Apocalypse: I Have One More Keyword Than Others-Chapter 71 - 0 Of course its rushed through_1
Chapter 71: 071 Of course, it’s rushed through_1
Chapter 71: 071 Of course, it’s rushed through_1
“Brother Qi, the Qiao Family is in chaos. Even Qiao Pingjiang’s wife and children have been captured. Your consecutive strategies were truly brilliant,” enthused Feng Zhong, full of vigor as he looked over the intelligence on the Qiao Family. “The public’s calls for us to save the Qiao Family are getting louder. Let’s take advantage of the chaos and lead an attack, raising the banner of justice to maintain stability in the Martial Worlds! Once we attack, the Qiao Family’s good reputation will be secured, and I guarantee not a single one of them will survive. Killing the chicken to scare the monkeys; let’s see which sect dares to help the Heavenly Demon.”
“It’s fake,” Duge calmly said, opening the individual rankings and looking at the numbers. “No competitor in the simulation has died, the Beggar’s Gang and Qingjiao Gang haven’t withdrawn from the Qiao Family, and sects like Kunlun are still on their way to the Qiao Family. Thus, the chaos at the Qiao Family’s is a show for us.”
“Idiot,” Wang San scornfully jeered.
“Damn,” Feng Zhong’s face flushed, and he said sheepishly, “I almost fell for their trick, thank goodness Brother Qi is wise.”
“Great events call for calm. The more critical the moment, the more we must stay calm, so as not to let excitement cloud our minds,” Duge said, closing the individual panel. “The Qiao Family has at least dozens of Heavenly Demons. It’s no surprise they could counter our strategy since the competitors in the top ten of the simulation are probably among them.”
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“Brother Qi, what do we do now?” asked Feng Zhong. “Excluding some useless keywords, there must be at least a dozen effective keywords at play for the Qiao Family, and it’s possible they have derivative skills that can counter us. Can we win against them?”
“There won’t be a dozen. Only two or three at most can arm-wrestle with us, and they are the ones behind the setup at the Qiao Family. Those without ability would rely on the shelter of the Qiao Family,” Duge said. “Real masters would not willingly enter into the fray. Like you, ranked third on the leaderboard; if you saw the Qiao Family’s announcement, would you bother with it?”
…” After a moment of silence, Feng Zhong said, “I would watch from the mountain and seize the opportunity to gain from the fight.”
Duge’s fingers lightly tapped on the table before abruptly changing the subject, “Why do you think the Qiao Family has so persistently held the Martial Arts Tournament for over a hundred years and only allows young people under 25 to enter the Qiao Family’s sacred ground?”
He was reminded of what Feng Jiu had said when he had just traveled across time about the main storyline of this world.
On Earth, whether it’s online or single-player games, there’s usually a main storyline. No matter what your character does along the way, ultimately, they all converge on the main storyline.
This is a simulation, not a real world, with even the government being downplayed, so having a main storyline is totally expected.
The one who arranged things within the Qiao Family must be using this to their advantage.
And the path he was treading could be considered as creating his own main storyline.
It was fun, but on closer inspection, it seemed to be slightly off.
Not that he could be blamed; the simulation was built too realistically, with people who felt alive and could easily give the impression that this world was real, making deviation from the expected path seem normal.
“It is said that after Qiao He died, he found that no one in the Qiao Family was able to continue his legacy, and as a strategy to ensure the family’s prosperity, he devised this plan,” Feng Zhong said. “The factions that acquire martial arts secrets from the Qiao Family’s sacred ground will remember the Qiao Family’s grace. In times of trouble, they won’t deal fatal blows to the Qiao Family.”
“One hundred years, with the fast ones, can span five generations,” Duge added. “Sects like Hua Mountain and Mount Tai have never produced a genius like Qiao He and yet stand unshakeable. Qiao He nearly dominated an entire era. I don’t believe he couldn’t do it. So, the so-called sacred ground of the Qiao Family and the martial contest held every few years have to be part of a conspiracy.”
“When I think about it like that, it does seem a bit abnormal,” Wang San said, “Before, I thought the main plot of the world was for all the simulated contestants to participate in the Martial Worlds Tournament held by the Qiao Family, fighting for ranking in the arena!”
