Chapter 1 A Plot of Land

Emerging from the void, Li Ang landed lightly on the brick pavement of the game plaza.

Compared to a few days ago, the game plaza had undergone some changes.

There was a garden with a fountain sculpture in front of the mall.

The roadside was lined with streetlights, street signs, lawns, and flower beds, and many naturally active insects could even be seen in the flower beds.

It no longer seemed so cold and rigid.

This was quite wonderful. According to a guild called "The Watchers" on the forum,

the fountains, statues, lawns and other facilities appeared slowly over the past few days, without player intervention, and should have been done by the system itself.

Some people believe that this is the system automatically generating an environment based on the characteristics of the mainstream players in the plaza, in order to adapt to the living habits of the mainstream players—

The mainstream players now are humans, so the environment should naturally be based on human aesthetics.

However, this gave rise to a new problem: where are the animal-type players in the plaza? Are they disguising themselves as humans and blending into the crowd? Or do they have another plaza dedicated to animal players?

Discussions on this topic have never stopped on the forum, but unfortunately some insiders are unwilling to speak,

and the responses from large organizations are also ambiguous, seemingly unwilling to reveal more information.

Li Ang shook the white coat he was wearing on the outside, looked around for a while, and walked towards the opposite side of the mall.

On the way, he also saw a player wearing a yellow circular smiley face badge, using a professional camera to film the bustling street scene.

The yellow smiley face badge is the symbol of the secret guild "The Watchers."

They call themselves "recorders, observers, watchers."

Their daily behavior is... filming and recording everything related to the Killing Game,

from black market trading scenes in the suburbs of Southeast Asian cities,

to the mansions and luxury cars of the newly emerging Brazilian Shichibukai in South America,

from the dying moments of a bounty hunter beaten to death by enemies,

to the extravagant scenes of nouveau riche newbie players spending money like water in nightclubs.

The Watchers can always get all kinds of photos, coupled with a plain and precise text description, and publish them on the website.

In their own words, "We are observing and recording the real history."

But in the eyes of other players... these people must be really idle, and not afraid of death at all.

Li Ang was well disguised, so he was not very afraid of facing the camera. Besides, if the Watchers filmed too aggressively, they would be slapped into the wall by the plaza's guard NPCs.

He walked along the most bustling street in the plaza,

first to the office buildings of official institutions such as the Special Affairs Bureau, the Global Supernatural Alliance, and the Special Incident Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation—the first few floors of the official institution buildings are open to players, and players with cooperative intentions are very welcome to inquire about information.

As Li Ang had expected, the official institutions did have several mature, stable, and safe body modification technologies,

enough to catalyze ordinary people into top warriors close to the limits of the human body in a very short period of time.

For low-level players, there are also several efficient modification plans.

It's just that the official institutions seem to be hiding something, and these modification surgeries are not cheap.

If ordinary players want to undergo modification, they have to sign a lot of complex agreements with the official institutions, agree to contact the official in the real world, and register player information.

If you want to obtain extraordinary power easily and comfortably, you naturally have to pay a certain price, which is very fair.

After Li Ang checked the body modification surgery services of the official institutions,

he turned around and went to the branches opened by non-governmental organizations in the plaza.

Although they are called non-governmental organizations, each of them is a behemoth-level multinational corporation.

The Killing Game is too large, and even multinational corporations find it difficult to swallow it in one bite.

In order to compete and protect themselves, even multinational corporations in different fields have begun to band together for warmth.

A consortium is a monopoly group formed by the integration of huge banks and huge enterprises controlled by a very small number of financial oligarchs.

A zaibatsu is a monopoly group formed by the combination of clansmen and relatives under the control of the same financial oligarch.

Group organizations that are united because of the Killing Game and symbolize the huge old forces,

rely on the huge amount of wealth and resources of the past to control a large number of players at the beginning of the game and stabilize the situation.

Its top level has the characteristics of both a consortium and a zaibatsu—among the top level, there are also many young family heirs who have player identities.

It is difficult to give them an accurate definition to judge whether they are new forces or old forces.

In short, these group organizations unite together in secret, using past network relationships to facilitate each other.

On the surface, they jointly launch one or several new companies as representatives of the interests of the group organizations.

And the various services provided by these new companies... are indeed cheaper and more cost-effective than those of official institutions.

It's just that the strictness of the contracts is no less—they will promise that as long as you join the company, they will immediately arrange a series of tailor-made enhancement surgeries for you, and help you transform in minutes.

