60: Chapter 60 Failed Public Relations

The golden scales, like an eternal sun that never sets, hung high in the firmament.

That light was not blazing hot, but it was like billions of red-hot poisonous needles piercing into the depths of every player's soul, ruthlessly dragging all their hidden thoughts and pasts into the light of day.

Time, at this moment, seemed to be stretched into thick, viscous amber.

The bustling construction of the "City of Liver Emperor" came to a screeching halt. Tens of thousands of players froze in place, like marionettes whose pause button had been pressed by a god.

Fear is a very strange emotion.

When it breaks through a certain threshold, it instead gives birth to an absurd kind of courage.

"Gulp."

All Realms Connector swallowed hard with difficulty. The fat on his face twitched slightly due to excessive tension, but his small eyes, squinted into slits, flickered with the shrewdness of a merchant and the madness of a gambler.

He was the president of the "Heaven-Reaching Chamber of Commerce," one of the rule-makers and beneficiaries within the player society.

He knew better than anyone that when facing an absolutely irresistible force, head-on resistance was the stupidest choice.

"This... Immortal!"

All Realms Connector forced out a smile that looked more painful than crying. He cupped his hands toward the sky, his voice spreading in all directions as he utilized spiritual energy.

He didn't question the other party's identity, nor did he refute the derogatory term "tumor." Instead, he cut directly into the field he was best at.

"Immortal, please see clearly! Although we... uh, don't stick to trivialities in our actions, we have absolutely no intention of defying the Heavenly Dao! It's truly because we've just arrived and don't understand the rules of this realm. We've caused much offense, and we hope the Immortal will be magnanimous!"

He spoke these words with extreme humility, putting himself in the lowest possible posture.

As he spoke, he quietly issued a series of commands in the Chamber of Commerce channel.

"All Chamber members! Immediately! Right now! Take out everything in our inventory that looks the most 'righteous' and 'auspicious'—Centennial Lingzhi, Millennial Snow Lotus, Auspicious Cloud Dharma Robes... Put them all out! Fast!"

He attempted to use the logic players were most familiar with—"gifting"—to complete an unbelievable feat of "crisis public relations."

In the next second, under the astonished gazes of countless players, lights flashed repeatedly in the central plaza of the "City of Liver Emperor."

A small mountain piled with rare spiritual materials appeared out of thin air, radiating precious light and misty spiritual qi.

The leading item was even a shimmering, exceptionally well-presented Nine Heavens Cloud-Mist Robe.

"A small gift, just a token of our respect!" All Realms Connector shouted loudly, his face full of a pained yet flattering smile. "Consider this our apology to the Immortal! From now on, we are willing to honor the Immortal as our superior, offering tributes and paying homage every year. We only ask the Immortal to point out a clear path for us!"

This maneuver left countless players dumbfounded.

"Holy crap, Boss Wan is awesome! You can even play it like this?"

"Is this... live-action pay-to-win bribing of a GM?"

"Will it work? This NPC looks like he's completely immune to persuasion."

Even Zero and Holy Light Hunk, far away in the depths of the Demon Realm, felt a bit of admiration for All Realms Connector's quick wit.

However, the person they were facing was the Chief Examiner.

Up in the sky, the Chief Examiner's expression didn't flicker in the slightest. His gaze was like that of a dragon watching a worm trying to please it with secreted slime—filled with cold, high-and-mighty indifference.

"Public relations?" An attendant beside him sneered, his laughter full of disdain. "Stupid parasites, do you think the Majesty of the Holy Land can be bought with these filthy, mundane objects?"

The Chief Examiner slowly raised his eyelids, his gaze finally landing on All Realms Connector.

"Cunning, greedy, and utterly without reverence."

He spoke each word deliberately, like a sentence being passed.

"Measuring everything with profit, treating rules as nothing. When judgment descends, you do not think of repentance, but instead attempt to use even greater 'evil' to bribe the executor of the 'law'."

His voice suddenly turned sharp and severe:

"For this, your crime is increased by one degree!"

Boom—!

