Chapter 121

"A perfect clear isn't really that hard. The key is to break free from the 'Fight a Path Through Blood' rules, then..." Zhang Lanxing and the others quickly posted their perfect clear process, sparking a heated discussion among players.

"As expected of our National Team, every move is so cool! That part where Liang Jianguo slid under the creature with his crossbow and fired three arrows in one go—my god!"

"And Zhang Lanxing, she's the captain! So calm in her commands!"

"Going crazy cheering for the National Team! When will our country's team come out?"

"With the National Team on the field, I feel so safe. It's like we can actually clear this disaster!"

Though everyone's focus was a bit off, it was true that people could only joke around when they were relaxed.

In such a difficult disaster, one good piece of news after another filled the players with hope. They charged toward the end of the road with all their might, so much so that any problem they encountered seemed like a joke.

"The car's broken down," someone stopped their vehicle.

In the past, at a time like this, she would have been frantic, terrified that the car might break down, wasting resources and time, standing in the sun with a head full of steam. Now, she inexplicably believed she would definitely make it to the end. She wasn't alone—countless people were fighting alongside her. Even if she had to walk, she would get there. What was there to fear?

She took a sip of water to cool down, thought carefully about the car's problem, and then realized it was likely sand getting in.

She got out, opened the hood, cleared the sand, added some coolant, got back in, and successfully started the car—all in under two minutes.

"I'm awesome. Once I save up a bit more resources, I'll swap in a new air filter, and I'll definitely reach the finish line!" she muttered to herself.

Similar scenes played out along various stretches of road.

"You're heatstroked. You need to rest," a companion pressed down on the hand of her friend, who was about to start driving again.

"But our progress... I don't want to hold you back." The woman had never hated herself more. She'd exercised too little, sitting in an office all day, so now her friends were fine, and she was the only one collapsing.

"Friends don't talk about holding each other back. Without you, we'd have died long ago!"

"But..."

"Don't worry! With the National Team and Lin Tu leading the way, we're standing on the shoulders of giants. How could we not clear this? Believe in yourself! Take a day to rest, no big deal!"

The woman recalled the news that the Salt Crust Road and Sand Dune Road tasks had been canceled, and finally broke into a smile. "Okay, thank you, my two good sisters!"

On another stretch of road, the player who had bought Lin Tu's "Camel Summoning Spell" was leisurely riding a camel-pulled cart forward.

He'd known since he was young that he was blessed with luck. Whenever a thought popped into his head and he followed through, it always brought him enormous wealth. When he'd won three million yuan in the lottery, he'd felt a bit bored. He thought he should become a Taoist and had even sought out a Taoist priest. The priest had said, mysteriously, that he carried a great mission and couldn't squander his luck now. He had to wait until the moment of opportunity arrived, then use that power to save tens of thousands of people.

As for when that moment would come, the priest said he'd know when it happened.

Until now, Tian Weiwei had never known where his opportunity lay. Then the disaster struck, and he realized his moment had come. As usual, he'd gotten lucky and drawn a green item from a low-level box, and he'd chosen to trade it for a camel.

Because he had to feed an extra camel and spend more resources, Tian Weiwei had never upgraded his vehicle. He relied on the camel to pull his cart, moving at a snail's pace.

When he'd mentioned it on the regional channel, many had mocked him, saying he'd bought the most useless item Lin Tu had ever sold.

Slow, wasting time, wasting resources? Tian Weiwei didn't see it that way. Look—who else could hide in a camel's arms during a sandstorm and come out unscathed? Who else could traverse a wind-ravaged road as if it were flat ground? Who else, because they were slow, ended up doing several tasks that others had already finished ahead of them?

As for resources... those people were too young. They had no idea that as long as the camel was in a good mood, it would find him a special resource box every day. Now he didn't worry about food or clothing, and whether it was hot during the day or cold at night, he had air conditioning—

Switching to a camel had been the best choice.

Just as he was thinking this, the camel stopped again. Tian Weiwei hopped off the cart, his eyes quickly locking onto a small box by the roadside—

A camel-convoy exclusive supply box.

