196: Chapter 196 The Vanished Tower

Wave after wave of Calamity Demons emerged continuously from the edges of the map, and each country had to use Towers to defend its own crystal.

According to the rankings from the prerequisite mission, Russia and the USA started with 10 Towers, Rome with 6, and other countries with 8.

Furthermore, the Towers belonging to the USA and Russia, which had 10 each, possessed greater strength.

China and Ottoman ranked at the bottom of the prerequisite mission, and their crystals, lacking a single Tower, were destroyed in the very first round of the demons' attack.

Chen Aoyun, who had been eliminated, was still observing the situation on the battlefield, and he soon discovered that the 'Tower Defense Game' before him was far more complex than he had imagined.

Just as the rules stated, after clearing a certain number of waves of Calamity Demons, 'Special Targets' indeed appeared on the map.

However, the way these 'Special Targets' appeared was unexpected.

When the 'Special Targets' appeared, a thick black curtain would instantly descend over the entire map. After the black curtain fell, the [Strategists] of each country, who could originally oversee the entire map's situation, were left with only the road they were defending in their field of view, unable to see the situation of other countries.

"What happened? Why did the sky suddenly turn black?" With his field of view suddenly compressed, Adar shouted in alarm.

Although Ottoman and China had already been eliminated, they were still considered players in this 'Tower Defense Game', just without the gameplay experience.

The black curtain also descended on the roads defended by Ottoman and China, and 'Special Targets' appeared there as well.

The only difference was that for countries whose crystals were still intact, the crystals could convert the demons killed by the Towers into resources. However, since China and Ottoman no longer had crystals, they could only 'watch the ocean', helpless as they stared at the 'Special Targets' slipping past them and finally diving into the void left behind after the crystals exploded.

"Is this what a 'Special Target' is? You can get total points directly by killing it? It looks much tougher than the demons in the normal waves!"

He tried to chat with Chen Aoyun, but Chen Aoyun ignored him. Having no other choice, Adar could only cast his gaze back to his own empty road, where not a single Tower had been erected.

"Eh? There's more than one 'Special Target'?"

"Killing the golden 'Special Target' grants an extra point of total score, while the red 'Special Target' indicates that killing it grants an 'Attack Right'. What does 'Attack Right' mean?"

Adar nudged Chen Aoyun with his shoulder. Chen Aoyun had also seen these two 'Special Targets' of different colors on China's 'abandoned' road, but for a moment, he couldn't quite figure out what the so-called 'Attack Right' was.

The black curtain lasted for nearly five minutes. When the thick black mist dissipated, Chen Aoyun did not know how many countries had killed the golden 'Special Target' and earned an extra point of total score.

However, Chen Aoyun clearly discovered... that the USA's Towers were now missing one!

"Didn't the rules state that no matter the type or strength of the demons, they cannot attack the Towers? Since the demons cannot cause damage to the Towers, then how did the USA lose a Tower inexplicably as soon as the sky turned dark and then bright again?"

Adar always had this exaggerated expression when encountering things, pointing and fussing at the place where the USA's Tower had disappeared, as if the Tower that had inexplicably vanished belonged to his own Ottoman.

A roar suddenly resounded across the chessboard. Brown, the [Strategist] of the USA, clutched a special red token in his hand, looked around, and angrily questioned everyone present,

"Who! Who used the 'Attack Right' to destroy one of the USA's Towers! Stand out!"

"It is understandable to use the token for attack privileges once obtained. But to use it stealthily in the nightfall, isn't that a bit too despicable? What? Are you afraid of the USA's retaliation?"

Brown, the [Strategist] of the USA, looked around, but not a single country was willing to take responsibility for the missing Tower.

Brown's eyes were sharp, and he slowly shifted his gaze toward Toslev, the [Strategist] of Russia. "Is it you? Apart from the USA, the only country with the capability to take down two 'Special Targets' in a short time is your Russia! Answer me! If you don't answer, I will take it as your admission!"

You destroyed one of my Towers, so I will naturally retaliate and destroy one of Russia's Towers as well! Brown made a gesture to raise the red token in his hand, and the peculiar rule power within the token stirred at this moment.