The moment his voice fell, the scales of law hanging in the sky shook violently.

The side representing 'evil' suddenly plummeted!

The smile on All Realms Connector's face froze instantly. An invisible sledgehammer slammed hard into his chest; his whole body felt like it had been struck by lightning. He spat out a mouthful of blood, and his aura immediately withered away.

The pile of "gifts" he had sent out also shattered inch by inch under the invisible force, turning into mundane dust.

It failed.

A total and complete failure.

"The liquidation begins."

The Chief Examiner no longer paid attention to anyone. His finger lightly tapped the central fulcrum of the scales of law.

Buzz—

In the perception of all players, the entire world began to rewind.

Scenes they had long grown accustomed to, and even took pride in as "highlight moments," flashed across the sky like a revolving lantern from an absolutely objective and cold-blooded "third-party perspective."

The first scene appeared.

Black Wind Stockade.

Demolition Office Director stood spiritedly at the main gate of the stockade, raising his arms and shouting: "Brothers, the BOSS is down! Raid their home base, dig up even the foundations!"

Hundreds of players rushed in with wild laughter, hacking and slashing, tearing houses into fragments.

In their perspective, this was a celebration of victory, the thrill of "home-wrecking," and the joy of picking up loot.

But under the "true perspective" of the sky, the scene was: a group of hideous-looking "demons," after slaughtering the stockade's protectors, inhumanely destroying the dwellings that ordinary bandit families relied on for survival. Their laughter sounded no different from the roars of evil ghosts to the shivering women and children.

On the scales of law, the weight on the 'evil' side increased significantly.

The second scene.

Qingxi Chen Family.

At the final moment of the "Ancestral Hall Defense Battle," the Pot Lid Army led by Shield Mountain held the front line firmly. The "Kamikaze Suicide Squad" behind them, led by Charge to the End, used their lives to grind down the exhausted Chen Family head, Chen Xiao, at the cost of several total wipes.

In the players' perspective, this was a tragic epic, a tactical victory, and the glory of the "Suicide Squad" spirit.

Under the sky's perspective: a white-haired cultivator, in order to protect his home, fought until the very last moment.

His magic power was exhausted, his eyes filled with defiance and despair, yet he was pounced upon again and again by a group of soul-less "undead legions" who feared no death, using the most primitive and cruel methods to wear him down and tear him apart alive.

On the scales, the 'evil' end sank again, letting out a groan as if unable to bear the weight.

The third scene, the fourth scene, countless scenes...

The "PVP" where players slaughtered another team to the last man in the wild just to snatch an elite mob.

The "pro-gamer moves" of tricking innocent NPCs into traps to fall to their deaths just to complete a quest.

The "equipment testing" where an entire mountain forest's living beings were put to the torch just to test the power of a newly acquired dharma tool.

Even... the single piece of "firewood" burned when I Love Exploiting Loopholes first discovered the "Incense Buff" was judged as the "crime of deceiving ancestors and great disrespect."

Case by case, item by item.

Those past events that players treated as "memes," "jokes," and "guides" were stripped of their "game" shells under the light of the scales of law, revealing a bloody "reality" core.

"No... way..." Skillful Hands Mending covered her mouth, her face pale.

She remembered the scene where she killed an entire nest of newborn piglets just to skin a perfect Tusked Wild Boar Hide.

At that time, she only thought of it as "farming materials," but now...

"We... us..." Even War God Number One, who was usually known for his recklessness, felt a bone-chilling cold at this moment.

The entire player community fell into a deathly silence.

For the first time, they were forced to stand in the perspective of "NPCs" and examine everything about their past.

That feeling was like a bratty kid who had been wreaking havoc in a virtual world suddenly being pinned down by real-world police and told that everything he did carried real legal responsibility.

On the command tower of the "City of Liver Emperor," Liver Emperor V87 stared blankly at the sky. The floating city he was so proud of, which integrated the blood and effort of countless players, was labeled in the sky's judgment as an [Object that Defies the Heavenly Dao, Stealing Spiritual Qi from the Earth Veins; its crime deserves death].

