National Tower Defense Survival: Start Awakening Fusion System

5: This isn’t the same game”Ding! You have successfully repelled the second wave of monsters!”

”You received: Gold x200.”

On the panel, the familiar perfect rating reward prompt box once again arrived as scheduled, emitting an alluring glow.

”Detection: Your defense process this time was extremely short, no damage to defensive towers, no attacks on city walls, defense rating: Perfect!”

”Perfect Rating Reward: You can choose to spend 100 Gold to activate ’Elite Challenge’!”

”Elite Challenge: The system will summon a wave of elite monsters for you, with double the quantity and enhanced attributes. Successfully defending will grant double basic rewards and additional leaderboard points! There is no penalty for failing the challenge.”

”Do you wish to activate?”

Lin Feng’s gaze swept over his balance, which had just surged to 800 Gold, and his finger tapped lightly in the void.

His brain operated like a super high-precision computer, running at full speed.

Last night’s Elite Goblins had doubled attributes.

If tonight’s Elite Werewolves also followed this pattern, their HP would skyrocket from 100 to 200, and they would very likely gain armor.

His two Heavy Crossbow Towers currently had a total DPS of 60 points.

Facing unarmored units, it would take over three seconds to kill one.

Once armor appeared, this time would be further extended.

Risk, indeed, existed.

But the three-day novice protection period was his only and final golden window for development.

He had to squeeze every single second of profit to the extreme to establish an unshakeable advantage before the real bloody elimination rounds began.

Opportunity always coexisted with risk.

The last trace of hesitation in his eyes was replaced by determination.

”Spend 100 Gold.”

”Activate Elite Challenge.”

As he confirmed his intention, the mist outside the fortress surged more violently than ever before.

The low growls were no longer mere wildness but carried a chilling ferocity and madness.

Forty figures, more burly and ferocious than before, burst out of the dense fog!

Their muscles were knotted like hard rock, deep red eyes burned with pure killing intent, and sharp, reflective claws dragged long, grating sounds across the ground.

”Elite Werewolf x40”

”Attributes: HP 200, Armor 10, Attack 10, Movement Speed 4 m/s”

”Skill: Rage — When HP drops below 50%, attack speed doubles!”

”As expected…”

Lin Feng’s pupils contracted slightly, but his heartbeat remained steady.

The data was almost identical to his estimation.

”Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”

The Heavy Crossbow Tower with the Rapid Fire skill attacked first, four crossbow bolts tearing through the night sky and instantly pinning into the foremost Elite Werewolf.

”-10!”

”-10!”

”-10!”

”-10!”

20 points of attack were offset by 10 points of armor, a single volley only dealt 40 points of HP damage.

At the same time, another ordinary Heavy Crossbow Tower also fired two arrows, hitting another Werewolf.

”-10!”

”-10!”

The two Elite Werewolves merely paused slightly before letting out more furious roars, continuing to charge forward despite the crossbow bolts!

Their HP was as high as 200 points!

To kill one, the tower with Rapid Fire needed a full five volleys, taking five seconds!

And the other ordinary tower would require an astonishing ten seconds!

At their speed of 4 m/s, this time was enough for them to cross more than half the battlefield!

For the first time, the battle moved beyond the scope of a ”shooting range.”

The Werewolves’ massive bodies continuously fell under the rain of arrows, but the subsequent Werewolves stepped over their comrades’ corpses, breaking through the invisible fifty-meter death line with unprecedented ferocity!

Forty meters!

Thirty meters!

Twenty meters!

When the first Elite Werewolf’s ferocious face was clearly reflected in Lin Feng’s pupils, it leaped high, bringing afishy wind, and slammed heavily into the cold city wall!

Thud!

A dull thud!

”City Wall Durability -10!”

A crimson prompt, for the first time, appeared in Lin Feng’s vision.

Immediately followed by the second, the third…

More and more Elite Werewolves pounced, their sharp claws frantically tearing and slashing at the city wall!

Thud! Thud! Thud!

”-10!”

”-10!”

”-10!”

The city wall’s durability began to decrease at a slow but steady rate.

2000… 1950… 1900…

Lin Feng’s expression remained unchanged.

His right index finger simply hovered quietly over the virtual panel, pointing at the two empty ”Defensive Tower Slots.”

He still held 700 Gold.

As soon as something seemed off, he could instantly place three Initial Arrow Towers to increase output.

But he didn’t.

He was waiting.

He was calculating.

He was using the city wall’s HP to maximize economic gain.

This was an extremely calm, even ruthless, gamble.

Suddenly, one of the Werewolves attacking the city wall had its HP drop below 100, instantly triggering Rage!

Its eyes were so red they seemed to drip blood, and its attack movements became a blur!

”-20!”

”-20!”

Damage numbers instantly doubled!

Like a chain reaction, more and more Werewolves entered the Rage state, and the rate of the city wall’s durability decrease sharply accelerated!

1500!

1200!

900!

Lin Feng’s gaze remained as still as an ancient well, but his hovering finger’s muscles were slightly tensed.

He was gambling that his Heavy Crossbow Towers could clear this final threat before the city wall collapsed.

