Wow! The item-dropping rate is really high!

With a goal in mind, the previously nebulous idea of fighting for that one quest slot became a much more tangible pursuit.

Only one person could be the lucky recipient of the quest, but the skill could be learned by many.

"Cover them!" Ren Fengxing ordered through the megaphone.

He needed to let the indigenous people know who was really in charge among the players.

The natives had already demonstrated their strength and effort; what might follow could be the players' choice.

He had been in this game for some time, but his thought process from past games still affected his strategy to some extent.

Many game plots only unfolded when players arrived.

And the choices players made at crossroads would affect all subsequent quests or the progression of the storyline.

Perhaps these ordinary humans at this wilderness settlement were a special storyline triggered by the players themselves.

And each special story point like this one could be hiding an exclusive reward—

Treasures? Skills? Quest chains?

Who knows?

The higher the invisible performance score, the more likely it was to be obtained.

Who would've thought that this quest for the prize pool was hiding such hidden plots? Truly an unexpected pleasure.

Ren Fengxing suppressed his excitement and jumped down from the large rock.

Having decided to curry favor, he naturally had to put on a performance.

He reached out to the side and said, "Give me a gun!"

The gun didn't have enough firepower to pose a lethal threat to the orcs, but the kinetic energy of the bullets could still impact them to some extent.

Most importantly, it was loud.

After breaking through the interception of a dozen or so orcs, there were no more obstacles between the players and the natives.

However, the pursuing orcs didn't stop. Xu Ruoguang's explosive performance might look cool to players, but to the orcs, it was just flashy and superficial.

Unless he could use it to continuously hack them to pieces, the wounds made by the Longsword were insignificant to them.

The orcs, whose wrists were severed by the Longsword, paused briefly before realizing their hands were gone.

The command from their will was transmitted through fungi; the "omnipotent" substance bubbled in the mushroom broth in their chest cavity and instantly began flowing from their "veins" toward the wound.

At a pace visible to the naked eye, new flesh sprouted from the severed palms...and kept wriggling and growing until the hands were whole again.

Ren Fengxing, witnessing all this in the vastness, couldn't help but curse, "Fuck!"

These orcs were just too freaking absurd!

It was hard to imagine how people of this world managed to survive to this day in a world dominated by such monsters.

"Bang!"

Ren Fengxing fired the gun in his hand, knocking back a slightly slenderer orc.

Setting down the gun, Ren Fengxing caught Xu Ruoguang, who was carried by other natives. He smiled warmly at the somewhat handsome young man, his voice firm and steady, "Don't worry, you're safe now."

Without looking back, he waved his hand to the players behind him and commanded, "Take them to the rear safe zone. Leave the rest to us."

As if it were a gentle breeze and passing clouds.

Players like Kuang Xin and Gu Lan, skilled in close combat, stood behind the retreating natives, forming a protective wall for these unlucky ordinary people.

"Huh~"

"Huh~"

Two hot breaths spewed from the nostrils of the orc leader, his heart for brutal slaughter stirring restlessly as he looked at all the humans gathered together.

Think you can escape?

Today, not a single one will get away!

The larger the stage with more people, the better the opportunity to showcase his bravery.

Lifting his bloodstained axe, the orc leader roared to the sky, "waaaaaagh!"
Experience new tales on empire

Around forty or fifty orcs also spread their arms and howled, "waaaaagh!"

"Boom! Boom!"

With each heavy step the orc leader took when charging, the ground shook violently.

"Retreat! Retreat!"

Seeing all the natives retreat to the back, Ren Fengxing raised the megaphone, directing everyone on the field as the battle line between players and orcs was stretched just right.

Players turned and ran with no bottom line, their undisciplined flight making the retreat seem like a real rout, not a calculated entrapment.

Even those with some tactical sense would find it hard, in the hurry, to see through the players' real performance, let alone these orcs who were more brawn than brains, thinking only of fighting.

"Waaaagh!" The roar from behind made the last player to run feel terrified.

"Don't bite my ass!" A large hand gripped the back of his neck, and before he could react, he was flung away by an immense force.

