The Boss Behind The Game

At night during the Lantern Festival event, Lu Wu was reading forum posts about the different types of bizarre tangyuan some players had made. A few of them were hilarious.

There were ridiculous creations such as A Walk Across Reincarnation Bridge, Reaper's Death Stare, Rest In Peace Brother, The Warrior's Challenge, Til Death Do Us Part, and so on. All of these bizarre tangyuan provided ample entertainment for the players. It seemed like the number of talented players in the Beiqi Army were increasing, so they could literally have so many outcomes.

Of course, besides the toxic ones, there was a delicious variety of tangyuan, too.

Aside from being scrumptious, they also had powerful attributes. The players who successfully made them proudly flaunted their creations in the forum.

At 8pm, the Lantern Riddles event officially began.

At the Mansion of the Dead, Sun Qi the dog eagerly took out the Lantern Riddles event's brocade bag from his pocket. This bag could only be opened after a specified time.

When he took out the paper strip from the brocade bag, he saw a line of words written on it.

[A peaceful place for the dead. (Guess the name of a place...)]

When he saw the hint, he understood instantly. It was undoubtedly referring to the Burial Grounds.

In Beiqi, the Burial Grounds were the only truly peaceful place for the dead, so he concluded that his exclusive lantern was located there.

The dog sprinted excitedly toward the Burial Grounds.

He had to run because all the portals were closed in the interest of a fair game during the event period.

He took half an hour to arrive at the Burial Grounds after his mad dash. As he entered, he took out the paper strip again.

At this moment, he noticed that the content on the paper had changed.

[A shattered future, a god's trample...]

Sun Qi was stunned for a few seconds when he saw this hint.

However, after giving it some thought, his face broke out into a knowing smile as he thought of the Demonic God. The god that caught most of the people's eyes in the Land of Beiqi could only be the Demonic God.

At the Burial Grounds, the shattered future and a god's trample must be referring to the place where the Demonic God and Hiderigami fought. The Burial Grounds were completely destroyed because of that battle.

Consequently, Sun Qi started to run again. He ran toward the district where the Demonic God and Hiderigami had battled.

The dog skimmed across innumerable lanterns of other players before he finally reached the district where the Demonic God and Hiderigami had fought.

At this moment, he was standing in the center of the Burial Grounds. However, there were still many lanterns in front of him. Although he had reached his destination, he didn't know which of them belonged to him.

He glanced at the leaderboard of the Lantern Riddles event. He noticed that no one had made the list yet. He anxiously took out the paper strip again.

There were no more hints on the paper strip. It only showed that he had reached the district where the lantern was located.

Left with no other choice, Sun Qi could only check one by one in order to get his rank on the leaderboard.

There were almost a hundred lanterns in this district alone. He checked each and every one of them meticulously. When he reached the halfway mark, a player's silhouette appeared within the vicinity of the area. The player was looking at his paper strip with the same astonished face that he had. Soon after, he started to look for his lantern swiftly, too.

At the appearance of a rival, the dog increased his speed.

That person saw him speeding up so he did the same, too. Both of them were stressed out. After all, the one who found the lantern first would be more handsomely rewarded.

However, Sun Qi had the advantage as he arrived first. A flash of triumph raced across the dog's eyes when he saw only three lanterns left.

It was not the first one...

Not the second either...

When his gaze landed on the third lantern, he saw that it was being held and checked by the player who arrived after him.

At this very moment, the player also noticed the dog, whose face could barely contain his excitement.

The both of them stared at each other for a short time. After that, the other player lowered his head and looked at the lantern in his hands silently. Quickly, he took to his heels and dashed away.

"Hey, you asshole! That's mine! Mine! Give it back to me!" Sun Qi was furious. How could someone use such underhanded tactics to win? This was too much.

"Just wait, I'll give it to you when I find mine!" the player spoke as he raced away.

"Go to hell, asshole! Are you that Crayon_Shinchan? I'll rip you apart!" the dog bared his teeth and growled menacingly.

However, to the dog's amazement, this person had very swift body movements. He shuttled back and forth continuously by using the Assassin's Advanced Shadow Step, so fast that even Sun Qi couldn't seem to catch the person.

