On my second playthrough, they were full of malice towards me.

[With the Succubus Queen's letter, Nana's true identity is revealed. Just as you guessed, she is the real Succubus Princess. She is about to suffer a tragic fate because she leaked information to you. Your choice may save her, but you also realize that this is a trap. Perhaps giving up Nana is the right option.]

Faced with the threat of the Succubus Queen, what is your choice?

Option 1: Idiot, you really want to come and save me?! Give up!

[Option Two: Are you stupid? Don't think you're so great. Two fists can't fight four hands. Ash Base has worked so hard to develop; you can't let it be destroyed like this! Give up!]

[Option 3: Nana is a succubus! Why would a succubus be afraid of that kind of thing? Maybe Nana actually has a lot of experience already, and the Succubus Queen is just bluffing. How could there be a virgin succubus in this world? Give up!]

Option 4: Deploy troops and formally declare war on five bases, including Aizen, Ishizuki, and Eisen. Afterward, march into the Enchanted Forest, capture the Succubus Queen, and rescue Rena.

Chapter 307 Hidden Conditions

Liao Ji still feels a sense of感慨 (gǎnkǎi, a complex emotion encompassing both emotion and reflection) whenever he recalls this point in time.

At that time, my in-game power was in the latter half of its growth phase. Whether it was the size of my base or the development of my army, there was still a lot of room for development before I hit a bottleneck.

Although Liao Ji's goal in the game has always been to conquer the world, he will eventually lead his troops to attack these other human bases.

But the safest approach is definitely to conserve strength first, and then defeat them one by one. In fact, once they see that your power has expanded, they might not even need to come to you. Given the cowardly nature of most base leaders, they might be willing to surrender to you on their own initiative.

In fact, by the late game, when he had occupied half of the continent's territory, the remaining base forces no longer needed his conquest; they were all vying to join the Ash Empire's territory.

However, at that time, the top combat power under his command was actually only Jiuyou and Ling. As a healer, Sciutia was already somewhat weak in the era of the base and the army.

The Ash Base was indeed very powerful, and with me as the commander from the perspective of a "player," they were virtually invincible. However, at that time, the total population of the Ash Base was only a few hundred thousand, and the Ash Army had less than fifty thousand, including several thousand logistics troops.

In comparison, the five bases he would be facing included Aizen's base with a population of about 250,000, and Ishizumi's base with a population of about 100,000. However, as the name suggests, it was a fortress built on a rocky basin, making it extremely easy to defend and difficult to attack.

As for the Eisen base, it was a regional hegemon at the time, like a boss among bases, with a population of over 500,000, of which the military accounted for as much as half, showing 200,000 on the panel. Although there must be a lot of exaggeration in that figure, the difference in numbers is still obvious.

The remaining two bases, though relatively weak, still have populations of around 100,000 each. With all five bases combined, the army's size is probably more than ten times that of the Ash Army.

In this situation where you are outnumbered and have to be the attacker, you can imagine how difficult it is. It is destined to require countless "rollbacks" to have any chance of success.

Yes, it's just a matter of probability.

In the game "Falling," even if players can save and revert to previous saves, it doesn't mean they can solve all problems. For example, if they suffer a natural disaster or are attacked by a horde of monsters, reverting to a previous save a hundred times won't help.

On the contrary, Liao Ji had seen too many players on the forum who were full of confidence and saved their game, only to find that their previous decisions were wrong, resulting in a complete collapse and no way to go back. They were completely "dead saves" and angrily complained about the game.

Regarding Reina's options, if you're playing a low-difficulty game, it's fine; you can just save an extra time. But the problem is, you only have one time.

The reason Liao Ji dared to deliberately slip his hand down the options like those for the succubus was because the "follow-up" of the options was predictably short, and there was no need to use the save function in between, so it wouldn't cause any overwriting.

But this time is different.

To wage war against five bases, it would take at least a week to complete the campaign, and you would inevitably need to use the save function. Once you use a save, it is equivalent to overwriting the previous save, which means that you will not have the opportunity to go back and choose again.

