Translator: AnubisTL
This flamethrower was a peculiar weapon they had acquired some time ago.
However, they had never found a proper use for it. For the most part, its sole purpose was to provide Scar Dog with a light for his cigarette.
Just then—
Li Hao suddenly frowned, stood up, and strode over to Chen Jiang. "Brother Jiang, someone's coming."
The map showed another small green dot emerging from the light gate.
"Hmm?" Chen Jiang raised an eyebrow, a hint of annoyance in his voice. "Should I just set up a turret right at the gate's exit next time? People popping up like this is getting really irritating."
The green dot moved directly toward the world tree without hesitation.
Soon, Chen Jiang, still lounging in his chair, recognized the newcomer: Liu Yiping, the human guardian.
"How many times are you going to come here today?" Chen Jiang asked, slowly rising to his feet, his tone weary. "Next time, give me a heads-up. Otherwise, I'm going to start planting landmines at the gate's exit."
"No need," Liu Yiping replied.
The human guardian chuckled. "I can't die."
Chen Jiang fell silent, suddenly remembering the human guardian's innate ability.
[ Talent Name ]: Guardian
[ Talent Effect ]: Your life is bound to all human players. If the number of human player deaths exceeds 60%, you will die as well, and the racial innate ability Phoenix Nirvana will be rendered ineffective.
However, if the number of human player deaths remains below 60%, death will reject you, and you cannot die from any cause.
Furthermore, it slightly increases the drop rate of mutated beasts killed by all human players.
As long as the human player death count remained below 60%, the old man before him truly couldn't die.
After a pause, Chen Jiang asked, "When we first descended into this world, many died, most slaughtered by the mechanical race. After all this time, are more than 40% of human players still alive?"
"Mm-hmm," the human guardian nodded earnestly. "The human race often demonstrates remarkable adaptability when facing disasters."
"Then what percentage of human players are still alive now?"
"I don't know."
"Tsk, does that mean you could drop dead at any moment?"
"Theoretically, yes. That's why I'm doing my best to protect as many human players as possible. It reduces the risk of sudden death. Even if I do die, leaving behind a city would still be a meritorious deed."
"I didn't come here to talk about that. I saw you took the top spot on the mutant beast kill rankings?"
"Mm-hmm."
Chen Jiang nodded casually, raising an eyebrow. "What about it?"
"Thank you."
"Just that? Nothing else?"
"Mm-hmm."
The human guardian nodded solemnly. "I came specifically to express my gratitude. Thank you for everything you've done for the human race. There's nothing else. I'll take my leave now."
He rose to his feet and prepared to walk toward the light gate outside the world tree.
As he glanced around, he noticed the mechanical race slaves constantly ascending and descending in the distance, the slimes panting as they bounced tirelessly inside the perpetual motion machines, Zhao Ritian riding a slime and circling around the machines, shouting and waving his arms, and Wang Defa's fists casting dark shadows as he swung them.
The corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily. After a pause, he nodded and said, "It's quite lively here."
He didn't say another word until he vanished through the light gate.
Chen Jiang watched the human guardian's retreating figure, shaking his head with a sigh of mixed emotions.
"Brother Jiang," Li Hao said, his voice tinged with confusion, "we're competing for the global mutant beast kill leaderboard primarily for ourselves. We're the ones who benefit most. Why would the human guardian thank us for our contributions to the human race?"
"That's normal," Chen Jiang replied casually, closing his eyes and reclining again. "The top ranking on this list still has some value for humanity, though not much. His main intention was to tie me to the human race. The old man's worried I might abandon them and wants me to lend a hand."
During the elder's speech, Chen Jiang had activated his two-star item, the Blue Jade Thumb Ring.
This item allowed him to see through the target's mind, revealing their thoughts from the past ten seconds.
He had just used the item on the human guardian.
The human guardian had actually come with something he wanted to say, but ultimately he didn't voice it.
