OGP CH85
Most holographic games with competitive modes were fighting games — titles like Mech Apprentice and Combat Master, one-on-one brawls where every punch landed in real time. Getting into a fight with someone in a holographic game was, admittedly, deeply satisfying.
Palace Storm was doing something entirely different. Players in this game didn’t need to throw a single punch. They needed to outthink their opponents.
Every competitive game before this had been about physical combat. Palace Storm‘s competitive mode was about intellectual combat.
How exactly were players supposed to outwit each other using pure strategy? Players who had never encountered anything like this before were intensely curious.
December 5th. Palace Storm‘s final DLC — “Faction War” — officially launched. Many players had arranged their gaming pods and partners well in advance. Others planned to try their luck with random matchmaking.
Liu-ge sent Cute Rabbit a message: “Rabbit, want to duo queue?”
Cute Rabbit sounded puzzled. “Given our track record, we died a ridiculous number of times in co-op mode. Are you sure you want to play Faction War with me?”
“You’re someone I know well,” Liu-ge said. “Even if we lose, you won’t roast me for it. If I queue with other streamers, I’m afraid of getting absolutely demolished verbally.”
“……Fair point, same goes for me. Alright, it’s decided!”
At noon, when the update dropped, the two well-known “chaos streamers” linked up their streams once again. Viewers immediately started in on them —
【You two teaming up — are you just donating kills to the enemy?】
【Calling it now, they’re going to lose. Sitting back and enjoying the show】
【I’m not scared of godlike teammates, I’m scared of pig teammates…】
Liu-ge saw the lack of confidence from his audience and immediately fought back: “Don’t write us off so fast. There are going to be tons of new players trying this out today — we’re veterans by any measure, so we’ve actually got a real shot. Right?”
Cute Rabbit quickly backed him up. “Exactly, our combined win rate is pretty solid. And hey — every time we win, I’ll do a red envelope giveaway in my stream!”
At noon sharp, the game launched.
The screen displayed: [Matchmaking in progress.]
A match was found almost immediately.
“Matchmaking is fast,” Liu-ge said approvingly. “Plenty of players online during the lunch hour!”
System: Both sides, please draw lots.
A box appeared in the center of the screen. Liu-ge drew at random and pulled a red card. The opposing players drew blue.
System: Entering the Ban/Pick phase.
System: Blue side, please ban one character first.
Liu-ge blinked. “There’s a BP phase? They added some new characters to this mode — let’s take a look.”
Cute Rabbit was already getting excited. “I can see the Empress, Noble Consort Xiao, the Second Prince, the Third Prince — they’re all in the character pool now! All the major players are available. The Faction War mode really does kick things up a notch.”
Thirty seconds on the clock. The opposing players, apparently encountering this format for the first time, couldn’t decide whom to ban — and ultimately banned no one.
Liu-ge’s turn. He hesitated briefly, then banned the crown prince.
Second round: the blue side still passed on their ban.
Cute Rabbit banned Chief Eunuch Gao.
System: Banning phase complete. On the red side, please select one character.
Liu-ge moved decisively and locked in Noble Consort Xiao.
System: Blue side, please select two characters.
The opposing players picked Consort Xian and the Fourth Prince — a mother-son combo.
Liu-ge did a double take. “Wait — they’re not taking the Empress? They’re leaving the Empress of the central palace just sitting there and picking Consort Xian instead?”
Cute Rabbit lit up. “Then I’m taking the Empress!”
System: Character selection complete.
System: Faction War Mode — eliminate all opposing players by any means necessary to win.
System: After 3 minutes, players may discuss and initiate a surrender with their teammate.
System: The game is about to begin. Please prepare.
The screen shifted. The Faction War began.
No revive cards, no reloading saves. The starting point for all four selected characters was the eve of the Spring Hunt.
From the moment the game launched, Cute Rabbit and Liu-ge found themselves spawning in Kunning Palace — the Empress’s residence — and Zhaoyang Palace, Noble Consort Xiao’s quarters.
In the original storyline, the Empress and Noble Consort Xiao were bitter rivals. But in Faction War mode, both were now player-controlled — and the moment these two joined forces, no other consort in the palace stood a chance.
Liu-ge opened the team channel. “Rabbit. Let’s talk strategy.”
“Should we use the hunt storyline to take out the Fourth Prince?” Cute Rabbit said. “Or would it be easier to deal with Consort Xian inside the palace?”
