Whose world-class drama are they criticizing?

He remained tight-lipped about it:

"If this secret technique is leaked, and someone sets their sights on it, I fear my life will be in danger."

“But since I have a connection with Brother Ryan, I will tell you,” Matthew said solemnly. “But please swear that no three people will know.”

Seeing Matthew's caution, Ryan was even more convinced.

He nodded: "Okay, we absolutely won't let any of those three people know."

Hiding in Ryan's shadow, Miss Jasmine, who had almost calmed herself down, nodded: "Okay, we won't let the three of them know."

She is a half-elf, so she counts as 0.5 human.

So now 2.5 people know, and 2.5 < 3.

Matthew smiled mysteriously: "Watch closely."

Ryan stared intently.

Matthew first used conventional methods, like an ordinary priest, to gather the materials and concoct a regular red elemental potion. Then he poured one-third and one-half of it into a new bottle, and then poured another third of the potion from the new bottle into a third bottle.

Finally, fill the three bottles with distilled water.

Take out the labels and label the three bottles 'Extra Strong', 'Very Strong', and 'Regular' respectively.

Ryan suddenly realized, "Your secret technique is to dilute the blood vial with water!"

No wonder they said if word got out, you'd be in mortal danger!

Chapter 114 Player: This is just too humane!

"The color of this is wrong."

Ryan couldn't hold back any longer.

The color was indeed off after diluting with water, especially the bottle labeled 'normal', because its purity was only one-ninth that of a normal blood bottle, and it was almost transparent light pink all over.

It's obvious at a glance that it's been diluted with water.

“Heh, Brother Ryan, there’s no need to worry,” Matthew said enigmatically. “Next up is my unique traditional Chinese medicine formula, which is a ‘magical pigment’ that I extracted from herbs.”

He mysteriously took out a small bottle and gently squeezed out a few drops.

The pigment dissolved in water, turning the entire blood bottle crimson.

Pigments extracted from plants and human bodies...that's very healthy and pollution-free.

Pure magic, no technology.

Ryan nodded and said, "Good job, it has to be you."

Matthew smiled smugly: "Actually, I still have room for improvement. The traditional materials are blood roses, spiritual liquid base, and holy water, all of which have the effect of replenishing blood and qi."

"But there is a saying in traditional Chinese medicine: 'Use the shape to nourish the shape, and use blood to nourish blood.'"

"We can transport the corpses of the Lightless here, drain their blood, make blood medicine from them, and then sell it back to them, thus creating a perfect cooling cycle."

Ryan shook his head and refused with righteous indignation.

"We must have a long-term vision and never forget the greater benefits in the long run for short-term gains."

When Matthew saw that Ryan refused, he thought to himself that his brilliant idea was indeed too unconventional. Ryan was, after all, just a mortal, and it was normal for him not to accept it.

It's nothing but the same old rhetoric: they made a little money, but lost their reputation.

"If this is all the ideas you can come up with, why should I spend a lot of money to lend you a loan?"

"How can we use only blood?"

Ryan seriously criticized Matthew's wastefulness:

"The Dark Ones are treasures from head to toe. Their flesh and blood can be used as fertilizer, their bones can be dismantled and made into bone tools, their internal organs can be used as sacrifices, and their magic circuits should not be wasted either. We must have a long-term vision!"

"We can't just sell to the Dark Ones. We need to market our products to the Gray City, to more distant city-states, to the entire Dark Territory."

After listening to Ryan's words, Matthew suddenly understood and was filled with respect; he realized that it was such a long-term vision.

Ryan has already been cut off from dog food, but even if he hadn't, the little money his father gave him wouldn't have been enough for Chuguang City to continue expanding.

I have to find a way to make money myself.

Chuguang City is resource-poor. Apart from the somewhat fertile soil in Daohua Town, the only renewable resource is the players.

The usual schemes to fleece people are simply about making some money.

Ryan truly treats players like韭菜 (a metaphor for exploiting them), in a physical sense.

This is too evil!

Matthew's gaze towards Ryan had changed; after all these years, he had finally met someone who understood him.

“Okay.” Doctor Raven nodded his beak, and after a sudden realization, countless ideas flooded his mind. “I’ll go and study ‘One Hundred Research Methods for Materials on the Lightless’ right now.”

After visiting Matthew's traditional Chinese medicine shop, Ryan continued walking forward, leaving the City of No Light and arriving at a large open space on the outskirts.

This is the training ground assigned to Duncan.

Ryan glanced at it briefly, his eyes full of admiration.

In a typical instructor's training ground, there are usually some knives, spears, and halberds, along with some mechanisms, such as dummy targets or fully automatic human-shaped fencing targets.

Duncan's arena, however, was entirely different.

【Overlord's Martial Arts School】

He used an electrified dummy target.

