138: Breaking the hostage situation

Chapter 138: Forcibly Breaking the Hostage Situation

The final BOSS of the Tiao Tiao Treasure Guardian Squad was a somewhat unexpected opponent.

“Ai Zhi Ai!” N

One by one, Gold-Eating Rats with black fur and metallic fangs clustered together.

The animated projection effect would definitely make card players with musophobia and trypophobia feel their scalps tingle.

And this entire large cluster was just 1 card.

A Pile of Gold-Eating Rats

Rampage, Attack 50, 1000/1000

Giant Object - Passive: A Pile of Gold-Eating Rats occupies 3 card slots, possessing the Barrier effect. Gold-Eating - Passive: When A Pile of Gold-Eating Rats attacks a Persistence card, its Attack Power +30.

Thief - Passive: When A Pile of Gold-Eating Rats attacks a burial object, its Attack Power +30.

Throw Companion - 50 Max Health: Gold-Eating Rat attacks 1 target, gaining 1 stack of Cross effect (Cross: Ignores Blocking).

This thing was extremely painful whether it was attacking the Jumping Guard or those hostage cards.

The key was that there was more than just 1 Giant Object card like this.

There were also other cards like A Small Pile of Gold-Eating Rats, A Large Pile of Gold-Eating Rats, and Gold-Eating Rat King.

Their Characteristics varied, and their stat panels were high, making them difficult to deal with.

However, Shi Li was not worried.

Because with the various buffs from the stage, the Jumping Guard's stats were much stronger than in a real card game.

Jump Jump Jump: Jumping Guard's Health increases by 1 segment. I'm the Boss Here: Jumping Guard's Max Health +200.

I'm Fine!: Jumping Guard takes -10 attack damage.

With the addition of these buffs, the Jumping Guard's Health reached 100/100+100/100+100/100.

It was absolutely the core card of the entire simulation mission.

“If these stats could be brought out, it would truly be a massacre.”

Looking at the card, Shi Li couldn't help but sigh.

Then he looked at the 3 hostage cards.

The Most Precious Burial Object

Balance, 5 points, One-star Attack 0, 20/20

Super Fragile - Passive: Precious Burial Object's Attack Power -5, Max Health -80.

This was the most fragile hostage in all the stages so far.

It could be seen from the words “most precious” and “super fragile.”

However, Shi Li had also collected many related buff effects.

Corpse Oil Protection Wax: Grants all burial object cards 100 Shield at the start of the game, which lasts until the Shield value is depleted. Handle with Care: In this game, 1 precious burial object card can swap positions with 1 of your cards. Light: All burial object cards heal 4 adjacent revealed cards by 30 each round.

Treasure Aura: All burial object cards deal 30 damage to all enemy revealed cards each round. The 5-point, 0-attack burial objects, with the addition of a pile of Characteristics, were no longer useless burdens.

They could attack and defend, and they also had a very thick Shield.

However, even so, with the opponent having Cross, one Most Precious Burial Object was still shattered by the mid-game.

According to the mission requirements, the game should have ended at this point.

Because as long as 1 burial object was destroyed, the entire mission would be judged as a failure.

However, this time, Shi Li was fully prepared.

The card he intervened with in the simulation mission was cloud river.

“At first I didn't know, but this effect turned out to be the absolute MVP of the hostage situation.”

The effect Shi Li was referring to was Revival.

It's important to understand why everyone generally found hostage situations so troublesome.

Because not everyone had Revival cards.

And not everyone had Dimensional Intervention.

And a high-quality Revival card that could revive once every 4 rounds without intervention was even harder to come by.

He just happened to have all three of these elements.

So it didn't matter even if all the Most Precious Burial Objects were destroyed; on the contrary, their presence helped his deck absorb firepower.

Because as long as they were on the field, the opponent would prioritize attacking them.

Anyway, he just needed to revive all the Most Precious Burial Objects before destroying the opponent's last card.

“Ai Ai!”

As the large rat king flipped over, Shi Li finally ended the card game.

This mission has ended.

Can obtain Characteristic: Tiao Tiao Rally 1

Can obtain Hand Card: Deceased's Talisman Removal 1

Can be reattempted after 30 days.