Similarly, your whole person will be tied to the company's chariot, and you will never be able to get off.

You may be a pawn until death, and you may not even know which group organizations are behind the company.

Li Ang strolled around the branch offices of the companies opened by non-governmental organizations.

I have to say, these group organizations are really willing to spend a lot of money.

The young ladies and brothers at the front desk were more gentle and professional than the last, with explosive looks. Facing Li Ang's repeated inquiries, they did not show any impatience at all.

I really don't know how they train their employees.

Li Ang missed the opportunity to act tough by saying, "The salesperson looks down on me, I turn around and take out 10 million and smash it on the table."

In addition to the commercial companies launched by group organizations, there are also some small and medium-sized secret societies that sell body modification and enhancement services—including the Whale Song and even the Tanhua organizations.

Li Ang strolled around the commercial street, collected the required information,

and filtered the information in his mind while walking towards the sales office.

"The most basic body modification is provided by official institutions such as the Global Supernatural Alliance. While improving physical fitness, it can also allow muscles to develop instinctive memory of tactical movements. It can be said that after the modification, you are equivalent to a freshly baked special soldier."

"Whale Song Organization takes the path of mechanical ascension by replacing the human body with mechanical prosthetics. After the modification, physical fitness soars by a circle, and you can also have night vision, super hearing, and other bonus abilities for nothing.

But if you accept the transformation of Whale Song Organization, you can only find Whale Song Organization for prosthetic reinforcement if you want to improve yourself later. It is not worth the loss."

"Although the Monster Alliance organization is very funny, it is composed of a group of players with alien bloodlines. There are many people, mixed fish and dragons, and many factions, and they cannot unite.

But the types of modification surgery they provide are the most abundant. If you want vampire blood, you will be embraced, and if you want werewolf blood, you will be bitten.

In minutes, you can be promoted from an ordinary otaku weakling to an otaku weakling among the dark races."

"Prometheus Laboratory Company is good at both biological and mechanical methods at the same time.

Whether it is advanced mechanical exoskeletons, individual micro-missiles, high-frequency cutting swords, or magnetic levitation high-speed skateboards,

or super soldier serum, lizardman blood gene potion,

as long as the player wants it, they can buy it.

Safe, fast, and fair price.

According to the lady at the front desk, there seems to be more powerful technology..."

"As for Tanhua, tsk, these people are not dead, and they have opened a shop in the plaza in a grand manner. They continue to provide Tanhua potions of different models starting from C to Z. It is said that there is a kind of potion that can stimulate the limits of physical fitness at the cost of burning life."

"In addition to Tanhua, there is also a Life Temple company that provides similar products. It seems that some pharmaceutical giants are behind this company?"

"Let me think, what other secret societies are there...

The Clock Tower of Great Britain provides magical circuit implantation surgery. The cost performance is too low, and the return cycle is too long. It cannot take effect immediately."

"The Templars provide stigmata imprinting services, which can release holy light to kill dark races. But the premise is that you must have a pure heart and a firm will. The latter is okay, but a pure heart... is enough to brush off more than 90% of the players."

"The newly emerging secret society, the Evil Scientist Alliance, is quite interesting. They make deals with demons, believe in science, and like to tinker with giant, ferocious machines in red and black tones, which has a kind of evil aesthetics. However, the transformation services they provide are too heavy, and normal people cannot accept it."

"The Witch Alliance? This organization is very friendly. The body modification fee is very low. If you join the alliance, you can get it for free, and you will also be given a lecture tutorial by the witch predecessors. It's a pity that only girls can enter..."

"Sword King's Court... This new guild sounds pretty awesome. The members of the organization are all codenamed after swords, such as Juque, Zhanlu, Chunjun, Shengxie, Yuchang... But it seems that they have not been established for long, right? Most of the members inside are also sword cultivators of the Sword Sect and Qi Sect. It's okay for them to fight.

But the transformation services that can be provided at present are at most helping people open up the Ren and Du meridians... It's not as good as the old grandfather in the ring."

Li Ang reviewed all the new or old, large or small organizations and forces that currently provide body modification services, and finally determined one thing—

The modification surgery he provides does have a unique advantage.

Opening a shop and working part-time as a black-hearted shop owner is a great way to make money.

With this thought in mind, Li Ang no longer hesitated, walked into the sales office, and said to the lady, "Hello, I want to buy a piece of land."