Chapter 149 All Present

"Basically, everyone who's known by name is here."

On the west side of the first-floor audience seating, Wanli Fengdao adjusted his square-framed glasses and whispered to Xing Hechou, who was sitting next to him.

As a former bounty hunter, Little Knife Bro had not shown his face in public for a long time. Shortly after the Doorway Competition ended, he joined the Special Affairs Bureau's Mobile Task Force as a special consultant, working on a special project to find the relics of the Different Learning Society, and no longer worked as a bounty hunter.

His parents, relatives, and friends were also brought into the Doorway World, making them truly one of their own.

"Mm."

Sitting in the Special Affairs Bureau's section, Xing Hechou also adjusted his brown square-framed glasses and scanned the first-floor audience seats.

In the Sky Arena, players can use their equipment, skills, and items, but they cannot affect others or detect them.

Therefore, Xing Hechou, Wanli Fengdao, and other colleagues from the Special Affairs Bureau were all wearing special glasses provided by the equipment technology department. These glasses can capture real-time images and transmit them to the data processing center outside the Sky Arena.

After the data processing center calculates the information, it sends it back to the glasses.

With a glance, he could easily access the personal profiles of every player in sight, knowing them like the back of his hand.

"The Killing Courtesan and Qing Xingdeng from the Sun Island,

Daheitian and Quetzalcoatl from European Heavy Industries—I thought they were dead at the hands of the Military-Industrial Complex. I didn't expect they weren't discarded as rags by European Heavy Industries.

Aim from the Federal Bureau of Investigation—I heard a lot of senior officials died recently in America, and David is leading people around the world to find the murderer.

And the Inquisition, the Knights Templar, the Witch Alliance...

Oh, Brother Li is here too."

Wanli Fengdao saw the familiar white coat figure in the crowd and also saw Wang Congshan. There was a circle of empty seats around them, and no one dared to sit next to them, making them quite conspicuous in the audience.

Wanli Fengdao hesitated and raised his hand, slowly waving in that direction, and saw Li Ang also raise his hand and wave back. The latter wasn't wearing his signature dragon head mask and seemed to be in a good mood, holding a bowl in his other hand, eating something.

"It's been a while since I've seen him."

Wanli Fengdao lowered his arm with a smile, his eyes narrowed, and he said slowly, "Uh... it doesn't seem that long, only two months."

Players' sense of time differs vastly from ordinary people. Two months is just a blink of an eye for mortals, but for transcendents who live on the edge,

two months is enough for many things to happen, enough to stretch those sixty-odd days very, very long, so long that it feels like years have passed.

"It really feels like... another lifetime."

Wanli Fengdao seemed to be rippled by memories, and he said with some melancholy, "Hey, Lao Xing, do you remember the first time we met?

It was at the Guhan Temple.

You, me, Miss Liu, Brother Li, and little Master Huibing, five people, plus Miss Chai, five people and a ghost, were surrounded by a group of demons in the temple, accompanying them in their banquet, watching them prepare to dissect the hearts and lungs of living people for wine.

If you hadn't taken the lead that day, I might have really watched an innocent person die unjustly, and wouldn't have dared to draw my sword."

"That time..."

Xing Hechou also narrowed his eyes, somewhat reminiscing, "Heh, why are you reminiscing about the past? Have you changed your personality?"

"No, just a sudden feeling."

Wanli Fengdao waved his hand, "After that, I became a bounty hunter, Miss Liu took control of the Liu family inheritance, you became a high-ranking official in your Mobile Task Force, and Master Huibing... I remember you said last time he went to work for the National Religious Affairs Association?"

Xing Hechou nodded, "Yes, he went to a project at the Academy of Social Sciences. I haven't contacted him for a while either. You know, for security reasons, we can't have contact with the outside world except for superiors."

"Is that so. That's good."

Wanli Fengdao sighed, hesitated for a moment, and still said, "Lao Xing, how long do you think I can live?"

"Hmm?"

Hearing this, Xing Hechou raised his eyebrows in surprise and looked his friend up and down.

According to the external physical examination results from the glasses, Wanli Fengdao was full of energy, his face was glowing slightly, and his entire person was full of vigor. He didn't look like he was about to die at all.

"What's wrong? Why are you suddenly talking nonsense? Do you want the medical staff to take a look?"

"I'm not sick."