“Consort Xian keeps a very low profile,” Liu-ge analyzed. “She barely leaves her quarters — we can’t get leverage on her easily. Better to strike during the hunt.”
The two of them quickly agreed on a plan and summoned their sons.
That afternoon, the Second Prince entered the palace to pay his respects to Noble Consort Xiao.
Liu-ge, playing Noble Consort Xiao, seated in Zhaoyang Palace, regarded the Second Prince NPC with cool composure. “What arrangements have you made for tomorrow’s hunt?”
The Second Prince looked rather pleased with himself. “Mother Consort, your son has planted one of his men among the Fourth Prince’s guards. During the hunt, he will shoot the Seventh Prince — and then point the blame squarely at the Fourth Prince. Father Emperor will surely turn his fury on him.”
“A clever scheme, killing two birds with one arrow,” Noble Consort Xiao said. “But the Fourth Prince is cautious by nature. He may already be on guard. And if your man breaks under questioning and names you — have you considered what comes next?”
The Second Prince’s expression flickered. “Impossible. His family is under my control. He wouldn’t dare.”
Noble Consort Xiao set her teacup down on the table with a firm clap. “Foolishness.”
The Fourth Prince was a player now — he would know the storyline. There was every chance he’d already gotten to that guard.
Liu-ge thought it over. “Do you have any other loyal men? Someone reliable who isn’t stationed at the Fourth Prince’s manor?”
“One more,” the Second Prince said. “He’s embedded near the Crown Prince.”
“If we’re going to eliminate rivals,” Noble Consort Xiao said, “why not go straight for the Crown Prince? And lay the blame on the Fourth Prince while we’re at it.”
The Second Prince looked genuinely startled. “That… that would be…”
“With your only older brother out of the picture, you become the eldest surviving son. The throne falls to you naturally. Surely you understand that.”
The Second Prince’s expression brightened immediately. “I do!”
“Go then. Tell your man to be careful.”
Meanwhile, the Crown Prince had come to pay his respects to the Empress.
Cute Rabbit spoke to him carefully. “My son, I’ve received word that someone plans to loose an arrow at you during the hunt three days from now. When it happens, take the hit — let yourself be wounded. Fall from your horse. Let your father investigate who’s behind it.”
Crown Prince looked surprised. “Mother Empress — you want me to play along with the trap?”
Cute Rabbit smiled. “Yes. If the Second Prince steps forward to name the culprit, don’t contradict him. Pretend to believe his story. His mother’s faction is powerful. Now is not the time for a confrontation.”
This framing was deliberate — it followed the logic of the established storyline. In this narrative, the Empress and Noble Consort Xiao were enemies. The intelligent NPCs all understood that dynamic.
If Cute Rabbit suddenly appeared to be cooperating with Noble Consort Xiao, Crown Prince would never accept it. Better to frame it as a tactical retreat, a strategic step backward — only then would the Crown Prince follow instructions without question.
Crown Prince considered this, then bowed. “Understood.”
Once both sons had left, Liu-ge opened the team channel. “Oh my god. I’m just now realizing this Empress and Noble Consort Xiao combo is absolutely broken.”
“Same,” Cute Rabbit said. “Crown Prince and Second Prince are naturally aligned with us — they won’t question their mothers’ orders. We can directly command two major NPCs to act in coordination with us!”
Time in the game moved fast.
Three minutes passed. In game terms, three days had elapsed, and the hunt was underway.
The Fourth Prince’s player had figured out early on that the guard was a plant, and had already had him bound and locked in a storage room before setting out for the hunting grounds.
At the hunt, he kept his guard up at every moment — he’d assumed that was enough to get through this segment safely. Then, midway through the hunt, an arrow flew out of nowhere and struck the Crown Prince.
Crown Prince played his part perfectly. He took the hit, toppled dramatically from his horse, blood streaming from his shoulder.
The Emperor erupted in fury. The archer was seized immediately.
Dragged before the Emperor, the man was asked who had ordered him. He cast one glance in the Fourth Prince’s direction, then burst into anguished tears. “Your Highness — your servant has failed you. I could not complete the task. I will repay your great kindness in the next life!”
With that, the guard bit down on a pill he’d concealed in his mouth and died.
The Fourth Prince: “……”
How does a conspiracy just fall out of the sky and land on me?
The Emperor’s voice turned sharp and cold. “Seize the Fourth Prince.”
