56: Chapter 56 Internal Strife

The post by "Outlaw Zhang San" was like a bomb dropped into a deep pool; where the aftershocks spread, it kicked up monstrous waves.

The screenshot of that stitched monster, especially that single eye slowly opening—identical to the "Abyssal Gazer"—became a nightmare for all players.

It wasn't just a stronger monster; it was a declaration, a cold and cruel mockery from that "activated" land to all players.

The [World Channel] went silent for a full three minutes.

This was unprecedented in a channel always filled with bragging, cursing, and party requests.

Then, information exploded like a flood bursting through a dam.

"Holy shit... how are we supposed to play this? The tactics we summarized with our lives turned around and became experience points fed to the BOSS?"

"This isn't a game anymore, this is... this is raising Gu! We are the Gu insects, and that land is raising the strongest Gu King!"

"I Love Exploiting Loopholes" sent a string of ellipses in the guild channel; this pioneer, who always took pleasure in finding system bugs, felt a sense of powerlessness for the first time.

He muttered, "The rules themselves... are becoming our enemy."

Panic, confusion, anger.

All sorts of emotions spread among the player base.

Some proposed a temporary truce, retreating to the safe zone to plan long-term.

Others advocated for using a massive amount of human lives to stack up, using absolute numerical superiority to forcibly flatten the entire "Scar of the Fallen Star" before the monsters could "learn."

Amidst this chaos, a player with a golden, glittering ID named "Holy Light Hunk" let out a deafening roar on the World Channel.

"Enough!"

Two words, carrying an unquestionable Majesty.

"What are you afraid of? Mere magical creatures, even if they've gained sentience, are nothing more than heretical demons! The land being tainted by demonic energy and breeding these stitched monsters precisely proves its weakness and corruption!"

"We are the Heavenly Chosen Filial Grandsons of our ancestors, the sparks of civilization, and the guardians of order! Faced with filth, the only choice is to purify it! Thoroughly and completely, we will plow every inch of contaminated land again with holy light—no, with the blades in our hands!"

"I hereby establish the 'Purifiers' alliance! All brothers who do not wish to associate with magical creatures and are willing to fight for the orthodox path of humanity, come over! We have only one goal: Purify the Scar of the Fallen Star! Let the demonic land return to pure land, and let the evil things turn to ashes!"

The speech by "Holy Light Hunk" was like lighting a lighthouse in the mist.

He was a top-tier PVP player himself, with a straightforward personality and a hatred for evil, holding high prestige among players.

His words instantly ignited the passion and sense of justice in a significant portion of the players.

"Well said! Hunk-bro, count me in! I hate these fancy tricks the most, just do it!"

"Purify! Purify! Blow all those disgusting things away!"

"This is the right way to play! We're here to pioneer and build cities, not to play house with monsters!"

In an instant, respondents gathered in droves.

With "Holy Light Hunk" as the core, a massive alliance prototype quickly formed.

Filled with righteous indignation and raring to go, they prepared to launch a holy crusade against the "Scar of the Fallen Star."

However, just as the "Purifiers" alliance's momentum was at its peak, a completely different voice appeared quietly under the pinned post on the forum like a ghostly shadow.

The poster's ID was "Plague Knight - Zero."

"Stupid."

His reply was only two words, yet it was more provocative than Holy Light Hunk's ten-thousand-word manifesto.

The space below the post was instantly overrun by supporters of the "Purifiers."

"Who are you calling stupid?!"

"A rat hiding its head and tail, show yourself if you have the guts!"

"Zero? Never heard of him. Where did this clown come from to seek attention?"

Facing the tide of curses, "Plague Knight - Zero" did not reply again.

He simply started a new post with a blood-red title.

《You Fear Power, While I Choose to Harness It》

" 'Outlaw Zhang San' was half right. This land is learning from us, but learning is a two-way street."

"It records our tactics; why can't we analyze its evolution?"

"You saw the stitched monsters, you saw the eyes of the 'Abyssal Gazer.' You felt fear and wanted to destroy it. But I only saw its power—that precise focused fire, that predictive evasion, that intelligence to prioritize attacking healers... aren't these exactly what we dream of?"

"Purify? Using human lives to fill an abyss that learns on its own? How laughable. This is no different from a mortal trying to drain the ocean with a spoon. True pioneers never fear the waves; they choose to build a stronger ship."

"This land is not the enemy; it is the best teacher and the richest treasure. It is showing us a shortcut to greater power. What you want to purify is precisely the ladder we rely on for evolution."