Toslev, the [Strategist] of Russia, originally did not want to pay attention to Brown, but after thinking for a while, he spoke, "The reason I am explaining to you is not because I am afraid of you, but simply because I do not want to take the blame for someone else. This is the token my Russia obtained after just killing the red 'Special Target'! Take a good look, the token is still intact, and the authority rules within it have not disappeared."

Toslev pulled out an identical token and shoved it in Brown's face, then didn't say another word.

Brown confirmed that the other party's authority token had indeed not been used, his expression softened significantly, and he then cast his suspicious gaze toward the [Strategists] of other countries.

It was not out of fear, but simply because they did not want to have unnecessary conflicts with the powerful USA for no reason. The [Strategist] of Britain spoke first to explain, "Don't look at me, I can't produce a token to prove anything. As you yourself just said, the only countries capable of killing two Special Targets in the short nightfall are your USA and Russia."

"For countries like us with few and low-quality Towers, it is a struggle even to kill one golden 'Special Target', and we all need to expend extra resources to summon a Heroic Spirit Manifestation to take action. How could we possibly have the extra time and resources to kill the red 'Special Target'?"

The [Strategists] of other countries expressed their agreement with the Briton's words, and Brown also felt that what the other party said made sense, and he was momentarily stunned.

This conversation provided enough information, and Chen Aoyun, who was listening on the side, soon figured out the ins and outs of the matter:

"The demons cannot destroy the Towers, so if the USA had a Tower destroyed, it must be the work of the players. However, the [Strategists] of various countries cannot directly launch surprise attacks on other countries' Towers; to launch a surprise attack, one must have that red token. One can only obtain the red token by killing the red 'Special Target'. The only countries capable of killing two 'Special Targets' at the same time, besides the USA itself, is Russia. Russia has a red token in hand, but their token has not been used."

In that case, who destroyed the Tower? Chen Aoyun crossed his arms, lost in thought.

The next wave of demon attacks after the nightfall was about to begin. It seemed intentional to leave enough time for each country to find the 'culprit'.

The next wave of demons required all countries to confirm readiness before it would start. For the first 'confirm readiness', as long as one of the seven countries that had not been eliminated clicked 'No', the time for the next wave of demons to appear would be delayed by five minutes.

After five minutes, there would be another 'confirm readiness', and this time it would require two countries to click 'No' to delay the appearance of the demons. Following this logic, the further it went, the more countries would be needed to click 'No' to delay the appearance of the demons.

Such a design both left enough time and prevented the game from being paused endlessly, which was extremely clever.

The appearance time of the demons was delayed twice in the blink of an eye. For two full five-minute periods, Brown of the USA still could not find a target to vent his anger on. Although he had a red token in his hand, he did not know who to retaliate against.

"Since you can't find who destroyed the Tower, why doesn't the USA just use the red token to strike Russia? Russia now has one more Tower than the USA."

As soon as Fan Ling asked this, he was mocked by Adar beside him, "You are really incredibly stupid. Russia also has a red token in hand! If the USA disregarded everything and directly used the token to destroy Russia's Tower, wouldn't the two countries be at each other's throats? If the two strongest countries are at each other's throats, wouldn't the other countries be overjoyed?"

Fan Ling was not stupid; he just didn't want to rack his brain over matters unrelated to China. However, after hearing this, Chen Aoyun's gaze suddenly shifted toward Sakura Country. He always had a feeling that this was a mess caused by the Sakura people. But Chen Aoyun could not find the motive.

"The USA inexplicably lost a Tower, and the one most suspicious should be Russia. But if inciting the confrontation between the USA and Russia was the Sakura people's scheme, then the Sakura people could benefit from it, but isn't it not cost-effective enough?"

"Sakura Country's Towers are not enough to take down two Special Targets. If all this was the work of Sakura, then Sakura Country must have given up the golden target just now and obtained the red token to set up this situation. Trading one point of total score for such a situation where multiple countries can benefit. What is the Sakura people's goal? It's not cost-effective!"

If Sakura Country was aiming for the total score, then there was absolutely no reason for Sakura Country to give up the golden target. If Sakura Country was not aiming for the total score, then whether the USA and Russia were opposing each other or not had nothing to do with the Sakura people. In short, Chen Aoyun suspected the Sakura people one hundred percent, but he could not find the motive for the Sakura people to do this.

Although he still had many questions in his heart, Chen Aoyun bluntly pointed out his suspicion and directly questioned the Sakura people, "This wouldn't be your doing, would it?"

