Chapter 1042: Recurring Dirty Tricks

Chapter 1042: The Return of the Dirty Trick

Corpse-camping was an art form.

To protect the fragile sensibilities of the players, the game offered multiple revival options—respawning on the spot, at the nearest city or vehicle, or at a specially bound coordinate. Players could even choose not to revive at all and simply log off. Furthermore, with a strict limit of ten revivals every six days in Galaxy, successful corpse-camping was an incredibly difficult feat.

In his previous life, Han Xiao had managed to survive his wildest antics largely thanks to this flexible revival system.

Yet despite such restrictive conditions, players still found endless amusement in camping corpses, often relying on tactics like kidnapping or forcing vehicles to land. When in a state of combat, logging off carried restrictions and penalties, which gave rise to the kidnapping strategy: dragging a target to the nearest revival point and surrounding them. Forcing a vehicle down served the same purpose, ensuring that both on-the-spot and nearest-vehicle revivals would funnel the target to the exact same location. However, none of these methods could completely bypass the revival mechanics, and the operational difficulty was immense; even if every exit was blocked, it still required the target to cooperate by not simply logging off to escape.

Ultimately, the only indispensable prerequisite for a successful corpse-camp was simple: the opponent had to be incredibly stubborn.

And from the forum poster’s username, 【Daddy Proud, Whatcha Gonna Do About It】, Han Xiao could practically feel an irrepressible aura of reckless defiance. It was impossible to hide, standing out like a firefly in the dark—so bright, so exceptional.

In the thread, this 【Daddy Proud, Whatcha Gonna Do About It】 identified as a Black Star Army player and detailed his grievance.

"Just now, I was running a solo errand in the Free Competition Zone. I stopped at a transit planet and ran into a bunch of stranger players from other factions. The moment they saw me, they opened fire without a word and jumped me to death."

"I asked them why, and they actually said they just didn’t like the look of me. I don’t know about anyone else, but I couldn’t swallow that. I revived right on the spot to fight them head-on out of sheer spite. But these bastards were absolutely shameless. They literally camped and killed me over and over until they drained every single one of my revivals for the day, and then they had the nerve to mock me in private messages. Damn it!"

"I was just eating hot pot and singing songs when suddenly I got jumped! Who did I provoke?! I’ve already posted the usernames of these scum, and today I’m throwing all caution to the wind—my Chinese brothers, today you are all my fathers! One piercing arrow brings thousands of troops to meet; please answer my call and lend me the strength of your tongues! Help me send regards to their families and let these bastards enjoy a baptism of positive energy!"

Han Xiao glanced at the usernames. They were clearly American players, and their race was Demon.

Scrolling down to the replies, he found that the thread had already turned into an ocean of mirth.

【Fast Horse and Whip: I’m stunned, this raging brother is recognizing fathers live on screen Σ（っ°Д°;）っ】

【Human Pile Driver: Brother got bullied? Daddy will help you vent!】

【Heartless Iron Sis: A thirty-year veteran keyboard warrior requests permission to deploy!】

【Good Brother I Can't Take It Anymore: Watching foreigners swear is just for entertainment; if you want to learn how to really trash-talk, you still have to look at us.】

【Can't Think of a Wild ID: What kind of monsters are those comments above me? I thought I was reading an erotic novel. Why does this game have so many romantic scholars??】

Amidst these chaotic replies, there were also other Black Star Army players venting similar frustrations. Those who shared the same plight were not few in number.

However, not everyone was quite so stubborn. Most had simply been jumped without warning by players from other factions. Furthermore, the culprits weren't just Americans; players from other countries were involved too, and they weren't all guild members. It looked almost as if they were deliberately hunting Army players.

Han Xiao's heart stirred as he silently pondered the cause.

It was likely his own butterfly effect. In his previous life, the Black Star Army didn't exist, and the player base was a loose heap of sand. Now, the Black Star Army was the largest player faction, and a tall tree catches the wind.

Judging by the feedback from the players, this matter likely had nothing to do with NPC factions. It was entirely the spontaneous behavior of a segment of the player base. It could be that some individuals held a grudge against Army players, or perhaps foreign mega-guilds were secretly cooperating. It could only be a few possibilities.

Currently, tens of millions of players were flooding into the Flickering World, stepping onto the cosmic stage, which increasingly drew the attention of various major factions toward the player community. To a star field, tens of millions of people were a mere drop in the ocean, but if it was a group of immortal B-grade Supers, that was a force that could not be easily ignored.

