Zhong Yi was stunned.

He had witnessed the scene where Evil Venerable Yide insta-killed Zhou Yue with his own eyes.

That guy had performed a tactical roll, and before his body had even stabilized, a Spirit Bullet was already flying toward Zhou Yue's head.

No matter how you looked at it, he didn't seem like someone with poor eyesight, right?

Initially, it was the relief of surviving a disaster, but the more he thought about it, the more something felt wrong.

From the bewildered look in Evil Venerable Yide's eyes just now, Zhong Yi had a faint feeling of being looked down upon.

But thoughts aside, the current situation was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the three of them.

“Old Zhong, now's the chance! Sneak up from behind and take him by surprise!”

Zhou Yue, in his Soul state, suggested.

“Exactly what I was thinking!”

The corners of Zhong Yi's mouth curled up. He slowed his pace, held his breath, and tried not to make a sound as he crept forward inch by inch.

Finally reaching the corner, he peeked out half a head and saw Evil Venerable Yide standing with his back to him at the corner of the north stairs, looking quite leisurely.

“Go for it, Senior Brother Zhong! Take him out!!”

Zhou Qiaoling cheered for Zhong Yi, her heart full of concern for her backpack full of trinkets.

“Don't worry, leave it to me.”

Zhong Yi took a deep breath, a slight smirk playing on his lips.

The Soul-form Zhou Yue opened his mouth, trying hard to stifle a laugh.

Zhong Yi looked quite cool when he said that.

He would have looked even cooler if he wasn't still worming his way forward.

“Aiming for the head...”

Zhong Yi slowly raised his muzzle, using his eye as a ruler, staring straight at Evil Venerable Yide's head.

“One shot, one kill!”

Zhong Yi gave a low shout and pulled the trigger!

“Bang bang bang!”

The muzzle jerked upward violently, and the Spirit Bullets flew wildly; not a single one hit Evil Venerable Yide.

Zhou Yue slapped his forehead in despair: “What the hell was I even expecting...”

“Is there a defect in this Magical Artifact? Why is there such a force...”

Zhong Yi was utterly dazed.

The experience gun in the xinshou jiaocheng was a high-end version with many attachments. Combined with the fact it was the 【Mingju 15】, a pseudonym for the CAR15 from his past life, the recoil was minimal.

The 【Mingju 15】 obtained through the Utility Disciple's standard voucher was almost a bare gun with zero attachments.

When they encountered minions before entering the Administrative Palace, Zhou Yue had taken them out with half a magazine of Spirit Bullets before Zhong Yi could even draw his gun. Thus, he'd had no chance to fire it and naturally didn't know the weapon's recoil.

“Force? Isn't that something you just naturally pull down to counter?”

Zhou Yue was equally confused hearing this.

He felt a tiny bit of recoil, but he instinctively pulled the muzzle down and cancelled it out instantly; he felt nothing at all.

“Brother, Senior Brother Zhong... stop arguing.”

Zhou Qiaoling watched the turning Evil Venerable Yide with tears in her eyes. At the thought of the supplies in her backpack vanishing, her heart began to bleed.

“Look... Evil Venerable Yide has already spotted Senior Brother Zhong!!”

Zhong Yi looked up and indeed saw Evil Venerable Yide turning around, that purple-black Evil Qi once again radiating outward.

A sense of despair immediately spread through the hearts of the three.

...

In the main space of the Illusion Realm world.

“Are those broken rules you set... truly useful?”

The Fragment of the Heavenly Dao looked at Lu Ze with a complex expression.

Lu Ze had set a rule for the Fragment of the Heavenly Dao—or rather, for all NPCs in "operation xianyuan continent":

Be strong against the strong, and weak against the weak.

In the "delta force" of his past life, this was called "Dynamic Difficulty."

The System would analyze player data and behavior, then tag them.

The better a player was, the more likely the bots they encountered would snap to their heads with incredible accuracy.

Meanwhile, for the "rat" players jokingly called "Lord Tang"—who were obsessed with looting and hated fighting—the bots they encountered would often be much weaker.

The reason for making it this way was for player retention.

For hardcore competitive players used to high-pressure matches, it created obstacles and increased the difficulty of looting;

For casual players who didn't like or know how to fight, it lowered the difficulty and reduced the probability of them quitting the game.

Although the developers in his past life repeatedly stated that "Dynamic Difficulty doesn't exist" and "we've nerfed the bots," the actual game feel definitely didn't ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) lie.

Even though Lu Ze had been frustrated enough to curse this System in his past life, when it was his turn to make a game, he still brought the System over.

Firstly, he felt it was necessary to protect the majority of casual players;

Secondly, he could harvest emotional points from some core players.

So even Sayid, personally played by the Fragment of the Heavenly Dao, had to follow this iron rule.

“Of course.”

Lu Ze nodded with a smile, then quickly reacted.

