Gamers Are Fierce-Chapter 586 - 584: Four Emperors

Those were a pair of blue foam earplugs, soft and tiny, looking no different from the ordinary noise-canceling earplugs sold on the market.

[Name: Clean Earplugs]

[Type: Magic Tool]

[Quality: Rare]

[Special Effect: Cleansing Pollution. While wearing the earplugs, the auditory system’s reception of mental pollution is reduced, lessening the consumption of Sanity Value when exposed to mental pollution.]

[Equipment Requirements: None]

[Note: This product employs thermosensitive, slow-rebound memory foam material. It is medium-sized and includes air vents. These features allow it to effectively mitigate noise from short videos played in public and next-door neighbor renovations, thereby lowering overall noise and relieving stress.]

[Note: Let’s all learn to meow; love is like blue skies, white clouds, and clear horizons for miles. Can’t wait for the Gemini meteor shower. In some far-flung world of adventurers, leisurely sip a pot of rough wine.]

[Note: NYEH NYEH NYEH! CRAWL CRAWL CRAWL! WAAAH WAAAH WAAAH! IS THAT ALL YA GOT? IS THAT ALL? SO TRIGGERED! SO TRIGGERED! THAT’S THE LINE! THAT’S THE LINE! TBH, FOR REAL, THIS IS IT! THIS IS IT! YOU THINK ABOUT IT! YOU JUST THINK ABOUT IT REAL HARD!]

"Uh..." Li Ang picked up the earplugs from the delivery outlet. Maybe because they were just produced from the Forging Furnace, they still retained some warmth, making them slightly hot to the touch.

Li Ang casually weighed them in his hand, rolled the two earplugs into thin strips, and inserted them into his ears. After the ten-second expansion time, all miscellaneous noise from the outside world immediately became much quieter, which was quite refreshing.

"So these can block out auditory mental pollution as well as have the noise-canceling effect of ordinary earplugs?"

He nodded, paused, and then mused aloud, "But didn’t I throw a bunch of flying sword Magic Artifacts into the Forging Furnace? What’s the principle behind turning those into foam earplugs? Could it be because the flying sword Magic Artifacts stemmed from the King of Shengnan, and the King of Shengnan is an artificial god created by human spiritual Energy?"

The judgments of the Forging Furnace were often puzzling. Li Ang didn’t ponder it too much, placed the pair of earplugs in his pocket, sat down at the computer, and started browsing the player forum.

As the Killing Fields game progressed, the player forum became more formal. It was no longer sheltered behind a shabby, ad-filled website but now possessed its own official site.

To prevent regular people from stumbling in, the forum remained, as before, inaccessible through conventional search engines. Only those with player qualifications could see its page. Ordinary people, even if staring at the same computer screen, would only see a blank white screen with no graphics—undoubtedly the work of official special agencies from various countries.

"Let’s see what’s new recently..." Li Ang murmured to himself, scrolling with the mouse wheel.

Since the Killing Fields game was officially made public, the world had become much more peaceful. Special agencies no longer had to operate with restraint or in secrecy. Over the past few months, they had implemented sweeping reforms, recruited talent, and trained personnel. Other departments also cooperated, working together in promoting awareness, assisting the special agencies in handling anomalies, and maintaining public security.

Now, ordinary people encountering abnormal events could call agencies like the Special Affairs Bureau, just like dialing an emergency number.

Of course, this also varied by region. In the East, surveillance cameras and urban detection systems had been widely promoted quite early. Consequently, when an abnormal event occurred, the authorities could discover it instantly and dispatch operatives to deal with it. In the vast rural areas where surveillance cameras had yet to be extensively adopted, the authorities were also making persistent efforts to consolidate the population and push for urbanization, ideally condensing people within first and second-tier urban agglomerations.

Here, one had to thank the Killing Fields game for the boons it brought. In the past few months, the Special Affairs Bureau had harvested a large number of special items from the Killing Fields game. After analysis and research by the scientific department, and repeated validation, many technological advancements were proven to be free of side effects. Take, for example, high-Energy batteries, new types of building materials, highly versatile weak artificial intelligence (AI), highly efficient hydroponic solutions for crops, and cellular therapy targeting cancer.

For the average person, this meant faster internet speeds, cheaper fuel costs, smart and interconnected household appliances, and a decrease in crime rates. Unmanned intercity electric buses gradually started appearing on the streets. Everywhere in the cities, bustling construction sites were a common sight. New projects, built in response to the call for urbanization, generally used new building materials, resulting in taller and larger buildings capable of accommodating more people. In the future, there might even be the construction of aerial corridors and skyways. Beneath the roads, flexible Liquid Crystal Panels would be laid, serving as artificial daylight.

This was a subtle and silent change that crept in imperceptibly. It was hard to pinpoint exactly when it started. However, the material standard of living for ordinary people was indeed gradually improving. Moreover, thanks to the Special Affairs Bureau’s full-efficiency operations, the initial tension caused by the widespread outbreak of abnormal events was brought under control.

On the forums, there were even new players, who had just awakened their qualifications, complaining that the Special Affairs Bureau was too dedicated. This resulted in their inability to encounter any randomly triggered daily missions, even if they drove around aimlessly all day.

However, in other regions, the situation was a bit more delicate. In Africa, the sound of gunfire was constant, as Military Warlord conflicts intensified and tragedies occurred daily. The situation in the Middle East was unstable, with small-scale player mercenaries of complex backgrounds appearing on battlefields to openly confront modernized military forces.

Players around Lv10 had low resistance to damage and couldn’t withstand long-duration suppressive fire from machine guns and artillery. But by using their peculiar supernatural abilities and items—such as invisibility, poisoning, shape-shifting, Teleport, mind-reading, weather manipulation, and mind control—they could still eliminate ten or even a hundred times their number of modern soldiers, and even influence the outcome of a war.

Actual combat is the best teacher. Officials from various countries dispatched observers to monitor the abilities of player mercenaries on the battlefield. Ultimately, they reached a consensus: letting players charge the front lines was far less effective than having them execute infiltration, decapitation strikes, and rear-echelon sabotage.

Compared to player mercenaries participating in modern warfare, players in places like South America were faring much worse. They either took advantage of their player status to seek refuge in the United States, or they were discovered by local gangs in the early stages of becoming players and were then coerced or invited to join them.

South America, already chaotic for being "too far from heaven and too close to the United States," had countless officials entangled with gang interests; some were even gang members themselves. Now, it was completely hopeless. The South American authorities had utterly lost control, allowing gangs to engage in large-scale hallucinogenic drug trade, human trafficking, arms dealing, fierce shootouts, and turf wars with impunity.

Due to their inherent advantages, players rose rapidly in status amidst the chaos. They quickly climbed the social ladder, taking charge of gangs, dominating territories, and amassing countless ordinary players as underlings. They even gained some notoriety on the forums, earning nicknames—such as Mexico’s Four Emperors, The Seven Warlords of Brazil, Colombia’s Home Guard Thirteen Squad, and Colombia’s Dawn Organization—all coined with satirical and gleeful mockery.

Considering that more resources meant greater strength, their combat power... was probably, possibly, perhaps even quite formidable?