After Wei Shuyu disappeared, Mo Yang thought for a moment and called Feng Yu out, asking him if he remembered anything unusual that had happened recently or if he had encountered any danger. Unfortunately, Feng Yu couldn’t recall anything no matter how hard he tried.
He said, “It’s as if my memories of this time period have disappeared. Maybe the system doesn’t want me to give you any hints. But Wei Shuyu mentioned that something happened at the Dark Star Hotel’s auction, so you should pay close attention to the auction. When the time comes, both I and Ouyang Yang will definitely attend the auction, and important members of influential families from the capital star will also be there. I can’t imagine who or what organization would dare to take action at this auction. You’ll have to be vigilant on your own.”
Mo Yang nodded in understanding. Since they couldn’t get any more information from Feng Yu, they would have to prepare as best as they could.
Mo Yang spent his time until dinner studying the Proverb microphone he was particularly fond of. When it was time to eat, he transformed the microphone back into the shape of a pen and clipped it to his shirt pocket. It felt great as if his intelligence had increased.
However, during dinner, Zhou Api brought some unsettling news. “I think Emperor Qin and his group have figured out what the King’s Scepter is. I ran into that kid with the basketball in the afternoon, and he had a smug expression on his face. He even flipped me off and said they were sure to get the scepter.”
Mo Yang paused, taking a bite of tender meat. “It’s not surprising that they’ve figured it out. After all, they were the first to deduce that the King’s Scepter was here. Plus, we went to the Treasure Pavilion this morning, so after examining the treasures there, it’s natural to have suspicions. Add to that the fact that the big guy saw me reading the book about the King during the speech, and it’s easy for them to connect the dots.”
“At least the items in the Treasure Pavilion can’t be violently taken away, and it’s very difficult to steal them quietly. We’ll have to wait for the auction three days from now. By then, we’ll either negotiate with money or wait until someone else buys it before making our move. We don’t know who will ultimately get the prize. There’s no rush; let’s focus on earning the 10 million star coins required for the auction entry fee.”
Song Kefeng added, “The auction starts in three days, and by that time, the martial arts competition will have been going on for four days. The top ten contestants will each receive 10 million in prize money.”
Mo Yang nodded, “Then we both need to work hard to make it into the top ten. Kefeng, you especially need to excel. After all, you’re a former Special Forces member, right? If you can’t get first place, it would be a disgrace.”
Song Kefeng gave Mo Yang an exasperated look. “Bai Linger approached me again. She said that as long as I kill Ouyang Qi at the auction, she’ll immediately transfer one billion star coins to me. She directly told me that Ouyang Qi has already declared that he will definitely cripple me, but I still refused.”
“Her expression was really ugly at the time.”
Mo Yang laughed, “You’ve rejected the requests of a top-tier beauty, and you’re surprised she didn’t look good? Besides, that’s why you’re still a single guy. You’re a true steel-straight man.”
Song Kefeng muttered, “If we weren’t allies in the game, I would’ve beaten you up by now.”
The next three days passed quickly. During the day, everyone gathered information separately, and at 8:30 PM every evening, they attended the underground martial arts competition at the Dark Star Hotel.
Song Kefeng’s combat power, combined with his extensive combat experience and the surplus of three basic abilities and hit points, allowed him to achieve a flawless record without any injuries, even when facing a strong opponent who was larger than Harris and wielded a massive axe.
As a result, Song Kefeng became this year’s top contender for the championship.
Mo Yang didn’t have as smooth a journey as Song Kefeng, but he managed to make it into the top ten. He had encountered a knife-wielding opponent who moved as fast as a lightning bolt. Mo Yang thought he was already quite fast, but he had several close calls where his clothes were sliced open by his opponent’s knife. If he had been just a little slower, he might have been seriously injured.
In the end, Mo Yang couldn’t take it anymore and activated his “Angry Trash Talk” skill. He transformed the pen-shaped microphone into a small black dagger with a sharp, diamond-shaped blade at the tip. In front of the astonished onlookers, he relentlessly pursued the knife-wielding opponent, shouting.
