114: This time choose Malaysia!

Kim Geun-seok glanced around; Choi Tae-won, Park Jung-young, and Lee Tae-yong were all by his side, their faces twisted into sinister smiles.

They said nothing, simply waiting for Kim Geun-seok to decide the next course of action.

Kim Geun-seok felt a strong aversion to these three; with a moment's thought, he knew these three old foxes were purely trying to avoid responsibility.

Not expressing any opinions meant they wouldn't be blamed for anything.

If the instance challenge succeeded, they would share the credit, but if it failed, all blame would fall on the Commander.

“Chief Li, Park Jung-young, and Chief Cui, although Cheng Wanling asked me to be the overall Commander of the instance, the elite Challengers from various families are directly managed by you.

“Everyone, please share your opinions and let’s vote on where to choose our spawn point.

“After all, we are all fighting for South Korea!”

Kim Geun-seok wasn't foolish; even if he had to take the blame, he wouldn't do it alone.

“If it were up to me, I’d choose Ma Country!” Lee Tae-yong said.

“I also think Ma Country is better; it’s an optimal choice for attacking Mao Xiong Country.”

“Ma Country is closest to Mao Xiong Country, so if we’re going to have a ground war, it’s indeed the most suitable choice.”

All three made the same choice: Ma Country.

Kim Geun-seok nodded; in fact, his optimal choice was also Ma Country!

There were many reasons for this.

Firstly, Ma Country bordered Mao Xiong Country and had a very long national border, which allowed for great flexibility in choosing attack routes.

They could even completely split their forces for multi-front combat!

Additionally, a most, most important reason was that there were no other countries between Ma Country and Mao Xiong Country.

In the last instance, his entire army was inexplicably annihilated by Dragon Country, so Kim Geun-seok couldn't afford to be unprepared this time.

He already had a shadow over the Earth Online map.

It was best not to easily provoke any country on the map, even if a country looked small, it could potentially be a vassal state or an ally of another country.

These were all Lin Ye’s schemes!

But as the saying goes, a smart person doesn't stumble twice in the same place.

Kim Geun-seok would absolutely not be fooled again.

“Then we will set our spawn point in Ma Country; everyone must choose Ma Country!”

“Our forces are limited, so we must not scatter our troops; everyone must gather together.”

-------------------------------------

Soon, everyone made their spawn point selection, and all fifty thousand Challengers landed in Ma Country!

The world before their eyes shifted again, and once everything became clear, Kim Geun-seok found himself seemingly in a large tent.

Choi Tae-won, Park Jung-young, and Lee Tae-yong were also teleported to his side, all sitting on the ground.

The entire space seemed very dilapidated, completely unlike the luxurious Blue House before. The wind blew through the gaps in the tent, making him feel chilly.

“Is this the new spawn point?”

“What the hell? Why does it feel so run-down?”

Kim Geun-seok felt a bit strange, and he quickly pulled open the tent flap and walked out to inspect.

He was instantly dumbfounded.

“Holy crap…”

Looking out, all he saw were tents identical to the one he was in, densely spread across the land.

Occasionally, a few small, simple low-rise buildings could be seen, completely incomparable to the details of the previous South Korea and Japan...

Looking further out, there were undulating hills and vast, open grasslands.

A group of local NPCs were riding horses, wandering around and herding cattle and sheep.

Even the air carried a strong smell of horse manure.

Lin Ye’s instance map designs were always known for their rich detail and beautiful prosperity, whether it was Japan in the previous Raging Sea or the South Korea he chose the previous two times. All aspects far exceeded the city scales of Azure Star.

But what was this now?!

Such a backward place, without even a single tall building; it could be said that any Settlement on Azure Star was more prosperous than this Ma Country.

Choi Tae-won, Park Jung-young, and Lee Tae-yong also followed him out, their faces equally surprised.

“Welcome, Challengers, to the instance designed by Mr. Ye: Winter is Coming!”

“This instance is complex and difficult, so the Sky Curtain will provide Challengers with detailed mission introductions.”

While everyone was still puzzled, the Sky Curtain directly projected a huge light screen high in the sky.

This process was exactly the same as before.

First, Earth Online was introduced, then the camera continuously zoomed in, slowly moving to the Challenger Camp’s location.

Afterward, the camera fixed on Ma Country’s location.

“This is the Challengers’ base: Ma Country. Located between Mao Xiong Country and Dragon Country, with a total area of 1.56 million square kilometers and a population of approximately 3.5 million people, Ma Country has little arable land, and most of its territory is covered by grasslands. The north and west are mountainous, and the south is Gobi Desert. Approximately 30% of the population engages in nomadic or semi-nomadic herding, which is why it is called Ma Country…”

Immediately following, a red dot was marked on the map.

“And this is where you spawned, Khan’s Yurt in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Ma Country!”

After seeing the Sky Curtain’s introduction to Ma Country, Kim Geun-seok even wondered if he had seen it wrong.

Was this considered a country?

Compared to the previous South Korea, Ma Country’s area could be said to be fifteen times that of South Korea, but its population was less than one-tenth of South Korea’s.

The disparity was too great.

It was clear without thinking how poor and backward this place was.

It would be impossible to recruit NPC soldiers in such a country later on.

In fact, when Lin Ye designed Ma Country, he somewhat deviated from the real situation of Azure Star.

In reality, Ma Country still had some strength; at the very least, its capital, Ulaanbaatar, was a relatively decent city.

But after all, Earth Online was not the real Azure Star; in the instance design, Ma Country was essentially a transition between Mao Xiong Country and Dragon Country, so Lin Ye did not add any details to this country.

A bunch of yurts, copy-pasted, and placed everywhere was all there was to it.

…

Choi Tae-won, Park Jung-young, and Lee Tae-yong looked at each other, their faces full of bewilderment.

Clearly, none of them had expected Ma Country to be like this.

“Kim Da Shao… this?”

“What do we do?”

Kim Geun-seok swept his gaze over the three and then said coldly:

“Do you all realize how disgusting Lin Ye is now?”

“You might think you’re capable, but once you’re in Lin Ye’s instance, he’ll still make you run around in circles.”