My Players Are So Fierce

The little players start arguing on the forums after going offline, all eager to express their thoughts and views on this matter.

Murphy's military map in his hands was also recorded by their helmet's camera function. While the student faction and chatterbox faction were showing off their ingenious ideas, those who were prepared had already started making phone calls.

If there's a key difference between working adults and students, it's that those beaten down by reality understand to leave professional matters to professionals.

Everyone sits in an office normally, and they could argue over strategies just from the three lanes of a MOBA game. Clearly, they don't have the professional knowledge and skills to plan an excellent ambush operation in a 100% realistic game.

Not to mention the huge disparity in strength between the two sides.

Fortunately, the best thing about this era is that the internet connects all kinds of people. It's like how you never know if the person advising you online is human or a dog.

In the deceptive online world, there's never a shortage of hidden talents.

Meow King took off his game helmet, put on a Bluetooth headset, took a carton of milk from the fridge, and walked out to the balcony to turn on the treadmill.

Watching the bright lights of the night outside, he stretched his body and began his daily slow jog. Although he always calls himself an "old corporate slave," Meow King is actually one of those with some family wealth.

He has his own software outsourcing studio. The four rowdy guys he brought into the game are his co-founders and close employees. Of course, they occasionally go out together for "foot massages and food tasting."

Ten seconds later, the call connected.

"Hey?"

A drowsy male voice came through the headset, amusing Meow King, who joked as he jogged:

"Hey, big shot, it's this early and you're already asleep?"

"Bullshit, get to the point! I just finished a stupid sand table exercise with a bunch of idiots. I'm exhausted. I swear if I play with idiots again, I must be a damn dog!"

The other side was quite rude, clearly an old friend's impatient but not malicious tone.

"I've got something I need your help with, to work out a tactical strategy. You'll definitely be interested. The situation is like this…"

Meow King maintained his steady jogging pace and explained his current circumstances to the other side. After a few seconds of silence, the sound of a lighter and smoke came through the headset, then the man asked:

"Are you crazy or what? Fully immersive virtual reality technology? Are you kidding me? There's no mature technology that has been implemented yet, right?

Don't you know what's going on in the AR and VR circles now?

It's impossible, you're a professional in this field!"

"I didn't believe it at first either. I thought it was a scam until reality gave me a hard slap. The truth is, there are always incredibly capable people in this world.

It's hard for me to describe the feeling of this game to you right now, but I can tell you that it can definitely shatter your world view."

Meow King said with a sigh, then brought the topic back, asking:

"So can you handle this or not? You said you're tired of doing empty drills with idiots all day. Wouldn't it be more fun to play with real stakes?"

"Okay, so for this 18 vs 200+ situation, from my professional perspective, I have two suggestions for you."

The guy on the phone blew a smoke ring, then said mockingly:

"The easier one to achieve would be for you all to become Spartans, or for one of you to suddenly gain the Saiyan transformation power and blast them with a spirit bomb.

The more difficult option is for you all to be good boys, make tactics, and exhaust all means to try to turn the situation around while praying to some deity that you'll somehow win.

Just kidding, brother!

That's a tenfold difference in forces! And you all don't even have superior individual strength!

If this had anything to do with reality, you'd know there's no way to win, okay? This isn't something tactics can solve anymore.

Even if you resurrected Han Xin or Xiang Yu, they'd tell you this mission is impossible and crawl back into their graves to seal their coffins."

He went on to mock:

"Plus, it sounds so mystical with the cold weapons and guns you mentioned. Even if I wanted to help, I'd need to go check out the terrain and whatnot in person. Here's what we'll do, send me that map first so I can take a look, and get me an invite code to check it out too.

Money is no object."

"What invite code do I have? I can only ask about that for you," said Meow King.

Hearing the other side had relented, Meow King grinned, knowing his buddy was interested now.

He got off the treadmill, put on the helmet to connect to the social software, and sent over the map of the Transia region he had saved. He also sent a private message to the admin on the forum.

Alpha's reply came quickly.

Alpha: 【You want an invite code for your friend?】

MeowKing: 【Yes, he's a professional at tactics planning. Used to be an instructor in Africa…um, now he does sand table exercises and is quite famous in that circle. I was thinking bringing him in could help us better complete this test phase. If not, at least give him a trial account to check things out on site.

