The whole nation is trying to survive on the cable car; I'm choosing one of three options at ea

"886 cable? Another one from DaXia?"

"They built the ancient city of Loulan? How did they manage that?"

"It's luck, I guess. It's such a big area, it wouldn't be surprising if anyone found it first."

"But look, the announcement says 'Search phase complete,' which means they not only found it, but also triggered mission progress. This isn't just a matter of luck."

"Alright, stop guessing, let's figure out how to get in first. Where do we get the unsealing stone?"

"The announcement said all cables would be allowed in two days later. That means we'll be competing with the people from cable line 886 for things in the same place in two days."

"What are you afraid of? How many people do they have? Our line has been merged twice, and our numbers are several times greater than theirs."

"Are you stupid? The announcement says 'All cable members are welcome to explore,' it's not a fight. Let's all go in and dig for the unsealing stone, each relying on our own abilities."

"What if their people are stronger than us and take the unsealing stones first?"

"Then don't let them take it. Once they're inside, just clear their people out, and they won't get it."

"You make it sound so easy. What if they're really that good?"

"How powerful can it be? It's just a cable, how can it be so powerful as to defy the heavens?"

Then a message popped up on the Sakura Country cable channel.

"Don't underestimate 886. We just finished a challenge with them and lost. They have a guy named Su Mu who reached level 13 all by himself."

The channel was silent for a moment.

Then it exploded.

"Level 13?!"

"Impossible. We've won two consecutive challenges, and our highest level is only slightly over 10. What does level 13 even mean?"

"Level 13? How many monsters would he have to kill to level up? Where did he get those monster resources?"

"I don't believe it. Level 13? Even if you started grinding monsters from day one in this world and kept grinding non-stop, you might not even reach that level. And don't the monsters get tired? Don't they get tired too?"

"Does anyone know the specific Americans involved? Please verify."

A few seconds later, a message popped up from the US cable company. The wording was much more cautious than that from Japan, but the content was confirmed.

"We can confirm that there is indeed a player named Su Mu on the 886 cable line. His level 13 is highly likely to be real. When he was challenging in our area before, his personal level was higher than the entire line."

After the message was sent, the public channel across all 100 cables was silent for a full three seconds. Then messages flooded out like a burst dam.

"Even Americans have confirmed it? Then it must be true."

"Level 13! The highest level we have is only 10, and that was achieved through a winning streak in challenges. He's higher level than all the top-level players on our entire cable line combined?"

"I think he must have some secret. It's impossible for someone with ordinary talent to reach level 13 in such a short time."

"A 3S talent? I've heard that a 3S talent levels up dozens of times faster than a regular talent. If he has a 3S talent, then it's possible."

"3S talent isn't that easy to get. There are only a handful of people in the whole world with it. I think he just got lucky and picked up some high-level resources, which propelled him to the top in one go."

"No matter what, a level 13 is a real threat. With him all alone, who among us cable carriers could possibly defeat him?"

"What are you afraid of? No matter how strong he is, he's only one person. We have 100 cables, how many people are there in total? We could drown him with just a spit from each of us."

"You make it sound so easy. A level 13 person's stats are many times higher than ours. Going there to give them away is just throwing your life away."

"So we can't fight him head-on. Once the ancient city of Loulan opens and everyone goes inside, we should unite and clear him out first. No matter how strong he is, he can't withstand being surrounded by dozens or hundreds of people."

"Yes. Take him out first. Once the core of the 886 cable is gone, the rest will be easier to deal with."

"But what if he gets in ahead of us? He's level 13, faster than us. Two days from now, he might have already taken everything from the core area."

"The announcement says that unsealing requires Unsealing Stones. It's definitely not something one person can collect all of them. Even if he's incredibly strong, he only has one. If hundreds of us try to collect them, he can't compete with us."

"Then it's settled. Once inside, all the cables will work together for now to take out 886 and Su Mu. As for the unsealing stones, we'll each have to rely on our own abilities."

"agree."

"Can."

"We have no problem on our end."

Count us in.

"However... don't you guys think we went a bit too far? After all, they were the ones who found the ancient city of Loulan first. Without them, we wouldn't even be able to start this mission."

This message was posted by someone from Daxia Cable. After the message was posted, some people were silent for a few seconds, but their comments were quickly drowned out.

"Missions are missions, and competition is competition. He's too strong. If he continues to grow stronger, what say will we, the cable carriers, have when the world missions are fully underway?"

"Yes. The Great Xia people are just lucky to have produced Su Mu. This kind of luck can't last forever. While we can still suppress him, we need to get rid of him. If he gets stronger later, it will be too late."

"I checked the world announcements on the other cable. The name Su Mu has appeared several times. For someone on the same cable to appear on the world announcements repeatedly means he definitely has something beyond his level. If it comes out, it will benefit all of us."

"That's right. It's a waste for only one person to have the treasure. We should share it."

The messages scrolled across the screen one after another, their tone shifting from restrained to undisguised.

Some people started calculating what equipment and talents Su Mu might have, some started discussing the safest way to surround and kill him, and some started distributing the benefits of the unsealing stones.

Su Mu and Lin Yuwei stood on the sandy ground at the edge of the oasis and read through the messages from beginning to end.

Lin Yuwei's face was extremely grim. Her hands gripped the backpack straps tightly, her knuckles turning slightly white.

"These people..." Her voice was low, filled with suppressed anger.

Su Mu turned his gaze away from the panel, his expression unchanged.

He switched the wrapped cactus to his other hand, his tone as casual as if he were talking about what to have for lunch: "It's normal. This kind of thing happens in crowded places."

"But we were the ones who found the ancient city of Loulan. Without us, they wouldn't even be qualified to enter."

"So they're even more afraid," Su Mu said. "They're afraid of someone who's 'lucky,' afraid that we'll continue to grow stronger. Because our very existence is telling them that they can't do it."

Lin Yuwei looked at him, remained silent for a few seconds, then exhaled. "You don't care?"

"What do you care about? What do you care about what a bunch of strangers think?" Su Mu smiled.

However, despite saying this, Su Mu felt a chill in his heart.

If you want to kill him, then you must be prepared to be killed yourself.