Infinite Sun in the East China Sea

Chapter 301 A Life of Debauchery and Indulgence
In ancient times, when besieging a city, the siege was often three-tenths open and one-tenth left undefended, a tactic used to lure the enemy out of the fortified city.

Zhao Zhuikong thought he had found a safe path amidst deadly danger, but the direction from which the attack was slightly less intense was also within Zhao's calculations.

He has stepped into the magical barrier protecting the Elf Kingdom.

Once a creature enters it, it will fall into a deep sleep.

If Zhao Zhuikong were at his peak, this magical barrier would almost never affect him. Even if he were affected, it would only make him feel uncomfortable, and he could get used to it and ignore the effects of the magical barrier.

But now he has been fighting for too long and is almost exhausted. There is also a stronger 'fake' chasing him from behind, which leaves him no time to deal with the problems in the environment.

In the thick fog, Zhao Zhuikong lost his way.

Under the influence of the magical barrier, the several teleportations only kept him moving back and forth within a radius of ten kilometers.

“Zhao Zhuikong is indeed a very troublesome enemy.” Fantasy Zhao sighed, “If I don’t get help from outside, I can only kill him by slowly exhausting his strength, which will take a long time.”

He had the upper hand in the previous battle, but it was actually Zhao Zhuikong who took the initiative to attack.

Zhao Zhuikong's ability to move thousands of meters in a single step gives him a high degree of initiative in close combat. It is difficult for ordinary people to hit him when they take the initiative to attack him; and when he wants to attack, the target is extremely difficult to dodge, making it almost a sure hit.

Fantasy Zhao relied on his strong defense and powerful energy to overcome Zhao Zhui Kong's skill with brute force. He first took the attack head-on and then seized the opportunity to counterattack, which forced Zhao Zhui Kong to flee in a sorry state.

"His abilities are difficult, but that doesn't mean he's a difficult person. He's too arrogant," the fantasy clone commented. "The outcome is decided; it's time to close the net."

The clone took out a crystal-clear bottle.

The Swallow Fruit activated, and the liquid in the bottle gradually turned into mist, merging into the fog formed by the magical barrier.

The originally colorless and odorless mist suddenly emitted a rich aroma of wine.

The liquid in the bottle was an item that a reincarnator from the East Sea team had exchanged for—a fine wine strong enough to intoxicate the monster Yamata no Orochi. She originally intended it to deal with the monsters in the reincarnation world… Unfortunately, she had bad luck and died in the Claymore world, but those bottles of wine ended up in Xu Feng's hands.

At this time, the food, which wasn't too expensive, still produced good results.

Under the influence of the aroma of the wine, Zhao Zhuikong's steps became heavy, and his eyelids began to droop uncontrollably.

"Is it the East China Sea team's doing again?"

He forced himself to stay alert and looked around warily.

Suddenly, a golden eyeball appeared in his field of vision. In a fleeting glance, Zhao Zhuikong noticed the owner of the golden eyeball... the person standing with the fake, who had not yet made a move.

The eyeball seemed to illuminate the night and pierce the forest.

When Zhao Zhuikong came to his senses, he found two figures standing in front of him who haunted his dreams.

"Rui Kong? Ying Kong?"

—The Imperial Arms' Omnipotent Illusionary Vision: the controlled person will perceive the target in front of them as their favorite person.

The joy that had just risen in Zhao Zhuikong's heart was quickly suppressed. He still remembered that fleeting glimpse! The all-powerful illusion of five visions was hypnotizing him, telling him that the two people in front of him were the two people he loved most, but his remaining rationality reminded him that they were fakes!
Zhao Zhuikong lowered his head, his aura becoming even more terrifying, his body twisted with extreme rage.

"Unforgivable!"

"You bastards from the East China Sea team, you're committing blasphemy..."

Just then, a simple, unadorned one-handed sword pierced through Zhao Zhuikong's body from behind.

“In the eyes of the original owner of this sword, you are also an unforgivable bastard!” Fantasy Zhao said softly. He immediately used the true essence of the Bodhi Proof Divine Skill to stimulate Zhao Zhuikong’s body through the sword 'Pale Justice'.

Stimulated by the intense pain and burning sensation, Zhao Zhuikong's eyes regained some clarity.

Similarly, his strength, which had surged due to anger, also declined, and as his anger completely subsided, he became extremely weak.

"This situation..."

After completely regaining his senses from his madness, Zhao Zhuikong was incredulous. How could the enemy suppress his madness?! In that instant, a new obsession arose in his heart.

