[Mission Objective: Eliminate other key holders and survive until the end]
[Time Limit: 24 hours]
[This is a special mission, initiated by the abnormal item ’Achili Toy Factory Key’. Summoner can choose whether to participate. Rejecting participation incurs no penalty, only the related item will be taken from the Backpack]
[Once the Summoner chooses to participate, they may exit anytime during the mission. Exiting voluntarily or being killed will cause their factory key to automatically drop and be teleported to the nearest player’s Backpack]
[In the mission world, the Summoner will not be able to naturally recover Spiritual Power Value over time, and each Consumption of Spiritual Power Value will accumulate a proportional "Erosion Level"]
["Erosion Level" is irreversible; once an individual Summoner’s Erosion Level reaches 1,000 points, severe consequences will occur]
[Mission Reward: There are no overall completion rewards for this mission. For each enemy Summoner eliminated, 500 Experience Points and 1,000 Game Coins will be awarded]
[Mission Failure Penalty: None]
[If not confirmed within 10 minutes, you will automatically forfeit the mission eligibility]
The system announcement rang out in time, and Li Cheng listened to all contents with a serious expression.
Below the mission briefing, a virtual clock counting down from 10 minutes was conspicuously floating. The clock hands rotated, as if one could hear the distinct ticking sound of the second hand moving.
"What’s happening now?" Gray Rain, scratching her head and looking anxious (possibly trying to create a tense atmosphere to make Li Cheng forget that she used smart earphones to help with her homework).
"The toy factory key triggered a special task, a deathmatch among multiple people."
Li Cheng quickly responded, not pausing for a moment as he started preparing, pulling out ten pieces of Suicide Notebook paper for rapid testing.
The testing results were rather grim; in all ten predicted drawings, Li Cheng’s deaths were simple and violent, either by being burned to ashes by Fierce Fire or finely sliced by invisible threads.
Or being smashed into a wall by a high-speed train, or having his soul extracted, leading to his death and disappearance. Latest content published on NoveI★Fire.net
’As expected, what was meant to come, has come.’
Li Cheng slightly pursed his lips, his mind still calm.
Ever since he obtained this Stone Slab Key in the Monster Theme Park mission, he had a premonition.
The Stone Slab Key cannot be transferred and can only drop upon death; it also has a aggregative property, where keys attract each other.
Especially after obtaining the second key from Cervantes, he became more convinced – within the killing field, there were already people and organizations aware of the existence of the factory key and were collecting it actively in the shadows.
"Looking back now, Cervantes had been captured by the Special Affairs Bureau early on. If the Special Affairs Bureau knew about the existence of the key, they would likely have executed Cervantes directly to seize the key. The fact that they did not do so proves their ignorance.
The problem is, the Special Affairs Bureau values Cervantes highly, and they would have surely interrogated him rigorously, even resorting to hypnosis, brainwashing, and memory reading. Only a player above Level 35, with a prepared mind against an unprepared one, could deceive the Special Affairs Bureau.
That person could only be the president of the Wild Laughter Troupe."
Li Cheng quickly packed up the predictive drawings depicting potential death scenes, and briefly explained the situation to Gray Rain.
Gray Rain expressed her concerns: "There are a total of seven keys, and we possess two. That means there could be up to five other players.
Since even the president of Wild Laughter Troupe is involved, the average level of this mission will certainly not be low, and the other five might be stronger than us..."
As a Liquid Metal Robot, Gray Rain was highly resistant to physical strikes up to an extraordinary level, but pure and extreme energy attacks could still harm her, even causing irreversible damage.
The same was true for Li Cheng; while Insect Lord Demon infection and Assembly Puppet endowed him with strong Life Force, the spiritual attacks described in the prophecy paintings were still hard to guard against.
"I know. Fortunately, this mission has a ’Erosion Level’ mechanic."
Li Cheng mentioned, "The more Spiritual Power released, the higher the Erosion Level, which bursts upon accumulating to a certain extent. It serves as an indirect balance between players’ power, limiting the stronger ones,
and allowing relatively weaker players more ways to win—such as enticing others to waste Spiritual Power, or finding a corner to lie low and wait for others to exhaust themselves in conflict."
Four famous sayings: during the big festive year, everyone is dead, it’s still just a child, since we’re here.
He had already obtained two keys; backing out without even entering the mission site out of fear would be too disgraceful.
"Stepping back ten thousand steps, if we enter the mission site and find that the other players are all very strong, then we can still exit later—after all, we can leave any time during the mission without any penalty."
As Li Cheng spoke, he left the automated storage and clicked on the mission panel to confirm acceptance.
In that moment, he had already adjusted himself to the strongest state, his left arm clad in White Bone Corridor Guard Arm, a machete slung on his back, a Bat Hook Claw Gun tied around his waist, his left finger spinning a Nuclear Energy Lighter, and his right hand lightly pushing the Information Integration Glasses perched on his nose, ready to draw the Epic Level Liangyi Blade from the void at any time.
Even Gray Rain was affected by this pre-storm tension, her expression resolute and serious, both hands grasping the massive and heavy Skull Shattering Power Hammer, her body enveloped by purple smoke.
"This isn’t the time to be smoking e-cigarettes."
Li Cheng glanced at her with some irritation, and Gray Rain awkwardly laughed, quickly extinguishing the grape-flavored e-cigarette emitting purple smoke, and with a "Heyo", she jumped into the Electronic Pet Egg.
All preparations complete, as the countdown on the mission panel hit zero, the scenery before Li Cheng’s eyes abruptly changed, and he had entered the mission site.
This was an ordinary two-bedroom, one living room apartment, the kitchen equipped with a double-door refrigerator and a full set of cooking appliances, the living room furnished with a sofa, coffee table, and color TV, with a woodpecker clock that kept time hanging on the wall.
Everything seemed normal, except... everything, including the fruit placed on the coffee table, was made of LEGO bricks.
Li Cheng raised his eyebrows slightly and walked over to the window to look outside.
The sun was shining outside; the entire city’s buildings were constructed with LEGO, the streets filled with two-headed LEGO brick people and many familiar toy characters.
Transformers, Gundam, Ultraman, Pocket Monsters, Balala Little Fairy, Barbie Dolls, Marble Superheroes, Hamutaro’s Hamsters, wind-up toy cars, tin frogs, green soldiers...
Toys from all times and places, both named and unnamed, were active in this city. It seemed as if they had crammed the toys from the entire world here.