I’m a Max-Level Taoist Master, and You’re Throwing Me Into a Rules-Based Horror Game?! - Chapter 166

Chapter 166: While You Study the Rules, I Can Simply Delete Them! 

“I already said I wasn’t having dinner tonight! Who told you to come in!”

A roar echoed through the navigation control center.

The Goblin City Lord was still furious about the earlier incident.

Truthfully, he wasn’t angry about the pot-bellied commander’s rebellion; he was angry about not finding evidence of it.

If he had found evidence, he could have executed the pot-bellied commander outright.

Now, with no evidence and his deep-seated paranoia, he kept suspecting the pot-bellied commander had long coveted his position.

So he was considering whether to find an opportunity to eliminate the pot-bellied commander—better to kill wrongly than to let a threat live.

This was also why he skipped dinner. While he was deep in thought, someone interrupted him. How could he not be furious?

“Hmph, whether you eat or not isn’t your decision anymore.”

An even colder voice reached the Goblin City Lord’s ears.

It sounded like it came from a machine, utterly devoid of emotion.

But when the Goblin City Lord turned around, he saw it indeed came from a mechanical being.

“You’d better explain yourself clearly, or I’ll have the other Mechanical Guards execute you,” the Goblin City Lord said, his face dark, making his already ugly features even more unpleasant.

However, he still didn’t seem to realize the danger.

The fact that this Mechanical Guard could swagger right up to him meant he had already dealt with the others.

“Nothing much. The City Lord works day and night; skipping meals won’t do. Today, I’ve brought your favorite dish: lead!”

With that, Zhang Yangqing waved his mechanical arm.

A large group of Demi-human warriors, armed with weapons, stormed into the navigation control room.

The mechanical beings inside were all intelligent types responsible for operating the navigation instruments.

They possessed no combat capabilities whatsoever. Faced with this sudden riot, they stood frozen on the spot.

After trying unsuccessfully to summon the Mechanical Guards, receiving only [No Response], the Goblin City Lord finally began to realize something was wrong as he stared down the barrels of the guns pointed at him.

These were Demi-humans before him; they would never obey his commands.

Moreover, the Goblin City Lord was not a combat type. His frail body was weaker than even an ordinary Demi-human.

But the Goblin City Lord still had a trump card. Putting on a brave face, he said, “You can’t kill me! Without my palm print, you can’t activate Skyhold City!”

Next to the City Lord’s throne was a controller. After inputting navigation commands, the Goblin City Lord’s palm print was required for execution.

So he believed he could still survive, still had a chance to turn the tables.

Zhang Yangqing gave the elder Demi-human warrior brother a look, but the brother asked in confusion, “Lord God, what should we do?”

“Chop off his hands.”

Seeing the Demi-humans’ reaction, Zhang Yangqing sighed inwardly.

I gave you a look, and you still didn’t get it?
And the Goblin City Lord spelled it out so clearly, yet you still have to ask me.

If the Snake-Pupiled Lackey were here, he probably wouldn’t need an explanation—a simple nod would suffice.

Another day missing the lackey.

It seemed these Demi-humans truly weren’t the intellectual type.

But this had its advantages: they were obedient and had strong execution.

Following Zhang Yangqing’s order, they chopped off the Goblin City Lord’s hands.

Even as the Goblin City Lord resisted desperately, the Demi-humans killed him without hesitation.

Earlier, outside, Zhang Yangqing had effortlessly killed nine seemingly incredibly powerful Mechanical Guards in front of these two hundred Demi-human warriors, planting an indelible seed of awe in their hearts.

This was Zhang Yangqing’s consistent approach. If the Demi-humans didn’t know how strong he was, they might develop rebellious thoughts.

Only when they understood he was truly not to be trifled with would genuine fear emerge from within.

Actually, Zhang Yangqing’s original idea was to capture the Green-Skins, use Demi-humans to guard them, and then use mechanical guards to restrict the Demi-humans.