Tian Weiwei carried the box back to the cart and slowly opened it. Inside, something gleaming golden dropped out—[Game Closing Guide (Gold/B-rank): After perfectly cracking all road tasks, this guide can be used to close the 'Fight a Path Through Blood' game in this world. All players may choose to stay in this world or follow 'Fight a Path Through Blood' to the next world. Current crack progress: 2/10]

Tian Weiwei: Now he really was going to save tens of thousands of people!

.

The moment the Game Closing Guide was posted by Tian Weiwei, it turned the road tasks from terrifying demons into tempting delicacies.

What made people across the globe go wild? It was the road tasks. Everyone was obsessed with them, crazy for them, ramming their heads against walls for them.

Whether on the world channel or regional channels, there was constant discussion. Some described the road tasks they'd encountered for others to reference, others were currently in the middle of road tasks trying to clear or even crack them, and still others debated the two different perfect clear experiences posted by Lin Tu and the National Team.

"The National Team drew on the experience of Lin Tu's team from A1 District, but why didn't everyone praise Lin Tu's team before?! After careful study, I realized... their experience is so hard to replicate!"

"I was going to say that too. Their clear process was too brief... For example, Lin Tu used her superior speed and strength to beat the octopus. We only know she's incredible, but there's no visual! Like, what speed is faster than an octopus? What strength is greater?"

"We can borrow their thinking and methods. They were so decisive—the moment they sensed something wrong, they turned around to investigate. In the underground road, when they hit the ghost wall, ordinary people would have been scared to death, but they kept going deeper."

Just as people were analyzing the two teams' experiences to the point of becoming 'road scholars,' two more pieces of good news came—two more road tasks had been perfectly cracked!

But this time, the National Team wasn't involved. One of the cannibal road tasks was cracked by Lin Tu's team, and another boulder road task was cracked by a little-known team from A1 District.

Following the usual practice, both teams uploaded their clear experiences the next day for reference.

Lin Tu's team's clear experience was still very brief, because some of the players' secrets couldn't be revealed. The other team's perfect clear insights, however, were very detailed—

"In the boulder maze, you'll get damned hallucinations, and then monsters show up. So we came up with a good idea: we led them in circles. We lured the monsters from one area to another, then brought monsters from another area over, so they'd fight each other. All we had to do was run. If the car got scratched, we'd use a repair kit. As long as the car was fast enough, they'd all kill each other, and we got a perfect clear."

In short, sneaky players used sneaky methods to get the task to clear itself.

They'd thought their experience would be useful, but it turned out to be just as useless for others—

"Don't tell me, what's wrong with you A1 District players? Everyone's got a maxed-out custom vehicle?"

"'Lead the monsters around,' you say? My car wheezes after two steps. I'm afraid that if I flip off a monster, my finger'll be gone the next second."

"You all have cars? Hahaha, this damned disaster—am I the only one who can't get a fuel engine fragment? Hahaha, fine, fine! Great!"

"Brother above, you're not alone. I haven't gotten one either. I'm still on a tricycle."

"Same here!"

Suddenly, a flood of people started complaining that they still hadn't upgraded to a small SUV. To A1 District players, this was almost unbelievable, since most of them had already upgraded to campers.

"Huh? No one in your district can make a fuel engine?"

"What about reinforced tires, air filters, radiators, those things?"

Players with the A1 District tag spoke sincerely on the world channel, which just made people seethe with inexplicable anger.

"I'm going to fight you A1 District players!"

"No! No! Really, there's no one! Do I have to repeat that three times?"

"As a veteran player, I've never seen anything like this! Why do you A1 District players have these?"

"Lin Tu's team has the blueprints!"

"What else do you have that we don't?!"

The players started taking stock, and only then did they realize—too much... there were just too many things.

Forget cars and parts, just looking at simple items: in A1 District, basically everyone had two small backpacks, and those who hadn't upgraded to campers or RVs still had solar panels, running air conditioning almost all the time.

Where did they get so many resources? There was no infighting in A1 District; instead, the atmosphere was remarkably harmonious. People shared survival tips, like using crossbows to hunt desert beasts, or which crops grew fastest and filled you up best. This not only saved resources but also made their lives extremely comfortable.

Imagine: in other districts, you'd be lucky to find beef or pork in a supply box, and even then, it tasted bad, and you had to ration a mere 500 grams for protein. But in A1 District, open the trading platform, and all you'd see were jerky and skewers that players had hunted, smoked, and grilled themselves. You could also buy lettuce grown by farming players to wrap the meat...