The Fourth Prince immediately moved to defend himself. “Father Emperor, I don’t know this man at all. If he were truly my agent, why would he implicate me? This is clearly a fabrication — someone is framing me!”
The Second Prince stepped forward. “Fourth Brother, stop making excuses. I saw this man skulking in and out of your manor just a few days ago. You’ve held a grudge against our First Brother for years, haven’t you? You placed him there to take your revenge at the first opportunity.”
Crown Prince, pale-faced and clutching his wound, spoke weakly. “Fourth Brother — why would you scheme against me like this?”
The Emperor’s fury redoubled. The Fourth Prince was dragged away for interrogation.
The Consort Xian player stared blankly. “Hey, didn’t you have that spy tied up already?”
“A second assassin appeared from nowhere,” the Fourth Prince’s player said, helpless. “Shot Crown Prince, pinned it all on me. I have absolutely no way to defend myself.”
“So what do we do?”
“This round is cooked. Surrender.”
System: The opposing team has initiated a surrender.
System: Congratulations — you have won Round 1. +10 points.
Liu-ge and Cute Rabbit both went quiet for a moment.
A few seconds passed before Liu-ge snapped back to reality, suddenly delighted. “Holy crap — we actually won? That was barely ten minutes!”
“They surrendered outright,” Cute Rabbit said, laughing. “With the Fourth Prince locked up, Consort Xian really had nothing left to work with.”
“Even if she’d tried to petition the Emperor, our Empress could have gone straight to him with grievances,” Liu-ge added. “Fourth Prince wasn’t getting out. Their round was over.”
【666! That easy?!】
【Empress + Noble Consort Xiao — is this a broken combo or what?】
【Competitive mode is more complex than I expected; I could barely follow what happened】
【Just like fighting games — the BP phase is everything】
【Faction War is going to require serious research into what to ban】
【Can’t wait to see the streamers develop more strategies】
Cute Rabbit kept her word and ran a giveaway in her stream immediately after the win.
Then she and Liu-ge queued again — and matched against a pair of total newcomers.
The opposing players, clearly playing for the first time, picked Princess Qingping and immediately tried to arrange a marriage alliance. They were promptly killed by bandits.
Liu-ge: “……”
We didn’t even have to do anything. They took themselves out?
We won by doing nothing?
Cute Rabbit didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “That was definitely a new player who had no idea what they were doing — and we won again! Running another giveaway. I’m not going to go broke today, am I?”
As it turned out, Cute Rabbit and “giveaways” truly had a special relationship. Back during the Underworld Maze event, she’d pledged to run a giveaway every time she died — and proceeded to die dozens of times in one evening, nearly bankrupting herself in the process.
Today, she’d said “win and give away,” and had proceeded to win without stopping.
“Thank you, Rabbit, for carrying me,” Liu-ge said sincerely.
For the entire afternoon, they kept winning. Six consecutive victories.
A win streak also came with point bonuses.
System: Congratulations — your Faction War ranking has reached 100 points. Rank has advanced to Tier 2. Please claim your reward.
Reaching Tier 2 unlocked five hours of free playtime.
Qihang’s model of giving away free playtime was extraordinarily effective at retaining players. And the Faction War mode genuinely outshone the co-op experience in terms of excitement.
Beyond the expanded character roster, players could now issue commands to allied faction NPCs and directly influence how the storyline unfolded.
Faction War also had a ranking ladder, with Liu-ge and Cute Rabbit currently at Tier 2. The ceiling was Tier 9.
It played exactly like a ranked competitive game. The higher your tier, the stronger your opponents — which kept the challenge escalating and the competitive players coming back hungry. An advancement system like this was catnip for anyone who loved ranked play.
It was easy to predict: Palace Storm was going to stay hot for a long time to come. All the way through winter break, at minimum.
The night the Faction War DLC launched, the Palace Storm forums exploded with posts.
“Can someone explain the Empress + Noble Consort Xiao combo to me? It’s completely unbeatable. Those two working together make the whole palace side unlivable, and it’s way too easy to frame the princes and princesses. I was dead in under ten minutes.”
“I got matched with a complete liability today. They threw in the opening and died for no reason. I had to 1v2 the entire enemy team. Absolutely exhausted.”
“Has anyone compiled a guide to Faction War team comps yet?”
“I’m starting to feel like PK mode plays differently from co-op. Mother-son combos, brother combos — they’re just not pulling their weight.”
Players went back and forth, sharing notes.
