In reality, Chen Ke cooperatively lowered his head, putting on a look of unbearable shame, his hands clawing dead at his own knees.
“Defecting from Dawn was indeed a bit rash. But Mr. Fu, please take us in!”
[Chen Ke: What do we do? Just watch that monster sit in Dawn’s position?]
In reality, Fu Songcheng picked up his teacup and gave a neither-loud-nor-soft “Mm.”
[Fu Songcheng: What you said might be right. Dawn’s higher-ups may have been infiltrated—but Old Zhao alone is too few.]
[Chen Ke: What do you mean?]
[Fu Songcheng: Since they think this game is fun, since they’ve opened this ‘descent’ mode, there absolutely won’t be just one person who came down. Targeting only this one person is useless.]
[Fu Songcheng: You and Bai Mu came at just the right time. Call in Si Yi too—the fish is just about all in the net.]
Chen Ke listened, confused, but couldn’t help a shiver.
Fu Songcheng had become the chess player the moment he’d realized the situation. He wasn’t willing to reveal his plan, but Chen Ke felt considerably more at ease.
[Chen Ke: I understand. One more thing—about Si Yi’s bug.]
In the private communication, Chen Ke began confessing without reservation.
[Chen Ke: Si Yi’s skill is S-rank ‘Data Tampering.’ Originally it could only temporarily adjust attributes inside instances. But he found a loophole—every player’s attribute panel has a countdown, and by adjusting the data, at the instant the countdown is about to hit zero, he can change the time to one week.]
[Chen Ke: Bai Mu’s skill ‘Spatial Rewind’ can disrupt local spatial data streams and pull a target back to Blue Star. The two of them together—Si Yi tampering with time, Bai Mu creating data turbulence as cover—forms a closed loop. It successfully let us exploit the system’s bug and delay our instance entry time.]
Fu Songcheng set down his teacup and spoke. “I’m saving you because you’re useful. If you can be of use to me, we can keep cooperating. If not, I won’t give you the chance to defect with my assets. Understand?”
Chen Ke immediately nodded like a pecking chicken and said loudly, “I understand! Mr. Fu, rest assured—as long as you’re willing to give us a bite to eat, from now on, we are the sharpest blade in your hand! Point where you want us to strike, and we’ll strike—no second thoughts! Our assets and items will all be inventoried and handed over to you first thing tomorrow morning!”
The remaining special players nodded in unison.
Fu Songcheng didn’t know whether that speech just now could bluff past—Shen Ning had sent no further messages since that one warning.
It was like the suffocating calm before a storm.
Creak—
The villa’s heavy bulletproof door was pushed open.
Yu Huaiting strode in with great vigor.
“Two tails outside. Dealt with.” Yu Huaiting’s voice was flat, but he’d already pressed close to Fu Songcheng’s side. “So tired.”
Yu Huaiting keenly sensed Fu Songcheng’s bad mood and silently shifted half a step to Fu Songcheng’s side, helping bolster his presence.
Feeling Yu Huaiting’s silent support, Fu Songcheng’s taut nerves relaxed slightly.
“Alright. There are empty rooms on the second floor. Everyone get some rest.”
Fu Songcheng swept a cold glance at Chen Ke. “Tomorrow morning, give me your files.”
Chen Ke hurriedly led Bai Mu, Xu Qingyao, and the others retreating to the second floor.
Only Fu Songcheng and Yu Huaiting remained in the hall.
“What’s wrong?”
Yu Huaiting asked in a low voice, only the two of them able to hear.
Fu Songcheng slumped tiredly onto the sofa and rubbed his aching temples. “It’s fine. We’ve boarded a pirate ship.”
That night, Fu Songcheng lay on the bed in the villa’s first-floor bedroom, closed his eyes, and connected to Source Star.
When he opened his eyes, Shen Ning had her back to him, issuing a cold command.
“Kill them all.”
The moment she opened her mouth it was an order, her voice so dark it seemed it could drip water, carrying the pressure of a superior.
Fu Songcheng felt a flare of anger, suppressing his fury. “Why.”
Shen Ning turned around, her face ashen. “You didn’t keep your promise. The matter of Source Star’s exposure has gone public. The forums on the Star Network crashed three times. The higher-ups are extremely dissatisfied with me. If I hadn’t forcibly suppressed it, everyone on your Child Star would already have been thoroughly formatted!”
“President Shen, be reasonable.”
Fu Songcheng met Shen Ning’s gaze without a trace of fear. “You can’t blame me for this, can you? It’s your people who broke the rules first. You took over the Dawn guild leader’s shell, and Blue Star players noticed—is that our fault for your stupidity?”
“But the leak happened through your livestream!”
Shen Ning pressed both hands on the desk, leaning forward. “You’re the only one who knows about the livestream, and your livestream has the most viewers. I don’t care how you play in private, but when it affects the game, you should be responsible!”
“Fu Songcheng, you need to understand clearly that you’re able to sit here nicely and haggle with me because I protected you.”
Shen Ning walked around the desk to stand before Fu Songcheng, looking down at him. “Killing them is the bottom line.”
“Tomorrow, new Source Star players will officially enter instances. I must give the higher-ups—and those players who paid huge sums—an explanation. Wiping out this batch of low-popularity insiders like Chen Ke is the only solution.”
The smile on Fu Songcheng’s face vanished completely.
He looked up at Shen Ning’s face, which regarded human lives as grass, and the killing intent in his heart grew wildly like a venomous snake—but he forcibly pressed it down.
“Fine.” Fu Songcheng spoke, his voice frighteningly calm. He had compromised.
Shen Ning resumed her arrogance. “Do it cleanly. Tomorrow the first batch of new players will officially log in.”
Fu Songcheng nodded, then, in front of Shen Ning, his slender fingers tapped rapidly on the keyboard, logging into Source Star’s largest public Star Network forum.
[Death Party’s new expansion ‘Descent of the Gods’ is about to launch! An additional 100,000 instance login slots! The first batch of authorized VR devices sold out in pre-sale within seconds!]
The comment section below was already flooded, the heat exploding exponentially.
[Hahaha finally grabbed a slot! Tomorrow I’m going down there in person to pinch them to death!]
[I heard some NPCs discovered us in the livestream just now? And even mentioned Source Star? So thrilling! Is this the official side’s awakening gimmick?]
[Does anyone know how to do that ‘possession’ thing like Old Zhao did? Directly controlling an NPC’s body is way more fun than building your own account, right?]
A hundred thousand people—plus the nearly twenty thousand experience players who’d entered scattered before, inexplicably appearing out of nowhere… that made a hundred and twenty thousand.
Fu Songcheng’s hands slowly clenched at his sides.
A hundred and twenty thousand.
Was that enough?
But he couldn’t wait any longer.
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