The Budget Is Burning

As dusk deepened, on the main street of the abandoned district.

The damaged streetlights on both sides of the road flickered on and off, and normally the streets were impossible to see clearly. But now, more than a thousand people had gathered here. Each person either held a flashlight or wore a glaring pathfinding lamp on their clothes, forcibly illuminating the street until it blazed with light.

On the street, the two sides occupied opposite ends. One side consisted of human drifters over seven feet tall, while the other was made up of Crystal Race members over ten feet tall, gemstones embedded in their foreheads and muscles all over their bodies like steel. Less than twenty meters separated them. They gripped blades, swords, clubs, and staves, glaring viciously at one another, the air already thick with the threat of battle.

"Hou Fei! You've crossed the line! This is a residential area belonging to us humans!"

Among the human drifters, a one-eyed middle-aged man over eight feet tall stepped forward with a silver spear in hand. The concrete beneath his foot cracked apart, making everyone present click their tongues in astonishment.

One stomp had split the concrete. If he was not a Quasi-Martial Artist, then he was a peak Martial Apprentice extremely close to becoming one.

"Heavy Spear Qin Mu! I never expected you to be living in this district." From the Crystal Race's side, a young man over ten feet tall stepped out. Three blue sapphires were embedded in Hou Fei's forehead. He seemed utterly unconcerned by the display as he spoke casually.

"But Qin Mu, you should know very well that several genius martial artists have recently emerged from the Half-Scale Race. Some Half-Scale Race gangs have expanded their influence and seized several decent abandoned districts. Quite a few drifters from other races have nowhere to live now."

"Your abandoned district isn't small. Even if you gave half of it to us, you would still have enough room to live."

"Get lost! You shameless bastards! You need a place to live, but do you think we don't?" Qin Mu, holding his silver spear, shouted sharply. "This district has been where us humans lived ever since City of Light Chasing was founded. None of your races thought much of this place before, but now you have the nerve to come and seize it!"

"If you want somewhere to live, there are plenty of other places in the abandoned district. You can go there right now. No one will fight you for them!"

On the main street, the atmosphere grew even tenser with the two men's exchange. More and more people gathered on both sides, their numbers vaguely nearing two thousand.

"Heavy Spear Qin Mu?"

"Have those Half-Scale Race genius martial artists had such a huge impact?"

Lin Qi had only just arrived. Hearing the two men speak, he had not expected the one-eyed uncle from earlier to be so famous. At the same time, he gained a deeper understanding of genius martial artists.

He had thought that the emergence of genius martial artists in City of Light Chasing would only affect the interests of those at the top, perhaps making the various races in the outskirts pay a little more rent at most. He had never expected even the abandoned district to be dragged into it.

While Lin Qi marveled at and worried over the influence of genius martial artists, Fang Zhen and the other two standing behind him in dark-gray T-shirt tunics were like curious children, utterly fascinated by the scene before them.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Such a huge scene! So many NPCs! And I'm not even getting frame drops! This technology is freaking divine!" Faced with such a grand spectacle, especially visuals this exquisitely detailed, Twilight of the Gods had no idea what words could possibly describe it.

As virtual technology continued to advance, immersion had risen higher and higher, but with that increasing immersion came an enormous problem.

Scenes that were too grand—especially those featuring more than a thousand people—would suffer all kinds of frame drops. Major companies had spent no small amount of manpower researching solutions, yet all they could do was lower the quality. Even then, frame drops still occurred.

Yet here, in High Martial Descent's massive scene of more than two thousand people, there were not only no frame drops, but not even the slightest decline in immersion. It was simply divine!

"Sand filling the sky, a thousand people on-screen, and no frame drops?" Fang Zhen stared at the thousand-plus people, each moving differently, as a sudden gale swept sand through the air. Every grain was extraordinarily clear as it struck everyone's bodies. His jaw hung open. "It's too real! This imagery is practically art! No—it's art in every single frame!"

As a professional gamer, Fang Zhen had seen countless sandstorm weathers in Mecha Continent. He knew very well how demanding such effects were for a virtual game.

Under normal circumstances, once more than ten people entered combat, the sand particles would become blurred. That made battles an extreme test of a player's eyesight and judgment.

Now, with a thousand people sharing the field and sand filling the sky, Fang Zhen could still clearly feel each grain scattering across his body, one grain at a time. Who knew how much funding it had taken to optimize the system to this extent.

"No impact at all?"

Almost the moment Wu Shang saw this scene, she gripped her alloy shovel and repeatedly drove it into the concrete road beneath her feet, growing more excited and thrilled with every strike.

There really was no impact!

Her control over her body had not been affected in the slightest—or rather, she could not feel any effect at all!

This technology was practically black tech!

For a moment, Fang Zhen, Twilight of the Gods, and Wu Shang's behavior drew utterly shocked gazes from many of the drifters who had arrived.

As humans from Blue Star, the three were smaller than even middle school students in this high-martial world. Worse still, two of them were acting all mystical and deranged, as though possessed, while the other woman kept shoveling the ground with growing enthusiasm.

No matter how one looked at it, the scene was bizarre. It could not have been more out of place amid the current tense atmosphere.

"Where did these three children come from? Where are their parents?"

"All three of them are wearing dark-gray T-shirt tunics. Could they be from some gang?"

"These days, there really are all kinds of parents. They actually let three children join a gang. How pitiful. The three of them are holding shovels and wearing the same clothes, so they should belong to the same gang. But among us human gangs, I don't think any of them use shovels. Could this be a newly formed gang?"

Watching the three seemingly lose their minds, the drifters present could not help whispering among themselves. Lin Qi could only take several steps forward, putting some distance between himself and them.

It was not that Lin Qi could not understand Fang Zhen and the others' thoughts, but their behavior was simply too much to bear.

On the other side of the main street, Heavy Spear Qin Mu and Hou Fei knew each other. After staring at one another for quite a while, both men sighed helplessly.

"Qin Mu, let's stop wasting words. According to City of Light Chasing's old rules, are you planning a group battle or a duel?" Hou Fei laid out the terms directly, and the members of the Crystal Race all turned to Heavy Spear Qin Mu.

"How would you fight a group battle? And if it's a duel, who fights whom? What are the rules?" Heavy Spear Qin Mu was not surprised by this.

When drifters in City of Light Chasing disputed territory, if both sides were roughly equal in numbers and strength, they would set rules and fight a match to determine who the district belonged to.

First, it reduced casualties on both sides.

Second, it ensured both sides could accept the outcome.

"For a group battle, each side sends one hundred people. Victory goes to the side that makes all of the other side fall and admit defeat. As for a duel, it'll be you and me. Weapons are allowed, but we stop at the right point!" Hou Fei proposed. "I recommend the duel."

"Fine! Then a duel it is! I've been wanting to see whether the Wild Crystal Bear truly lives up to its name!" Heavy Spear Qin Mu nodded in agreement.

The second update is here!