Just as the Pillager King had analyzed, although the Meat Field was also underground, in reality, the situation wasn't as grim as Fat Cow had imagined.
When the Pillager King set up the garrison sites, there was a certain pattern to it.
The entire area had five garrison sites, and if you connected their positions, it basically formed a hexagon.
They were all located on the outer edges of the forest area, still quite far from the central region of the forest.
After Annoying village HIM and the iron golems discovered the garrison sites, as long as their brains were functioning normally, they would definitely search purposefully in the four directions.
Annoying village HIM and the iron golems wanted to capture the Pillagers alive, and the best way to do that was to wait for them to walk into the trap.
After finding the garrison sites, they definitely wouldn't waste time and energy attacking toward the center of the forest, because that would be meaningless.
From this, it could be deduced that the chance of the Meat Field being discovered was less than 5%.
And that 5% chance was basically only if something unusual happened.
At the moment, no one could be sure exactly how Annoying village HIM and the iron golems were searching for the garrison sites.
Although the garrison sites were distributed in four directions, it was also possible that while digging, they might use a method that went straight from the southern point to the northern point, cutting through the entire forest area.
There was a chance that their digging path could pass by the Meat Field.
But earlier, Xu Yuan had discussed this with the Pillager King. The garrison sites the Pillager King built were all roughly at the same depth.
So once Annoying village HIM and the iron golems dug up two garrison sites, they would basically know the exact depth of the garrisons.
However, Xu Yuan's Meat Field was not at the same depth as the Pillager King's garrison sites.
So even if the digging path of Annoying village HIM and the iron golems passed through the Meat Field, the chance of it being discovered would still be very low.
The 5% probability Xu Yuan gave was actually the maximum estimate, meaning the chance of being discovered only if every unfavorable condition happened at once.
This showed that Xu Yuan was already being extremely cautious with this calculation.
Even though the chance of the Meat Field being discovered under all unfavorable conditions was just 5%,
Xu Yuan was very clear that even if the probability was low, it wasn't zero.
No matter what, there was still a chance the Meat Field could be discovered.
That probability wasn't something Xu Yuan could control, and he couldn't make it any lower.
The only thing he could do was reduce the chance that the Pillagers doing the scouting would be discovered.
If Xu Yuan hadn't reminded them, the Pillagers might have entered the Meat Field directly through the tunnels.
If the Meat Field was discovered that way, that would be the same as getting caught red-handed.
That was why Xu Yuan told the Pillagers to enter from the outside, go to the center of the forest, and dig downward from there.
This way, even if the Meat Field was discovered, the chance of the Pillagers themselves being found would drop significantly.
Xu Yuan's move once again overturned the Pillager King's understanding.
In the Pillager King's eyes, a 5% chance was already extremely small. If it were him, he wouldn't even consider that the Pillagers might get caught because of it.
After all, 5% was really too low, and that was under the worst-case scenario.
But Xu Yuan didn't ignore the existence of risk, even if that risk was small enough for most people to dismiss.
Maybe this was exactly why Xu Yuan's plans always succeeded, no matter what he did.
At that moment, after hearing the Pillager King's explanation, everyone finally understood.
"Strong as hell, yet cautious to a terrifying degree…"
"Phew… I finally understand why everyone around our King can trust him unconditionally no matter what happens…"
"This… this is insane… 5% is already so low, and the King can still manage that?!!"
"This is… too detailed, right?!!!!… Humans and humans, ah, no… this is the gap between humans and gods?!!"
"Skularisaru… (No wonder the chief follows him…)"
At this moment, everyone pret finally realized just how terrifying Xu Yuan truly was.
Everyone knew Xu Yuan was cautious, but this was the first time they had truly seen someone take the word "cautious" to its absolute limit.
Now, everyone was genuinely convinced, wholeheartedly, utterly, and completely.
"I feel like if our King told me to eat a rock, I'd probably do it without hesitation… this is ridiculous…"
"Kinda exaggerated… but… not wrong at all… Delicious!! Love it!! Give me another scoop!!"
"Gotta admit, working under our King really means you don't have to use your brain at all…"
"Our King… the ultimate all-purpose brain-storage device…"
After the Pillager King's explanation, the once-tense atmosphere immediately became light and cheerful.
Xu Yuan had merely t people to check on the Meat Field's situation, the problem hadn't been solved yet, and he hadn't told anyone his plan.
Yet everyone there, without exception, completely relaxed.
They even started teasing each other and joking around.
About five minutes later, Tusak returned safely to the camp.
Panting heavily, he ran into the camp, only to see everyone inside looking cheerful.
The players were one thing, but even the Pillagers had bright faces, not a single one showing any sign of worry.
Forget worry, at that moment, no one even noticed he'd returned.
Tusak suddenly felt that depressing "the world has abandoned me" feeling.
