Yu Huaiting nodded hard.
“Let’s go.”
The two didn’t hesitate for even a moment. Their figures flickered, and they immediately left the rest room, merging into the building shadows of the rest area like two phantoms, continuing to hunt for the next target to forcibly “kidnap” back to Blue Star.
…
At the same time, Blue Star.
Chen Ke received Fu Songcheng’s instruction and drove to Fu Songcheng’s office building in the city center.
Following the instructions, he opened the glass door of his office, and a faint smell of blood mixed with disinfectant rushed at him.
Chen Ke frowned and walked quickly inside. At a glance, he saw Quan Heng collapsed on the sofa, covered in blood, half-unconscious.
To Quan Heng, it was only his second day on Blue Star.
The fatal wounds Fu Songcheng and Yu Huaiting had inflicted on him in Death Party hadn’t healed in the slightest. He lay groggily on the unfamiliar sofa, the wounds sending tearing agony from time to time.
Fu Songcheng’s office emergency kit held only some ordinary Blue Star anti-inflammatory and painkiller pills.
Compared to Source Star’s high-tech medical injections, these pills were far inferior, but to stay alive, Quan Heng had still fumbled through the agony to swallow a few.
The effect was negligible, and the high fever left his consciousness muddled.
He was in an awkward state—unable to die, unable to live well.
Chen Ke wasted no words. Following the instructions, he stepped forward and unceremoniously hoisted Quan Heng’s arm, half-dragging, half-carrying this Source Star technology director—once so imperious—out of the office.
Hiss—
Quan Heng let out a pained groan amid the violent jostling.
Chen Ke stuffed him into the back seat of a black off-road vehicle.
The car sped along Blue Star’s not-exactly-smooth roads, and every bump made Quan Heng feel as if his bones would fall apart.
When Quan Heng was pulled out of the car again and the cold wind hit him, he finally managed to regain a few shreds of clarity.
He forced his heavy eyelids up, and the scene before him made his pupils contract sharply.
It was a prison.
Under the dim lights, behind rows of iron bars, were people with the same look in their eyes as his.
Quan Heng’s heart sank violently: Were these all Source Star people?
Most were male players. The female players were relatively cooperative and comparatively freer, locked in the teaching building.
Quan Heng leaned against the cold wall, breathing rapidly.
He had no deep feelings for these Source Star compatriots. What shocked him was Fu Songcheng’s drive and speed.
He’d only been on Blue Star for a little over a day!
Converted to instance time, that was only twenty-odd days.
In those short twenty-odd days, Fu Songcheng had gathered this many Source Star people as hostages!
And he discovered that the metaverse plan’s advancement speed far exceeded his expectations.
He’d assumed his absence as technology director would plunge Death Party’s system into short-term chaos. Unexpectedly, without him, Death Party had become like an unbridled wild horse, drawing massive numbers of Source Star people into the instances.
“Let’s go, President Quan.”
Quan Heng was led into a brightly lit interrogation room.
He was pressed onto an iron chair. Opposite him, Chen Ke very politely poured a cup of steaming hot tea—a stark contrast to the roughness with which he’d dragged Quan Heng.
“Hello, comrade.”
Chen Ke folded his hands on the table. “As you can see, we’ve caught a lot of your compatriots. But there are still some questions we’d like to ask you, as the former technology director.”
Quan Heng didn’t touch the tea. His pale lips pulled into a bitter smile. “Go ahead.”
Chen Ke cut straight to the point. “We want to know how to completely sever the connection between Blue Star and Source Star.”
This was the question Fu Songcheng had instructed Chen Ke he must ask, and also the answer Chen Ke most urgently wanted to know right now.
Blue Star couldn’t remain a playground for a higher civilization forever—this chain had to be cut.
Quan Heng closed his eyes. Of course he knew how to cut it, but why should he tell these people.
“Have Fu Songcheng come see me.”
Quan Heng’s voice was hoarse, carrying an unquestionable tone of command.
Chen Ke sneered and leaned back in his chair. “He’s busy inviting more Source Star tourists to visit Blue Star. You’d better just tell me.”
“I can tell you the method, but I can’t just give it away for free.”
Quan Heng leaned back, which tore at the wound on his waist—but it also made him look less like he was at a disadvantage. “Send me back to Source Star, or let me enjoy generous material capital and social status staying on Blue Star.”
Arrogant as he was, when he opened his mouth willing to stay on Blue Star and give up being a Source Star person, he’d already acknowledged his recognition of Fu Songcheng.
He’d roughly guessed what Fu Songcheng was going to do. To have come this far without Source Star noticing—Quan Heng even wanted to place his bet on him winning.
“If possible, I’ll help you.”
Chen Ke understood, left the interrogation room, and returned shortly after.
“It’s a deal.”
Chen Ke sat down, bringing back the answer Quan Heng wanted. “We have no way to send you back to Source Star. At least the second condition, we agree to it.”
“I guarantee it as Dawn’s chief recruiter.”
Dawn…
That organization willing to sacrifice itself for ideals and beliefs—its name within the instances.
Just saying those two words carried a lot of credibility.
Only Quan Heng didn’t know that the person before him was now a traitor to Dawn, so his oath naturally didn’t count.
He stared into Chen Ke’s eyes and said, word by word: “Fu Songcheng should have told you—Child Stars are civilizations produced by our seeding. When Source Star seeds all Child Stars, it implants a locator lock into the planet’s core. Not only that, Source Star’s central mainframe records the code of every living being on this planet.”
“Every Child Star, in Source Star’s interstellar court, has its own unique asset number.”
“Source Star’s conglomerates pay to buy this star system. Under interstellar commercial law, the air, water, soil of this star system—including every one of you—are all the company’s legal property.”
Even with mental preparation, Chen Ke’s brows knitted together.
Quan Heng found a comfortable position. “As long as ownership of the assets remains, the game can connect to your planet through code at any time.”
“But this portion of assets, due to ethical issues, isn’t permitted to be data-backed up. We can only operate on the original data.”
“That’s why Source Star can only seed Child Stars, not copy an identical planet.”
“Do you think—after a Child Star is bought as an asset, who does the original data belong to, and where is it stored?”
“The company behind Death Party?”
Chen Ke pressed, following Quan Heng’s reasoning.
But Quan Heng had stopped talking here. He’d said all he should; what to do next was Fu Songcheng’s business.
Chen Ke reported the situation to Fu Songcheng truthfully.
[Chen Ke: Do you have a way to get to Source Star?]
[Fu Songcheng: Like coming home =ω=]
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