Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 137 - 132: Ultimate Trial Selection Complete!

Chapter 137: Chapter 132: Ultimate Trial Selection Complete!

Two days later.

p.m.

The players selected for the ultimate challenge had all arrived in the true Return Order Space.

Li Hongyun was very excited. If he could go to Zhihu and ask a question, he would definitely post: "How do I act like a regular when it’s my first time in the 100% pain sensation ultimate challenge of ’Dark Sand’?"

For players, the time after clearing the instance was a mix of pain and pleasure.

Painful because it really was too fiercely competitive!

All the beta players were working their hardest to improve their clearance scores, with the leaderboard changing every day. Li Hongyun thought back to his grueling efforts over the past few days, which were almost too painful to remember.

This level of competition was almost on par with the college entrance examination!

Of course, no matter how tough it was, it was all done in their sleep, without consuming too much physical energy, so this suffering was more mental and surmountable.

As for the source of joy, it was varied.

On one hand, there was the continuous self-improvement and better achievements in the instances, and on the other hand, there was the joy of truly playing the role of key historical figures—joy that no other game could match.

Especially the excavation of Wang Zongchang’s tomb, which reignited a new craze for the game ’Dark Sand’.

If some people had doubted the scientific principles behind ’Dark Sand’, believing it impossible to trace real historical memories, this event had made most people believers.

Over these two days, follow-up archaeological efforts continued. The unearthed artifacts were properly restored and sent to museums for exhibition, and the site of Wang Zongchang’s tomb was protected. They planned to rebuild the area, erecting a dedicated building and a statue of Wang Zongchang as a memorial.

After all, he was a heroic figure who had sacrificed himself in the process of quelling rebels and deserved to be remembered by posterity.

As for how the statue should be sculpted, that was easily handled—didn’t ’Dark Sand’ already have the perfect likeness of Wang Zongchang?

Following this event, the deeds of the heroic figures from the rebel-quelling period began to be extolled by more and more people.

As for Su Chengbai, he leaped to prominence quickly and deflated even faster.

Especially Yuanteng Entertainment, which also suffered a substantial loss as a result.

Shortly after Su Chengbai posted his Weibo questioning ’Dark Sand’, Wang Zongchang’s tomb was discovered. While netizens beat the fallen dog, they dug up all of Su Chengbai’s past indiscretions, flogging his bizarre and outlandish claims as a "historical inventor" once more.

For a while, he was the target of public scorn.

Although Su Chengbai had some fans before, they were left speechless in the face of irrefutable evidence and could only shut up quietly.

Yuanteng Entertainment, similarly unlucky, hastily issued a statement to distance themselves from Su Chengbai on the same day, but neither the players nor the capital market were sympathetic. While being vilified by the player community, their stock price also plummeted.

Soon, rumors spread that Su Chengbai had been effectively blacklisted!

Yuanteng Entertainment paid a colossal fine and was ordered to undergo three months of reorganization, with several of their initially approved web shows having their qualifications revoked, and they were permanently banned from participating in any historical cultural programs.

Netizens couldn’t help but cheer!

They had been fed up with them for a while, and allowing them to continue so openly had been too lenient!

Of course, netizens also realized that the previous leniency toward Su Chengbai was somewhat intentional, akin to allowing a snake out of its hole. They wanted him to continue spouting nonsense, generating some influence to spark netizens’ interest, and then take him down, using the opportunity to reveal real history, thereby imparting an educational message and serving as a warning to other "historical inventors."

At least this deterred some timid influencers from stirring up trouble.

Of course, there will be more people like Su Chengbai in the future, and it would be difficult to completely eradicate such behavior, but regardless, this was a good start.

For the netizens, this incident was now concluded.

But for Meng Yuan, he still had one last step to complete: to reverse this historical slice and confirm whether Su Chengbai had been affected by the demons, thereby more accurately estimating the extent of the demons’ influence on the real world.

...

Li Hongyun eyed the true Return Order Space with some curiosity.

Although it looked no different from his own Return Order Space, Li Hongyun could vaguely sense that there was an essential difference between the two.

Soon, he saw the players who were participating in the Ultimate Trial.

Zhao Haiping, Chu Ge, Fan Cun, Xia Ruoling, Huo Yun Ying, Meng Yuan, and another player who he had only seen named on the leaderboard and never in recordings, Lu Heng.

Among them, Zhao Haiping, Chu Ge, Xia Ruoling, and Huo Yun Ying were familiar faces; they, along with Meng Yuan, had cracked the Ultimate Trial of the instance "Set Things Right Upon One’s Death" with outstanding performances.

It had to be said that having an early advantage in the game was indeed beneficial.

These players were either early starters with strong combat abilities or more accustomed to the game’s puzzle-solving process. Coupled with their exceptional talents, it was natural for them to continue to qualify for the Ultimate Trial.

Of course, this did not mean they could always monopolize the qualifications by merit. New players were constantly emerging in the game, some of whom might gradually surpass them.

In the game "Dark Sand," it was always like rowing against the current: if you didn’t advance, you fell back.

As for the other players on the list.

Fan Cun represented the brute-force type of player and had been very active in the previous Return Order Expedition, demonstrating immense combat strength. He had forcefully made a place for himself and successfully obtained the right to participate in the Ultimate Trial.

Lu Heng and Li Hongyun were among the latest batch of beta testers to join.

Lu Heng’s role was that of a scholar; however, unlike Chu Ge, his advantage was not in puzzle-solving but seemingly in role-playing, which might have something to do with his real-life identity.

As for Meng Yuan...

His fame was also not insignificant. After all, in the instance "Set Things Right Upon One’s Death," he played the role of Su Xianjun, delivering an impressive stage performance, becoming a renowned opera artist. It was said that several talent agencies were keen to sign him.

This time, Meng Yuan was lucky, just scraping into the eighth spot and barely making it into the Ultimate Trial’s list for "Reluctance to Ascend to Marquis."

Li Hongyun couldn’t help but be somewhat surprised. Could it be that I am not the only ’king of luck’ here?

Was this Meng Yuan also a hidden ’king of luck’?

Meng Yuan returned Li Hongyun’s curious gaze with a meaningful smile.

Was scraping into the eighth spot to qualify for the Ultimate Trial a sort of luck?

Of course not.

It depended on the circumstances.

If Meng Yuan could make it into the top five, then he would be in the top five.

If Meng Yuan unhappily ended up in seventh, eighth, or even ninth place, then they would just include a couple more people, making sure that the cutoff fell right at him.

If he fell out of the top ten... then covert manipulation would have to be employed.

Could a clever admin with permissions really be trapped by his own set rules? That wouldn’t make sense at all.

Of course, covert manipulation was not ideal, so Meng Yuan was still working hard to try to rank among the top contenders.

He, as the genuine Return Orderer, had to maintain some semblance of decency.

After exchanging pleasantries with each other, Chu Ge, again leading, began to assign the roles everyone would play after entering the Ultimate Trial, planning the tactics in advance.