81: They've gone up to the sky! A can of sardines inside a beam of light!

Accompanied by Li Qiang's highly inflammatory pre-war mobilization, a frantic migration named "Ascending to Heaven" officially began.

"Brothers, let's go!"

"Go up and teach those immortals a lesson; show them what it means for... private property to be sacred and inviolable!"

Before Li Qiang's voice had even faded, he had already charged into that tower-thick, ghostly-blue pillar of light like a cannonball.

The moment his figure touched the pillar of light, he didn't stop for a second; he was immediately seized by an invisible force and ascended at a speed difficult for the naked eye to track, turning into a small black dot in the blink of an eye.

This scene completely ignited the nerves of all the players.

"Charge!"

"Get the first incense! There's an extra reward for the first one to go to heaven!"

"Don't push! Who the hell stepped on my foot!"

"Move aside in front! Let me in first! My wife is about to give birth!"

The interior of the warship wreckage, which was originally quite spacious, instantly turned into a train station during the Spring Festival travel rush. Tens of thousands of players, like a flood through an open gate or like elderly folks smelling free eggs, shouldered all kinds of weapons, carried bags stuffed with junk, and scrambled toward the Teleportation Array.

The scene was extremely chaotic for a time.

To enter the pillar of light even a second earlier, the players used every means at their disposal.

Some stepped directly on the heads of the brothers in front of them as springboards, taking a leap of faith into the pillar of light.

Some relied on their bulky physiques to forcefully carve a path through the crowd, knocking the players beside them left and right.

Others directly activated charge skills, knocking over anyone in their way and leaving amidst a flurry of curses.

"It's all mine! The Treasure Trove is all mine!"

A red-eyed player, while running, threw out worthless stones and rotten wood from his backpack, trying to lighten his load and run a bit faster.

Wang Wei was squeezed in the flow of people, his mechanical arm held high, trying to protect his fragile head from being stepped on. His analysis glasses flashed frantically, attempting to record data on this once-in-a-lifetime "collective irrational migration behavior," while he muttered to himself: "So spectacular... this kind of charge, disregarding personal safety for the collective interest, is simply a precious sample for sociological research!"

A player next to him heard this and slapped the back of his head: "What do you know! We're doing this for the Horde!"

Lin Xiaowan enjoyed the highest level of treatment; she was protected in the center by several strong men from her guild, being "carried" into the Teleportation Array like a queen. Even so, her expensive outfit was squeezed until it was wrinkled, and there was a shoe print from who-knows-who on her face.

But she didn't care at all.

In her eyes burned a fire of hope like never before, named "breaking even" and "getting rich."

When the last player scrambled into the pillar of light, the entire Black Iron City underground world finally returned to its long-lost tranquility. All that remained was a mess on the ground and a few unlucky souls who had missed the main group due to being disconnected, now kneeling on the ground and crying with their heads in their hands.

Inside the pillar of light.

The weightless floating and dreamlike Ascension experience the players had imagined did not appear at all.

Instead, it was an indescribable feeling, as if being stuffed into a giant centrifuge and turned to the highest setting.

The terrifying acceleration pinned every player who entered the pillar of light firmly against the inner wall of the fifty-meter-diameter pillar.

"Holy crap... my face... is going to be flattened!"

"Help! I feel like my eyeballs are going to fly out from the back!"

"Whose butt... is pressing against my head! Move it!"

Tens of thousands of players, like a can of sardines that had been shaken and then instantly compressed, were piled on top of each other in extremely ungraceful positions.

Face to face, legs pressing on arms, some were even compressed into a two-dimensional "photograph" due to the tricky angles, sticking tightly to someone else's back.

The World Channel was instantly flooded with all sorts of bizarre screenshots.

Player A: [Screenshot.jpg] Brothers, look at me! Doesn't my face look like a Picasso painting after being squeezed?

Player B: [Screenshot.jpg] The guy above is nothing! My jaw is almost dislocated from the pressure! Anyone want to compare and see whose funny face is uglier?

Player C: [Screenshot.jpg] Say no more, the guy next to me has already drooled all over my face; I can feel that warm sensation... Li Qiang, as the first person to charge in, was currently "pasted" to the very front of the pillar of light in a spread-eagle shape, acting as a human "icebreaker." The violent energy currents made the flesh on his face shake violently.

But instead of being in pain, he showed an extremely enjoyable expression and shouted unclearly: "This back-pushing sensation! Awesome! It's way more intense than my crappy motorcycle!"

Wang Wei tried to maintain the rigor of a scientist in this extreme environment. He struggled to turn his only movable mechanical eye, analyzing the data stream flowing on the inner wall of the pillar, and analyzed indistinctly: "Based on... energy fluctuations... and... acceleration... we... we are performing a vertical leap at at least fifteen times the speed of sound! This technology... is ahead of Earth... by at least a thousand years!"

Lin Xiaowan was sandwiched between the strong men of the guild. Although she wasn't compressed into a piece of paper, the immense pressure made it difficult for her to breathe. She kept her eyes tightly shut, her mind rapidly calculating.

Starting the Teleportation Array cost one hundred million energy, which converted to one billion Contribution Points. Most of this money was crowdfunded by the players, but as the major shareholder, she had invested at least thirty percent. In other words, she was now not only the wealthiest woman on the server but also the most indebted.

