"Fuck! You're fucking insane! I give up!"
The player named 'Immortal Emperor lllllllll8' slammed his hands on the desk, suddenly threw his mouse down, and decided he was done playing.
A little over a week ago, he had charged into the game *Tower Defense of Ten Thousand Realms*, wanting to compete with Shen Fei. Immortal Emperor started by depositing five million into his account and decided to follow up with another one hundred million. But as time went on, he watched Shen Fei's Combat Power shoot up at an incredible rate. Immortal Emperor started to feel overwhelmed; he couldn't keep up at all!
Now, seeing that Shen Fei's Combat Power had jumped by another fifty million in one go to reach 230 million, Immortal Emperor finally backed down.
There's always someone better out there, a higher mountain beyond the mountain.
He thought he was a Krypton Gold titan, but compared to Shen Fei, he realized he was just a "beggar." According to statistics on the Forum, Shen Fei had spent at least seven hundred million by now. And him? He had only spent a little over forty million so far. There was no comparison. No comparison at all!
This time, Immortal Emperor truly admitted defeat. I should just go back to my Cultivation Game and be the king there...
Utterly defeated, Immortal Emperor finally uninstalled *Tower Defense of Ten Thousand Realms* and quietly returned to his old game. When the company behind *Dream Immortal Realm* saw their number one Krypton Gold player, "Immortal Emperor," come online, the entire staff went wild with welcome messages, gift packs, and free items. This finally made "Immortal Emperor" feel a little like a Krypton Gold titan again.
It hasn't been easy!
. . .
"What the fuck is going on! What is going on! Just die for me! Just die already!"
At the same time, in a luxurious mansion, a young man with severe dark circles under his eyes was angrily smashing everything in his room. The young man, whose game ID was "Mushroom Enthusiast," was currently in a blind rage.
A little over a week ago, the player named "Skyrocketing," who had agreed to meet him for an offline competition to buy out a gold shop in *Tower Defense of Ten Thousand Realms*, never showed up. He had been stood up. But he never expected that when he got home, planning to log into the game to confront Skyrocketing and spam insults using an endless supply of megaphones, he would discover that he couldn't log in.
His account had been hacked!
After moving heaven and earth to get his account back, he found that everything in it had been completely wiped clean. Furious, he tried to register an alternate account, only to find that he couldn't even do that. Every time he registered a new one, it would be instantly hacked.
The "Mushroom" youth went completely berserk. After trying for two or three days and realizing it was useless—he couldn't create any account at all—he gave up on *Tower Defense of Ten Thousand Realms*. He decided to go back to a game he used to enjoy, *Super Weapon Dominance*. In that game, he had five million large mushrooms stored away. He wanted to let loose and blow off some steam.
Then, he was dumbfounded.
He was astonished to find that this game account had also been hacked. Panicked, he tried several other games in a row, only to find every single one of them compromised. Mushroom Enthusiast completely broke down.
As time passed, he even found that he couldn't log into any game at all. He found many people to help him, whether they were network specialists, game experts, or even people from the game companies themselves. It was completely useless. While these people were there, everything was fine, but the moment they left, his accounts would instantly show anomalies. He tried switching computers, switching houses, switching networks—he tried everything.
Nothing worked.
As a game addict from a wealthy family, "Brother Mushroom" was left with nothing but fury a week later.
"I'm not going! I'm not going! Get lost!" he roared, hearing his secretary at the door telling him that his father had arranged for him to go to Korea to relax.
. . .
A level 8 Gemstone is worth 400,000, and a level 7 Gemstone is worth 80,000...
Shen Fei was unaware of the situation on the game Forum or with the other players. In the dead of night, he quietly took out a piece of paper and calculated his Gemstone synthesis plan.
After tonight, there would only be one day left until April Fools' Day. If everything went as expected, that voice would appear at the stroke of midnight. One day after that, the game would manifest in reality. He couldn't afford any delays. Although the money he had left wasn't enough to socket max-level Gemstones, he would use what he had to get as many as he could.
He still had 170 million Gold Coins. After all his calculations, Shen Fei decided to socket 300 level 8 Gemstones. For the remaining 342 slots, he would use lower-tier level 7 Gemstones.
A max-level, level 9 Gemstone costs 2 million each. That's a level of Krypton Gold I really can't afford!
The 300 level 8 Gemstones were worth about 120 million. The 342 level 7 Gemstones were worth about 30 million. Each level 8 Gemstone could increase a single Attribute of a Defense Tower by about 55%, while each level 7 Gemstone could increase a single Attribute by about 38%. He was no longer aiming for max-level Gemstones with a 100% boost.
SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!
Having made his list, Shen Fei opened the shop and started buying. Because Gemstones were so expensive, the shop only sold up to level 5 Gemstones, each costing over three thousand. Following his calculations, Shen Fei began to quickly purchase all the Gemstones he needed. Since Gemstones were the final feature, clearly developed solely for Krypton Gold spending, there were no quantity limits on their purchase.
Soon, Shen Fei's inventory was filled to the brim with all kinds of Gemstones. Then, he began to rapidly synthesize them. Five level 5 Gemstones synthesized into one level 6, and five level 6 Gemstones synthesized into one level 7. With a few quick operations, the Gemstones in his inventory became 300 level 8 and 342 level 7 Gemstones. If he socketed all of these, his Combat Power would increase by another thirty million-plus.
Let's do it!
With less than 48 hours until April Fools' Day, Shen Fei steeled himself, having no intention of waiting. I have to make the Krypton Gold purchase eventually anyway, so if it causes another wave of attention, so be it. A Combat Power increase this massive in such a short time will definitely blow up the news. But let it blow up. Haven't I caused enough shocks over the past month? I'm not afraid!
SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!
He spent another 6.42 million to buy 642 of the highest-level slotting tools. After punching a Gemstone slot into every Defense Tower and every piece of equipment, Shen Fei quickly socketed the Gemstones. He placed thirty level 8 Gemstones into his ten pieces of Tower Master equipment. On his 612 max-level Defense Towers, he socketed a mix of level 8 and level 7 Gemstones.
WHOOSH!
As the process completed, all the socketed items burst forth with a multi-colored radiance. Green Attack Speed Gemstones, red Attack Power Gemstones, yellow Range Gemstones, purple Health Gemstones... all sorts of Gemstones shimmered with their own unique light. The myriad colors converged, making Shen Fei's game screen instantly and extraordinarily dazzling.
[Ding!]
[All Defense Towers detected to be fully socketed with Gemstones of at least level 5!]
[Reward Trait: All Defense Towers' Attack Power increased by 15%]
Just as Shen Fei was about to check how much his Combat Power had increased from this wave of Gemstone socketing, he was surprised to find that another series of system notifications had popped up.