Building a Gaming Empire From Scratch

Apparently, Mavis, who was still listening to the music, noticed the situation on Lincoln’s side.

Lincoln thought for a moment, but instead of teleporting them away directly, he knocked on the air outside the resting room and added a sound insulation layer.

He then conjured a two-meter-three long gun out of thin air, set up a gun mount, and aimed it at the bandits.

Whether it was the game rules or the regulations for hosting a virtual concert, none of them forbade players from making trouble – although they didn’t expect it.

But since these players’ actions were within the game rules, Lincoln was more than happy to enrich their game experience as an NPC.

Here, on the public map, the bonuses from combat skills did not take effect.

In other words, they could only rely on their own skills to fight.

After practicing with Xu Chun and Lori for so long, Lincoln had been on the receiving end of their expertise. Now, seeing a group of “worthy opponents,” he was itching to test his skills.

He finally had the opportunity to test his strength!

If he were to be beaten by these bandits, he would accept defeat, and shake them off later.

Of course, Lincoln does have some confidence –

He had been training for so long after all, and with real experts in martial arts, fighting ordinary people should be a piece of cake!

It couldn’t be that he would just randomly encounter six bandits who were experts in martial arts, right?

There can’t be that many experts!

As for why Lincoln chose a two-meter-three long gun instead of a one-meter-plus knife, which he had practiced longer with, or an iron stick like the bandits?

That’s because there are six of them!

The fact that he didn’t break the rules and take out a gun was already very polite!

The sighting of Lincoln conjuring such a long gun out of thin air thrilled the bandits.

Because this was the best-case scenario.

Lincoln was planning to fight them, so he obviously wouldn’t ban them for seven days again.

This directly eliminated the biggest risk.

As for the big gun? It only looked intimidating.

They were not armed with only a few crutches!

Furthermore, there were more than six of them who came here. Even if they just held Lincoln off, they would still consider it a success!

But before they started, they saw Lincoln stretch out his hand again and knock on the wall.

A red light turned into a fine grid, stretching rapidly along the wall until it connected, then continued all the way to the end of the passage.

The light disappeared in a flash, sweeping across the entire passage and leaving no trace.

However, the rules of this passage had been changed.

“Since you’ve decided to fight, I suppose you won’t mind if we stake our lives on this!”

The bandits exchanged glances – even though they could only see each other’s masks.

“It’s just what we want!”

They reached into their backpacks and took out a handful of broken glass, throwing it at Lincoln’s face.

Lincoln did not expect this dirty trick. He quickly lowered his head to protect his face.

“Did I turn off your pain sensors just so you could do this?!”

As he raised his head again, they were closing five to six meters of distance already. Fortunately, the narrow passage meant Lincoln only had to deal with three people at most.

He stepped forward actively, shook his long gun, and aimed it at the leading bandit, One Cake.

Without the assistance of [Combat Sensing], it was impossible to make a precise move. One Cake had to jump back as far as possible to avoid the attack.

But his retreat immediately disrupted the offensive formation of those behind him.

Lincoln didn’t have time to retract his long gun, so he forcefully flicked it towards the left side, towards Two Cake.

With this turn, Two Cake was able to make a response, raising his iron stick to block.

“Clang!”

A crisp sound resonated, the gun’s head was knocked aside, and Two Cake was staggered, halting his advance.

With the continuous delay, Three Tails on the right had already rushed forward, raising his iron stick and violently smashing it at Lincoln’s head.

Lincoln leaped back and quickly pulled back the long gun to block.

“Clang!”

It was the second sound.

The shaft of the gun in his hand vibrated violently, almost slipping from his grip. It took Lincoln two steps back to regain stability.

Not backing down, Three Tails swung his stick down again with Lincoln determined to eat the hit while –

Taking a step and performing a side kick!

With force from the ground, through his waist, hips, knees, and into his feet, he forcefully injected it into Three Tails’ abdomen.

Taking a heavy hit, Three Tails’ feet left the ground, and he was about to be kicked away.

At the same time, Lincoln’s left rib was struck, and even though his opponent’s movements were distorted, he was still hammered with a fractured rib!

In terms of health loss, it was clear Lincoln had the worse end of the deal.

But the difference between the virtual world and reality is: there’s no pain.

As long as a fracture doesn’t impair his mobility, trading injuries for an opportunity is worth it!

Lincoln gritted his teeth and struck again!

The sharp tip of the spear caught up with Three Tails, who hadn’t yet landed, and then –

“Plop.”

With the sound of blood spewing, the spear burst through his body!

Lincoln didn’t hesitate, immediately withdrew the long gun and stabbed it forward again, forcing another opponent to retreat.

“Thud.”

Three Tails fell to the ground, a bloody hole in his chest, lying motionless.

“F*ck…”

Before the curse was finished, his body began to dissolve into light and disappear.

“Pfft!” Lincoln spat out blood from his mouth, “Bring it on.”

He even turned on a 5% pain sensation for himself to enhance the intensity of the fight.

On-stage, Alex’s performance reached its climax.

This moment was the War Trilogy’s second part – the most passionate and exciting part of “Flame.”

Explosive drum beats, passionate pipa, solemn chanting, and the sudden burst of suona against the beat echoed throughout the circular concert hall, as if the whole building was vibrating in resonance.

In the corridor, it seemed as if the music had emboldened both sides to get even more excited.

