Somewhere in Zero,

"Ah ha! It looks like I was right!"

A delicate silhouette murmured while sitting in an ethereal throne. Gaia had been closely following the process of the Time Attack. The act of using water and oil to burn the whole lair down was something completely unexpected. However, Gaia was not surprised. Instead, she said to herself:

"That guy really did use the same method... It seems that the machine really worked but I thought he would be more proactive than that..."

"Sigh... Unfortunately, I cannot let you abuse this! Although I would have liked to, maintaining the balance of the game is primordial."

As she said that, a screen appeared in front of her. A 3D model of Alyssa's Lair was projected on it. Without even touching the screen, the screen zoomed towards a particular area of the lair and quickly, the model was modified. The consistency of the soil was changed, and holes were added to act as evacuation drains that would carry the flowing liquids outside the lair instead of Alyssa's room.

"This should be good. Let's also make an announcement!"

...

Back to the players,

As soon as Li Wei and his party received the system prompt for finishing the Time Attack, the rankings in all the Halls of Fame of all the 10 empires were updated. It was after all a world record, beating the previous one by about 20 seconds. The previous world record already looked unbeatable but now, the players did not even know what to think.

There was no notification system where the players would be informed if a record was broken. However, the guilds all over the world had at least one player waiting at the Hall of Fame for this type of event. They needed to be informed as soon as something important would happen and the world records fell into that category.

It was a very boring job, especially after the solo guy placed the bar extremely high. But to their surprise, a party actually broke one of the records! They immediately needed to report this to the higher-ups!

At the headquarter of the Gem Family,

A few middle-aged men were comfortably drinking some cocktails while listening to music. These men were all famous in the political circle of China; they had a lot of influence in many sectors of China's economy, but they were not actively participating in the management of the guild. They decided to leave most of the things to the younger generation who all held names of gemstones.

Although they could act personally with their experience, they preferred to take this opportunity to allow the youngsters to get some experience. After all, they were well aware of the stakes of the game; they knew that when it would be time to go to the surface, they themselves would not have the authority to lead the people. Only someone from the young generation could become a leader.

There were no complicated reasons behind that, it was just that since they were all sleeping under cryogeny, their bodies would naturally suffer and age to some extent. And so, since they were older, they were more vulnerable. It had already been decided that the future leader would all belong to the young generation due to that very reason and so, they decided to allow them to temper themselves.

However, although they were not participating actively, the middle-aged men were keeping an eye on the progress of the guild. They were satisfied with the current standing of the guild. They knew they could have done better but they could not ask for too much from inexperienced youngsters.

"How is the situation of the other guilds?" asked a bearded man. He let out a long puff of smoke, a cigar could be seen between his fingers.

"It's good. We are not conflicting with each other too much! The Fleeting Clouds Sect is focusing on relocating to the other towns of the county. They've sent a lot of people there and I suppose they will soon start moving their main forces."

"As for the Stone Defenders, it seems that they have got closer with the guards. Some spies even say that several higher-ups have had meetings with the general. There is nothing we can do about that... After the failure of the dungeon incident, the general cut all his ties with us."

Another man was calmly eating some fruits, "That's fine! It wasn't our fault. As long as we focus on this city, we can turn it into our base. What are the ambassadors doing?"

"The situation is complicated. It is hard to set roots in other cities. The guilds there are pretty resistant and won't allow it easily. We should focus on Algate city for now, the other cities should be left for later. There's still a lot of time!"

At that moment, an announcement resounded through Zero:

[System announcement: due to the discovery of an unexpected exploit, Alyssa's Lair have been modified. This patch does not affect the normal running of the Time Attack. We apologize for the inconvenience.]

As the men heard the announcement, they could not help but look at their messages to see the news. They quickly found that the world record of Alyssa's Lair has been broken and it was actually done by a party of the Fleeting Clouds Sect.

"Let's arrange a meeting. We need to talk to the youngsters."

"What? Why is that?" asked one of the officials.

"Just for safety! I know how impulsive they can be... They might waste time and try to compete for this Time Attack! I already told them to not bother about these! Focusing on business development is more important!"