As a part of the cosmic ecology, the players' actions now impacted others. Han Xiao's intelligence network indicated that more and more factions were beginning to deeply study the characteristics of the players, and more people were attempting to utilize them. The Three Universal Civilizations had also put recruiting and researching players on their agenda.

The Black Star Army, which external players were eagerly joining even at the cost of changing factions, naturally received even more scrutiny. Many factions were highly curious about the source of Black Star's influence among the Immortals—while Black Star was indeed famous, why the vast majority of Immortals chose the Black Star Army as their prime choice remained an absolute mystery to them.

Then again, many players had also joined other factions, so while the Black Star Army's situation drew attention, it wasn't overly exaggerated. If he truly gathered every single player into his faction, the Empire would probably show up at his door the very next day for questioning.

"The other factions didn't target the Army, but the players who joined them decided to start trouble first."

Han Xiao carefully read through all the replies and discovered that those hunting Army players the most were American, Japanese, and Korean players.

And while these opponents attacked Army players, they went out of their way to avoid harming Army NPCs, making it blatantly obvious they were specifically targeting players.

His heart suddenly stirred. Searching the forums again, he indeed found several anonymous threads that had been locked due to foul language. They consisted of players from other factions bragging about killing Black Star Army players, explicitly stating they were targeting the Army, acting incredibly arrogant, and calling out Chinese players with disdain.

"Interesting, so they're using this trick."

Han Xiao suddenly understood, the pieces falling into place as his gaze sharpened.

He was no stranger to this tactic. It had happened among the player base in his previous life, likewise beginning to emerge during Version 4.0.

This was a very insidious move, and the masterminds behind it were bound to be the large clubs. The method involved secretly organizing a segment of their domestic players to hunt down players of the target faction everywhere, then mocking them excessively on the forums to incite the anger of the target faction's players and trigger a flame war. Afterward, they would have plants secretly play double-agents to guide the discourse, steering the topic toward race, nationality, and regional discrimination to ignite hatred.

The goal of doing this was to manipulate the faction choices of their domestic players by fostering hatred.

The explanation was simple: the players that clubs from various countries could directly control were limited to their own employees and a portion of peripheral players, which wasn't many. The vast majority of domestic players were ordinary individuals whose actions were beyond their control. Therefore, someone in his past life had come up with this sinister trick—stoking national hatred to influence the faction choices of ordinary players.

For example, if a faction had a million players, where Chinese players formed the mainstream with eight hundred thousand and the remaining two hundred thousand were ordinary American players, the American clubs would hunt Chinese players, mock them, bait the Chinese players into cursing back, and then stoke the fires through double-agents to shift the topic to national hatred.

Consequently, the two hundred thousand ordinary American players in that faction would also become unhappy after being dragged into the flame war. The clubs would then continuously fan the flames to create a stark divide.

The result would be that a significant portion of those two hundred thousand Americans would quit the faction out of anger toward the Chinese players, while even more ordinary American players outside the faction would develop prejudices due to the flame war, significantly reducing the number of Americans joining that faction. This was a vital tool for large clubs to secretly manipulate the faction tendencies of their domestic ordinary players—shaping hatred, utilizing hatred, and enhancing the cohesion of their own domestic players.

As for why they did this, the reason was simple: the clubs did not want their domestic players working for a faction dominated by clubs from another country; they only wanted their domestic ordinary players to serve the faction where they themselves resided.

A higher number of players in the same faction meant increased competition for ordinary individuals, but for the clubs, domestic players represented cheap labor. As long as they entered their faction, whether for daily development or national wars, the club only needed to raise its banner, and the ordinary players would basically respond, turning into free combat power.

Normal players just wanted to experience the game casually, and professional players deserved respect, but clubs and official guilds were commercial organizations whose goals were to achieve rankings in the professional league and turn a profit.

Thus, after the international server opened in Version 4.0 in his past life, several clubs led by the Americans began to use these filthy tricks to manage their fanbases by any means necessary, causing the forum environment to deteriorate to a certain extent. They did this to weaken the mainstream factions of other countries' clubs and, conversely, strengthen their own—simply put, they were stealing crops.

Only a few countries' clubs refused to join the mire, and China was one of them.

In his past life, because China's national strength was powerful in reality, combined with certain historical factors, it resulted in them often being naturally discriminated against by a few brain-dead foreigners, giving them inherent cohesion. Now, with Chinese players basically gathered in the Black Star Army, there was even less need to use such underhanded tricks.

