As players flooded into the livestream, the excitement spread like wildfire.
They rallied behind Steve and his crew, their spirits lifted by the encouraging messages pouring in from the viewers.
Players out in the vast plains, watching the stream, were filled with a renewed sense of confidence. Even if they couldn't handle the monster, at least there were witnesses. Others would join them in time.
If a hundred players couldn't take down the beast, then a thousand would. And if that failed, they'd bring in ten thousand!
The game world had no shortage of players. As long as they stuck together, there was no challenge they couldn't overcome. This world belonged to the players—wasn't about to let some monster take over!
"Brothers, let's do this! This is our shot at fame!" one player shouted.
"Who cares what kind of demon or beast it is? We're the Fourth Calamity! We'll show it what we're made of!" another chimed in.
"You think you're some big, bad monster? Bring it on! We'll knock those white eyes right out of your skull!"
As the energy of the crowd surged, players on the plains were hyped, hearts pounding as if they were injected with pure adrenaline. The construction of the walls had given them a false sense of security, further boosted by the viewers in the livestream. Confidence swelled, and they started to believe they could do the impossible.
But Steve wasn't caught up in their excitement. He knew better. This battle—they were bound to lose.
The more fired up the players got now, the harder they'd fall when reality struck. But Steve didn't say anything. He wasn't about to douse their enthusiasm with cold water. Not now.
Meanwhile, within the stone walls, Xu Yuan listened closely to the chatter and wild boasts of the players outside. He was itching to humble them, to make them eat their words. But he held back, knowing better.
"Not worth it, killing such a small group," he muttered to himself.
Xu Yuan had already counted. There were just over a hundred players inside the fortifications. Their kill value wouldn't be high, since they spent their nights holed up in matchbox shelters and only scavenged for scraps during the day. How much kill value could they really have accumulated?
Even if he wiped them out, it would barely add up to 3,000 kill points—less than what he could earn from grinding in the monster tower for an hour.
This wasn't a profitable venture.
"I need more of them to come here..." Xu Yuan mused. These players were like kindling, easy to extinguish. But if he killed them now, the flame would die out completely.
Many of these players were livestreaming. If he slaughtered them all, no one would come back to this place. Xu Yuan also had no way to infiltrate the network to find where the most players were gathering. If he killed them here, it might be a long time before he found another cluster of players.
The game world was vast, after all.
So, for long-term gain, it was best to let this spark grow. If he had to snuff it out, it would be when the blaze was large enough to maximize his profits.
Xu Yuan pondered for a moment. If he wanted more players to come, they had to believe they had a chance at defeating him. The players needed to win this battle—but not too easily. It had to be a costly victory, one that would leave them thinking they could win, but only if they had more numbers.
If he could stage that kind of performance, more players would definitely come.
"Looks like I'll need to put on a show..."
His strategy was clear, but how could he let the players win without making it too obvious? He couldn't just let them hack at him and then pretend to run away—such bad acting wouldn't fool anyone.
He mulled it over, but no good idea came to mind.
"If throwing the fight won't work… maybe I should give myself a weakness that doesn't exist..."
Suddenly, Xu Yuan's eyes lit up. Monsters in the game all had their own vulnerabilities. Zombies and skeletons feared sunlight, creepers were afraid of cats, and endermen were weak to water, among other things.
So, if the players thought of him as a monster, why couldn't he have a weakness too?
With this in mind, Xu Yuan began to recall everything he had seen inside the players' fortifications. His fake weakness had to be something the players already had on hand.
But after replaying the scene in his mind, nothing stood out. They had farms, livestock, and piles of matchbox shelters.
The building blocks were out—after all, they were just inanimate objects.
That left the animals.
As the great demon lord, there was no way Xu Yuan could be afraid of pigs, cows, sheep, or chickens. That would be ridiculous, a total blow to his fearsome image.
He was about to discard the idea when he suddenly heard two wolf howls from inside the walls.
An idea struck him like lightning.
"That's it!" Xu Yuan smiled. "A monster afraid of wolves—that makes sense, right?"
In the game, feeding wolves bones could sometimes tame them, after which they would follow players and help fight monsters. Once tamed, they were still wolves but became obedient, responding to the player's commands to sit or stand.
Players affectionately called them "dogs."
Now that Xu Yuan had decided to put on a show, tamed wolves would be the perfect supporting actors. Wolves were fierce animals, and being afraid of them was entirely reasonable. Plus, with the limited resources inside the walls, he didn't have many other options.
With his plan set, Xu Yuan was ready to act.
"Let's bring some monsters over for effect first."
Even though Xu Yuan planned to lose this battle, his performance still had to be grand.
In Brother Mang's recent livestream, the players had likely guessed Xu Yuan could control monsters. That was why Brother Mang had fled in such a panic.
Since this ability was already known, Xu Yuan saw no reason to hide it. A little monster army to set the mood seemed appropriate.
Deciding this, Xu Yuan deactivated his stealth, skirted around the players on the watchtower, and started gathering monsters from the surrounding area. Though his control range was limited to 15x15, he could collect enough if he moved around.
The area was vast, and there were plenty of monsters. Before long, he had a sizable group.
Once his forces were assembled, Xu Yuan boldly marched them toward the players' walls.
———
At the same time, atop the wall, a player with the ID "Wen Yi" was chatting casually with the stream viewers.
"Brothers, we've been waiting so long, and the monster still hasn't shown up. Maybe it's scared!" Wen Yi boasted, basking in the attention.
Suddenly, the chat exploded with messages.
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