C8 He Really Knew How to Play!!

In the subsequent stages of the game, players faced more than just the predicament of dropping their weapons upon death by monsters—they grappled with the vexing issue of what to do with the loot from their vanquished foes.

Once the players banded together into parties and heightened their vigilance, they managed to keep casualties impressively low. The disorganized monsters didn't stand a chance against the coordinated efforts of the players. However, the baffling array of materials that dropped from the defeated monsters—withered bones, explosive powders, spider silk, and the like—were puzzling, with no apparent use beyond their names. To make matters worse, players didn't have backpacks to carry their spoils; despite wearing various garments, the pockets were utterly useless for storage. They were forced to carry their 'materials' by hand, which not only hindered their combat abilities but also became unmanageable after a short time.

The situation turned dire when a player was slain by a monster, as all their possessions would scatter to the ground. The added sting of losing 10% of their current experience points upon a second death left players in a state of despair, feeling as though the game's creators had no intention of letting anyone truly enjoy their experience.

Faang Qiubai diligently took notes on these issues, pondering potential modifications. Meanwhile, his attention was drawn to a small squad of six players whose actions rendered everyone, including Qiubai, speechless.

The squad was led by a player who had found a machete, and together with his comrades, they had targeted a massive tree, seventy to eighty centimeters in diameter. They took turns hacking at it with the machete. While other players succumbed to death once or even multiple times, this tree eventually toppled with a thunderous crash. The group swiftly stripped the branches and sectioned off a three-meter length of the ten-meter-tall trunk. Working in unison, they hoisted the log and marched triumphantly out of the village, leaving the other players in awe.

Qiubai was perplexed as he observed the group forge ahead. Their next encounter was with a solitary zombie, and what unfolded next left him utterly astounded.

With a battle cry, the men accelerated, wielding the massive tree trunk like a siege hammer aimed squarely at the zombie. The impact resounded with a colossal thud, sending the hapless zombie soaring five or six meters into the air, as if struck head-on by a vehicle at seventy yards. It traced an arc in the sky before crashing down twenty meters away, tumbling end over end across the ground before coming to a complete halt.

"Yay! That was an instant kill!"

"Incredible, who would've thought of that method!"

"Oh, it's nothing special. Just a regular habit."

"Bro, what do you do for a living?"

"I break down doors to read the water meter."

Faang Qiubai watched in awe as the players wielded a 'siege hammer,' mowing down anything in their path with ruthless efficiency. He was particularly impressed by one player named Zhuge Bayun, who ingeniously suggested carving a slot in the top of a tree trunk to stash all the loot from their slain foes, ensuring they could easily transport their bounty back to the village.

"These guys are pure genius! The game should be paying you to play," Faang Qiubai thought, realizing he'd never have come up with such an innovative strategy. He made a mental note of the team, particularly a few standout names, recognizing them as a group to watch. They were playing the game without any losses, turning their earned power of creation into pure profit, far outshining those who met their ends in baffling ways and threatened to drain his resources.

Faang Qiubai had initially planned the first server shutdown and maintenance after a full 24 hours of gameplay. However, the players carrying the massive tree had given him an unexpected surprise, prompting him to act sooner than anticipated.

As the group charged with the tree, they managed to prevent even the most stubborn creatures from self-destructing, leaving a trail of defeated spirits in their wake. They ventured ever closer to a vast mountain range, where an unexpected event was about to unfold.

The mountain range was peculiar, with sheer rock faces rising up like ten-story buildings, devoid of any soil or vegetation, as if it had been meticulously stripped clean, resembling a barren stone mountain.

Spotting a creeper at the base of the hill, the players rallied with their battle cry, "There's another one! GOGOGOGOGO!"

The player who had proposed the siege hammer strategy, confident in his role as the group's tactician, gave a nod of approval after ensuring no other monsters were nearby. "Everyone, brace yourselves. We charge on my mark!"

With a collective "Roar!" the teammates responded in hushed tones to avoid alarming the creeper. Then, in unison, they took bold strides forward, charging toward their quarry.

Just as they were about to successfully take down the creeper with a swift blow, the player at the very end, who was hoisting the log, suddenly slipped. The log flew from his grasp, and the carefully calculated weight meant for six was now burdening the remaining five. They felt a sudden heaviness in their hands as the log, propelled by inertia, shot forward.

Luckily, the log still managed to strike the creeper and slammed the creature against the side of a massive boulder. However, due to the unexpected reduction in force, the creeper wasn't killed. It turned to face the group, its body ominously beginning to expand and wriggle.

Upon witnessing this, the players scrambled and stumbled away, only stopping when a thunderous explosion echoed from behind. They turned, hearts pounding, to look back.

A vast crater now marked the spot of the creeper's self-destruction, and nearly a third of the log they had used as a weapon was obliterated by the blast's edge. Thankfully, it seemed their collected items were still intact within the crater.

"Wait, what's that?" one player called out, halting his teammates who were about to rush over and salvage hours of hard-earned loot. His face, usually brimming with confidence, now tightened with concern.

The explosion had sheared off a large chunk of the rock, revealing a passage that clearly bore the marks of human craftsmanship. The tunnel was just over a meter wide, only wide enough for one person to pass through at a time, and roughly two meters in height. Such a tunnel was undoubtedly man-made, prompting the confident player to immediately alert his teammates.

"What's going on? Is this a hidden map?"

"It's hard to say. We're unarmed. If we encounter monsters inside, we're sitting ducks."

"So, what do we do? We can't just look and leave, can we?"

As the players debated, Faang Qiubai's gaze sharpened. He hadn't considered the possibility of an underground element when he had used the Book of Creation to survey the ground. Discovering this hidden passage, Faang Qiubai wasted no time in exploring it.

The tunnel descended hundreds of meters, opening up into a space as vast as an underground city. To Faang Qiubai's amazement, he found survivors from this realm below! Among the four survivors were individuals who appeared human, while others resembled elves and dwarves from novels and animations. All were clad in armor, their faces etched with fatigue.

"A player has triggered the Main Storyline Mission: Official Contact with the Otherworld. The server will now shut down for emergency maintenance. For more information, please refer to the official website announcement!"

Faang Qiubai didn't hesitate to issue an announcement, promptly returning all the players to their respective worlds. He was ready to meet with the survivors to collect additional information.