Building a Gaming Empire From Scratch

Chapter 170 - 170: 168: Exhilarating Combat!

Translator: 549690339

Lincoln looked at the barrage in the live broadcast room, nodding his head in satisfaction.

The netizens’ way of thinking was quite broad.

Although he and Randall had tried their best to block as many loopholes as possible, they didn’t completely eliminate the spaces for escape.

For example, one of the comments mentioned: level up to the max, then storm the assassins’ lair directly.

That was completely feasible!

In fact, the promotional material where Lincoln showcased in the game took the path of killing without the need for rats.

If one could be saved from the train accident and immediately grabbed the white-bearded old man tightly, they could indeed use him as a porter.

If you had a wild imagination and could think outside the box of traditional gaming restrictions, you could even try to collect evidence, contact the media to expose the textile factory’s inside story, and force the Metropolitan Police Department to strike first.

Then, attack the assassins of the Alliance during their temporary relocation!

Although it would still be a tough battle, at least you’d get around the geographical advantage that the assassins have at the textile factory, reducing the difficulty level by one.

However, though the ways to solve the problem were sufficiently open, the complexity of the paths was destined to deter the majority of players from attempting it.

Lincoln even suspected that most players would eventually clear the level by being carried by a boss character or by joining forces with friends.

Among the players who cleared the level individually, the majority would do so by leveling up their skills to the max and then directly barging through the problem.

There was only one reason for this: players hate going through a hassling gameplay!

Not everyone had the patience and mental strength like Lance – he even caught a total of 500 rats to leave nothing to chance, using up all the remaining high explosives!

This patience had brought him the deserved reward: he stared at the endless rain of bullets while reversing the truck, ramming the textile factory’s gate, and then pressed the lifting switch, slowly raising the truck bed.

The next moment, a scene that would make agoraphobic patients sick appeared – a dense cluster of rats poured out of the truck bed!

The frightened rats began to run wildly amidst the bursts of gunfire, quickly passing through the courtyard and rushing into the textile factory.

Soon, the gunshots became chaotic, and Lance could distinctly feel that the bullets above his head were thinning out.

However, he didn’t rush out from under the truck right away.

Instead, he took out a timer from his pocket, waiting for the countdown on it to slowly decrease, second by second.

At last—

“Boom Boom Boom!”

Explosions occurred almost simultaneously in every corner of the castle. What kind of scene would it be if 1500 high explosives went off at the same time?

Although the explosions happened simultaneously, the reverberations within the castle echoed, becoming prolonged due to the different distances from Lance’s position and the soundwaves bouncing back and forth inside the space.

The entire castle was in chaos in an instant, with countless people killed or injured from the explosion. Everyvvhere there was smoke, flames, blood, and wailing.

Lance, fully prepared, crawled out from under the truck with two guns in hand. Without a second of hesitation, he made a mad dash toward the main hall!

The guards on the outer wall and in the courtyard were almost entirely wiped out, and Lance encountered no resistance or wasted any bullets.

He leaped up and smashed the second-floor window with his flesh and blood, charging into the main hall!

The scene in front of him was both familiar and strange.

He had once reached out to grab a flying shuttle at one of the weaving machines here, practicing the ability to actively activate [Assassin Bloodline], as well as dynamic vision and hand-eye coordination.

But now, after being destroyed by the rat bombs, it was a mess with smoke, collapsed beams, shattered weaving machines, tangled threads, injured and wailing Alliance members, and…enemies counterattacking with guns!

During the brief moment before he landed, Lance realized something: this was the very perspective where the protagonist had their final battle in the promotional video released by Cloud Dream! Even more terrifying was the fact that in that promotional video, though the protagonist was incredibly cool when he was slaughtering the enemy, the looms were just messy, not blown to pieces like they were now, and the enemy was in perfect condition!

It wasn’t until he’d played the game for this long and experienced so many intense battles that Lance deeply realized how terrifying the protagonist’s fighting capabilities were beneath their cool exterior!

But—he immediately felt overjoyed when he thought about it: if others could slaughter enemies that hadn’t been damaged by rat bombs, now that he was facing injured enemies everywhere, the difficulty was reduced by at least half!

Why wouldn’t he go on a rampage?!

He couldn’t help but think of two words in his heart—”Got it!”

“Charge Charge Charge!”

With the cheering of the barrage, the heart-pounding drumbeat rang out, urging Lance to charge forward!

