DHMB - Chapter 10
Chapter 10
Facing Kai Yun's scrutinizing gaze, Lei Kaiding irritably ran a hand through his hair and said, "I thought even the Mobile University would teach the basics, especially since you're already a sophomore. But you really don't know anything, do you?"
Kai Yun: "What should I know?"
"Alright, then I'll tell you about the rules for this competition."
Lei Kaiding adopted the air of a big shot, pondering where to begin to showcase his knowledge. After a brief pause, he began to explain.
"It should have been over seventy years ago, when a mission request appeared on the Alliance's 'Planet Rescue' task board. A country claimed to be suffering from external persecution, with someone using viral attacks against them, attempting to manipulate their politics. At that time, they formed a research team, went into hiding, and simultaneously requested the Alliance for rescue. Considering that countless ordinary people were enduring the virus's harm, the Alliance accepted their request and dispatched a team to work with the local self-defense forces to protect that research team..."
"As a result, not long after the Alliance soldiers arrived, those who had requested protection were collectively defected by the enemy. The Alliance expeditionary force was also nearly wiped out. Perhaps drawing inspiration from this, Sanyao soon introduced this team combat method with faction rules."
Kai Yun mused, "Defection?"
Lei Kaiding smiled, "Exactly. Before the competition starts, the system will randomly divide participants into two factions, similar to protagonists and villains."
Kai Yun exclaimed, "Villain?"
Lei Kaiding: "What's wrong with being a villain?"
Kai Yun shook her head heavily, "How could I be a villain?"
Little King Kai Yun is a leader of justice, how could she be a villain?
Lei Kaiding choked.
This kid really doesn't seem very bright.
"That's just the idea! Anyway, there are no faction names, just think of them as Group A and Group B!" Lei Kaiding skipped the topic and continued, "Each participant has one and only one chance to change their faction."
Kai Yun nodded, "I see."
This would cause each participant's stance to be unfixed, making it impossible to form closely-knit interest groups.
Simply put, when a participant is unfortunately surrounded by people from the opposing faction, they can escape by changing factions. This is an opportunity for an "extra life," and it also means that interest relationships can completely flip.
Therefore, when the competition enters the latter half, the strength of the two factions is likely to undergo significant changes. Like the Matthew effect, the strong get stronger, and the weak get weaker. One side grows unstoppable, while the other falls into complete passivity.
"The only way to earn points in this arena is through combat, and only by killing people from the opposing faction can you score," Lei Kaiding said. "To prevent everyone from switching to the strong faction, there's an additional rule in the arena: at the end of the competition, participants who are still alive and in the faction with fewer people will receive an extra ten points bonus."
This indicates that towards the end, the situation will change in unpredictable ways.
Participants who were originally in the strong faction and haven't changed factions yet can use the last opportunity to switch sides and strive for that extra ten points.
But when most participants do this, it might cause the situation to reverse again, so at this stage, participants might engage in internal combat to ensure their faction has fewer people.
In that case, allies would instead become true enemies.
Kai Yun carefully went over the rules, gaining a general understanding, and smiled, "That sounds quite interesting."
Lei Kaiding deliberately only explained the rules, but the phenomena caused by these rules were the real key and quite thought-provoking.
It appears in the form of factions, allowing teams, but every single rule forces the participants' relationships towards superficiality, because all teammates or allies could abandon you at any time. It's simply full of malice.
"I!" Lei Kaiding thumped his chest and said, "Am determined to make a splash with this competition, so I will definitely choose the weaker side!"
Kai Yun: "I'll choose the righteous side."
"Based on past years' experience, in arenas with faction rules, the overall direction can easily be influenced by a few exceptionally strong participants," Lei Kaiding said. "I've already looked at the list of students in our arena. There's a participant to watch out for, Lu Que from Alliance University. He's a veteran, even made it into the top ten last year, his strength is unquestionable. If we let him have too much fun, this competition will be meaningless. Instead of continuing to hurt each other, why don't we establish a common enemy, put aside our prejudices, and pursue mutual victory!"
Kai Yun said, "When did I ever hurt you?"
That was clearly one-sided damage.
Lei Kaiding ignored her, clenched his fist, and declared, "So, I plan to team up with you to fight against Lu Que's team. If it's us, we should be able to suppress him unexpectedly. I came to find you personally to show my sincerity."
As he spoke, he pulled out another bright smile and extended his hand towards Kai Yun.
Kai Yun looked at him seriously and said, "Don't smile."
Lei Kaiding: "Why?"
"Your expression right now is really creepy," Kai Yun said. "It's not infectious, and it clearly writes 'I want to trick you' all over it."
Lei Kaiding clicked his tongue, reined in his expression, and said with a serious face, "A genius like him is always the center of attention, and Sanyao even has professional commentators for him. I think you need exposure too, right? If we can hinder his actions, maybe we can appear in the central live broadcast. Facing someone of his strength, I'm not completely confident, and I don't think you are either. If you don't have considerable strength, you can only be a supporting character, you should understand what I mean."
