The virtual empire starts from the game

Chapter 690 From Hide and Seek to a Series of Boss Battles!

In the overgrown metropolis, all the players who had just completed their first migration and joyfully transformed into animals were doomed.

They were strolling happily down the street, not bothering or provoking anyone, when suddenly they attracted the attention of passersby.

Just as I was about to ask what was wrong, I saw them expressionlessly pull out their knives and load bullets.

The next second, the poor animals were stabbed in the stomach with knives and shot through their bodies.

With a scream, he was killed in the street.

In a very short time, the peaceful and tranquil city where humans and animals had lived in harmony for several days was transformed into an animal-free zone.

Almost all the players who had transformed into animals on the street were wiped out in a bloodbath!
The coffee-selling cat, the newspaper-delivering dog, the crocodile chasing after leather shoes... no animal transformed by the player is spared.

Fortunately, the native pets of the Sprawling City had different markings than the players', and their survivability was enhanced by Xiaomeng at the players' request, so they didn't suffer the same fate.

—The pets enhanced by Xiaomeng, even if they look as fat as a ball and are so clumsy when you throw them food that they can't catch it or even fall flat on their backs, are fast enough to dodge bullets when faced with an attack! Their survivability is off the charts.

This indiscriminate attack on "animal players" quickly provoked their retaliation.

The battles between the players alerted the Metropolitan Police Department, and the wailing of police sirens echoed throughout the city, making the situation even more chaotic.

But it must be said that this barbaric and unreasonable tactic ultimately proved effective.

After being killed multiple times, the "animal players" finally realized that the situation was beyond their control, and they all gave up transforming into animals and stopped fighting against all the players in the city.

They even had a sudden inspiration and joined their ranks on the spot to besiege Xu Meng.

In less than an hour, the city transformed from "Zootopia" back into its former human-made urban form.

After eliminating the tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of distracting factors such as "animal players," Xu Meng immediately felt the pressure!
As the number of players increases, the places to hide become fewer and fewer.

With more and more skilled individuals emerging, escaping after being discovered becomes increasingly difficult.

The most difficult thing is that Xu Meng had already sent out invitation codes to many top players in advance, just to avoid being targeted by these top players today.

But these people have absolutely no sense of martial ethics.

Even though they already had the invitation code, they still came to hunt him down!
There were even honorary players among them—Xu Meng even cheated and became a peregrine falcon that wasn't in the encyclopedia, but she still got blinded by a bolt of lightning and then slashed by a sword.

Before the person even landed, the bolt of lightning caught up again, unleashing three sword strikes at a dazzling speed!

"Oh!"

The peregrine falcon crashed into the crowd and exploded with a bang.

A huge pile of red invitations shot into the sky, flying in all directions amidst the impact of the explosion.

The crowd erupted in uproar:
"Boss Xu's body exploded!"

"Boss Xu got completely thrashed, hahaha!"

"50 invitations! Grab them!"

"Is that Xunfei? Tomorrow morning at 8 AM, he'll probably lose his honorary player title for using 220V AC power to start the Dream Machine, right?"

"Hahaha, that's hilarious! Mr. Xu must be regretting it terribly now."

"Wait, where did Boss Xu go? Why didn't he respawn at the nearest respawn point?"

……

Xu Meng isn't stupid.

Going to the nearest respawn point is just asking to be trapped and endlessly killed, isn't it?
His resurrection location wasn't even any resurrection point, but rather a spot chosen by Xiaomeng based on real-time analysis, where the player density in the entire city was the lowest and there were no other players nearby.

It wasn't difficult at first.

But over time, "safe respawn points" have become increasingly rare.

There were just too many people! So many that there was almost nowhere to stand at intersections.

Xu Meng's hiding became increasingly difficult.

He had originally planned that if the players couldn't find him no matter what, he would take the initiative to tease them and keep them from getting too bored.

But now, he has given up on that naive idea.

To hide himself from being found as much as possible, he went to great lengths, even transforming into a hamster and crawling into the ventilation ducts of an office building.

This dirty tactic successfully bought him a moment of peace.

But it didn't last long.

Because the ruthless players, after completing the team formation, once again restarted the "Animal Shapeshifting Players" and began digging deep into the ground.

Not to mention the ventilation duct he was in, even the sewers were packed with players!
Soon, a ferocious tabby cat appeared in the passage, its eerie green eyes glaring as it charged straight at him!

When Xu Meng was transformed into a hamster, she panicked for a moment and almost turned and ran away.

But he quickly realized: it wasn't necessary!

The moment the tabby cat pounced, he quickly transformed from a hamster into a large, fat orange cat, and started fighting with the tabby cat, slapping each other's heads with their paws.

Taking advantage of their weight, they even gained the upper hand at one point.