I want to progress the game faster so we can go into open beta soon. I can't stand just getting little tastes of this great thing over and over.】

Alpha: 【I'll need to apply to the dev team for that. This temporary server should be able to add a few more testers for now.

Have your friend fill out the application. Just remember not to 'guide' him with answers this time. Faking it will lower the weight of his problem reporting.】

Murphy pondered this in the carriage.

He actually had five tester invite codes left from the last quest reward, but Murphy had planned to save them for emergencies.

15 little players was suitable enough already. Too many would just cause chaos.

At this stage, quality was more valuable than quantity.

However, after careful consideration, Murphy decided to give one of the invite codes to Meow King's friend.

If he really was a professional, that meant this little group had at least gained a potential commander candidate. Even a third-rate one would impress Murphy himself.

A third-rate professional was still better than a complete amateur like himself. He understood leaving professional matters to professionals.

A few minutes later, Murphy saw a long detailed review of the game helmet from Meow King in his private messages. Not only did it explain the helmet's operation process and sub-program functions, but it even covered the built-in air conditioning and various power modes in detail.

It seemed like the only thing left was to take the device apart and reassemble it. Murphy silently praised Meow King for being so professional. Hearing he did software outsourcing in reality, he might even be a former software tester like Murphy himself.

Alpha: 【Very good, I'll submit this report to the hardware dev team. If they approve it, they'll use it as a template for an official guide, and the in-game physical reward will be sent to you in the next phase.

But Meow King, you're so professional. Why don't you quit and come work in game testing with me at our company? Haha】

MeowKing: 【Really, is that possible? What are the requirements? I'm sort of in this line of work too and really interested in your company's technology. Can I get a tour?】

Alpha: 【Um, a tour is definitely not possible. For employment, you'd need to sign a non-disclosure agreement + lifelong non-compete clause, relocate to the company headquarters, and strictly follow the internal military-style rules and schedule. Also, remember to say goodbye to family first, you might not get leave for two or three years, but the compensation is good.】

MeowKing: 【sweating About what I expected, sounds just like a state project. I get it, no need to ask more. Thank you for the offer.】

Just as Meow King was frantically trying to get inside information from the admin, and the two were engaged in a tug-of-war, the haggard-looking Lumina Yanghen, having stayed up late the previous night, had just made herself a cup of coffee.

Wearing her pajamas, she brushed her hair back and glanced at the battle plan she had listed on her computer. After staring blankly for a few seconds, feeling that she must have been crazy when writing this nonsense, she deleted the whole thing. She then opened a special friends group labeled "Mensa."

"My clever darlings, your cute little Lumina has encountered a problem, specifically like this…"

She posted the problem to this group of only seven people. A few minutes later, someone with the ID "Concrete Heart" replied:

"Give up!

Strategies and tactics can only play their maximum role when the two sides are evenly matched or the gap is not too big. If these so-called ingenious plans were that formidable, the entire human history wouldn't have only had a few classic battles written about extensively.

With the 18 vs 200 force comparison you listed, if you really execute the bait mission, suffering losses or even total annihilation is the most likely outcome. Tactics are useless for you now.

But I think you could try a different approach.

Like working on the solution itself."

"???"

Lumina's eyes widened, and she quickly put down her coffee cup to humbly type:

"@Concrete Heart

Sister, can you explain that in more detail?"

"Heh, why should I explain it to you? You can still leisurely play games while I'm completely frustrated right now. The three new grad students under me are all idiots, they can get five different results from the same experiment. Revising one paper drags on for over a week.

I'm really fed up.

I'm not a trash can! Don't send me garbage."

This hot-tempered "Concrete Sister" joked with Lumina:

"Why don't you become one of my grad students? Little Lumina, your IQ may be the lowest in the group, but you'd definitely be more than enough to be a grad student.

Just playing games all day is such a waste of time. Your advisor is completely squandering your talent."

"Sister, can you be normal please? I'll be graduating and going back home in a year. Let's talk properly, quickly tell me your thoughts? I'll treat you to a meal someday."

"Tsk, like I need that meal from you? Alright, let me say a few words.

