71: Eat, eat, eat, eat

“Burp~ So satisfying!!!”

After a gulp of happy water, Cheng Zhen felt fully revived.

Finally, no more beef noodles; this is how a person should live!

The spicy burger from KFC was still a classic delight, with its soft bun covering golden, crispy fried chicken thigh meat, glistening with an inviting sheen. With a gentle bite, the crispy outer shell crunched, and the tender, smooth chicken meat oozed with juice.

Since our dear readers wanted to see some food, we naturally had to deliver~

The pizza was still steaming, its crust slightly charred at the edges, emitting a faint aroma of char and wheat. Taking a slice, the cheese stretched endlessly, releasing its rich milky fragrance.

Hehe~

Bite after bite, various delicious flavors filled his entire mouth. In between, he took another sip of happy water, letting the playful bubbles dance on his tongue, relieving the greasiness while the sweet and refreshing taste lifted his spirits.

As soon as Cheng Zhen exited the instance, he immediately rushed to a nearby mall for a big meal.

It wasn’t until he was comfortably leaning back in his chair, digesting, that he opened his wristband to check messages.

Having spent ten days in the Desert instance, he had quite a few unread messages.

Cheng Zhen first replied to his Homeroom Teacher, stating that he had successfully cleared the instance.

Team Leader Men also sent him a text message, expressing his gratitude. He had sent two teams to test; the first team had already fully cleared Mountain Sacrifice Child, and the second team had been in for two days. As long as the second team also succeeded, the guide certification would be approved very soon.

Excluding the initial preparation phase and the game time for the two teams, this efficiency was already very high.

Cheng Zhen, in a good mood after receiving the good news, happily opened the forum, browsed posts, and incidentally collected some double-reward cards.

As soon as he entered, he saw a bunch of red dots on his messages.

There were advertisements from clients, continued recruitment offers from guilds, and congratulations from Bald Qiang and the others.

“Hello, Mr. ‘advertising space for rent,’ may I ask if the promotional slot can be booked monthly?”

“Hello, great one, we are XX Guild…”

“Congratulations, congratulations, Big Brother is awesome!”

Besides that, his follower count had also increased significantly.

It seemed that after clearing his second instance, his ranking had soared again. As soon as he opened the forum, he saw a discussion post about him:

“[New Talent Rankings] refreshed again! ‘advertising space for rent’ ranking skyrockets!”

—Who? Wasn’t the person who just shot up called ‘Dawang Milk’?

—The one who got 250 on his first try?

—Holy crap, it’s doubled, now it’s two 250s!

Cheng Zhen’s face darkened. Why did these people only remember 250!

There wasn't much else, just a few discussions about the guide for Mountain Sacrifice Child.

—I bought his guide, it's pretty good. But I still hope I don't encounter a 'newbie graveyard' when farming items in low-star instances.

—Upstairs, you're confused! That newbie just cleared one instance, how good can his guide be? Jing Ci Guild is also working on a guide for Mountain Sacrifice Child recently. A guide from a big guild is definitely better than one from a newbie!

As they chatted, someone steered the conversation elsewhere.

Cheng Zhen frowned. He knew very well that Jing Ci Guild's goal was to compete with him for guide profits.

Fair competition was not shameful; it was the underhanded tactics that were disgusting.

Cheng Zhen didn't tolerate them and immediately replied to those promoting Jing Ci Guild:

“[If they can’t even achieve the special ending, do you dare trust their guide?]”

The purple title in front of his ID shimmered brightly, standing out among a sea of green and blue.

—Holy crap, a great one!

—Front row bowing!

—That makes so much sense! Those who cleared Mountain Sacrifice Child still have green titles, but Bald Qiang, that jerk, keeps showing off on the forum, making me so jealous!

Several netizens, seeing Cheng Zhen suddenly appear, immediately swarmed to rub shoulders with the great one.

Everyone hated Bald Qiang, but everyone also wanted to *be* Bald Qiang, to have a great one lift them off the ground.

Fists were truth; those who had just said they didn't dare trust Cheng Zhen's guide had already vanished.

After chasing away the annoying flies, Cheng Zhen also casually glanced at Jing Ci Guild's account.

They hadn't released a guide yet, only posted some ambiguous things as a preview.

Cheng Zhen sneered. If you're not releasing it now, then don't ever release it!

Then, he opened his communication log and sent a message to someone…

The next day, D City Official Strategist Headquarters.

“Mr. Cheng, thank you for your assistance.”

In the small conference room, Zhou Xing handed Cheng Zhen a form. “This is the Excellent-grade Item Application Form. If you have any items or consumables you want, you can fill in the demand type and collect them at the exchange counter.”

Cheng Zhen nodded and took the form.

“This is my colleague’s instance experience. According to him, the NPCs are full of hostility towards strategists. If it weren’t for his skill, he wouldn’t have been able to clear it at all.”

Zhou Xing handed Cheng Zhen another piece of paper and asked, “Mr. Cheng, do you think the approach of trying to gain favor with NPCs is feasible?”

Cheng Zhen knew he was referring to the one who 'recognized a father' and shook his head. “Most likely not. The NPCs’ thoughts are influenced by the Shaman; they are determined to kill everyone.”

“Unless you can be like your colleague and have the ability to change an NPC’s perception or thoughts, otherwise it’s like a lamb entering a tiger’s den.”

Zhou Xing nodded and drew an 'X' on the paper with his pen.

“According to my speculation, there are three ways to clear it.”

Cheng Zhen held up three fingers. “The first way is to ignore everything, go in and start killing, following the instance task until only one is left, and it's done.”

“Because the NPCs don't enter the forbidden land on the first day. According to the NPCs' replies and your experience, the NPCs should enter a few days later than the strategists, ready to harvest. If the strategists rushed through in the first few days, the NPCs wouldn't have entered the forbidden land yet, and only one person remaining would naturally fulfill the instance's clear condition.”

Zhou Xing’s face showed shame. “Sorry, I thought the NPCs were present from the beginning and wanted to guard against them first, so…” So he had been in a peripheral OB state for several days, resulting in a whole round where his score was even lower than Old Xu’s.

However, he did hold back the NPC tribe and sent a letter to Cheng Zhen, helping the latter obtain clues for the special ending, so he did contribute a little.

“You probably don't want the first method to occur.”

Cheng Zhen took a sip of cola from his thermos. “Five go in, one comes out. The attrition rate isn't low.”

Zhou Xing nodded. “Yes, may I ask if it's possible, like you, to recruit instead of kill, allowing most strategists to clear the instance?”

“You hope that before the NPCs enter the forbidden land, all five people gather, four surrender, and one wins, right? It's possible, but have you considered who gets to win?” Cheng Zhen spread his hands.

Zhou Xing was startled.

“When I was browsing the forum, I heard that some people like to play competitive instances because they get a lot of rewards after winning against other strategists.”

“Even with my method, only one winner gets the bulk of the rewards.”

“How do you guarantee that the others will willingly play a supporting role?”