Time, at this moment, seemed to stretch.

The hum of crossbow strings, the roars of Werewolves, the grating sound of claws tearing at rock, intertwined into a mad symphony.

When the last raging Werewolf was pierced through the head by several crossbow bolts and slid weakly down the wall, the entire battlefield finally returned to silence.

In Lin Feng’s vision, the city wall’s durability finally settled on a number that made his eyelids twitch slightly.

”City Wall Durability: 810 / 2000”

”Ding! Your city wall is slowly recovering…”

That was close.

But, he won the gamble.

The generous reward prompt soothed the last trace of tension from before.

”Congratulations on completing the Elite Challenge! Defense Rating: Good!”

”You received: Gold x400, Leaderboard Points x8!”

The leaderboard arrived as expected.

Lin Feng immediately found the permission unlocked after upgrading the Main Base.

”Do you want to hide your personal information?”

”Yes.”

After doing all this, he then leisurely looked at the golden list.

”8888 War Zone Kill Scoreboard”

”1. [Dragon Aotian] Score: 41 (Talent: SSS-rank - Holy Dragon Summon)”

”2. [Phoenix Empress] Score: 41 (Talent: SSS-rank - Phoenix Nirvana)”

”3. [***] Score: 38 (Talent: ***)”

”…”

At the top of the list, those familiar names still shone, but from third place onwards, there was a large section of anonymous players replaced by asterisks.

Clearly, he wasn’t the only one who thought to keep a low profile.

Lin Feng quickly scrolled down and found his new ranking beyond the hundredth spot.

”137. [***] Score: 19 (Talent: ***)”

Seeing this ranking, Lin Feng’s lips, instead, curved into a satisfied smile.

Perfect.

From the highly-watched 29th place, he dropped out of the top hundred.

In the eyes of the true big shots, he had gone from an ”interesting S-rank” to an ”ordinary high-level player who faded into obscurity.”

This was exactly the effect he wanted.

A tree that stands out in the forest will be destroyed by the wind.

Before he possessed absolute self-preservation ability, hiding in the darkness was the smartest choice.

At the same time, the region channel, which had been silent all day, boiled over again with the end of the second night’s defense.

”Holy crap, tonight’s Werewolves were fierce! I had all four of my Arrow Towers active and they still reached the wall, scared me to death!”

”Me too! I almost couldn’t hold on!”

”You guys are lucky, a buddy next to me, it seems he only built two Arrow Towers to develop his economy, a flash of light just now, and his fortress directly disappeared… and he’s gone too.”

Amidst a chorus of post-disaster wails, a message with a special ”Announcement” prefix caught everyone’s attention.

The speaker’s nickname was [Divine Strategist], followed by a special tag: [Strategy Group].

”[Announcement] Survivors of the 8888 War Zone, we are the ’Pangu Strategy Group’. After practical tests by multiple members, we conclude: The second wave of ordinary Werewolves can be perfectly defended without taking damage using only four system Initial Arrow Towers.”

”Therefore, please stop wasting Gold on other things! That is pure resource overflow! Invest all saved Gold into building [Gold Mines]! Developing the economy quickly is the kingly way!”

This message was like a giant rock thrown into a calm lake, instantly stirring up a thousand waves.

”Holy cow! Strategy GroupBig Boss! Live!”

”Really? Four are enough? My towers even have exclusive skills, I still feel a bit iffy.”

”Upstairs, the city wall is so durable, there’s a lot of room for error, don’t be afraid of them reaching it, it will naturally fully recover by the next day.”

The entire channel’s atmosphere instantly shifted from panic and confusion to sudden enlightenment and lively discussion.

Just then, a discordant voice weakly spoke up.

”Um…Big Boss, what are Gold Mines? Where do you build resource buildings?”

The channel instantly fell silent for a second.

Followed by merciless mockery.

”Pfft! Brother, are you kidding?”

”Still asking this question now? How did you survive the first day?”

”To ask something like that, I estimate you already have one foot in the grave, don’t struggle, find a comfortable position and wait to die, hahahaha!”

The player who asked the question never spoke again.

Lin Feng watched all this expressionlessly.

He didn’t mock the poor guy, nor did he agree with the Strategy Group’s ”foresight.”

In his heart, there was only cold understanding.

The Strategy Group’s analysis was correct.

For most ordinary people struggling on the survival line, their advice was golden.

Tighten their belts, use the extreme defense of four Arrow Towers to gain economic development space for building two Gold Mines.

This was the way of survival for ordinary people.

But Lin Feng, from this ”correct” strategy, saw another, completely different reality that belonged to him.

When others needed four towers to barely hold on, he only needed two.

When others’ economies were firmly capped by two Gold Mines, his income was already three times theirs.

They were still playing a difficult survival game.

And he had already begun the primitive accumulation of capital.

This was not the same game.

It never was.

Lin Feng closed the noisy chat channel, completely blocking out the irrelevant chatter.

His gaze returned to his panel.

”Gold: 1100”

”Upgrade Main Base to Level 3: 1000 Gold”

It was enough, and after upgrading, he could immediately place a Gold Mine.