Saku Kenichi acted as if he had heard a very funny joke, "My doing? Why would I do such a thing?"

Chen Aoyun: "I don't know, I just have a feeling it's you."

Saku Kenichi's mouth twitched. He tried to argue one by one; he had a hundred excuses to clear himself of suspicion, but Chen Aoyun was being unreasonable, just saying it was a feeling, which instead left him unable to refute.

However, Saku Kenichi was not panicked, or rather, he was just waiting for this questioning from Chen Aoyun!

Saku Kenichi saw, slowly pulled out a red token from his bosom, and held it up, not minding anyone inspecting it.

"An unused red token?" Everyone was stunned after seeing Saku Kenichi also pull out a red token, "When the black mist descended just now, your Sakura Country didn't kill the golden Special Target, but killed the red target instead?"

"Oh, that's right! Sakura Country doesn't care about the ranking in this Game of National Destiny, and the golden target is not important to your Sakura Country."

An unused red token completely cleared the Sakura people of suspicion!

But upon seeing this, Chen Aoyun grew even more suspicious of Saku Kenichi, "Not caring about the ranking? Why not care? In this act, my China has already been eliminated, and you Sakura Country do not need to spend energy on my China. At this time, shouldn't it be a great opportunity to catch up on the total score? Ten times the reward!"

"My China needs national destiny to deal with the [National War] that your Sakura Country is about to initiate, but does your Sakura Country not need national destiny? It's the exact opposite, right? The national destiny consumed by initiating a [National War] is huge. Your Sakura Country might disdain the normal rate of national destiny rewards, but with ten times the national destiny, is your Sakura Country not tempted at all?"

Chen Aoyun's words made some sense, and the various countries expressed their agreement. However, Saku Kenichi had already taken out the red token, so the [Strategists] of the various countries shook their heads at Chen Aoyun's words.

The [Strategist] of France even bluntly said, "We know Sakura Country is targeting your China and will initiate a [National War] against your China in the future; you two are at odds. But the conflict between you is your own business, and you cannot treat others as fools."

"During the nightfall just now, the road guarded by each country only spawned one red Special Target, and each red Special Target can only provide one such token. If Sakura Country didn't have this token in hand, it might be worth suspecting, but they have this token in hand, the token has not been used, and it is allowed for anyone to inspect. Then what suspicion is there to speak of?"

Chen Aoyun's expression was calm, and he did not argue, as if he accepted the Frenchman's analysis.

It was at this moment that the 'confirm readiness' prompt appeared again. Although Brown of the USA wanted to continue investigating, with no leads to follow, not many countries were willing to cooperate, and they all clicked the 'Confirm' option.

The next moment, a new wave of demons began to march toward the crystals of each country.

"Where are you going?" Chen Aoyun suddenly took a step. Adar saw the direction Chen Aoyun was heading, which was toward the direction of the [Strategist] of Russia, "Are you looking for the Russian? Or do you suspect that the USA missing a Tower has something to do with the Sakura people?"

"In a situation where only one Special Target can be killed, the Sakura people did not kill the golden Special Target, but instead killed the red Special Target. The existence of the token cleared his suspicion, but it actually makes me feel even more strange. Don't follow me."

He turned his head to look at Zhao Hongxiu, Fan Ling, and others, "You all don't follow either; I have some things to confirm with the [Strategist] of Russia."

Chen Aoyun walked toward Toslev, and many people's gazes swept over, but they quickly withdrew them.

There were not many things for the [Strategists] to worry about in the 'Tower Defense Game', nothing more than how to allocate resources after dealing with wave after wave of demons, whether to build more Towers or upgrade Towers, or perhaps save some resources to summon a Heroic Spirit Manifestation in case of emergency.

These were all things that could be accomplished with a single thought under the [Strategist]'s authority, so when Chen Aoyun came to Toslev's side to talk to him, Toslev did not refuse.

"Can you let me see your red token? China has already been eliminated in this act; showing it to me will not pose any threat to Russia."

Toslev pondered for a moment, then handed the red token to Chen Aoyun.

Holding the token in his hand, a set of rules for using the token drilled into Chen Aoyun's mind. The rules within the token did not provide Chen Aoyun with the answer, but instead made him even more confused about the Tower destroyed in the USA...