Wanli Fengdao smiled bitterly and waved his hand, his expression calmed down, and he said softly, "It's just that as the Slaughter Game progresses, I increasingly feel like I can't hold on anymore.

Each mission is becoming more difficult and more dangerous, constantly challenging my limits, pushing myself further and further away from humanity.

I met a lot of people when I was a bounty hunter, made a lot of friends who could be called 'friends,'

but now, half of the friends list is grayed out.

The players who came with us in the same batch are dying one by one on the way, and I don't know how long I can last, I don't know what the Slaughter Game wants to extract from us.

This kind of life, like walking on thin ice, seems to have no end..."

Xing Hechou looked at the noisy audience, his vision somewhat unfocused.

Along the way, he didn't know how many companions and colleagues he had buried, and witnessed how many deaths and sacrifices.

Even those companions who had wills as firm as steel before becoming players gradually had their edges smoothed out in one death trial after another, or even lost their will to survive, and disappeared silently on the road ahead.

That the five people who met at the Guhan Temple could all survive to this day unscathed could already be called a minor miracle.

"We transcendents can split mountains and crack rocks with a wave of our hands, and create seas by blocking rivers. We look so impressive, but only we ourselves know that we are just unlucky guys being urged and chased by the Grim Reaper."

Wanli Fengdao mocked himself, "Only those who have abandoned all morals and reason, completely unhuman, such as the transformed players raised by European Heavy Industries,

or those who are exceptionally talented and can thrive in the Slaughter Game environment,

can ignore the gradually tightening noose and live easily and freely.

What's laughable is that there are still so many ordinary people who don't know, or pretend not to know this,

and are eager for player qualifications, wanting to pursue the opportunity to advance to transcendence."

"The besieged city? Those inside want to get out, and those outside want to get in?"

Xing Hechou smiled slightly. He could understand Wanli Fengdao's sudden sadness and anxiety, because he had also experienced this kind of emotion.

He had his parents, wife, and children, and a peaceful and happy life, but all of this was taken away and would never return.

"...Don't think so much. Before the Slaughter Game started, we were just ordinary people being pushed along by the times, and it's the same now. There's no difference."

Xing Hechou patted Wanli Fengdao on the shoulder with a bitter smile, saying some discouraging words of comfort. In the depths of his eyes, however, a trace of heaviness flashed.

In fact, in the Special Affairs Bureau's XK-class doomsday scenarios, there was a prediction of the worst-case scenario—

The Slaughter Game had grand designs, and this session, like countless previous sessions, would not satisfy the Slaughter Game.

So, destruction would come, the Earth would be reshuffled,

and humanity, even the humanity that had escaped into the Doorway World, would suffer an irresistible extinction.

In that scenario, players and transcendents would be given death indiscriminately, and even top transcendents like Han Shuishi and Su Nisheng would not be able to resist fate itself.

And in order to cope with that doomsday scenario, one of the Special Affairs Bureau's methods was to dream.

To dream a dream that kidnapped all of humanity.

They would activate an unprecedentedly large machine.

That machine would integrate all the wisdom and novel technology of the equipment research and development department, integrate the characteristics of "dream-based" transcendent elements such as the Dream Eater, Sheng Nanwang, and Kido Yukari,

and would be able to pull all of humanity, forcibly and without awareness, into the same grand dream.

The time outside the dream would be slowed down to the extreme,

while in the dream,

7 billion people would continue to live peacefully, just like the previous Earth.

There would be no players, no Slaughter Game,

7 billion people would be ignorant of the outside world, continuing their own separations and deaths, births and child-rearing, family life, pots and pans...

Children would play carefree,

teenagers would face the troubles of growing up,

young people who had just stepped into society would be confused and at a loss, apprehensive and nervous,

...

The dream would still follow the physical laws of the real world. Therefore, the 7 billion people in the dream world could continue to develop technology, develop anti-rocket spaceships, and explore the unknown universe with hope—

until one day, a very small number of sensitive intellectuals in the dream world realized the falseness of the world,

(for example, there was an invisible glass wall outside the solar system, a section of the mathematical formula was missing, the Earth was a hollow sphere, etc.)

and revealed the truth in madness.

At that time, the dream machine's self-correction system would be activated, clearing all conditions and starting the next cycle.

Human civilization would welcome the real doomsday outside in a stable and peaceful cycle.