Having finally gotten such a "perfect" start on the highest difficulty level of "Falling" that no one has ever cleared, if it becomes a "dead save file," it's like all my previous efforts have been wasted. I might not be able to encounter a god-like early-game wife like "Shutia" no matter how many times I try to get the start.

but

how to say

Firstly, it's not because Rena, including "The Wanderer," "The Fortune Teller," and later "The Succubus Princess," had several more character illustrations than others from the start.

Liao Ji just felt that if he didn't even dare to take a chance on a game, wouldn't he be a complete failure?

The battle that followed took even longer than Liao Ji had imagined, more than half a month to finally win. During that time, they went through countless searches for the optimal solution and repeatedly reloaded and saved the game.

High risk, high reward.

After successfully annexing these five bases, he greatly accelerated the game's progress, allowing the Ash Base's power to expand several times over, truly leading it down the path to becoming the Ash Empire.

Moreover, Liao Ji, who was a bit slow to realize it, discovered another point.

It was precisely because he chose to accelerate here that a butterfly effect was created, allowing him to establish an empire before the "World Tree" was corrupted and withered by the turbidity, and relying on the succubus race to know about the existence of the "elf race" and have the strength to go and save it.

Yes.

According to Lena's diary, the greatest help that enabled the succubus and Anno to learn the truth about the world came from the native World Tree.

Although Fall is a real-time rendered game with all maps being completely randomized and each player's world being different, some of the "basic elements" that make up the world are still common.

For example, races such as humans, demi-humans, succubi, and machines; upgrade paths such as the Chaos, settlements, shelters, and bases.

Landmark buildings are also one of the basic elements that make up the world.

Similar examples include the Enchanted Forest of the Succubus race, the Bone Land of the Undead race, the Orc Plains of the Demi-human race, and the World Tree of the Elf race.

Combining the truth about the world in the diary, Liao Ji can easily understand that each player's world has a "local" World Tree, which is the embodiment of that starry sky World Tree, somewhat like a proxy server.

However, if the player's "progress speed" is not fast enough, and they cannot reach the elves to save the World Tree before the Turbid Evil corrupts it, then even if they successfully defeat the Turbid Evil and save the world, the native World Tree will still be irretrievable and will be completely lost.

Whether the World Tree exists or not, or whether this "proxy server" is broken, has no impact on the first playthrough of the game. It is a neutral building that players cannot control and has no special functions. Liao Ji didn't pay much attention to it back then.

But looking back now

Liao Ji understood a little better now, why he was the only player among the "Falling" players to have the option to start a "second playthrough".

This was not only because he chose the highest difficulty level, but also because he had powerful and experienced Evil Beings like Reina and Anno.

An equally important reason was that his progress in clearing the game was greatly "accelerated" because of Lena, which allowed him to preserve the World Tree.

And then, through the successful contract with Anno, the World Tree received even more powerful spirit care, allowing it to revive and grow.

In gamification terms, the state of the local World Tree is a hidden condition for unlocking "New Game Plus," an absolutely indispensable part of the process.

Thinking about it this way, my impulsive act actually yielded huge results.

Of course.

At that time, I didn't know so much about the future. I was just an outsider player, but I was very excited and felt that I had gained a lot.

It wasn't just because they won a battle and expanded their power. Don't forget, in the fourth option at the time, besides declaring war on the five major bases, there was another sentence at the end.

Charge into the Succubus Forest, capture the Succubus Queen, and rescue the imprisoned Lena.

Players are actually quite strange.

When playing eroge (adult games), I always want to find the storyline, but when playing serious games, I always want to find serenity.

Liao Ji could only say that the allure of the final reward played a crucial role in his decision to spend half a month researching how to take down the five major bases, with his bloodshot eyes from staying up all night.

Lena is in this state.

Wouldn't that succubus queen be...

Chapter 308 The Empress's Punishment

With this in mind, he immediately led tens of thousands of Ash Army soldiers, who had just won a series of victories and were as majestic and imposing as their leader, and who were full of anger and ready to vent their frustration, towards the Enchanted Forest.

Faced with these battle-hardened Ash Army soldiers, and even the Ash Lord who had become a legend in one battle, the Succubus race's resistance was almost symbolic, and they quickly surrendered.

But what outraged everyone was that when he finally reached the Succubus Queen and saw a more mature and seductive version of Reina—one who was even more youthful and innocent than before—sitting on her throne with her legs crossed, exuding an alluring charm, as if waiting for him to capture her, he…

They really just captured him, threw him into the dungeon, and that was it.