This was a human tragedy!

Of course, all of this traced back to that rope-making blueprint. A1 District players loved telling others their district's story—and, of course, bringing up Lan Yanzhen to flog her corpse again and again.

Back to Lin Tu's side: after perfectly clearing the cannibal road and getting a six-star supply box, they'd hit two dormant stretches—a boulder maze road and a hill road.

Fortunately, now it wasn't just A1 District; players from other districts were also calling on Lin Tu and the others to craft more items.

With no shortage of buyers, Lin Tu and her team crafted supplies on one side and floored the gas pedal on the other, driving toward the endless horizon.

The six-star supply box yielded a gold A-rank skill [Blood Eater: You can now taste the blood of others, which will promote wound recovery. However, you will be easier to kill—your total blood volume will be maintained at 4800ml, and when this drops below 4000ml, you will die (drinking blood can serve as a supplement)]

Lin Tu wouldn't touch this A-rank skill with a ten-foot pole—she found it inauspicious. Other players clearly felt the same. Only Guan Suixing seemed interested in it.

Lin Tu privately asked Dong Huadan if the skill could be washed off. Dong Huadan said it could.

Only then did Lin Tu feel comfortable handing the skill to Guan Suixing. "If you use this skill, remember to tell your sister. I'll message her after I'm out."

Guan Suixing rolled her eyes. "Oh, how I die is none of her business."

Lin Tu: But it's my business.

The players continued forward. Lin Tu crafted items and gained more than twenty white items and four green items along the way, finally arriving at the last stage—a road called Farm Road.

At this point, the crack progress had reached 8/10.

The players hesitated about entering, since the National Team in this world was very capable—they'd organized perfect clears on five road tasks. If they waited a bit longer, maybe they could clear it smoothly without risking themselves.

Then Lin Tu received a message from the National Team—

"Hello, Ms. Lin Tu. Would you be interested in cooperating? Farm Road is extremely dangerous. We've already had two squads of eighteen wiped out! They were all elites of our country! After much deliberation, we believe the only way to achieve a perfect clear is to gather the world's finest talents and charge in together!"

"We have a skill that can teleport people from one road segment to another. If you're willing, please send me your current road segment. I hope to receive your good news!"

Right after, they sent over all the information they'd collected about Farm Road.

"What do you all think?" Lin Tu took a screenshot and asked the players.

"They're going all in," Dong Huadan analyzed. "If they fail, we'll have to rely on ourselves. I've read all their clear experiences. After those two strongest teams died, I think even with the world's best talents, the odds of a perfect clear are slim."

"So Sister Huadan means," Yi Ying picked up, "ultimately we still have to rely on ourselves—unless we give up on a perfect clear."

"Then why not team up with them?" Luo Yongzhi scratched his head. "At least there's some help."

"But won't our secrets be exposed?"

The players fell silent for a moment. Lin Tu said, "As long as we insist we're veteran players and that our items and skills are from previous worlds, they'll have nothing to say. Of course, before that, we need to negotiate some terms—like not prying into our origins or items, and how to split the rewards..."

The players huddled together and negotiated with the other side.

About half an hour later, on another road segment, A3B1B2.

A group of about sixty or seventy vehicles was waiting for the last batch to arrive. Because they knew who was coming, everyone was exceptionally eager—

These were the legends of A1 District. It was said that with them, A1 District had developed from zero to where it was now.

They were also the ones who started the road task cracking, even if they hadn't cracked as many as the National Team. But how many were in the National Team? How few were in her team? Besides, without them, who knew if the National Team's first hill road task would have been cracked successfully!

So the forty-plus National Team members and twenty-plus independent players stared intently at the intersection.

Finally, five large campers with a small SUV between them drove up from the intersection.

Huh? A small SUV?

Everyone rubbed their eyes, thinking they'd seen wrong. It wasn't until the six vehicles pulled up in front of them, and four women and two men got out, with the leader introducing herself as Lin Tu, that they finally believed—this was the legendary team.

"Heh, Ms. Lin... quite modest," the National Team representative struggled to find the right word of praise.

Lin Tu looked at him. Even in casual clothes, he carried an air of integrity, and the way he strained to call her 'modest' convinced her she'd found the right person.

