Yu Huaiting sized up Mr. He, and suddenly recalled the response strategy Fu Songcheng had taught him earlier.
So, facing this Dawn higher-up, the number-one player dryly squeezed two words from his mouth:
“Received.”
Chen Ke felt a nameless fire rise. His private messages to Yu Huaiting earlier had gotten the same dead response—just “Received” without doing the work. Even the most capable beast of burden had no way to handle that.
But Mr. He merely paused for a moment, then laughed heartily.
He didn’t mind Yu Huaiting’s perfunctoriness at all, walking straight over to sit on the sofa opposite the two.
What surprised Chen Ke even more was that after sitting down, Mr. He didn’t continue talking to Yu Huaiting—instead he turned his gaze to Fu Songcheng, who’d been sitting quietly all along.
“Mr. Fu, Mr. Yu, thank you for supporting Dawn’s work.” Mr. He’s tone was mild, but Fu Songcheng tensed up.
In such a short time, Dawn had not only found out Fu Songcheng’s identity, but even judged which of the two truly held the voice and decision-making power.
Fu Songcheng set down his teacup and put on a flawless smile. “Mr. He is too kind.”
As he spoke, Fu Songcheng silently activated his skill—[Heart-Peek].
An invisible mental fluctuation radiated silently outward from him as its center, enveloping Mr. He opposite him. Chatting with this man, one careless slip and you could be seen through—Fu Songcheng wasn’t ashamed to use a skill for support.
Use it early, refresh the cooldown early.
The information the skill fed back made Fu Songcheng pause slightly.
In Mr. He’s eyes, whether it was the number one on the Power Ranking, Yu Huaiting, or the number two on the Rating Ranking, Fu Songcheng, or even Chen Ke standing behind him—they were all utterly indistinguishable to Mr. He.
No awe, no wariness, no malice.
All treated equally.
This attitude put Fu Songcheng somewhat at ease—it meant Dawn truly wanted to forge cooperation, not set some trap targeting him and Yu Huaiting.
“We also hope to gain Dawn’s recognition.”
Fu Songcheng picked up Mr. He’s thread, his tone sincere.
As for the “way to leave the game” Chen Ke had promised earlier via private voice transmission, Fu Songcheng didn’t mention a word.
Since the other had used encrypted transmission, it meant it was extremely confidential. Before he understood the situation, he absolutely wouldn’t speak of it on his own.
Mr. He nodded slightly, a trace of admiration flashing in his eyes.
“Since you two are willing to cooperate, I’ll be direct.” Mr. He folded his hands on his knees and leaned forward. “We hope you can bring a few comrades with you into your upcoming instance. D-rank and C-rank instances have clear-rate limits, but A-rank and B-rank instances have no player-count limit for clearing. These comrades are all newcomers who entered the game not long ago, so we can only ask you two to help them as much as possible in the instance and keep them alive.”
Mr. He paused, his tone turning solemn. “The skills and items in their hands are crucial to Dawn. That’s why we spared no cost to invite you two to help.”
“Mr. He, entering an instance is already a matter of life and death.” Fu Songcheng didn’t agree wholesale. “High-level instances have enormous randomness. Even with the strongest ability, one can still die. We can’t promise you they’ll all come out alive.”
He looked into Mr. He’s eyes, his voice turning cool, laying the worst-case scenario on the table in advance: “Moreover, instance rules change constantly. If the system forces us to attack each other, to slaughter one another to clear it—then to survive, neither I nor Yu Huaiting will hold back. I hope Dawn is clear on this in advance.”
Better to speak the ugly words first than fall out afterward.
Hearing this blunt statement, Mr. He wasn’t angry—still smiling, his weather-beaten face full of understanding.
“We’re naturally clear on this.”
Mr. He nodded. “Do your best, leave the rest to fate. As long as you two protect them as much as you can within your ability, that’s enough.”
Just then, Chen Ke, standing behind Mr. He, suddenly looked up, his gaze meeting Fu Songcheng’s with hidden meaning.
The next second, Chen Ke’s voice sounded in Fu Songcheng’s mind through the high-grade communication item’s encrypted frequency.
[Mr. Fu, there’s a girl named Bai Mu on the list. She’s Dawn’s most important player—and the key to leaving the instance.]
