(I sent the wrong volume in the middle of the night yesterday and worked on it all night. Sob sob, I didn't sleep well. Chapter 86 was late and got stuck in review. The makeup chapter 87 couldn't be moved, so I had to add a main character group setting at the end of the previous volume. Interested readers can check it out~)
Chu Fu's eyes turned icy cold. Shen Chi and Xie Lin also noticed the person in the video and instantly grew serious.
This host, Lulu, was none other than Sun Jingya's good best friend, Wang Silu.
At that moment, Host Lulu was interviewing a player.
"Today, I'm interviewing the artist Jiang Yixing. I didn't expect Yixing to be in the 029 District.
Wow, you look so handsome in the game! I believe the audience in the live stream must be screaming!"
The man beside her was indeed stunningly handsome, and more importantly, he exuded a unique charm, as if surrounded by a halo of light.
"Thanks for the compliment, Lulu. It's mainly because I awakened a talent that boosts charm. It seems the game also recognizes my good looks. I feel truly honored."
"Is that so? Then what effect does this talent have?"
"As for its effect, most players won't refuse my requests. Of course, I won't misuse it. Right now, I'm just thinking—if we fail in the village defense battle later, I hope everyone won't blame me!"
Jiang Yixing, with the ID "Falling Star," made a "please, please" gesture toward the camera.
Inside Lulu's live stream, countless fans of Jiang Yixing flooded the screen.
"My husband is so handsome!"
"Ahhh, how could anyone blame my husband!"
"That's right, hubby, why didn't you tell us you were playing this server? Otherwise, I would have joined you for sure!"
"Ah, didn't Jiang Yixing tell you? But he mentioned it in the die-hard fan group, though only fans who've spent over a million on him can join that group."
Chu Fu opened Wang Silu's live stream and saw a flood of comments.
"This is troublesome," Chu Fu muttered to herself.
The name "Falling Star" was like thunder in her ears.
In the original storyline, Falling Star was a notorious male seducer, backed by three wealthy women and five rich men.
Back then, when he targeted her brother Chu Feng, he was eliminated in a single encounter by Chu Feng.
Utterly pathetic.
But after his backers heard of his death, they went mad seeking revenge on Chu Feng.
In the end, they were all cut down like cabbages, yielding a massive haul of coins and equipment.
His role... probably lasted about two or three chapters.
She hadn't expected him to be in the 029 District and about to merge with them.
To Chu Feng in the later stages, Jiang Yixing was nothing more than a clown.
But for Chu Fu right now, he was a real headache.
In the live stream, Lulu continued her questions: "So, Yixing, do you lack confidence in this village defense battle?"
Jiang Yixing nodded immediately: "That's right. It's not that we don't want to defend, but the 0298888 server itself doesn't have any top-tier players. We've tried clearing nightmare-level dungeons many times, but we always failed.
Also, some people have been spreading rumors that our server is monopolized by a gaming studio.
That's not true. It's just that my fans and I play this game together, and everyone really likes me, so we've been playing around casually. We didn't expect to actually get a guild token and establish our Star Alliance.
But since I'm a signed artist with a company... I'm sorry if people misunderstood."
He bowed once more.
The livestream chat erupted again.
"Long Han is so exploitative—working for real, working in the game too. My poor brother!"
"He must have forced our boy to do this. He wouldn't want to."
"Our brother's playing games with his fans. He's just too doting!"
Xie Lin glanced at the livestream, smirked, and sneered, "I looked into this Star Alliance guild. There's no real investment from Long Han Studio behind it.
Because every member who joins this guild has to pay a membership fee.
They're all this pop idol's fans.
The guild doesn't even give members any perks; instead, it forces them to contribute equipment. And whoever contributes the most gets the right to team up with Jiang Yixing for dungeons and monsters.
So as long as you have enough money, it doesn't matter if your talent, level, or skills are weak. There's no way they'd ever clear a nightmare-level dungeon.
Fighting a boss? It's a human-wave tactic, letting Jiang Yixing land the final blow. Word is, one time a different player got the first kill, and that player was immediately kicked out—though they were also a fan of Jiang Yixing.
They didn't even get mad. Instead, they spent a huge sum of money buying gifts to apologize to him.
So across the entire server, there are no more than 21 pieces of silver-tier equipment—from silver chests from four bosses in a five-man party and the Tiger King's silver gear—and twelve of those are on Jiang Yixing.
But here's the thing: his class is a Bard—half healer, half support, basically no attack power. He can only buff teammates. It's a complete waste.
They're not here to play the game.
They're here to harvest their fans like cash crops."
Fans have to pay dues just to join a guild?
And then they're forced to free labor for Long Han Studio?
As far as capitalism goes, these guild builders are geniuses.
Star Alliance is nothing but a giant money-making machine.
Still, Chu Fu noticed how dismissive Xie Lin was of Jiang Yixing and recalled how Jiang Yixing was introduced in the story's plot. So she decided to warn everyone.
"The Bard class isn't weak at all—especially if the player's talent is Charm and they've picked up some Siren Song skills. Their damage output can be massive."
"Start making mind-clear potions right now to boost your Spirit stat. This player might try to charm us all with his charisma."
"Let's be real: when the fight starts, no one will have the heart to kill him!"
"But if our Spirit stats are high enough, we should be able to resist it."
Chu Fu was now the vice-leader of a major guild, so with a single command, she could easily call on crafting specialists to brew those potions.
Soon, every member of Thorn Guild had a mind-clear potion on hand.
The brewing and distribution took some time, but since Thorn Guild members all had flight wings, they weren't slow.
Three hours later.
Members of Thorn Guild, including their associate members, had all gathered at the farthest edge of Dragon Village.
The newbie village hadn't been destroyed yet.
The map wasn't open.
So they couldn't go in—they could only wait.
On top of the 500 core members and 1,000 associate members, word had spread among friends—there were now about 3,000 people in total.
Tagging along with the "Plant King" everyone was buzzing about? Even if they only earned a little contribution points, as soon as the counterattack began, they'd get a permanent one-point stat boost.
Who wouldn't want in?
So no one minded the wait.
Stats are the real prize.
Meanwhile, they all opened the livestream and watched.
After the incident where the players of Tianhe Village collectively walked off the job, Server 029 was clearly prepared to put up a fierce fight to protect the newbie village.
There were 7,128 players online.
Around four hundred of them were level 10.
So they cleared monsters more than twice as fast as the players of Tianhe Village had.
In three hours, they wiped out six waves of monsters.
But clearing too quickly also had its downsides.
The players’ potion resistance had already risen significantly, and casualties were mounting.
When the seventh wave of monsters arrived, the top-tier players’ team could no longer hold back the BOSS’s assault. Losses were devastating.
Jiang Yixing led his team in a hasty retreat. The village could be sacrificed, but he had already gained enough free attribute points—he absolutely could not die.
“Xingxing, hurry and go! Protect yourself!”
“That’s right, escape to the mountains. That route isn’t where the beast tide is coming from. Run! We’ll hold them off for you.”
The BOSS and lesser monsters broke through the defensive line, charging into the village to slaughter. Buildings were toppled, and NPCs fell one after another.
Chu Fu stood up, gripping her staff and poison bottles tightly.
“Get ready,” she said. “It’s time for us to enter the fight!”
