I told you to plant peas, and you summon Mordekaiser?

late at night.

With the final battle in the last region concluded, the regional competition officially came to an end.

Inside the tavern, the crowd was buzzing with discussion about just how powerful the two regions were that had been able to fight for so long.

The celebration lasted for several hours, but Chen Yang, who couldn't hold his liquor, was sent back to the courtyard early.

When Chen Yang woke up again, the sun was already high in the sky.

He got out of bed, rubbing his groggy head.

"Damn it, I'll never force myself to drink that much again next time."

After that night, Chen Yang gained a clear understanding of his alcohol tolerance.

After taking a sip of water and grabbing a piece of bread to chew on, Chen Yang eagerly opened his supply box.

He was really looking forward to the spoils of war. He had originally planned to come back and check them last night, but he couldn't resist Huang Aotian's persuasion to drink. He lost himself in the praise of "good drinking capacity" and eventually passed out in the tavern.

He didn't even remember how he got back to his room.

The supply box clicked open, and Chen Yang began to inventory the resources.

A watermelon pitcher...

A fiery chili pepper...

A talent card... Brand, the Flamebringer

A Tier 2 upgrade card...

Chen Yang was moved to tears.

The system has finally released a proper offensive plant.

Compared to the previous flower pots, nuts, and garlic, this watermelon pitcher is a breath of fresh air in a mudslide.

The garden's style is finally starting to look normal.

As for Fiery Chili and Vengeful Flame Soul, Chen Yang felt that these two cards should have good synergy and could be fused together.

He took the cards and walked into the garden.

Unlike before, fusing or upgrading ash plants like the Spicy Pepper no longer requires growing the plant.

[Whether to fuse with Fiery Hot Pepper and Vengeful Flame Soul]

[Note: When a Talent Card is fused with Ash Plant, the Ash Plant's single-use characteristic will be retained and cannot be reversed.]

Without much thought, Chen Yang pressed the confirmation button.

"Are you ready to enter the world of fire?"

With a low laugh, the two cards in Chen Yang's hand were engulfed in flames and burst into flames.

The crimson-gold ash gathered in the air and gradually transformed into a new card.

The card was enveloped in raging flames, but Chen Yang did not feel the heat. He reached out and took the newly fused card from the air.

[Hellfire Chili]

[Plant Type: Ash Plant]

[Duration: 100 seconds]

[Effect: The Hellfire Pepper ignites hellfire, scorching all enemies within a large area. This flame cannot be extinguished by normal means during its duration.]

[Cooldown: 24 hours]

In the card, the chili pepper is covered with eerie red runes, with a rather domineering expression, its eyes wide open in anger, as if it can't suppress its rage and wants to break out of the card to destroy everything in front of it.

Chen Yang was quite satisfied.

Although this card has a one-day cooldown, its effect is powerful enough, giving him another crucial means of saving the day.

Putting away the card, Chen Yang planted the Watermelon Pitcher next to the Garden Wizard.

Without any extra talent cards, Chen Yang decided to leave the watermelon pitcher in his current position for the time being.

Thus, after the flowerpot holding a staff, the nut with arms, the glowing garlic, and the Void Thorn, Chen Yang's garden finally had an original plant.

Although this most ordinary plant looks out of place in this garden.

At noon, the zombies once again checked in at Chen Yang's garden on time.

To Chen Yang's surprise, the spell power that the Flowerpot Little Mage had accumulated during the competition was actually retained.

One after another, meteor-like magic balls were unleashed, and zombies were beheaded before they could even step onto the lawn, leaving no room for the watermelon pitcher to make a move.

816 points of high legal strength!

The plant power rankings have also undergone a major overhaul, with some plants that previously dominated the rankings being removed, and others that you've never heard of before suddenly appearing.

The once undisputed number one Destroyer Mushroom has now fallen to seventh place.

The current top spot is held by a plant called Fire Dragon Grass.

The second place result puzzled Chen Yang.

The plant's name is very simple, just three characters: Street Lamp Flower.

How did the street lamp flower climb to such a high ranking?

This plant is quite useless in the original game, with very few uses, except for dispelling nighttime fog in a small area.

As a result, this useless lamppost flower actually climbed onto the head of the Doomsday Mushroom Archer.

Chen Yang's most anticipated flowerpot arboreum has jumped from over 800th place to 97th.

Discussions about the updated plant power rankings are going on endlessly in the world chat.

"Many plants have disappeared. I didn't expect that even plants on the power ranking would be defeated in the battle."

"There are too many variables in the competition, and the high combat power of a single plant does not mean anything."

"By the way, what's up with the second-place street lamp flower?"

"What's the point of streetlights? To be used as flashbangs to kill zombies?"

"Don't understand +1"

"Is there anyone with a large sculpture who can explain this?"

A player jumped out, claiming to be in the same area as the owner of the streetlight flower.

"This is the signature plant of Zhao Changming, the strongest man in our region."

"A level 5 Streetlight Flower! In yesterday's competition, none of the other plants had a chance to shine. Just one Streetlight Flower standing there was enough to keep even the Z-evolved zombies at bay!"

"So exaggerated?"

"I still can't imagine how to attack the streetlight flower."

The chat was lively, with everyone talking back and forth, just like before the regional competition.

But Chen Yang keenly noticed that everyone was avoiding talking about one thing.

It's as if they're deliberately avoiding the topic.

That's the number of online users in the upper right corner of the forum.

1.5 billion.

In just one day, the number of people was halved.

After all, there are winners and losers.

Half of the players are forever left in yesterday.

"Hey..."

Chen Yang let out a long sigh.

What does this world really want from us...?

Chen Yang is not a saint; having just survived a life-or-death crisis, he has no time to mourn for others.

He simply didn't understand what the mastermind's purpose was.

Summoning seven billion people into this world cannot be done just to watch them die one by one.

This feeling of being controlled is unpleasant.

Chen Yang hates a life where everything is pre-arranged.

He remembered walking through the barbed wire fence on the rooftop when he was a child, standing on the top floor of the orphanage, feeling the warm breeze under the setting sun amidst the roar of the air conditioner units.

The fierce-looking female caregiver stood in the open space at the bottom of the building, cursing loudly. She tried to threaten Chen Yang but found that he didn't seem to care about anything. She could only warn Chen Yang from below that if he didn't come down, she would punish him by locking him in a dark room and not giving him food for three days.

Chen Yang knew that the caregiver had a sharp tongue but a kind heart; she wouldn't lock him in a dark room or deprive him of food. But he would always give the caregiver face and obediently go downstairs.

After all, his goal has been achieved.

He just wanted to get over the wire fence, escape the orphanage's minute-by-minute schedule, and enjoy a brief moment of freedom.

"Wait, wait, wait?! @#￥@#￥"

The voice that appeared out of nowhere pulled Chen Yang back to reality.

"You did a great job! The results of the regional competition were absolutely perfect!"

"I see your enormous potential..."

"Therefore... the competition will continue!"

Chen Yang was taken aback. Was this battle going to continue?

"Um...where did the 432nd competition plan go? Let me look for it..."

Dave paused for a moment, then continued:

"This time, the competition will no longer be based on regions; players can form teams of twenty people on their own!"

"Participation in this competition is voluntary, and registration will close in 24 hours."

"The content of the competition will also change."

"You could be a zombie, or you could be a human."

"Generous rewards await in every round of the competition!"

"Oh right... I forgot to mention..."

"There is no punishment for failure... the winners will continue to advance..."

"Most importantly..."

"The winning team will be granted the right to ascend."