Chapter 1

The teleportation was as smooth as silk. Li Ang opened his eyes and found himself standing in a desolate wilderness.

Beneath his feet was a narrow dirt road, flanked by dense, chaotic forests. The trees in the forest were tall but not upright, their branches growing wildly, twisted and crooked, like deformed strongmen, watching the five figures standing in the middle of the road.

It was dusk, and the pale yellow sun hung high over the distant mountains, casting a slanting light over the earth, but failing to bring a trace of warmth to the forest path.

The five figures stood in a pentagram formation, none of them speaking, a silent and oppressive atmosphere brewing.

Each person was scrutinizing the others.

First, there was a tall, sturdy middle-aged man with a square face. His expression was stern and resolute, his demeanor calm and composed, his posture upright and solemn. Even though he was wearing a casual shirt and shorts, he couldn't hide the iron-willed temperament in his bones.

A soldier, or a policeman?

The second was a mature-looking man, probably in his early thirties, with a broad forehead, raised eyebrows, small eyes, a mustache, sunglasses, a white shirt, and yellow beach shorts. He was wearing flip-flops, exuding a greasy, middle-aged, and wretched aura.

Hmm...he looked like Tian Boguang as played by actor Sun Haiying.

The third was a tall, young woman with long hair, wearing a black nightsuit. She had a beautiful face, but without any expression, radiating an aloofness that kept people at arm's length.

An ice beauty... what a cliché.

The fourth was a young monk in a gray robe, with a delicate face and a natural charm.

It was the muscular holy monk that Li Ang had seen at Jing’an Temple a few days ago.

Only, in the Arena game, the monk's facial features had undergone a subtle, almost imperceptible change. If Li Ang hadn't had a facial recognition and correction system built into his brain, he probably wouldn't have recognized him at all.

"Hey." The man who looked like Tian Boguang glanced at Li Ang and said, somewhat annoyed, "Young man, why have you been doing narration since just now, introducing everyone one by one?

And what do you mean I look like Tian Boguang?! If you keep talking nonsense, I'll send you a lawyer's letter!"

Among the five people present, Li Ang, who was wearing a steel helmet, combat boots, a Monkey King mask, and a bulletproof vest, holding an AK-47 with a large drum magazine, and carrying a bulging backpack, looked the most bizarre.

If you said he was a patient who had escaped from some mental hospital, the assault rifle in his hand was the real deal.

If you said he was a professional mercenary, he was wearing an extremely comical Sun Wukong mask.

Li Ang, who had been speaking and explaining, smiled and said, "Sorry, I just thought it was too depressing here, so I wanted to liven things up."

Interrupted by Li Ang, the silent atmosphere that had been brewing dissipated. The middle-aged man with the square face scanned the crowd and said, "Everyone, we are currently executing a team mission, and judging from the generous settlement rewards, the mission difficulty is not low."

The middle-aged man with the square face, who seemed to be a soldier, said with considerable confidence, "Unlike electronic games in the real world, team missions in the Arena game do not have a 'friendly fire protection' setting.

Players on cooperative missions can attack each other, but the attack effect will be greatly weakened.

In addition, any act of actively attacking a teammate will be severely sanctioned by the system,

For example, deducting all game coins, destroying all items in the inventory and equipment slots, or, after the mission ends, immediately accepting a mandatory mission with extremely high difficulty and a near certain death rate.

Therefore, in team missions, our backs are guaranteed.

From now on, we had better put down our guard and cooperate, otherwise, we may end up with a total party kill in a high-difficulty mission."

With that, the square-faced strongman took the initiative to open permissions and announced his player information.

Bi Li Qian Ren · Xing Hechou LV6

Xing Hechou was not the strongman's real name. His original name was Xing Chou, and he awakened as a player two months ago.

There were three reasons why he stood up to defuse the situation in this team mission.

First, as he had just said, the difficulty of this mission was probably not low, and it required everyone to unite and cooperate to overcome the difficulties.

Second, Xing Hechou believed through observation that he should be the most senior player among this group of people, and had the conditions, responsibility, and obligation to stand up and control the situation.

Third, Xing Hechou was once a military officer with the rank of major in the real world. After becoming a player, Xing Hechou took the initiative to report to his superiors, and after research and decision by the organization, he was transferred to work in the Special Affairs Bureau.

The Special Affairs Bureau, abbreviated as the Special Bureau, was a special department that was urgently established seven months ago, under the Security Department, with a low level but extremely high authority.

Seven months ago, the Republic's intelligence department received intelligence about the Arena game, and after repeatedly confirming it, immediately reported it. The state apparatus roared into operation, and numerous think tanks and officials from intelligence support institutions crowded into several halls for several days of top-secret meetings.

A think tank composed of nearly a thousand experts, scholars, and industry leaders quickly provided a comprehensive and detailed opinion report with assessments and predictions.

On this basis, the meeting finally confirmed that analyzing, cracking, and utilizing the Arena game was one of the most important tasks of the current state apparatus.

Military, political, economic, cultural...

In the long time that followed, the state apparatus would begin to subtly change in all aspects of society. This not only concerned the people's food, clothing, housing, and transportation, but also their safety, the rise and fall of the country, the competition for Earth's hegemony, and the survival of species.

The establishment of the Special Affairs Bureau was just a small step in this great change.

As a member of the Special Affairs Bureau, Xing Hechou had long been familiar with the action guidelines compiled by the think tank and acted step by step in accordance with the behavioral guidance on the guidelines.

Xing Hechou's seemingly clear logic, eloquent speech, clear reasoning, and extremely persuasive performance stemmed in part from his personal charisma as a soldier,

and in part from the action guidelines issued by the National Think Tank's psychological analysis team—in the face of guidance provided by thousands of psychological analysts, ordinary transcendents were as easy to predict as white mice.

Sure enough, after Xing Hechou finished speaking, the other four were moved and announced their player information one by one.

The greasy middle-aged man who looked like Tian Boguang, Duoqing Jianke · Wanli Fengdao Lv5

The ice beauty, Wu Dai Lv4

The gray-robed monk, Hui Bing Lv4

The monkey-masked mercenary, Li Risheng Lv3