Chapter 1 "Raising"

"Raising?"

Of course, Ye Xiu couldn't complete the ghost-raising plan alone; it required the guild's cooperation. Directly sacrificing players to complete the team's characters was a bit inhumane, so it was mainly done with alt accounts.

Ye Xiu was just about to discuss the specifics with Wu Chen when Wu Chen, having just heard the idea, replied, "This is not easy to do."

"How so?" Ye Xiu asked.

"I've already tested it. Killing a ghost alone gives you 100 points. But if it kills a player, the point increase is only 1 point. Let's not even consider manpower or account cards for now, just calculate the kills. If players aren't wearing equipment or defending, it still takes a ghost ten or twenty seconds, or even longer, to kill them. Killing 100 people is 100 points. Let's say it takes 15 seconds per person, so 100 people would take 25 minutes. Of course, it's possible that the ghost can attack in groups or kill faster as it gets stronger, but considering our manpower and potential risks, I don't think raising them is a good idea for us," Wu Chen explained.

"Oh, I understand," Ye Xiu replied. With his experience, when he saw that a player was only worth one point, he knew it wouldn't work well for the current Excellent Era. Leaving aside Wu Chen's calculations, the manpower alone would be a problem for Excellent Era to solve. They didn't have any around, but there were plenty of internet cafe customers downstairs. But who would help you for no reason? Especially since Glory players were busy participating in the event themselves. It seemed like they'd have to hire people, and Excellent Era could afford that luxury, but was it worth it?

Ye Xiu was pondering this when he suddenly thought of the Water Algae monster he had just killed. After killing it, Lord Grim instantly gained 625 points. Had it killed 525 players already? The event had only been going on for a little over an hour. That efficiency didn't seem to match Wu Chen's calculations at all. How did it do that? Was its base score higher? Was it a mini-Boss level monster? The event description didn't say anything about that!

Ye Xiu was still pondering when he saw a group of people rushing over from the far end of the street. The leader was someone Ye Xiu vaguely recognized: the president of the Samsara guild, Sanjie Liudao.

The group reached the bridge and hurriedly looked down at the water. In an instant, Ye Xiu realized what was happening. Sanjie Liudao, the moment he saw Lord Grim, stopped looking down at the bridge and blurted out, "You bastard!!!"

"Uh... did you guys raise it?" Ye Xiu asked.

He realized that this ghost, which had grown by eating 525 players, hadn't done it on its own, but had been deliberately fed. Raising wasn't just something Ye Xiu could think of. Wu Chen had already tested it before Ye Xiu even asked, clearly realizing that there was a loophole in the event. As for the other guilds, their experience with online games was even richer than professional players, so they were even more likely to notice this. They had manpower and alt accounts, so implementing it didn't have as many costs and concerns as Excellent Era. It seemed inevitable that they would raise them.

Samsara had done this, and the ghost they found was pretty good.

The Water Algae monster's defense and health were as weak as other ghosts when attacked correctly, which seemed to be a characteristic of all ghosts in the Hundred Battles Night March event. But in addition to that, it was a powerful attacker on the water, and the way it scattered clumps of algae could kill as many as you had, making it a ghost that could be raised quickly.

But since it was raising...

"Why aren't you watching it?" Ye Xiu sincerely asked. This was one of the "possible risks" that Wu Chen mentioned. And now that Ye Xiu had threatened Samsara, he was still giving them sincere advice.

Sanjie Liudao was in tears.

Weren't they watching? Of course, they were at first. But the Water Algae monster became more and more powerful, and the players who tried to attack it became its food. That was extra feeding for Samsara. They wouldn't stop it; they'd welcome it! In the end, the guards didn't act like guards at all and simply jumped down to feed the Water Algae monster themselves to improve the efficiency of feeding.

As a result, Ye Xiu's Lord Grim happened to pass by and was caught by the Water Algae monster. He was a versatile class and could complete multi-class skill combinations on his own, so the Water Algae monster was killed cleanly. The Samsara people realized something was wrong after seeing Lord Grim's curses in the world chat. They didn't know if other guilds were raising them, but they knew they were. Sanjie Liudao quickly messaged the players guarding the Water Algae monster to ask if it was okay, but the players who had sacrificed themselves for the team were on their way back and could only stammer in response to Sanjie Liudao's questions.

Sanjie Liudao felt a bad premonition and came in person. The others were still looking under the bridge, but Sanjie Liudao saw that the person walking onto the bridge was Lord Grim. He had just gotten over 600 points and jumped to first place. Was the Water Algae monster they had worked so hard to raise taken away by this bastard?

