Ye Chui’s trial team’s food programme achieved unexpected success. Just watching those steaming, golden-brown chunks of meat that seemed to release their aroma through the light screen was enough to make every viewer swallow hard. Lesha sensed her light-screen count surge by more than a hundred in one go, reaching five hundred.
Hm. The programme A Trial on the Tip of the Tongue was a great success.
Glin fully displayed his culinary skills. Roast meat, steaks, various seasonings, a flashy salt sprinkle. All in one smooth flow.
In Lane’s Home, Mad Beast Yagan was gnawing on roast meat. Looking at the piece in his hand, he suddenly found it hard to swallow. Roast meat was already a luxury in the central city. Only people like Yagan and Niga, from king worlds or god-tier worlds, could enjoy it anytime.
But this meat was naturally not precious barbaric ox meat. It was ordinary animals raised in fragment worlds. The quality was far from exquisite. Even the people of Ox Plain world probably could not enjoy barbaric ox meat the way Ye Chui’s group was doing.
“These people are utterly hateful. I absolutely will not allow them to continue causing trouble on the Divine Sin Continent!” Mad Beast Yagan threw his meat onto the table and roared angrily.
In truth, toward Stan World and Ye Chui’s team, Mad Beast Yagan and Satan’er were far less furious than Niga. Windless City was a vassal world of Purple Silk Flower world. Its annexation harmed Purple Silk Flower’s power. For Black Dragon Pool and Blood Land, the impact was actually minimal. They opposed Ye Chui only for the honour of the Blood Dragon Flower Alliance. But now, seeing Ye Chui’s group enjoying gourmet food, Mad Beast Yagan was clearly thoroughly provoked.
“They are only smug for the moment. Trials are not that simple. Besides threats from other hunters, the trial venue itself holds dangers…” Satan’er said with some anger on her face, her tone rather sinister.
As the top hunter of Blood Land world, Satan’er always saw herself as nobility. Her food and clothing were extremely luxurious. Yet at this moment she felt outdone by Ye Chui’s group. Barbaric ox meat… she had only eaten it a few times, alright?
Especially watching the blonde woman called Celis on the light screen. After taking one bite of roasted ox leg, she said “This meat isn’t tasty” and casually tossed the whole leg aside… such waste. Satan’er absolutely could not tolerate it.
“The darkness invasion is about to begin. They won’t have time to escape!” Niga spoke coldly at that point, a ferocious smile on his face.
Darkness invasion.
Though the trial venue was vast, hundreds of people were teleported in. A trial only ended when a final victor emerged. If someone hid in one spot and avoided discovery, the trial could drag on indefinitely. Therefore the venue itself had a terrifying restriction called the darkness invasion.
When a trial exceeded a certain duration, darkness would begin invading from the edges. Within that darkness, human eyes could see nothing. Terrifying lightning and flames appeared amid it. Anyone swallowed by the invading darkness could not survive.
In every trial, many unlucky souls died directly to the darkness invasion.
The darkness invasion spread quickly, so barbaric oxen were especially important in trials. Their speed was needed to carry teams away.
Ye Chui’s group slaughtering barbaric oxen for barbecue was truly the stupidest move. When the darkness invasion began, let’s see what they would do.
“Look, the darkness invasion has started!” Niga noticed certain scenes on the light screen. His face lit up, and he waved his hand.
…
On the light screen, Ye Chui’s group, still enjoying their meal, sensed something. When Ye Chui peered out the window while gnawing roast meat, he exclaimed “Wow!” from his mouth. “So this is the darkness invasion. It really looks formidable. Probably a few minutes until it reaches here!”
At the edges of the trial venue, black mist was spreading. Lightning flickered faintly within, clusters of flame burned, as if it could devour everything. This blackness gradually contracted around the venue toward the central heavenly light pillar.
Viewers watching Ye Chui’s team involuntarily broke into a sweat for them. Of course, more people gloated, thinking Ye Chui’s group had overplayed their hand. They failed to recognise the importance of barbaric oxen as vehicles. Now they were helpless, right?
“Hmph. Slaughtering barbaric oxen to barbecue and eat. I admit the scene is indeed attractive and makes people want to watch, but losing their lives for it is too foolish. This rookie still doesn’t understand how terrifying trials are…” someone in a tavern mocked.
Most others agreed. Some disagreed. “Maybe this Ye Chui has a backup plan? Like that steel magic creation he summoned in the initial trial? That creation’s speed is many times faster than barbaric oxen!”
“Impossible. Those magic creations are extremely valuable. Having one is already impressive. How could he produce another? Does he think such precious things blow in on the wind?” another patron countered. “If they can produce another of those magic creations, I’ll buy drinks for everyone in the tavern today…”
The patron’s words had just left his mouth when Ye Chui on the light screen walked to open ground outside the building. With a whoosh, white light flashed beside him, and a magic creation utterly different from the Jeep or motorcycle appeared on the dilapidated street. It was a modified truck.
The betting patron: “…”
Ye Chui began calling his companions. “Hurry and throw everything onto the truck. We’re getting ready to run!”
Debbie, Glin, Guni, Shalomei, and Celis all pitched in. They dumped all the equipment and weapons collected from earlier deliveries into the truck bed, treating them like rubbish. Only select magic scrolls, detection scrolls, and healing scrolls went into backpacks. Everything else piled into the bed. Then Ye Chui climbed into the driver’s seat, Lesha took the passenger seat, and the others jumped into the bed.
With a “toot-toot-toot” starting sound, the heavy magic truck slowly moved off. Due to imprecise control, it crashed into a nearby building with a boom, directly collapsing it. This sufficiently demonstrated the truck’s immense power.
