Chapter 307
Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW
Chapter 307: The Slowing Pace of Players
Following the conclusion of an invasion battle, Zhang Yicheng, despite his loss, felt no psychological pressure as he was transported back to his world by the system.
Upon reappearing, he immediately sought out Zhao Nan.
“Brother Nan, I’m out.”
Just as Lin Leshi and Shang Jun had a close private friendship within their group, Zhang Yicheng and Zhao Nan also shared a relatively strong bond.
Regarding Liu Ye’s bounty, once the Zongheng Tianxia players realized Luo Ji was not an easy opponent, they became cautious.
For safety, some players quietly formed alliances.
Since there were two Silver-grade items available, they agreed that whoever personally defeated Luo Ji would have priority in choosing one of the two Silver-grade items, with the remaining one going to the other.
This way, they could share information and work together.
“How was the situation?”
“Stone walls, a city of considerable size. Moreover, I feel they have at least three or more branch cities. Having successively defeated Wang Luchong and Zhou Dongnan, this Luo Ji truly possesses solid strength. He probably developed very well during the unranked period, snowballing quite significantly in the early stages.”
Without concealment, Zhang Yicheng frankly shared the information he had gathered and his observations.
Zhao Nan was a semi-boss level figure in the Bronze tier, and with Zhao Nan covering him, his safety rating would increase by at least one level.
This ally, who could send distress signals at critical moments, was worth more than two Silver-grade items.
There was no need to let such a small matter create a rift in their friendship.
“What about troop deployment?”
That the opponent had developed well in the early stages and possessed stone walls was clearly something Zhao Nan had anticipated.
After all, if they didn’t even have that level of development, how could they have successively defeated Wang Luchong and Zhou Dongnan?
“Slingers! The defending troop type they used were slingers!”
“Slingers?”
Seeing this message, Zhao Nan’s eyebrows raised.
This was quite unusual.
“Was it a numerical advantage?”
“Yes! One round of attack would unleash a sky full of stone rain, dense and overwhelming. Honestly, that formation was truly intimidating.”
When Zhang Yicheng sent this message, a clear hint of lingering fear was in his eyes.
“And the suppression was astonishingly strong, my great shield unit simply couldn’t push forward!”
The information provided by Zhang Yicheng made Zhao Nan ponder again.
Slingers, with their low equipment cost, when trained on a large scale, indeed made for a good defensive troop type by focusing on ‘winning by quantity.’
But for them to be able to suppress Zhang Yicheng’s great shield unit to the point where they couldn’t advance was truly a remarkable level of suppression.
At this thought, Zhao Nan decisively sent his analysis.
“The opponent might possess a ‘Slinger Specialization’ skill, and perhaps even a defensive general boosting their defending troops. Otherwise, even if slingers win by quantity, it would be difficult to achieve such suppression.”
“I think so too, but the problem is quite unsolvable. The defending side’s ranged units have an insurmountable advantage due to the city walls.”
Zhang Yicheng said, expressing the key point with a frustrated expression.
Looking at this message, and after pondering again, Zhao Nan had to admit that, considering all aspects, slingers had a multitude of weaknesses and flaws, making them generally unsuitable for various battles, only fitting for defensive engagements.
However, it was undeniable that slingers, as defensive troops, were truly strong.
Unlike archers, where full bronze armor or a large shield could largely mitigate the threat posed by arrows, the blunt force attacks of slingers were truly ‘armor-piercing!’
However, Zhao Nan was, after all, a truly battle hardened veteran.
He quickly thought of a method.
“Use great shield units, combined with a slow-push tactic, spread out your formation, and don’t concentrate in one spot.”
“As long as the enemy’s stones are dispersed, their suppression will significantly decrease.”
“At that point, pushing forward will just be a matter of time.”
Zhao Nan didn’t mind sharing this method with Zhang Yicheng.
One reason was largely the same as Zhang Yicheng’s, in this game, having a trustworthy ally was not easy, and there was no need to create a rift with Zhang Yicheng over such a minor issue.
Another reason was that the intelligence on slingers alone was too scarce.
He couldn’t always let Zhang Yicheng be stuck on that single obstacle of slingers.
Directly telling him the solution was so that Zhang Yicheng could uncover more of the opponent’s trump cards.
“Okay, I understand.”
Upon seeing this, Zhang Yicheng promptly noted it down.
Just as he was about to go back and ponder for a while, Zhang Yicheng suddenly remembered something and awkwardly sent a message to Zhao Nan.
“Uh, Brother Nan, lend me a few tens of thousands of civilization points. I’m broke…”
“…”
“You spent all your civilization points again?!”
“Uh, heheheh…”
Zhang Yicheng sent a string of awkward dry laughs.
“Originally, according to my plan, I intended to win a small victory, figure out the opponent’s details, and then directly retreat.”
“Who knew the opposing slingers would be so powerful that I couldn’t push forward at all, and I lost, failing to earn the military expenses for the next round…”
Seeing this reply, Zhao Nan frowned.
Logically, it shouldn’t be so.
Even if he couldn’t push forward, with the range of the slingers, earning points for two rounds wouldn’t result in a loss.
“You didn’t bring any siege machines, did you?”
“Uh, heheheh…”
Another string of awkward dry laughs, quite clearly indicating the answer.
Seeing this response, Zhao Nan couldn’t help but cover his face.
“Your identity might have been exposed.”
“Uh, no way?”
Zhang Yicheng was somewhat unconvinced, thinking Zhao Nan was overthinking it.
That Luo Ji didn’t know him, so how could he be certain he was a player from Zongheng Tianxia?
“Let me ask you, in the Bronze tier, which player doesn’t bring any siege machines when fighting an invasion battle?”
That single message made Zhang Yicheng freeze on the spot.
Then, realizing the implications, his expression immediately changed.
The military expenses for deploying large-scale military equipment like trebuchets were very expensive.
At that time, he was only thinking about those few civilization points!
Plus, he was just going to probe the enemy’s details, not actually fight, so he had initially configured his invasion setup with the goal of saving money, without considering this aspect at all!
Now that Zhao Nan mentioned it, he was a little dumbfounded.
“How many times have I told you? Don’t be so petty, don’t always think about taking small advantages!”
“You’re always bickering over those few civilization points, what kind of future do you think you’ll have?”
“Didn’t you learn anything from being surpassed by Zhou Dongnan in the rankings before?!”
From the words, Zhao Nan was clearly enraged, and Zhang Yicheng, who had realized his mistake, looked on the verge of tears.
Fearing that Zhao Nan would kick him out as a useless teammate, he quickly sent several messages.
“Brother Nan, I really didn’t mean to! I just didn’t think of it at the time.”
“Brother Nan, I absolutely won’t do this again! Really!!”
“Brother Nan, speak to me! What should we do next? I’ll truly listen to everything you say from now on!”
Looking at Zhang Yicheng’s continuous messages, Zhao Nan sighed heavily.
According to his original plan, he should have pretended to be a normal player, and without alerting the opponent, gathered as much information as possible before making targeted arrangements to swiftly defeat the opponent.
But now, the opponent might have noticed, or might not have.
The concern was that Luo Ji might implement countermeasures if he did notice!
This was truly giving him a headache.
