I’m a Max-Level Taoist Master, and You’re Throwing Me Into a Rules-Based Horror Game?! - Chapter 162

Chapter 162: The Special Arena, the Green-Skins’ Pleasure

The smoke of war hung over the entire city.

The green-skins’ mechanical guard army had already left.

The hum of combat vehicles echoed through the area, kicking up clouds of dust.

The city’s mineral resources had been plundered on a massive scale, and its buildings and population had suffered enormous losses.

But the city wasn’t completely destroyed. Post-disaster reconstruction began in an orderly manner after the mechanical army departed.

For a short time, they might not be attacked again.

At the very least, the green-skins wouldn’t attack them again, because a green-skin commander had marked their location on a large map in the distance.

Other Chosen Ones might not understand: the green-skins clearly had the ability to destroy this city outright, so why did they withdraw immediately after achieving their objectives? Weren’t they afraid of the sub-humans’ vengeful fury?

Bullfighter Nation’s Chosen One, Brandon, a special forces soldier, understood the green-skins’ intentions all too well.

At this moment, sitting in a shaking armored transport vehicle, he looked back at the city he had helped destroy, a strange anger welling up inside him.

He didn’t know why. Even though he was one of the participants in the destruction, he felt an inexplicable irritation.

He was an active-duty special forces soldier. Following orders was his duty; he shouldn’t be emotional.

Maybe many Chosen Ones didn’t realize it, or were numb to it.

But Brandon felt like a pure killing tool.

So pure that the green-skins didn’t care at all about his thoughts or whether he lived or died.

When this thought occurred to him, he smiled wryly.

After all, the identity he was playing was that of a mechanical guard. Calling himself a killing tool wasn’t wrong at all.

Why would the green-skins care about the life or death of a tool?

But as a mechanical guard who still retained some humanity, this was the first time he had truly hated a race: the greedy green-skins.

From the green-skin captain’s timely decision to withdraw, it was clear they were farming these sub-humans.

They needed to plunder, not destroy.

The reason they didn’t destroy the city’s infrastructure or kill everyone was precisely to let them continue to reproduce and thrive.

Why weren’t the green-skins afraid of other races’ hatred?

Because they needed other races to hate them.

As long as other races hated them, those races would keep developing, and the green-skins would keep plundering better and better resources.

Perhaps there were many cities being farmed like this, but they could do nothing about it.

For the survival of their race, they had to keep developing, searching for a way to defeat the green-skins amidst slim hope.

But the next time the green-skins appeared, they would undoubtedly be even stronger.

This made Bullfighter Nation’s Chosen One, Brandon, extremely unhappy. A thought sprouted in his mind: ‘If I had the power, I would wipe out all the green-skins.’

Quite a few Chosen Ones shared this sentiment. It was seeing this scene before them that gave rise to such thoughts.

But one Chosen One was more pure in his motivation. Zhang Yangqing, from the moment he entered the Strange Tale world and finished reading the rules, had already formed the idea of dealing with the green-skins.

However, he wasn’t angry about being used as a killing tool; he simply disliked anyone being above him, giving him orders.

Even if these people posed no immediate threat to him, he would still find a way to eliminate them.

Did he need a reason?

For Zhang Yangqing, no reason was necessary. Only his willingness mattered.

If not for the numerous rules restricting him, these green-skins probably wouldn’t have made it off the Sky Veil City.

But the rules couldn’t stop Zhang Yangqing from doing this. He would find a way to become the master here.

So his goal had always been clear, and he knew exactly what he needed to do.

In this level, all 154 surviving Chosen Ones had completed their missions.

The sub-humans’ combat ability was poor. As long as they avoided the Guardian Beasts and sub-human heroes, the Chosen Ones couldn’t die.

Those who died were the ones who thought their firepower was sufficient and hoped to kill the Guardian Beast before it killed them.

The result was obvious: once the main sub-human force arrived, they stood no chance.

Among the Chosen Ones, over seventy percent had received enhancements.

Many who entered were quite bold and could decipher the meaning behind this rule.

Gaining energy and all-attribute bonuses gave the Chosen Ones a slight sense of security.

As for those who weren’t enhanced, like Noodle Nation’s Chosen One, the Paladin Sidney, it worried the viewers in Noodle Nation and the members of the Church.

After all, without the enhancement, the subsequent levels would become increasingly difficult.

They could only hope Sidney would gain something later; otherwise, his chances of survival were slim.

As for capturing twenty prisoners, for Chosen Ones with mechanical bodies, this wasn’t a problem at all.

The armored transport vehicles soon arrived at the base of the lift platform. The captains were reporting their gains to the commander.

