and joys are contained in trash talk...

"Okay..." With the tacit understanding between Xiao Tan and Brother Jue, he naturally knew that the other party was joking, "Then let's talk about something else... Hua Jian has something to do today and won't be logging on. Xiao Ling said she's not feeling well and wants to go to bed early, so I came to the game pod alone."

"Then where do you usually lie?" Feng Bujue replied.

"Don't worry about those details..." Xiao Tan replied awkwardly, "Anyway, it's just us two guys tonight, no need to wait for them anymore."