But this plan was too idealistic. If the Green-Skins managed to seize control of the mechanical guards, a full-scale war would break out in Skyhold City.

The consequences would be unthinkable.

So, to maintain his absolute rule, the Green-Skins had no place here.

The chips of the other nine Mechanical Guards had been destroyed by Zhang Yangqing. He wouldn’t allow anyone here to have higher authority than him.

As many outsiders had guessed, even though the clearance rules for this round hadn’t been announced, Zhang Yangqing must have already figured them out; otherwise, he wouldn’t be acting so recklessly.

With his experience as a captain, Zhang Yangqing knew that in this kind of mobile Ghost Stories, the goal was most likely to reach a certain destination, deliver the “cargo,” or meet someone.

Considering this and combining it with the rules, Zhang Yangqing could deduce the rest.

But he also considered the potential need for a Goblin City Lord. That was easy to handle.

He could just capture one when they reached their destination; there were plenty of Green-Skins in this world besides these.

After the Demi-humans disposed of the bodies, Zhang Yangqing familiarly took the main seat in the navigation control room.

The Goblin City Lord’s two hands were left in place to serve as switches.

Zhang Yangqing checked the current flight route and began busying himself with the City Lord’s work.

At this point, the audience, having witnessed Zhang Yangqing’s god-like actions, found it hard to calm their racing hearts.

Such a direct approach from the start led many to deep thought.

Then, when they looked at their own countries’ challengers on the big screen, they felt their vision go dark.

It wasn’t that their challengers were performing poorly, but compared to him, they were at the opposite extreme.

While he had already become a Mechanical Guard and taken over Skyhold City, their challengers were busy working in the dining hall, trying to please the Green-Skins.

It was worth noting that challengers had few opportunities to interact with Green-Skins.

During meals in the dining hall, Green-Skins would discuss matters.

This was a chance for challengers to sneak in, carry plates, pour drinks, and overhear valuable information.

For example, the destination of the next leg or what dangers they might encounter.

This kind of intel couldn’t be obtained from mechanical beings, who simply followed orders.

Only by listening to these Green-Skins could they get the information they needed.

They could also use the opportunity to curry favor with the Green-Skin commanders and the City Lord, which would significantly impact their ability to clear the stage.

The Bullfighter Country’s challenger, Brandon, fought back his disgust as he poured wine for the pot-bellied commander.

Since he wasn’t qualified to approach the City Lord’s dining area, the pot-bellied commander was the only high-ranking official he could reach.

The pot-bellied commander drank happily, praising Brandon for being an understanding mechanical being, steadily increasing his favorability.

Brandon had already obtained much useful information from the mechanical repairman.

Namely, that merit points were crucial for this journey. With enough merit points, one could grow stronger and gain certain authority.

Mechanical Guards had higher authority than mechanical sentries, and Mechanical Guards even higher.

For ordinary challengers, there were two paths to choose from here.

The first was to save up merit points to exchange for attribute points, thereby increasing combat prowess.

The second was to save merit points to exchange for promotions, which would allow them to command other mechanical beings.

The ghost stories world would inevitably give challengers some choices to help them survive subsequent dangers.

Any challenger who gained access to the upper three layers would naturally realize this.

Those who didn’t probably died in the first stage.

Those who survived to this point were naturally quicker on the uptake.

And during this trip to the dining hall, he also obtained some key information.

From the Green-Skin commander, he learned that Skyhold City’s next destination was the territory of the Beastmen.

Within the Beastmen’s territory, there were numerous tribes.

They needed to avoid many highly aggressive tribes while capturing prisoners and searching for the Queen Bee Crystal. This was the main objective.

Beastmen were not a weak race like the Demi-humans.

Just as the Green-Skins developed technology and the Demi-humans developed weapons, the Beastmen also maximized their unique innate abilities.

It was said some powerful Beastmen could easily split metal and stone.

Moreover, the Beastmen’s territory was home to many massive giant beasts.

The difficulty was conceivable.

Although he didn’t know about the giant beasts in the Beastmen’s territory…

After gathering this information, Brandon left the dining hall.

