"No, no, no... Wait, wait!!!"
Liu Liu flailed in a panic!
No wonder she had been confused earlier, wondering why there were no bullet patterns in a bullet hell game.
Those bat monsters had looked so dumb and sluggish, and they had not attacked at all.
So the so-called "bullet patterns" in this game were made up of freaking monsters!
A human-wave tactic!!!
As layers upon layers of bats closed in, Liu Liu immediately panicked!
Only then!
Did she understand why the game only had movement controls.
Because players had far too many things to deal with at once!
Not only did they have to dodge and weave around monster attacks!
They also had to keep up their attacks and secure effective kills!
They had to constantly watch the monster tide for an opening!
They even had to keep an eye out for dropped experience gems and find time to pick them up!
Busy!
Liu Liu was run ragged!
Watching Liu Liu panic in the stream, fumbling around and shrieking whenever a monster touched her, the chat instantly filled with cheerful chaos—
'Hahahahaha, the classic head but no ass situation.'
'This number of monsters is way too ridiculous, hahahahaha...'
'That whip's getting swung so hard it's smoking.'
'Here's a joke—the game is so easy (doge).'
'Liu Liu would definitely give you a mute package if she saw this.'
'It's fine, she doesn't have time to read the chat right now.'
'Hahahahaha, I'm dying.'
'Whip Bro: Sis, did you trash-talk the designer or something? Why did the difficulty suddenly spike?'
'Bat monsters: Here's a little otherworldly shock for you.'
'Whipping black things—excuse me, is this an American plantation?'
'Hahahahaha, damn! That joke is way too dark!'
'Teacher Da: You know what I'm about to sing (wise).'
'One day I'm going to die laughing in the chat.'
'You'll die laughing in the chat, while Sis will straight-up die to the bullet patterns.'
'Hahahahahaha...'
The chat was full of laughter!
The stream was full of screams!
The tide of bats was dizzying, and one careless move meant getting hit and losing health.
Though each hit did not deal much damage!
It was death by a thousand cuts!
For a while, the stream was filled with Liu Liu's startled cries:
"Ow!"
"Don't!"
"Mom!"
She was like a groundhog that had fallen into a pile of cacti.
Although the subsequent level-ups gave her some weapons and passive items.
Liu Liu was seeing them for the first time, after all. She did not know which items were stronger, and she wanted to try everything. She bit off more than she could chew, and the fight became increasingly difficult.
In the end, a sudden wave of bat punishment took her down with lingering resentment.
"Ah—!!!"
Liu Liu slapped the desk unwillingly.
Hearing the commotion from his sister's side, Zhuang Zhuang maliciously asked the obvious, "Whoa! Sis! Don't tell me you died?"
Liu Liu gritted her teeth in anger!
"Yes! So what!"
"What about you? Have you already restarted once?"
Zhuang Zhuang had entered the game a little earlier than she had.
Liu Liu figured that no matter what, her little brother could not possibly be much better than her on his first try.
However!
Zhuang Zhuang gave a smug chuckle over voice chat!
"Sorry, Sis! If you have time, you're welcome to come over to my stream and give me some pointers!"
Zhuang Zhuang's tone was ridiculously boastful and obnoxious:
"Come teach me how to finish the game so quickly, hahahahaha..."
Liu Liu was stunned!
"You haven't died yet?"
As she spoke, curiosity drove Liu Liu to click into her little brother's stream.
And there!
Zhuang Zhuang was on screen, holding a staff with an aura of garlic surrounding him. Wherever he went, nothing survived; bat monsters fell in swathes!
The bats farther away were also blasted apart by magic orbs fired from his staff.
What was more!
Three axes would occasionally fly out above his head, scattering like celestial maidens tossing flowers and smashing any stragglers to death.
As for Zhuang Zhuang, he shouted and charged forward all the way.
The constant ding-ding-ding of absorbed experience gems never stopped!
"Woohoo! Awesome! This game has this weirdly satisfying feeling. It's such a stress reliever!"
Liu Liu: ???
Was this even the same freaking game she was playing?!
Why did his game look so satisfying?
The viewers in the stream were equally stunned—
'Holy shit, Prince Zhuang's character is insanely strong!'