Sanjie Liudao was miserable! But after cursing "You bastard," he couldn't say anything else.

Could he blame Ye Xiu? No, because Ye Xiu had already righteously blamed him, "You have to watch it! You created such a powerful monster, and so many innocent players were harmed. I almost died too! Don't do this again!"

Next time? This guy actually wanted a next time!

If it were someone else, Sanjie Liudao would have gathered everyone and blasted them into oblivion. But this was Ye Xiu... It wasn't because he respected or feared Ye Xiu, but because he couldn't beat him. He didn't have many people around him, and they were all "food," having lost experience and wearing nothing but their underwear. If he tried to use force, he would probably be eaten by Ye Xiu, right?

Sanjie Liudao gritted his teeth and swallowed his anger. It was their fault for being too greedy and insidious, wanting to use passing players. If they had sent people to watch the surroundings and greeted people who passed by, at least they would have greeted dangerous people like Ye Xiu... But would greeting them have stopped them from stealing? To be honest, Sanjie Liudao didn't think so. The purpose of the guards wasn't to greet people. Would a greeting stop people from stealing? Since when was the Realm of the Gods so harmonious? Especially between the club guilds.

Being robbed openly left them with no one to complain to, let alone in this situation where the other party was unaware. Ask for compensation? Sanjie Liudao was too embarrassed to say such childish things. This time, they could only suffer in silence, watching Ye Xiu's Lord Grim walk away so openly. A bunch of naked food stood on the bridge, staring blankly at the clear river below.

Of course, they had to report the situation to the team. Sanjie Liudao had already boasted that they were preparing to raise a big monster and asked the team to send characters to accept it when needed. But now it was gone, so they had to explain.

In fact, Samsara wasn't the only one raising them. With dedicated online gaming departments, how could they not do targeted research on such events? After reading the rules, the major club guilds had planned to do this even before the event started. At first, they didn't know the cost, but after the event officially started and they tried it, they realized that dying once was only worth 1 point. Such a low return meant that the big guilds could only concentrate their manpower and resources on raising one. Ye Xiu's Lord Grim suddenly jumped to first place, letting them know what was happening. Although Huang Shaotian was mocking him in the world chat, he understood what was happening.

But why did Excellent Era start so early? How did they digest the raised ghost so quickly?

Honest and kind people thought this way. But many others, thinking of Ye Xiu's usual bloody storms, got closer to the truth: This guy must have stolen it from someone else!

So at that moment, it wasn't just Samsara's Sanjie Liudao who was asking about the situation. The presidents of the major guilds were all asking about their raised ghosts. But in the end, only Samsara received bad news.

The other guilds were relieved that their raised ghosts were okay. But of course, they were also curious about who was so unlucky.

It wasn't difficult to find out. You didn't even need to use spies or alt accounts. Someone directly asked in the guild president group.

"I say... Did Lord Grim just rob someone's ghost?" The first to speak was Jiang You of Tyrannical Ambition. As the former enemy of Excellent Era, the Tyranny people always speculated about Ye Xiu with the most malicious intentions.

Since Jiang You had asked, the other curious people didn't need to ask. Some just said "no" to show that they didn't.

In the end, Sanjie Liudao's tearful expressions filled the screen. Everyone understood and was secretly happy while pretending to comfort him, "Oh dear, how could you be so careless?"

Sanjie Liudao knew that these guild presidents were too happy, but he really needed to vent. And these competitors of the same level were very good listeners.

After hearing Sanjie Liudao's tragic story, everyone comforted him again. Although Ye Xiu didn't mean to, they couldn't possibly defend Ye Xiu based on their impression of him and could only speculate maliciously.

"That guy definitely knew!"

"Yeah, it's so obvious, how could he not know!"

"He's really a scumbag!"

"A degenerate among the Gods!"

"Everyone needs to be careful!"

While they were chatting, the guild presidents in the game were instructing their raising teams, "Stay alert, especially against Lord Grim and Excellent Era, and Samsara!"

Don't think that they were caring for Sanjie Liudao in the group. In fact, they treated him the same way they treated Ye Xiu, speculating maliciously. Now that Samsara's raised ghost was gone, would they come to rob someone else's? Everyone was thinking about this.

At the same time, this exchange made everyone realize that raising wasn't their own secret operation. Everyone was doing it. So where were they? If there was robbing, of course, they could rob some!

In an instant, the spy alts in each guild became active.