His heart was pounding wildly, blood coursing through his veins, and with every muscle in his legs, arms, and entire body feeling an explosive surge of strength, each second seemed to stretch on endlessly—

At that moment, the whole world seemed to slow down for him.

[Assassin Bloodline], activated!

“Bang! Bang! Bang!” Lance took the initiative!

The explosive music and continuous firecracker-like gunfire pushed the battle to its peak in an instant!

In previous battles, Lance’s combat skills had been greatly improved, especially after completing the “Train Falling Battle,” which brought a large amount of skill proficiency and combat experience.

Multiple skills had reached critical points, and now, as intense gunfights ensued and enemies fell one by one, the skills finally broke through! [Character Personal Level Lv.8]—[Character Personal Level Lv.9]!

[Assassin Bloodline Bloodline Lv.5]!

[Shooting Specialization Specialization Lv.8]!

[Arc Shooting Shooting Lv.5]!

As each skill breakthrough brought greater strength, faster speed, and more stamina.

The shooting accuracy increased, and bullet trajectories became more tricky.

The senses became more acute, the field of vision wider, and every bullet shot at him was predicted in advance, with the presence of each enemy holding a gun instantly increasing!

Obstacles, trajectories, movement paths, firearms… amidst the chaos, only the most critical information was filtered, allowing easy reception and response.

However, any irrelevant information was immediately forgotten and didn’t even appear in his mind.

Everything was for one purpose – to fight and kill the enemy!

More efficient combat! Faster killing!

With high-level [Assassin Bloodline] and [Shooting Specialization] combined, Lance caught a fleeting inspiration and intercepted a bullet shot at him with his own bullet in mid-air!

— He had only seen this technique from Cross and Firefox before!

The spark in the air was fleeting, but in Lance’s senses and the slowed game screen, everyone saw the visual spectacle of the two bullets colliding and deforming at the same time.

An indescribable sense of accomplishment welled up.

Lance felt his blood boiling, growing stronger with each fight, and his fighting style became more unrestrained and entertaining!

This rampage of unbridled killing made him feel so exhilarated and satisfied!

All previous frustrations, helplessness, and anger were poured out with the flames from the muzzle of his gun, leaving nothing behind!

The live broadcast room was filled with words like “handsome,” “awesome,” “invincible,” and gifts were continuously sent out like running water, not stopping for a moment.

Enemies fell one by one, and even the repairman who had beaten him up was easily shot and killed on the spot.

Like this, unstoppable, he charged directly into the archives room.

— Naturally, he wouldn’t do what was done in the movie, where they went to a place that seriously affected the use of firearms and tried to fight the butcher in close combat with guns. He wasn’t crazy!

In fact, the layout of the textile factory and the path to the Destiny Weaver didn’t even need to go through the slaughterhouse!

As for charging to the center of the narrow, circular hall in the archives and getting surrounded by all the assassins with guns, Lance, of course, wouldn’t make such a dramatic mistake.

He was just forced to retreat by several assassins, including Firefox and the gunsmith, hiding behind bookshelves and unable to move forward.

However, after seeing Sloan appear, Lance decisively pulled out the cloth strip specially carried on his body— it was the death destiny that the Destiny Weaver had woven for Sloan!

He taunted, “Look what we have here? The revelation from the Destiny Weaver! The target fate wants you to kill! Guess whose name is on it? Your beloved boss – Sloan!”

“It was his fear of death that led him to forge evidence! You think you killed those who deserved to die according to the revelation? No! Sloan created targets for you to make money!”

“Cross is the one who truly obeys the revelation, trying to rectify mistakes and save all this!”

“And you, from beginning to end, have only been aiding and abetting evil!” Gunshots ceased, and the archives room quieted down.

But Lance’s words didn’t stop. After a hearty battle, not only had most of his unhappy emotions been vented, but he also became more unrestrained in his speech and actions.

“You call yourselves bearers of destiny! You think you have a noble mission?

Haha, what a joke!”

“What was the mission of the Alliance? Let me see, kill one person, save a thousand? What did Sloan say? ‘It’s not us who want him dead, it’s fate who wants him dead!’ Ha!” Lance scoffed.

“So, Sloan, why don’t you shoot yourself?!”

“Hey! It’s time to test your faith!”

“Raise your guns, kill your boss who’s right behind you, and prove your devotion to your beliefs!”