Rows upon rows of fencing targets form an array connected to an electric element magic array. They crackle with electricity, and if you are hit by one, your whole body will convulse and you will foam at the mouth, dying instantly.

Players who die in Duncan's Arena can immediately be sent to Matthew's Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinic to be made into blood vials.

A production line factory was thus completed.

Duncan looked smug.

"So here's the question, Brother Duncan," the sensible Ryan asked, "Since your arena is so domineering, why do the Dark Ones come here?"

"Hmph, Brother Ryan, don't worry, they have to come."

Duncan smiled confidently. He was a man of extraordinary wisdom who had long ago foreseen this situation, having calculated everything perfectly.

Day and night, he racked his brains to figure out how to bully others, and even invented all sorts of highly creative bullying tools.

"Because my martial arts school is located on the 'Azure Silver Pact Stone' which is closest to Daohua Town."

Azure Silver Stone.

As mentioned before, this thing is densely distributed in every corner of the Dark Territory, cannot be destroyed, and its number is vast and boundless.

Those without light must emerge from the Azure Silver Stone to be resurrected.

Duncan placed fake target practice areas around the players' respawn points.

He got an electric shock as soon as he was revived.

If you die from electrocution, you'll be resurrected.

Although there are many Azure Silver Pact Stones, this is the closest one to Rice Flower Town. If players give up on it, they will have to travel a long way from Sunset Forest, which is an unavoidable route.

"Very creative." Ryan praised Duncan's idea.

“But I have a suggestion.” Ryan pulled a sharp, large blade out of the shadows. This iron blade was something he had asked the old blacksmith to make, and now it was finally finished.

“We can also place this leaf next to the contract stone,” Ryan said. “It has runes engraved on it. Once it detects that the Lightless One has been resurrected, it will immediately wipe out their entire family.”

Duncan took the leaf and was delighted with it. He marveled at it, never expecting that Ryan would be so creative.

The martial arts school and the pharmacy are both ready; everything is in place, and we're just waiting to open.

Ryan sneered inwardly. Today, he was determined to give away all the xylophones that had been resurrected last night.

[Update Notification]

At the same time, all online players received this message.

A new 'Traditional Chinese Medicine Shop' has been added to the central courtyard of Chuguang City.

A new 'Overlord Martial Arts Hall' has been added at the entrance of Daohua Village.

The players were overjoyed when they saw the notification.

Finally, there's a new update! Eden is getting better and better.

Because of the reversal last night, many players who quit the second closed beta test due to 'political correctness' have logged back in today.

The number of online players for "Eden" has successfully recovered to over forty.

Meanwhile, the rating has rebounded to 2.0.

"The update is so fast, Eden, you really listened to my advice!"

"A new pharmacy? Oh, what's a traditional Chinese medicine pharmacy?"

"This is called the inheritance of intangible cultural heritage, what's the big deal?"

"I should be able to buy blood potions now, right? I've collected quite a few copper coins."

"The Overlord Martial Arts School has finally been updated with the martial arts school that an action game should have. Now we can practice moves and learn skills, right? Once we learn some skills, we won't be afraid of that hateful sick bear anymore."

"Go and have a look."

New and old players alike excitedly made an appointment to go there, and decided to start with the 'Overlord's Martial Arts Hall'.

Players also praised Eden for finally doing something right by placing the martial arts school next to the teleportation point, so they didn't even have to run around the map; they could just teleport there directly.

It's quite humane.

The players had just been teleported to the Stone of Oath

Then they saw a giant, thunderous fan slashing horizontally towards them.

"?"

Chapter 115 Eden Falls from Grace Once Again!

"what?"

Before the old man could react, he felt a chill in his lower abdomen as a powerful fan swept over him.

He looked down.

The old man became the "country bumpkin."

Looking back at the other players, Yuzi became Muzi, the legendary investigator became Zhuan Da Zhou Mubei... everyone had become half of the same person.

Things had gone too far; the players were stunned for a moment before realizing that they seemed to be on the verge of death.

"no..."

"Ok?"

The blades were so sharp that even Death was stunned for a while before reacting. Players who lost their upper bodies fell backward to the ground, dying in a manner similar to Gojo Satoru's attack on Sukuna—half-slaughtered and crippled.

After I fell to the ground, everything went black.

Not only were the players confused, but the viewers in the live stream were also bewildered, unable to see anything clearly.

What the hell was that?

"How did it suddenly get cut in half?"

"Is there a bug in the game...?"

"Try reviving it again."

The legendary investigator was resurrected at the original point. As soon as he was resurrected and opened his eyes, he felt a strange chill in his lower abdomen.

Then the screen went black again.

"What the hell?" The legendary investigator's eyes widened. "How can he die right after being resurrected?"

Am I trapped in a cycle of death?

It wasn't just him; all the players encountered this situation—they died immediately upon respawning.