At this moment, Steve and his friends finally realized the true terror of the White-Eyed Monster.
In fact, the monster itself wasn't what made it so terrifying—its power wasn't overwhelming. The real fear stemmed from not having enough firepower.
With the right gear, anyone could handle a powerful monster.
What made this White-Eyed Monster so terrifying was its cunning.
It could completely manipulate the psychology of most players, setting up one trap after another.
Players would walk right into the traps willingly.
By the time they realized what had happened, they probably wouldn't even know how they died.
That was the scariest part!
Steve and his group shuddered at the thought.
The White-Eyed Monster hadn't harmed them directly, but its step-by-step plotting made it far more dangerous.
What they were up against wasn't just any ordinary monster!
Thinking about this, the group began to feel a bit hesitant.
"Maybe we should just leave? We can't beat him..."
"Whether it's strength or strategy, we're not his match. There's no point in dragging this out..."
"Yeah, eventually, this group will get wiped out. This guild won't survive."
"…"
Hearing his friends, Steve didn't object.
"Alright, you guys go. Find a place to regroup and grow stronger."
"I'll stay."
The group looked at Steve, puzzled. They wanted to convince him to leave too, but Steve immediately explained.
"He's going through all this trouble just to kill more players."
"I'm not sure why he wants to kill so many, but it's definitely benefiting him somehow."
"His seemingly perfect plans actually reveal his weakness!"
"He can't track players' locations directly; that's why he sets these elaborate traps to lure them in!"
"Now that we know his weakness, it's much easier to deal with."
"In a few days, he'll definitely show up again. On that day, I'll livestream the entire process of him slaughtering players."
"And I'll explain everything to everyone."
"Once players become wary of him, no one will willingly walk into his traps anymore."
"If no one falls into his traps, his progress will slow down!"
"As long as we avoid him and grow stronger quickly, we'll eventually beat him!"
Steve understood his friends' concerns, but he had no plans to leave.
Now that they had figured out the White-Eyed Monster's strategy, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
They'd already spent so much time here, so Steve didn't mind sticking around a few more days.
Given the way the White-Eyed Monster was setting things up, he'd likely return soon to harvest more victims.
Steve wasn't foolish enough to think he could take the monster on directly.
What he could do was broadcast the battle live, letting more people see and understand that the players currently had no chance of defeating him.
Steve didn't expect Xiao Po to do the livestreaming.
After all, Xiao Po had discovered the "Footwork technique", and there was no way he would share it with everyone so easily.
So, this had to be Steve's job.
Once this task was done, Steve wouldn't waste any more time trying to fight the White-Eyed Monster head-on.
For now, the best course of action was to hinder the monster's growth while developing their own strength quickly.
Only then could they stand a chance against him in the future.
Steve's thinking was clear—this was the best plan for the current situation.
Facing the White-Eyed Monster head-on was simply not an option.
The only way to limit the monster's progress was to stop more players from falling into its hands.
His friends listened to his reasoning and, though still concerned, decided to respect Steve's decision.
"Alright! We'll go to another place and develop from there."
"We've already mastered the Footwork Technique, so as long as no monsters disturb us, we should grow fast!"
"We'll leave at dawn. Be careful, Boss!"
"You guys go first. I'll stay behind with the Boss and keep an eye on things."
"…"
Aside from Xiao Wu, who stayed behind with Steve, the rest of the group prepared to leave.
Not long after their discussion, they noticed players rushing into the base like they were running for their lives.
"What the hell?! Didn't they say the Footwork booth was 100% safe?!"
"Why did the creeper explode?! And what the hell's going on with those monsters?!"
"Was it that White-Eyed Monster?! I thought we scared it off?!"
"…"
Seeing the players in a panic, Steve shrugged innocently.
"This was Chairman Po's invention. I have no idea~"
Steve had gotten smarter—there was no way he was going to analyze the White-Eyed Monster's tactics for this group.
Besides, even if he did, they probably wouldn't believe him and would accuse him of fear-mongering.
So, he decided to pass the blame.
The players saw Steve's evasiveness but had no choice. He was right—the Footwork booth was indeed Xiao Po's invention.
They immediately flooded the guild channel, bombarding Xiao Po with questions.
"Chairman Po, what's going on?!"
"This Footwork isn't working! Why did the creeper still explode?!"
"This is so creepy! It really feels like the White-Eyed Monster is behind this!"
"Chairman, say something!!"
Xiao Po had experienced the same thing as the other players.
He, too, was full of questions.
He had briefly suspected that all this was the work of the White-Eyed Monster, but he had no proof.
And of course, he didn't want to admit that there was something wrong with his Footwork booth.
After thinking it over, he came up with an excuse.
"There's nothing wrong with my Footwork booth I've tested it many times."
"This wasn't caused by the White-Eyed Monster. You all saw him run off earlier; he wouldn't dare come back!"
"This time, the explosions were probably caused by other monsters accidentally hitting the creepers during a fight. It was just monster infighting."
"Don't worry, this is an easy fix. Just dig a three-by-three hole under the Footwork booth, and it'll be fine!"
"This was just the first time we tested the Footwork booth in real combat. We'll make improvements soon!"
Xiao Po's explanation managed to calm most of the players.
It did seem plausible.
Monsters fighting each other could indeed trigger creeper explosions.
Although some players remained skeptical, Xiao Po had given an explanation and even provided a solution.
There wasn't much more they could say.
After all, joining this guild and learning the Footwork Technique had significantly boosted their development.
With the situation smoothed over, the players began cleaning up the mess.
———
The night passed quickly.
By dawn, the plains were empty of players.
Satisfied, Xu Yuan controlled his few prized minions and left the plains.
Most of them, except for Little Black and the spider, couldn't stand the sunlight.
Xu Yuan had to be careful with them.
After moving them to a forest on the western side, Xu Yuan finally felt at ease.
For Xu Yuan, this night had been incredibly rewarding.
He wasn't sure how many players he had killed, but he vaguely remembered that a couple of his monsters had leveled up to mid-tier consciousness.
As soon as he opened the system, several messages popped up.
[Zombie 007 evolved successfully, gaining primary consciousness!]
[Zombie 007 evolved successfully, gaining mid-tier consciousness!]
[Little Zombie 520 evolved successfully, gaining primary consciousness!]
[Little Zombie 520 evolved successfully, gaining mid-tier consciousness!]
[Enderman 88 evolved successfully, gaining primary consciousness!]
[Spider 101 evolved successfully, gaining primary consciousness!]
[Skeleton Archer 233 evolved successfully, gaining primary consciousness!]
"Wow, the zombie army's really pulling its weight!"
Xu Yuan hadn't been very optimistic about zombies.
After all, compared to other monsters, zombies were just too weak.
Plus, their close-combat style made them easy to handle.
He didn't expect the zombies to be this effective.
Little Zombies were strong, sure, since they were small and fast.
But even the regular zombies managed to rack up so many kills.
Xu Yuan had only briefly controlled the minions at the start.
Once they awakened their primary consciousness, he left them on their own.
He mainly focused on guiding the suicide squads and keeping an eye on the health of his top minions.
Controlling so many monsters at once was exhausting.
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