On the Dragon Nation’s live stream, the green-skin captain to whom Zhang Yangqing belonged was dumbfounded to see his unit still alive.

According to the commander’s plan, his unit was supposed to be buying time.

They should have been dead by now. Not only were they not completely wiped out, but they had also captured a large number of prisoners?

This confused the green-skin captain.

Just as he was about to ask what had happened, the pot-bellied green-skin commander walked over.

Because one green-skin captain had ‘fallen in battle,’ the pot-bellied commander needed to find out what happened.

He didn’t care how many mechanical beings died, but losing a green-skin was a significant loss.

Regarding this, Zhang Yangqing, as the highest-ranking vice-captain among those who knew, was the one the commander had to ask.

Zhang Yangqing simply reported that they had encountered trouble in the core area and how that green-skin captain had bravely fallen in battle, etc.

Since the man was dead, Zhang Yangqing could say whatever he wanted.

The pot-bellied commander nodded, seemingly without much doubt.

He also felt these mechanical guards had no reason to lie to him.

Deaths during warfare were all too normal.

Upon learning that Zhang Yangqing had led his team to eliminate the main gate’s Guardian Beast and the sub-human main force, the commander was deeply impressed.

According to estimates, their current firepower shouldn’t be able to penetrate the Guardian Beast’s defenses, but killing it was a welcome, unexpected gain.

It could be said that at this moment, the pot-bellied commander’s favorability towards Zhang Yangqing was steadily increasing. He felt this mechanical guard had some skill, perhaps having awakened some special ability.

He promised to grant Zhang Yangqing permissions and corresponding merit points.

Most Chosen Ones would see a number appear on their goggles: their merit points from this battle.

What they were for wasn’t clear yet.

But many Chosen Ones had between 20 and 40 points, while those with more had over 100.

Zhang Yangqing had 1004 merit points, which was the number of people he had captured.

Originally, Zhang Yangqing’s green-skin captain was somewhat suspicious of him.

He felt this didn’t seem like the original one, but most mechanical guards looked similar, and he wasn’t sure if he was mistaken.

Besides, the commander was praising this mechanical guard. If he raised doubts now, it wouldn’t be questioning the mechanical guard but questioning the commander.

So he didn’t think too much about it. After all, whoever had the chip was the vice-captain; that was the rule.

As the lift platform ascended, the Chosen Ones began their journey back up to Sky Veil City.

While other Chosen Ones were considering how to curry favor with the commander, Zhang Yangqing had already obtained permission from the commander to access the upper three levels—and it was the pot-bellied commander who actively gave it to him.

Because Rule 2 of the Sub-human Combat Zone had stated:

If you capture too few, the commander gets angry; if you capture many, he naturally becomes happy.

Other Chosen Ones weren’t unaware of this; they just couldn’t capture that many.

Here, observant Chosen Ones could notice that the pot-bellied commander’s gaze towards the sub-humans was somewhat unusual.

A cruel smile played on his lips, frightening the sub-human prisoners.

Perhaps later, in the area where the sub-humans were detained, they might discover something.

When the time came to arrange an attack, obtaining access to the upper three levels would be a matter of course.

Zhang Yangqing also seemed to notice the pot-bellied commander’s anomaly. If it was indeed as he suspected, he could use this to his advantage later.

With a jolt, the familiar scene appeared before everyone.

It was the same mechanical castle, the pungent smell of gasoline assaulting their senses.

The mechanical guard units the Chosen Ones belonged to were combat units.

Transporting resources was handled by other mechanical beings. Their current task was to imprison the captured labor force in the cages on the third level.

Here, Zhang Yangqing’s advantage became apparent.

As a vice-captain, he not only didn’t need to do manual labor but could also command other mechanical guards.

Other Chosen Ones, however, had to busily personally lock the sub-humans in cages.

It could be said they were constantly being ordered around; the green-skins simply didn’t treat the Chosen Ones as human.

Tasks like counting the prisoners, determining which prisoners needed to be locked in which rooms—all were strictly assigned to the Chosen Ones.

Although they didn’t feel physically tired, the mental exhaustion from the busywork was real.

After finishing all this, it was time for the Chosen Ones’ free activity.

However, most Chosen Ones waited here, sensing the smell of a special plotline.

Before long, the pot-bellied commander, having finished his report, indeed arrived at the prisoner detention area.

Like a god of death, he pointed out some prisoners, ordering mechanical guards to take them to another area.

This area was on the third level, a special and spacious large area.

To be precise, it resembled an arena.

Inside were many weapons, all cold weapons.

Long knives, battle axes, spiked clubs, and the like.

The cruelty of the green-skins was evident from the green-skin commander’s actions.