The eventual consensus: Noble Consort Xiao and the Empress — ban one of them immediately at the start. You cannot let both through. When they’re enemies, they’re manageable. When they’re on the same side, they’re terrifying.
The following afternoon, one streamer’s approach completely changed how everyone thought about the game.
That streamer was Xia Kucao, currently one of the most talked-about names in the scene.
He’d spent the previous day on random matchmaking, carrying his teammates in every single round, and had already climbed past 100 points to Tier 2.
This time around, the teammates and opponents he matched with were all Tier 2 players — people familiar enough with the game’s character relationships and storyline patterns that he wouldn’t be running into any beginners.
Xia Kucao queued with a random teammate and entered the game.
He didn’t ban Noble Consort Xiao or the Empress. He let the opposing side claim what the forums had crowned the “nuclear combo” — and then calmly snatched Chief Eunuch Gao for himself.
He turned to his teammate, voice easy and unhurried. “Take Crown Prince. We don’t want him falling under their control.”
His teammate immediately agreed. “Got it!”
The game opened, as always, in the days before the hunt.
Xia Kucao’s strategy was straightforward: he slipped a laxative into the Emperor’s daily meals, leaving His Majesty bedridden with stomach troubles for an entire day.
The Emperor lay pale and breathless on the dragon bed. “The hunt this year — postpone it until next month. Someone fetch the imperial physician, quickly—”
Xia Kucao had already gotten to the physician. The official verdict was a mild chill, a stomach upset from the cold — nothing more serious than a tonic and some rest.
While this was unfolding, Xia Kucao had his teammate move quickly to investigate a group of assassins the Second Prince had been quietly maintaining. They turned up critical evidence.
While the Emperor convalesced, Chief Eunuch Gao stood sentinel at the bedchamber doors and refused all visitors. The Empress and Noble Consort Xiao couldn’t get anywhere near the Emperor — and when they tried to quietly arrange for the Crown Prince’s removal, the Crown Prince, who had seen it coming, caught them in the act.
Once the Emperor recovered, the Crown Prince sought an immediate audience and laid out every piece of evidence before him.
The Emperor’s fury was absolute. The Second Prince was arrested. Noble Consort Xiao was implicated and confined to the Cold Palace for reflection.
Only the Empress remained on the opposing side.
Crown Prince went to pay his respects to the Empress. He smiled pleasantly. “Mother Empress — do you intend to keep fighting?”
The Empress player responded directly: “You guys are good. I surrender.”
System: The Empress has initiated a surrender.
System: Chief Eunuch Gao + Crown Prince have achieved victory. +20 points.
The stream audience stared.
【Wait, what?!】
【Whatever happened to Empress + Noble Consort Xiao being the nuclear combo?】
【Chief Eunuch Gao just locked down the Emperor directly — THAT’S the real nuclear combo!】
“The thing is,” Xia Kucao said, “the Faction War mode isn’t about a fixed strategy. It’s about adapting. If you can predict what your opponent is going to play, you can build a counter before they ever get started.”
“For instance — the moment the other side locks in Empress and Noble Consort Xiao, the first counter is to grab either Crown Prince or Second Prince before they can. That breaks the four-way NPC coordination they’d need. Without both princes under their command, the hunting grounds ambush falls apart.”
“If they’ve banned both Crown Prince and Second Prince, there’s a second option: pick characters who control the palace’s food and drink — Chief Eunuch Gao, the Senior Palace Maid — slip a laxative into the Emperor’s meals, and push the schedule back entirely.”
“Third option: Princess Ning’an’s storyline starts before the hunt. If you pick her, the timeline shifts earlier. You can use the wedding events to strike first.”
“Fourth option: if the other side takes Empress and Noble Consort Xiao, we counter with Consort Shu and Consort Xian working together. A 2v2 inner palace showdown — roughly fifty-fifty odds.”
The viewers went quiet.
They’d thought this was an unsolvable problem.
And Xia Kucao had just rattled off four solutions in one breath?
This is the difference between someone who actually gets it and everyone else.
The night of Xia Kucao’s stream, the forum winds shifted again.
“Everyone — the Empress + Noble Consort Xiao combo is honestly nowhere near as scary as people were saying. She has so many counters! Check it out.”
“Compiled all four of Xia Kucao’s solutions below for easy reference. You’re welcome~”
“People got way too hype about this combo yesterday without doing the homework. Running into so many people mindlessly locking in Noble Consort Xiao today in my ranked games…”
“I matched against a Chief Eunuch Gao + Senior Palace Maid duo today. NOW that was actually terrifying. Every single thing I ate or drank was poisoned. They’d also bribed the imperial physician, so I just quietly died without anyone noticing.”
