Translator: AnubisTL
If the first glimpse of this scene was breathtaking, then staring at it for six hours straight brought only exhaustion and bewilderment.
A human player lay sprawled on the city wall, his finger resting on the trigger. He gazed at the sky ablaze with fireworks and felt the wall tremble slightly beneath him. With a dazed expression, he pulled a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and took a deep drag.
No one bothered to warn him about revealing his position anymore.
The reason was simple:
In this situation, his tiny wisp of smoke posed no risk of exposing his location.
His mindset had undergone a series of dramatic shifts.
Initially, when he learned that a massive war was about to begin, his fingers trembled slightly. He worried about what would happen if he died and what would happen if the human race lost.
But when Chen Jiang's artillery fire erupted, he suddenly felt that the human race might actually have a chance to win!
When Chen Jiang's saturation bombardment continued relentlessly for six hours straight...
A shocking thought suddenly surfaced in his mind:
Why don't we just wipe out the rest of the alien races today?
"What are you talking about?"
The human player lying next to him snatched the cigarette from his hand and stared at him with a strange expression. "Do you even hear yourself?"
"Are you crazy?"
Finally, the artillery fire ceased.
The bombardment stopped with only one minute remaining until the end of the global event, "Guardian of Kindling City."
The moment the cannons fell silent, every human player on the city walls fell silent.
Looking out, they could no longer see the original wilderness beneath the light gate. Instead, there was a massive, bottomless crater. They couldn't yet determine its exact depth, only that standing on the walls, they couldn't see the bottom.
"..."
Scar Dog gazed at the colossal sky pit in the distance. After a long silence, he murmured, "I don't know if you guys ever played a game on Blue Star called Gunbound."
"The gameplay was simple: two players controlled their characters lying prone on the ground, adjusted their angles, and bombarded each other with cannons."
"Back in the day, I used to love blasting sky pits around my enemies, then making their game characters fall into the deep holes and disappear off the screen."
"And..."
He pointed to the massive sky pit nearby, paused, and said softly, "This thing looks almost exactly like the sky pits I used to create. It just hit me, Brother Jiang."
"When I played Gunbound, I used to bury opponents alive in pits just like you do, Brother Jiang."
"Chen... Chen..."
At that moment, the human guardian strode over, his gaze fixed on the colossal sky pit beneath the cluster of light gates in the distance. After a moment of stunned silence, he murmured in a daze, "What... what are we going to do about this?"
"What do you mean, 'what are we going to do about this'?" Chen Jiang scoffed casually. "We'll handle it like we always do. What's it got to do with me? You're the guardian, aren't you?"
"No, I mean... the light gates can't be moved. With this massive pit blasted beneath them, how are human players supposed to teleport through?"
"Good question," Chen Jiang said, nodding seriously. "As a human guardian, this is something you should be pondering."
"It's not my concern."
"I'm a destroyer, skilled only in destruction, not protection."
"Alright, then."
Chen Jiang clapped his hands lightly. "Farewell, then. I'll withdraw now. I'll leave this place in your capable hands."
"From now on, there shouldn't be any more massive waves of alien race players. Even if some do appear, I'm sure you're already well-prepared."
"This event has concluded."
"The exclusive special building reward Kindling City will receive should be quite powerful."
"Tsk."
"Oh, and if you organize a team to push through the light gate now, you might find some unexpected rewards."
Chen Jiang clicked his tongue in mild amusement before stepping through the phantom gate opened by Scar Dog, vanishing instantly from sight.
"He... just left?"
The crowd on the city walls stared at the spot where Chen Jiang had disappeared, momentarily stunned.
And just like that, he was gone. Many felt a strange emptiness in their hearts, a sudden loss of security.
Having such a powerful figure residing in Kindling City had provided an immeasurable sense of safety.
When Chen Jiang and his companions stepped through the light gate once more, they found themselves back beneath the world tree.
"Ah..." Scar Dog sighed in relief, inhaling the fresh air and feeling the cool breeze against his face. "This place is so much more comfortable," he remarked. "No more stench."
Indeed, in the Ten Thousand Races Arena, bathing was a rare luxury. And with Humanity's Kindling City teeming with players, the accumulated odors had become almost unbearable.
But in the current circumstances, no one cared about such trivial matters.
"Mm," Scar Dog agreed, glancing at the distant giant bell with satisfaction. "My elf slave is still here. It's time to interrogate him about his racial innate ability—the one that lets you grow stronger just by topping up. I've been envious of that ability for ages."
Just then—
A voice echoed in the ears of all players simultaneously:
[The global event "Guardian of Kindling City" has exceeded 24 hours and is now declared over!]
[Human players successfully defended Kindling City for 24 hours. Kindling City will receive an exclusive special building as an additional reward. All players within Kindling City will receive an additional one-star item. Chen Jiang, the player with the highest kindling points in Kindling City, will receive an additional reward!]
[The top ten players on the player kindling point rankings will receive additional rewards!]
[Congratulations to human player Chen Jiang for securing the top ranking in this global event!]
[The kindling shop will close in ten minutes. Players with kindling points are advised to use them promptly to avoid expiration!]
Chen Jiang raised an eyebrow slightly.
He first glanced at the kindling shop.
With nearly 120,000 kindling points, he could purchase a wide array of items.
For example, the one-star items "Pistol," "Shotgun," and "Rifle" were priced at 10, 15, and 20 kindling points respectively.
He bought 500 of each, totaling 1,500 items, spending 5,000 kindling points initially and 22,500 kindling points in total.
He wasn't buying these one-star items to upgrade his turrets. After all, 1,500 one-star items wouldn't significantly enhance his turrets.
Instead, he was buying them primarily for Scar Dog.