“Stop right there!”
“Look at my dagger!”
“Do you not fear getting your tongue cut off from licking knives every day?!”
“Hah! Take that!”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Gb sbe atlcx sbe’gf atf bcis bcf klat rqffv?”
Ktf fzmlafv bcibbxfgr bcis rjk Zb Tjcu revvfcis yegra lcab jmalbc, tbivlcu atf ecereji-ibbxlcu yijmx rtjgq ralmx? Ycis j ofk qfbqif vlrmbnfgfv atja ktfc Zb Tjcu kjr mtjrlcu atf xclof-ilmxlcu wjc, rtbealcu jcv yfjalcu tlw, tf kbeiv rajgaif atf xclof-ilmxlcu wjc fnfgs ofk kbgvr, jcv fnfc ktfc atf xclof-ilmxlcu wjc kjr j ilaaif jczlber jcv jcugs, tf kbeiv ilmx atf xclof. Qtfc tf kjr vblcu la, tf jmaejiis ilmxfv atf yijvf jcv mea tlr abcuef.
Knife-Licking Man: “… Something’s not right here. I’ve been practicing with knives for twenty years, and licking knives is second nature to me. How did I suddenly make a mistake?”
Even Mo Yang himself didn’t notice these details; he simply believed that his trash-talk skills were quite impressive, and he had directly pierced the knife-licking man’s heart.
In the end, the two of them ended in a draw. Because they had fought for an hour without a result, they had a rematch after drawing lots. Mo Yang won decisively, while the knife-licking man took out his frustration on his next opponent, tearing the opponent’s flesh into pieces. He caused the opponent to collapse and admit defeat.
In summary, on the fourth evening of the game, the top ten fighters in the martial arts competition were determined, and out of the thirty players who entered the game, only sixteen remained.
Apart from Mo Yang’s group of four and Emperor Qin’s group of five, there were only seven other players left.
“Over the past three days, assassinations and poisonings between players have been quite frequent. I originally thought that everyone who entered this game was a Level 3 player, and even if they couldn’t achieve an A-level rating, they should be able to survive with a C-level rating without dying easily. But in just four days, fourteen people have already died. This game is indeed quite dangerous,” Zhou Api said, patting his heart.
He had spent endless hours playing a character-building and survival game to gain enough experience points to reach Level 3. He considered himself relatively weak in terms of strength, but he was determined not to die easily. He thought that the other Level 3 players were like him, but it turned out that more Level 3 players had died than he had imagined.
Mo Yang added, “Can you name a game where you can safely clear levels by just hiding in one place? This is a character-building and mystery-solving game. Even if the character-building aspect means becoming the champion of the martial arts competition, or the romantic aspect means helping your romantic interest kill someone and earn a billion star coins, let alone the mystery-solving aspect. We still don’t know what the King’s Scepter is, and there’s a chance that a major event could happen at the auction. Even though there are only three days left, we can’t afford to relax.”
Zhou Api sighed, “Suddenly, I feel so tired. Why is a game so difficult?”
Song Kefeng glanced at the chubby man and said, “This is a game at the cost of your life.” Each step forward required careful planning, and each failure resulted in a punishment akin to death. Even though it was a game, it never brought players ease or pleasure.
Zhou Api didn’t say anything more, and Mo Yang and Song Kefeng each received their 10 million star coin prize money and returned to their rooms.
Tomorrow would mark the fifth day of entering this game, and the auction at the Dark Star Hotel was about to begin.
Upon returning to his room, Mo Yang habitually checked the hotel’s surveillance. He was surprised to find that Bai Linger and Ouyang Qi had entered the same room.
He began to doubt his eyes, so he rewatched the surveillance video to confirm that he hadn’t been mistaken. Bai Linger had entered the VIP suite on the 39th floor at 10 PM tonight, and Ouyang Qi had arrived two hours later, discreetly entering the room.