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"This way, when it will be time to build our town, we'll have a good traffic of resources. But knowing how my son is, he might just do something stupid. I clearly told him to not waste too many resources on the game's stuff. We just need to look like we are trying, while we develop in the background. But with a record, I'm afraid they might just be reckless and waste time there!"

"Mmm you're right, better be safe! Let's go and meet them... It's been a while since we had a review too!"

...

The Gem Family was not the only one reacting to the news. The Fleeting Clouds Sect also quickly received the news! On the surface, they immediately started to celebrate but in reality, the different families were not exactly delighted.

It was simply because the world record came from their own guild but not from one of their special teams. It came from a random party who chose to keep their strategy to themselves! If they shared it, the entire guild could have benefitted or more precisely, each family hoped that their younger members would obtain the benefits.

But they could not act this way in public. They naturally made announcements in the guild chat, celebrating the event but in the dark, the different families were already discussing. Should they pressure the record breakers to obtain their strategy? Or should they approach them and befriend them?

…

At the hall of fame, Forge God and The One Hero had been silently looking at the rankings. It was not that The One Hero did not try to initiate conversations with his lively personality but just that Forge God was very unresponsive.

"Do you think they will succeed?"

"mmm"

"It's been 2 minutes already! That plan sounds so crazy!"

"mmm"

"mmm"

"mmm"

"You are no fun! I should have gone first! Waiting there is killing me!"

The One Hero was continuing to pester Forge God who remained expressionless but suddenly, he saw the latter flinch for a moment. He quickly looked up the ranking and froze for a moment.

"They really succeeded!" exclaimed The One Hero. "They did it!"

"mmm"

"You should at least celebrate! If you do not say anything! I'll go in next!" excitedly said The One Hero.

His behavior naturally attracted the gazes of the nearby players but he did not care.

"Come on! What are they doing? It's been 10 seconds already! Can't they leave to discuss!"

"Ahh I can't wait! 30 seconds already!!!"

Finally, one minute after the record had been set, Li Wei and the other four stepped out of the painting.

"Why did you take all this time! Quick! It's my turn!" exclaimed The One Hero as soon as he saw them.

However, Cai Wenji quickly hit him on the head, "Stop acting like that. Everyone is looking at us because of you!"

Effectively, everyone in the room was eyeing them. Not necessarily because of The One Hero but more because they all recognized the names written on the rankings!

"Forge God! You could have held him a little bit better!"

"Mmm I don't have any influence on him!"

Cai Wenji sighed, "Fine quick you go in! Switch with Titan. You still have the items, right?"

"Yes yes! Of course!" excitedly exclaimed The One Hero. He was quickly added to the party and was about to rush into the painting when suddenly, an announcement was made:

[System announcement: due to the discovery of an unexpected exploit, Alyssa's Lair have been modified. This patch does not affect the normal running of the Time Attack. We apologize for the inconvenience.]

Hearing that, Li Wei and the others froze for a moment. It was something unexpected but at the same time, it was not necessarily bad news.

The reason Forge God and The One Hero were waiting there was naturally to abuse another exploit that was mentioned earlier by Moody Writer. They could only get one reward even if they were first in all the three categories but by changing just one member, it would count as a completely different team and they would then be able to monopolize the first 3 places of the world ranking! This way, they would triple their prizes.

However, if they were not wrong, Gaia discovered their tricks in beating Alyssa's lair so quickly and modified it to prevent such things from happening. It meant they would not be able to take the other places on the ranking!

But on the other hand, that also meant that no one would be able to attempt the same tricks. Although everyone signed the contract to not disclose the tricks, it was not untraceable. The players could look at what items were bought by the party or other things to try to deduce the strategy. There was always a risk but now, since their method was likely to be invalid, their place at the top was cemented unless another exploit was discovered.

"What should we do? Shall we try again to confirm if it was really removed?" asked Li Wei.

He was not disappointed by the results. He already secured himself a level, a piece of equipment and a skill. Getting more would have been a nice bonus but he could not be too greedy.

"We should have a look! It might just be a coincidence, but I doubt it!" said Bright Sun.

