Money's a Bastard-Spend It, Then Earn It Back!

"Guys, there's a silver lining."

[Ji Luo] gave a bitter chuckle. "Good thing we wiped out all the mobs on the outskirts of the Black Forest and at the village entrance yesterday."

"Look, this beast tide might seem scary, but there are actually only about a hundred of them."

"If we hadn't run that slaughtering assembly line yesterday, there would've been at least three times as many monsters today! They probably would've smashed through this gate in a single second!"

Cold sweat instantly broke out on everyone as they listened.

He was right!

They had genuinely killed more than two hundred mobs yesterday.

If those monsters were in the mix now, even six arms and three heads wouldn't have saved them today.

"But even if there are only a hundred, with that freakishly overpowered boss thrown in, there's no way we can hold them off!"

[Kindergarten Boss] knitted his brows. "If we dig in at the gate, the few Ash Coins we've got will only last a couple of minutes before we're flat broke."

"Without money to revive, isn't it game over?"

After hearing Bossy Guy's analysis, the atmosphere inside the Church instantly turned icy.

Meanwhile, Lin En, who was monitoring everything from within the statue, also realized how serious the situation was.

Once they break through the barrier and destroy the statue, I'm completely screwed!

Lin En looked at his painstakingly saved balance of [3,652] Faith Points, a ruthless glint flashing through his eyes.

Money's a bastard-spend it, then earn it back!

If I can't defend my home today, what good is all that money?!

To stay alive, I've got to get these workers completely fired up!

"System! Issue the highest-level emergency announcement on every player's panel!"

Just as the five-man squad sank into despair and even considered logging off to ride out the storm.

Ding!!!

An incredibly rousing system chime rang out, like a war horn.

An enormous translucent scroll, blazing with roaring flames, unfurled explosively in the center of everyone's vision!

[Limited-time emergency event: Defense of the Deity Hall!]

[Calamity has descended. The great Lord of Ashes will not allow evil to set foot in his sanctuary!]

[Event rules: Take up your weapons and use your flesh and blood to hold all monsters outside the breach in the barrier! Protect the statue in the Church from destruction!]

Then a line of large, gilded letters at the very bottom nearly seared everyone's eyes.

[Event benefit: The Deity is with you! During the defense, the system will suspend all death penalties!]

[All participating players will receive unlimited free revivals at zero cost!!!]

A brief, deathly silence followed.

The Church was so quiet that only the pounding footsteps of the monsters outside could be heard.

Then.

"Holy shit!!!!"

A roar powerful enough to blow off the Church's ruined roof erupted from everyone's throats.

"Unlimited free revivals? No more Resurrection Coins?!"

[Passing Pure-Love Warrior]'s eyes instantly turned red, bloodshot with extreme excitement and utter frenzy!

And he wasn't the only one. Ma Lou, Ji Luo, Jiahao, and Bossy Guy had all been wallowing in gloom a moment earlier.

The instant they saw the words "unlimited free revivals," all fear and despair vanished from their eyes!

In their place came an intense red gleam, more savage and bloodthirsty than even the monsters outside!

For the fourth catastrophe.

A game with limited revivals was hardcore survival in the Wasteland!

But without revival limits...

"Brothers!"

[Passing Pure-Love Warrior] pried a huge blue-gray brick out of the ground and howled at the sky, his white hair whipping wildly in the wind,

"This game is fucking Dynasty Warriors now!!!"

"Here comes the truck!! Charge with me!!!"

"Go, go, go! Kill one and we break even, kill two and we're winning big! Die, pop right back up, and keep fighting!"

Like a crazed monkey, Ma Lou flailed his Wooden Spear around with both hands and charged toward the edge of the barrier, howling.

Even [I'm Not Jiahao] swore for once. "Fuck high-level mechanics! Today I'm throwing lives at these carbon-based pieces of trash until they're dead! I'll... fucking kill you all!"

What should have been a tragic, desperate defense.

With "unlimited free revivals" in play, it instantly became a wild feast exclusive to the fourth catastrophe!

Five humans wearing nothing but baggy shorts and wielding shabby stone weapons.

Faced with over a hundred terrifying monsters roaring as they charged, they didn't retreat.

Instead, like a pack of mad dogs that hadn't eaten in three days, they launched a brutally bloody and utterly absurd countercharge straight into the meat grinder of the beast tide!

Boom!

The first wave of beasts finally slammed into the Church's wavering blue barrier.

Although the Deity's protective barrier could deter low-level monsters to some extent, there were simply too many in this wave.

Amid piercing scraping noises and violent flickering, a section of the light screen directly facing the gate finally buckled under the pressure. With a crack, a breach roughly three meters wide split open.

"Roar!!!"

Seven or eight Corrupted Villagers and Mutant Hounds, with bulging eyes and mouths full of fangs, squeezed through the breach with furious snarls, like sharks scenting blood.

"Hold the breach! Don't give an inch!"

[Ji Luo] gripped his Flint Spear tightly in both hands and stood squarely in the middle of the breach, his gaze as cold as ice.

"Warrior and Bossy Guy, hold the front! Jiahao, stay with Ma Lou and deal damage from the back!"

"Even if you die, die outside the barrier! Block the damn path with monster corpses!"

"Leave it to me!"

[Passing Pure-Love Warrior] acted as though he had no idea what death even meant.

Without even using a weapon, he spread his arms and hurled himself straight into the largest [First-Tier Mutant Hound], like a human punching bag.

Thud!

The hound was incredibly fast. Carried by the momentum of its charge, it sank its teeth into [Passing Pure-Love Warrior]'s shoulder.

Its sharp fangs instantly tore through muscle, sending blood spraying.

Even with the system reducing his pain, the realistic sensation of flesh ripping still twisted [Passing Pure-Love Warrior]'s face in agony.

But rather than retreat, he gave a savage grin and locked his arms around the hound's thick neck.

"Ji Luo! Stab through me too! Hurry!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Ji Luo thrust his spear forward like a striking viper.

Shluk!

The spear pierced through [Passing Pure-Love Warrior]'s flank without losing any momentum, then plunged with perfect accuracy into the Mutant Hound's eye and straight into its brain.

"Awooo!"

The hound let out a shrill howl of agony, its massive body crashing to the ground.

Lu Ziye's health bar also instantly hit zero from blood loss and the fatal wound, and he dissolved into a pile of grayish-white ash.

"That's one!"

[Passing Pure-Love Warrior] was still laughing wildly as he died.

"Here comes the truck again!"

Before the monsters behind it could step over the hound's corpse, white light flashed from the Resurrection Array at the rear.

Just three seconds later, Lu Ziye came charging out of the Church again like a cannonball, his white hair flying. On the way, he had even snatched up a battered rock that had been propping up a table leg.

Thud!

He rushed to the breach and smashed the rock into a Corrupted Villager's forehead, bursting its head on the spot.