Chapter 1 ???

Isn't your family-style restaurant a little *too* family-style? Are you going to make the last customer to finish eating responsible for washing the dishes?

Luori Rongjin's eyes twitched. He didn't delve into the question.

He had wanted to ask if the other party was interested in joining the Whale Song organization as their representative in the upcoming Doorway Competition. The rewards could be negotiated.

However, Li Risheng owned a shop with an absurd profit margin, so he definitely wasn't lacking in money. The Whale Song organization probably couldn't offer him enough.

Even if they could, Jin Ge Tie Ma and the others couldn't make such a decision on their own. It was best to stop while they were ahead and maintain a normal, friendly relationship to avoid irritating him.

Since the Sky Arena wasn't open yet, they chatted for a few more minutes before logging off to wait.

In the next 24 hours, every faction would be busy, presumably.

Organizations forming alliances, negotiating, compromising, and dividing benefits.

Lone wolf players putting themselves up for sale, hoping to increase their value in the eyes of other factions in the upcoming competition.

However, none of this had anything to do with Li Ang.

After returning from the plaza, he planned to go to the coast of Yin City to retrieve the high-quality biomass and marine gene pool obtained by the Zerg nest at the bottom of the trench, as well as the new soldier insect samples.

————

At the same time, in the game plaza, at a bar called [True Names] (turenames).

This bar was located in a secluded corner on the east side of the plaza. It wasn't large, the lighting was dim and ambiguous, and the decor was simple and clean. There were no special products either. Common types of alcohol were displayed on the Nanmu shelves.

As a result, the bar had very few customers. Occasionally, two or three customers would come in, sit down, and have a couple of drinks before leaving, tired from walking around the plaza.

At this moment, an unknown, melodious song was playing on the gold and red cabinet-shaped jukebox in the corner of the bar.

The female singer's voice was hoarse and gentle. If you closed your eyes, you could almost see a woman with red hair and a red dress standing on stage, singing softly with her hands on the microphone.

The bartender, wearing a brown knit vest behind the wooden bar, lowered his head and gently wiped a glass with a square silk cloth.

Clink—

The wooden door of the bar was gently pushed open, and a witch wearing a pointed hat and a cloak walked in.

She patted the gray kitten's waist on her shoulder. The cat, named Miaomiao Tou, jumped off her shoulder and landed on the wooden round table.

Since the table was spotless, Miaomiao Tou naturally lay down on it, curling up into a ball and purring contentedly.

The witch herself hopped over to the jukebox, flipped out a coin, inserted it into the machine, and selected a pop song with an electronic style.

She bobbed her head to the rhythm of the music, swaying her body as she walked toward the bar, tapped her toes on the ground, jumped, and landed on the chair in front of the bar.

"A black beer, please~"

The witch patted the bar and placed five coins on the table.

The bartender raised his head, revealing an ordinary, gentle face of a middle-aged man without any particular features.

It was the founder of the Syndicate organization, known as the Professor.

Although the Syndicate had its own independent office building in the plaza, there was no one in that building who could really make decisions.

Only core members knew that their teacher, the one who could truly make decisions for the Syndicate, sometimes stayed in his bar called [True Names].

"What's an underage person doing drinking beer?"

The professor said coolly, turned around, grabbed a canned cola from the shelf, and gently placed it on the table with a cotton pad.

There was no insulation equipment in front or behind the shelf, but the surface of the cola can was covered in cold air.

The witch clicked her tongue in displeasure, but still reached out her finger to pry open the can, grabbed a straw from the nearby straw holder, and slowly drank from the cola bottle.

Ding-dong—

The wooden door of the bar rang again, and a tall, beautiful woman pushed her way in. She had long, wavy red hair down to her waist, a tricorn hat with a skull pattern on her head, a black frock coat with gold embroidery on the cuffs, a white shirt underneath, long riding boots, and a long sword at her waist.

She was clearly dressed as a pirate.

The female pirate glanced at the professor wiping glasses behind the bar, grinned, casually rubbed Miaomiao Tou, who was sleeping on the wooden table at the door, ignored the latter's howling and scratching, strode forward, and heavily patted the witch's shoulder, saying familiarly, "Congratulations, congratulations! I heard you made it into the top sixty on the personal combat power rankings? Not bad, not bad, you didn't embarrass us."

"What are you doing, you crazy woman?!"

The witch rolled her eyes and tried to push away this senior sister, [Blood Sea · Amberly], who also belonged to the Twelve Apostles. "Don't you know you stink of alcohol? How much have you been drinking?! Can you stay away from me!"

"Do I?"

Amberly frowned slightly, raised her arm and sniffed the clothes under her armpit, and said in confusion, "It's okay, isn't it? The smell isn't too strong. Want to smell it again?"

"Get lost!"

The professor behind the bar happily watched his cute students interact intimately, with no intention of stopping them.

Ding-dong—

The bell at the door rang in succession, and several figures filed in.

A burly young man with thick eyebrows, big eyes, and an aura of righteousness, wearing simple white martial arts clothing – the 7th disciple, [Thunder Wolf · Wang Hu].