As the party was discussing what they needed to do, the nearby players of the Fleeting Clouds Sect approached them.

"Brother Cai! How are you?"

"Congratulations brother Cai!"

Cai Wenji frowned for a moment, he was clearly not used to this sort of treatment. The Cai Family was quite strong, but Cai Wenji belonged to the branch family. He did not get the same treatment as the members of the main branch. But now, when he saw how everyone was behaving, he could not help but feel disgusted.

He could be considered the leader of the branch of the Cai Family and so, the players all went to befriend him.

As for Li Wei, he simply internally laughed, this kind of treatment was not something he wanted. It was nice to have an umbrella to hide under.

"Brother, you should stay here to deal with them! We will go back to the lair to test if things changed there! Let Forge God take your place," said Bright Sun with an amused expression.

"Ah sis, you can't do that to me! You are better than me for this type of things!" answered Cai Wenji with a pitiful expression.

But he was still mercilessly kicked out of the party and Forge God took his place. The 5 members quickly went back into the painting, leaving Cai Wenji and Titan behind to deal with the players.

...

Later that day, Li Wei and the rest of the party all went to the Prosperity Hall to celebrate. Even Li Yuxin was invited since she contributed to the success of the Time Attack.

As it turned out, the trick of using water and oil to quickly set the lair on fire was effectively negated. They did not know what exactly was changed but it was obvious that it was not working anymore since even three minutes after having started pouring the different liquids, they did not see any trace of Alyssa or even hear the system prompt; their completion % stayed at around 50%.

"Let's toast to our success!" declared Cai Wenji.

"Cheers!"

"Cheers!"

Li Wei readily raised his glass of wine but compared to the others, he was very careful to only drink small sips. He clearly remembered the incident at the Gassian Lake and it was the last thing he wanted to experience again!

After the toast, everyone started attacking the dishes, especially The One Hero who was strangely silent as he was devouring his plate.

"So, what are the plans now? How did the others react?" asked Bright Sun.

"It looks like the other guilds doubled the number of players that went to the Hall of Fame today! But I doubt they'll succeed in setting a new record," said Cai Wenji while taking a sip.

"You know... That contract is bringing me quite a bit of trouble! Everyone is harassing me to know the way we ran the Time Attack!" said Li Yuxin.

Li Wei smiled, "I suppose we can sell the strategy now? It won't work anyway, and they might discover it later with their investigation!"

"Huh you are always looking for more ways to get things out of the guild!" commented Bright Sun.

"There's nothing I can do, I am just a small fish trying to swim his way up the river!"

"Of course of course! What are your plans now? Are we going to attempt the other Time Attacks too?" asked Bright Sun.

"Mmm, I was thinking of taking a break for a while! I wanted to try one of those quests at the Warrior Association. Maybe an escort quest so that I get to see the outside world! I stayed at the city for quite a while. It is time for a change of scenery," answered Li Wei.

Visibly disappointed, Bright Sun answered, "Ahh, yeah there are a lot of those, maybe you should also ask at the headquarters. We are looking for people to carry some items to the other towns. We can do bank transfers for money but for items, we have to carry them ourselves. So maybe you can take two quests at a time!"

"Really? That's a good idea! I will have a look later!"

The night went on, under the effect of alcohol, everyone was relaxed and chatted happily. It had been a long time since Li Wei spent a night like this, he usually went to sleep early to restore his fatigue but considering that he had achieved a world record, he could afford to relax for one night.

The food was great, his friends were there, there was nothing else Li Wei wanted. Despite the small amount of alcohol Li Wei consumed, his face was completely red but at least, he could still think properly.

Maybe it was the effect of alcohol but for a moment, Li Wei could not help but ponder on how vast Zero was and how there were many things left for him to discover. He was excited at the idea of leaving Algate City again. He was pensive for a moment until Li Yuxin randomly exclaimed:

"Hey Seven! We did not even arrange our duel!"

Li Wei simply smiled, "I won our bet, so we'll report that for a later date!"

The girl was clearly not in her normal state, her usual cold demeanor was gone. "Fine, I'll give you that! But we'll arrange a battle in the future!"

"Sure!"

"..."