Chapter 361: Version Update Begins, Time Stops (6200)

Chapter 361: Version Update Begins, Time Stops (6200)

The seven days of the Construction Week could be said to have already given quite a few people's territories a basic shape.

However, as natives and Survivors began to gradually come into contact, many people were also persecuted by these nobles.

Cao Xing didn't have this kind of worry, though.

After all, he had already controlled the baron, turning him into his own servant.

For other Survivors, this was simply an unimaginable thing!

"Brothers, have you all heard? The server regions are merging again. This time, five regions are being combined into one. We are in District 17, which means Districts 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20—these five regions will be merged."

"I've heard. Tonight's chat channel is bound to be very lively!"

"I took a look at the world channel, and the number of people in these regions seems to be quite large. Do you guys know what powerhouses are in them?"

"Regardless of what powerhouses they have, they definitely aren't as strong as Great Lord Cao Xing!"

"That's right. A week ago, Great Lord Cao Xing could already challenge the large Ice Dragon Horn. It's impossible for other regions to have powerhouses of this level!"

They had extreme confidence in Cao Xing's strength.

At this time, a Survivor named Zhou Chen said, "You guys are actually wrong about that. Other regions truly do have powerhouses of this level, and there's more than one."

Hearing this, the Survivors were all stunned.

"Oh? Could Brother Zhou Chen know some news?"

The Survivor named Zhou Chen continued, "It's not much of news, it's just that I happen to have some connections."

"I have friends in all of these regions, so I know about their development."

Hearing this, the Survivors also had their interest piqued.

"Brother Zhou Chen, what are the names of the powerhouses in these regions? Can you tell us a thing or two?"

"Yeah, can they really challenge the large Ice Dragon Horn just like Great Lord Cao Xing?"

Feeling the attention of the crowd, Zhou Chen couldn't help but feel a little proud inside.

He chuckled and said, "Of course. After all, these regions each had over 200,000 people to begin with. Although it has dropped to a little over 100,000 now, under such a large population base, some powerful existences are bound to appear."

"Bai Zhi from District 16 is known as the Ice and Snow Empress. It is said that she transferred to a hidden class, and her strength is extremely formidable. She is even starting to sprint towards Tier 4 now."

"Wei Jianyi from District 18 is known as the Junior Sword Saint. It is said that he possesses the inheritance of a deceased Sword Saint, with peerless swordsmanship. He once had the record of instantly killing a same-tier boss with a single sword strike!"

"And Cheng Lu from District 20. He doesn't have much of a nickname; his only characteristic is that he has great strength—extremely great strength, and the weapon he uses is a large hammer!"

"It is said that this Cheng Lu was previously targeted by a legion commander, who even laid hands on his relatives. Cheng Lu went completely crazy, then rushed into the other party's legion headquarters, completely destroying all of that legion's buildings, and smashed the more than one hundred people inside into meat paste!"

"These powerhouses not only have strong personal strength, but they have also gradually created their own legions, leaping to become the top three forces in their respective regions!"

"During the Ice Nest challenge period, they also used the large Ice Dragon Horn and successfully completed the challenge."

As Zhou Chen uttered the names of the powerhouses one by one and announced their past achievements,

in the chat channel, the other Survivors were also incomparably surprised in their hearts.

Zhou Chen sighed with emotion, "Among the billions of Survivors from our Blue Star, there are still quite a few powerhouses."

"Although Great Lord Cao Xing is a freak, who can say that there aren't existences stronger than him in other regions?"

Hearing this person finish speaking, the Survivors also agreed one after another.

"Indeed. After all, there are still billions of people globally, and everyone has lived until now, so they all have some skills in their hands."

"That's right, there are still quite a few capable people among our Blue Star's Survivors."

"Haha, I think Great Lord Cao Xing is still the strongest. You must know that he hasn't even created a legion, yet he still ranked first on the leaderboards twice in a row."

The Survivors suddenly remembered this point.

The reason why these people mentioned by Zhou Chen were able to challenge the large Ice Dragon Horn, besides their own powerful combat strength, was also because they relied on the power of their legions.

Meanwhile, Cao Xing in their region hadn't even established a legion until now!

