Meng Yuan returned to the Order's space.
He didn't need to worry about cleaning up the event site, as Canshang had already erased all traces, and the demons had been reclaimed.
The site lockdown and other tasks would be handled by Du Gang and his colleagues.
As for whether the players would go out for a meal together, head home individually, or discuss the event online, that was up to them to decide.
Meng Yuan had more important matters to attend to now.
Seeing Meng Yuan, Canshang gave him a thumbs-up, praising him, "Well done!
"I didn't expect your plan to actually work; this demon invasion incident was resolved perfectly.
"If it weren't for your player training program, handling this incident would have required much more effort.
"And your acting was pretty good too. You intentionally held back your strength and integrated perfectly into the player group without raising any suspicions."
Meng Yuan was silent for a moment. "Is it possible that it wasn't acting, but my actual skill level?"
Canshang was momentarily speechless.
Meng Yuan didn't dwell on the matter. After examining her, he said, "Didn't you absorb some power? Why don't you seem to have changed at all?"
Canshang sighed lightly, "The energy absorbed was merely from a few demons in a small historical fragment, not even enough to be considered a snack. How could it cause any noticeable change?"
Meng Yuan responded, "It feels like we did all that for nothing."
Canshang shook her head, "Not quite. On one hand, we prevented the demons from causing harm in the real world. More importantly, we can use these demons that appeared in reality to trace back to the historical fragment they came from. Then we can use the absorbed power to generate a simulation trial in preparation for entering that fragment."
After a brief discussion with Canshang, Meng Yuan quickly finalized the next objective.
In short, although demon invasions through historical fragments had happened before, it was the first time in several centuries.
The battle between the Order and demons was a tug-of-war. The Order gradually cleared historical fragments, advancing toward the domains that demons occupied in ancient times. The further they progressed, the safer the real world became.
But with the passage of time, collective memory of ancient history faded, strengthening the demons' power and making their infiltration into reality more challenging to counter.
In ancient times, while demons did occasionally invade the real world, the Order always managed to resolve it. Information was less accessible back then, so at most, some tales of mythical creatures or supernatural beings would remain, preventing any major exposure.
However, modern technology and rapid information flow, coupled with the resurgence of demon power over the past few centuries, made the situation increasingly precarious.
If they followed the old methods, Meng Yuan could concentrate all of the Order's power within himself and systematically eliminate the demons from each location. But that would risk exposure and could result in unnecessary casualties.
The original leader had no other options and thus chose to disclose this information to the public.
Meng Yuan, being a weakling himself, didn't have to struggle with whether to take action personally. By disguising it as a game, he effectively solved the problem.
But the situation remained critical.
The players had only defeated a small number of demons from that historical fragment.
Over time, that fragment would continue to overlap with reality, and more demons would come into the real world.
If they relied solely on this method to resolve each incident, things were bound to go wrong eventually.
Thus, Meng Yuan's next objective was clear: organize the players to invade the historical fragment, eliminate all demons within, absorb their power, and transform the fragment into a frontline stronghold for the real world!
This sounded simple but was challenging in practice.
The real world was Meng Yuan's domain, while a corrupted historical fragment was the demons' stronghold.
Meng Yuan couldn't just transport all the players over for an all-out battle with the demons.
Canshang explained, "Think of a demon-controlled historical fragment as a hard walnut. If we were strong enough, we could just crack it open, but that would be costly, and we can't do it with our current strength.
"So we have to find a way to slip through the cracks, reach its core, and destabilize it from within. Only then can we send all the players in en masse.
"The shell is the twisted, altered history. Once its true nature is revealed, the demons' power will weaken significantly.
"Typically, the Order first uses its power to create a simulated trial mirroring the historical fragment, conducting repeated attempts until they're confident. Only then would they infiltrate the fragment, locate the distorted historical points, and correct them. That creates a breach, through which the Order can sweep away the demons."
Meng Yuan nodded, "Yes, we'll still follow that process, but guide the players to complete it.
"First, we'll use the absorbed power to locate the fragment, copy it, and create a new trial for players to challenge.
"Then, as the players make progress, I'll select the top performers in the trial to send into the historical fragment, weakening the demons from within.