Survive... find a way to suppress madness... and then return to the real world.

He succeeded—in his dream.

"Sleeping Magic, Drunken Serpent's Wine, Mind Vulnerability... I only used three buffs to take him down." The illusion clone laughed, "That saved me a lot of trouble; now it's time to reap the rewards, Zhao Zhuikong... there should be a lot of useful information in his memories."

A few hours later.

A series of beautiful dreams with different endings pieced together most of Zhao Zhuikong's memories.

"Is that so?"

Xu Feng stroked his chin, did some mental calculations, and sighed, "All things considered, there's not much valuable information left from the Zhao family."

"Have you found out why Zhao Zhuikong is so strong in the real world?" Xiangzi asked curiously.

She was eager to know what was so special about the real world.

“Yes, several decades ago, the Zhao family had a reincarnator who returned to the real world from the Main God Space.” Xu Feng said, “Do you remember the information the Main God told us when we first entered the Main God Space? We were the first batch of reincarnators after the reincarnation restarted, and we all came from the early 21st century, including the members of the Arctic team and the East America team, who were basically from the same period.”

"But the reincarnator from the Zhao family who returned to the real world from the God Space entered the God Space twenty years ago. Therefore, before the reincarnation restarted, he also selected reincarnators in the real world. We can call them the previous era."

Xu Feng paused for a moment, then said, "Zhao Zhuikong is the legacy of a reincarnator from the previous era who returned to the origin after receiving 50,000 reward points."

What level do you need to reach to accumulate 50,000 reward points?
In Xu Feng's view, one must at least have A-level basic physical qualities, be proficient in various supporting abilities, develop one's own fighting style, and also encounter a suitable reincarnation world.

The reincarnators of the Zhao family in the previous era met this condition.

Zhao Zhuikong's memories contain some information about the reincarnated members of the Zhao family from the previous era. For example, that reincarnated member enhanced the Nen ability in Hunter x Hunter, pushing this extraordinary system of Nen to its peak. After returning to the real world, he also popularized several skills from this energy system among the Zhao family assassins.

The prices of data and materials in the God Space are far lower than those for direct exchange. After directly enhancing an S-level ability, exchanging it for data will significantly reduce the required reward points and side quests.

The reincarnators of the Zhao family in the previous era had the money to exchange for top-tier Nen abilities, so he naturally also had the money to exchange for data and materials that were two levels higher than the highest-tier Nen abilities.

That knowledge is the origin of the 'Empty' project.

—The so-called 'Empty' plan requires everything to originate from the Main God Space, which can be directly exchanged from the Main God. "In total, the legacy of the Zhao family reincarnators from the previous era is roughly worth two A-level side quests. Unfortunately, part of the legacy mysteriously disappeared when that predecessor died, and some data was destroyed by Zhao Zhuikong. It is impossible to determine how many reward points the remaining items are worth now."

Xu Feng couldn't help but shake his head.

Zhao Zhuikong caused far too many losses! In the cycle of reincarnation, his killing of the reincarnators from the East America team directly resulted in the East China Sea team gaining very little this time; in the real world, he also destroyed a lot of items from the Main God Space.

This guy went to the real-world region corresponding to the East American team in order to destroy the Zhao family's research center there.

"So, those bodies from the East America team are all real, Zhao Zhuikong really is the last member of the East America team, and we've completely eliminated the East America team?" Mei asked somewhat slowly from the other side.

"This team, which has a higher rating than us... has very limited strength."

Xu Feng chuckled softly.

There are many parameters for the God's rating, and actual strength is only one of them.

Some people get a bunch of side quests but don't use them, while others get side quests and use them recklessly. In the end, the two teams get about the same number of side quests, but one team is far weaker than the other. Is this supposed to be the fault of the God's unfair matching system?

"What should we do next?" Mei asked. "Should we just complete the mission directly?"

After Zhao Zhuikong fell into a deep sleep, the East Sea team secured the victory. As for the main god's mission... it was not difficult at all.

Even if Xu Feng doesn't make a move, she and Xiangzi alone could kill Smaug or seize the Heart of the Mountain within ten minutes.

"Not urgent."

Xu Feng shook his head: "I still have many things to do in this world. The secrets of Zhao Zhuikong need time to be deciphered, Zoro is still providing me with extraordinary knowledge, and powerful monsters like the Flame Demon have not yet been converted into reward points... And once I return to the Main God Space and then come back to this world to do those things again, the rewards will be reduced."

Completing the task immediately would be such a waste!

If you complete the task quickly, you will need to spend ten reward points every day to return here next time.

