The piercing alarm blared like a death knell, echoing through every corridor of the building.
Red warning lights flashed madly, casting the cold, hard metal walls in the light of a slaughterhouse.
“C Zone Team Three, seal all exits! D Zone security personnel, proceed to the conference area immediately for search!”
“Target F-720, extremely dangerous! Repeat, extremely dangerous! Use of level-three and below weapons authorized—just leave him breathing!”
The shouting from the walkie-talkies pierced through the corridor’s clamor.
Fu Songcheng hid behind the storage room door, coldly watching outside through the crack.
A squad of fully armed security personnel marched in perfect unison, carrying tranquilizer guns, running swiftly past the door.
Fu Songcheng’s breathing was extremely light—so light it nearly merged with the air itself. He silently counted the footsteps outside, calculating the patrol teams’ intervals.
“Three, two, one.”
Just as the last string of footsteps turned the corner and the next patrol hadn’t yet arrived, in that gap, Fu Songcheng moved.
He quickly adjusted his white coat, casually ruffled his hair, and put on a pair of thick-framed glasses that covered most of his face.
Pushing open the storage room door, he was like a drop of water merging into the sea, naturally blending into the corridor’s research staff, who seemed somewhat flustered by the alarm.
“What’s going on? Weren’t they saying all the Source Star test players were under control?”
A young researcher in glasses asked his companion while walking quickly.
“I heard the players made a fuss inside the instances first. Only then did the system discover that some test players’ coordinates hadn’t changed in a long time. Everyone get back to your posts immediately—we’re doing a forced update!”
Fu Songcheng kept his head down, following behind them, listening without showing anything.
His brain raced, analyzing the pros and cons of the current situation.
Meanwhile, inside the Death Party instance, Chen Ke stood atop the ruins. His body was already covered in wounds large and small, blood dripping from his fingertips onto the broken stone slabs.
Below the ruins, dense crowds of Blue Star players surged like a tide.
These were “Dawn” guild members, and ordinary players moved by Dawn’s promises.
Their eyes were bloodshot, waving weapons, the glow of skills flickering through the crowd like lightning before a storm.
“Kill him! Direct promotion to Dawn’s core, rewards of tens of thousands of points!”
Boom!
A thick bolt of lightning skill came crashing down at Chen Ke.
Just as the lightning was about to devour Chen Ke, a greatsword black as ink suddenly swept across the sky, blocking the skill!
Yu Huaiting stood before Chen Ke like a god of death.
He gripped the greatsword with both hands, staring dead at the tens of thousands of enemies below.
“You idiots!”
Yu Huaiting roared. The greatsword slammed into the ground, and a visible shockwave burst outward, sending the dozen-plus players charging at the front flying.
But there were too many enemies.
“Mr. Yu, can you hold them?”
“Obviously!”
Yu Huaiting now felt the whole world was full of idiots. Why wasn’t Fu Songcheng back yet!
The greatsword in his hand swung out again, cutting a player who’d tried to sneak-attack him clean in half at the waist.
Yet the battle situation kept deteriorating.
Besides Dawn’s players, Source Star test players were also hidden in the instance. Chen Ke’s exposé had enraged Source Star’s higher-ups, but these Source Star players remaining in the instance hadn’t sat waiting for death—they were mixed into the crowd, fishing in troubled waters using items bought with massive points.
Squelch!
A deep, bone-visible gash was carved into Yu Huaiting’s thigh by an invisible wind blade.
He staggered, nearly dropping to his knees.
Bracing the greatsword against the ground, he countered swiftly—snatching up a chair beside him and hurling it in the direction the attack had come from.
Then, using that gap, he drank a recovery potion.
“Damn it, where’s Bai Mu!”
Yu Huaiting roared, backhanding a slash that knocked the weapon from a player charging at him.
“There’s no fighting this bunch of idiots! We’re going back first!”
Just then, everyone heard the emotionless mechanical system voice.
[Death Party emergency version update 5.0 is about to begin.]
[Current update progress: 3/100.]
[Note: To ensure the game environment, after the version update is complete, all players’ skills and items will be forcibly locked, entering a state of total silence.]
[At the same time, the system will conduct emergency recall of all special accounts participating in this test. Relevant personnel, please wait in the safe zone for retrieval.]
This notification struck like a thunderbolt over everyone’s heads.
“Version update? Locking skills and items?!”
“Holy crap, could what Chen Ke said actually be true?”
Chen Ke’s face instantly turned deathly pale.
Any discerning person could see at a glance—this wasn’t any normal update.
This was Source Star’s official emergency stop-loss measure! They were going to lock down all Blue Star players’ ability to resist, then safely evacuate their own people!
Once skills and items were locked, the Source Star player hostages Chen Ke and the others held, and the power they used to resist the army, would instantly turn to nothing.
What awaited them would be a slaughter with no ability to fight back.
Yu Huaiting wiped the blood off his face. The players around him, eager to try moments ago, were now all somewhat hesitant.
Seizing this gap, Bai Mu flashed out from the rear. Most of the attacks aimed at her and Si Yi had just been blocked. She exchanged a glance with Yu Huaiting and activated her skill—group teleport.
A faint blue ring of light began forming beneath their feet.
Yu Huaiting clenched his fists dead. He’d long since put away the wristband—but unfortunately, he still couldn’t sense Fu Songcheng.
He’d assumed it was just a routine probe like always, that Fu Songcheng would be back in a bit. He hadn’t expected him not to return.
When Chen Ke saw they weren’t continuing to send Source Star players to Blue Star, he contacted him—only then did he learn Fu Songcheng was trapped on Source Star.
Their plan had been discovered.
Chen Ke simply decided to go all in and posted the truth directly on the public screen.
In fact, it hadn’t originally been discovered this fast. Shen Ning detaining Fu Songcheng was only because she suspected his abnormality.
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