Scar Dog often asked him to freely modify strange and unusual things, using these items to create his so-called Perpetual Motion Machine Series Products. The only requirement for his unrestrained modifications was that they had to be based on firearms.
In other words, he could completely transform a pistol into a tank, as long as the pistol remained the core component. He couldn't simply conjure a tank out of thin air.
These items were specifically for Scar Dog, as they genuinely lacked sufficient one-star firearm items.
Afterward, he scanned the shop again and purchased some miscellaneous items.
A total of 50,000 kindling points were spent.
These items were all kinds of tools. From now on, Scar Dog would essentially never lack any tool or material he needed.
"Brother Jiang..."
Scar Dog stared in shock at the massive pile of materials and tools that had suddenly appeared before him. He looked up at Chen Jiang in disbelief. "Did you buy all this for me?"
"What do you think?" Chen Jiang replied, his tone slightly impatient. "Take it and get lost. Don't bother me."
"Got it, Brother Jiang! I'm out of here. May you have good fortune!"
Scar Dog excitedly stuffed all the items and materials into his space bracelet. Then, grabbing Zhao Ritian and Li Hao, he quickly stepped through the phantom gate and vanished.
After Scar Dog left, Chen Jiang continued browsing the kindling shop. He still had nearly 50,000 kindling points remaining.
"Hmm..."
He hesitated slightly, eyeing one particular item:
[Item Name: Encyclopedia of Jokes]
[Item Star: One-Star Item]
[Item Details: This is a collection of nearly 5,000 jokes.]
[Item Effect: It will make you bring joy to others.]
[Item Description: "Type '1' and Buddha will laugh with you." - A self-deceiving saying from some planet.]
[Exchange Price: 10 kindling points.]
After some deliberation, he decided to exchange for the item. It would be quite helpful, especially since his three-star defensive item required happiness to function at full capacity.
Who would have thought the kindling shop would carry something like this?
His hesitation stemmed mainly from the absurdity of a grown man telling jokes to a badge like he was coaxing a child. The scene just seemed too bizarre.
But for a three-star item... a little weirdness was worth it.
He then turned his gaze back to the kindling shop.
He found a particularly intriguing item priced at a staggering 50,000 kindling points—exactly enough to drain his remaining balance.
Chen Jiang narrowed his eyes slightly, pondered for a moment, and then exchanged the token-like item, tucking it into his waist pouch.
With this, his kindling points were completely exhausted.
Just as he was about to check the additional rewards from the event, a notification suddenly rang in his ear again:
[Congratulations on securing the top ranking in another global event!]
[You have successfully triggered the second stage of the achievement 'Big Brother Top Rank'.]
[Reward: One three-star random item chest.]
[Achievement Name: Big Brother Top Rank]
[Trigger Conditions: Achieve top ranking in one global event, achieve top ranking in two global events, achieve top ranking in three global events.]
[Completion Progress: Stages 1 and 2 unlocked.]
"Sigh," Chen Jiang sighed softly, his expression slightly helpless. "Why so many rewards? Can't I claim them one at a time? It's getting hard to keep up."
Clearly, Chen Jiang had no idea how devastating his words would be to other alien race players if they were to hear them.
He placed the three-star item chest into his space bracelet without opening it immediately.
Instead, he turned his attention to the event's bonus rewards.
There were three bonus rewards in total.
The first bonus reward was that all players within Kindling City would receive a random one-star item if the city successfully defended itself for 24 hours.
He glanced at the one-star item in his hand. Its item effect was mediocre, so he casually tossed it into his space bracelet.
He then looked at the second bonus reward.
The second bonus reward was for the player who accumulated the most kindling points within Kindling City by the event's conclusion.
However, this reward wasn't an item, but a title:
[Title Name: Human Guardian]
[Title Effect: When a human player attacks you, their eyes will be permanently blinded.]
"A title?"
Chen Jiang's expression turned slightly odd as he examined the title. To be honest, the effect was quite good. If a human player tried to backstab him, they would be permanently blinded.
The title's name was a bit odd: Human Guardian.
He remembered that Liu Yiping from the Human Race Guardian Association had also called himself a Human Guardian.
So why had this title ended up with him?
"Hmm..."
After a moment's thought, he dismissed the matter. This was his second title; he already had one:
[Title Name]: Alien Race Harvester
[Title Effect]: Once per day, gain the ability to discern the random innate ability of one alien race member. Limited to alien races.
However, he had never had the chance to use this title. He had never encountered any alien races with random innate abilities, aside from humans.
The mechanical race, insect race, and elf race he had encountered so far only possessed racial innate abilities, lacking the additional random innate ability that humans had.
Just then—
The third bonus reward from the event appeared.
This reward was for securing the top ranking on the player kindling point rankings.
An activity token.
[Item Name: Activity Token]
[Item Star: Three-Star Item]
[Item Effect: Activating this token will initiate a small-scale activity. The activator can freely choose whether to participate.]
[Item Description: Hmm, winning this activity grants exceptionally rich rewards. Conversely, those rewards will be claimed by others.]
"An activity token, huh?"
Chen Jiang nodded thoughtfully, tucking the item into his chest pocket for later.
Right now, he only wanted one thing: sleep.
He hadn't slept in ages.
He hadn't slept during the Blood Sacrifice of the Ten Thousand Races event. As soon as that ended and he was about to rest, the global event Mist Paradise began.
After Mist Paradise finally concluded, the global event Guardian of Kindling City immediately followed.
The Guardian of Kindling City event lasted a full 24 hours.
By his calculations, he hadn't closed his eyes for over thirty hours.
Even though his time in the wilderness had trained him to maintain mental clarity without sleep, he was reaching his limit. He needed to rest before anything else.
(End of the Chapter)
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