Whistleblowing Rules

"The Great Whistleblowing Era?" *The five Alliance Leaders know how to meme?* Zhang Yuanqing thought to himself. After his momentary grumble, he quickly considered how this round would be played. The first round had tested intellect and adaptability; if things went as expected, the second round ought to focus on martial prowess. This arena tournament simulated a large-scale killing dungeon, and the core of a killing dungeon was slaughter—which meant combat strength. Yet what on earth was this "Great Whistleblowing Era"? The name bore zero apparent connection to fighting. As he was wondering, the scene before his eyes rippled and warped. Zhang Yuanqing couldn't help but complain to himself: *Right, I'm about to enter the trial ground anyway. What's the point of blindly guessing here?* In less than two seconds, the warped visuals cleared. Zhang Yuanqing looked around and was met with crumbling walls and shattered ruins. He stood amid the remains of an ancient city. As far as the eye could see, there were collapsed houses—structures of mixed gray brick and wood, some with fallen roof beams, others with caved-in walls. Clumps of verdant wild grass sprouted from between rotting black timber and masonry. "This is the setting for the second trial?" Zhang Yuanqing wondered silently. At the same time, he sensed his yin corpse a mere three meters away. During the first round, Corpse No. 1 had been "blocked" by the dungeon, so even as its master, he hadn't been able to sense it. Now, it had been returned to him. In addition, the light-colored suit he had been wearing was gone, replaced once again by his pajamas. The Spirit Realm prompt rang in his ears: [The Great Whistleblowing Era!] [Dungeon Introduction: Once, a formidable general led the empire's iron cavalry to conquer cities and seize territories, amassing illustrious military achievements. Little did he expect that his towering merits would overshadow his sovereign, provoking the jealousy of petty men and the suspicion of his monarch. Traitorous ministers conspired with the foolish ruler, reporting him on trumped-up charges and casting him into prison.] [The general died in prison crying out his innocence. Before his death, he laid down a curse: all who enter this city shall perish by whistleblowing.] [Match Rules: Each participant may report someone once every ten minutes. If the report succeeds, the function resets immediately. If the report fails, the function is sealed for thirty minutes.] [Whistleblowing Procedure: The heroic spirit of the general hovers over the ruins of the ancient city. The reporter must shout the "Subject of the Report" and "Grounds for the Report" toward the sky. The general's heroic spirit will judge autonomously. If judged successful, the general will shoot an arrow at the reported party, deducting three points from the struck target. If judged a failure, the general will shoot an arrow at the reporter, deducting one point from the struck target.] [Note 1: The general's armor has been lost within the ancient city, its components scattered across various locations. Every half hour, a component will glow with treasure light. Collect the armor pieces to defeat your foes.] [Note 2: Each person may equip only one component of the armor initially. Slaying or eliminating one person unlocks permission to wear an additional component.] [Note 3: Note: Do not violate laws and discipline or commit acts detrimental to morality within the ancient city (slaughter and combat excluded).] [Note 4: Eliminating a contestant allows one to plunder their points.] [Clear Requirement: Battle until only two remain.] The Spirit Realm prompt ended there. In the dim sky, a figure condensed from black mist emerged. It stood a full thousand feet tall, clad in military attire and clutching a mighty bow, standing proudly beneath the vault of heaven and above the ancient city. No matter where one stood in the city, it was visible. Zhang Yuanqing fell into contemplation, mulling over the dungeon information. "A free-for-all dungeon... No, it's a team free-for-all mode. Battling down to the last two means players will form alliances—two to a team, four teams total. "External assists: whistleblowing and armor. The armor will be easy to find, similar to supply airdrops. One piece appears every half hour, and each appearance will likely trigger a massive clash. "The whistleblowing function, however, isn't easy to use and definitely can't be used recklessly. Make a single mistake, and not only do you lose points yourself, but the reporting function is sealed for half an hour. "Hiss... Eliminating a player lets you plunder their points. This rule makes me an instant target for everyone. How am I supposed to ally with anyone? Am I stuck fighting alone?" Zhang Yuanqing grimaced. Dozens of li away by a river, Yuan