Chapter 1

In the first ten days of May, Xiao Tan spent less time leveling up during the day due to the competition, and he wasn't diligently training at night either. As a result, his level had become the lowest among the players in the Thriller Paradise's Hell Front.

Currently, the highest level in the guild still belonged to Feng Bujue. Although he had wasted quite a few opportunities to claim experience points by feeding that money-draining [Type Zero Magic Crusher], he still reached level thirty-seven. This was the benefit of having more free time... Thanks to his efforts at the end of last month, he successfully submitted his manuscript this month, so he had quite a lot of game time recently.

The second highest level belonged to Si Yu, at thirty-six. Her strength went without saying, and her script clearance rate was also not low. Besides, she would occasionally use double experience cards.

Bei Ling and Xiao Tan were at the same level, thirty-five. However, Bei Ling had been online more often recently, so he had a significant lead in experience points and was very close to level thirty-six. On the other hand, Xiao Tan still needed nearly two million experience points to level up.

In the [Cocoon War], which was full of strong players, level thirty-five didn't offer much of an advantage. Players who made it into the second round had generally leveled up to thirty-five or higher in the past two weeks. There were also a few people above level thirty-eight, but they were relatively rare.

However, Thriller Paradise wasn't a game where you could judge who was stronger based solely on level. Specialization, titles, skills, equipment, strategy, technique, on-the-spot performance, and so on… there were many factors that could influence the outcome.

Before the second round of the competition began, let's take a look at Xiao Tan's current character attributes:

ID: Wang Tanzhi, Level: 35.

Title: [Gale Nightmare], Title Ability: [Nightmare Traces]

Experience Points: 1580000/3500000, Skill Points: 10100, Game Coins: 3765000.

Specializations: General C, Machinery D, Investigation C, Fighting B, Shooting D, Medical E, Spiritual E, Summoning n/A

Inventory (10/20): Miner's Hat, Winchester Shotgun, Rock Debris Crystal, Survival Supplement (Large) *5, Survival Supplement (Medium) *5, Hemostatic Bandage *5, Antitoxin Mixture *5, Antifreeze *5, Burn Ointment *5, Heaven and Earth Reversal Divine Skill.

Equipment: Charged Triangular Bayonet, Meow Star Person's Fury, Withered Armor, Deerskin Boots, Wolf Mane Leggings, Hidden Blade, Hidden Darts.

Storage Room (2/10): Double Experience Card (24 hours) *30, Double Game Coin Card (24 hours) *30.

Skill Slots (5/12): [Demon Bat Phantom], [Ke Ji Has No Roots, Mo Lang Worry], [The Wind Dwells, the Dust is Fragrant, the Flowers Have Fallen], [Reverse Blade Whirlwind Slash], [Terror Shadow Soul Chaser]

This was the configuration of a rich person. Regardless of whether it was necessary, the inventory was first upgraded to twenty slots. The bag contained consumables to resolve various status effects, all store-bought, and he would buy more when they ran out.

It should be noted that the "Double Experience Card" and "Double Game Coin Card" were special items that could be infinitely stacked when stored. Even if you bought three thousand of them, as long as they were of the same type, they could be stacked in one item slot…

In addition, as everyone has probably seen, there was something quite eye-catching in Xiao Tan's inventory... [Heaven and Earth Reversal Divine Skill]. This thing wasn't an ordinary skill card; its appearance was like a martial arts manual. The learning conditions were extremely harsh: it required Fighting Specialization at B-level, Spiritual Specialization at C-level, and the character must be level 30 or higher.

Nearly a month had passed since he obtained this untradeable skill in the Azure Spirit Sword Debate script. Because the inventory was spacious, Xiao Tan had been carrying it with him instead of putting it in the storage room.

In the recent fifty [Bug War] matches, Xiao Tan had already raised his Fighting Specialization to B-level, but his Spiritual Specialization had shown no signs of improvement. However, this was also reasonable. He didn't even have a single Spiritual skill, so naturally, there was no way to improve it. The current E-level was still slowly accumulated through his ghost encounter experience in paranormal scripts...