Therefore, who was strong and who was weak could be seen at a glance.

Cao Xing, too, saw the chat of these Survivors.

He didn't feel any surprise at the appearance of powerhouses in other regions capable of challenging the large Ice Dragon Horn.

After all, each region previously had roughly over 200,000 people.

Under such a large population base, there would definitely be some hidden dragons and crouching tigers.

Either they had obtained their own unique opportunities in this world, or after entering the cruel doomsday world, they used their own methods or wisdom to surpass other Survivors.

Therefore, it was a very normal thing for these people to stand out and instantly possess powerful strength.

However, Cao Xing didn't feel much about it.

After all, apart from those native factions,

it was hard for any existence among the Survivors to appear that was more powerful than him.

Cao Xing wasn't strong in just one aspect; he was strong in all aspects!

Whether it was his own personal strength, the strength of his subordinates, or even the strength of his territory,

he could comprehensively crush those Survivors.

Unless it was an existence like the Seed of Light, which sat atop a large faction right from the start,

other Survivors were simply incapable of surpassing him in combat power.

…

…

Meanwhile…

in an area more than two thousand kilometers away from the Gale Snowfield,

this was a mountainside covered in snow where a flat piece of land had been cleared out.

A territory with a diameter of fully one kilometer was nestled within it.

A large number of Survivors and some combat members were active inside.

They all lined up in neat rows with solemn expressions, gazing ahead.

In front of them stood a woman whose entire body was snow-white, even her hair, standing in the wind.

Her head of white hair danced with the wind, seeming to merge into one with this ice and snow world.

Her posture was upright and elegant, like an empress in the snow, exuding a detached and icy temperament.

The snowflakes on the mountainside drifted down in a flurry, landing on her shoulders and the tips of her hair, adding a touch of ethereal beauty.

She parted her rosy lips and said, "There are only 10 minutes left until the third system update."

"Make preparations for battle and be ready to respond to emergencies at any time."

The Survivors and combat personnel within this territory responded simultaneously.

"Understood! Legion Commander / Lord!"

After dropping these words, the snow-white woman came alone to a corner of the territory.

Here stood a giant ice sculpture five meters high and over two meters in diameter.

Inside the ice sculpture was sealed a creature with white hair all over its body, resembling a giant ape.

A breathtaking smile curled the corners of the woman's lips.

"I didn't expect that my A-rank talent, Ice Soul Spirit Body, actually had this kind of effect."

"Not only does it immunize against 80% of ice-attribute attacks, but after suffering a large amount of ice-attribute attacks, it can also release a chill to seal the enemy."

"Even this Tier 4 boss-level Snow Giant Ape was sealed up by me. This effect is truly formidable."

She extended her slender hand, opened her left palm, and a strong ball of icy coldness condensed upon it!

"In this world, this A-rank talent of mine can be said to restrain I don't know how many people."

"Combined with the fact that I transferred to a class extremely compatible with my talent, I can fight even a same-tier boss."

"Among the hundreds of thousands of Survivors in District 16, no existence stronger than me can be found."

"I hope I can run into interesting opponents after the region merge…"

…

On the other side, in the border region of the extremely distant Nakroder Kingdom,

beside a certain Giant City, there was a territory with a diameter of about 500 meters.

The dozens of Survivors and more than one hundred combat personnel in this territory all picked up their weapons and made battle preparations!

They stared intently at the entrance of the territory, each and every one of them as if facing a formidable enemy!

Right at this moment,

a man wearing a suit, with a frivolous smile at the corners of his mouth and a long sword tied around his waist, walked over slowly.

This attire of his could be said to be nondescript.

Yet within the entire territory, not a single person dared to look down on him.

After all, this individual was none other than the commander of the [Sword Pavilion Legion], an existence who had instantly killed a same-tier boss with a single sword and was bestowed the title of Junior Sword Saint.

Within the crowd, a middle-aged man with a steady expression walked out.

He said with a solemn expression, "Wei Jianyi, do you really have to push us to absolute ruin?"

"Didn't I just snatch a boss monster from you? So much time has passed, and you still refuse to let me off?"

