Jet rubbed his eyes and checked again.
"That's right, a hundred zombies. How is that possible?"
They had worked their fingers to the bone for so long and still killed fewer than forty zombies. It was only by earning extra points from special monsters that they had overtaken Samurai Nation and reclaimed first place.
What did Kyushu have?
If he remembered correctly, by the time it was Kyushu's turn to choose, all the resource-rich starting areas had already been taken.
They had chosen the Sky Island Survival start!
How could they possibly outperform the others with nothing but a single tree?
"Besides a hundred zombies, there were over a dozen skeletons and five special monsters."
"That's hard to believe!"
Mark sucked in a breath, deeply skeptical.
Even with plenty of resources, the two of them had to be extremely careful when fighting special monsters.
How could one person kill five of them on the first day?
He couldn't figure it out!
Meanwhile, Gangcun Kuzi ate the last of his food and returned to his room.
He had done everything he could. All that remained was to wait for dawn.
He watched the rankings in silence. It wasn't long before Free Nation overtook him.
Gangcun Kuzi had expected this result, so he wasn't surprised.
"If I'd chosen Pumpkin Island, first place would definitely have been ours this time!"
With food and an Iai Sword, he was confident he could kill over a hundred zombies in one night!
Now, all he could do was take second place.
"Third-place India Nation is just as short on food. There shouldn't be much change for the rest of the night."
"We'll hold on to second place!"
Before he had even finished speaking, Gangcun Kuzi saw himself knocked off the second-place spot.
The words "Kyushu Nation" stood out, climbing the rankings at an astonishing speed.
[Kyushu Nation killed Zombie*1!]
[Kyushu Nation killed Zombie*1!]
[Kyushu Nation killed Skeleton*1!]
[Kyushu Nation killed Special Monster...]
[First Place: Kyushu Nation, Zombies Killed*113, Skeletons Killed*16, Special Monsters Killed*6]
Bang!
He watched Gu Yu go from nowhere on the rankings to suddenly adding over a hundred kills.
Gangcun Kuzi was even more shocked than Mark.
He kept his eyes fixed on the rankings. In the blink of an eye, several zombies were dead.
Even with his Iai Sword, he couldn't kill them that fast!
How could Gu Yu, a newcomer, possibly have a weapon stronger than an Iai Sword?
"It's so ridiculous, it's like the zombies are just standing there waiting to die!"
Unable to see what was happening on the Sky Island, Gangcun Kuzi couldn't make sense of it.
But the global audience could see clearly through the screen.
The monsters really were standing still and letting Gu Yu kill them!
The viewers erupted!
"What on earth is Gu Yu doing?"
"Why do our contestants have to work so hard to go out and kill monsters, while he can just stand there and wait for them to die?"
"This is rigged! It has to be! I'm reporting this!"
"The two of us from Free Nation can't beat him on our own?"
"Baka! There's no way he's stronger than Gangcun-kun!"
"Yamamoto-kun and Gangcun-kun have two separate areas. In theory, they should be more efficient than Mark!"
"This is deliberate abuse of a loophole. He has to be punished!"
Monsters had a chance to spawn, and two areas covered a larger range than one, making for better monster-spawning efficiency.
If not for the food shortage, Gangcun Kuzi might really have been able to surpass Mark and his partner.
The key point was—
Even Gangcun Kuzi, wielding an Iai Sword with unlimited durability, couldn't kill monsters as fast as Gu Yu was now.
No matter how fast a sword was, its wielder still had to rush up to the monsters. Gu Yu, on the other hand—
All he had to do was stand in front of his stone house and do one thing.
I slash!
I slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash...
The rhythmic sound soothed the Kyushu viewers, bringing smiles to their faces.
"Amazing! Great God Gu Yu!"
"Four people combined couldn't kill as many monsters as our one player!"
"You called us useless, one after another. So who's useless now?"
"What warrior bloodline with Iai Swords? That's so lame!"
"Bullshit loophole! This is clearly a game mechanic!"
"Go on, report him if you dare! Hahaha!"
Ever since the arena appeared, it had only ever selected players through automated processes. Nothing like filing a report had ever happened before.
Even when Samurai Nation and Free Nation protested together, they still got no response.
All they could do was watch Gu Yu kill monsters with ease through their screens and rage helplessly.
"Dean Qi, do you think there's a chance..."
"Maybe the item I used didn't stop working?"
Fries couldn't hide his amazement.
If the Stone Generator had relied on cleverness and ingenuity, then the Monster Spawning Platform was truly taking advantage of the world's mechanics.
Fries had to admit that he couldn't understand why it was happening.
"Well, that's hard to say."
Frowning in thought, Dean Qi had been pondering the monster-spawning problem all along.
Then he noticed what was beneath Gu Yu's feet, and his eyes lit up.
"Look. He replaced all the flooring with Half-blocks. Only the monster-spawning area is made of full stone blocks."
"Could it be that monsters don't spawn on Half-blocks?"
That would explain why there were no zombies on the Sky Island, with the only ones appearing inside the stone house.
Only the stone house had full blocks that weren't occupied!
The more he thought about it, the more convincing his theory seemed. Dean Qi hurriedly said,
"Quick, add this theory to the highest-security classified files. It absolutely must not get out!"
Monsters were the most direct and deadly threat to the players. If this theory proved true,
their contestants would have a clear advantage in the civilizations to come!
After taking care of that, Dean Qi continued,
"It's still too early to say whether the item stopped working."
The view switched to Park Sam-chang.
Having witnessed Gu Yu effortlessly kill monsters, Park Sam-chang felt miserable.
With worse resources, even a newcomer had managed to build a Stone Generator, overtake Free Nation, and slaughter zombies to claim first place.
Meanwhile, he could only hide in a cramped room, keeping company with two Mushroom Cows!
"Moo~ Moo~"
Sensing the space shrink as Park Sam-chang stood up, the Mushroom Cows shoved against him with even greater force.
The tremendous pressure mashed his face against the dirt. He choked on several mouthfuls of soil before he could recover.
Even more humiliated, Park Sam-chang still didn't dare move. He forced down his resentment.
"Everyone, don't think Gu Yu is actually that strong!"
"Our areas are close together, so I saw with my own eyes how he developed. I can tell you this with complete certainty."
"He only got this far because of luck. There's not a shred of skill involved!"
Knowing that his words would be broadcast through the screen, Park Sam-chang adjusted his position.
He settled into a posture more suited to speaking and continued his analysis.
"I know some of you don't believe me, but look closely and you'll see."
"First, he built a Stone Generator and discovered how to make Half-blocks, learning that they could save blocks."
"Then he replaced the blocks on his island with Half-blocks. Because the blocks changed, the trial lost its monster-spawning zones!"
"After that, he built a stone house, which just happened to be in a new monster-spawning zone!"
Veteran Players would never make those mistakes, but Gu Yu was a beginner.
So he hadn't returned to his house in time to hide when night fell, and he had happened to miss the monster-spawning zone!
That was what led to the situation they were seeing now!
His reasoning was logical and well-supported, convincing many viewers.
As if he could see the bullet comments, Park Sam-chang smiled.
"But don't be fooled by how impressive he looks right now. In fact, I predict..."
"There's a huge problem with his Sky Island. He—Gu Yu—definitely won't survive tonight!"
Before you continue