Although he was speechless, Tusak quickly walked up to Xu Yuan and began his report.
"Sarikuri, silu sakku! (Inspection complete! No abnormalities found in the Meat Field!)"
Hearing Tusak's report, Xu Yuan nodded, then looked around and said,
"Let's go. To the Meat Field."
Hearing Xu Yuan's order, everyone pret had no objections. They quickly lined up neatly and followed behind him.
Following Tusak's path, Xu Yuan led everyone to the Meat Field, then divided them into two groups, players in one, Pillagers in another.
After grouping them, Xu Yuan turned to the Pillager King and said, "You tell them the next part of the plan first."
Hearing that, the Pillager King nodded and replied, "I'll tell them the detailed plan."
"I'll carefully select the ones who will 'get captured' and make sure they use the same story about emerald production."
"I'll also handle how they'll communicate with us afterward."
Hearing that, Xu Yuan felt quite satisfied.
Seeing the players and Pillagers all looking so relaxed earlier had made him a bit helpless.
It was good that they trusted him unconditionally, but Xu Yuan didn't actually want his subordinates to depend on him too much.
The reason Xu Yuan patiently guided the Pillager King was because he wanted him to develop independent thinking skills.
But Xu Yuan also knew, not everyone could be taught that way. There was still a big difference from person to person.
Someone like the Pillager King, with great intuition and luck, could really save Xu Yuan a lot of trouble once trained.
But people with average talent… it was better if they didn't think too much.
After the Pillager King reported his plan and was about to leave, Xu Yuan suddenly called out, "Wait."
"When you're standardizing what they'll say, besides the emerald production info, you need to add one more thing."
The Pillager King nodded, "Hmm? What else needs to be added?"
Xu Yuan thought for a moment, then said, "Have them leak information about Rainforest's troops, supplies, everything."
Hearing that, the Pillager King froze for a second.
He didn't immediately respond, his mind was spinning fast, trying to catch up with Xu Yuan's reasoning.
Xu Yuan had gotten involved in this matter partly to avoid exposing Rainforest's information.
But now, Xu Yuan was actively suggesting that the captured Pillagers reveal Rainforest's info. Wasn't that contradictory?
No matter how he thought about it, the Pillager King couldn't figure out why Xu Yuan would suddenly make that request.
After a long moment of mental storming, he still couldn't come up with an answer.
Seeing the Pillager King's puzzled look, Xu Yuan smiled and explained, "The Trial Grounds won't last much longer."
"At the moment, there are still two opposing factions."
"If one of them realizes that even after capturing the Pillagers, they still can't match us."
"What do you think they'll do?"
Hearing that, the Pillager King's eyes lit up.
"They'll team up with the other side!!"
"If they succeed in joining forces, our 'spies' will be able to gather intel on both enemy factions at once!!"
Although the Pillager King's analysis seemed flawless, in truth, what he understood was only the most surface-level meaning behind Xu Yuan's plan.
Having those captured Pillagers leak Rainforest's information actually carried two deeper purposes.
———
At this point, the situation in the Trial Grounds had become quite clear.
The player faction, animal faction, some monsters and villagers, and the Pillagers had all joined Xu Yuan's side.
Even though Grayfist had not yet officially joined, Steve had already made arrangements, it was only a matter of time before he became part of Xu Yuan's faction too.
So now, besides Xu Yuan's faction, only two remained, the one led by Tyrant HIM and the one led by Annoying village HIM.
At this point, the Trial Grounds had entered a three-way standoff, Xu Yuan, Tyrant HIM, and Annoying village HIM each controlling one side.
These three factions were now firmly established, and there wouldn't be any more major shifts.
That meant the three of them would inevitably clash in the final battle.
Therefore, in the end, Xu Yuan would have to face attacks from the other two factions.
According to the external estimation made earlier by Rookie, the Trial Grounds should conclude within three days.
Since the message was delivered, one day had already passed.
That meant only two days remained.
So Xu Yuan had to speed up the progress of the Trial Grounds.
If everything continued according to the normal pace, then after Annoying village HIM and the iron golems captured the Pillagers, the first thing they would do would definitely be to stay low and quietly strengthen themselves.
Then, they would start gathering intelligence on the other factions, and based on that, decide what to do next, whether to launch an attack or keep building up strength.
In addition, waiting for the Pillagers to deliver emeralds, locating enemies, gathering intelligence, and discussing next moves, all these processes would take a lot of time.
So if everything went by normal rhythm, Annoying village HIM and the iron golems would never be able to launch an attack on Xu Yuan's faction within just two days.
And that analysis only covered the situation on Annoying village HIM's side.
As for Tyrant HIM's movements, they still hadn't shown up yet, and Xu Yuan had no way of knowing what was really happening on that end.
If Xu Yuan didn't interfere and just let both sides develop freely, then he would have no way to control when the Trial Grounds would end.