After Chen Jiang brought Wang Defa, it was obvious to anyone that he desperately needed one-star items. The human guardian couldn't have missed it either.
The guardian had come hoping to persuade Kindling City to provide him with one-star items in exchange for some form of compensation, such as stationing himself in the city.
That was roughly the gist of it.
But in the end, the human guardian seemed to have second thoughts and abandoned the idea.
After resting for a while longer, Chen Jiang finally decided how to spend his 1.9 million mutation points.
Hmm, I spent 80,000 mutation points on that photo album for Scar Dog earlier.
That was relatively cheap for a three-star item.
After all, it had no combat capabilities or special effects, being merely a life item. Naturally, it wouldn't be priced too high.
And this item was limited to a single unit.
Once he bought it, the mutation shop's stock was depleted, and no more of that item would be available.
Next, he turned his gaze to another item in the mutation shop.
[ Item Name ]: Nameless
[ Item Star ]: Rankless
[ Item Details ]: None
[ Item Effect ]: None
[ Item Description ]: None
[ Item Price ]: 1,500,000 mutation points
Yes, this was an item with absolutely nothing: no name, no rank, no effect, no description—yet it cost 1,500,000 mutation points.
It was practically daylight robbery.
Normally, he wouldn't even glance at such a suspiciously vague item.
But...
What truly caught his attention was this:
This item hadn't been in the mutation shop before.
When the event started, he had briefly scanned the shop. Though he hadn't examined it closely, he remembered the most expensive item costing around 500,000 mutation points.
There had been no items priced above 500,000 mutation points.
Only after he had slaughtered over two million mutated beasts did this item suddenly appear in the mutation shop.
It seemed... as if it had been prepared specifically for him.
After all, who else could afford such a thing?
Chen Jiang leaned back in his chair, lost in thought. After a long silence, he finally made up his mind.
He spent 1,500,000 mutation points to purchase this nameless item.
After Chen Jiang purchased the item, the mutation shop suddenly emptied, and the item vanished completely.
This was unlike the three-star item, the Time Anchor.
The Time Anchor also had only one unit in stock. However, after he bought it, the item remained visible in the mutation shop, though its icon dimmed and a small line of text appeared beneath it:
"Stock: 0/1."
But this nameless item was different. It disappeared entirely, its icon no longer visible in the mutation shop.
"It's a tablet," Chen Jiang murmured, staring at the device in his hand. This was the nameless item he had purchased for a staggering 1.5 million mutation points.
The tablet looked strangely familiar.
He remembered finding a similar tablet during the Mist Paradise Event. The two devices were nearly identical.
After a moment's hesitation, he lightly touched the screen with his index finger.
The screen lit up almost instantly.
The desktop was pristine, with only one icon displayed:
"Galactic Forum"
Tapping the icon opened a new page.
A large banner appeared at the top of the screen:
[ Nicholas Star System Forum ]
Below the title flowed a stream of posts, each line displaying a thread title.
It looked like a legitimate forum.
This thing cost me 1.5 million mutation points? Chen Jiang's expression turned slightly strange, but he quickly noticed the peculiar nature of the thread titles.
[ 1000 star coins reward: Is opening a Ten Thousand Races Arena a good venture for newcomers? Is there a risk of losing money? ]
Clicking on the thread revealed even stranger replies:
[ 2nd Floor: Opening a Ten Thousand Races Arena as a newcomer is financial suicide. You'd be better off becoming an interstellar pirate. ]
[ 3rd Floor: The ultimate no-risk business: interstellar piracy. ]
[ 4th Floor: True. Win, and you live lavishly for three years. Lose, and you get three years of "advanced studies." Either way, you can't lose. ]
Soon, Chen Jiang understood what this forum was.
It was likely a forum from outside this planet—a forum beyond the Ten Thousand Races Arena.
[ Nicholas Galaxy ]
He had seen this galaxy's name on the wall of the 1024 Central Control Room.