"All explorers who crave power and are not bound by so-called 'good and evil,' come find me."

"I will lead you to become the new masters of this land, rather than weak Purifiers."

This post, like a poisoned dagger, accurately pierced the deepest desire in the players' hearts—the desire for power.

If "Holy Light Hunk" represented order and glory, then "Plague Knight - Zero" represented chaos and power.

Most players were still wavering, but those loners who were frustrated in PVP and craved a shortcut, those explorers with a fanatical interest in non-mainstream gameplay, and those pragmatists who believed "it doesn't matter if a cat is black or white as long as it catches mice," all fell silent.

Their hearts were already shaken.

At the edge of the "Scar of the Fallen Star," in a temporary frontline camp led by "Infrastructure Maniac" and "Liver Emperor V87," the atmosphere was heavy.

"I Love Exploiting Loopholes" frowned deeply, repeatedly re-watching that battle video of the "Rotten Bone Hound," trying to find logic loopholes in the AI's actions.

The lifestyle player "Skillful Hands Mending" fell into deep thought while looking at the [Blackened Bone] dropped from the hound.

She tried to decompose and polish it with various tools, but the bone was exceptionally hard and seemed to contain some kind of energy she couldn't understand.

"Gossip Reporter Little Trumpet" was interviewing everywhere in the camp, organizing the views of the two factions' big shots and the players' reactions into real-time battlefield reports to post on the forum, further intensifying the opposition of viewpoints.

Just then, a commotion came from outside the camp.

"Plague Knight - Zero" had returned.

He didn't come back alone.

Behind him, he was dragging a massive, still slightly twitching corpse.

It was precisely that "stitched monster" that had utterly defeated the vanguard of "Charge to the End."

No one knew how he had taken down this mini-BOSS single-handedly.

He was covered in blood, and his equipment was severely damaged, clearly having paid a heavy price.

But he had returned alive and brought back the spoils of war.

He ignored the players' gazes—some in awe, some wary, some disgusted—and walked straight to the most remote corner of the camp, which was his temporary "laboratory."

He placed the still-beating single eye dug out from the stitched monster onto a black stone slab.

That eyeball seemed to still be alive; the pupil was turning in a disorderly fashion, emitting a heart-palpitating demonic energy.

"Zero, what do you want to do?" a voice sounded.

It was "Holy Light Hunk," leading a group of core members from the "Purifiers" alliance, blocking Zero's path.

His eyes were sharp as knives, as if he wanted to purify Zero and the eyeball at his feet together.

"Doing an experiment," Zero said hoarsely, without looking up.

"This is an evil thing! It must be destroyed immediately!" Holy Light Hunk said sternly.

"Evil thing?" Zero finally looked up, a trace of a mocking smile appearing on his pale face. "In your eyes, things you can't understand are all evil things. In my eyes, it's just material."

After saying that, he ignored Holy Light Hunk, took out a pitch-black dagger from his backpack, and with his other hand, took out something—his own armguard.

Under everyone's horrified gaze, he used the dagger to slice open his own arm, letting the blood flow into the runic grooves of the armguard.

Then, he raised the dagger and stabbed it into that single eye without hesitation!

*Pfft!*

Dark green fluid splashed everywhere.

The eyeball trembled violently and let out a silent shriek; a visible black mist, mixed with venomous and chaotic mental fluctuations, suddenly exploded!

"Watch out!" Holy Light Hunk shouted, a faint golden light rising from his body to form a barrier, protecting the people behind him.

But Zero, facing the core of the explosion, did not dodge.

He let the black mist swallow him; his whole body trembled violently in the black mist, as if he were enduring immense pain.

"Madman... he's a complete madman!" a Purifier player said with a trembling voice.

Just when everyone thought Zero would be eroded by the demonic energy and turn into a new monster, the black mist began to roll back.

They did not dissipate but were instead forcibly pulled by an invisible force and poured into the blood-soaked armguard in his hand!

The runes on the armguard lit up one by one, emitting an eerie purple light.

Finally, that completely shriveled eyeball turned into a streak of light and was branded into the center of the armguard, forming a bizarre eye totem that looked as if it could open at any moment.

[System Prompt: You have successfully fused the 'Abyssal Gazer's Core' with the 'Runic Iron Armor.' You have created a new item...]

[Naming Successful: abyssal gazers wrist]

The black mist dispersed.

