“With your current financial resources, there’s nowhere you can’t hide. Why come to me?”
Chen Ke’s scalp tingled under Fu Songcheng’s stare. He gave a dry laugh. “We don’t have any combat-type talents here… that’s why we came to you.”
“Besides, after thinking it over, you’re the only one who might accept us.”
Chen Ke continued sending him private messages.
[Chen Ke: I found Si Yi. He and Bai Mu worked together to delay our instance entry this time, but this can’t escape the higher-ups’ notice.]
[Chen Ke: I kept his matter from Old Zhao. Old Zhao was furious—he punished us with writing self-criticisms.]
Fu Songcheng’s fingers rubbed unconsciously on the sofa armrest, his gaze so deep no one could fathom its depths.
[Fu Songcheng: Surely it’s not so bad in Dawn that you can’t stay?]
Fu Songcheng felt Chen Ke had been in officialdom too long and was still circling around the point with him.
“Defecting overnight, and conveniently taking all the points? Recruiter Chen, is there a reason you absolutely had to do this?”
Chen Ke instinctively glanced at Bai Mu and Xu Qingyao beside him.
He took a deep breath, his voice pressed extremely low. “The person sitting in the central office of the Dawn base right now may not be Old Zhao.”
Fu Songcheng’s eyelid jumped violently, and he stared at Chen Ke without showing anything. “What do you mean?”
Over the next dozen minutes, Chen Ke, Bai Mu, and Xu Qingyao took turns recounting the process that had led them to decide to defect.
“Things started going wrong about a month ago.”
Chen Ke scrubbed his face. “Old Zhao used to have a habit—after handling guild affairs, he’d habitually water his potted plants. But a month ago, after coming out of a solo instance, that habit vanished. Not only that, but some of his decision directions changed too. The original Dawn low-price items were meant for all human players, but now they’re only for Dawn’s internal players.”
“And now Old Zhao looks at me strangely.”
Bai Mu picked up the thread. “Three days ago, I went to his office to report on training. He happened to be looking at our files. There was killing intent in his eyes!”
“We started investigating in secret.”
Chen Ke took back the topic. “Xu Zhun used his broadcast skill to secretly eavesdrop on Old Zhao’s private rest room. He didn’t dare get too close. He heard Old Zhao talking to himself.”
“What was he saying?”
Fu Songcheng couldn’t help but marvel—Chen Ke really knew how to keep a person in suspense.
“‘The synchronization rate of this body has reached 95%. The guild management model is much more fun than I imagined. The struggles of these lower lifeforms on Blue Star are truly interesting.’”
Fu Songcheng: !
Bai Mu calmly added from the side: “Besides Old Zhao, other higher-ups may have been replaced too, possibly from Sour…”
“Cough cough.”
Almost at the very first syllable of the word “Source Star” emerging, Fu Songcheng pretended to choke and coughed twice.
The words Chen Ke and Bai Mu hadn’t yet spoken were all blocked back in their throats—but that one syllable, everyone had heard it clearly.
“Sour.”
Cold sweat instantly soaked Fu Songcheng’s back.
At this very moment, all around him—the entire villa district, even his own perspective—was under all-around, no-blind-spot livestream camera surveillance!
To Blue Star people, these cameras were invisible, untouchable system settings—but for “Source Star” viewers, their current conversation was a reality show broadcast live in sync across the entire universe!
He’d originally gone to the Dawn guild only to quietly probe the situation and play both sides, maintaining neutrality.
He’d never imagined Chen Ke and the others would be this perceptive—even brushing the edge of “Source Star’s” existence!
But the fatal part was that Chen Ke didn’t know they were living in a “Truman Show.” They’d defenselessly spoken the truth in front of billions of alien viewers.
At the same time, the bullet comments—and the viewer count in Fu Songcheng’s livestream—were rising exponentially.
[Holy shit holy shit holy shit! What did I just hear?! That Child Star person just said ‘Source Star’?!]
[What’s going on? Does Death Party have this kind of NPC-awakening experience mode now? An official hidden plot?]
[Hidden my ass! Didn’t you see Fu Songcheng’s reaction? He obviously knows!]
[Are you insane! We were promised death party instance slaughter—what’s this running off to the rest area to play role-play! These idiot players leaked our true nature to the NPCs!]
[How are we supposed to play now? The Child Stars know we’re watching them.]
[Where’s the official side? Dead? Swap in a new batch of players and restart the server!]
[Nooo, there are so many players I like, wuwuwu…]
[Do you guys remember—Fu Songcheng has been strange many times. When he ate with Chen Ke, when he drank with Chen Muhuai… could he have known long ago?]
Just then, a bright red warning box popped up on the system panel.
[Shen Ning: Fu Songcheng! Change the subject immediately!!]
Even through the screen, Fu Songcheng could feel Shen Ning’s urgency.
The situation had spiraled out of control.
Even if the instance remained calm.
Fu Songcheng hadn’t known Chen Ke and the others had already uncovered “Source Star,” which was why he and Chen Ke hadn’t used private communication earlier.
He’d originally wanted to pressure Chen Ke into dropping the suspense and speaking plainly.
But now—it had crashed.
Fu Songcheng bit his tongue hard, forcing himself to calm down.
He turned and covered for Old Zhao: “Could it be that Old Zhao entered a mental contamination instance before, and his consciousness got contaminated?”
Chen Ke still wanted to say something. “It should be…”
Fu Songcheng cut him off again. “Things have come to this. You can’t turn back now. Settle in for now—Yu Huaiting and I will stay here too for the time being.”
Though Chen Ke still had doubts, the words on his lips immediately took a turn.
“Thank you, Fu the God!”
Chen Ke picked up the thread. “Old Zhao did indeed change after the instance. Maybe we were overthinking.”
Secretly, Fu Songcheng unobtrusively sent Chen Ke a private communication request.
Chen Ke understood and spoke with him face-to-face in private.
[Fu Songcheng: Don’t ask anything. Listen to me. Every word I say next, you have to rot in your stomach.]
[Chen Ke: Mr. Fu, do you know something?]
Fu Songcheng took a deep breath. While continuing in reality to scold them for being paranoid and acting rashly, he explained in the private chat.
[Fu Songcheng: What you found is real. Old Zhao has indeed been replaced. The Death Party we’re in is a holographic livestreamed killing show, for the entertainment of a higher-dimensional civilization.]
Chen Ke was greatly shocked.
If anyone else had told Chen Ke this, he might have doubted it.
But this was Fu Songcheng telling him. Fu Songcheng always carried an aura that inspired trust, and Chen Ke couldn’t help following his reasoning.
[Chen Ke: Then what we just said…]
[Fu Songcheng: Was all heard. That’s why I had to urgently stop you. Right now, countless pairs of eyes are watching this room. Now is not the time for a counterattack—the enemy is in the dark, we’re in the light, and the power gap is vast.]
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