"Tsk tsk, the first time this method reappears, it's targeted at me, and it's even a coalition of clubs from multiple countries."

Han Xiao's thoughts shifted, and he immediately grasped the intentions of these clubs.

It was nothing more than too many foreign players flooding into the Black Star Army. Some foreign clubs did not want the Army's player scale to continue expanding. Otherwise, the Army would hold too much of an advantage in faction competition, which not only squeezed the development space of other factions but also allowed the Chinese clubs to gain a massive wave of labor for free. To the foreign clubs, this was equivalent to funding the enemy. Furthermore, during national wars, these ordinary players from various countries might not respond to the call due to faction restrictions.

"As expected, because the Army is too excellent, the Chinese clubs have become a public target. Although those foreign clubs aren't targeting me personally, if they are allowed to keep going, they might shrink my leek field."

Understanding this, Han Xiao did not panic at all; instead of being shocked, he smiled.

Wasn't this a golden opportunity delivered right to his doorstep to increase the sense of belonging for the Army's newcomers?

Why did the Horde and Alliance each have their own cohesion? The background lore and game settings were one aspect, but the more direct reason was simply that the players of the two factions clashed with each other.

—Setting up a target was an excellent way to rapidly increase collective cohesion!

Discrimination involving real-world factors was an internal issue among the players, and with his current identity, he indeed had no way to handle it directly. But he could certainly target the primary factions where these foreign clubs resided.

—If you manipulate nationalities, I will manipulate factions.

The foreign clubs organizing personnel to hunt Army players was basically fueled by passion; their factions wouldn't give them rewards, so in their eyes, this was just an internal affair among players.

But what if he issued a bounty mission? As long as Army players killed players from those factions, he would provide rewards. Attacking them from the dimension of faction policy would allow Army players to break free from passivity and organize targeted counterattacks. What would happen then?

—When the time comes, probably even the ordinary domestic players under those clubs will enthusiastically turn on you!

With the meager amount of people those clubs secretly hired, how could they compare to the eight million warriors of his Army?!

Playing dirty? I'll crush you until you can't breathe!

"Hehe, since you won't bury your heads and develop quietly, and can't bear the loneliness, playing these dirty tricks all day long, then let me add some fuel to your fire and make your business a little more prosperous."

With that thought, a wicked smile curved Han Xiao's lips. He sat up from the Throne of the Lazy God, pulled up the faction panel, and began drafting a bounty order.

……

Meanwhile, in an encrypted player chat channel, senior executives from professional club guilds of multiple countries were online.

Among them were America's Devil World and Key clubs, Japan's Eight Hydra, Amaterasu, and Werewolf clubs, Korea's Kimchi and Samsung Bomb clubs, Italy's Classical and Pizza clubs, Southeast Asia's Red Bay, Archipelago, and Titan clubs, and so on... It could be said that more than half of the regular guests on the international stage were present in the channel.

At this moment, the topic these club executives were discussing was precisely related to the Black Star Army.

Just as Han Xiao had anticipated, as more and more players from various countries jumped ship to the Black Star Army, these guilds that had no intention of changing factions could no longer sit still. They had secretly joined forces, intending to curb the ever-expanding player scale of the Black Star Army.

"...The personnel organized on our side are currently acting according to plan. The public opinion front is still being prepared, and the players' emotions still need time to brew," said an executive from America's Key club.

"The conditions are actually in our favor. China's consecutive championships in the professional league are their pride, naturally carrying a sense of superiority. We can guide the public opinion, making the Chinese players speak along those lines, and then elevate it to ordinary players from various countries deliberately targeting them due to poor team performance. Let the Chinese players mock us as a group; that way, we can draw hatred."

"In truth, such a stratagem is easily pierced; the modern mind is far too sharp..."

"Fear not. A player remains a player; once the blood runs hot, the spark that lit the fire matters little. The crucible of professional rivalry serves as a fine wedge, readily fanning their passions."

"May it take root. Though we stand divided among rival banners, the Black Star Legion looms as our gravest peril. Their ranks swell with too many souls; left unchecked, the Huaxia Club’s ascendancy would prove utterly dread."

"This time, we must see them cast into isolation."

A chorus of executives traded words in a restless clamor.

As for the Black Star Legion’s own stance, it scarcely warranted a thought; to these architects of the scheme, the fray belonged solely to the players, while the non-player factions served as little more than painted scenery.