Whether it was deceiving oneself or desperate self-help,

that XK-class doomsday scenario defense program called "Nirvana in a Dream" was the memory that Xing Hechou least wanted to recall, but he did not ask his colleagues in the medical department to help him wash away this part of his memory.

Because "Nirvana in a Dream" could also be a kind of alternative liberation—in the department, some colleagues who had suffered great torture and pain in script missions and could not be cured with conventional treatment programs,

or even could not maintain rational thinking, would be connected to the machine,

and slowly calm down in the slow-motion cycle of life.

Nirvana in a Dream was one of the Special Affairs Bureau's final bottom-line measures for every agent and the entire human civilization, although Xing Hechou hoped he would never need to use it in his life.

Dudu, dudu.

The vibration of the wristwatch pulled Xing Hechou back to reality from his heavy thoughts. He came back to his senses and looked at the arena.

30, 29, 28...

The digital timer on the wristwatch was silently counting down,

and the more than one hundred thousand people crowded in the audience also closed their mouths and waited silently.

The vast space suddenly became quiet.

Finally, the timer cleared, and the Battle of Siming officially began.

————

Moon, Quiet Sea Cloud Palace.

Hanba sat on an unremarkable wooden chair, supporting her chin with one hand, lazily crossing her legs, and watching the gray-brown big-headed television in front of her.

The other "people" were also watching the television.

Professor stood aside, his expression calm and gentle,

Achilles casually fiddled with the red bow tie on his neck,

Shenlong lowered his eyelids, his dark green eyes narrowed into a slit, making it difficult not to suspect that this dragon was secretly dozing off.

Rumble—

A long explosion sound came from the distance, penetrating the clouds.

Hanba didn't even move her eyelids.

During this period, some people on Earth still persistently sent probes to the moon.

They were eager to get information from the long-lived species, showing goodwill and begging to meet them again and again.

The Slaughter Game has made lunar exploration much easier. Apart from some skills that can shorten the construction cycle and cost of rockets, some props even reach the second cosmic velocity, flying directly out of the Earth and into lunar orbit.

But unfortunately, neither Professor, Achilles, nor Hanba Shenlong was interested in talking to mortals.

All the probes that were launched crashed above the Quiet Sea Cloud Palace.

Like a clock, an explosion would sound every once in a while.

"Finally, it's coming."

Achilles adjusted the red bow tie on his neck back into place, and for the first time, the face almost identical to that of an Earth penguin showed a dignified expression.

"Now is not the best time."

The Professor sighed leisurely, looking at the gray-brown big-headed television that was broadcasting the Sky Arena, his lips slightly pursed, "The Battle of Siming is coming much faster than I expected."

"Is Your Excellency worried that your students are not ready?"

Achilles frowned slightly upon hearing this, and slowly said, "Or are you regretting that you didn't choose a second basket to put your eggs in?"

"No, it's just... still a little worried."

The Professor shook his head, "If they had more time, they could grow better and go further.

But the other worlds will not give them such an opportunity.

I am tired and weary of running away. Earth must succeed. My students must, and will succeed."

"Hopefully."

Achilles Penguin nodded slowly, glancing at Hanba, who had a calm expression, and Shenlong, who was drowsy.

The countdown numbers above the arena had already appeared.

Perhaps out of some anxiety,

Achilles Penguin had an even stronger desire to talk than usual, "Aren't the two of you going to take a serious look?

Your old friends should also be participating in this war."

"..."

Hanba, sitting in the chair, silently raised her eyelids and coldly glanced at the gray-brown television and Achilles Penguin, and said calmly, "They are not my old friends.

Whether it is the alchemist of the Different Learning Society, or the so-called gods, they are all dead.

Now those who have come back to life from the grave are just undead corpses.

Of course, that includes King Shipi."

Achilles' face showed a strange expression, "Cough cough, isn't he different..."

"There is no difference, the real King Shipi died long ago. What still exists now is just a remnant of the past. The best proof is that he doesn't dare to come and find us."

Hanba seemed to have a strong hatred for those corrupt corpses who refused to die obediently. She shook her head with some disgust,

her gaze fixed on the live broadcast on the television.

The Watcher Guild, which was responsible for the live broadcast, was quite professional. They had prepared more than four thousand recording devices, which could broadcast every battle in all directions without blind spots.

Therefore, Hanba also saw the white coat figure in the audience seats in a fleeting shot.