“Someone behind the Qiao Family might have used this conspiracy to pit the Qiao Family against the Peacekeeping Gang,” Duge said, “Otherwise, after lying low for so many years, even with the rise of the Peacekeeping Gang, the Qiao Family should have tried to reach out to us first. Instead, they’ve suddenly become so impassioned, willing to go head-to-head with us for a bunch of Heavenly Demons they don’t even know. Qiao Pingjiang is not Qiao He.”
“Brother Qi, what kind of conspiracy do you think it is?” Feng Zhong’s interest was piqued, and he asked, “If they can use it, can’t we take advantage of it too?”
His skill was to stir up trouble, but it was almost always Duge who instigated it. Compared to Wang San, he was the one who had coasted through all along, a proper tool.
“I think the Martial Saint might not be dead,” Duge thought for a moment before offering a conclusion.
“Brother Qi, that’s a bit far-fetched. Whether it was framing someone or blaming others, we always had some theoretical basis, making it look decent,” Feng Zhong shook his head, “But the Martial Saint not being dead is somewhat absurd. This is a martial arts world, not an Immortal Martial World. If the Martial Saint were still alive, wouldn’t he be over two hundred years old by now? No one would believe it if we said it out loud.”
You just don’t know about a guy named Zhang Sanfeng on Earth. That old Taoist, after being scrutinized by a bunch of people, is already over 200 years old.
Duge glanced at him and said, “A person’s energy is limited. The Qiao Family’s sacred land has produced a continuous stream of martial arts manuals for so many years. Could it be that all of them were written by Qiao He before his death?”
He laughed, recalling the plot devices in Earth’s TV dramas, and said, “In this world, Qiao He has already become a legend. Since he is a legend, we can’t measure him by the standards of ordinary people. Maybe he’s hidden in the Qiao Family’s sacred land, clinging to life, studying strange cultivation techniques similar to ‘The Daoist Heart Seed Demon’ or ‘Soul-moving Great Method,’ ready to seize a new body and be reborn at any time!
Holding a Martial Worlds Tournament every few years might just be to select the most outstanding young people from the Martial Worlds as suitable subjects for body snatching. Now that there are so many exceptional Heavenly Demons in the world, they obviously hold more value for body snatching than ordinary people…”
“Now that you mention it, that does sound somewhat plausible!” Feng Zhong nodded, “Then how do we take advantage of this?”
“Take advantage of what? The Qiao Family is already in trouble. We can just charge in, in the name of maintaining peace, eradicate the Heavenly Demons causing trouble at the Qiao Family, and rescue them,” Duge crossed his arms and said, “A grand conspiracy should only be uncovered at the very end for it to be interesting. Maybe then, we can even make use of those masters from sects like the Beggar’s Gang and Kunlun Sect.”
“I was just saying we should attack…” Feng Zhong muttered, then said, “Brother Qi, the Qiao Family has at least dozens of Heavenly Demons, plus one who is scheming from the shadows. You also said that other masters might be watching from the dark, waiting to reap the benefits of a fisherman. If we barge in, won’t we be falling right into their trap?”
“The contestants from the simulation need to match attributes to grow. What capabilities would those batch of Heavenly Demons have squashed into the Qiao Family? My rashness is different from yours. We openly mobilize the Peacekeeping Gang’s masters to draw their attention. In secret, just the three of us will sneak in and launch a surprise attack, killing as many as we can. We had previously set up such a clever plan that they think we’d rely on the power of the Peacekeeping Gang; we’ll do precisely the opposite.”
Duge looked at the two, seriously saying, “As long as we eliminate enough people, our strength will grow. Those lurking in the shadows will have no choice but to act. If they don’t, once we’ve dealt with the Qiao Family, they’ll lose their chance. In fact, the person scheming within the Qiao Family also knows that the Qiao Family is the final battleground, and no one can stay out of it.”
“Final battleground?” Feng Zhong swallowed hard, “It’s not even a month away, isn’t it too soon for the finals?”
“It would be great if it could end in a month!” Duge chuckled, “Don’t think that just because we have the upper hand now, we will always maintain it. We’ve already shown our hand. Everyone knows the keywords. If we give others the chance to grow, relying on the Peacekeeping Gang’s people alone won’t be enough to defend.
If that bunch who survive adapt to the world and secretly set fires all over our territory, wearing down our strength, what do we do then, play firefighters? The longer we wait, the more passive we become…”