Meanwhile, the nondescript young man before him still carried a deeply interested smile on his lips.

"Commander Wu Hao, you really are forgetful."

"Aside from snatching a boss monster from me, do you still remember when my legion was just starting out, you led people to lure a large swarm of Ice Nest Monsters to impact my territory?"

"That time, I suffered heavy losses and almost couldn't get back up!"

Hearing this, the middle-aged man's expression gradually turned gloomy.

He didn't refute, instead asking, "Wei Jianyi, what do you want?"

"I'm telling you, more than a dozen legions in our District 18 have united to establish an alliance. If you want to deal with me, you better think clearly about the consequences!"

But this suit-wearing man chuckled lightly, a look of disdain appearing in his eyes.

Then, he raised his right hand and casually made a beckoning gesture.

"Wipe them out."

As the words fell,

more than three hundred figures holding long swords with uniform equipment leaped over the city wall.

Then, like fierce wolves, they pounced toward the people of this territory!

Seeing this scene, the more than two hundred people in this territory all showed looks of panic in their eyes.

"Dammit! Your Wandering Swordsman Legion actually already has this many people!"

"Wei Jianyi, you really do have a Sword Saint's inheritance!!"

Soon, both sides engaged in battle.

The situation began to tilt one-sidedly.

Those figures holding long swords each possessed extremely formidable combat awareness. Dealing with the Survivors in this legion was simply a dimensionality reduction strike.

"Puff! Puff puff!"

Broken limbs and severed arms flew everywhere, and one Survivor after another was instantly killed by concentrated fire from this group of swordsmen!

Their combat awareness was also immensely strong.

When the Survivors attempted to counterattack and unleash skills, their long swords would strike the enemy's vital points at a tricky angle!

Either interrupting their skills or causing them to enter a heavily wounded state.

Screams constantly came forth.

Looking at the battle situation before him, the man felt somewhat bored and directly turned around.

He glanced at the time.

"There are only 6 minutes left until the region merge. Over at the Ice Crystal Kingdom, it seems quite lively these past few days."

"They actually managed to encounter a major event like the siege of Lake Doron City."

"Our Nakroder Kingdom doesn't have any major events, though. This past week has gotten a bit boring."

"I hope that after the region merge, I can run into more interesting guys."

…

…

Besides this, many powerhouses in the regions near the Ice Crystal Kingdom were also rubbing their hands and fists, waiting for the arrival of the region merge.

Everyone's eyes carried confidence.

Being able to achieve number one in their own region naturally meant they possessed skills unique to themselves.

Even after the region merge, with the population surging by nearly 5 times, they didn't feel that they would be weaker than anyone else.

Amidst the attention of all,

the time arrived at 23:59:50…

with only ten seconds remaining.

When the countdown hit the final moment,

a system prompt appeared!

[Attention all Survivors: You have successfully survived the Construction Week, and a new phase is about to begin.]

[The number of Survivors after the official period ends is: 4.353 billion, total recent deaths: 217 million, remaining number of people: 4.136 billion, comprehensive mortality rate: 4.98%]

[Congratulations! You have once again adapted to the survival rhythm of this world. The new version content is updating; please prepare yourselves!]

Inside the territory, Cao Xing sat on a chair on the first floor of the Lords Manor, with Liu Muxue sitting right next to him.

Cao Xing pondered, "Only two hundred million people dead?"

Compared to the nearly 15% mortality rate last time, this time it was only 5%, which could be said to be a massive increase in the survival rate.

Indeed, as the system said, everyone has already adapted to this world.

At the same time, system prompts continued to appear.

[Due to the relatively large amount of update content this time, we will next enter a one-hour time-stop period.]

[During the time-stop state, except for Survivor lords and your subordinate lords, all other things will be unable to move. Survivors can only move within the territory, but cannot operate any buildings. Please try to stay in place and wait for the time-stop state to end.]

[Time-stop remaining time: 59 minutes 59 seconds…]

…

The moment the prompt ended.

Survivors globally could all feel that time had stopped!

Everything around them stopped running.

The flames burning in the fireplace at this moment seemed to be frozen in amber, with the swaying flames precisely fixed in place.