"Delaying time?" Xiangzi laughed. "If we delay long enough, we can even take the opportunity to cultivate in this world."

Xu Feng relied on squeezing reward points from his teammates to train for decades in the world of "Akame ga Kill!", reaching a level of strength that was difficult for his teammates to match.

However, Xiangzi and Mei hadn't cultivated for very long, and a significant portion of their reward points were converted into rare and precious materials, ending up in Xu Feng's mouth.

Don't be too greedy.

Xu Feng shook his head: "Do you remember the plot? The dwarf team set off at the end of April and entered Lonely Mountain in mid-October. In other words, if we don't change the plot at all, we will naturally complete the mission by this time. If I'm not mistaken, we won't face any problems by delaying the time to this point."

After Xu Feng became the captain, the East China Sea team rarely followed the plot's pace... They basically sped up, sped up, and sped up again, completely disrupting the original plot.

This is not the simplest way to pass the level.

The Arctic Team and the East America Team, these two reincarnation teams, did not change the plot in most reincarnation worlds, and simply followed the characters in the plot.

Judging from the experiences of those two teams, Xu Feng believed that simply following the plot would not result in punishment from the main god.

"But if we deliberately change the plot to keep us in this world, we might face the targeting of the main god. For safety's sake, we should complete the mission according to the plot timeline."

"About six months?" Xiangzi nodded.

This period is worth about 2,000 points, which means that each member of the East China Sea team got 2,000 points for nothing.

Xiangzi looked north: "We need to keep a close eye on the new recruits. If any of them die, our losses will be quite significant."

— Normally, the individual losses for the Donghai team wouldn't be too great; losing a rookie would only result in a loss of 2,000 points per person. However, the Donghai team's method of calculating reward points is different.

Xu Feng looked into her eyes and said softly, "Actually, the best option is for two or three newcomers to die... at least for you and Mei, and even more so for the newcomers who can survive."

Xiangzi was stunned for a moment.

After a moment's thought, she understood what Xu Feng meant.

After Zhao Zhuikong is drained, he will inevitably become a side story for Xu Feng.

Killing him not only represents a B-level side quest, but also, considering the reward for wiping out another squad, it's enough to complete an A-level side quest.

But the problem is... killing him would be equivalent to wiping out the entire East America team!
This time, the East Sea team wiped out another team without losing a single member, which will surely increase their rating in the eyes of the God.

Xu Feng doesn't really need to care too much about the rating. The gap between him and the others is too great. The water that drowns others can't even reach his ankles. After he exchanged for the Reality Materialization Illusion Technique, he can ignore most dangers.

But others have to consider the problem of the sudden surge in ratings.

— In fact, Xu Feng also cares. A low score will cause the East China Sea team to experience more rounds of reincarnation worlds. The resources in the reincarnation worlds are also very important. They can even obtain things that cannot be exchanged from the main god, such as the power of faith.

Most of the members of the East America team were killed by Zhao Zhuikong, which raises a question—what would happen if the East China Sea team wiped out the East America team, but the East China Sea team had a negative score in this team battle? How would the score change?

The first thing that can be confirmed is that after the negative score, some of the new players on the East China Sea team will be eliminated due to the negative score!

After the story ends, very few members of the East Blue Team will return to the Main God Space. Considering the difference in difficulty between "The Curse of the Demon Girl" and "The Hobbit," the deaths of the newcomers will likely make the next reincarnation world for the East Blue Team less difficult.

Xu Feng patted Xiangzi on the shoulder and said, "Next, let the newcomers follow Thorin and his group of dwarves. Xiangzi, you will decide when to properly protect the newcomers again... If any newcomers are unwilling to leave the Northern Wilderness, there is no need to force them. Let them continue to stay in that safe fortress."

"Do we screen newcomers?" Xiangzi pursed her lips.

Newcomers following Thorin's mission can earn reward points by killing orcs and trolls. The God of War offers the same price to newcomers and veterans for high-value monsters, but occasionally treats less valuable monsters differently. For example, the three veterans of the East Sea team do not receive any reward points when killing orcs, but newcomers can receive different reward points depending on the orc's status in the army.

However, newcomers joining the Lonely Mountain Expedition also face the risk of death.

The more people die, the more negative points the East China Sea team will have, and newcomers with insufficient reward points will eventually be eliminated.

Ultimately, only new talents who are daring, have high potential, and are lucky enough can return.

Another group of people became victims of the lower ratings.

It's cruel... but if all the newcomers stay safely in the fortress, they'll face real cruelty in the next round!

(End of this chapter)