Translator: AnubisTL
"Hmm."
Chen Jiang nodded slightly, quickly understanding why the group was gathered on the rooftop. He turned to the slightly smaller man in the middle and asked, "So your personal innate ability is... self-detonation?"
"Yes."
The young man in the middle, wearing a wingsuit and looking like a college student with his neatly trimmed bangs, lowered his head uneasily. "The self-detonation has immense power. The ability description says it's equivalent to a high-yield missile."
"Have you tested it?"
"No, I haven't."
"Don't human players have the racial innate ability Phoenix Nirvana, which grants an extra life? Why didn't you try it?"
"This ability conflicts with Phoenix Nirvana. If I use it, I die permanently. The second life doesn't activate."
"I see."
Chen Jiang nodded thoughtfully. "So you were planning to have this somewhat socially awkward boy wear the wingsuit and carry out a suicide bombing?"
"Yes."
The leader of the human players nodded solemnly. "We can't disclose the specifics of the plan, but if Little Liu's self-detonation succeeds in creating temporary chaos within the city..."
"The human settlements outside the city can instantly overwhelm and devour the mechanical race's forces sent out while the city is distracted."
"This would significantly reduce the threat the city poses to nearby human settlements."
"Impressive," Chen Jiang nodded slightly. "Shall we send you back to continue your explosive performance?"
"Uh..."
The group exchanged awkward glances. "Brother Jiang, aren't we bombing the city already? We don't need to keep blowing ourselves up, right?"
"As you wish."
Chen Jiang rose slowly and pointed to the phantom gate beside him. "Step through this gate, and you'll be outside the city. From there, your paths are your own. Farewell."
"I've done my part, fulfilling my duty."
"This..."
The human players exchanged hesitant glances, their eyes betraying their desire to follow this powerful man. After all, in this world, aligning with a strong leader greatly increased one's chances of survival.
Before they could voice their intentions, Scar Dog had already tossed their items through the phantom gate. Then, with a swift kick each, he booted them all out.
Soon, the area was completely empty, leaving only Chen Jiang and his group with their mechanical race slaves.
Bringing these human players out of the city was an act of camaraderie, born from their shared status as human players.
Yet keeping them at arm's length, rather than close by, stemmed from a deep-seated wariness of fellow human players.
When they first descended upon the wilderness, they had suffered countless betrayals at the hands of their own kind.
Just then—
[00:00:00]
The countdown timer reached zero.
A global announcement echoed in everyone's ears:
[Global Announcement.]
[The global event, Blood Sacrifice of the Ten Thousand Races, has officially begun. The event will last for 24 hours.]
[At the event's conclusion, the ten players with the highest Blood Sacrifice Points will receive additional rewards.]
[The race with the lowest total Blood Sacrifice Points will be penalized. For three days, killing alien race players and mutated beasts will yield no rewards or item drops.]
Immediately afterward, Chen Jiang noticed two new event leaderboards had appeared:
[Player Blood Sacrifice Points Ranking]
[Top Ranking: Mechanical Race, Feng Jiutian]
[Blood Sacrifice Points: 3]
[Second Ranking: Empty]
[Third Ranking: Empty]
[Race Blood Sacrifice Points Ranking]
[Top Ranking: Mechanical Race]
[Blood Sacrifice Points: 78]
[Second Ranking: Empty]
[Third Ranking: Empty]
Staring at the two rankings, Chen Jiang raised an eyebrow slightly but remained silent.
It had to be said, the Mechanical Race had clearly been preparing for this event well in advance.
The moment the event began, almost before a second had passed and while other races hadn't even made a move, the Mechanical Race had already topped the leaderboard.
It was as if they had held a knife to an alien race player's throat and, the instant the countdown ended—before the global announcement had even finished—they had decapitated the player.
This was a perfectly timed execution.
While competing for the rankings was inevitable, there was no need to rush. It was better to first check the Altar Shop for any valuable items.
The global announcement had mentioned that the Altar Shop contained rare and precious items.
Chen Jiang figured that anything deserving of such a description would at least be unavailable in the human race merit points shop, extremely difficult to obtain from killing mutated beasts, or impossible for the Mechanical Race to manufacture.
"Hmm."
Chen Jiang glanced at the Altar Shop before him and remarked casually, "Not bad. It does seem to live up to the 'rare' and 'precious' labels."
"Wait—"
Just then, his eyes landed on several conspicuous items at the very bottom of the Altar Shop:
[Damaged Wooden Sword]
[Triggerless Pistol]
[Magic-Depleted Staff]
[Hammer Missing Its Handle]
[Coughing Flamethrower]
The Coughing Flamethrower, in particular, caught his attention. Upon closer inspection of its item description, it seemed almost like a prank:
[Item Name]: Coughing Flamethrower
[Item Tier]: One-Star Item
[Item Effect]: As you can see, this is a flamethrower. However, due to its owner's lifelong smoking habit and advanced age, it can no longer spew flames. Instead, pulling the trigger releases globs of thick phlegm at enemies.
[Item Details]: Range: 3 meters.
[Item Description]: "Smoking is harmful to your health. I hope young people remember this." - A warning from an aging flamethrower.
[Exchange Price]: 1 Blood Sacrifice Point.
A flamethrower clogged with phlegm was practically a joke weapon.
Even worse, it had an upgrade option.
He couldn't imagine what kind of monstrosity upgrading this thing would create!
But none of that mattered. What mattered was that it was a one-star item, and its exchange price was absurdly low—just 1 Blood Sacrifice Point!
Heaven have mercy!
In the Altar Shop, the cheapest one-star items cost at least 10 Blood Sacrifice Points. Yet this one-star item was priced at a mere 1 Blood Sacrifice Point!
What did this mean?
It meant that killing just one person would earn him 1 Blood Sacrifice Point!
Admittedly, the item was utterly useless. No one would want a flamethrower that could only spit phlegm instead of fire.
But did that matter?
Absolutely not!
He didn't need a flamethrower; he needed a cheap, one-star item!
His expression grew slightly excited as he glanced at the other four items.
As expected, the remaining items were equally useless, completely unsuitable for combat, and utterly lacking in offensive capabilities.
As offensive items with no offensive capabilities, they were utterly worthless!
But Chen Jiang didn't care!
Chen Jiang only needed a large quantity of one-star items as enhancement materials. He didn't care about their actual uses; he'd even use semi-scrapped items for enhancement.
So, perfectly functional one-star items were more than adequate.
(End of the Chapter)
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