Ting led his yin corpse, hiding behind a broken wall on the bank with a deep frown. "Battle until only two remain... which means we can form alliances? "I can't team up with people from the Five Elements Alliance. Better look for Sun Miaomiao or Zhao Chenghuang. Er, Zhao Chenghuang has an eccentric temperament and isn't a good ally. I'll seek out Sun Miaomiao. If she refuses to ally with me, I'll go to Yuanshi Tianzun, even though he has the highest points..." Yuan Ting designated Yuanshi Tianzun as his backup option. "First I'll wait for the armor to appear and see if I can get a piece. Its effects should be pretty good." On the main thoroughfare of the ancient city. World Returns to Fire leaned against a wall with his arms folded across his chest, staring at the thousand-foot heroic spirit in the sky. In his mind, he thought: *Killing and wounding people fall outside the scope of whistleblowing. But in a dungeon, aside from slaughter, what illegal or disorderly acts could one possibly commit?* His eyes suddenly lit up as he grasped the core of this rule: lure others into breaking the rules, and then report them! *It feels like whistleblowing could be played in many ways, but I only have ten points left. There's no room for trial and error.* Once one's points hit zero, they were eliminated. Right now, among the eight contestants, Yuanshi Tianzun had fifty points, while everyone else had ten. The gap was quite large. A smile appeared on World Returns to Fire's rugged face. "Yuanshi Tianzun is done for. He can't possibly have allies, and everyone in the dungeon wants to eliminate him." The contestant with the highest points would receive a powerful item, and whoever possessed that item could contend for the championship. Anyone who wanted to win had to eliminate Yuanshi Tianzun. After gloating for a moment, World Returns to Fire turned his thoughts to forming alliances: "Among the other seven, Tone-Deaf and Qingsongzi rank in the lower-middle tier in combat power, and their ability to clear dungeons is similar. I excel at dungeon clearing, so they are targets I can easily win over. The top three powerhouses are hard to recruit; even if we forced an alliance, we'd remain wary of each other, and it would be even harder for me to take the lead..." As for Yuanshi Tianzun, World Returns to Fire didn't consider allying with him in the slightest. Whoever allied with Yuanshi Tianzun would become a target. "An alliance?" Leading his yin corpse, Zhao Chenghuang walked through the ruins, searching for other contestants while waiting for the treasure light to appear. Zhao Chenghuang's yin corpse had already been repaired. His great-grandfather had personally fixed it; otherwise, nourishing it with his own Taiyin power would have taken ten days to half a month at least. Although Zhao Chenghuang possessed other yin corpses, those at the Transcendent stage couldn't compare to a Level 4 one at all. "The whistleblowing function seems like a white elephant—hard to put to use. If it's an alliance, I could choose Sun Miaomiao." Rank One and Rank Three joining hands would be enough to suppress the other contestants. "However, that would inevitably cause the other contestants to gang up on Sun Miaomiao and me. Yuan Ting is also from the Taiyi Sect; I can unite with him using outside benefits, making it three against five." Zhao Chenghuang frowned. Three Taiyi Sect contestants against five from the Five Elements Alliance... Though confident, he couldn't guarantee victory. "There's no need to draw hard battle lines right at the start. The Taiyi Sect has fewer people, but fewer people has its own advantages. The Five Elements Alliance has more people, but the greatest drawback of a crowd is divided hearts. "Right, Yuanshi Tianzun has the highest score..." The corners of Zhao Chenghuang's mouth curved upward. A plan occurred to him. At this moment, outside the arena. The projection from the crystal mirror had been divided into eight equal sections, each corresponding to one of the eight contestants. "This dungeon is very interesting. There are many rules, it's chaotic, and there's so much to exploit. I'm really looking forward to the battle among the top eight." "Many rules? All nonsense! Clearing this dungeon is simple: just charge straight to the city center and brawl. If you want to take it slower, collect some armor before you fight." The speaker was obviously a Fire Master. The audience chatted as they watched the projection. Compared to the trial in the first round, this second-round melee was noticeably more entertaining. It was no longer a solo performance by Yuanshi Tianzun, but a contest of wits and valor among all eight participants. After reading the rules, many spectators began to feel indignant on Yuanshi Tianzun's behalf. "Ah, Yuanshi Tianzun is way too unlucky! He barely got