39: Chapter 39 Cleaning Up the Battlefield

The cold wind of the wasteland blew away the thick smoke and pungent smell of blood from the battlefield.

On the east bank of the dry riverbed, the once-level defensive positions were now devastated.

Charred Ork remains and broken weapons silently told the tale of the brutal bloodbath that had just taken place.

"It's over."

Lin Li pulled his refined steel halberd out of the Orc Warboss's skull and shook off the green gore.

He looked at the mess covering the ground and the players still howling with excitement in the trenches, letting out a long, heavy sigh.

"Clean up the battlefield."

Lin Li's cold voice rang out through every player's pv terminal, "Salvage all usable weapons and scrap metal, and move them back to the Fire Seed Shelter. As for the Ork corpses you can't carry, pile them up and burn them right here! Don't let the spores on them contaminate this land!"

"Yes! Commander!"

The players roared in acknowledgment.

This battle had been incredibly satisfying. Although sixteen players had died and the rest were mostly injured, this wasn't really a big problem for the players!

The dead players would at most just lie in the incubation pods for 24 hours, and by this time tomorrow, they'd be as good as new!

Moreover, the Shelter was currently in no shortage of low-level biomass used to rebuild clone bodies.

"Damn, that hurts like hell."

Flash clutched his arm, which had been grazed by a stray bullet, and limped over to the corpse of an Orc Boss. Using his good hand, he struggled to pry off the broken iron armor, "This is gear dropped by a high-armor mob; melting it down will definitely get us a lot of points!"

Liver Emperor, meanwhile, led a few Strength-type players, moving the slightly more intact Ork corpses onto a large wheelbarrow as if they were moving bricks.

"If we haul these intact corpses back, that sharp-tongued AI 73 will definitely be able to extract a lot of good stuff. These are pure, glistening experience points, brothers!" Liver Emperor drooled as he worked.

As for Black Rat of the Mountain Tribe and the other scavengers, they had already taken advantage of the players celebrating their victory to scramble into the dust storm, running faster than startled mutant rabbits.

An hour later.

The team, loaded with loot, returned in a grand procession to the surface camp of the Fire Seed Shelter.

"My Lord! You've returned!"

Rhein, accompanied by Willow, had been guarding the camp entrance.

When she saw Lin Li's tall, unscathed figure, she couldn't hold back her tears any longer, weeping with joy.

She had expected this to be a one-sided slaughter; she never imagined that this group of madman soldiers would actually hold back the tide of Orks!

Behind the wooden shed, the fifty slaves who had just been rescued stared in shock at the mountain-like piles of Ork corpses on the players' carts.

In their minds, Orks were an invincible nightmare.

But now, these nightmares were being dragged around like dead dogs by these outsiders.

"The Emperor protects… we are truly saved…" Several slaves knelt on the ground in excitement, kissing the dirt of the camp.

Lin Li ignored the worship of these NPCs.

He took off his blood-stained tactical cloak and walked straight into the elevator leading underground.

Underground Level 1, Room 1.

Lin Li hung the heavy halberd back on the weapon rack and disconnected the neural link of his medical exoskeleton.

He rubbed his sore shoulders and sat down in front of the computer in Room 1.

"73, tally the battle losses and the point rewards for each player."

"A trivial task, Creator."

STC-73's signature arrogant mechanical voice sounded.

In less than two seconds, an extremely detailed battle report appeared on the holographic screen.

Lin Li took a rough glance.

In this battle, the average point earnings for players were around 600! This was definitely a huge sum!

The one with the highest contribution was naturally [Use Fire Punch], who had used fire-based psychic powers at the critical moment.

This kid not only soloed three Orc Bosss but also used extremely violent Warp soul-fire to burn the Warlord's mount to death, raking in over 1200 points all by himself!

"This kid has really taken off."

Lin Li stroked his chin, suddenly remembering something, his eyes becoming vigilant, "73, this Psyker… before he was forced to log out, were there any signs of his awakened psychic powers going out of control?"

"Retrieving vital sign playback…"

73's crimson optical lens flickered, and for the first time ever, its tone carried a hint of anthropomorphic sarcasm, "Aside from his brainwave activity during the release of psychic powers being comparable to a baboon in heat during the ancient Earth era, no signs of Warp entity possession were detected. His soul remains in a stupid but pure physical state."

"A baboon in heat…"

Lin Li's mouth twitched; this AI really knew how to insult someone without using profanity.

"As long as there's no problem, that's good. Once he revives and logs back in, keep watching him 24/7! Psychic powers are like walking a tightrope; one moment of carelessness and you're doomed."

After handling this, Lin Li opened the server-wide announcement backend.

He wanted to add more fuel to the fire while the players were at their most excited.

His fingers tapped rapidly.

[Server-wide Announcement: Large-scale defensive battle stress test concluded successfully!]

[To all heroic Seed members:]

[You have defended the dignity of the Shelter with steel and blood! Point rewards for all participating players have been sent to their pv terminals. Those who fell in battle will respawn in incubation pods after 24 hours.]

[Important Announcement: To commend everyone's outstanding contributions, we will launch a grand [Merit Blind Box Lottery] event in-game tomorrow at 8 PM Earth time! Top-tier medical exoskeletons, limited-edition heavy weapons, and more are waiting for you!]

As soon as this announcement was released, it instantly blew up not just on the in-game pv terminals, but also on the official forums and Tieba back on Earth!

Those netizens who hadn't obtained access yet felt like they had missed out on a fortune when they saw the lottery.

"Please! You scumbag developers! When is the second beta test opening? I'm willing to pay for an account!"