Then the magic truck swayed, kicking up dust as it headed toward the heavenly light pillar.
Everyone in front of light screens: “…”
Ye Chui could not only summon more of those strange magic creations, but this one looked completely different from the previous ones.
Lesha, sitting in the passenger seat, continued her streamer commentary. “Now we’re escaping the darkness invasion. Little brother says this is called running from the poison. The most important thing when running from poison is to hold the circle. What does holding the circle mean? Next we’ll demonstrate for everyone…”
The magic truck drove straight toward the heavenly light pillar for a stretch, then suddenly turned left. The truck’s powerful horsepower let it traverse slopes as if on flat ground. Lesha constantly activated detection scrolls to check for nearby trial teams. Many people understood Ye Chui’s team’s intent. With the darkness invasion starting, teams near it would now flee. Ye Chui’s team planned to hunt those people.
Holding the circle… so there was this kind of play.
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Soon, Lesha used a detection scroll and located a team. “Northeast direction, a four-person team, about one kilometre away…”
“Good!” Ye Chui parked the heavy truck behind a large tree, climbed out, and his companions jumped down too. Under Ye Chui’s lead, they crawled behind a small hill and peered ahead.
In the distance, the faint figures of a four-person team were visible, riding three barbaric oxen, racing quickly.
The mist of the darkness invasion spread two or three kilometres behind them.
“Next we’ll show everyone what long-range sniping is, what fifteen-times recoil control is…” Lesha continued introducing.
Ye Chui had already taken out a new modified firearm, a large sniper rifle. This weapon had immense killing power but required great skill to operate. It was completely different from assault rifles or Gatlings that only needed rat-tat-tat. Ye Chui was a bit nervous. He had no real experience in this area. After using a magic scroll to load enough bullets, he began aiming at the distant team.
A moment later, bang. He fired.
Magic bullets had almost no weight, so no need to account for parabolas, but aiming was still extremely difficult. After the first shot rang out, the four-person team clearly sensed something and looked around in panic but found nothing.
“That shot missed. Keep going,” Ye Chui said quickly, continuing to aim and fire.
Yet…
The next four shots also failed to hit. The four-person team was getting farther away.
“Sigh. This thing really is hard to use…” Ye Chui could not help feeling discouraged.
“Let us try,” Debbie quickly suggested. She was still hugging the Gatling. When Ye Chui moved aside from the sniper position, Shalomei, who had been standing closest, stepped up.
The little girl looked very curious. She aimed as Ye Chui had demonstrated earlier. Everyone watching Shalomei’s serious expression could not help laughing. Shalomei always gave the impression of being rough and clumsy. No one thought she could handle a sniper rifle and hit enemies. Glin was even preparing to take over with a smile.
Yet at that moment, “Bang!” Shalomei fired, quickly reloaded, “Bang!” again. “Bang!” “Bang!” Four shots in rapid succession.
Shalomei let out a breath, stood up, her small face beaming happily. “I hit them. I hit them!”
“Shalomei, don’t joke. Where did you hit?” Glin pointed at the distant four-person team, still unharmed.
Shalomei said confidently, “Let the bullets fly a while…”
As soon as she spoke, the distant four-person team suddenly seemed to suffer a terrifying assault. Plop, plop. Their figures riding the barbaric oxen fell to the ground one after another. All four died almost instantly.
Everyone looked at Shalomei in shock.
Damn. This glutton girl actually had the potential to be a god-tier sniper?
“Shalomei, how are you so amazing?” Guni also asked, face full of shock. “How did I never know this before?”
“I thought it was very simple. In the past I often sneaked alone into the beast garden and shot flying magical beasts with a bow and arrow to roast and eat. At first I completely missed, but gradually I got more and more accurate. This is much simpler and more convenient than a bow,” Shalomei explained with a smile, looking innocently like a silly child.
Everyone: “…”
Did the power of a foodie create a god-tier sniper?
Ye Chui quickly summoned another motorcycle, attached a shotgun, and handed it to Glin. “You go collect their dropped equipment. We’ll continue holding the circle and meet up later.”
“Got it, President.” Glin immediately mounted the motorcycle. A frying pan still hung from his rear. With the engine roar, he zoomed off toward where the four had fallen.
The others climbed back onto the heavy truck and continued along the border of the poison circle, the darkness invasion, preparing to snipe other hunters.
Ye Chui’s companions were adapting quickly to the trial. Lesha had successfully switched to streamer, Celis to mage, Shalomei to god-tier sniper. Hm, and Glin had become a ranger? He seemed to love the feeling of speeding on a motorcycle…
Ye Chui felt deeply gratified by how fast his companions were adapting.
Glin soon returned to the heavy truck. He had collected large amounts of resources and simply slaughtered the three barbaric oxen, storing them in storage space. Now everything was piled onto the truck.
The heavy truck continued along the poison circle, the darkness invasion border. Soon they encountered several more teams. Close-range ones faced Debbie’s Gatling rat-tat-tat. Farther ones fell to Shalomei’s sniper.
Rounding a hillside, they suddenly ran into a fifteen-person group. Clearly several teams allied to snipe Ye Chui. Ye Chui floored the accelerator and charged straight in. Cold weapons trying to fight a steel beast?
This made many in front of light screens sigh. So trials could actually be played this way?
As the darkness invasion shrank the trial venue’s safe area, many viewers suddenly realised an important issue.
“Have you noticed? From earlier until now, Stan World’s team has killed eighty-seven people. They… they’ve broken the trial kill record!”