Yes/No to reset this mission for 15,000 cubic coins.

“Finally, this feels good.”

Shi Li checked his account.

He still had 110,000, which felt really good.

“This money is even enough to buy a Star Ascension card for white mountain.”

Although the unique Star Ascension relic card was not part of the discounted items in the contract.

But Director Hou had promised him the cost price; it sold for 100,000 outside, but he could buy it for only 85,000.

However, Shi Li was not in a hurry. He clicked “No” first, then tallied his gains.

As he thought, this Tiao Tiao Treasure Guardian Squad was a fated hand card mission.

But he didn't expect that such a mission would even give Characteristics.

Tiao Tiao Rally - 15 Energy: Jumping Guard summons 1 Big Tiao Tiao, and does not affect actions (T0).

Big Tiao Tiao

Persistence, 10 points, No-star Attack 10, 20/20, 0/10

This Characteristic, Shi Li could only say it had its pros and cons compared to the Small Tiao Tiao.

The advantage of Small Tiao Tiao was its higher ceiling.

As long as there were enough empty card slots on the board, it could summon up to 6 Small Tiao Tiao at once.

65 = 30, that's 30 attack power.

However, if this skill was used, Tiao Tiao itself could not act again this turn, not even Defense.

So it was best used with 'Stay for Five More', used during the T0 when Tiao Tiao's delayed departure, then there would be no issue of occupying an action.

The advantage of Big Tiao Tiao was that it didn't occupy an action turn.

And Big Tiao Tiao's stats were superior to Small Tiao Tiao's.

10 energy could only get 1 Small Tiao Tiao, 5 attack 5 health,

15 energy could get 1 Big Tiao Tiao, 10 attack 20 health,

And 20 health was a relatively critical health threshold; under Defense, an opponent's 30 attack card couldn't instantly kill it.

The disadvantage was that it generated slowly, summoning at most 1 card per turn.

“As for this fated hand card—”

After reading it, Shi Li said it was hard to evaluate.

Unlike the violent transformation of Crimson Liberation: True, this Deceased's Talisman Removal, if not used well, would be equivalent to a useless card.

But if used well, its potential would not lose to Crimson Liberation: True.

After tallying, Shi Li checked the historical information records.

As expected, an additional prompt appeared.

Persistence Resonance: 80% → 100%

“No more talk, let's just try a few rounds.”

He directly opened the panel, and indeed, an entrance for Rampage Trial appeared.

Enter Persistence Trial.

This trial can only use Persistence cards.

Surviving 3 rounds with the deployable card count per game is considered passing.

Trial 0-1 is about to begin. Please select your deployed character card.

“I heard the rules of the Persistence Tower are a bit different, and indeed they are.”

Shi Li discovered its difference from the Rampage Tower.

Because Persistence cards generally weren't good at dealing damage, its trial tower didn't require Persistence cards to win the card game in the conventional sense.

It only needed to endure for enough rounds.

“However, as you get further, it actually becomes quite difficult.

Don't look at how many cards there are in a 9+1 card game, but it usually ends between 10 to 20 rounds.

Now, reaching a 9+1 deck means having to endure 30 rounds, which is really hard to say.”

In a 9+1 card game, the total base attack power of the opponent's 10 cards adds up to 330 points.

A 100-health character card, even with Defense, would be instantly killed by focused fire.

“However, in the first stage, I have an absolute winning advantage.”

Shi Li directly played his card.

Only 1 card could be deployed in the first stage, so 3 rounds needed to be endured.

And the Jumping Guard, as long as it had Stasis + Delayed Stasis, could absolutely survive 3.5, or even 4 rounds.

Breakthrough!

The opponent's enemy card was a woman in a taekwondo uniform.

From her card, Shi Li saw the second major mechanical difference between the Persistence Trial and the Rampage Trial.

Momentum - Persistence, Chasing Wind - Listen to the Wind, these two sets of cards have a certain opposition.

So, in the Persistence Trial, the enemies fought are Momentum cards.

In the Momentum Trial, the enemies fought are Persistence cards.

