Is the closed beta test of King of Loque over? The official release is here!

“A very balanced configuration.” Lin Sen pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses, his tone steady. “The three explosives ensure a margin for error, while the lucky clover provides the possibility of reaching the upper limit.”

Song Chen nodded, his expression softening slightly. This controlled situation was exactly what he wanted.

All three parties are ready.

Murong Jiao took the lead, clenching her fist and swinging her yellow pigtails behind her head, full of energy: "Now that the rules are clear, let's not waste time! I'll go first in the first round!"

No one objected.

[Level 1, Game Begins!]

As the notification sound faded, the scene before my eyes instantly changed.

Murong Jiao found herself standing in front of an old-fashioned mining hook device made of cables and a rocker arm. Mo Fan, Murong Sha, and Fang Xu stood not far behind her like ghostly spectators, able to clearly see all her actions and their field of vision.

Through Murong Jiao's perspective, one can see deep underground, scattered with gold and stones of varying sizes.

The gold nuggets gleamed with an alluring luster, while the dusty stones stood like silent barriers.

Overall, the number of minerals is not large, and their distribution is relatively sparse.

A bright red "60s" countdown appeared in the upper right corner of the screen and began to slowly tick.

There is only one minute left.

Murong Jiao took a deep breath, her gaze focused. She wasn't tempted by the small pieces of gold that were readily available; her eyes were fixed directly on the largest and most conspicuous piece deep inside.

But the path to that large piece of gold was blocked by several pieces of gold and stones of moderate size.

"Clear the road first!"

Without the slightest hesitation, she seized the moment when the swaying grappling hook aligned with a small piece of gold below and decisively pressed the release button!

"Whoosh-"

The grappling hook swiftly swooped down, precisely seizing the small piece of gold, and then began to slowly retract.

[Gold (Small): +10 points.]

The recycling speed isn't fast, but it's still acceptable.

Murong Jiao waited patiently, and the moment the grappling hook returned to its original position, she immediately launched it again, grabbing at another medium-sized piece of gold blocking her way.

Her actions were swift and decisive, with a clear objective and no hesitation.

The first level is clearly just an appetizer to help players get used to the controls.

After clearing away several obstructing minerals, the path to the largest piece of gold was finally opened.

It's now!

Murong Jiao's eyes narrowed, and when the hook rope swung to the optimal angle, she launched a decisive grab!

The grappling hook swooped down and firmly clamped onto the largest piece of gold.

[Gold (Large): +90 points.]

As she watched the huge gold nugget slowly rise, Murong Jiao's lips curled into a smug smile.

Time has run out, and the first level is over.

[Settlement: 6 small gold nuggets, 2 medium gold nuggets, 1 large gold nugget. Total score: 210 points.]

"Two hundred and one points, I don't know if this score is high or low?" Murong Jiao looked at the settlement panel and muttered to herself with some uncertainty.

"The target score for the first round shouldn't be high, so this result is definitely not bad," Murong Sha calmly analyzed. "Everyone is doing this for the first time, so the scores should be about the same."

And it turned out just as she expected.

On the other two sides, Tie Dan, representing the Niu Kuang team, and Lin Sen, representing the Song Chen team, also finished the first round at almost the same time. Their scores fluctuated around two hundred points, with a negligible difference.

[Level 1 complete, proceeding to Level 2.]

The game shop is now open; players can use points to purchase items.

A brand new interface pops up, displaying a wide variety of products.

[Explosives: 20 points.]

[Vitality Potion: 40 points]

[Lucky Clover: 60 points.]

[Stone Collection Book: 60 points.]

[A precious diamond: 120 points.]

[Precious Diamonds: When used, increases the value of diamonds captured in this level by 50%.]

There's a small note at the bottom of the panel reminding you: Each item can only be purchased once. Except for explosives, other items will automatically take effect in the next level after purchase.

"It's my turn for the second round!" Fang Xu volunteered. Looking at the shop interface, he asked hesitantly, "Should we... buy something?"