Only when a dense multitude of footsteps rapidly approached did they have no choice but to turn and run away.

But after running only a dozen meters, they saw that the pipe in front of them had been pried open, revealing a player's head.

The head glanced at Xu Meng and then quickly disappeared.

"This is... a loyal minister?" Xu Meng exclaimed in surprise.

But the next second, an RPG rocket launcher was seen being stuffed into the ventilation duct.

Without any hesitation, the rocket launcher was instantly fired, rushing towards his face with blazing flames!

"boom!!!"

Amidst the violent explosion and smoke, bright red invitations gushed out from the ventilation ducts!

……

……

Compared to Xu Meng's tragic experience, Xiao Meng's life was much better.

It can almost be said that:
In the game [Death Hide and Seek], Xu Meng is responsible for dying, and Xiao Meng is responsible for hiding.

When dealing with Xu Meng, the players went to great lengths, even resorting to inhumane acts like firing RPGs into ventilation ducts.

But when dealing with Xiaomeng, everyone used nets and sacks; no one used knives, spears, halberds, guns, or explosives.

Even if someone pulls out a deadly weapon, they will be immediately stopped by the players around them.

The scene was just like capturing a rare animal.

Once someone successfully traps Xiaomeng in a net or sack, the whole street erupts in envious cheers.

The atmosphere was incredibly harmonious.
-
This lively atmosphere lasted throughout the day, until Xu Meng was chased to the point of having nowhere to run or hide, and in her anger, she turned into a giant hedgehog, rolled into a ball, and rolled all the way down the street.

He stabbed and ran over a large number of players who were blocking the road and chasing him, and even crushed the cars parked on the road into flat metal discs.

The players suffered heavy casualties immediately.

This sudden change surprised everyone.

But no one was afraid; instead, they became even more excited.
"What the heck? How did it suddenly get so big?"

"What kind of gigantic hedgehog monster is this?!"

"Can we grow that big too? Is this a hidden Easter egg in Animal Kingdom?"

"Animal Kingdom DLC?"

……

At the window of a restaurant on the sixth floor, a player named Big Pear, who had just luckily caught Xiao Meng, who had turned into a little tiger and was sitting on the table eating noodles, was now looking at Xiao Meng in the sack with surprise.

Hearing the noise, Xiao Meng transformed back into her original form from a little tiger. Curious, she clung to the edge of the sack, peering curiously at Xu Meng, who was rolling around and wreaking havoc in the street.

Upon hearing Big Pear's question, she immediately shook her head and denied it, saying, "No, no."

"This has nothing to do with Animal Kingdom!"

"The Easter eggs in Animal Kingdom are rare animal species and fur patterns, not such a huge transformation." Da Xiangli and the players around her were all greatly disappointed upon hearing this.

As for the players who were close to Xu Meng, they had already recovered from the sudden attack by the giant hedgehog. After firing a few shots and finding that the effect was not great, they skillfully discarded their guns and switched to larger swords.

—Everyone has hunted so many dragons in the world of Monster Hunter, so they are not afraid of such large creatures at all.

Xu Meng was being chased all day and got too lazy to act anymore, so she just went into killing mode!

Xiao Meng stayed inside the sack, cheering Xu Meng on.

After shouting for a while, he felt that just cheering wasn't enough, so he jumped out!

The moment it jumped out, it transformed into a black and white panda ball, smashed its head against the restaurant window, and leaped onto the street.

Then his body size rapidly increased!

From a tiny creature that could be held in both hands, it has grown into a giant panda that is larger than a hedgehog and over ten meters tall!
Inside the restaurant, Da Xiangli stared blankly at the empty sack in her hand for a few seconds, then stretched out her right hand towards the shattered glass and wailed in despair:

"Wait! You haven't given me my invitation yet!!!"

Before he finished speaking, ten brand-new invitations lined up and flew in through the shattered window.

One card was thrown into the sack containing the large pear, and nine were scattered in the restaurant, where they were given to the surrounding players to scramble for.

As for Xiao Meng herself, she transformed into a giant panda and joined the battle.

Seeing how much Xiaomeng wanted to fight, everyone had no choice but to give in to her, and included the giant panda in their attack range.

Of course, most players wouldn't be able to bring themselves to use either Xiaomeng or Panda—not just Chinese players, but overseas players as well.

The fondness for Xiaomeng and pandas is the same all over the world.

Therefore, the strategy for dealing with giant pandas is mostly defensive and counter-attacking; even when attacking, it's usually a "normal attack."

But it's different when Xu Meng transforms into a giant hedgehog—

Use all your best moves on him!
Under the relentless onslaught of players, the final outcome was no surprise—Xu Meng, transformed into a hedgehog, killed thousands of players before her health bar was emptied and she exploded!

However, the scene was not bloody at all; on the contrary, it was quite festive.