The wisps of floating heat were also as if carved into the air, with every single wisp clearly visible.

And the snowflakes in the air were all suspended piece by piece in mid-air, and one could even clearly see the patterns on them.

The Survivors exclaimed in shock.

"Holy shit! Time stopping, what an awesome ability!"

"Indeed, should I say as expected of the system? To be able to do even this kind of thing is truly terrifying!"

"There's actually a full hour… Brothers and sisters, I don't need to say much more about what to do, right?"

"Haha, I get it. I've been craving the abs of that knight hunk in the territory for a long time, I'm going to go touch them to my heart's content!"

"What the fuck, then I'm going to make a move on the female cook in the territory!"

"Charge!!!"

These idiot Survivors instantly thought of using this one hour of time-stop to do some unspeakable things.

However, these people quickly walked back with frustrated expressions.

"Brothers, I tried it, the system prompts me that I cannot touch anything, including those territory residents."

"Me too, even my skills are greyed out. I was saying I'd take advantage of this one hour to wipe out the enemy."

The crowd shook their heads in disappointment one after another.

Cao Xing and Liu Muxue looked at each other and chuckled, "It seems we can only honestly stay put for this hour."

The beauty also nodded gently.

System prompts continued to appear.

[Time-stop has been activated, now starting to roll out update content…]

[Update Content 1: The second territory merger has started. Your current District 17 has now been merged with the four major districts of 16, 18, 19, and 20.]

…

Hearing the system prompt, everyone honestly stood in place and waited.

Just like last time, after the merger started, that feeling of the world expanding appeared once again.

In the blink of an eye, the expansion was already complete.

Cao Xing glanced at his mini-map.

There were indeed many more unexplored blank areas on it.

Looking at the location, it seemed to encompass more than half of the Ice Crystal Kingdom, and even a piece of the map from other kingdoms was lit up.

Cao Xing asked in confusion, "This region merger isn't based on map range?"

"How come even Survivors from other kingdoms were merged together with us?"

Liu Muxue also felt puzzled and uncomprehending.

Shaking her head, she didn't think too much about it.

Anyway, they couldn't go to such a distant place right now.

Not to mention other kingdoms, they hadn't even been to the main city of the Ice Crystal Kingdom yet.

The system prompt appeared once again.

[The second region merger is complete. Your current server district has now been changed to Major District 4…]

Cao Xing glanced over it.

[Major District 4 Online Survivors: 931263 / 931263]

…

"Only 930,000 people? This is actually a lot fewer than I expected," Cao Xing pondered.

However, this was also a normal state.

After all, the number of Survivors in each district was different. For so many people to survive in their District 17 was already considered a relatively rare situation.

With the population of the entire four major districts surging several times over, a massive amount of messages instantly flooded the chat channel.

Cao Xing did not look at these messages, but continued to wait for the new content update…

Soon, the second update content appeared.

[Update Content 2: An information shielding function for indigenous inhabitants has now been added. You will be unable to proactively disclose certain information, including content such as 'System', 'Blue Star', and 'Version Challenges'.]

[Update Content 3: Life skill proficiency has been enabled. Now you can check the territory residents' proficiency to know their progress towards the next level.]

[Update Content 4: Territory Prosperity interface. Prosperity involves multi-faceted statistics, including furnace level, population, legion strength, loyalty, commercial relations, lord strength, and so on…]

(Note: The higher the prosperity, the more it can attract the joining of special talents.)

[Update Content 5: Prosperity Leaderboard has been enabled. According to the territory's prosperity, 1st place will receive a 20% resource gathering speed bonus, 2nd to 10th place will receive a 10% resource gathering speed bonus, and 11th to 100th place will receive a 5% resource gathering speed bonus.]

[Update Content 6: New resource points have refreshed.]

…

Four consecutive update contents appeared.

And every single one of them was very important.

Liu Muxue asked in confusion, "A-Xing, does this second update content mean that we cannot tell those indigenous inhabitants that we possess a lord system or that we come from Blue Star?"

Cao Xing's eyes also carried a solemn expression.

"It seems so for now. This update should also be protecting us."

