Chapter 1 The Most Dangerous Thing

Forty minutes into the match, in the desert.

"Brother Jue, I've been wanting to ask for ten minutes now..." Xiao Tan, sitting in the sidecar of Feng Bujue's motorcycle, wiped the sweat from his forehead and asked, "Where are we going? Why aren't we heading in the direction of King Kakaroo and the others?"

"I don't know where this is either, but according to the calculations of [Prophecy], heading in this direction should lead us to encounter the thing on this planet most likely to kill us," Feng Bujue replied.

"Oh... so that's what you calculated... huh?" Xiao Tan started to reply, then suddenly realized something was wrong. "Hey! Why specifically go in the most dangerous direction?" he shouted. "Since you're calculating... why not calculate 'where the enemy team members are'... instead of calculating 'which direction to go to encounter the strongest enemy'?"

"Idiot, of course it's because the current algorithm can get more information," Xiao Ling, riding the motorcycle behind and to the side, interjected before Brother Jue could answer.

"That's right," Feng Bujue echoed, turning his head to explain to Xiao Tan, "If I calculate 'where the enemy team members are', then all I'll get is the location of the enemy team members. But... if I calculate 'which direction to go to encounter the strongest enemy', I can find out many other things..." He paused, elaborating, "I watched some of the Shi Dao Second Team's competition videos yesterday and got a general understanding of the specializations and combat styles of several of their members, but... that's all; they didn't encounter any strong teams in the preliminaries, and most of their matches were crushing victories. Simply put... I can't see the 'limit' of this team based on the preliminary videos alone."

"Uh... so..." Xiao Tan continued, "does this have anything to do with what you just calculated?"

"I'm getting to that, don't rush me," Feng Bujue continued. "Let's talk about the situation in this script... there was a reason why I fought Kakaroo for so long. I deliberately didn't use my full strength and tangled with him to test Kakaroo's combat power. By observing this 'minion boss', I roughly estimated how powerful the big Boss of this script is."

The more Brother Jue said, the more confused Xiao Tan became. He almost blurted out, "Can't you see through the data? Is it necessary to confirm it through combat?"

Fortunately... Xiao Tan didn't say those words, because he realized something in time...

In the next second, Wang Tanzhi's gaze towards Feng Bujue changed, and the latter immediately responded with a subtle, almost imperceptible expression.

If the tacit understanding between Brother Jue and Ruo Yu was telepathy, then the tacit understanding between Brother Jue and Xiao Tan was practically having wifi in their hearts.

With just a momentary exchange, they seemed to be able to communicate countless things.

Right now, Xiao Tan instantly understood—Brother Jue was acting, and... needed his cooperation.

"The conclusion is... about the same level as the Shi Guan and Juror NPCs," half a second later, Feng Bujue continued where he left off, without any pause or abnormality in his tone, as far as others could tell. "So... let's go back to the question you asked earlier—why calculate 'the thing most likely to kill us'? Because by doing so... we can deduce the Shi Dao Second Team's combat power 'ceiling' based on who appears in front of us."

"Hmm..." Xiao Tan responded, thoughtfully. "What if... we encounter the script Boss and get beaten to a pulp or even wiped out?"

"Ha!" Feng Bujue laughed. "How could that be possible?" He tilted his head. "If we encounter an NPC, we can always try to negotiate with him/her/it. It would be best if we could borrow their strength, and if not... we'll just run away with all our might. What's the big loss?"

At this time, Xiao Ling chimed in, "And if we directly encounter the four members of the Shi Dao Second Team later, it proves that... at least according to the system's measurement standards, their strength is even greater than the strongest NPC on this planet."

"Oh~ I understand now that you've explained it..." Xiao Tan recited pretentiously, "If we encounter an NPC, we'll have the opportunity to borrow their strength, and even if it doesn't work out, there's not much loss. And if we encounter the enemy team... from the results, it's the same as calculating 'where the enemy team members are'." He stroked his chin and swayed his head, "But in either case... we can use the condition of 'the thing most likely to kill us' to speculate about the Shi Dao Second Team's strength ceiling."

"Very good, you're a promising student," Feng Bujue freed a hand and ruffled Xiao Tan's hair.

"Go, go, go... stop it," Xiao Tan pushed away Brother Jue's hand and restyled his hair.

"But then again... in all honesty..." At this moment, Feng Bujue suddenly changed the subject, "I personally hope we encounter the Shi Dao Second Team rather than some NPC..."

"Oh? Why is that?" Xiao Tan replied.

"Hmph..." Feng Bujue sneered, "I didn't have high expectations for the strength of those Shi Dao guys anyway..." He licked his lips. "Right now... if the system judges that their strength is not even as good as a Juror or Shi Guan... that would be too boring."

Yes... he said it.

In front of countless viewers, he said these words in a loud voice, with an arrogant expression... without any reservation.

Regardless of Shi Dao's reputation in the industry, in the eyes of the general public who don't know much about the professional gaming scene, Shi Dao is still a well-known gaming studio.

However, Feng Bujue, a casual player, actually said such a thing publicly, as if Shi Dao and other first-tier studios were not on the same level at all, and he didn't take them seriously at all.

This behavior... undoubtedly amazed most of the audience.

"Wow, this guy really dares to speak..."

"I have never seen such an arrogant person..."

"I switched over to watch just now, and their team only spent less than half a minute cleaning up the minions. He fought for so long and still has the nerve to say that..."

"But he said he was testing the NPC's strength. Could it be that he was deliberately holding back?"

"I think it's possible. Don't forget, he was fighting alone from beginning to end, and none of his three teammates helped, while Shi Dao had four people working together."

"That's right, although he spent a relatively long time, he seemed to be handling the battle with ease all along."