"It's over..." All Realms Connector's face was ashen.

"No!"

A roar broke the dead silence.

It was Holy Light Hunk!

His eyes were bloodshot as he stared fixedly at the images in the sky, which were currently playing the scene where he led the "Purifiers" alliance to completely "purify" a merchant caravan that had sided with the demonic path, including both people and goods.

"Those we killed were of the demonic path! Scum! Evil! What crime is there in that?!" he questioned hoarsely, pointing at the sky.

The Chief Examiner's gaze was like looking at a pathetic idiot.

"How can 'good' and 'evil' be determined by the likes of you?" His voice resounded through heaven and earth. "Using the name of 'Holy Light' to carry out 'judgment' is already an overstepping of bounds. Indiscriminately killing mortals, even if they have guilt in their hearts, is not a law your kind can execute. This is knowingly breaking the law; the sin is even deeper!"

"Pfft!"

Holy Light Hunk's Dao heart was wounded, and he spat out another mouthful of blood.

The beliefs he took pride in were completely refuted before the other party's "Heavenly Principles."

On the other side, Plague Knight - Zero's eyes grew brighter and brighter.

He watched as his various actions on the sky—studying the Heavenly Demon Strategy, harnessing demonic qi, and even not hesitating to "demonize" himself—were judged as [Falling into the Demonic Path, Willingly Sinking, Beyond Redemption].

Not only did he feel no fear, but a strange curve instead hooked at the corner of his mouth.

He didn't care about good or evil; he only cared about the essence of power.

The Chief Examiner's judgment instead indirectly confirmed that the path he was walking was a powerful path that could truly touch the "taboos" of this world.

In a corner of the crowd, one figure seemed out of place.

He didn't look at those heart-wrenching images, nor was he intimidated by that grand heavenly Majesty.

Outlaw Zhang San.

He pushed up the non-existent glasses on the bridge of his nose, staring fixedly at the giant scales of law, his eyes filled with a near-fanatical desire for research.

"It only judges actions, not motives... what it records is the 'cause,' and what it bestows is the 'effect'..."

"There's a priority in the judgment logic... the sin of 'indiscriminate killing' is higher than the merit of 'eradicating demons'..."

"The data is read in real-time... So, as long as a new 'cause' is input before the 'effect' descends, can the balance of the scales be changed?"

Like a mad scientist who had discovered a new continent, he was frantically performing deductions in his mind.

At this very moment, the liquidation of the scales of law finally reached its end.

The side representing 'evil' had sunk to an incomparable bottom, while the side representing 'good' was tilted high up, almost completely empty.

The entire scale presented a shocking tilt that looked as if it were about to collapse.

The Chief Examiner watched all this coldly, as if looking at a report whose results were already expected.

"The sins are monstrous; there is no pardon."

He raised his right hand high, fingers spread, aiming at the tens of thousands of players below, aiming at that magnificent "City of Liver Emperor."

"In the name of the Holy Land, upholding the law of the Heavenly Dao."

"Hereby, I announce your end—"

"Heavenly Tribulation!"

In an instant, high in the nine heavens, the wind and clouds changed color.

The dark golden sky was torn apart by endless lightning, and a giant vortex composed of billions of bolts of lightning and chains of law began to slowly take shape.

An aura of destruction, like a flood bursting through a dam, flooded the entire world.

Deep within the ancestral hall.

Lu Bei suddenly snapped his eyes open.

He knew he couldn't wait any longer.

And just as he was prepared to intervene at any cost, that gaze that had been hiding in the shadows, prying like spilled mercury, suddenly sent a extremely subtle, smiling divine sense fluctuation.

That fluctuation had no specific content, but it conveyed a crystal-clear message:

"Don't be in a hurry. The good show has only just begun."

This divine sense was not aimed at Lu Bei, but at the Chief Examiner who was about to bring down the Heavenly Tribulation.

Lu Bei's heart sank suddenly.

He and his players were already pawns on someone else's chessboard.

And this so-called "judgment" was merely the first move made by the player.