A pale, thin young man with bulging fish-like eyes, heavy dark circles under his eyes, walking unsteadily, with a tired look on his face, wearing a white shirt – the 5th disciple, [Asynchronous Call · LAn].

An unknown figure wearing a black leather jacket and an opaque motorcycle helmet – the 10th disciple, [Supercritical].

A lizard-headed creature wearing a gray-brown hooded robe, gliding along the ground while walking, occasionally sticking out a forked tongue and sniffing the air – the 6th disciple, [Innate Theory · Nesser].

A plain-looking young man in white clothes, with a gentle smile and squinting eyes – the 1st disciple, [Tai Hao].

A handsome, black-haired young man with an indifferent expression – the 2nd disciple, [Out of Control].

A small, blonde girl with a lazy attitude, holding the back of her head with both hands and whistling – the 3rd disciple, [Combustion Theory · Crazy Burn].

A skeletal frame wearing a gentleman's trench coat and holding its head in its hands – the 4th disciple, [Door-like Spiked Wave].

A portly otaku wearing an anime T-shirt, wearing glasses, whose style was completely out of sync with everyone else – the 11th disciple, [Action at a Distance · Bass].

Including the 8th-ranked witch, the 9th-ranked Miaomiao Tou, and [Blood Sea · Amberly], who shared the 3rd ranking with [Crazy Burn] (their situations were special).

Out of the professor's twelve disciples, eleven had arrived.

"Oh, everyone's here."

Amberly put down the glass of rum that the professor had poured for her and said, raising her eyebrows, "Rare, isn't it? Everyone's here."

"Now that everyone's here, just get to the point."

Crazy Burn, who looked no more than 11 years old, curled her lips and said with an old-fashioned air, "What are you standing around for?"

"Don't be impatient."

The professor shook his head and said with a gentle smile, "There's still one missing."

As soon as he finished speaking, there was another ding-dong sound.

A handsome guy with short blond hair walked in from outside the door, nodding somewhat cautiously and respectfully to everyone.

"He's your junior brother."

The professor gave a faint introduction. The blond-haired handsome guy had the player name [Stonemason] floating above his head, the same Syndicate member that Li Ang had met.

"Hello, senior brothers and sisters."

Stonemason rubbed his palms together, with a slightly awkward smile on his face.

A new member?

The witch raised an eyebrow. These people were all disciples personally selected by the professor.

Some were discovered after the Killing Game began, and some (such as Tai Hao, Out of Control, and LAn) had been working with the professor even before the Killing Game began.

In the real world, some stock market crashes, company bankruptcies, and natural disaster events that affected the world or local patterns were all caused by the professor and his disciples.

However, the witch and Miaomiao Tou had joined relatively late and didn't know much about these things.

The professor's disciple who was ranked twelfth before was a proud and arrogant young man with a genius-level talent for psionic energy.

Everyone thought he would achieve something, but unexpectedly, he died in a script mission more than a month ago, without even reaching Lv10.

Anyway, that little junior brother had a bad temper and wasn't familiar with anyone else, so it was no big deal that he died.

As for this newcomer...

We'll see if he can survive this Doorway Competition.

Most of the eleven disciples didn't give Stonemason a good look, only Tai Hao, Bass, and Wang Hu smiled at Stonemason in a friendly manner.

Stonemason returned a grateful smile – according to the information he knew, among the disciples present, except for Bass, Miaomiao Tou, and LAn, who were not good at fighting, the other eight were all ranked on the personal leaderboard.

The black-haired youth [Out of Control] was ranked second,

The squinting-eyed youth [Tai Hao] was ranked fifteenth,

The little girl [Crazy Burn] was ranked thirty-second...

Among the top 100, the Syndicate occupied eight places, which would probably completely shatter the understanding of other organizations if it were made public.

But strangely, the professor, as the teacher of these people, did not appear on the leaderboard – Stonemason was very sure that the professor was also a player, after all, the latter could freely enter and exit the plaza.

I wonder what's going on...

Stonemason buried his doubts in his heart. He had joined the Syndicate for a long time, and was only promoted to disciple this morning to fill the vacancy.

He didn't think he could beat the other disciples. Even Miaomiao Tou or Bass, who seemed the weakest, had a kind of pressure that could shock him.

The more you say, the more mistakes you make, so let's just keep watching...

The others didn't notice Stonemason's psychological fluctuations. The professor finally put down the glass he had been wiping for a long time, raised his head, looked at his disciples, and said with a gentle smile, "The reason I called you here today, I believe you already know.

In this Doorway Competition, we must enter the final round as much as possible..."

"Don't worry, teacher."

Wang Hu punched his fists together and said in a deep voice, "We won't let you down."

"It's not a question of disappointment."

The professor shook his head and said softly, "The appearance of the Doorway Competition means that the fusion of the Killing Game and the real world has taken another step.

The sleeping will awaken.

The dead will be resurrected.

The point is not who obtains the doorway,

But rather, don't let anyone obtain the doorway.

This is related to the life and death of ordinary people in the real world, and is far more important than you think..."