Chapter 5: There Must Be a Malevolent Scheme Behind the Fourth Cataclysm!

“Well done, comrades! Your merits have been recorded!”

“Believe me, your efforts will be rewarded in due time!”

Just as the players were busy discussing the grenade issue in the chat, André’s voice suddenly echoed in their ears.

At the same moment, a number appeared above their heads, displaying the amount of merit they had accumulated so far.

Seeing the string of numbers before them, several players’ eyes lit up with excitement.

Brother Haonan: “Heh, I told you, this game definitely has kill points! But how exactly are these points calculated?”

Lady Knight Seven Goblins: “No idea. This game doesn’t even have a compendium or anything. We’ll have to estimate based on our kills!”

After a brief exchange in the chat, Brother Haonan immediately grabbed André’s attention and asked, “Sir, what exactly can we do with these merits? Can we trade them for something?”

André merely shrugged in response, saying nothing.

At the same time, a large prompt appeared before Brother Haonan’s eyes:

“Unfortunately, your favorability with this character is insufficient to unlock more features.”

“Favorability with André: 5/100”

Damn, you actually have to build favorability to use the merits!

Brother Haonan sneered, but just then, another new prompt appeared:

“Attention! Players may spend merits to revive at resurrection points. If merits are insufficient, the player’s account will be automatically deleted upon death! Each player has one free resurrection opportunity; fight cautiously!”

Brother Haonan was startled upon reading this, never expecting the game to impose such strict resurrection limits.

However, after checking, he breathed a sigh of relief—reviving at a resurrection point cost only 20 merits, which could be earned by simply killing two enemy soldiers.

So, while resurrection had its conditions, they weren’t too harsh. As long as players fought seriously, account deletion wouldn't come easily.

He quickly shared this prompt in the chat, warning others not to rush recklessly and to play cautiously when necessary.

However, neither he nor the other players realized that all of this was a setup orchestrated and manipulated by André behind the scenes.

What was the major advantage of the Fourth Cataclysm?

The ability to resurrect continuously, much like an indestructible cockroach!

But for André, every player resurrection consumed his own accrued influence points, so he naturally couldn’t allow free and unlimited revivals.

Otherwise, if some reckless player kept throwing themselves to their death without concern for resurrection, André’s influence points would never suffice.

Therefore, he introduced the merit system: for every certain amount of influence points he gained, one-fifth would convert into their merits, effectively becoming their currency.

Although the cut was severe, André needed a substantial amount of influence points to sustain himself.

Without ample influence, how could he summon more players?

Moreover, in his system interface, whether it was player templates, the store, or his own planning screens, many features required influence points to unlock.

Helplessly, André had to wield his harvesting scythe over the players for the time being.

Still, he was somewhat fair regarding resurrection costs, not taxing them excessively, because he feared players dying too quickly and missing their kills.

If all players died, no matter how many points he had accumulated, summoning new players would mean starting from scratch, waiting for them to adapt, much like fresh recruits on a battlefield.

Meanwhile, he opened the store to see what had been unlocked so far.

To be honest, most of the current items were unremarkable—mostly common light weapons seen on battlefields.

More powerful or uniquely featured weapons remained locked.

Special player templates, like the Trench Raider set, Sentinel suit, or Tank Hunter outfit, were all still unavailable, not to mention other miscellaneous items.

Putting the store aside for now.

André had set all players’ initial favorability with him at 5; until they raised it to 50, features like the store would remain locked.

As for how players could increase his favorability?

Naturally, André controlled that prerogative; since favorability was managed by the system backend, he could set the numbers as he pleased.

Putting favorability aside, André’s current focus was on his commander skills—these were the true means to enhance his strength and command capabilities.

No surprise, André knew his own command skills were limited; after all, he’d only played some war games, and his command experience was purely theoretical.

Expecting him to instantly become a competent officer was pure fantasy.

But it didn’t matter—special commander skills with unique effects could compensate for his shortcomings.

Unfortunately, in the skill list, most skills were currently beyond André’s reach due to insufficient influence points; even a basic skill like expanding the minimap required a hefty 10,000 influence points.

Still, among the few skills he could afford, André found some quite practical.

For example, his eye was fixed on a skill costing 500 influence points that seemed extremely useful:

“Basic Leadership: Troops directly led by the commander will never have their morale completely collapse beyond control, no matter the conditions encountered.”

Although the name seemed ordinary and many games considered such skills trivial—since soldiers’ morale rarely broke under enemy fire—in a real battlefield, this was undoubtedly a godsend.

Most armies lose because their morale utterly collapses; as long as a unit’s morale isn’t completely broken and the officer can maintain control, they retain basic combat effectiveness.

So André didn’t hesitate to invest in this skill, especially given their current disadvantageous situation, where such a skill was crucial as a safety net.

But just as André finished allocating the skill and before he could feel any difference, a disheveled officer suddenly rushed over from the left side of the trench.

Before André could identify his rank, the officer grabbed his arm and said urgently:

“Captain, we’re about to lose our position! The D17 stronghold has been overrun by the enemy!”