Player Reload

"I wish you prosperity and I wish you brilliance~"

The Star-casting Anvil shop was decorated with lanterns and streamers, with couplets stuck at the entrance, and New Year’s songs blasting from the store’s loudspeakers.

Unfortunately, the customers had no mind for enjoyment. At the front, a Jewish man was waving a large sum of slum currency in his hand, anxiously shouting at the vending machine behind the counter, "Can I cut in line for crafting items? I can pay extra!"

[Song of Kings] major event officially launched; the slum was already bustling with people, and the traffic increased another level, comparable to a train station during the Spring Festival travel rush.

Elite players from large guilds with S-Class ratings were raring to go, ready to defy fate today;

Those mid-tier players, not so exceptionally talented, were also harboring dreams, rushing to purchase items and scrolls—anything could happen on the killing field. What if the system serves you up a meal and the issued task is just manageable?

Smoothly pass the preliminaries, advance to the main match, then all the way to facing newbie opponents, securing a high position, and not just climbing within the guild but make all enemies kneel before you,

Finally, open a treasure box and find a Hidden Room Key, reaching the pinnacle of life from then on...

"Sorry, cutting in line is prohibited here. The latest order is scheduled for a month later."

The vending machine equipped with smart AI replied coldly, "If you want to buy shelf products, press 1; if you want custom equipment, press 2; if you want to schedule a modification surgery, press 3. The surgery has aftereffects; please press *&^%$#@!~+-={}|"

???

The customer’s facial muscles twitched painfully, having no choice but to step half a step forward and say to the vending machine, "Then give me the friend request code of the shop owner, I’ll contact him myself."

The vending machine coolly responded, "Sorry, the user you dialed is not in the service area."

"What does a friend code have to do with a service area?"

The customer’s large nose almost got bent out of shape by this artificial dumbness, "I want to find Pifu!"

"Okay, your request has been received. Please complete the image verification to prove you are not a robot."

The vending machine’s laser projected a few 3D holographic images of dishes, "Please find all the ginger in the green pepper shredded potatoes, tomato braised beef, potato stew chicken, and pig trotters stew."

"..."

The customer’s finger hovered in mid-air, unable to finish picking out all the ginger shreds in the green pepper shredded potatoes until the 60-second time limit ended and the images disappeared.

Everyone else saw it as nothing out of the ordinary, and some even found it amusing. That’s what you get for trying to cut in line.

After a brief moment of annoyance, the Jewish man calmed down quickly. This vending machine was packed with advanced AI from Whale Song, maybe he had to stroke it the right way,

So he changed his attitude and said gently, "I’d like my order to be moved up; please handle it personally."

"Sure."

Sure enough, the vending machine’s tone turned gentle too. Amidst the customer’s expectant gaze, two robotic arms extended from the sides of the machine, reaching for the paper order book on the counter...

Then, the arms went right past the order book and picked up a Hatsune Miku figurine, brought it up to the machine’s screen, and made a "mwah" sound.

"You wanted me to do it personally, so I kissed it."

————

At the same moment, Li Cheng and Gray Rain were at the Toy Factory.

"One thousand and one, one thousand and two..."

On the spacious open ground in front of the factory, a large crowd of giant engineering-machine-like beings were using their claw tips to brace the titanium alloy floor tiles, doing standard single-finger push-ups.

With enormous, seemingly mechanical bodies, they had amazing balance and stability, each movement executed with precision.

The streamlined dark shells on their backs reflected a matte texture under the drone’s light, chimney-shaped vector exhausts that once jutted out were reduced significantly in height and embedded in their bodies.

When used, the back shells opened, revealing slightly raised 45-degree exhausts that spit fierce flames for propulsion.

Meanwhile, the menacing spikes that didn’t fit the aerodynamic shape were also hidden away.

"One thousand and three, one thousand and four..."

Thick and heavy alloy plate armor riveted the front chest and abdomen.

Through the gaps in the plate armor, neatly arranged metal wire emulating carbon-based muscle fibers could be seen clearly inside.

Plus, there was a complicated network of micro-tubing on the tendon surfaces.

Different kinds of liquids flowed through different networks, including lubricant to reduce mechanical wear, high-calorific fuel, blood to deliver stem cells, and light blue coolant—

During the Mechanical Horde’s activity, waste heat was generated inside every minute and every second.