'Is this Dynasty Warriors mowing?'
'It feels like he and Liu Liu aren't even playing the same game...'
'Hahahahaha, even the game genre changed.'
'Damn, that garlic aura is area damage. So strong!'
'The small monsters die the moment they touch it. That's nuts.'
'Prince Zhuang's side is probably the true essence of the game.'
'Seriously. Liu Liu's side is all about suffering.'
'...'
"See that, Sis!"
Zhuang Zhuang was far more at ease than Liu Liu.
Seeing his sister enter the stream made him even smugger:
"I seriously don't get it. Where's the difficulty in this game? Isn't it just a brainless, stress-relieving mowing game?"
"Look at me. Do I seem stressed?"
"This game is practically challenging my gaming ski—"
However!
Before he could finish showing off!
Something suddenly changed!
As the game timer reached ten minutes, a ring of man-eating flowers suddenly appeared on the screen.
Zhuang Zhuang froze. "Huh? New monsters?"
Confused, Zhuang Zhuang instinctively looked for an opening.
After ten minutes of playing, he had basically grasped a little trick to the game.
That was to keep moving at all times and avoid getting surrounded by the monster horde.
And this time, when the man-eating flowers appeared, Zhuang Zhuang instinctively tried to find an opening again.
But the next second!
He discovered something terrifying—
"Holy shit!!! Wait?!"
The ring of man-eating flowers had no gaps at all!
At that moment, it was like a tightening trap, constantly shrinking and closing in on him!
Zhuang Zhuang, who had just been laughing and chatting, instantly panicked!
"Hey, hey, hey, what the hell? No, no, no! That's cheating! How am I supposed to get out?!"
As he panicked and searched everywhere for a way out, the moving camera revealed an even more despairing sight—
A giant mantis three times his size strode over the man-eating flowers and began advancing toward him!
Only then!
Did Zhuang Zhuang truly understand what it meant for a rope to snap at its thinnest point, and for misfortune to find the unlucky!
"Holy shit!!! Again?!!!"
At that moment!
The terror of being dominated by Mario Bros.-style chained traps descended upon him once more!
"What... is wrong with this game?!"
Watching his excellent situation take a sharp turn for the worse, Zhuang Zhuang was starting to break down.
Just five seconds ago, he had been charging around and enjoying the thrill of mowing down enemies.
How had this boss, as tanky as a mammoth and completely unmoved despite countless damage numbers popping above it, suddenly appeared in the blink of an eye?!
And he had nowhere to retreat and nowhere to dodge!
Seeing Zhuang Zhuang in danger, Liu Liu perked up:
"Oho—Zhuang Zhuang—what are you going to do now—"
"Wasn't this supposed to be a satisfying mowing game? What happened—"
"Why can't you damage the boss now, hmm—"
Her sarcasm was dripping!
The viewers laughed so hard they slapped their desks!
'Hahahahaha, I've never seen Liu Liu this sarcastic before.'
'Her great revenge has been served.'
'I'm dying, the main theme here is sibling harmony.'
'What a loving family.'
'Sis is being so sarcastic.'
'Feels like Prince Zhuang's face is about to turn green from anger.'
'But the difficulty ramped up way too fast.'
'Seriously, was the difficulty not balanced properly? The gap is way too huge.'
'Has anyone considered that everything before ten minutes was just prep time given to you by the designer?'
'Boiling a frog in warm water, huh?'
'Damn, that sounds exactly like something a Mario Bros. designer would do.'
'True, this damn designer has always been so twisted. He understands player psychology too well.'
'It's over...'
As they spoke!
On screen, Zhuang Zhuang, who had just been strutting around, was forced into a corner.
The man-eating flowers behind him left him no room to retreat. He could only watch helplessly as the giant mantis boss slowly approached.
Crunch!
The giant mantis swung its scythe-like blade. In the blink of an eye, the mage Zhuang Zhuang controlled was separated from his head!
GAME OVER
Bang!
As the game ended, Zhuang Zhuang slammed the desk and let out an unwilling roar!
"Ahhhhhhh, I'd only just started having fun!"
"Again!"
"I can't take this anymore today!!!"