The dog was so upset that he could only watch as the player dodged while checking to find his lantern. He was obviously cheating.

"I found it!"

Unbridled excitement sparkled in the player's eyes. He reached out to take the lantern.

Meanwhile, Sun Qi accelerated from the side and rammed into him. The player was flung away by the impact. As the dog made contact, he bit down on the lantern that the player wanted to claim.

"Give it back to me!" the player's eyes widened when he saw the dog taking his lantern.

"You give me mine, first!" he threatened fiercely.

"You first! Quick, since no one has completed the mission yet, I can take first place and you second… a perfect plan!"

"You're shameless! I was the first! You should give it back to me, first!"

...

As the two of them argued on for a few more minutes, a game notification rang.

[Congratulations to player Wen Kele for being the first player to complete the mission of the Lantern Riddles event!]

Both of them were shocked before they engaged in the debate again.

"Give it to me faster! I'm the second, you're the third!"

"Shameless little kid, I'm the second, you are the third!"

[Congratulations to player Le Baishi for being the second player to complete the mission of the Lantern Riddles event!]

"Give me! I'm the third, you are the fourth! Quick! Otherwise, we get nothing!"

"Shameless! I'm the third, you're the fourth! This is your last chance, you better take it!"

Two hours later...

[The first 100 players of this event have ranked. Those who finish the mission after this will not receive any title reward for this event!]

Both Sun Qi and the other player's faces went pale at the appearance of this message, their hands started to tremble.

The one and only chance to make the rankings was right in front of them...

...

At 10pm on the night of the Lantern Festival, the last event began.

[Server Announcement: the Lantern Festival Auction officially begins...]

When the game notification tone ended, the players found a Bidding Menu in front of them. There was a chat box for the players to converse at the bottom, too.

[Lantern Festival Auction is limited to one hour. The auction item is the hidden character class Devilman and only soul coins are accepted as bids!]

Soon after, a black inheritance ball appeared slowly at the center of the Bidding Menu.

Upon seeing this black ball, a lot of the players' hearts were filled with eagerness.

When the auction button changed from grey to red, the bidding began.

Within a few seconds, the price of the Devilman's inheritance ball rose to ten thousand soul coins. Meanwhile in the event's chat box, the players from the two districts were debating fiercely.

Star_Universe (Europe): "I've spent 50 million just to buy soul coins before the event. The Devilman is mine!"

Crayon_Shinchan replied Star_Universe: "Before that, you will have to ask the filthy rich players from our server! (laughing emoji)"

Reinhardt (Europe): "Brothers from the European Server, please support your friends! Although this isn't a battle, we can't lose as well."

Xueli_The_Strongest: "Since you are so rich, have you asked permission from Invincible_Loneliness? (laughing emoji)"

Invincible_Loneliness: "Let's wait and see. Come on!"

...

While the players chatted, the bid price inflated steadily. When the figure reached 50,000 soul coins, most of the players could no longer afford it and backed out. After this, the price started to inflate at a slower pace. Nevertheless, the bidding war raged on and did not lose any intensity.

[Player from the local server, Gu Yu, placed a bid of 100,000 soul coins...]

[Player from the European server, Jason, placed a bid of 110,000 soul coins...]

[Player from the local server, Gu Yu, placed a bid of 120,000 soul coins...]

[Player from the European server, Jason, placed a bid of 125,000 soul coins...]

...

While the two protagonists competed for the top prize, the atmosphere in the event chat box became very tense.

Crayon_Shinchan: "Tsk tsk tsk, it seems like brother Jason could not stand it anymore. He only increases every bid by 5,000 now instead of 10,000. As expected, Boss Loneliness is the richest! (laughing emoji)"

High_Ping_Warrior (Europe): "Jason is the billionaire in our guild. He is just unwilling to end the battle too soon so that he could play a little while more."

Watermelon_Taro: "I'm trembling. Does it rain money over there? I'm shocked in my little corner here. You guys are loaded!"

...

[Player from the local server, Gu Yu, placed a bid of 140,000 soul coins...]

[Player from the European server, Jason, placed a bid of 170,000 soul coins...]

Suddenly, Jason increased the bidding price by 30,000. This came as a shock in the forum. Gu Yu stared at the Bidding Menu and the color drained from his face.