"Three hundred million... I have to grab at least five hundred million worth of treasures to break even! No! One billion! I want to earn it back with interest!" she thought through gritted teeth, filled with an unprecedented desire for the upcoming "zero-dollar shopping."

This crowded and uncomfortable journey lasted for who knows how long.

Just as some players felt they were about to be pressed into the wall and become part of this pillar of light.

"Pffft—"

A soft sound.

As if a diver had broken through the surface of the water.

The pillar of light suddenly pierced through a thick layer of thunderstorm clouds flickering with electric snakes.

In an instant, the view opened up!

All the pain of being squeezed and the noisy clamor disappeared at this moment.

In its place was an endless, golden sea of clouds so brilliant it left one speechless.

Warm sunlight pierced through the thin air, gilding every cloud with a gold border.

At the end of the sea of clouds, one magnificent floating island after another, like the chess pieces of gods, hung quietly in the sky.

On some islands, spires carved from pure white jade stood tall, pointing straight to the heavens.

On some islands, massive domes cast from gold gleamed in the sunlight, reflecting a dazzling light.

Between the islands, there were rainbow bridges composed of pure light energy. There were even massive waterfalls pouring down from higher islands; what flowed was not water, but a thick and brilliant energy torrent like liquid sunlight.

The entire world was quiet, holy, and magnificent, beautiful beyond anything of the mortal realm.

All the players in the pillar of light lost their voices collectively in this instant.

On their deformed faces, expressions of blankness and shock appeared for the first time.

However, this shock did not stem from an appreciation of the beautiful scenery.

But rather from a more primitive, purer impulse.

"Holy... holy crap..."

One player pressed his face tightly against the inner wall of the pillar, staring intently at a massive blue gem embedded in the palace gates of a distant floating island. Saliva flowed down the light wall as he shouted indistinctly:

"That... that big bead... is bigger than my head!!"

This shout of his was like lighting the fuse of a powder keg.

After a brief silence, the pillar of light erupted with howls more frantic and greedy than ever before!

"We're rich! We're rich! Where the hell is this the Heavenly Realm? This is clearly a vault!"

"Look at that tower! That spire is pure gold! How heavy must it be? Tearing it down would be enough to pay our guild's salaries for a lifetime!"

"That river! That flowing liquid is all high-purity magic liquid! Wouldn't drinking a mouthful send you straight to heaven?"

"Say no more! My entrenching tool is already thirsty for action!"

When Lin Xiaowan saw that magnificent scene, her eyes instantly lit up with an unprecedented light. Her Eye of Greed passive skill was automatically triggered to the extreme. In her vision, the entire Heavenly Realm was no longer white and gold, but covered in a blinding purple and orange light representing "Epic" and "Legendary" grades.

Every brick, every tile, and every tree turned into a series of enticing numbers in her eyes.

She clutched her chest, feeling like her heart was about to jump out, and muttered to herself, her voice carrying a hint of trembling and mania:

"All... all mine... these... are all mine!"

Just as the players' emotions were pushed to the peak by greed, the one hundred million points of energy supporting the pillar of light finally ran out.

"Buzz..."

The pillar of light let out a low moan and began to dissipate rapidly from bottom to top.

The immense force that had been lifting and squeezing the players also disappeared.

"Aaaaaaah—!"

In the next second, tens of thousands of players were expelled as if by a giant sneeze, or like being suddenly poured out of an inverted can. Losing all support, they turned into a massive ball of people, screaming as they were "jetted" out from the end of the pillar of light—the massive floating platform plaza.

"Thud! Crack! Boom!"

Like dumplings dropping into a pot, the players fell haphazardly onto the plaza, rolling into a pile.

This was the destination of the pillar of light—the Cloud Bridge.

The entire plaza was paved with a white stone material that was as smooth as a mirror and as warm as jade, flawless and emitting a faint, holy glow.

But this holiness was soon broken by a group of uninvited guests.

"Ow, my waist!"

"Who's pressing on my leg! Get up!"

"Where's my helmet? Where are the pink goggles I just bought?"

Players groaned as they crawled out of the pile of people, the scene being one of utter misery.

However, Li Qiang was the first to scramble up.

He didn't bother with his teammates who were still groaning on the ground, nor did he stop to admire the surrounding scenery.

He simply stood up, then knelt straight back down, lying on the ground, stroking the mirror-smooth floor tiles with his palms, feeling that cold and warm sensation.

Under everyone's puzzled gazes, he stuck out his tongue and gave the white floor tile a hard lick.

A faint, mint-like fragrance spread across his taste buds.

Then, he lowered his head, opened his mouth, and bit down hard on the edge of the floor tile with all his might!

"Crunch!"

A crisp sound.

Although he couldn't bite through it, the hard, solid texture and the feedback from his teeth gave him final confirmation.

Li Qiang suddenly looked up, his eyes turning blood-red from extreme excitement and greed. He looked around at the players who were still sorting their equipment and observing the environment, and let out a roar that echoed through the clouds with all his strength:

"It's real!"

"Brothers! These floor tiles are made of damn pure natural white marble!"

"Forget those bullshit angels! Everyone, get your tools out!"

"Pry up the floor tiles first!!!"