Tower Defense: Public Enemy

Chapter 38 Gem Hall

Yan Xiaoyan's departure from the Flying Fire Camp was the trigger; subsequently, more than a hundred people followed suit and left the guild, including many experts above level 20.

Chen Yufei and Han Binghuo both turned ashen-faced upon hearing the series of messages about leaving the gang.

Developing a gang is no easy task. Flying Fire Camp has been established for more than four months and has finally grown to more than 300 members. Now, almost half of them have left.

While those players who left the guild certainly lost guild experience, the Flying Fire Camp suffered even greater losses.

More than a hundred people, including many experts, are not easy to make up for.

Some players didn't leave the guild because they felt the guild was dying. Yan Xiaoyan's "small circle theory" resonated with many people. They didn't leave the guild not because they were loyal to it, but because they were considering the defense missions, so they hesitated.

In short, the Flying Fire Camp, which was developing well, suddenly suffered a Waterloo, and morale plummeted.

In the Flying Fire Camp's guild hall, Chen Yufei, Wu Jingang, Mu Xiaoxiao, Han Binghuo, and other core members of the guild gathered together. Chen Yufei gritted his teeth in anger, pounding his fists and saying, "Damn it! That Yan Xiaoyan is a real menace! And that Lei Chi, it's all because of him! I will never let them get away with this!"

Han Binghuo said, "This was absolutely premeditated. Someone is deliberately trying to frame us! Yan Xiaoyan is the traitor, and Lei Chi is the accomplice. There must be someone behind them directing them. Have you found out who the mastermind is? Has Lei Chi revealed anything?"

"No, that kid's tight-lipped, he'd rather die than confess!" Chen Yufei said. "Brother Huo, what should we do now?"

The official leader of the Flying Fire Camp is Chen Yufei, but the actual power holder is the deputy leader, Han Binghuo.

Because Han Binghuo is the main financial backer, the Flying Fire Camp's development to this point is almost entirely due to his spending.

He is a well-known rich second-generation with a very large fortune, but he also has many enemies. He always feels that someone is targeting him, so he is willing to become the deputy leader of the gang.

"We can't afford to panic right now. Let's shut down Yan Xiaoyan and Lei Chi first. I'll go buy some gold coins. With enough money, developing our gang isn't difficult. We can just throw money around."

Han Binghuo said in a very generous manner.

Mu Xiaoxiao said, "I heard that the system is about to undergo maintenance. After the maintenance, the gold coins will be bound, and you won't be able to use cash to buy gold coins from the gold farming studios anymore."

"Not bad!" Han Binghuo nodded. "Speaking of which, the price of gold coins has skyrocketed these past two days. I need to contact some gold farming studios quickly, or I might not be able to get gold coins even at high prices. There are a few bastards who spend even more money on in-game purchases than I do!"

After saying that, Han Binghuo was about to log off.

Just then, Su Youlin ran over shouting, "Something terrible has happened! Someone rode away Xiaoxiao's bicycle that was parked outside before leaving the gang!"

"What?"

Mu Xiaoxiao was taken aback upon hearing this.

Wu Jingang asked, "A beast-brand bicycle?"

"Yeah! Speaking of which, this bicycle isn't tied up or even locked?"

While some were happy, others were sad. While Chen Yufei and Mu Xiaoxiao were feeling down, Lei Chi was drinking soda and singing, thoroughly enjoying himself.

In his secret camp, the 8th wave of monster invasion had begun. The invading monster was the Frost Skeleton, a monster that looked like an ice sculpture, nearly two meters tall, wielding a bone spear, and quite imposing, but with only 160 health points.

Two giant rubber ducks were quacking and spewing fire, creating wave after wave of fan-shaped fire shockwaves. Each wave could strip away 32 points of health from the Frost Skeletons, instantly reducing their health bars by a small amount. It was also an area-of-effect attack.

Those frost skeletons would collapse within 6 meters of stepping out of the [Time-Space Wormhole], practically dying the moment they stepped outside.

Two giant rubber ducks and two water cannon turtles dealt explosive damage, while the Ice Skeleton seemed very fragile, as if it were being blasted to pieces.