"Whether I want to trick you or not, at least when facing Lu Que, our interests are the same. How about it?"
Kai Yun didn't agree directly, "Let's see."
This competition allows teaming up or going solo, but any team formed at the start definitely won't last until the end.
Still need to stay vigilant.
"You won't find a better teammate than me!" Lei Kaiding was eager to prove himself, "I'm very strong!"
Kai Yun was noncommittal, responding faintly, "Oh."
Lei Kaiding was so angry his teeth itched, but arguing forcefully that he hadn't performed well back then would be too undignified at this point. He could only secretly vow to make her regret today's indifference and let her be arrogant this one last time.
Kai Yun said, "I'm going back now, thanks for the reminder."
She still needed to organize the existing information, after all, the second match was about to start.
Lei Kaiding had been rejected multiple times and had never suffered such a blow. He let out a distorted snort and walked away, finally showing some backbone this time and not coming back.
For the remaining time, Kai Yun stayed in her dorm, reviewing past years' video recordings and text records. She hadn't studied for long before the second match arrived as scheduled.
Because the Alliance Military University had sent her a time reminder this time, Kai Yun didn't dawdle. She left the dorm early, empty-handed, and went to report.
The person sitting at the entrance of the teaching area, responsible for verifying information, was still the same invigilator as before.
The invigilator looked at her with a strange gaze, a mix of pity and hesitation, with encouragement mixed into the hesitation. Finally, when returning her card, he said four words with deep meaning:
"Work hard!"
Kai Yun found that gaze strangely unsettling, staring at her from behind with a deep intensity that made her a bit uncomfortable. She quickly jogged into the arena.
Finding an available terminal, she logged into the simulation system and entered the preparation portal for the Alliance Military Academy Tournament.
As expected, just as Lei Kaiding had said, the second martial arts tournament adopted faction warfare.
The rules for this arena were released earlier than the first one. When participants logged into the system, they were directly sent to their accounts, informing them of their respective factions in advance to facilitate team formation.
Kai Yun clicked on the information prompt and saw it written in bold font:
[You are a space pirate lurking on this planet. Your objective is to defeat the Alliance rescue force and become the controller of this planet. You now have 24 hours to complete the mission...]
Villain?
Not good for national image.
Kai Yun stopped after just scanning the first two lines and immediately chose to switch factions.
Immediately, a new prompt was sent.
[You were originally a space pirate, but during the operation, you had a sudden realization and resolutely decided to join the Alliance Military faction. Your mission now is to assist the other Alliance rescue forces in eliminating the invaders lurking in the shadows...]
Kai Yun was very satisfied and only then read the rules carefully from beginning to end.
The detailed descriptions in the rules were basically the same as what Lei Kaiding had told her. The match duration was 24 hours, and points were earned by killing opponents from the hostile faction.
She exited the rules interface and, like last time, hung a "Seeking Team" sign behind her, then sat by the entrance, waiting quietly.
This competition was different from the first one; it clearly required teammates with strong offensive power. Although Kai Yun had been on the central live broadcast, the fundamental reason wasn't her strength, but her astonishingly abnormal actions.
What is most feared when teaming up? Participants who don't follow the usual path.
Especially when this person reveals a strong desire to "become famous" but cannot guarantee their strength, they will mostly become a huge liability.
Participants who could enter the second round of elimination were much more cautious than in the first match. They temporarily maintained a wait-and-see attitude and didn't come forward to strike up a conversation. After all, under the arena rules where traps were hidden everywhere, they would rather go solo like a lone wolf than casually team up and expose their location.
Kai Yun waited for a long time but didn't receive a single team request. Instead, Lei Kaiding squeezed out from the crowd and walked up to her.
He seemed to have noticed Kai Yun's awkward situation, a hint of teasing smile on his face. But considering he still needed to cooperate with her later, he ultimately didn't say anything to discourage her.
Lei Kaiding squatted beside her and whispered, "What was your initial faction?"
Kai Yun: "Space pirate."
"I'm Alliance Military. I just secretly glanced, Lu Que's faction is also space pirate. You can follow him later, and we'll coordinate from inside and out..." As he spoke, his gaze flickered towards Kai Yun's shoulder, and his voice suddenly stopped, trembling as he said, "Didn't you say you were a space pirate? Why is there Alliance Military blue light on your shoulder?"
Kai Yun said calmly, "I just switched factions."
"You switched factions before the match even started?" Lei Kaiding thought he misheard. "Who would do that? Is this person here to seriously compete?!"
Kai Yun pointed to herself openly.
Lei Kaiding immediately cursed, "Are you sick?"
Kai Yun sighed, "I'm so upright, I can't be a villain. You wouldn't understand."
Lei Kaiding's lips parted, "...Fuck!"
He thought he was humble enough to keep up with Kai Yun's thought process...
No, he couldn't.
Truly unpredictableš¤£š¤£
ReplyDelete