He then went to the third floor to clock in for patrol duty.

There was another way to earn merit points in Skyhold City.

Patrolling for one hour earned 10 merit points.

A full night could yield over a hundred points—equivalent to one full attribute point.

Even if it was meager, some challengers still did it.

Every extra attribute point meant a little more security.

After all, challengers didn’t feel fatigue.

During this time, Brandon contemplated his strategy.

How could he effectively survive the second stage?

This was the normal challenger’s approach. Right now, they had no way to deal with the Green-Skins; surviving to the end was key.

Being oppressed by Green-Skins while struggling to work was undoubtedly torture.

The audience could understand; this was, after all, the normal way to clear the stage. The guy next door was the abnormal one.

While other challengers were patrolling, Zhang Yangqing also began his inspection.

His situation was different from the others. As the highest authority in Skyhold City, anyone who saw him had to stop what they were doing, stand at attention, and salute respectfully.

Because he was genuinely inspecting others’ work, while the other challengers were just diligently working.

Under Zhang Yangqing’s management, the Demi-human forces in Skyhold City had expanded to 500.

The two Demi-human warrior brothers were their commanders.

Even though they were just working under Zhang Yangqing, that’s how people are—once they have power, they execute their duties seriously.

In Skyhold City, the two brothers held immense power, second only to one person.

If they returned, they might not have this authority, so meanwhile, they needed to use their current power to gain resources and establish prestige.

The Demi-humans’ weapons were firearms. They couldn’t use bio-hand cannons or similar devices, and even if they could, Zhang Yangqing wouldn’t allow it.

Heavy cannons could blast through Skyhold City’s defensive metal, but firearms couldn’t.

Part of the third-floor prison had been converted into resting areas for ordinary Demi-humans.

The Demi-humans were, at least, no longer being tortured. Surviving was satisfaction enough for them.

Next, Zhang Yangqing established a proper hierarchical management system.

He promoted the Demi-human warrior brothers to commanders and selected ten captains from those who had followed him early on.

Of course, these commanders and captains had no authority to command mechanical beings; they could only command their own people.

These twelve were qualified to enter the fourth floor, originally the location of the Green-Skin City Guard.

Their equipment was also that of the Green-Skin City Guard.

The fourth floor was completely different from the third; it offered ultimate enjoyment.

All sorts of things they had never eaten before, never experienced high-end service.

So the status of these twelve Demi-humans was instantly elevated; they felt like superior beings.

To maintain their right to live on the fourth floor, they had to train their people for Zhang Yangqing and obey his commands absolutely.

This created layered management.

Because they, even more, didn’t want to see their people rebel, which would make them lose value in Zhang Yangqing’s eyes.

Zhang Yangqing only needed to manage these 12 people, and the other two thousand Demi-humans would follow his orders.

Besides, Skyhold City still had numerous mechanical sentries and guards, forces the Demi-humans couldn’t hope to oppose.

The mechanical sentries and guards were good at everything except dealing with Green-Skins, which was why Zhang Yangqing was gathering so many warriors from various races.

Since he had come to this Ghost Stories, he would be the despair of all races here, and the Green-Skins were no exception.

Zhang Yangqing checked the flight route; the final destination was the Green-Skins’ settlement.

The other races already held immeasurable hatred for the Green-Skins. If the Green-Skins weren’t eliminated, they would face endless plunder.

Once you understood the complex relationships in this world, you could make everyone work for you, and they would do so willingly.

Skyhold City’s second stop was naturally the area inhabited by the Beastmen.

The timing of the attack revealed the Green-Skins’ cunning.

The Green-Skins attacked around 5:00 AM.

At this hour, the Beastmen active at night were preparing to rest, while those active during the day hadn’t yet woken up.

This was the time to deal a fatal blow.

Against Demi-humans, they could use firepower suppression, but against highly mobile Beastmen, that wouldn’t work.

Beastmen weren’t a communal species; they were scattered, with their own tribal groups.