Even without other defensive towers, just two giant rubber ducks would be enough to easily defend against the 8th wave of jungle monsters.

A moment later, the monsters were defeated, and Lei Chi received a system notification: "Ding, congratulations on defeating the 8th wave of monster invasion. Rewards have been calculated, your level has increased to LV3, and your level cap has been increased to LV8!"

"Ding! The war corridor has increased in length by 100 meters. You have gained one opportunity to rearrange your defensive towers!"

"Ding! You can initiate the 9th wave of jungle monster invasion at any time. The 9th wave of invading monsters are LV9 Ironclad Skeletons, with 270 health points, a movement speed of 1 meter per second, and 1 point of armor. They spawn at a rate of two per second, for a total of 2000!"

"Armored skeleton? It has some armor? What's there to fear? Bring it on!"

Without any hesitation, Lei Chi continued to launch the 9th wave of monster invasion.

Soon, the armored skeletons appeared. These were skeleton soldiers wearing tattered armor. They looked sturdy, but once they stepped out of the [Time-Space Wormhole], they were as brittle as paper when focused by the Beast Towers of Thunder Pool. Not a single one could even walk 10 meters in the [War Corridor]!

This wave of monster invasion was successfully defeated, and the rewards were distributed. The level of Thunder Pool returned to LV4, and the building [Gem Hall] was unlocked.

[Gem Hall, a universal building, Level 1. Players can purchase a Gem Lottery Ticket for 10 Gold Coins. Using the ticket gives a chance to obtain gem materials or gem fragments. Collecting ten gem fragments allows you to synthesize a complete gem. Players can also purchase 10-draws (10% off, guaranteed common gem) or 100-draws (20% off, guaranteed rare gem) in the Gem Hall. Unlocking this building grants players one free Gem Lottery Ticket per week. The Gem Hall includes a Gem Storage for storing gems or gem fragments.]

The unlocked Gem Hall appears next to the Gold Mine. It looks like a small, domed house with a large treasure chest inside.

That large treasure chest is the "Gem Warehouse," which contains 100 storage slots. It seems that the number of storage slots in this treasure chest will increase after the [Gem Hall] is upgraded.

Gems are a very important resource in the world of Tata, and there are many kinds, such as technology gems, fire gems, ice gems, and so on.

Gems have a wide range of uses, the most common being upgrading defensive towers and crafting equipment.

However, obtaining gems is not easy.

"The Gem Hall is a place where you gamble with your luck; once you get hooked, you'll lose everything..."

Before I played Tata World, I often heard people online say that drawing gems in the Gem Hall would bankrupt three generations and ruin a lifetime. This was because if you needed a certain gem, the easiest and most effortless way was to buy it from the trading house. Trying to gamble on drawing it from the Gem Hall would result in losses so great that even your own mother wouldn't recognize you.

Lei Chi doesn't have any spare money to draw prizes in the [Gem Hall] right now.

He was checking the information about the 10th wave of monster invasion.

After successfully defeating the ninth wave of jungle monsters, the system displayed information about the tenth wave of jungle monsters.

The 10th wave of invading monsters is the Skeleton Knight, a heavy skeleton soldier riding a skeletal horse. It has 400 health, some armor, and some magic resistance. Its movement speed, respawn rate, and total number are the same as the previous waves.

Lei Chi figured that with the strength of his own defensive towers, it shouldn't be a big problem to withstand the 10th wave of monster invasion. However, just as he was about to activate it, a server-wide announcement suddenly rang out.

"Server-wide Announcement: Dear players, the game system will undergo an emergency maintenance update in five minutes. Please log off within five minutes. The update is expected to last two hours. This data update will introduce a new gold coin binding mechanism, allowing players to trade gold coins only through the auction house. The system will monitor and severely crack down on abnormal gold farming and purchasing activities. Additionally, the [Defense Tower Arena] and [Defense Tower Brawl] gameplay modes will be added to the [War Hall]. To compensate you for any inconvenience caused, the system will distribute a compensation package after the data update."

"Server-wide announcement: During the data update, if players fail to log off in time, resulting in lost items, character death, or other data errors after the system update, the system will not be held responsible."