Murong Sha shook her head: "The props are our guarantee in the later stages. We don't know the difficulty of the level yet. Points are precious, so let's save them for now."

"understand!"

Fang Xu nodded and closed the store interface.

[Second level, game begins!]

The scene before my eyes was refreshed.

The terrain of the second level is significantly more complex than that of the first level.

The number and size of the stones increased dramatically, forming gray walls that intentionally or unintentionally kept the large pieces of gold hidden deep inside.

Moreover, in a corner of the mineral pile, a palm-sized, colorful cloth bag with a question mark tied to it was found.

[lucky bag].

It's smaller than the smallest gold mine, and catching it requires extremely high precision.

Fang Xu manipulated the grappling hook, first grabbing two small pieces of gold that were relatively easy to obtain, while nervously questioning the three people behind him.

"What do you mean by this? Should we take that lucky bag?"

Both Murong Jiao and Murong Sha fell into thought. The lucky bag represented the unknown; it could contain powerful items or worthless stones. Was it worth wasting time on it?

Just then, Mo Fan, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up.

"Don't worry about the lucky bags."

His voice wasn't loud, but it was unusually calm, carrying a convincing power.

"The core of Gold Miner is point efficiency. The items in the lucky bag are ultimately meant to help us get more points. If the time spent grabbing the lucky bag is enough for us to grab a few small pieces of gold, then we've already lost out on the lucky bag."

"The lucky bag in this level is in a tricky location; it will take at least ten seconds to go back and forth. Give up on it and focus on mining for gold."

Mo Fan's analysis was spot on.

Fang Xu suddenly realized and immediately nodded: "Okay, I understand!"

He stopped being distracted and began to focus on clearing the obstacles on the path to the large chunks of gold.

But soon, new problems arose.

A huge piece of gold was sandwiched between two large rocks. To grab it, one of the rocks had to be moved first.

There was no other choice.

Fang Xu gritted his teeth, manipulated the grappling hook, and grabbed one of the boulders blocking his path.

The grappling hook successfully caught the rock, but the retrieval speed instantly slowed to the crawl of a tortoise.

The heavy stones weighed down the cable, and time ticked by.

After finally managing to drag the rock up, the score displayed on the panel made Fang Xu's face fall.

[Stone: +5 points.]

He wasted nearly eight precious seconds for those mere five points.

Chapter 213 Gold Miner II

At the same time, in two other independent game spaces, the countdown for the second level was also ticking in sync.

Bone Clan, Bull Frenzy Squad.

The second player to fight was Er Mao.

He was still half-dead, leaning against the control panel with his eyelids drooping, as if he could fall asleep at any moment.

But his hands were very steady.

Each time the grappling hook shot out, it precisely grabbed the most convenient and valuable gold nugget. He didn't even bother to glance at the oddly positioned lucky bag.

Time ticked by, and the points steadily increased.

Calm and uneventful, yet remarkably efficient.

......

Stone Clan, Song Chen's Team.

Following Lin Sen, Song Chen naturally had to set an example and personally take the lead in the second challenge.

His expression was calm, but his eyes were sharp as he stared intently at the screen. As the captain of the Lawful Men's Guild, he absolutely could not allow himself to fall behind in such a seemingly simple game.

His gaze was fixed on the colorful lucky bag from the very beginning.

“We have lucky clover.” Song Chen’s voice was calm, as if he were talking to himself, or as if he were telling the team members behind him, “The lucky bag is the only variable, and it is also the key to widening the gap between us.”

Instead of focusing on the gold mine like Er Mao did, he chose a more challenging route—directly clearing the obstacles leading to the lucky bag.

A stone.

Another stone.

The grappling hook's retrieval speed was slowed by the weight of the stone, and time passed silently.

Finally, the road was clear.

"Now!" Song Chen whispered, and the instant the grappling hook swung to the perfect angle, he made his move decisively!

The grappling hook precisely grabs the lucky bag—