Zero knelt on one knee, gasping for breath, his face even paler than before.

But his eyes were terrifyingly bright, filled with fanaticism and excitement.

He slowly stood up and put the brand-new, hideously styled armguard back onto his arm.

The eye totem on the armguard seemed to have merged with him, flickering with an ominous faint light.

"You... you heretic!" Holy Light Hunk looked at him, saying each word deliberately, his grip on his longsword turning white.

He felt a sickeningly pure power of chaos from that armguard.

Zero did not answer.

He just turned around and looked at that dim demonic land outside the camp.

Just then, a roar came from afar; a small player exploration team was surrounded by three evolved "Giant Strength Demon Apes," their situation critical.

Those three demonic apes coordinated perfectly—one attacking primarily while the other two flanked to target the team's healer; their tactical literacy was even higher than some players'.

"Let's see its effect," Zero whispered to himself.

The next moment, he moved.

His speed was at least thirty percent faster than before!

His whole being turned into an arrow leaving the string, instantly rushing into the fray.

The leading Giant Strength Demon Ape roared, its fist as large as a casserole dish carrying ten thousand catties of force as it smashed toward him.

Zero did not dodge; the [abyssal gazers wrist] on his left arm met it head-on.

*Buzz—*

The eye totem on the armguard suddenly snapped open!

An invisible mental shock was precisely blasted into the Giant Strength Demon Ape's brain.

The Giant Strength Demon Ape's massive body suddenly stiffened, a trace of confusion flashing in its eyes.

It was in this split second of pause.

Zero's body twisted at an incredible angle, and the dagger in his hand, like a viper's fang, silently sliced across the Giant Strength Demon Ape's throat.

-2800!

A huge critical hit damage number floated up from the demonic ape's head.

Instant kill!

Seeing this, the other two demonic apes did not retreat but instead launched an attack simultaneously, one from the left and one from the right, sealing off all of Zero's paths of retreat.

The timing of their attack was extremely tricky, occurring just at the moment when Zero's old strength was spent and his new strength was not yet generated.

This was a certain-kill formation they had learned from players' combat data.

By the camp, Holy Light Hunk's pupils suddenly constricted.

He asked himself: if it were him facing this strike, he could only tank it head-on; there was absolutely no possibility of dodging.

However, a bizarre curve hooked at the corner of Zero's mouth.

The eye totem on his left arm turned again; what was reflected in the pupil was no longer the figures of the demonic apes, but... the trajectories of those two demonic apes' upcoming attacks!

Prediction!

No, it was insight!

This armguard had actually inherited that "predictive" ability of the stitched monster!

In the blink of an eye, Zero's body performed an anti-joint evasion move that a human could never possibly make, barely passing through the gap between the two giant fists.

At the same time, the dagger in his hand drew two cold arcs in mid-air.

Two more huge critical hit numbers floated up.

The battle was over.

From the moment he intervened to the three powerful evolved demonic apes falling to the ground, it took less than ten seconds.

Clean, neat, efficient, and... eerie.

The rescued player team stared at him dumbfoundedly, unable to say a single word.

Before the camp, there was a deathly silence.

Everyone was shocked by this overwhelming, unreasonable power.

"See," Zero slowly turned around, his gaze sweeping over everyone present, finally resting on Holy Light Hunk's face, "this is what you want to purify."

Holy Light Hunk stared fixedly at the armguard on his arm that was slowly closing its eye, his body trembling slightly with anger.

"In the name of power, walking the path of demons." His voice was cold to the extreme. "You are no longer one of our kind."

He slowly raised the longsword in his hand, the tip pointing directly at Zero.

"In the name of the leader of the 'Purifiers' alliance, I hereby declare."

"Plague Knight - Zero and his followers are enemies of the players and a cancer of civilization. All who see them may kill them!"

*Clang!*

Behind him, hundreds of members of the "Purifiers" alliance drew their weapons at the same time, a tense standoff.

And behind Zero, those loners and pragmatists who were originally watching with flickering eyes also silently stepped out after a few seconds of silence, gripping their weapons tightly.

The look in their eyes as they watched Zero's armguard was filled with greed and fanaticism.

At this moment, the air froze.

The two groups of players confronted each other with distinct boundaries; separated between them was an invisible chasm called belief.

In the most inconspicuous corner of the camp, "Gossip Reporter Little Trumpet" quietly closed the recording interface and posted a new post on the forum.

The title was simple, with only four words.

《Civil War Has Begun.》