The two followed the tracking red thread all the way.
By coincidence, they ran straight into the people tracking them.
The ones who came were several players in basic combat suits, wearing a familiar red badge on their chests.
The man in the lead pushed up his glasses, his expression calm, his tone extremely polite: “Mr. Yu, Death Party is in an extraordinary situation. We had no choice but to locate you. We hope you can understand.”
Before the words faded, a dull whistle of torn air suddenly sounded.
Yu Huaiting didn’t waste a single word—he placed the greatsword straight against the man’s neck.
The sheer weight of the blade alone instantly pressed the man’s body down slightly.
“No choice but to track me?” Yu Huaiting’s eyes were cold. “Or courting death, wanting me to send you on your way?”
Fu Songcheng stood to the side, coldly watching the man pressed pale, and added flatly, “Is this your cooperative attitude?”
This was Death Party—not the real world with its laws and morals.
Without the restraints of order, locating and tracking high-level players in the game was no different from provocation.
The newcomers were clear this was extremely improper too.
There’d been fierce debate within Dawn, but they had no other choice—they needed the number one on the Power Ranking to act before they could rest easy. Besides, though Yu Huaiting had only replied “Received,” he was comparatively the mildest in attitude among the top-ranked players.
“Sorry, you two.”
The man spoke with difficulty.
The heavy pressure on his neck made breathing hard; he did his best to keep his tone steady. “To meet Mr. Yu as quickly as possible, we had no other way.”
[System Notification: Player ‘Chen Ke’ has transferred 2,000 points to you.]
A notification popped up on Yu Huaiting’s panel.
2,000 points.
For Fu Songcheng and Yu Huaiting, who’d just earned ten thousand points in the instance, this wasn’t much.
But for “Dawn,” which had to feed a large membership and consumed enormous resources daily, offering 2,000 points as an apology was already blood-cost sincerity.
Fu Songcheng lowered his eyes, his expression easing slightly.
Since they were willing to bleed this much and risk being killed on the spot by Yu Huaiting to track them, it meant the matter was indeed serious.
Yu Huaiting sensed Fu Songcheng’s attitude loosening.
The greatsword lifted half an inch.
Chen Ke could breathe.
“What is it?” Yu Huaiting asked impatiently.
Dawn’s recruiter Chen Ke took a deep breath and steadied his trembling legs. He raised his head, looking straight at Yu Huaiting. “We hope Mr. Yu and this gentleman can accompany someone into an instance to protect her.”
Chen Ke didn’t recognize that Fu Songcheng—the one on both the Power Ranking and Rating Ranking—was the person before him. His purpose here was purely for Yu Huaiting.
But seeing the two’s interaction just now, this unknown player seemed able to subtly sway Yu Huaiting’s decisions. Being a recruiter with a good eye, he invited them both.
“Why?” Fu Songcheng spoke instead of Yu Huaiting.
Chen Ke frowned. He glanced at Fu Songcheng, then at Yu Huaiting.
He found Yu Huaiting showed no intention of stopping his companion from interjecting—instead he looked as if it were only natural, and even the oppressive sword edge had withdrawn somewhat when Fu Songcheng spoke.
Chen Ke weighed it and answered cautiously: “Sorry, this involves Dawn’s highest-level secrets. We can’t reveal too much to non-core personnel.”
He paused, his tone turning serious: “Only after Mr. Yu agrees to take this commission can we continue explaining the situation.”
Fu Songcheng nodded—that did seem like their style.
“What’s the reward?”
Chen Ke took a deep breath, feeling a little embarrassed himself: “We can give you humanity’s supreme honor. We will remember Mr. Yu’s contribution—you will become the new world’s…”
Crack.
The greatsword in Yu Huaiting’s hand pressed down hard.
Chen Ke’s legs finally gave out, and he collapsed to the ground with a thud.
Fu Songcheng put on a show of helping him up. “Look at you—how do you just fall flat on your face mid-sentence? What was the reward again, just now?”
Chen Ke didn’t open his mouth.
He clamped his mouth shut.
Yet a low voice transmitted directly into Yu Huaiting’s and Fu Songcheng’s ears.
A high-grade communication item’s private voice-transmission function.
“The way to leave the game.”
!
Yu Huaiting’s pupils contracted sharply.
He instinctively turned to look at Fu Songcheng.
Leaving the game.
Returning to the real world.
Fu Songcheng was shocked too.
It meant he and Yu Huaiting could escape this precarious life of killing—they could truly live together, for a very, very long time.
When everything felt uncertain, Dawn had actually shown Fu Songcheng the future.
Chen Ke, under the weight of Yu Huaiting’s greatsword, struggled to raise his head. “Can this honor move you two?”
Fu Songcheng narrowed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Dawn had found a way to leave the game within less than a week of entering—Fu Songcheng naturally wouldn’t refuse to cooperate, especially since the cost was merely protecting one player.
“Take us to see her.” Seeing Fu Songcheng agree, Yu Huaiting sheathed his sword and jerked his chin, signaling Chen Ke to lead the way.
Chen Ke gritted his teeth and smiled apologetically, leading Fu Songcheng and Yu Huaiting back to the Dawn base—but then saw Fu Songcheng standing still.
He glanced at Yu Huaiting, at the thread on his wrist still flickering with a faint red glow.
“Remove his thread.”
Fu Songcheng ordered Chen Ke.
Chen Ke looked up, his face troubled. “This is a high-tier binding item, and it’s not mine. I don’t have the authority to remove it.”
“Then find the item’s owner to remove it.” Fu Songcheng cut him off. “Cooperation requires a cooperative attitude.”
Chen Ke kept apologizing and tapped a few times on the panel.
The red thread on Yu Huaiting’s wrist flickered twice, then dissolved into scattered red light in the air.
“It’s gone.” Yu Huaiting shook his wrist and smiled in satisfaction.
The most solid cooperation in this world was never built on trust—but on mutual exploitation, each taking what they needed.
Dawn needed Yu Huaiting’s force, and Fu Songcheng wanted to leave the instances.
But Fu Songcheng wanted Dawn to know that he and Yu Huaiting weren’t to be trifled with, weren’t to be violated at will.
…
Source Star. Quan Heng had just left Shen Ning’s office building.
He’d waited all afternoon and finally got to see Shen Ning.
Only for Shen Ning to project the screen full of scathing comments right in front of him.
[Holy crap, did you see the Daoist player’s livestream? All those formation guides just handed to him for free.]
[Is that even allowed? That’s unfair!]
[How’s it unfair? The Evil God side got to choose a believer at the start too.]
[That’s because the Evil God player has no physical body. Official water army, stop washing—the officials are clearly playing favorites.]
“President Quan, when you swindled a round of investment out of me, it didn’t look like this.”
Shen Ning leaned back. Though a head shorter than Quan Heng, her presence was no less imposing.
“Last instance you reversed the judgment result and got cursed onto the trending list; this instance you even gave their opponent an omniscient view. If you want to mess around, fine—but don’t mess with genuinely popular players.”
“How you climbed to your position—everyone in the circle knows.” Shen Ning patted Quan Heng’s face. “If you can’t do business well, and even your technology plays favorites, you might as well just quit the project.”
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