Mo Yang narrowed his eyes. “I smell an affair and a conspiracy.”
Wan Mei was busy studying the research report that Wei Shuyu had sent him about extracting cosmic energy. When he heard Mo Yang’s words, he looked up and saw that Mo Yang was already wearing a mask and a hat, carrying a hotel staff uniform that he had somehow obtained, ready to leave.
Wan Mei sighed internally. “Sooner or later, I’ll have to put him on a leash.”
Mo Yang seemed to sense the gaze of the “Great Demon King.”
“I just saw Ouyang Qi and Bai Linger enter a room together. They must have a conspiracy. I’m going to use my microphone to eavesdrop. Don’t worry, I’m well-prepared and nothing will go wrong.”
Wan Mei knew he couldn’t stop Mo Yang, and he didn’t want to bother trying. “Be careful. Come back soon.”
Mo Yang grunted. When did he ever lack caution?
Mo Yang sneaked out quietly, and about five minutes later, a waiter wearing a mask and with most of his eyes covered by bangs stood outside the door of the room where Bai Linger and Ouyang Qi had entered. Although he had already disabled the surveillance on this floor through the backdoor switch provided by Feng Yu, it was better to be safe than sorry.
He pressed the microphone, which had transformed into an advanced eavesdropping device, against his ear and against the door. Then he lay flat on the ground.
“What’s the plan?”
“It’s almost done. Once these people are eliminated, the entire Amidael will descend into chaos. Even the federal government won’t be able to explain, and seizing power will become easier.”
“Yes, this is crucial. Those people must die; they are no longer the same as us. There’s no possibility of peaceful coexistence between us. Don’t hesitate.”
“… I don’t need your reminder. Instead of me, you should think about how to acquire the core technology of the Wei family. This time, Wei Shuyu didn’t die, and he even implicated Ruzhi. If Wei Shuyu and the others discover something wrong with Ruzhi, things will become very troublesome. In any case, the Wei Research Institute, the Feng family’s Star Network Technology, and the Ouyang family’s army and mechs must all be completely destroyed. With them in existence, our dreams will… who?”
Before Bai Linger’s alertness, Mo Yang had already leaped up from the ground. While running, he quickly removed his clothes, made a turn, and rushed to the door of his own room. Before swiping the terminal, the room’s door was directly opened from the inside, and Wan Mei’s slender and pale hand reached out, pulling him into the room.
Once Mo Yang entered the room, Bai Linger and Ouyang Qi, who had followed him, stood at the intersection where he had discarded his clothes, looking in three different directions with extremely grim expressions.
Ouyang Qi was almost about to burst into anger. He immediately used the terminal to contact the security department and asked them to check the surveillance on this floor to see which room the eavesdropper had entered.
However, a few minutes later, the head of the security department reported with some unease that all the surveillance on the thirty-ninth floor of the hotel had been completely blacked out. It wasn’t the kind of direct black screen intrusion; instead, the surveillance from the previous night had replaced the surveillance from tonight. So, the security department personnel didn’t notice anything suspicious.
Ouyang Qi kicked the wall in frustration.
Bai Linger’s face darkened. “Better to kill a thousand by mistake than to let one slip through. Have someone check the information of all the guests on this floor. Monitor them closely, and if anything unusual happens, kill them directly. We absolutely cannot afford any mistakes in our plan for the auction.”
Ouyang Qi, although he knew that doing so would likely put the Dark Star Hotel in the headlines and raise significant security concerns, didn’t care about such trivial matters. He immediately instructed his subordinates.
Soon, Bai Linger and Ouyang Qi learned that a total of forty-nine guests were staying on this floor. Bai Linger focused on the information of Emperor Qin’s group of five and Mo Yang’s group of four and said, “Monitor them closely. If they don’t cause any trouble, deal with them on the last day. Otherwise, eliminate them directly tomorrow.”
Ouyang Qi smirked when he saw the faces of Song Kefeng and Fei Ying. “They should have died long ago.”
