Chapter 115: The Ten Great Tortures
Those marked for slaughter indeed cannot commit suicide. However, there is a special protection mechanism within the instance: when the system detects that a player is subjected to severe insult or abuse, it permits self-destruction. This is primarily to protect female players, because some individuals, believing this world is not real, do not kill weaker female players immediately upon capture but instead seek to humiliate them first. Thus, self-destruction is allowed.
The insults Tian Xing suffered reached such a severe level that he chose to self-destruct.
Ding~~ Ding~~
Two pieces of equipment dropped: a C-grade belt increasing agility by 25 points, and a B-grade dagger with a critical strike effect—both top-tier items! Chen Mo naturally picked them up, though unfortunately, the Xing Tian Axe did not drop. That axe was probably bound to Tian Xing; unless he was completely killed, it wouldn’t drop.
[Player killed, +20 points]
[This player had 9,000 points; you have gained 18,000 points]
Good heavens! This guy actually had 9,000 points! Tian Xing must have exploited his numbers advantage to kill many A-grade zombies.
With his goal achieved, Chen Mo had no desire to carry these dead weights any longer. He said directly, “Alright, Liu Zijun, I have other important matters to attend to, so I won’t be accompanying you all. Be careful on your own!”
Liu Zijun understood perfectly—this was the other side’s way of showing disdain. Yet, besides the Xing Tian Guild, there were no major guilds in this instance. The other groups were mostly school students who could not compare to guilds hardened by countless bloody battles. So even without their protection, the Nirvana Fire Phoenix would be fine.
Liu Zijun nodded. “Okay. I’m also about to lead my members to hunt A-grade zombies. By the way, are you really not taking any of this equipment on the ground?”
“Do I look like someone who breaks promises? All this gear is yours. I hope you won’t disappoint me!” Chen Mo had seventy Zhis, each with ample storage space filled with tons of junk gear—many of which were lying on the ground.
What Chen Mo saw as trash were treasures to the Nirvana Fire Phoenix members.
“Really? All of this for us?”
“Why are you so good to us? Are you the protector’s man?”
“Ah, no wonder the Left Protector always has a cold expression and never reveals anything about his love life. Turns out he has such a generous man! I envy him so much!”
“Damn! You’re a man, what the hell are you jealous of? Sounds like your butt’s itchy!”
“Hahaha!”
“Congratulations to the Left Protector!”
The atmosphere within Nirvana Fire Phoenix was quite pleasant, just as Chen Mo had imagined a guild’s harmonious environment should be.
Time waits for no one. Chen Mo needed to search for S-grade zombies and explore everywhere, trying to figure out how to trigger hidden quests. He had a strong hunch that the real treasures in the PUBG instance were these hidden tasks.
He recalled that when he had met students from Kyoto No.1 High School, they mentioned hidden quests and slaughterers. Could the hidden quests be related to the slaughterers?
Chen Mo quickly opened the display screen on his Zhi to check previous messages.
Sure enough, because he had been focused on shooting the Xing Tian Guild’s slaughterers, he hadn’t noticed a message from his Zhi.
[Congratulations, you have met the conditions for the hidden quest (Kill 10/10 Slaughterers)]
Chen Mo reviewed the message repeatedly. Besides this, there was no other relevant information. This lousy instance still didn’t say what the hidden quest actually was.
Chen Mo speculated whether the hidden quest would only activate after fulfilling various conditions, like the zombie mask he had obtained earlier—perhaps that was also part of the quest requirements.
Liu Zijun asked with concern, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing! I’ll be off then! Good luck clearing the instance!” Chen Mo flicked his vampire cloak and performed his signature disappearing act.
“Wait!” This time, Liu Zijun was resolute. “Can I at least know your name? No more ‘next times’—you have to tell me this time!”
Uh.
Chen Mo thought for a moment. “Call me Ri Tian—Ri as in the sun, Tian as in the sky!”
After saying this, a blood shadow flickered, and Chen Mo vanished from sight.
Liu Zijun was left utterly confused. “Ri Tian? What the heck is that?!”
Chen Mo chose the name Ri Tian for two reasons: firstly, the character “Mo” in his name looked as if it was composed of the radicals for grass, sun, and sky; secondly, the largest guild in the Chinese region was called Haotian, and the largest guild in the northwest was Xing Tian. By choosing Ri Tian, he was subtly expressing his ambition—no matter what Haotian or Xing Tian say, he was determined to ‘take down their sky.’
Swish, swish, swish—
A blood shadow swept across the S-grade zone’s grasslands!
Where others needed a team of twenty or thirty to take down an A-grade zombie, Chen Mo could kill one alone!
However, he couldn’t fight continuously. After killing one A-grade zombie, he needed to rest a while to replenish his energy and health before moving out again.
Ten! Twenty! As time passed, zombies became stronger and stronger, doubling in strength. A-grade zombies grew increasingly difficult to kill. Even Chen Mo had to kite them, striking while retreating, using his Sword of Death’s energy to wear down the zombies one by one.
An hour passed, then another.
[Instance Announcement: PUBG instance, the tenth hour ends. A total of 514 players eliminated, including 63 slaughterers. From now on, zombie numbers and difficulty will double.]
Tsk, tsk, tsk—half the players were already eliminated. This PUBG instance was truly merciless, forcing players to dodge zombie attacks while also wary of betrayal from those around them—a torment both physical and mental. Anyone who survived 24 hours in PUBG was definitely a seasoned schemer.
The fiftieth!
After immense difficulty, Chen Mo finally killed the fiftieth A-grade zombie!
Chen Mo’s instance points reached 150,000, ranking him 43,000th in the Chinese region.
Moreover, his name appeared for the first time on the global PUBG leaderboard, ranking 100,000th with exactly 50 A-grade zombies killed!
The global leaderboard only tracked the top 100,000 players by A-grade zombie kills.
[Global PUBG Leaderboard]
[1. Miyamoto Musashi, 1999] (Japan)
[2. James, 1714] (North America)
[3. Yi Sun-sin, 1635] (Korea)
[4. Kalketier, 1563] (India)
[5. Satan, 1452] (Europe)
[6. Haotian, 1321] (China)
[7. Thanos, 1234] (North America)
...
[100,000. Great Demon King, 50]
Originally, being ranked 100,000th globally was not something noteworthy, but the name “Great Demon King” caught the attention of numerous countries and guilds worldwide.
Japan, Miyamoto Dojo.
Miyamoto Musashi was listening to his subordinate report on the S-grade instance at Mount Fuji. It was said that atop Mount Fuji lay a golden S-grade epic instance, coveted by nations worldwide. The exact start time was still unknown, so all countries were deploying spies to cities and towns around Mount Fuji, gathering intelligence.
Miyamoto Musashi said gravely, “Understood! Keep surveillance going. There are only seven S-grade Evolution Orbs in the world. This S-grade instance surely concerns the fate of the nation. No mistakes can be allowed!”
“Yes, Clan Leader! I will keep constant watch. By the way, there’s one more thing—the Great Demon King has reappeared, ranked 100,000th on the global PUBG leaderboard!”
At the mention of the Great Demon King, Miyamoto Musashi’s eyes changed, filled with murderous intent. “Finally appeared! That guy has been missing for a whole week. He must have encountered some trouble; otherwise, how could his name be absent from both the novice and advanced instances? Tell Sakurai Miyu to investigate which schools, organizations, or guilds in the Chinese region have opened advanced instances during this period, then exclude all those who entered an instance within the last seven days! Even if it’s like finding a needle in the sea, we must fish him out bit by bit!”
“Yes, sir!”