He didn’t choose prisoners randomly; he selected those who were clinging together.

What did that mean? It meant these prisoners had good relationships with each other.

Then, the pot-bellied commander made these sub-humans, who were close or related by blood, choose weapons. After selecting, they were to engage in a 1v1 fight to the death.

He set a time limit. Within the stipulated time, these two had to kill each other; only one could survive.

Otherwise, both would be shot by the mechanical guards.

If one committed suicide, the other would be shot directly.

They had to personally kill the other; intentionally letting the other kill you wasn’t allowed.

What a devilish rule, forcing these people into mortal combat.

Many of those selected were friends, spouses, brothers, fathers and sons, sisters, etc.

They were about to face an agonizing internal struggle of killing each other.

The closer the blood relation, the harder it was to strike.

But if they couldn’t strike, they would both die.

The selected sub-humans’ eyes were filled with despair.

They were facing their beloved friends and family, those they spent their days with.

Many sub-humans broke down on the spot.

This was exactly the effect the cruel green-skin commander wanted.

They considered themselves of noble bloodline and wouldn’t personally do anything to the sub-humans.

But they enjoyed the despair and misery of the sub-humans, finding pleasure in it.

Seeing these sub-humans kill their beloved friends and family, then kneel on the ground weeping—this made the green-skins clap and cheer, their faces twisting into ugly, distorted smiles.

All the negative emotions of other races were like medicine that made them feel pleased.

Whenever this event occurred, many green-skins gathered around to watch.

It was clear these green-skins had reached a certain level of cruelty.

They satisfied their perverted desires by abusing other races.

Watching the tragic scenes in the arena, the sub-humans waiting their turn were also filled with anxiety, knowing they too would soon face such a miserable fate.

But there was nothing they could do. They still chose their familiar weapons and stepped into the arena.

Surrounded by fully armed mechanical guards, resisting with ordinary weapons was useless.

Facing that familiar face across from them, they couldn’t bring themselves to strike initially.

Both parties basically had hollow eyes.

But then they thought if they didn’t act, the other wouldn’t survive either.

So they fought while crying and shouting.

The sub-humans behind them continuously repeated this brutal confrontation.

Seeing this, the Chosen Ones felt somewhat unable to bear it. If not for the rules, they really wanted to shoot the green-skin commander and the onlookers.

But what would that achieve? They would just be killed by other guards anyway, unable to escape death.

And then? The sub-humans would still be tortured.

So the outcome wouldn’t change at all.

It would only delay their deaths for a while.

These people would eventually be tortured to death or worked to death.

A sense of powerlessness welled up in the Chosen Ones’ hearts, a powerlessness that slowly approached despair.

They only hated their own lack of ability, forced to watch helplessly while serving as tools for the green-skins.

Why was this Strange Tale called the Journey of Despair?

The so-called despair wasn’t despair for life, but despair for humanity.

Chosen Ones who couldn’t endure would have their minds completely broken within this Strange Tale world.

Many people on Blue Star agreed that a certain Chosen One was overly ferocious; whenever he entered a Strange Tale world, it meant torture for all creatures within.

But in this instance, how they wished that Chosen One would go and torture these green-skins to vent their anger.

Among the stronger superhumans, Sidney was certainly not one to pin hopes on.

Now, all viewers on Blue Star placed their hopes on the Dragon Nation’s Celestial Master, because they all knew this one truly couldn’t be bothered to tolerate any displeasure. Encountering anything unpleasant, he would certainly repay it a hundredfold.

Zhang Yangqing’s support rating across Blue Star had reached a peak.

At this moment, Zhang Yangqing merely glanced at the scene and was already on his way to the upper three levels. He wasn’t very concerned with what happened in the arena; he was simply following his own plan.

Since he had already obtained privileged access to the upper three levels, why bother playing along with the commander?

Zhang Yangqing had already discerned the essence of this Strange Tale world.

Since enhancement items had appeared this time, there were two methods:

First, to survive, one must continuously strengthen oneself. With their current physical strength, simply hiding until the end was impossible.

Second, to dominate this world, one must possess absolute power. This power wasn’t necessarily personal strength; it could also be unparalleled authority.

Because since there were merit points, there must be promotions. With promotions came special permissions.

Most Chosen Ones would be doing well just to achieve the first method. Killing the green-skins was extremely difficult.

With four certain-death rules placed there, most Chosen Ones had the desire but not the strength.

But Zhang Yangqing had already discovered the hints within the rules, one could even say the loopholes.

For other Chosen Ones, this was indeed a journey of despair.

But Zhang Yangqing felt that soon, these green-skins would find out who should truly despair!