Then Lincoln saw his five remaining opponents twist their iron crutches and pull out several swords!

“Damn it!” This time, it was Lincoln’s turn to curse, “What kind of crappy security is this!”

Speaking of which, stick swords didn’t seem to be a part of the game design, did they?

So… the blacksmith players made this themselves?

The technology has advanced this quickly?

Even so, Lincoln had no intention of backing down. Instead, an even hotter fighting spirit surged in his chest!

“Come on!”

In this circular concert hall, the battle wasn’t only taking place where Lincoln was.

Other players who accompanied Lincoln, and their six Bandit teammates, were also engaged in chaotic fights.

—They were stopped by a bunch of “righteous” players.

To switch the devices’ reception sources, they obviously had to touch the equipment.

And the players sitting nearby were having a blast singing together, when they suddenly noticed several Bandits pushing and shoving the staff, approaching the equipment area.

Without examining carefully, they immediately understood this group was here to cause trouble.

So, the feeling of righteousness immediately filled their hearts, and they rushed forward with empty hands!

With someone taking the lead, others immediately followed.

—Everyone was singing the War Trilogy, just finished “Wind and Rain,” and “Flame” was reaching its climax. They couldn’t help but feel full of passion and want to fight.

So coincidentally, “enemies” actually appeared at this time!

The fans felt that these Bandits were really—too considerate!

They yelled and charged forward.

In the group of six, two hesitated slightly, and their iron crutches were snatched away by others. Then, a rain of punches and kicks fell upon them.

The situation was so bad that even a Grandmaster would be useless, let alone a few ordinary players who could only crouch and protect their heads.

—Fortunately, this was a Safe Zone, and aside from feeling a bit humiliated, there was no real danger.

Seeing the situation, the other four Bandits quickly drew their Cane Swords, trying to intimidate.

But it was useless.

“Public map, who are you trying to scare!”

A guy took a sword to his head, and not even a blood mark appeared. He twisted his neck and continued to charge forward.

—The sword was judged as a [Fatal Injury] and was completely negated by the system.

“Damn it!” The Bandit Brother immediately turned around and ran!

Without a second thought, the other three who could run, followed.

“Stand your ground! Don’t back down!”

“Fight until daybreak!”

“Chase, chase, chase! Don’t let them escape!”

“Catch them and tie them up!”

The players above immediately followed and began to chase.

The tables had turned!

Next came the special segment of the virtual concert—”Hunting Bandits”!

As for the three Bandits who were already held down by the crowd, they were facing a miserable onslaught.

But soon, someone sobered up, realizing punching wouldn’t be painful. There was obviously a more damaging method:

“Take off their masks and show them to the netizens!”

“F*ck!” The crouching Bandits suddenly gave up hope.

They quickly performed panel operations—

[Escape From Lockdown]

Their health bars were instantly emptied, and they vanished in a flash, being revived elsewhere.

“Hold their hands!” Several players immediately lunged forward, trying to pull out the player’s arm and grasp each finger to prevent them from operating the panel.

But this function was designed to prevent players from having their freedom restricted in the virtual world, leading to even worse consequences. It wouldn’t be stopped that easily.

“Escape from Lockdown!” The struggling Bandits didn’t even operate it, shouting out loud.

The system responded instantly, and their bodies began to flash and disappear as well.

Only one person was too slow to shout, his mask was pulled off halfway, and even half of his face was captured before disappearing.

The remaining players shook their hands in annoyance, looked in the direction the three Bandits fled, hesitated for a moment, and decided not to chase after them.

Everyone returned to their seats and continued to listen to the music.

Due to the delay, “Flame” had already reached its end.

Next should be “Returning Home,” which they didn’t want to miss.

Outside the Resting Room.

The tightly closed door suddenly burst open, and a completely transformed Princess walked out.

“Ah!” She let out a startled cry.

There were three people in the supposedly empty passage, and one of them was lying on the ground, on the verge of collapse!

There were still three people left, bloodstained and facing each other in a standoff.

“Lincoln?!” The Princess cried out in surprise, feeling a bit dazed, and ran over without thinking.

“Don’t come over; this passage is no longer a safe zone.” Lincoln quickly stopped her.

He did not look back but continued to stare at his last two opponents.

Lincoln, with a deep bloody mark on his thigh, a patch of hair sliced off, and a blind eye from a cut on his cheek, bore the negative statuses of [Bleed], [Blind], and [Crippling]. Yet he felt confident of victory!

With a 2.3-meter long spear in hand, the advantage was extremely exaggerated. The Bandits’ biggest threat to him was their numbers.

They could swarm and surround him at the cost of one or two lives.

If the Safe Zone rules still existed, he would have been held down long ago.

That’s why he removed the Safe Zone in the first place and decisively used an injury-for-life strategy. Despite this, he almost died.

It made him realize once again—stop dreaming about being a martial hero in reality.

But his gains were also great.

He felt that his understanding of cold weapon combat had greatly improved!

This meant that Xu Chun’s training plan could be advanced even further.

Plus, Lincoln determined—

He would incorporate Pain Feedback into the future Virtual Chang’an Game!

The last two Bandits on the opposite side, seeing the blood on Lincoln’s face and body, and his stern and cold expression, suddenly felt a bit hesitant.

[One Cake] looked at his teammate, then suddenly changed his tone—

“How about… we run?”