Having issued the order and retreated to the safe zone, Ren Fengxing stood on a rock silently watching his "prey" ensnared.

"Almost there... almost there..."

There were still a few players bringing up the rear not completely out of the danger zone, but if they delayed any longer, the orc main force would leave the area of maximum explosive impact.

Some orcs hadn't fully entered the core explosion area either, but the few survivors after the blast would not be a match for the six or seventy players remaining on site.

This battle, it's in the bag!

Ren Fengxing gripped the remote controller tightly and suddenly pressed the red button!

"Beep~"

"Beep~"

A series of faint electronic trigger sounds arose from underground simultaneously, with dim red lights flashing in the darkness, trying to break through the soil barrier and see the daylight again.

"Beep! Beep! Beep!" Rapid warning tones almost went off within a second, and the next moment...

A surge of exploding flames filled everyone's vision...

"Boom boom boom boom boom boom!"

More than a dozen mines went off in near unison across the minefield, their explosions melding into one continuous roar.

The intense flame, like an incandescent lamp, almost blinded every watching player in that instant.

The wave of heat followed the earth-shattering explosion, blowing directly in their faces.

Players and natives alike, who hadn't prepared to stabilize themselves, staggered under the blast of heat, filled with inner turmoil.

Even in the game, where death wasn't a reality, such an explosion could easily instill fear.

"Are they dead?"

Ren Fengxing, who had made thorough preparations, took off the magic glasses from his face and squinted towards the center of the slowly fading explosion.

The gigantic orc chieftain at the center of the blast would undoubtedly be the best news for them if he were directly killed.

The dark shadows emerged gradually from the flickering flames, their flesh charred, as the orc chieftain loosely released his grip on the great axe, dropping it heavily to the ground.

He reached for his chest, peeling off the charred layer like a rigid garment forcibly stripped from flesh and blood.

"waaaaaaagh!"

The same cry now carried a tinge of sorrow.

"Crack~"

"Crack~"

Crisp sounds one after another, as many orcs regained their movement from the smoky center of the explosion.

Imitating their leader, they stripped off the burnt "shell", revealing a structure beneath that looked like a mix of fungi entwined with muscles and blood vessels.

The brutally bloody scene made many less hardened players shiver, feeling as if their own skin had been peeled off...

Fortunately, it was green, or it wouldn't have passed the censor.

Except for the few unlucky orcs whose bodies were torn apart by the blast wave, this group of orcs... suffered almost no deaths.

"They... aren't dead?"

Everyone still had hope during the recent retreat, as all knew there was an ace up their sleeve.

But now, the ace was played, and the enemy had survived unharmed.

The fleeting sense of helplessness against the orcs surged, and many players already felt like retreating.

"Is nobody there yet?"

"The mission didn't say we had to kill these orcs. Just grab the stuff and run..."

The players split into two groups.

Killing the orcs was to vent the players' desire to fight, but the real goal was the other group sent to seize the "human creations".

Only, it was uncertain... if they had succeeded.

"Hasn't anyone told you, to deal with us, you need to chop us up and then burn us?"

The orc chieftain's right hand, a blurred mass of flesh constructed from fungi, recoiled and grasped the giant axe stuck in the ground. The heat rolling up the axe handle couldn't cause him the slightest discomfort; instead, it triggered his violent urge to vent.

Injured, vent.

A fight where forces are evenly matched.

This is what orcs loved the most!

Even their methods weren't so evenly matched...

"waaaaagh!"

"Tatatatatata!"

Like the sound of a tractor, a vehicle approached slowly from the distance. Dai Lian rolled down the window, stuck out his head with a peculiar look, and said to everyone, "Why are you all standing there? Run!"

Atop the car, they mounted a large, irregular piece of silvery metallic artifact.

That was the target of all the players who had taken on the prize pool mission!

"We got it!"

"Let's skedaddle!"

The loot was secured, and now it was up to each individual's skill.

The alliance among players was only until the loot was secured. On the way back to return the mission target, it was everyone for themselves.

Not good at dealing with other races, but surely they had tricks for their own kind?

Only the orc chieftain looked oddly at the slow-moving vehicle dragging a large object.

'That car... looks somewhat familiar?'