“Faction War just launched. Nobody’s fully figured it out yet. There’s a ton left to discover — don’t rush to conclusions.”
“Right now, most players are fumbling around in Tiers 1 and 2. The real strategizing starts when everyone climbs into the higher ranks. That’s when things get genuinely interesting.”
Just as the forum had predicted, in the early days, most players hadn’t figured out the mode and were simply following the crowd toward popular picks.
Characters like Noble Consort Xiao, the Empress, Chief Eunuch Gao, and Crown Prince were all extremely sought-after. Noble Consort Xiao in particular became an almost permanent fixture in the ban slot.
Some players started joking that “Noble Consort Xiao is serving a life sentence in the ban chair.”
These characters all held positions of significant power and influence, making it easy to seize control of the situation quickly — eliminating the opposing players before they could establish themselves. Since Faction War didn’t require you to reach the throne, just outlasting your opponents was enough to win. High-influence characters were natural tools for fast, dominant play.
But when players climbed into Tiers 3 and 4… Noble Consort Xiao started falling out of favor.
Because she had a glaring weakness.
Her family, the Xiao clan, commanded a massive army — and the Emperor had always viewed them with deep suspicion. Her son, Second Prince, had been running a squad of assassins and leaving a trail of loose ends all over the place.
The Emperor was a deeply paranoid man. If an opposing player managed to manufacture evidence suggesting General Xiao was plotting rebellion and Second Prince was angling for the throne, the Emperor would move against the Xiao family without hesitation.
Survive the aggressive early pressure Noble Consort Xiao could bring, and by mid-to-late game, her vulnerabilities would leave her paralyzed. A character with obvious weaknesses became a liability once both sides knew what they were doing.
One week in, many skilled players had climbed to Tier 5.
Players at this rank had seen everything. They understood every NPC’s personality and backstory inside out. Characters without exploitable weaknesses were now far more valuable in high-level play.
The matches themselves had evolved from early-game basics — “I poisoned you,” “I framed you” — into something far more complex: prolonged positional battles of attrition and misdirection.
When both sides were sharp and both knew the storyline cold, the Ban/Pick phase alone could produce dozens of viable strategies.
You couldn’t end a match in ten minutes anymore.
Players had to play the long game — cultivating NPCs, building relationships, shifting loyalties.
And that demanded a truly panoramic sense of the board.
Who to pull to your side first. Who to neutralize first. Which ministers were dependable? Which NPCs were likely to flip? Every factor had to be weighed.
Playing Faction War felt like being genuinely immersed in a crisis-laden era, split into two rival powers locked in a struggle where there was no middle ground.
Win, or fall.
During one of his streams, Xia Kucao encountered a player with the username “Poplar.”
This person didn’t stream. They’d climbed to Tier 5 through solo queue and were formidably good.
After being matched together once and discovering an unexpected chemistry, the two exchanged friend requests and started queuing up for Faction War together.
Xia Kucao’s stream audience was treated to quite a show.
Combinations like Seventh Prince and Eighth Prince, Princess Qingping and Princess An’le, Senior Palace Maid and the top scholar – obscure, unexpected pairings that most players wouldn’t have dared attempt – and somehow, somehow, they kept winning.
Every match played like a game of high-stakes chess. Nearly every NPC on the board became a piece for them to move. Each round was a masterclass.
By the time both of them reached the highest rank — Tier 9 — Xia Kucao finally couldn’t help himself and sent a private message: “Hey, can I ask what you studied? You’re kind of incredible.”
Poplar replied: “Master’s degree in psychology.”
Xia Kucao: “……respect, absolutely.”
Meanwhile, Liu-ge and Cute Rabbit — that beloved disaster duo — scraped and stumbled their way all the way to Tier 8.
They’d been playing this game for so long that they could recite common NPC dialogue by heart. After enough practice together, they’d genuinely developed a real synergy.
Liu-ge had even started seriously researching Ban/Pick theory and filled several pages with strategy notes.
An RPG that took players from solo runs, gunning for the throne, through governing an entire dynasty, and finally into competitive faction warfare against other players.
They’d been playing since August. Now it was December. The enthusiasm hadn’t faded at all.
Which was proof, if any were needed, that when a development team genuinely cared about what they were making, players would give it right back in kind.