The same logic applies to Chasing Wind and Listen to the Wind.

Among the seven trial towers, the most straightforward was the Rampage Trial.

The first stage was passed smoothly.

Upon reaching the second stage, the number of deployable cards became 2.

Shi Li's lineup was Jumping Guard + white mountain.

Although without the support of cloud river, white mountain's Characteristic was effectively nonexistent.

However, even if it is only considered a non-unique, ordinary two-star character card, its strength is still very high.

Shield + Barrier, absolutely powerful.

In the later stages, he began to continuously use the one-star and two-star Persistence cards he had collected in advance.

In short, he gathered a complete set of 9+1.

Compared to the Rampage Tower, Shi Li's Persistence Tower was relatively smoother.

There were two reasons for this.

First, he possessed multiple survival-type hand cards like LV2 Defense and LV2 Shield, which could be used on multiple targets simultaneously.

This could significantly increase the survival time of his external cards (cards that take damage on the periphery).

Second, he possessed the Jumping Guard.

As an ace, the Jumping Guard had 100/100+100/100 health.

Unlike the 50/50+50/50, which loses a whole health bar with one hit.

100/100+100/100, under the premise of Defense, can truly withstand a lot of damage.

What's more, when the external cards are in Defense, the other Persistence cards aren't idle; they also deal damage.

By the time the opponent can actually hit his ace, their remaining offensive power won't be as strong.

After another 10 hours of continuous grinding, and with the boost from the two powerful exclusive item cards collected from [0-10] and [1-10], Shi Li unexpectedly cleared the [2-10] stage.

"Comfortable."

Now, his progress was much higher than Rampage.

For the reward of [2-10], he still chose 1 exclusive item card.

"Persistent Will": When holding this card, one card can be immune to all negative effects for 2 rounds in the Persistence Trial (bound).

This item card could even be used on the Jumping Guard.

Absolutely top-tier.

After receiving the reward for this stage, Shi Li knew that the good stuff was coming.

Only from the third major stage onwards would truly good things appear, or rather, things useful for the Platinum rank.

[3-1], only 1 character card can be fielded.

For the Jumping Guard, it was still a free win.

After spending 5000 cubic coins on refresh fees, Shi Li obtained a desired reward.

"Star Ascension Token Card Fragment 1/3": Allows 1 two-star Persistence character card (unique) to undertake a Star Ascension mission. [3-2] was also smoothly cleared.

Refreshing for 7000 cubic coins, another "Star Ascension Token Card Fragment 1/3" was acquired.

[3-3] was still relatively simple.

Refreshing for 6000 cubic coins, the third "Star Ascension Token Card Fragment 1/3" was acquired.

"Is this the charm of the Trial Tower?"

Shi Li was pleased.

A token card that would cost at least 85,000 to buy, he obtained here for only 18,000.

A huge profit.

Moreover, the previous 19 minor stages had no exclusive item card rewards, so he didn't have to worry about missing out on them.

He just needed to focus on refreshing for what he wanted.

Combining the three 1/3 fragments, he obtained one complete Persistence-type unique card two-to-three-star Star Ascension token card.

"Now I still have 92,000 cubic coins. The last time I Star Ascension cloud river, I didn't refresh, so the refresh fee won't increase.

If calculated at a refresh fee of 16,000, I can only refresh 5 times.

The probability of achieving 100% completion is a bit small."

Shi Li sighed, it seemed impossible to complete before the official start of the second phase.

As for stage [3-4], he tried several times but couldn't clear it.

And the process was quite despairing.

It seemed that for now, he couldn't continue climbing higher.

He immediately fell asleep and slept for a full 12 hours.

Upon waking, Shi Li entered the Space-Time Trace and arrived in Gan Territory, driving his hoverbike, stumbling and bumping, he arrived in Blueberry City a day early.

Arriving at his accommodation, Jiang Xiaoxiao had already left with her guide after being eliminated.

As for Chang Zhun, he was nowhere to be seen, but Shi Li knew that once the competition began, that guy would definitely show up on time.

The principal also didn't know where he had run off to, so the only one to greet Shi Li was Huo Guang.