The reason is that the Succubus Queen is an "uncontractable" character. These characters have almost no interaction options with the player and are considered as passersby.

Even Reina, the succubus whom Liao Ji had hoped for and who had contributed many "fourth options" to him, no longer had those strange options after she became a contractor after being contracted by him.

This is indeed a great regret for Liao Ji in the game.

It has nothing to do with whether the Succubus Queen is sexy or not. It's just that this wicked woman dared to treat Reina like that, toying with them and trying to sit back and reap the benefits. We really need to teach her a lesson so that we can't be satisfied.

Thinking about this, Liao Ji couldn't help but feel a little itchy.

Especially considering his previous experience with Reina in the "secret room," he understood that the succubus was now using drugs and herself to recreate past "memory points" to increase her influence in the world and stabilize her existence.

So after filming the penultimate episode of "The Enchanted Body," which featured the Ash Lord's five-man rampage, Liao Ji quickly arrived at the Demon Tower.

It's the same familiar process.

The receptionist was already waiting for her succubus employee, who handed him the room key. This time, the key had the number 0809 on it, indicating room number nine on the eighth floor.

After inserting the key and pushing open the door, Liao Ji paused for a moment, revealing a look of surprise.

Because in this "secret room," the diary on the desk was no longer open, waiting for me to read it, but closed.

Conversely, the pink secret door leading to the basement, which had previously been opened after reading the diary, was opened ahead of schedule this time.

Is the order reversed?

Is it true that you have to clear the "basement" level before you can read the diary?

As Liao Ji strode towards the hidden door and disappeared inside, when his consciousness returned, just as he had imagined, he found himself in the Enchanted Forest.

"Lord Liao Ji, the cleanup is complete. The Succubus Clan has completely given up resistance. The Ash Army has successfully taken over the Enchanted Forest. In this battle, our side suffered a total of 16 wounded, 0 killed, and 1 deserter."

Zero, who works as a maid in daily life and as a scribe on the battlefield, accurately reported the battle situation to Liao Ji.

Soon, another female general, clad in crimson armor, appeared beside her. The Dragon Girl knelt down and apologized, saying, "I'm sorry, Lord Liao Ji. It was Jiu You who neglected to discipline me."

Finally, the little nun next to Liao Ji stepped forward, seemingly to plead for Jiu You, and quickly ran over to help the kneeling dragon girl up.

“Sister Jiuyou, this is not your fault, nor is it the soldier’s fault. Tia examined him and found that he was bewitched by a succubus, which is why he defected. Lord Liao Ji, let Tia handle this matter.”

After speaking, the little nun looked cautiously at herself as the commander, as if afraid that she would get angry at Jiu You because of this.

Uh

So this is what my character looks like in the game?

In this memory moment, Lena did not appear directly; instead, the three women surrounded her.

That's indeed the case in the story. They were only put into storage by me later on. During this period, I basically had to add these "five-star" characters to my team for every wave of battle.

As for Lena, she should still be imprisoned, as the succubus queen's last bargaining chip, right?

Liao Ji waved his hand, and the three women, along with him, entered the Empress's residence as victors.

Along the way, you can see many pitiful succubi, all bound with ropes. The Ash Army has completely occupied this place, but no soldier dares to do anything to these succubi. After seeing Liao Ji, they all straightened their backs.

Compared to the succubi captured outside, the succubus queen on the throne appeared much calmer and more composed. Just like her character portrait in the game, she showed no panic in the face of a formidable enemy's invasion; instead, she seemed to be secretly excited.

She first glanced at the three women beside Liao Ji, then the succubus queen seemed to feel much more at ease and relaxed. She fixed her gaze on Liao Ji and licked her alluring red lips.

"Is this the leader Liao Ji who was able to destroy five bases in a row? He really knows how to train women."

As she spoke, the Succubus Queen puffed out her full breasts, as if showing off her impressive figure to Liao Ji, which made her look much more mature than the three women beside him.

Previously, the Empress only regarded Liao Ji as a big fish, but now that this big fish has been able to capsize the ship, the Empress has realized that Liao Ji's potential may be much more terrifying than she imagined.