All-Heavens Game, the Strongest Player

Chapter 287: The Second Round of Elimination with a Significant Increase in Difficulty
At first, no one noticed Ultron's corruption.

They simply believed it was an accidental clash, a missile deviating from its course, a miscommunication of instructions, and a heinous act whose source could be traced.

Until, nearly a century later, a super-powerful hydrogen bomb exploded in the same spot.

At the cost of destroying hundreds of millions of lives, just to eliminate a player hiding in an island nation, Ultron was finally exposed, and Tony discovered the anomaly.

There was no accidental discharge; Ultron controlled the smart gun and pointed it at a player.

It did not deviate from the course.

Ultron altered the trajectory, causing a missile to deviate from its intended path and land on a player's head.

The instructions were not conveyed incorrectly; they were simply modified by Ultron.

Replace the wanted criminal with a player, launch a manhunt for him, and finally kill him!

Meanwhile, another insane hunt targeting mutants was taking place, not because of some officer who hated mutants, but because of Ultron!

"Fuck, what have we created?"

Tony stared in disbelief at the commands Ultron had issued in the system log—there were so many places where players could hide!
There are people who work as cleaners in the president's house.

Some of them work temporarily at S.H.I.E.L.D.

There are also those in the tax bureau who illegally collect taxes to accumulate initial capital.

All sorts of methods were used, but they were all targeted and eliminated by Ultron. He even controlled overseas bases to directly wipe out players lurking around the world.

Especially the one from the island nation.

Unable to pinpoint the exact location, Ultron opted for firepower coverage to clear the area.

They created an uninhabited island.

Tony was completely dumbfounded.

"What exactly did I do?"

While Tony was shocked, the other players were completely dumbfounded: Zhang was once again being treated as a wanted person.

And this time, the entity sent to apprehend them is terrifyingly powerful.

It was a robot codenamed "Sentinel".

Originally developed by the military to combat mutants, it possessed various mutant abilities, but was hacked by Ultron and turned into his henchmen.

They immediately mobilized and began hunting down the players.

Even someone as strong as Zhang was caught off guard. He wiped out his entire group of subordinates and fled with all his might, cursing as he ran.

"Can anyone tell me why Ultron is so powerful?"

The system has already announced that the second round of elimination, "Age of Ultron," has begun. Players won't die without even knowing how they died.

But precisely because of this, they were even more confused.

At first, they really didn't take the second round of elimination seriously—compared to the first round, Ultron was purely something that humans had created themselves.

They may be strong, but they're just a bunch of lumps of iron.

There are ways to deal with it.

According to information compiled by the Overlord Forum, that thing is basically an electromechanical device. It may appear to have an adamantium alloy shell, but in reality, it can be destroyed by a single "electromagnetic cannon"!

But now?

Ultron took control of the Sentinels and gave them mutant abilities!
Not only that, it also learned magic, possessing the ability to open mirror spaces and almost inexhaustible magical power!

"You can't run away!"

Zhang Zhiren struggled to escape, only to find himself pulled into a mirror space where the surrounding buildings began to distort and the rules of direction vanished.

Fortunately, he was a "man of transformations." The next moment, he transformed into the Ancient One, now bald, and cast a spell to go out again!

Yes, that's right, Zhang Zhiren has become the Ancient One!

His "Man of a Thousand Transformations" ability means he can transform into anything, not only becoming a target but also possessing the exact same abilities as the target!

Although limited by themselves, they are unable to unleash power beyond their own limits.

But the essence can change.

During the Battle of New York, he transformed into "Six-Infinity Stone Thanos," snapping his fingers at the Chitauri army one by one.

Even though he's been weakened countless times and can only kill one person at a time, he can still snap his fingers.

He also snapped his fingers.

Unfortunately, that power was useless against Ultron—Ultron not only possessed magic but also technology, enabling him to find the Infinity Gauntlet's weakness and know that it couldn't access the quantum world.

Therefore, after his initial failure, he turned to creating "quantum robots" to hunt down his prey.

Zhang was caught completely off guard.

Qin Sanlei was also caught off guard: he had an infinite-level talent, and after infinite stacking, his attack power was already higher than Chu Xiu's in normal condition.

However, before he could use it, Ultron locked him in the Mirror Dimension.

Then divide and conquer them, and all the subordinate players will be wiped out.

He was left alone, wreaking havoc in the mirror space, yet he could never escape!
"Damn it, can anyone tell me why Ultron has magic?"

The only one who seemed to have it relatively easy was Wang Youying. Her reliance was on the power of her ultimate mind; after transforming into a ghost, Ultron couldn't find her at all.

They couldn't even detect her presence.

Naturally, they couldn't pursue and kill him.

Furthermore, Wang Youying was able to survive in a pure "true spirit" state, making it difficult even for Chu Xiu to destroy her; Ultron simply couldn't do it.

But she had no way to deal with Ultron.

Wang Youying tried to enter the network and transform into an electronic ghost, but she soon discovered that Ultron was not the artificial intelligence described in the external information at all.

The current Ultron can be called "Dark Ultron," and it is already a god-like being.

It is compatible with both magic and technology, so it is not afraid of a single invasion.

In other words, even if Tony could create a Vision with the Mind Stone coming to life, just like in the original comics, he still wouldn't be able to do anything to Ultron.

That thing has become quite popular.

"This is troublesome. Ultron has mutated and become stronger for some reason. What was supposed to be the easiest second round of elimination might turn into the hardest!" Wang Youying found Chu Xiu and said, "Let's join forces! No matter who comes in first place, let's stick together and get through this round of elimination!"

These words made Chu Xiu's expression turn strange.

"You don't know the reason, but I do!"

Wang Youying: "???"

"I was originally thinking about whether to set things right and suppress Ultron, but seeing how badly you were all being chased by it, I couldn't bear to do it!" Chu Xiu said with a smile, "What a wonderful creation! Not only did it eliminate a lot of players for me, but when it launched its nuclear bomb, I even gained experience points!"

To be honest, he didn't know how the system determined that Ultron was his subordinate.

When clearing out players, accidentally damaging some villains will reward them with experience.

For a time, Chu Xiu was even reluctant to destroy Ultron—in just a few days, no fewer than fifty players had been killed by Ultron, far exceeding the casualties during the Battle of New York.

Currently, fewer than two players have managed to escape Ultron's pursuit.

"So, you're the one who caused Ultron to turn into that monstrous state?" Wang Youying asked, her eyes wide. "Player bosses can control dungeon bosses and even enhance their abilities. Is this game fair?"

(End of this chapter)