After figuring out what it was, Chen Jiang's eyes narrowed slightly. He now understood why all the information was anonymous. It was likely to avoid something. Setting the price at 1.5 million mutation points probably meant they only wanted him to buy it.
Someone had slipped this into his hand?
Chen Jiang lowered his head in thought for a moment, then carefully browsed the galactic forum. He quickly found a paid post:
[ Paid Post: Step-by-Step Guide for Newcomers: How to Open a Ten Thousand Races Arena with Minimal Investment and Get Rich Overnight!!! ]
The post was marked with the word "Featured."
Accessing the post required 1,000 star coins.
When he clicked on the post, a small glowing circle appeared on his tablet, as if prompting him to insert the coins.
"What strange technology," Chen Jiang murmured, pulling a star coin engraved with the number 1,000 from his pocket and tossing it into the circle.
The post opened immediately.
In addition to text, a passionate, high-spirited voice began to read aloud in his ear:
[ "Greetings, everyone! I'm k12, and I welcome you to this paid post." ]
[ "I believe many of you with some spare cash have dreamed of opening a Ten Thousand Races Arena to make a fortune!" ]
[ "Yes, it's undeniable: even today, the Ten Thousand Races Arena remains the quickest path to wealth in the Nicholas Galaxy." ]
[ "First, we must understand the profit drivers of the Ten Thousand Races Arena." ]
"Long ago, when we discovered that the Planetary Origin was conscious and could create items with unique effects that defied the laws of nature, we tried countless methods."
"We attempted to intimidate, enslave, and even seduce the Planetary Origin."
"Yes, there was once a company that spent a fortune to drag two planets together, hoping to force the Planetary Origin to serve them."
"But all these efforts failed. While the Planetary Origin possessed consciousness, it was limited, its wisdom barely surpassing that of a three-year-old child."
"After countless trials, a genius emerged—Liao Ping, the chairman of the Lion King Company, whom we all know!"
"He discovered that when the native races of a planet were massacred en masse, the Planetary Origin Consciousness would awaken, consciously bestowing unique racial innate abilities upon its own race. Stronger Planetary Origin Consciousnesses would even grant personal innate abilities to every member of their race."
"This breakthrough opened a new path!"
"Chairman Liao Ping of the Lion King Company thus slaughtered all the races on several wild planets beyond the star systems."
"However, new challenges arose."
"When a large-scale slaughter of a planet's native race begins, the Planetary Origin Consciousness awakens and bestows racial innate abilities, and even personal innate abilities, upon its people."
"However, these abilities are so deeply intertwined with the Planetary Origin Consciousness that they cannot be extracted and sold."
"So, Liao Ping, Chairman of the Lion King Company, took a shocking step!"
"He gathered the native races from nearly a hundred planets onto a single world and forced them to fight each other to the death!"
"As the slaughter began, the Planetary Origin Consciousness awakened, granting its race unique racial innate abilities and even personal innate abilities to every member of the race!"
"When the fighting ends—that is, when the Ten Thousand Races Arena concludes—"
"The survivors, having slaughtered countless alien races, have their Planetary Origin Consciousness extinguished. At this point, the innate abilities can be easily extracted and sold!"
"That's when your harvest begins!"
"You can hide in your room, excitedly tallying your acquired abilities. If you've obtained some particularly powerful ones, congratulations! With just one such ability, you could become rich overnight."
"There was once a lucky individual who struck it rich overnight with a single innate ability."
"Of course, if you lack the strength, it's best to hire a group of professional Gandalfs at the end of the Ten Thousand Races Arena to help you clear the battlefield."
"It happens frequently. The founders of the Ten Thousand Races Arena have been killed during the cleanup phase by players within their own arena, using unimaginable abilities."
"This kind of thing is all too common."
"For safety's sake, it's best to hire a group of professional Gandalfs."
(End of the Chapter)
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