Feng Bujue had also suggested that Xiao Tan practice his Spiritual Specialization a bit, but unfortunately, Spiritual skills were just as rare as Summoning skills. The ones that could be found in the auction house were really terrible, expensive and useless. And the Spiritual skills in the Surprise Box, in terms of price, characteristics, and level, were really difficult to pick one that was suitable for Xiao Tan. After all, skill points couldn't be bought with money, and it would be a case of losing more than you gain if he forced it. Besides, Xiao Tan couldn't be like Brother Jue… hoarding in the Surprise Box, watching equipment for hours on end, memorizing and filtering as he watched, and then going back to pick out the most suitable one after he had finished watching everything…

In short, due to Xiao Tan's lack of Spiritual ability, the [Heaven and Earth Reversal Divine Skill], which looked super strong, had become a decoration relegated to a high shelf… like the heroine in a harem manga, a thing delivered right to his mouth, but he couldn't eat it. He couldn't give it away, and he couldn't chew it raw, but he couldn't bear to throw it away. The feeling was beyond words.

Of course, even if he had never obtained this skill, Xiao Tan would still be considered a very strong player. He didn't have many skills, and none of his equipment was above the perfect level, but he could still fight his way into the second round, which showed his talent in combat.

…………

[The first round of the Cocoon War is about to begin. Your data will be loaded in thirty seconds. Please do not leave the login space.]

[Ten-second countdown before loading, nine, eight, seven... two, one.]

As the system voice's countdown ended, the elevator where Xiao Tan was began to move.

"Hidden in the deep forest, the silkworm sleeps thrice; soft to the touch, yet tempered a hundred times." A never-before-heard opening line came to his ears.

[Loading complete. You are currently participating in the Peak Tournament - Cocoon War.]

[This mode has no script introduction, no side hidden quests, or special world view.]

[Script Victory Reward: Enter the Winners' Bracket]

[Main Quest Triggered]

[Kill Your Opponent]

Clang——Woooo——

As soon as the system prompt stopped, the elevator made two strange noises, followed by a strange shaking.

Xiao Tan staggered two steps, but quickly regained his balance. Now, his movements were agile and his footsteps silent. He could turn and move with ease. Even standing on a lonely boat in a raging sea, he could stand firm. He wouldn't be flustered by a few shakes of the elevator.

Chī——The elevator door opened.

A gust of cold wind rushed in, like a knife scraping bones. Outside the elevator was a expanse of frosty white.

Xiao Tan quickly raised his hand, grabbed the hood behind his neck (the assassin's coat had a hood behind the neck) and put it on his head, and then fixed his eyes on the outside…

The setting of this script was actually on a snow mountain. This mountain had rolling peaks and a majestic aura. Between the ice and snow, the wind and snow howled. An invisible gale, like an out-of-control beast, vented its excess energy in this deadly place more than two thousand meters above sea level.

Xiao Tan leaned out to confirm, and as expected… the elevator he was in was suspended in mid-air.

Without hesitation, he immediately reached out and grabbed the edge of the elevator roof, and with a flip, he jumped onto the top of the elevator, then squatted on it and looked around.

A rather bizarre scene appeared in his vision… In this snowy mountain, there was actually a black steel cable as thick as a bowl running horizontally. Two elevators were suspended from the steel cable, one was the one Xiao Tan was standing on, and the other was hanging about fifty meters away from him. The two elevators were like two bells hanging on a rope, swaying in the wind…

Under the cover of the wind and snow, it was no longer clear where the two ends of the steel cable led. What was certain was that it was very far from the ground, and if he fell… whether he landed on the snow or fell on the moraine, the result would be certain death.

"Are they asking us to fight on this steel cable…" Xiao Tan thought, "This is too exaggerated…"

At this moment, a person also came out of the opposite elevator. That person's reaction was the same as Xiao Tan's, and he also climbed onto the top of the elevator. It was just that he came out a few seconds later than Xiao Tan, probably doing some mental struggle, fearing that he would be shot as soon as he came out.

Xiao Tan didn't worry about that kind of situation. When he realized that the elevator was hanging in mid-air, he judged that the opponent couldn't be a shooting specialist. The reason was very simple: if one of the two players could fly, glide, or had powerful long-range killing abilities, the system would not have generated such a map.

At this moment, the two players looked at each other from the tops of their respective elevators, and their hearts echoed the same sentiment: "The guy on the other side is indeed a close-combat player…"