Yue Shi kneaded the snow leopard's ears, and the leopard looked up, rubbing its nose against his chin.
He had originally intended to leave Liming City. He had seen most of what the city had to offer, visited the necessary places, and gathered the information he needed. Staying here didn't serve much purpose anymore.
But now, he had changed his mind.
Liming City might be the players' newbie village.
Why did these players choose this place?
Who was the one who had dropped them in here?
Where was their so-called "game server"?
And who exactly was running this "official" entity?
The answers to all these questions could perhaps be found through the players.
Creatures like players thought differently from normal people.
Right now, their levels were low, so they wouldn't do anything too extreme. But once their levels rose in the future, there was no guarantee that some high-level players with twisted tastes wouldn't intentionally look for trouble with NPCs.
Yue Shi was self-aware enough to know that his role was likely that of a villain or a boss.
If the players knew anything about Jinlong Continent's past, they wouldn't ignore the Forging City disaster.
God only knew what they wanted to do. Would they form a party to raid the boss?
Therefore, Yue Shi had to figure out the background of these players to be prepared for anything.
...
"Ghost."
Hearing Yue Shi's voice, the Ghost floated out. "What's up?"
Yue Shi explained his recent discovery.
The players, the closed beta, the virtual reality game, and his two theories regarding the players' origins.
"These players likely all possess a game system..."
"So, you want me to invade their systems?" the Ghost asked, its voice filled with surprise.
Yue Shi nodded.
The Ghost's figure flickered. "Aren't you being a bit whimsical? If these players really were placed in this world by some mysterious entity, that entity's power must be immense to achieve such a feat."
"No matter how skilled I am, I'm just an information lifeform. How could I possibly invade someone else's system?"
"Even if I did succeed, it would only alert the enemy. What if that mysterious entity follows my trail back to us? When that happens, are you going to be the one running while I'm the one dying?"
Yue Shi was undeterred. "Don't underestimate me. In the eyes of others, I'm a bona fide evil god."
"Don't worry. I'll assist you with the invasion when the time comes."
"Are you sure?" the Ghost asked.
Yue Shi was very serious. "Trying is better than doing nothing at all. There's a high probability that players will become my enemies, and we currently know too little about them."
"How many are there? Where do they come from? What is their purpose? Who is the operator behind them? The answers to these questions might be hidden within the players' systems."
"You don't need to invade the entire system. You just need to find a crack—something that allows us to track their movements in real-time."
"You really do make unreasonable demands," the Ghost sighed helplessly.
Over the next few hours, Yue Shi wandered the streets of Liming City.
The golden vertical mark between his brows remained open as he searched for those with names above their heads.
Liming City was vast. Finding a small number of closed beta players in such a large city was like searching for a needle in a haystack.
But that didn't stop Yue Shi.
He soon found one.
It was a man wearing a black leather jacket with deep brown hair. Floating above his head were the words 【Hunter】. He was currently squatting on the ground, poking at the dirt with a stick and muttering to himself.
"This is so freaking realistic. How did they even do it? Even the moss and the bugs in the dirt look so lifelike."
Without hesitation, Yue Shi raised his hand and gently clenched his fingers toward 【Hunter】.
Space folded, and 【Hunter】 was instantly transported to an abandoned factory near the outskirts of the city. The area was filled with empty workshops, with no cameras or passersby—only stray animals scurrying about.
【Hunter】 felt as though the air around him had been seized by an invisible hand, freezing into a cage he couldn't escape.
The stick slipped from his hand, and his body became completely immobile.
His eyes widened, his pupils shrinking rapidly.
Yue Shi stepped forward at a leisurely pace, his shoes crunching softly on the gravel.
The Ghost floated beside him, looking at the frozen man with a complex expression.
This was a player?
He looked so ordinary.
【Hunter】 could hear footsteps approaching from behind, but he couldn't turn his head to look. He felt like a lamb led to the slaughter.
Yue Shi stopped behind 【Hunter】 and signaled the Ghost to act—to try possession first and see if it could find the game system to invade.
【Hunter】 frowned as he looked at his status bar. A debuff called 【Imprisonment】 had appeared.
He was deeply confused about how he had been hit by such a negative effect.
He had been startled when he was suddenly moved here, but he had since regained his composure. He was a player; what was there to be afraid of?
It was all because this game's realism was too high!
The fear in 【Hunter】's eyes faded. Just as the Ghost touched him from behind, he noticed another unknown negative status appear on his status bar.
He suspected the place might be haunted.
In the next second, he vanished on the spot.
Yue Shi froze.
Escaping from his spatial imprisonment was not something an ordinary person could do.
"Did he... log out?"
That was the only logical explanation for why 【Hunter】 had suddenly disappeared.
Just like in an online game, when a player clicks the "Exit Game" button, the character vanishes from the map.
Yue Shi didn't know the principle behind this "logging out" or what mechanism realized it. He didn't know if there was a cooldown, any restrictions, or exploitable loopholes.
But he knew that this was definitely a life-saving tool for players to avoid trouble.
Truly catching a player was not going to be easy.
In the distance, the sun was sinking, and the horizon was gradually turning red.
"Let's go back." Yue Shi picked up the snow leopard and turned to walk away.
The Ghost floated behind him, its voice low. "Where do you think they go after they log out? Back to their own world? Or is it just their consciousness leaving temporarily while their bodies are stored somewhere?"
"I don't know. We'll find a chance to figure it out slowly. There's no rush," Yue Shi said calmly.
He continued to wander aimlessly, scattering Extreme Evil as his Insight vision scanned everyone who passed by him.
He wondered if the time flow in the players' world was the same as in the Deep Red Continent. Theoretically, it should be different—an hour in the players' world might equal several hours here; otherwise, the players would be at a disadvantage.
Yue Shi stopped on an overpass, leaning against the railing to watch the constant stream of traffic below.
The bridge was high and the wind was strong, blowing his hair wildly through the air.
The snow leopard jumped down from his arms and crouched on the railing, its tail hanging down and swaying in the wind.
In the distance, someone had taken off their pants and was streaking down the street.
Rate on N.U.