"Come on... I think he's just showing off. If he really encounters Shi Dao's professional players, he'll probably be instantly killed."

For a time, the viewers on various platforms launched heated discussions on Brother Jue's highly controversial remarks, with various opinions being divided and inconclusive.

And all of this... was within Feng Bujue's calculations.

Unbeknownst to them, people had focused their discussions on Brother Jue's meaningless arrogant words, while the content of his previous exchange with Xiao Tan and Xiao Ling... seemed to have been taken for granted as fact...

…………

At the same time, on the Shi Dao Second Team's side...

The four members of Shi Dao rode the motorcycles they had snatched, heading quickly in the direction where the NPCs had appeared. After about twenty minutes, they saw a fortress built in the desert.

The overall shape of this fortress was elliptical, covering a considerable area, like a small desert city.

The outer walls of the fortress were composed of a mixture of stone, sand, and metal, and had never stopped being repaired almost from the day it was completed... From a distance, it was clear that the colors of the walls varied in depth, and the degree of wear and tear of the various areas and building materials was also different.

This phenomenon... was mainly caused by the non-stop "acid rain" in various seasons. Of course, there were also many complex reasons such as shoddy workmanship and external damage.

"Captain, the rabbit on the watchtower seems to have spotted us," Vice-Captain Shui Shi Qiangxi said to San Yu Qiangxi when they were still a considerable distance from the fortress.

As a player specializing in marksmanship, Shui Shi Qiangxi naturally had excellent eyesight. At this moment, he immediately saw a Rabbit Star person on the watchtower on this side of the fortress, pointing at them and signaling to other rabbits.

"It doesn't matter, we'll be discovered sooner or later," San Yu Qiangxi replied.

What he said was also reasonable. There were several watchtowers on the outer walls of this fortress, and each tower had a Rabbit Star person watching. In the desert without any cover, if they wanted to approach the fortress silently, they either had to wait until night to act... or sneak under the sand and crawl over...

Right now, both of these plans were obviously unrealistic... because the time they would have to wait for the former was unknown (they didn't know how long the daytime on Rabbit Star lasted), and the latter would take a long time and waste a lot of physical strength (even without burying themselves in the sand, their stamina was already being lost due to the heat), so... it was better to just drive over.

"I estimate..." Shui Shi Qiangxi continued, "when we get to the bottom of the city, we'll probably be in for another battle."

"Not necessarily..." At this time, Rebirth as King, who was responsible for strategizing, said from the side, "According to the general rules of post-apocalyptic scripts, population gatherings like this are roughly divided into two types... First, the 'shelter' type, which usually has an organization similar to a 'government' and a local armed force responsible for maintaining law and order and defending against external enemies." He paused. "Second, the 'stronghold' type, which is easier to understand... usually ruled by one or a few people with the strongest force. The people in the city are either thugs or slaves." Although he was analyzing the problem, his tone still had the "Shi Dao style," with a rather wooden feel. "If it's a shelter, their defense forces might block us at the gate and negotiate with us; but if it's a stronghold, then there's no need to say more... the Chuchuqi gang we killed earlier is probably from them. They must have recognized the motorcycles we're riding and are preparing to rush out and attack us."

"It seems like the second possibility is more likely," Crossing as King, who was on Rebirth as King's side, turned his head and responded, "Chuchuqi and the others appeared from this direction, and they clearly stated that they were here to capture slaves."

"You're right, but... we can't rule out the possibility of a 'shelter'," Rebirth as King replied. "You have to know... some 'shelter' type gatherings may also be doing the same or even dirtier things as 'strongholds', but their political system is more advanced." He explained, "You have to understand... a social system composed of 'a very small ruling group', 'a large number of exploited ordinary people', and 'a small number of the lowest slaves' is far more stable than a system that only has 'overlords', 'thugs', and 'slaves'."

"Hmph..." At this time, San Yu Qiangxi snorted and continued, "I hope we encounter a 'stronghold'." He said in a deep voice, "As long as your fist is big enough, even an idiot can carve out a kingdom... but a stable 'shelter' can only be built by someone who truly has brains and strength."

Rebirth as King agreed with this statement. He took the opportunity to add, "Captain is right. If Chuchuqi is a member of a stronghold, or even the boss, then we can breathe a sigh of relief. But... if Chuchuqi is just a mercenary roaming around with his men to capture slaves in exchange for rewards, then that's not good... because he's just an insignificant character compared to the big fish who rule this fortress."

The four talked and analyzed the situation as they unknowingly arrived at the outer walls of the fortress.

When they got closer, they realized that the height of the walls was more than fifteen meters...

Buildings built in barren areas are easily "underestimated" due to the surrounding scenery being too monotonous. When people are actually standing beneath the walls, they often realize that the actual size of the building is much larger than it appeared from a distance.

"Halt! Stop right there!"

When the Shi Dao members arrived at the foot of the city walls, five or six rabbit heads immediately poked out from the edge of the wall. One of them was responsible for shouting, while the others held weapon similar to crossbows, aiming at the four people below the wall.

"We mean no harm, please don't attack us," Rebirth as King, who was responsible for negotiating, said from the Shi Dao side, "We're just looking for someone..."

"Shut up, Earthlings!" The Rabbit Star person on the wall interrupted Rebirth as King and asked sternly, "Tell me... where did you get your motorcycles?"

After a brief hesitation, Rebirth as King replied truthfully, "We... were attacked by a Rabbit Star person who claimed to be 'King Chuchuqi'..." As he spoke, he didn't forget to look back at his teammates, telling them to prepare for battle in case of an emergency, "... in self-defense, we defeated him and his men, and then rode away on their motorcycles..."