"After all, the waters in this world are too deep. If some idiot Survivor runs off to tell some terrifying existence about us Survivors' information and draws their attention."

"Then capturing Survivors on a large scale to study them will cause huge trouble."

After listening to Cao Xing's analysis, Liu Muxue also felt it made a lot of sense.

As for the third update content, just as expected, it indeed updated the [Proficiency Interface].

It's just that Cao Xing hadn't checked it yet, so he didn't know the specific values.

As for the other fourth update content, [Prosperity] was somewhat unexpected, and even a Prosperity Leaderboard was introduced.

"This Prosperity Leaderboard is quite nice. As long as you make it into the top hundred, you can get a resource gathering speed bonus, which is equivalent to having a Construction Week buff all the time."

Cao Xing opened his prosperity interface.

[Calculating your prosperity…]

[Furnace Level: Level 18 (Evaluation: Warm Abode, Prosperity +180 points)]

[Population: 1462 (Evaluation: Small Scale, Prosperity +146 points)]

[Territory Combat Power: Tier 4 combatants 312, Commander-grade creatures 5, Chieftain-grade creatures… (Evaluation: Outstanding Combat Power, Prosperity +475)]

[Territory Resident Loyalty: 175 people above 100, 472 people above 90, above 80… (Evaluation: Enjoying Popular Support, Prosperity +342 points)]

[Territory Talents: Master-level talent * 1, Expert-level talent * 1, Advanced talent * 2, Intermediate talent… (Evaluation: Talents Initially Gathered, Prosperity +180 points)]

[Lord Combat Power: Tier 5 Frost Mage + Demon Transformation (Evaluation: Strength Gradually Emerging, Prosperity +50)]

[Deputy Lord Combat Power: Tier 5 Aurora Knight (Evaluation: First Showing of Edge, Prosperity +25 points)]

[Territory Agriculture: Coolin Barley, Cold Dew Rice (Evaluation: Barren Land, Prosperity +10 points)]

[Territory Animal Husbandry: Cloud Yak, Light Feather Chicken (Evaluation: Flourishing Development, Prosperity +120 points)]

[Territory Magic Plants: Pale Tree, Vine-headed Turret, Ancient Tree of War, Golden Sunflower, Ice-thorn Morning Glory… (Evaluation: Spiritual Fertile Land, Prosperity +378 points)]

[Trading Relations: Black Lion Chamber of Commerce (Close, Prosperity +50), Orchid Chamber of Commerce (Friendly, Prosperity +20), Giant Chamber of Commerce (Stranger, Prosperity +10), Evaluation: Trade Sprouting, Prosperity +80]

[Culture: Primary Library * 1, Education System: None, Artistic Atmosphere: None, Cultural Square: None (Evaluation: Culture Initialized, Prosperity +10)]

[Territory Faith: None (Evaluation: Land Without Faith, Prosperity +0)]

[Territory Advanced Buildings: Kings Altar, Intermediate Mage Tower, Primary Warrior Camp, Primary Knight Hall… (Evaluation: Combat Prototype, Prosperity +120)]

…

After the long system prompts, Cao Xing was also immensely surprised.

"Good grief, it actually calculates so many items. This really covers every single aspect!"

From the evaluations above, it could be seen that the territory's agriculture, culture, and faith aspects were his weak points.

As for the other statistical items, the evaluations were all pretty good.

At the same time, a system prompt exclusively belonging to him appeared.

[According to comprehensive statistics, your territory prosperity is: 2116]

[Your comprehensive ranking is: 1]

…

The moment he saw the leaderboard, Cao Xing smiled.

Just as he expected, his territory's comprehensive strength was the strongest!

Although in terms of culture, agriculture, and faith, his prosperity score was relatively low.

But in terms of magical plants, animal husbandry, and even territory combat power, it directly pulled his average score up to a terrifying degree!

And this also meant that in terms of comprehensive combat power among the more than 900,000 people across all four major districts, he was also number one!

…

…

(PS: I know there might be a bit too much data, so I blasted out an update of 13,000 words today. It's really not filler, oh; just the data section above took me two hours to write, racking my brains QAQ)

…

…

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