Amidst the wailing and begging for accounts, that familiar ID [Devil Muscle Thor] jumped out again at a highly inappropriate time.

[Devil Muscle Thor]: Make it up! Keep making it up! Large-scale battle? Hundreds of Orks? Did your shill company get a big order today? Without even a single screenshot of actual gameplay, just blowing hot air? Anyone who believes you is brain-dead!

Watching this troll jumping around in the forums, Lin Li didn't get angry; instead, he sneered.

"Want actual gameplay footage, right? Fine, today I'll give you exactly what you're asking for!"

Lin Li turned to look at 73, "The thing I asked you to do before the battle—recording first-person combat footage through the players' pv terminals—did you do it?"

"That is simply an insult to my powerful computing capabilities."

73 replied coldly, "The high-definition footage from all 54 players' pv terminals has been lossless noise-reduced and stored in the Warhammer Recording folder on your computer."

"Well done!"

Lin Li immediately opened the computer and clicked on that folder.

Inside, fifty-four ultra-high-definition video files were neatly arranged.

It was already afternoon on Earth, and the vast majority of players who had finished the battle had already logged off.

But Lin Li was still terrifyingly energetic.

He opened professional editing software and began, like a ruthless tentacle monster, frantically dragging and cutting these first-person combat scenes.

"The sound effects here need to be more oppressive… cut to Pi She's command footage here, speed up the tempo…"

"This part where Flame Fist unleashes fire must have a close-up! Crank the special effects! No, this doesn't even need special effects; the lighting and shadows are simply more awesome than Hollywood!"

In the silent underground control room, only the "click-clack" sound of the mouse clicking frantically remained.

Three full hours passed.

Lin Li stretched his arms wide, looking at the ten-minute high-octane montage video that had just finished rendering on the screen, and nodded in satisfaction.

"This is what you call professional."

Lin Li decisively uploaded the video to the homepage of the official website for "warhammer 40,000" and simultaneously sent it to the core beta test QQ group, accompanied by an extremely hardcore caption:

[Salute to all the warriors fighting for the revival of humanity!]

Earth, a certain second-tier city. Afternoon.

[Makabazi] was sitting in an open-for-business Jiangxi stir-fry food stall, shoveling big mouthfuls of stir-fried pork intestines.

Although he had died in the game, his mental state was extremely excited.

"Beep beep."

The phone on the table suddenly vibrated.

Makabazi swiped the screen and saw that the QQ beta test group, which had been silent for a few hours, had sent an all-member message.

"What's this? A new promotional video from the developers?"

He curiously clicked on the video link.

The screen went black.

A low, extremely raspy male voice slowly recited a narration in an ancient language filled with despair and killing intent: Gothic.

Although he couldn't understand it, that epic sense of oppression instantly rushed toward him!

Immediately afterward, the screen flashed bright!

It was an extremely realistic first-person perspective shot.

Under the dim night, players were swinging shovels, frantically digging trenches in the dry riverbed.

Every collision between metal and stone was accompanied by clear physical feedback sound effects.

The drumbeats of the background music began to become tense and dense.

The footage cut rapidly!

In another perspective, [Miracle Walker] was pressing large-caliber, golden-yellow bullets into a magazine with a grave expression; the crisp sound of metal clashing made one's scalp tingle;

[ikun True Fan] was distributing Molotov cocktails that emitted a pungent odor.

With a terrifying roar that tore through the night sky: "WAAAGH!!!"

The passionate background music stopped instantly!

The whole world seemed to have hit the mute button, leaving only the heavy breathing of the players and the muffled thud of the distant earth trembling.

The next second.

The musical climax erupted!

The video entered a frantic, fast-paced rhythm!

Fifty Heavy Stubbers spewed tongues of fire half a meter long simultaneously!

The massive recoil shook the screen violently!

A dense rain of bullets wove a web of death in the darkness; a hundred meters away, the Orks, surging like a tide, were torn into shreds of meat filling the sky amidst the orange-red firelight!

Molotov cocktails exploded in the piles of Orks; the shrill screams and the nauseating smell of burning flesh seemed to be able to pass through the screen.

The footage flashed again!

The 2.3-meter-tall Tauren Makabazi held that exaggerated 40mm double-barreled shotgun, blasting the heads of three Gretchin to pieces with one shot!

"Holy shit! That's me! I'm so f*cking cool!"

Makabazi stood up in excitement, startling the guy eating at the next table.

The final climax of the video.

It was the three-meter-tall Orc Warboss clad in heavy armor, riding a giant Squig into the crowd to slaughter everyone!

Just at the moment of despair!

[Use Fire Punch] stood up, bleeding from his seven orifices, his hands erupting with terrifying pale-white flames, instantly burning that giant Squig to ashes!

And in the final moment when the Warlord was held firmly in place by the players.

Accompanied by a low hydraulic roar.

A tall figure draped in a black cloak cut into the battlefield like lightning!

The refined steel halberd, carrying an unstoppable momentum and accompanied by the loud bang of a nitrogen explosion, pierced directly through the Orc Warboss's indestructible steel helmet!

The footage froze at the moment the Warlord's massive body collapsed with a crash.

The screen gradually turned black, and four blood-red characters appeared:

[Humanity, Revival!]

"Holy shit!!!"

Makabazi's hand holding the phone was shaking frantically.

He felt his blood boiling all over; he couldn't wait to rush into the incubation pod right now and fight the Orks for another three hundred rounds!

And at the same time.

Major gaming forums and video websites were completely paralyzed because of the sudden appearance of this video!

The comments below the video broke 999+ in just a few minutes!