Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 131 - 126 Quick Clearance Plan Resumes!

Chapter 131: Chapter 126 Quick Clearance Plan Resumes!

At the same time, Meng Yuan was also using a God’s-eye view to watch the playback of Li Hongyun’s successful game level completion.

The more he watched, the graver his expression became.

The more he watched, the more outrageous it seemed!

In fact, Meng Yuan would pay attention to these players’ performances every evening when he had nothing else to do, especially those who made quick progress, whom he would focus on.

Take the instance "Sealing Marquess Was Not My Intention" for example, in the first stage it was clearly the aggressive players like Zhao Haiping and Fan Cun who made the quickest progress; but in the second stage, problem-solving players like Chu Ge had caught up from behind and gained the upper hand.

Originally, Meng Yuan thought that the final winner would definitely emerge from amongst these few players, with Chu Ge being particularly favored by him.

After all, these players had shown excellent performances in previous instances.

But the final outcome had him completely stunned.

This Li Hongyun had actually become the only player to have cleared the level last night!

Most of the other players were stuck at the very last step, whether due to insufficient combat power or failure to successfully change Supervisor Wang’s allegiance; in short, they were all one step short.

But Li Hongyun was different.

Although he was much slower than Chu Ge in the second stage, he bizarrely managed to pull ahead in the third stage, and one could even say he encountered little resistance!

While impersonating Wang Zongchang, Li Hongyun obviously didn’t think too much and just acted recklessly, only caring about enjoying the thrill of the battle himself, using a civil official’s body to throw spears and kill bandits, and in the end, he actually managed to correct it successfully!

As for the final stage where he naturally encountered Mr. Xu, the strategist, and was led to General Deng... none of that mattered anymore.

"This guy’s luck... is a bit terrifying."

Meng Yuan’s face was grave.

Can Shang was somewhat puzzled, "Hmm? Isn’t that a good thing?

"The stronger the players are, the stronger our power becomes. Luck is certainly a part of strength.

"As long as Li Hongyun can maintain such good fortune in the battles against demons and monsters, it’s a good thing for us. Why are you so serious?"

Meng Yuan fell silent for a moment: "Having more and more powerful players emerge, of course, I’m happy, after all, it means that the power of the Returners is growing stronger...

"But this way, it’s going to be even harder for me to secure a slot in the ultimate trial!"

Can Shang was at a loss for words.

It seemed... that was indeed the case!

The number of slots for the ultimate trial varied according to each historical segment, and the number of people who could go in was always limited, but definitely not many. Since Meng Yuan, as the "driver," absolutely had to enter, it meant he must find a way to rank in the top five or ten among all the players challenging this instance.

Every extra talented player reduced his chances of getting in by a fraction...

Can Shang patted Meng Yuan’s shoulder with his chubby hand, "It’s okay, if it really comes down to it, just manipulate things a bit behind the scenes. I’ve realized that these players are all monsters; losing to them is not a shame."

Meng Yuan shook his head firmly: "That’s absolutely out of the question! I am also a Returner with aspirations!

"Starting today, I’m going into seclusion. When the time comes, I must get a spot in the ultimate trial fair and square!

"By the way, speed up the release of the video, let the players clear this instance quickly; only then will the ultimate trial be more secure."

...

At the same time, on the other side of Tiandu City.

Zhao Haiping was eating breakfast while flipping through the forum.

"This instance’s second stage is too difficult... Chu Ge posted a strategy guide online earlier, saying the key to playing Governor Lin was to break the balance in the imperial court and fight for an opportunity to be summoned to the capital...

"But how exactly to break it?

"Hm? The first-clear video is out? Let’s learn something."

Zhao Haiping hurriedly clicked on the video to watch it.

He was a bit regretful that he couldn’t secure the first clear for this instance.

The instance "Finality Awaits the Closing Coffin" that Meng Yuan and Chu Ge were among the first batch to clear, although they were not the first, their completion time was not far off.

