Dawn’s army had already broken through the defensive line Yu Huaiting had set up earlier, surging toward them like a black tsunami.
Countless killing-intent skill lights illuminated their faces pale.
Just as Bai Mu was about to activate her teleport skill at the critical moment—
A dark golden barrier rose, shielding them inside. Then the crowd surrounding them was scattered by an invisible impact. Screams and the sound of shattering bones intertwined as countless players were sent flying into midair by that force.
The newcomer raised his head slightly and winked at Yu Huaiting.
Lu Xiao.
She used an item to help them share part of the impact. Looking at the blood-soaked Chen Ke, she raised an eyebrow and asked Yu Huaiting: “Where’s Fu Songcheng? Why’d they swap in someone else?”
Before Chen Ke could answer, Lu Xiao waved her item, and several players teleported over one after another.
“Heard you’re starting a rebellion.”
A young artsy type arrived—tall and thin, looking like a pretty boy. He took off his glasses, his muscles swelling madly, instantly becoming tall and broad, looking at once intimidating.
“We want in on the fun too.”
A woman in a qipao, smoking a slim long-stemmed pipe, sashayed out, blowing a curl of smoke. Wherever the smoke passed, Dawn’s players clutched their throats and collapsed convulsing.
Ten, twenty, fifty…
More and more high-level players and ranking big shots—usually elusive, some even holding grudges against each other—had gathered here now.
Yu Huaiting tightened his grip on the greatsword, taking a guarded stance.
Lu Xiao hurriedly explained to the others, “I often join high-level instances and know some top-tier players. Nobody’s stupid—hearing about this commotion, they asked to come help.”
Strictly speaking, they’d sought out Lu Xiao.
Looking at the recordings, images, and text on the public screen, combined with Dawn’s earlier bounty on Chen Ke and the others, they’d already made their own judgments.
Most who chose to be lone wolves did so because they didn’t trust Dawn or pursued freedom, unwilling to be bound. How could these people tolerate their every word and action being under countless cameras, judged by others, with their lives and deaths decided for them?
Rebellion should never be a lonely fight for just a few.
So they’d joined in too.
“Looks like today’s retreat plan has to be canceled.”
Yu Huaiting lowered his guard toward these people, turning his blade toward the other players surrounding them, his momentum climbing steadily.
Chen Ke breathed a sigh of relief too. “Then let’s—tear this place up.”
Deafening battle cries rang through the sky.
A brutal, chaotic battle—after the high-level players joined, the situation instantly reversed.
The reason high-level players were high-level players: their attributes, skills, items, even coordination were beyond what ordinary players could match.
Though Dawn was well-trained, most of their players were only above-average. Dawn gave them the advantage of team development, but it also capped their individual ceilings.
Meanwhile, on Source Star.
Shen Ning stood before the massive surveillance screen, her expression so dark it seemed it could drip water.
What the screen displayed was the completely out-of-control melee inside the instance. When she saw Lu Xiao and the other high-level players enter, when she saw Chen Ke and the others not only hadn’t retreated but had begun slaughtering Source Star test players en masse, she needed several deep breaths to calm down.
“Not knowing the immensity of heaven and earth…”
“President Shen!”
The assistant ran in frantically. “The board of directors’ phones have been ringing off the hook! Several conglomerate heirs are in the instance—they’re strongly demanding we halt the test immediately and evacuate them safely!”
“I know.”
Shen Ning rubbed her swollen temples, even giving her assistant a reassuring look.
She was now caught between two mountains.
Inside the instance, those ants had turned the tables and kidnapped Source Star people; outside the instance, Source Star’s political strife and public opinion pressure pressed down on her like a mountain.
“Has the livestream been cut?”
She asked coldly.
“It’s been completely cut, but when Chen Ke released the news we had no advance contingency, and now the screenshots can’t be suppressed on the Star Network.”
The assistant answered, trembling.
“Release an apology statement first.”
Shen Ning took a deep breath. “Rush the tech department—complete the 5.0 version update in the shortest time possible, restrict these players’ skill and item use, to avoid bigger problems.”
“Yes!”
The assistant hurriedly responded.
“Also, has Fu Songcheng been found?”
The assistant swallowed hard and shook his head. “The search team has turned D Zone and C Zone inside out—no, no sign of him.”
“Lock down the office building for now. Don’t let him slip out.”
Though Shen Ning was furious, she knew anger was useless. She could only instruct her people to speed up and handle the series of problems.
She never imagined that Fu Songcheng, whom she was so desperate to find, was at this very moment mixed in among the most core area.
Fu Songcheng kept his head down, his pace hurried but not panicked.
He followed that group of researchers through three iris-scan checkpoints.
Because alarms were blaring and the system was in emergency mode, many routine identity verifications had been simplified. Mixed in the crowd, he got through with thrills but no real danger.
“How much longer until it’s online at the fastest?”
The lead researcher at the front, a balding man, wiped his sweat and turned back to ask anxiously.
“President Shen is pushing too hard. The code replacement takes time.”
A tall, thin man beside him answered. His badge read Data Architect.
“I’ll go now and suspend all data transmission channels in the server’s other regions, concentrate all computing power on the version update data—that can significantly compress the time. Fastest… fastest twenty minutes.”
The tall, thin man gritted his teeth and gave an extreme number.
The lead researcher stopped and checked his watch. “Good. Twenty minutes! The hardware layer must be modified to match too—swap the server bus to the highest speed, crank the cooling wall’s power to maximum. There absolutely must be no crash at this time.”
“Understood.”
The hardware engineer beside him immediately agreed.
Fu Songcheng walked at the tail of the group, taking in every word of this conversation without missing a syllable.
Twenty minutes.
After twenty minutes, the version update would be complete, and all skills and items inside the instances would be locked.
Yu Huaiting definitely wouldn’t sit and wait for death—he’d inevitably choose to fight head-on.
Without skills, facing Source Star, they’d be dead without a doubt.
These twenty minutes were the line between life and death.
The group reached a fork in the road.
The lead researcher took the software team to the main control room on the left, while the hardware engineer walked alone toward the server room area on the right.
Fu Songcheng didn’t hesitate at all. He unobtrusively slowed his pace, detached from the group, and like a phantom, followed the hardware engineer.
The corridor in the server room area was especially deserted, only the shadowless lights overhead giving off a pale white glow.
The hardware engineer walked quickly to a heavy metal door and was about to swipe his card.
Beep—
The instant the access card swiped open and the engineer habitually pushed the door, his peripheral vision caught a stranger who had, at some unknown point, pressed up behind him!
“You—”
The engineer’s face changed drastically. He was just about to turn and shout.
Too late.
Fu Songcheng’s left hand clamped over the engineer’s mouth like lightning, yanking him violently backward. At the same time, his right hand, flat like a blade, struck with precision at the engineer’s neck.
“Urk…”
The engineer, whose physical constitution was ordinary, rolled his eyes back, his body slumping limply.
Fu Songcheng caught him swiftly, dragged him quickly inside, and backhanded the server room door locked.
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