"Let's go, we'll discuss the details. Oh, and one more thing," Lin Tu reminded herself to say it early, "monsters appear on my road at night, about the strength of those in the second stage. You should be careful."

"Oh... Huh?"

Everyone: "..." Indeed, masters were just different, weren't they?

About five days later, the players received another system notification—

"Ding~ Congratulations to A1 District players Lin Tu, Guan Suixing... A2 District player... for perfectly cracking the Farm Road puzzle! Reward: six-star supply box ×1. The vengeful spirits guarding Farm Road have departed, and all Farm Road tasks have been deleted! Total tasks estimated reduced by 10–15~ Please keep it up, players!"

"Ah! So many people! A whole bunch! Seventy-one people!"

"Lin Tu's team joined forces with the National Team?"

"A once-in-a-lifetime event! Group photo!"

"They actually teamed up—that's great! I heard the National Team lost people and my heart went cold. I thought we were doomed!"

"The ninth road task has been cracked! Mom asked me why I'm kneeling. I said I'm praying for the last task to be completed flawlessly!"

"I have a question. Why is Lin Tu listed first in the notification? Is it because she's from A1 District, or because she contributed the most?"

"Don't know. We'll wait for the official announcement. In my heart, all seventy-one people are heroes!"

About a day later, the official channel finally released the clear experience for this task and posted a new recruitment notice. To everyone's confusion, the experiences of others were described in almost every detail, but Lin Tu's team was again summed up in a single sentence.

For example, "She cooperated with Yi Ying and used exquisite swordsmanship to slay all the monsters in front of her within two minutes, buying precious time for her teammate Zhang Jianliang."

Players everywhere: I can't stand it anymore!

But at that moment, they had no mood to complain about the clear experience—the seventy-one people, or more precisely, with the second batch of recruits, a team of 112, had already entered the road task again, starting the crack of the final road task.

One day passed, two days, three days...

For the first time, so many people simultaneously felt like each day was a year, and food had no taste.

What if they all failed? Should all the players gather and try to clear it together? But there were people like Lan Yanzhen... What if they failed again and again, stuck on the last task, and the greatest hope turned into the greatest disappointment...

Finally, on the seventh day, the players received a system message—

"Ding~ Congratulations to A1 District players Lin Tu, Guan Suixing... A2 District player... for perfectly cracking the Earth Core Road puzzle! Reward: six-star supply box ×1. The vengeful spirits guarding Earth Core Road have departed, and all Earth Core Road tasks have been deleted! Total tasks estimated reduced by 15–30~ Please keep it up, players!"

Tian Weiwei practically slid on his knees to the "Game Closing Guide," and took a photo of his finger about to press confirm—

"I'm pressing it..."

"Hurry up! You dead hand!"

"Tian Weiwei, don't mess around!"

"Don't make me do something drastic! Tian Weiwei! I'll remember you for the rest of my life!"

The next second, all players received a game notification—

"Ding~ It has been detected that the crack progress of players in this world is 10/10. The Game Closing Guide has been activated~ You now have thirty seconds to choose to stay in this world or follow [Fight a Path Through Blood] to the next world. Please note: if you choose to stay in this world, all your items will become invalid."

"You..." Opposite Lin Tu, the National Team representative hesitated. They had long since realized that Lin Tu and her group were not from this world, so they didn't know her choice.

"We're going to the next world," Lin Tu said.

"My items are for you!" The National Team representative hastily opened a trading interface to request a trade.

"Please note! You may only gift one item!"

He didn't hesitate to select the trade, then looked at Lin Tu nervously. "Please hurry! I need to exit the game quickly!"

Lin Tu opened the trading platform and saw that, besides the National Team representative, there were actually several trade requests, and the number was still climbing.

Lin Tu guessed why—almost all players knew she loved items, and that no matter the trade, she'd ask for items first. So, on the verge of losing their items, they chose to trade them to Lin Tu first.

Lin Tu was a mix of amused and exasperated. She started accepting at lightning speed, her backpack constantly dinging with incoming notifications.

Seeing his items had been accepted, the National Team representative let out a long sigh of relief. He looked out at the boundless desert around him—

He had countless friends who would stay here forever, but he would never forget them. And also...

"Goodbye!" The representative saluted Lin Tu and the others, and slowly vanished into the wasteland.