But this time the difference was quite significant.

However, Zhao Haiping wasn’t concerned, after all, this game was full of rising talents and everyone had their own strengths. It was normal to not achieve a first clear in an instance that didn’t suit one’s own abilities.

He clicked on the video, and Li Hongyun’s entire clearing process unfolded before him.

This successful clear video, just like the previous ones, was edited to remove the failed attempts. Insignificant parts within successful footage were also cut, leaving about 20 minutes of edited content.

It mainly showed some of the key node strategies for clearing the instance, serving as a guide for other players, instead of offering a detailed recording like a movie.

While watching, Zhao Haiping compared Li Hongyun’s actions to his own.

"Hmm, there’s not much to say about the first stage, this player’s combat strength doesn’t seem particularly strong, there were several instances where he obviously had better handling options.

"However, even though his close combat strength is weak, his skill with throwing the spear can indeed be described as ’uncanny.’ That’s another kind of ’unique expert’ then, huh?

"The analysis from the role of the advisor is pretty good, convincing Governor Lin even without the support of a righteous aura. Impressive.

"Huh? Prepared two confessions? Can you even play it like that?

"Presenting to the emperor with yet another set of arguments? No, my mind can’t keep up, I can’t understand why this would get military supplies... Well, better write this down, copy the answers for now, and look at the explanations online later.

"What? Nanhe City was cleared so easily? The one manipulated was Wang Zongchang? How on earth did he guess that! Don’t tell me it was just a coincidence!"

At the beginning, Zhao Haiping thought this person was quite impressive.

After all, being able to throw a spear to repel bandits and analyze the current situation for Lin Xiangmin indeed aligned with players’ initial analysis: this player excels in both literary and martial skills and possesses both intelligence and courage.

But... as he watched more, he felt something was off.

Although the video had been edited to remove failures, it had a time stamp. It was clear how long it took to clear each stage.

And Li Hongyun’s time to clear the third stage was unbelievably short!

Zhao Haiping initially worried if he was the only one thinking this way. When he scrolled through the comments below the video, he found he wasn’t alone.

Other players thought the same!

"Damn! We’ve been duped; this isn’t someone excelling in both literary and martial skills—it’s clearly just outrageous luck!"

"This expert is obviously an assassin player, but how come I’ve never seen him use ’A Commoner’s Fury’ even once?"

"What? He’s an assassin? I thought he kept throwing spears and that he was a soldier..."

"...But his approach to clearing the second stage was very much like a scholar!"

"I’ve also cleared the second stage and am stuck at Nanhe City. I can responsibly say that if you follow the process in the video to clear, you simply cannot test Liu Ji’s route. If you do, you definitely won’t have enough time. In other words, this expert was focusing on Wang Zongchang’s route from the very beginning!"

"Does that mean it’s either an eye for detail or a miracle bestowed by the gods of luck?"

"It’s probably the latter... His speed in the second stage wasn’t impressive, and the third stage was just like he was cheating!"

"Such terrifying luck from a top player!"

"However, this is also a good thing. Thanks to his lucky attributes, he brought the clear time a day forward! That’s great for us, actually!"

"Indeed, I better thank the expert right away!"

"Thank you, expert! I’ll copy the answers and clear it tonight!"

While players did express envy and jealousy towards the expert’s luck, most of them were grateful.

If not for Li Hongyun, they would probably still be blindly revisiting the details of the Nanhe City battle, guessing at how to clear.

Even if they verified it this evening using the strategies they devised in advance, the clearing time would certainly be delayed significantly.

Now, to determine the standard answers and start speedrunning on a large scale, they had to wait until tomorrow evening.

Li Hongyun’s achievement of advancing the clear time by a day meant that players could copy the answers a day earlier, which was incredibly important for the overall speedrunning progress of the instance!

After a brief exclamation and adoration, players quickly got into action, beginning discussions and breaking down the content of the entire instance.

The players’ speedrun planning had started once again!