Back in his hotel room, Mo Yang sat on the bed for three minutes before he could regain his composure.
“I may have heard some major news.”
“But it’s a bit chaotic right now. Let me think about it.”
Wan Mei poured Mo Yang a glass of hot water and sat quietly beside him until Mo Yang organized the information he had heard and began to speak.
“I think this world might be under invasion by the Dream World.”
“Do you understand what I mean?”
Wan Mei’s hand paused, and he nodded. “So that’s why the Wei family’s Life Pharmaceutical Research Institute was targeted?”
Mo Yang nodded. “Exactly! Not only the Wei family but also the Feng family and the Ouyang family. The Wei family seems to have discovered something about cosmic energy that drew the attention of the Dream World’s leader or mastermind, who sees it as a threat and wants to eliminate them.”
“The Feng family, with their advanced hacking skills, appears to be highly skilled in communications technology. Lastly, the Ouyang family seems to be connected to the military. If these three families unite to counterattack the Dream World, given the technological level of this world, the Dream World will definitely face a tough challenge.”
“So, the Dream World is trying to control people like Bai Linger and Ouyang Qi to eliminate the core figures of these three families before they are discovered, making their invasion smoother and unobstructed.”
Mo Yang spoke through clenched teeth. He couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if he, Mo Yang, and Song Kefeng hadn’t entered the Dream World. If they had allowed it to continue invading and developing without being discovered, it might not have been long before the leaders and top researchers of various major countries on Earth faced a coordinated and decisive conspiracy.
“… Shameless and extremely sinister.”
In the end, Mo Yang uttered these six words through gritted teeth.
Wan Mei glanced at the research materials in Mo Yang’s hand and said, “Wei Shuyu’s research on cosmic energy has already caused significant harm and disruption to the Dream World’s psychic forces.” So, Mo Yang’s conjecture was likely correct.
Mo Yang walked to the window, gazing at the starry sky outside. He was determined to do everything in his power to thwart Bai Linger and their conspiracy tomorrow and ensure that the people in this world, such as Feng Xingyu and Ouyang Yang, would remain safe.
But he also couldn’t help feeling a sense of sadness. The world he was in was merely a simulated recreation. When this world existed in reality, it had not escaped the invasion of the Dream World. The former inhabitants of this world, who had become NPCs in the game, such as Feng Yu, Ouyang Yang, and Wei Shuyu, had experienced a pitiful fate.
They couldn’t even preserve their own minds and memories, they could only follow the commands given to them by the Dream World, doing things they didn’t want to do day after day, year after year.
Mo Yang looked at the sky outside the window and suddenly said, “Once this game is over…” He was determined to make the whole world aware that there was an insidious invader lurking in the shadows, watching humanity and Earth. They could no longer wait.
In the moment Mo Yang had this thought, deep within the Dream World, where players couldn’t reach, a pair of silver eyes slowly opened.
[Discovery of the ‘Subverter’ confirmed.]
[Initiate full-scope scan of the ‘Subverter’ in all realms.]
[All Guides, initiate mental self-check. Those deemed unfit, self-destruct.]
Author’s Note –
Oh, when I wrote this part, I suddenly got a little excited.
Subverter: An invasion target with strong intentions and corresponding power to subvert the Dream World.
Although Song Kefeng had a strong desire to subvert the Dream World, it was difficult for him to make any significant impact on the Dream World by himself. The reason Mo Yang triggered the alert for the “Subverter” was because he had the ability to carry out his plan – to publicly expose the existence of the Dream World. Therefore, he was discovered.
Well, thank you, thank you.
Woah …,it’s getting exciting, excited for the next chapter
Oh my goodness, the tension and cliff hanger are both killing me😩.
Thanks for the chapter ☺️.
Oh my gosh!!! I just catch up and now i encounter cliffhanger 🥲… I can’t wait!!!❤️❤️
Thanks for the chapter
More action
Thank you for your translation 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤
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OH MYYYY
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the suspense aaaaaaaaaaa
Ohhh getting exciting! Thank you