"In the days you've been away, I've received some bad news."

The moment they returned to the room, Huo Guang's expression turned serious.

"Oh? Did the principal go streaking again?"

"No, not that."

With that, Huo Guang's mood was directly interrupted.

"First, you left early last time, so let me first tell you about the Banlan Tribe's official statistics for the top 64. They are—"

"If you read out all 64 names one by one, that would be too much of a waste of time."

Huo Guang had just composed himself, but was interrupted by Shi Li again.

"No, can you let me finish?"

He gave a wry smile, then, to avoid further interruption, quickly said: "Their ranks are: 1 person at Platinum 8, 3 people at Platinum 7, 57 people at Platinum 6 to 1, and 3 people at Gold."

Shi Li remembered that among the Banlan Tribe's participants, Platinum 7 was a gap.

So these 3 people should be other foreign players.

"So what?"

Actually, aside from those 3 Gold rank players, the other data was not surprising at all.

"Then let me tell you about the information our two guides collected during this period.

As of last night, the rank distribution of all 64 players in the second stage is: 1 person at Platinum 8, 21 people at Platinum 7, 38 people at Platinum 6 to 1, and 0 people at Gold rank."

"Huh?"

Shi Li's first reaction was, are these guys on drugs?

Only a few days had passed. The 3 Gold rank advancements were understandable.

After all, their rank was well above the Gold peak line, indicating a period of accumulation.

A coincidental promotion could be understood.

The number of Platinum 7 players suddenly increased by 18?

What a joke, this isn't some common cabbage.

"And you need to know, previously the Banlan Tribe had a gap in Platinum 7.

This time, out of those who advanced to Platinum 7, 16 out of 18 are young geniuses from the Banlan Tribe.

Many of them even advanced 2 or 3 ranks consecutively. And then, Platinum 6 and Platinum 5 also increased by 20 people, all of whom are Banlan Tribe geniuses.

It can be said that from this second stage onwards, the intensity of the competition has greatly increased."

"So what's the reason for this?"

Shi Li felt that these guys were even more fierce than himself.

"We discussed it and felt that besides the official rewards, various cities of the Banlan Tribe have invested a large amount of resources to help their young talents achieve better results."

"That's truly too generous."

Shi Li spread his hands.

Three-star character cards, are they something you can just get?

To make such progress in just ten days, the resources invested must have been a cramming-style approach.

"So tomorrow, no matter who you draw as an opponent, you need to be extra vigilant."

"Understood."

Shi Li nodded.

At the same time, still in that cellar.

The black-robed man sat in a chair, listening to his subordinate's report.

"My lord, our work this time was very smooth and very discreet.

Various regions, in order to compete for good rankings, have greatly increased their resource investment in participating geniuses.

Our controlled geniuses, mixed among them and growing rapidly, don't seem so conspicuous."

"Tell me the number and ranks of the geniuses we control."

"Yes! Among them are 1 person at Platinum 8, 3 people at Platinum 7, 2 people at Platinum 6, and 5 people below Platinum 6. In total, we have 11 geniuses among the top 64."

"Hmm--"

The black-robed man nodded with satisfaction upon hearing this.

A proportion of 11/64 was already quite significant.

Especially since even A Ya Jun, that Platinum 8, was under their control.

This was very good.

With this, the chances of entering the Sacred Flame Hall would greatly increase.

At that time, they would coordinate from inside and outside—

"This result is very good, you've worked hard."

"For the Blacklight, for my lord, your subordinate will brave any danger!"

Upon receiving the black-robed man's approval, the subordinate immediately knelt on one knee.

"Additionally, to be safe, you need to interfere with the drawing results.

We cannot let these 11 geniuses fight among themselves, and we must also ensure their advancement.

In the rounds of 64 to 32 and 32 to 16, assign them relatively weaker opponents.

For example, Platinum 7 playing against Platinum 4, and so on."

If all 11 people could enter the top 16, they could even directly "guarantee" 1 to 2 people into the top three.

"Please rest assured, my lord, your subordinate has already laid out secret arrangements two years ago.

The drawing of lots will be foolproof."