You're overthinking this and going down the rabbit hole. Try elevating to the decision-maker's level now. In the game, your task is simply to destroy the target.

That's very clear.

Although there's a bait team and execution team, there's really no difference. Instead of trying to solve the impossible with your own strength, keep it simple.

Redirect the crisis eastward!"

Although responding by typing, the carefree tone of "Concrete Sister" was clear as she patiently explained to Lumina:

"Switch the roles of the friendly sides. Attract the enemy's attention to the stronger execution team, then your light cavalry can advance and turn the tables by sabotaging the main target.

Backstab!

That's the optimal solution to this problem.

If you do it cleverly enough, you can even bury the truth while completing the mission. Think about why the dev team arranged such a powerful NPC group for you?

They're guiding you in this direction to heighten the so-called realism and freedom of this creepy game. If it's as amazing as you say, then you can't approach it with the mindset of playing a regular game.

I think I've said enough. Use your brain for the rest.

We don't want your intelligence to degrade into being a brainless bimbo."

"Concrete Sister is awesome!"

Lumina felt her thinking had been opened up and excitedly replied in the group:

"As expected of the smartest one in this group of seven!"

"Heh, you'd have to subtract at least 55 points from my IQ to classify me as 'smart'. As for you, just subtracting 15 to 20 would be enough.

I feel including you in this group was a mistake, as you can't help the rest of us progress together. But considering everyone else in this group besides me has basically become a waste already, I suppose this little mistake doesn't matter."

Concrete Sister disdainfully said:

"Learn more while you're young. Even through the computer, I can sense the pitiful hollow echo your head would make if tapped. Alright, I'm going to happily slack off in the lab now.

Talk to you next time."

"Concrete Sister, why don't you fill out this application?"

Lumina didn't want to let go of this resource, so she sent over an application, explaining:

"The game I'm playing right now is really different. It's not just to pass time, you'll be interested once you try it. It's that crazy-advanced black technology! Super black!"

"Forget it."

The other side coldly reply:

"I don't have time to play house with a kid like you. Honestly, have you considered becoming one of my grad students? Just give me the nod and I can talk to your advisor. That old lady should give me some face.

You can set your own expected salary, just don't go overboard."

"But I'm going back home. Please excuse me."

——

Two days later at noon, Lady Femis' caravan arrived at the designated location. After scouting the terrain tonight, they would begin operations tomorrow.

At this time, Murphy also gathered all the little players he currently had for a meeting.

He planned to first hear the players' tactics, and if those didn't work, go with his own ideas.

This time there were 16 people present, including the 5 unlucky ones who had just respawned and the first-time online "Onboard Joy Stick", the abstract ID belonging to the professional friend Meow King had pulled in through connections.

But such an abstract ID made Murphy start doubting his professionalism.

"Holy shit! This lighting! This resolution! Holy shit, this immersion, holy shit, this stench, this pungent stench, are we by a swamp?

This smell reminds me of the rainy season in Central Africa."

The new guy immediately started shouting upon spawning in the scrubland by the Foul Swamp, even crouching down to examine the bushes in detail.

The other players paid no mind to this.

They had basically reacted the same way on their first logins. Since they had embarrassed themselves before, they had to let the newcomers go through this "signature program" too.

"You guys discuss first, we'll take him to check out the terrain and pick an ambush spot. We'll work out the tactics tonight."

Meow King felt a bit embarrassed and quickly pulled his friend up from the ground, escorting the newbie with his four bodyguards and two middle-aged male friends.

Once that group left, only eight student players remained.

The roommates looked at each other blankly, clearly lacking the confidence to have discussed an optimal solution at their dorm room meetings.

The tall and muscular Niuniu didn't seem to mind though.

As an athlete, his job was just to charge and fight. He knew the others wouldn't trust him with the thinking part.

"Um, Lord Murphy!"

Lumina looked around and, seeing no one speaking up, walked over to Murphy and said softly:

"I don't have a suitable tactic or plan, but I feel our approach to solving this has an issue. With our strength, even playing out perfect tactics won't prevent casualties. So, I have an immature little idea here."

"Hm?"

Murphy looked at the only female player in the closed beta, wondering what medicine this little player was selling?

Showing an interested expression, he waved his hand:

"Let's hear it."