Under the pulsating pump action of the heart, the coolant coursed swiftly through the micro-networks and capillaries, evaporating, carrying away the waste heat, and finally condensing back into liquid at the cooling fins on the tail.

Li Cheng, after all, wasn’t some unscrupulous entrepreneur who would make the horses run without feeding them.

This time, he intentionally spent a hefty sum buying a bottle of system-produced Medium Life Potion, and combined it with Healing Magic Potion purchased from Witch Alliance, GS Biotechnology, and other guilds to completely heal the old wounds on the Horde.

Now, the Horde was stronger, more dominant, and more powerful than it was during the Battle of London.

The drone’s lights cast enormous shadows on the ground as they illuminated its back.

The toy factory’s employee dormitory, transformed into a beer pub, had Cylinder Machine Servants and Square Robot Servants poking their heads out from the windows, excitedly snapping photos of this war behemoth with their cameras.

"..."

For a long while, the Mechanical Horde ceased its movements, slowly raised its head, and red light glowed in its mechanical eye sockets. From the alloy jaw came a low, hoarse voice akin to thunder, "Next season, I’ll guard James."

"Guard what? You’re almost bigger than a basketball court."

Li Cheng, floating in the air, raised an eyebrow and pulled Gray Rain, who was posed like a strongman, hand supporting a claw, out of the Horde’s massive maw.

He almost couldn’t lift her...

Equipped with a Gorging Feast Spoon and Body Hidden Mustard Seed, Gray Rain could convert 99% of her meal intake into body weight,

Visibly still no different from before, but her mass had increased over tenfold.

From over 800 kilograms, she shot up to 20 tons.

Early lightweight tanks weigh a little over a dozen tons.

Now, it’s honest to say, "This sister’s chassis is really good; she’d look great slimmed down."

"I was just checking if anything was stuck in the Horde’s mouth."

Gray Rain shook the tablet in her hand, "The data shows the trauma and self-repair assessment are excellent; the power transmission system operates well; neural synchronization rate calibration is normal; it can engage in high-intensity combat."

She paused, feeling a bit regretful and smacked her lips, "But unfortunately, there’s no equipment compatible with the Horde."

Just like the Skull Shattering Power Hammer Gray Rain uses, the killing field has some items that have use conditions outside of player level, usable by non-players.

Sadly, those pieces of equipment are too small, and things like the Azure Dragon Crescent Blade and Drumming Golden Hammer are equivalent to toothpicks in the Horde’s hands; it’s better off using its claws for slashing.

"To manufacture super-large equipment, you’ll probably need the concept of ’large’ refined from super-large relics. Like the Leshan Giant Buddha, the Eiffel Tower, or the Statue of Liberty. And it’s not certain you can extract it—even the Leshan Giant Buddha has been protected and repaired a dozen times since the Northern Song Dynasty.

We’ll see when the time comes."

Li Cheng seemed open-minded, adjusted his Information Integration Glasses, and pondered, "The issue now is finding a good time to rack up scores."

The [Song of Kings] event had players as enthusiastic as the legendary online games of the early century, with everyone eager to trigger tasks and score high in the top 3% as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately, Earth had been subjected to careful grazing and deforestation by the major guilds for a full five years.

Any kind of demon or ghost had been eradicated. If any abnormal event occurred, it could be quelled in an average of half an hour.

When a temple in Thailand nurturing tens of thousands of Ancient Man Child spirits finally raised a Ghost King of around Level 18, even before it could fly towards the city, a GOC drop pod would crash down in minutes,

And GOC operatives would jump out with batons and surround the Ghost King, beating it into blue smoke.

Lone Wolf players dreaming of competing with the big guilds for regular tasks happening on Earth—dream on.

"Without regular tasks, we’ll have to wait for system distribution. It should... be in time, right?"

Li Cheng and Gray Rain exchanged puzzled glances. The script task frequency was generally three times every two months, but there were precedents of only receiving one task every 30 days.

If the qualifiers are finished and they’re still sitting at 0 points, then that’d be quite the joke.

"I doubt it?"

"Luck won’t be that bad."

The duo muttered under their breath, as their friend communication panel suddenly lit up.

[White Horse Tombstone]: I have a regular task located on the killing field here; are you interested?

(Author’s note: Wish everyone good health and a happy new year~)