"Once the altered history is corrected, we'll be able to open a new battlefield, send in the players en masse, cleanse the demons from the fragment, and turn it into our front-line base.
"To put it in game terms…
"After the 'Demon Invasion' offline event, *Dark Sands* will launch a new historical storyline with single-player trial dungeons. Players who complete it can enter the leaderboard, and top players will be selected to challenge the dungeon's 'Hell Mode.'
"Once Hell Mode is cleared, that historical storyline's multiplayer mode will open, allowing large numbers of players to enter the fragmented world and experience multiplayer raids and other content.
"This pace feels perfect."
Meng Yuan felt more and more like a game operations manager.
Canshang reminded him, "But there are a few points to keep in mind. Once they enter the real historical fragment, I won't be able to limit players' pain sensitivity. In the real fragment, combat will feel very different for them than in the simulated trials.
"Also, we have some tolerance for failure in the fragment, but each failure consumes a lot of energy to reset. A few failures are manageable, but too many would be unsustainable.
"In addition, these demon-occupied fragments are mostly events without historical records. If any records exist, they've been distorted.
"Demons find it harder to invade well-remembered historical fragments, so they tend to infiltrate forgotten events.
"This means players can't just rely on historical records as a cheat sheet, and trying to do so might even mislead them.
"This will make it significantly harder for the players."
Meng Yuan responded confidently, "You're overthinking it. Just include these settings in the game's update notes, and players will naturally figure it out.
"This level of difficulty is hardly an issue for hardcore gamers."
…
That evening.
Zhao Haiping woke up after sleeping all afternoon, feeling sore and extremely hungry.
He ordered a high-calorie meal, and after devouring it, finally felt recharged.
"Just one MR event felt more exhausting than three hours at the gym. If there are more events like this, I might become an athlete."
Feeling satisfied, Zhao lounged on his living room sofa, browsing the *Dark Sands* forum to see the players' discussions.
Overall, the event had been very effective and received enthusiastic responses.
Different locations had different numbers of monsters, and players' strategies varied.
For example, in the area where Huo Yunyin participated, there were only six players, with one Eastern Yi shadow warrior and two soldiers appearing.
Huo Yunyin held off the shadow warrior alone, while the other players coordinated well, finishing the battle without much risk.
In contrast, Zhao Haiping's area had spawned an Eastern Yi general and the most monsters, making the fight the longest—and arguably the most thrilling.
Some players were also curious about how the MR effects worked. They'd seen players getting thrown by the general, yet in reality, the players hadn't actually flown or even fallen.
Likewise, players who fought covered in "blood" and rolled on the ground left the game without a speck of dirt on them.
Some speculated that they'd been experiencing everything in a neural link, meaning their in-game actions didn't directly match their real actions, and the game company had used black technology to bridge the gap. This, they thought, was true MR technology.
It was all just speculation, though, as the company hadn't explained it, leaving players to theorize.
*Dark Sands* had so much incomprehensible tech that players were used to it by now.
A few players mentioned that the event felt somewhat easy, especially compared to previous trial dungeons.
Most players, however, thought it was fine since it was an offline event. If it had been too hard and players struggled or failed, it would've shown poor planning on the company's part. This difficulty level was just right.
In short, most players were satisfied with the event.
There was only one complaint: too few spots!
Only a limited number of players could participate, and others couldn't even watch a recording of the event, relying instead on descriptions from those who attended.
Players strongly requested more events like this.
At the very least, they suggested events be arranged in all major cities, with a dozen spots
per location.
Meanwhile, some players reminded, "Forget about MR mode; what about those extra beta slots we were promised?"
In short, without access to the game, there's no point discussing the experience!
But soon, the topic shifted.
Shortly after the "Demon Invasion" event, two big announcements were made online.
One was that following this event, *Dark Sands* would release a new storyline from the late Da Sheng dynasty, marking the game's first official content beyond the original trial dungeons.
Additionally, the promised increase in beta tester slots would be implemented.
The other was that TV stations and many official media outlets had started reporting on *Dark Sands*, explaining the groundbreaking technology behind it!