He had only prepared 150,000 soul coins this time. He had not expected a European server player to be so well-prepared and put up such a fierce fight.

Gu Yu remained silent when he saw his soul coin balance. It was too late to collect any more soul coins now.

The Bidding Menu showed no activity.

The European server's players started to cheer in the chat box.

High_Ping_Warrior (Europe): "Did you see that? This is called real ability! Do you admit defeat?"

Mechanic_11 (Europe): "The players from the original server… just tremble and wait to be killed in the Cross-Server Battle!"

Dimension_Traveler (Europe): "It seems like we've won! As expected, the legendary tycoon is still the number one billionaire when he comes here!"

Dr_Gray (Europe): "Wow… it looks like we've won! Our European server is awesome!"

...

Gu Yu had an unsightly expression when he read the chat of the players from the European server. It was not that he was unwilling to spend the money, instead, he was just not as well-prepared. If he was given another chance, Gu Yu would collect one million soul coins to wage a much higher bidding battle.

At that moment, though, a few chat boxes popped up on the Friends Menu.

Liu Chai: "Brother, our guild has collected 50,000 soul coins. We just sent to you in the mail. Hang in there!"

Ye Xue'er: "Boss Gu Yu, don't worry. Just do it. I've sent 50,000 soul coins to you!"

Wu Guoyi: "Our guild has collected 60,000 soul coins. It doesn't matter whether it's worth the coins or not. The most important thing is our dignity. We can't let them be so arrogant anymore!"

Chen Ziyu: "Our guild has collected 30,000 soul coins. Brother, hang in there! I've sent you them."

...

Gu Yu was touched as he read the notes sent from his friends. Soon after, he retrieved all the soul coins sent to him..

There were about 690,000 soul coins given to him. Along with his 150,000, there were 840,000 soul coins altogether.

Gu Yu typed in a series of numbers after he glanced at the Bidding Menu. Then, he pressed the bid button.

[Player from the local server, Gu Yu, placed a bid of 250,000 soul coins...]

The inflation of 100,000 coins came as a shock in the forum. This time, the players from the European server were no longer as haughty. Conversely, it was time for the local players to show off.

Crayon_Shinchan: "Oh no~ The one who talked about the tycoon of some unknown legend, come out, do you know what a slap in the face sounds like?"

Watermelon_Taro: "He deserves to be called the number one tycoon, our server is awesome!"

Xueli_The_Strongest: "Cool! Increase the price for 100,000 in one shot and beat everyone!"

High_Ping_Warrior: "The battle has not ended yet. Don't be anxious, Jason will not lose. I've never seen him lose."

...

At this moment, the players from the European server began to discuss solutions after seeing the criticism received from the original server's players.

Li Xing, as the leader of the Zero Guild, abruptly began to request assistance from the other guilds in the European server.

Jason even swore on his honor that any soul coins lent to him this time would be returned at a ratio of 1:600. Again, an enormous amount of soul coins were collected.

After collecting enough soul coins, Jason inserted the total amount that he had into the Bidding Menu. He would not give up this battle until his last breath!

[Player from the European server, Jason, placed a bid of 450,000 soul coins...]

The price was raised by 200,000 in a single click. This made everyone hold their breath.

This price was only maintained for a few seconds before suddenly, a game message appeared again.

[Player from the local server, Gu Yu, bids 800,000 soul coins...]

"Rumble!"

The forum was driven into a frenzy, spamming the screen at an inhumane speed.

Gu Yu's bid this time had brought out the imposing manner of the proud players. A sky-high price of 800,000 soul coins blew the competition out of the water.

Jason felt defeated and wanted to bid again but the production of soul coins based on the current development level of the European server could not compete with the original server. The other guilds could no longer support him with enough soul coins for the auction either.

The auction had only taken half an hour and Gu Yu's bidding price remained at the center of the menu.

However, all of the players knew that Gu Yu's bid price this time was already a zenith that nobody could hope to reach!

As expected, the event ending tone was heard and Gu Yu won the auction.

All of a sudden, the players from the local server celebrated joyfully in the forum while the European server players left without a word.

The failure in the auction had instilled an intense desire in the minds of the European server players to someday defeat the original server players for this utter humiliation.