Moreover, Beastmen had keen hearing. The roar of engines would attract their attention.

Beastmen might not be able to defeat mechanical beings, but remember, they were fast.

Mechanical beings couldn’t secure a vast area, so they had to adopt blitzkrieg tactics, raid key points, seize resources and prisoners, and then leave.

Once they alerted the enemy, it would be hard to raid Beastmen tribes again.

Because unlike Demi-humans, most Beastmen didn’t have fixed settlements.

Skyhold City followed the designated route, arriving above an ancient forest.

This time, they didn’t use the elevator platform. Instead, every mechanical sentry was equipped with a parachute, preparing for a surprise aerial assault.

And before all challengers’ eyes, rules appeared.

Beastmen Region Combat Rules:
[Rule 1: Black bears are the most dangerous animals here. Do not approach unless necessary.]

[Rule 2: Do not trust the squad leader’s words, but you cannot refuse them.]

[Rule 3: If you see a full moon appear in the sky in a certain area, leave immediately.]

[Rule 4: Capture 10 Beastmen prisoners, or kill one elite Beastman warrior. Otherwise, the commander will be very angry.]

[Rule 5: The Queen Bee can actually communicate, but only if you meet her demands.]

[Rule 6: Do not look feline creatures directly in the eyes. It will not benefit you.]

[Rule 7: During combat, pay attention to your surroundings. It is crucial for your survival.]

While other challengers were still studying the rules, Zhang Yangqing could simply delete Rules 2 and 4, as he had no Green-Skin squad leaders or Green-Skin commanders here.

But the basic tasks still needed to be completed to trigger clearance.

Those who survived to this stage understood the purpose of this journey.

Capture more prisoners, obtain more rewards, earn higher merit points, and exchange them for attribute points and promotions.

Many challengers were nervous about the high-altitude parachute jump, having no experience with it.

But their mechanical bodies should be shock-resistant, and the current parachutes were mechanical ones that would automatically deploy at the appropriate time.

This reduced the chance of challengers dying from falls due to mistakes.

They could only hope the quality of the Green-Skins’ heavy industry products was reliable.

The Bullfighter Country’s challenger, Brandon, was a special forces soldier originally, so parachuting held no pressure for him.

Staring into the dark night, he began analyzing the combat intelligence.

Based on the rules, the information he had obtained, and the experience of being tricked in the previous stage, Brandon could outline a general strategy.

The basic task of this dawn raid was to capture ten Beastmen prisoners or kill one elite Beastman warrior.

Ordinary challengers would certainly choose to capture ten Beastmen prisoners, but Brandon felt killing an elite Beastman warrior might be easier.

Because capturing prisoners meant you had to bring them back to the elevator platform.

On the way back, wouldn’t you have to pass through other dangers, or Beastmen territory, ferocious beast domains, even areas that triggered anomalies?
So, how to get ten Beastmen back was a significant challenge.

Unless you stayed with the group.

But here was the problem: the rules stated not to trust the Green-Skin squad leader’s words, but you couldn’t refuse.

From this rule, one could infer that the Green-Skin squad leader was a trap this round.

Combining these two rules suggested that sticking with the group this time might lead to a wipeout.

So, going solo was the best strategy for this stage.

If you were going solo, then capturing ten Beastmen prisoners was likely impossible.

The only option was to go kill an elite Beastman warrior.

As long as you killed an elite Beastman warrior, the visor would record it, and you could return.

Based on Brandon’s understanding of this ghost stories world,

Not only did you need to kill elite Beastman warriors, you needed to kill as many as possible.

Because the more you killed, the more merit points you earned.

The higher your merit points, the more attributes you could improve.

So, before receiving the retreat signal, you needed to kill as many elite Beastman warriors as possible.

This was Brandon’s strategy for this stage.

It could be said he was gradually becoming familiar with the ghost stories world.

Only those who could adapt to the ghost stories world could survive.

And some challengers had different approaches—one could say they didn’t plan on playing by the rules at all.