through the first round, and now he's public enemy number one again?" "I feel his luck is terrible. He started on Hell mode, and it's been Hell mode all the way through." "Plus, the whistleblowing function is practically useless. In a place like that, who would commit crimes or breach discipline? Yuanshi Tianzun's point advantage won't do him much good." The crowd began debating the rules: "This round is called 'The Great Whistleblowing Era.' The name proves that the reporting function is the ultimate game-changer! It all depends on who can fully unlock how to use it. If used well, you could eliminate opponents without even fighting." "I think you can only report someone legitimately by baiting them into a mistake. But everyone in the top eight is an expert—who's going to fall for bait?" "Look, the contestants only glanced at the heroic spirit once before ignoring it. Clearly, they all think the whistleblowing function is useless." "Wait, what is Yuanshi Tianzun doing?" After pondering for a long time, Zhang Yuanqing felt a spark of inspiration and thought of a way to test the whistleblowing mechanic. He walked over to his yin corpse immediately, squatted down, and yanked down the corpse's pants. Then he lifted his head, looked toward the sky, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "I, Yuanshi Tianzun, submit a real-name report against Corpse No. 1 for public indecency and exposing its lower body! Grounds for report: Corrupting public morals!" Standing proud between heaven and earth, the heroic spirit remained silent and gave no response. [Ding! Report successful. The target of the report is not an entered contestant, classified as an invalid target. No penalty applied.] *I see...* Zhang Yuanqing rubbed his chin, gaining further insight into the rules. The target of a report could only be an entered contestant. If the target was invalid, no punishment was inflicted. Pondering for a few seconds, he came up with another idea. He stepped over to a wall and summoned the yin corpse to stand beside him. Then, he whipped out the Sea-Calming Divine Needle from his trousers and let loose in a torrential gush. Amid the rushing sound of a clear stream, Zhang Yuanqing used the wall and the yin corpse to shield his proportions while simultaneously commanding the corpse to gaze directly at its master's mighty weapon. Since he had already relieved himself upon waking, the volume wasn't great, and he finished in barely ten-odd seconds. Having finished urinating, he tucked away his divine needle, raised his head, and called out loudly to the heavens: "I, Yuanshi Tianzun, submit a real-name report against Yuanshi Tianzun for urinating in public! Grounds for report: Detrimental to public morality!" "I, Yuanshi Tianzun, submit a real-name report against Corpse No. 1 for peeping at my private parts! Grounds for report: Violation of the law!" Above the ruins and beneath the vault of heaven, the colossal heroic spirit slowly looked over. Then, he raised his bow and drew the string, bending the bow into a full moon. *Whoosh!* An arrow condensed from black qi shot down toward Zhang Yuanqing. Like a falling meteor, the arrow streaked across the overcast firmament. Almost simultaneously, the dungeon prompt sounded in Zhang Yuanqing's ears: [Ding! Report successful.] [Ding! You have been reported by Yuanshi Tianzun. Three points deducted. Subject of report: Urinating in public.] [Ding! Report successful. The target of the report is not an entered contestant, classified as an invalid target. No penalty applied.] "Now this is getting interesting..." Zhang Yuanqing grinned. He had figured out several rules: First, one could report oneself! Second, one could pull down an opponent's pants and report them for public indecency. Third, one could expose oneself to someone else and report them for peeping! "As long as the deed happened, regardless of the underlying truth, it applies a one-size-fits-all judgment. Truly worthy of 'The Great Whistleblowing Era.'" The reason he had made this attempt was the dungeon introduction. The introduction had stated plainly that the general had died from a wrongful conviction—a malicious report, not fact. That meant malicious reporting was very likely an inherent part of the curse. And indeed, it worked. "Someone successfully reported someone? Who?!" Inside the trial ground, the other seven contestants raised their heads at the same time, staring in astonishment at the gloomy sky, their eyes still reflecting the fleeting streak of the arrow. *So fast?* They had barely entered the dungeon, yet someone had already successfully reported an opponent. How had they pulled that off...? A surge of anxiety and urgency swept through the seven contestants. In the colosseum. The spectator stands were packed to the brim, yet terrifyingly quiet—not a single sound was made.