“Oh? Did you run into Senior Brother Zhou and the others again?”

“Senior Brother Zhou?”

The Fragment of the Heavenly Dao let out a sound of surprise and shook its head.

“I don't know who Senior Brother Zhou is, but I do have an impression of that square-faced ant with thick eyebrows who looks a bit unlucky.”

Lu Ze was immediately amused upon hearing this.

How could there not be an impression?

In any Illusion Realm where the Fragment of the Heavenly Dao played the BOSS to torment people, Zhou Yue was always the unlucky victim being beaten.

“If it weren't for the rules I set, the Illusion Realm would decline... for you, that would be more loss than gain,” Lu Ze reminded.

“Hmph... Fine, killing ants that are too weak is indeed a bit boring.”

The Fragment of the Heavenly Dao snorted coldly, then frowned again.

“However...”

“That ant is so weak it's almost ridiculous...”

The Fragment of the Heavenly Dao could travel through any "operation xianyuan continent" match and take over control of the BOSS.

To make it easier for the NPCs played by cyber souls to follow the rules, Lu Ze thoughtfully marked a number above every player's head that only NPCs could see, representing the player's strength.

This number would constantly change along with the player's in-game behavior.

When the Fragment of the Heavenly Dao saw that familiar thick-eyebrowed Cultivator, the number on his head was 【81】.

Players over eighty were defined as top-tier by the rules, and the NPC's parameters were maxed out. Thus, the Fragment of the Heavenly Dao had taken him out with three shots to the head.

The female Cultivator downstairs stealing from the weapon crate had 【43】 on her head.

This was within the range of an average player, so the Fragment of the Heavenly Dao went easy on her, intentionally hitting the weapon crate with the Spirit Bullets.

Otherwise, the tiny bit of scalp she exposed would have been enough for him to score an instant kill.

But right now, the number on the forehead of the refined-looking, tall Cultivator the Fragment of the Heavenly Dao was facing was quite interesting:

【5】.

One must know that among the four player groups Lu Ze categorized, the lowest tier was 【below thirty】.

This guy was a full twenty-five points lower than the lowest tier...

The Fragment of the Heavenly Dao froze for a moment when it first saw him, then pretended not to see him, intentionally exposing a weakness.

But to its surprise, when this guy launched a sneak attack from behind, every single Spirit Bullet missed!

The Fragment of the Heavenly Dao felt that a separate tier should be created just for this one!

Once the gun fired, the NPC's alert rules were triggered; even if the Fragment of the Heavenly Dao wanted to pretend not to see him, it couldn't anymore.

“What do you suggest I do in this situation!”

The Fragment of the Heavenly Dao glared at Lu Ze with a dark face.

“Simple, you copy him... miss your shots.”

Lu Ze spread his hands.

“And if I accidentally kill him...”

The Fragment of the Heavenly Dao was extremely frustrated.

Lu Ze replied with a grin: “In your case, it's hard to say, but anyone else would have to go guard the Ascent No. 4 Outpost alone.”

The Fragment of the Heavenly Dao was speechless.

However, considering Lu Ze's guarantee that this rule would continuously bring newcomers to the Illusion Realm, it decided not to break the rule.

“Fine, in the future, if I encounter anyone below thirty, I'll just actively log out.”

The Fragment of the Heavenly Dao's eyes flickered slightly as it cut the connection to Zhong Yi's Illusion Realm world.

Sayid was instantly swapped out.

...

“Old Zhong, watch out, he's drawing his gun!!”

“Senior Brother Zhong, run!!” 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

The voices of Zhou Qiaoling and Zhou Yue exploded in Zhong Yi's ears simultaneously.

Evil Venerable Yide had clearly discovered his presence, picking up a massive machine gun and turning to walk toward him.

“We of the Lingxiao Sect are no cowards!!”

Zhong Yi knew there was no way back and raised the 【Mingju 15】 to meet the challenge head-on.

“You've fallen into a trap!”

Evil Venerable Yide shouted performatively.

Then, Spirit Bullets poured out like a landslide or a tsunami.

“Aaaargh!! Die!!!”

Zhong Yi roared passionately, his eyes instinctively closing as his finger squeezed the trigger hard.

Both sides traded fire.

The gunfire was incredibly intense.

“Die! Die... Uh?”

It wasn't until his bullets were spent that Zhong Yi realized he was completely unharmed.

Looking at the opponent, there were no signs of injury either.

The walls behind both of them were riddled with scattered bullet holes.

“Damn! Out of ammo!”

Zhong Yi reloaded while backing away.

Opposite him, Evil Venerable Yide also began swaying in place while reloading, looking quite comical.

This scene left Zhou Yue and Zhou Qiaoling dumbfounded.

“Sis, was that how Evil Venerable Yide was shooting you just now?”

“No...”

“Old Zhong, why don't you just knife him...”