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Bonus chapter! Thank you to Chocco for the donation! ^^
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Ning Su watched the people coming and going on the street, sensing an even thicker atmosphere of despair and madness than in their own game base. The night seemed to unveil a frantic celebration that felt like one last desperate stand.
New players entered the game base with no points to their name. Just as Ning Su was wondering what to do, someone else approached Shao Ruoyang.
Ning Su happily tagged along for a free meal.
This time, the person who sought out Shao Ruoyang was someone important—a member of the Vulture Jazz team, the second-ranked squad in the entire game base. He led them to a restaurant located right next to the base.
A few people were already waiting for them there.
One of them got straight to the point. "Professor Shao, hello. My name is Lin Sanshuang. I’d like to learn more about the situation outside."
He said, "You might be the last group of players to enter the base."
"Usually, a new group of players arrives every hour. But lately, fewer and fewer ships have been docking at the base. After your group arrived today, no more players came in. Even the entrance has been sealed off."
Shao Ruoyang tightened his grip on his cup.
In the stifling atmosphere, Ning Su also realized what this meant.
Back on the ship, Shao Ruoyang had told him that after the massive population decline, the remaining people had hidden in remote, hard-to-reach places, with little contact between them.
Shao Ruoyang was from a deep-sea research base—a relatively safe location—and so many people here knew him. He must have been a core member of that base. Yet even he had been pulled into the game.
It was possible that their world… was now empty.
Lin Sanshuang, the leader of the Vulture Jazz team, said, "Professor Shao, could you tell us about the current state of our planet?"
Outside the window, dazzling yet ambiguous lights flickered. Someone was singing at the top of their lungs, and after some unknown event, a wave of frantic screams erupted from outside, pushing the atmosphere to its peak.
In the dim, quiet restaurant, Shao Ruoyang recounted the situation of their planet.
Ning Su gained a deeper understanding of their world.
Shao Ruoyang said, "While everyone was still at the deep-sea base, I archived all our memories. Even if we all die, our civilization won’t be completely lost."
Upon hearing this, the team leader immediately turned away. He drank two glasses of water in succession, suppressing his surging emotions, before saying, "Right after you, the last group of players, entered the game, the first full-scale instance is about to begin. This collective instance definitely won’t be simple."
He looked at Shao Ruoyang and said, "Professor Shao, you haven’t joined a team yet, have you? Come join ours. At least we can watch out for each other."
This game base is located on a small planet, potentially hosting tens of millions of players. The squads that manage to fight their way out from among these millions are entirely beyond the reach of ordinary players—let alone offering help to newcomers.
Shao Ruoyang glanced at Ning Su.
The squad leader immediately said, "A friend of Professor Shao's? Welcome to join our squad."
Ning Su hadn't expected that, upon entering this world, he would immediately latch onto someone as influential as Shao Ruoyang. He responded without hesitation: "Ah, sure!"
He was only going to be here for the duration of one dungeon instance; which squad he joined wasn’t all that important.
Among these tens of millions of players, getting close to Ling Xiao would be quite difficult. But by sticking with a reasonably capable squad, wouldn’t it become much simpler?
Ning Su, of course, agreed readily.
The squad leader then asked, "Do you have any special abilities?"
Only then did Ning Su learn that in this world, not only was technology highly advanced, but most people were born with unique abilities—overall, their strength was formidable. Shao Ruoyang, for instance, possessed psychic abilities.
Ning Su said, "I’m a dark-type."
The squad leader was quite satisfied. "Welcome to the squad!"
Having attached themselves to such a powerful squad, they didn’t have to worry about food, clothing, or lodging for the next couple of days.
After waking up in the room arranged by the Vulture Jazz Squad, Ning Su spent half a day wandering around the game base and realized that getting to see Ling Xiao was indeed quite difficult.
According to the owner of a flower shop, the line of people wanting to see Ling Xiao could wrap around the entire base.
The shopkeeper adjusted his glasses. "And who are you?"
Ning Su: "..."
To the current Ling Xiao, he was indeed nobody—Ling Xiao didn’t know him at all.
Ning Su sat on a small stool in the flower shop, listening to the owner talk at length about Ling Xiao, and only left when he got hungry to go eat.
The day before the dungeon instance was set to begin, Ning Su learned that the leaders of the base’s twenty squads were holding an impromptu meeting. Ning Su followed his squad leader. "Captain Lin, can you take me with you?"
Captain Lin: "What do you want to go for?"
Ning Su: "I want to meet the leader of the Cannibal Corps and ask him to take me to see Ling Xiao."
Everyone around turned to look at him.
At that moment, Ning Su still hadn’t realized what was wrong.
Captain Lin asked, "Why do you want to see Ling Xiao?"
Ning Su replied, "Ah, well, you could say he's kind of my idol."
The atmosphere fell silent.
Then, Ning Su learned something slightly awkward.
The team that ate human flesh was called the Cannibal Corps.
The Vulture Jazz, originally known as the Jazz Squad, had later forcibly changed their name to the Vulture Squad.
The Vulture Squad and the Cannibal Squad—vultures eat human flesh.
The relationship between the two squads was immediately clear.
Ning Su: "..."
That day, Ning Su didn’t bring up seeing Ling Xiao again. It wasn’t until the next day, when they were about to enter the instance, that he finally saw him.
This was a full-server instance, meaning all players in the game base were entering the same instance together.
The area outside the game hall was packed with people.
Naturally, the higher-ranked squads entered first.
After Ning Su followed his squad inside, he suddenly felt a wave of excitement ripple through the crowd.
The moment Ning Su turned his head, he spotted Ling Xiao in the crowd.
He had never been able to guess Ling Xiao’s age, nor had he ever asked. In the <Ghost Embodiment> instance, when the Human Pupa Master concealed her info, Ling Xiao’s age was listed as 188—though who knew if that was true.
He’d heard that girl say Ling Xiao had cleared at least two thousand instances. He had assumed Ling Xiao would look around the same age as when he last saw him, but he hadn’t expected him to be so young—so young that Ning Su could sense a youthful aura about him.
The excitement in the crowd continued to build. Suddenly, a girl couldn’t hold back anymore and screamed, "Ling Xiao, I love you!"
Ning Su: "?"
Then a guy jumped up too, shouting, "Ling Xiao, look at me! I really like you! You’re my god!"
Ning Su: "???"
This game base was saturated with even thicker despair, madness, and decadence than their own. Perhaps realizing something, under the pressure of death and hopelessness, the players had developed an even more insane and twisted admiration for strength.
Ling Xiao, who had consistently ranked first in the entire base, created one myth after another—young and incredibly powerful—naturally attracted a crowd of frenzied followers and admirers.
Ning Su could understand why.
Shao Ruoyang asked, "Why does your face look so dark?"
Ning Su: "..."
Once someone broke the ice, more and more people outside began shouting toward Ling Xiao. Unnoticed by the crowd, two children appeared from nowhere and walked up to Ling Xiao, each clinging to one of his legs.
The little girl said, "Daddy, we finally found you."
The little boy added, "Mm!"
The atmosphere froze.
Thank you for the update
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