Fu Songcheng’s expression didn’t change; he merely responded silently in his mind: [Tell me in detail.]
[Bai Mu’s personal skill is very special. She can disrupt the data flow in the surrounding area. At the instant the data is thrown into chaos, she can break the barrier between the game and reality, briefly letting the players around her return to the real world.]
[However, Death Party’s mainframe automatically performs a global data correction every ten minutes. Players who leave the game through Bai Mu’s skill will be forcibly judged by the system as ‘data anomalies’ and then reloaded into the game, teleported back to Bai Mu’s side.]
Fu Songcheng was stunned.
Ten minutes.
Forced reload.
Teleported back to the origin.
Between Death Party’s instances and the real world, it turned out, there was a two-way channel.
If there was a way to send one person back for a period of time, then everyone could be sent back to Blue Star forever.
As long as the possibility wasn’t zero, humanity had infinite courage and hope to reach success.
Dawn truly was working hard to bring everyone back to the dawn.
Hearing this, Fu Songcheng couldn’t help but feel stirred inside.
That said, Bai Mu’s skill really was worth Dawn locating Yu Huaiting and requesting help—even finding other players to enter instances with her, blending in among them.
Yu Huaiting had been sitting beside him, utterly bored the whole time, knowing nothing of the conversation between Chen Ke and Fu Songcheng. He’d been staring blankly at Fu Songcheng’s profile, and now keenly sensed that Fu Songcheng’s mood wasn’t calm.
“What’s wrong?” Yu Huaiting immediately leaned in.
Fu Songcheng quickly suppressed the shock in his heart and took a deep breath.
“It’s nothing.” He said softly, pressing down on Yu Huaiting’s hand and rubbing it gently.
Watching the two’s interaction, Mr. He smiled and stood up. “Since you two are already clear on the specific mission requirements and the risks you may face, let Chen Ke take you to meet the comrades you’ll be protecting this time. Get familiar with each other in advance—it’ll be easier to look out for one another once you’re in the instance.”
“Alright, Mr. He.” Fu Songcheng stood up too.
The two followed behind Chen Ke and Mr. He, walked through the corridor, and arrived before a large enclosed training room.
Through the thick one-way glass, Fu Songcheng saw seven or eight men and women in various clothing inside.
They looked tense, drenched in sweat, undergoing extremely harsh crash tactical training from several old players who were clearly Dawn’s internal combat experts.
Chen Ke pushed open the door and led Fu Songcheng and Yu Huaiting inside.
Everyone training stopped.
Chen Ke briefly introduced Fu Songcheng and Yu Huaiting—the number one on the Power Ranking and number two on the Rating Ranking—causing a small stir.
Fu Songcheng wore a gentle smile and greeted them. Yu Huaiting stood behind Fu Songcheng, cold-faced and silent.
So annoying.
Why did they have to come meet people after all the talking was done?
When could they go home?
While Fu Songcheng wasn’t looking, Yu Huaiting snapped a wooden spear in the Dawn training room with one hand.
After the greetings, Chen Ke led the two to the rest area beside the training room. A staff member immediately handed over detailed profile files on the seven or eight people.
Fu Songcheng sat in a chair and opened the files.
These people’s skills were all very special.
One had a [Interstellar Broadcast] skill—ignoring instance isolation barriers, remotely contacting any player currently in other instances.
Another had a [Robbery Discount] skill—able to push point consumption into a limited-time 90%-off state, greatly alleviating supply shortages in instances.
There was even a [Fate Overdraft] skill—able to pay points or items to gain precognition, and this skill could even pair with [Robbery Discount] to reduce the cost of skill use.
As expected of Dawn—they’d found a bunch of extraordinary people.
Fu Songcheng flipped through quickly, and finally his gaze stopped at the very bottom of the files.
Bai Mu’s profile.
The girl in the photo looked only seventeen or eighteen, with delicate features, but her eyes carried a calm far beyond her years.
In her “Personal Skill” column, the file stated in the most ordinary bold black text:
[Safe Haven]: Can teleport friendly targets within a certain range to a safe, independent space for about ten minutes.
Fu Songcheng closed the file.
He looked at that line, then recalled the truth Chen Ke had just explained to him in his mind.
Teleport people to a safe, independent space.
Of course.
To everyone now, the safest, most familiar space was the real world they’d once lived in.
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