Because all the invitations that were leaked were bright red.

Moreover, knowing that transforming into a boss was a bit of a rip-off, Xu Meng kindly doubled the 50 invitations and sent out 100 in one go.

Players who had been battling for half a day finally breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Xu Meng's amazing performance.

Before they could catch their breath, a massive cloud of smoke erupted again in the very center of the battlefield, obscuring everyone's vision.

A strange roar echoed through the smoke and dust.

The roar stirred up a violent wind, scattering the dust and smoke from the street.

The things hidden in the smoke and dust were now fully revealed—

That was actually a Bull Demon King who was eight meters tall, had two horns on his head, and wielded a giant hammer!
"Resurrected on the spot? No longer hiding?"

"Holy crap! What the hell is the Bull Demon King???"

"Are you really not going to act anymore?!"

"Wait a minute, Mr. Xu! Aren't we playing hide-and-seek?"

……

Players stared wide-eyed and launched into a frenzy of complaints.

Xu Meng, who had regained her vocal cords, unceremoniously raised a black iron hammer the size of a truck above her head and said in a muffled voice, "That's right! It's hide-and-seek."

"But this time, you're the ones hiding, and I'll be the one searching!"

The next second, the tungsten steel hammer slammed down with a violent whistling sound!

Boom! ! !

The ground instantly collapsed, creating a huge crater. The concrete pavement shattered inch by inch, and a powerful shockwave swept across the entire street.

The buildings on both sides shook violently, and broken glass fell like rain.

As for the players on the street—

Within a 10-meter radius of the point where the hammer struck, all living people died instantly!
Within a 20-meter radius, severely injured, it uncontrollably rolled into the deep pit.

Within a 50-meter radius, everything was blown about by the powerful shockwave!
This terrifying destructive power left all the players on the street stunned.

But Xu Meng didn't give them any time to recover, and once again raised the huge iron hammer—

"Hahaha! Now it's your turn to run away!!"

The hammer, accompanied by a fierce wind, slammed heavily onto the building next to the Bull Demon King.

The building looked as if it had been hit by a missile; the impact surface shattered like tofu, with concrete fragments flying everywhere, and it was almost instantly half destroyed.

The destructive power is truly astonishing.

But the players still didn't feel scared.

After regaining his composure, he launched another attack on the Bull Demon King!
Under Xu Meng's ferocious offensive, the buildings on both sides of the street suffered heavy blows, one after another becoming dangerous buildings, and some even collapsed on the spot.

This feeling of causing chaos got Xu Meng a little carried away.

They even pushed down the entire dilapidated building to smash the players below.

Of course, he himself wasn't having an easy time either.

The players' machine guns, RPGs, and flamethrowers never stopped, and hovercars kept crashing into him.

While the two sides were locked in fierce combat, Xiaomeng, transformed into a giant panda, carried a large group of NPCs and teleported them to a safe place.

—Just in case, they also cleared out all the NPCs in the surrounding five blocks at once.

The Bull Demon King Xu Meng's rampage was ultimately interrupted by a solid tungsten steel shell larger than himself.

That cannonball, carrying a bright blue energy pulse, directly vaporized the upper body of the Bull Demon King.

Xu Meng was stunned for a moment before she realized what was happening:

These heartless players actually used a planetary cannon meant for shooting down space motherships to fire a shot at him!
The Bull Demon King explodes again.

This time, 500 invitations were leaked!

Seeing this exaggerated "drop," the players immediately realized:

The game we're playing now isn't hide-and-seek anymore.

Now it's time to fight the world boss!

The stronger the boss, the more invitations it drops after you defeat it!
Realizing this, everyone became even more excited and began to shout:
"Boss Xu, hurry up!!"

"Next one, next one!"

"Come and prepare to die!!"

……

Xu Meng also had a great time and certainly wouldn't let them down.

In the center of the ruined battlefield, a large plume of white smoke rose once again.

This time, before the white smoke had even dissipated, it had already emitted a dark red light.

Amid the expectant gazes of the players, a flaming whip over ten meters long was drawn from the smoke and dust.

"Snapped!"

With a crisp sound, a large ball of flame appeared out of nowhere in the air.

The smoke cleared.

A colossal fire demon with wings on its back, curved horns on its head, and its entire body engulfed in crimson flames makes a grand entrance!
This was an Easter egg that Xu Meng originally designed for the Misty Mine. Unfortunately, as Richard's team continued development, the entire Moria Mine became a scrapped project, and this Balrog was never used.

It wasn't until now that I finally got the chance to appear!
"Hahahaha, come on!" The Flame Demon's deep, evil laughter echoed across the battlefield.

The players responded with equally enthusiastic laughter!
The intensity of the battle has escalated once again!
(End of this chapter)