Chapter 647: Survival Contest Stage Four — Liquid Nitrogen Rainforest!
In the third stage of the Survival Contest, a few big monsters really did show up at the end and beat the Auspicious Gate’s Durability down quite a bit.
However, those big monsters ultimately fell to the terrifying output of two Berserk Laser Ray Emitters.
Those two turrets were already over-spec single-target killers on their own. After Xu Lang transferred high-tier upgrades to them, they became over-spec among over-specs.
Xu Lang slipped into the monsters’ perspective for a moment and felt a bit hopeless himself.
Without the lure of the Black Crown, high-IQ monsters might still think of tactics, while low-IQ monsters would instinctively flee in fear.
But once he put on the Black Crown, everything had to be decided by raw stats.
This round wasn’t even over when the monsters were all slaughtered...
Inside Demon King Castle, everyone was inventorying supplies.
There were three final big monsters: the Pig-Headed Ancestor, the Minotaur Ancestor, and the Dog-Headed Ancestor.
The Pig-Headed Ancestor had psychic powers and dropped a Telekinesis Skill Book, which Xu Lang handed to Xu Xiaomeng.
The Minotaur Ancestor dropped a set of accessories that greatly boosted the spirit attribute, which Xu Lang gave to Tong Qi.
The Dog-Headed Ancestor dropped a primary weapon that could summon twelve Dog-Headed descendants. Although its Rarity and tier were high, Xu Lang felt it was of little use and temporarily put it in the storage room for anyone who needed it to take later.
...
No players were lost in the third stage of the Survival Contest.
[Current Mad King Building survivors: 2,455; Amusement Park Building survivors: 1,582; Heaven’s Judgment Building survivors: 1,500; Evil King Building survivors: 729]
Players could view other buildings’ survivor counts on the panel, which implicitly suggested that if you feel you can’t win the game, you could sabotage the other dorms.
At the same time, this line of data also heightened the sense of crisis for the dorms at the bottom of the list.
After all, the fourth-place dorm gains zero points.
This round of the game was somewhat unfair to Evil King Building because they had the fewest people.
But since this was an environment-type instance where elimination was rapid, Evil King Building might not necessarily finish last. Their player quality and dorm-tier were high.
“Not a single player died? What the hell is going on with Mad King Building?”
When the darkness faded, an Evil King Building player sprinted out of his dorm first and looked toward Mad King Building, his face sullen.
Eternal Night’s environmental severity was very high. Almost no players had the ability to see through the dark, so most people didn’t know what had happened earlier.
But one thing was certain.
Mad King Building had monopolized all the dark creatures, and not a single player had died!
“Mad King Building wouldn’t use all their interference privileges just to win this round, would they?” The tenant of that player also left his dorm, uneasy and suspicious.
Only the dorm itself could pull off such a bold move; otherwise there was no explanation for Mad King Building’s monstrous performance this round.
But the problem was, even if they took first this round, the points wouldn’t be enough to create an insurmountable lead. Why would Mad King Building do this?
...
Outsiders speculated about Mad King Building’s tactics.
Only the Mad King players themselves knew that this was Xu Lang’s doing, Xu Lang’s dad steering Mad King Building to victory.
At this moment in the Demon Box World, players received a Dorm Survival Game notification and learned that the third stage had passed without incident.
However, they weren’t particularly happy; the atmosphere actually turned a bit solemn.
The fourth stage of the Survival Contest was the Liquid Nitrogen Rainforest. The air condensed with liquid nitrogen droplets at minus 196°C, and touch meant instant explosion!
Remember, the environmental changes from earlier stages also affected the Demon Box World.
This stage sounded extremely dangerous; staying still wouldn’t guarantee safety.
Unconsciously, humidity in the air began to rise, and water droplets gradually formed.
Seeing this, Mad King Building players grew restless.
Li Wenwen’s expression shifted slightly as she looked at her father.
Li Shuwen kept a calm face, smiled at her, and said, “I’ve already consulted Xu Lang. Nothing will happen.”
Besides Li Shuwen, other core members of the Neighborhood Committee also looked composed, clearly aware of the inside situation.
At that moment, Su Yuan used a volume-amplifying skill, his voice cutting over the entire scene.
“Do not panic. The Dorm Owner has arrangements.”
“Next, we will head deeper into the Demon Box World. Everyone prepare.”
“Note: during the upcoming journey, everyone must remain quiet. Sabotage and slaughter among ourselves are strictly forbidden!”
Su Yuan didn’t specify the punishment for violators, but everyone understood the tacit agreement.
Actually, some clever people had already deduced Xu Lang’s method of advancement from his growth trajectory. Although some of the guesses were absurd, many people believed them with conviction.
— Kill people!
The Blood Grudge playstyle was not the fundamental reason for Xu Lang’s strength, it was just that he had happened upon the Blood Grudge approach while on the path of killing!
That made everything make sense!
The moisture in the air grew denser, and a super-large black vortex gate appeared above Demon Box Plaza.
The vortex gate exerted enormous suction and pulled all Mad King Building players inside.
The incident came abruptly and directly, yet none of the Mad King Building players made a sound!
That was reputation for you!
...
Infinite Purgatory, second layer, the Hundred Ghosts Layer.
The layer master here was the crowd of hundred ghosts, and the layer rule forced every living body to be converted into a soul body.
Moreover, this place seemed unaffected by the Liquid Nitrogen Rainforest.
After all, whether air even existed here was an unknown.
Mad King Building players watched helplessly as their bodies turned into soul forms, their eyes terrified, and their SAN values began to spike wildly.
“Do not panic. This is only your soul-state. You will return to normal after leaving here,” Su Yuan said to soothe them. “Check your information status and you will find related intel.”
Wang Lie chimed in at that moment: “Stay quiet. Don’t disturb the residents here, and don’t wander off.”
Over two thousand Mad King Building players gathered on a mirror-like plane of water, while Neighborhood Committee members rapidly dispersed to form an outer surveillance ring.
Letting these players take refuge in the Hundred Ghosts Layer was Xu Lang’s act of great mercy; he didn’t want too much intelligence to leak out.
Although this wasn’t core intelligence.
If one day enemies captured these players for interrogation and inferred the Taleblade Demon Box’s capabilities, it would be catastrophic.
So the less they knew, the better.
...
Demon King Castle.
Surveillance screens displayed scenes outside the Auspicious Gate where water droplets were forming, radiating intense danger.
Xu Lang’s expression grew somewhat grave.
Although these explosive droplets hadn’t appeared directly inside the dormitory, the danger level of this stage was absolutely higher than the previous rounds.
The later the game progressed, the harder it got, and that fit the game’s nature.
Boom!
Suddenly, droplets in the corridor trembled in the breeze and then detonated!
One droplet’s explosion triggered all the droplets in the corridor to explode!
Kra-boom~!
Explosions followed one after another, the sounds blending into a continuous roar that repeated hundreds of times!
From that moment on, the explosion sounds outside Demon King Castle never stopped!
Droplets exploding on one floor triggered explosions of droplets throughout the building, and the whole building’s droplets detonating set off chain reactions that made external droplets explode in succession!
All four dormitory buildings were like this!!!
Some players had assumed that only the dorms contained liquid nitrogen droplets, so when the humidity grew dense they dared to move away from the dorms.
They all met their end!
The entire Void Battlefield lay within the Liquid Nitrogen Rainforest’s coverage!