Chapter 1 What Is That?

"Hmm?" Bicker (that's right, it's Piccolo from *Dragon Ball*. Actually, "Bicker" is a more accurate translation and transliteration; of course, I was also familiar with the setting of "Piccolo" first) looked askance at the redundant soldier who poked his head out of the wall, and pondered, "What is that?"

"Awoo—" Responding to him (although Namekians have no gender distinction, they are generally regarded as "he") were a few roars.

"Tch... No matter what it is, it doesn't seem to want to communicate with me." Bicker was still cross-legged in a meditative state when he muttered this sentence.

But the next second, his figure instantly appeared at the wall, standing in front of the two redundant soldiers.

"I can't feel any aura at all..." Bicker calmly looked at the two monsters who looked even less like humans than himself, "Are you really living things..."

Bang—

Before he could finish speaking, one of the redundant soldiers swung a punch at him.

Seeing this, Bicker just clenched his fist with one hand, lightly raised his forearm to block, and effortlessly caught the opponent's fist.

"Oh? Is that all you've got?" A trace of disdain flashed in Bicker's eyes, "Hmph... Boring..."

Before the boring "ing" could even leave his mouth, Bicker's other hand had already launched two lightning-fast finger stabs, piercing the foreheads of the two redundant soldiers.

In just a moment, Bicker had instantly killed two redundant soldiers without even trying very hard.

However, the opponent's attack did not stop there...

Just as the two redundant soldiers turned into data fragments and disappeared, another wall on the other side was also broken through, and... it was broken through with a punch.

"Oh? What is it this time..." Bicker turned his head and looked, seeing a purple-black arm, shaped like a human arm, sticking in from outside the wall.

A second later, the arm retracted and threw several more punches, quickly creating a gap large enough for it to pass through, and lunged into the room.

"This one seems to have some skill..." Bicker looked at the scavenger and said coldly.

Just as he was distracted, suddenly, two more arms stretched out from the cracks in the wall beside him, and suddenly clamped down on his shoulders.

"Ugh—careless." Bicker said in a deep voice, "So there are reinforcements here..."

Those redundant soldiers and scavengers did not react to Bicker's words in any way; they were just efficiently carrying out the command to "erase activity data."

In the blink of an eye, the scavenger who had invaded from the other end of the room rushed towards Bicker, who was already dragged to the wall and unable to move, and delivered a straight punch to his left chest.

Bang—

The powerful and heavy fist was like a siege ram, hitting Bicker's chest solidly.

As a result...

"Um..." Bicker grunted, and then, in a nonchalant tone, looked at the scavenger in front of him and said, "You have a lot of strength... but unfortunately, your attack doesn't have the slightest 'momentum'..." As he spoke, he slowly raised his hands and pressed them against the heads of the two redundant soldiers behind him, "I won't be knocked down by this kind of punch."

After saying that, Bicker exerted force with both palms, and the heads of the two redundant soldiers were easily crushed like eggs.

Pa pa pa—

In the same second, the scavenger relentlessly threw punches and kicks, attacking Bicker several more times.

Obviously, the scavenger would not react in any way to the death of the other two data clusters, nor would it feel any fear; it was just attacking according to its own rhythm... continuing to attack.

"This guy... could he be a robot..." Bicker quickly sensed the abnormality in the other party, so he would not be soft on them...

But seeing that, Bicker completely ignored the opponent's punches and kicks, and with a flick of his body, he came behind the scavenger, and a side kick kicked a big hole in the latter's torso.

In the blink of an eye, the Namekian had eliminated four redundant soldiers and one scavenger, and almost all of them were killed with one blow.

"Although they're not very powerful, the fact that they have the ability to 'tear space' is also a fact..." After the scavenger also turned into data fragments, Bicker looked at the broken wall and muttered thoughtfully, "What is happening in this space..."

As he pondered, outside the wall of the storage room... there was another new sound of impact, and new enemies poured out of the gaps that had already been opened...

…………

At the same time, the Mall, Area 101.

When I mentioned Area 1 earlier, I said... that it was a Mall plane with "the largest number of players and very high overall quality". The reason why I used "very high" instead of "highest" is because... when it comes to the strength of the players, Area 101 completely crushes all other areas.

Of the top ten teams in this S2 preliminary competition alone, there are six from here, namely: Hyotei, Benizakura, Jianghu, Gods Team 1, Gods Team 2, and Order Team 2.

As for the reason why they are concentrated in this area... I have already mentioned it in the previous article, so I won't repeat it here.

In a word, the players in this area... are very strong.

How strong are they? They managed to withstand the attack of the redundant soldier legion with far fewer people than Area 1, and... they even gained the upper hand.

This is also the only phase space where the "number of players who escaped back to the login space" is less than the "number of players who stayed in the Mall."

"Damn it... what the hell is going on? Has the Dream Company management gone crazy?" In the center of the square under the big screen, \[Fearless Warrior] cursed while wielding the long spear in his hand and sweeping away redundant soldiers.

The weapons and routines used by this main force of Order Team 2 are all broad and open, making him extremely strong and at ease in this kind of battlefield.

"Are you sure this is a problem with the game company?" \[No-Knife Swordsman], who was killing scavengers not far away, heard the sound and replied, "I feel like... this is similar to the situation in the S1 finals—a derivative forcibly intervened in the competition."

"But this time they're intervening in more than just the competition..." \[Ye Zhi], who was assisting the two, interjected, "Invading the safe zone within the game, forcing the system to change the boundaries, forcibly preventing players from going offline, etc. If all of these are autonomous actions of a group of AIs... I'm afraid we can't regard *Thriller Paradise* as a pure game, right?"

"Hey—you guys over there~" Just as these three members of Order and Jianghu were talking, someone suddenly shouted loudly at them from more than ten meters away, "Be careful! There's a strange thing coming from above!"

The person who shouted this was \[ReallyHardToName], who is Hyotei's bald-headed Xiao Ming; he is also considered one of the strongest shooting players in the game, and his eyesight is naturally excellent, so he was the first to see the changes in the dome.

And No-Knife Swordsman and the others quickly looked up after hearing this...

But seeing that, right above the three of them, in the crack in the dome... there were actually two round, bloodshot eyeballs as big as water tanks.

Immediately afterwards, a hand as big as a tent... grabbed the edge of the crack and began to further tear the opening.