Chapter 1 The Mall

The mall was as bustling as ever, the vast space under the circular dome teeming with people.

Though lively, it wasn't crowded. This was the benefit of the system diverting people; most players didn't bother locking in area codes, so each time they entered the mall, they were randomly assigned to a relatively empty mirrored space.

Feng Bujue wasn't in a rush to get to the Information Tower. Instead, he first went to the system shops on the outer ring to replenish ammunition, batteries, and survival value supplements.

"Hey, hey... look over there. Those uniforms... they're from 'Order'," a passerby A said a few meters away from Brother Jue as he was shopping.

"Wow, you're right," passerby B next to him replied. "Wait! Isn't that [Devouring Sky Ghost Howl]? And those four next to him, aren't they Order's 'Drunken Life, Dreamy Death'? A gathering of experts!"

Top-tier game studios usually published photos of all their professional players on their official websites. One reason was for publicity, and the other was to prevent situations where these players were impersonated in real life. After all, there were plenty of scammers in society, and most of these esports professionals went by their online names. If someone impersonated them to commit fraud, it would not only harm the victims but also affect the reputation of the players themselves.

"Damn... Devouring Sky Ghost Howl looks so much younger than in the photos. He looks like a high school student," passerby A said again.

Passerby B replied, "Yeah, it's hard to imagine that such a guy could consistently dominate the combat power rankings... But since he's Order's ace, it's probably impossible for him to be cheating or anything..."

"Sigh... the world of monsters... we don't understand it," passerby A sighed.

"But..." passerby B continued, "Compared to him, that anonymous player who recently soared to second place on the combat power rankings seems to be the hottest topic. Everyone is guessing that it must be a hidden ace from some professional studio."

"Yeah... I think so too. I reckon that mysterious player will be the biggest dark horse in the Peak Tournament," passerby A agreed.

Feng Bujue listened to the conversation between the two while shopping, his face expressionless. Even though he was extremely smug inside, he managed to keep his emotions in check on the surface.

"Drunken Life, Dreamy Death, huh..." Feng Bujue finished buying his supplies and prepared to head towards the Information Tower in the center. "Speaking of which... that brother [Dream (Slap)-Astound (Drink)-Zen (Scald)] probably knows me... What if he sees me and comes over to chat? I don't feel like I have anything to say to him. It'll be awkward. Should I switch areas? But going out of my way to avoid him would make me look like I have social anxiety, even though I can't deny that I kind of do..."

Meanwhile, the five members of Order weren't focused on the surrounding players. They had gathered today specifically to scour the auction house for equipment. After several days of preparation, Order's management had decided on the first-line players for the Peak Tournament, namely the five in front of them. Therefore, they had been allocated a sum of money by the higher-ups to make some improvements at the auction house.

For a top-tier studio like Order, the prizes were secondary; what they wanted was the ranking. In-game money wasn't worth much; advertising, player endorsements, and the related merchandise sales chain were the big money-makers.

Take the game accessories produced by Order's own company, such as mice, keyboards, gaming headsets, and peripherals... they sold like crazy online, thanks to the players' endorsements.

After people had been scammed by world-famous soccer players endorsing sports brands for decades, in the mid-21st century, esports stars endorsing various electronic products also embarked on this irreversible path...

Of course, Order had more than just these first-line players. They also had a large number of second- and third-line players... In short, they cast a wide net, the more Order players that squeezed into the top hundred, the better. Players who aimed for the top three could make a name for themselves, while those who occupied the top hundred could also promote the studio.

"Seriously... why do I have to come with you guys to buy equipment?" Ghost Howl stood under the Information Tower, saying to the four seniors beside him. "You four are too flamboyant. Walking around with you four in a public place like this... makes it look like gangsters are trying to stir up trouble."

"Four tall, burly gangsters taking a 1.6-meter sidekick to stir up trouble... That's a mid-laner getting crushed," a young man with a perm said with a smile. His ID was [Drunk Lying Sorrowfully], and one could tell from his words and demeanor that he was a talkative, joking person.

"I'm 1.69 meters! And I'm still growing!" Ghost Howl retorted, but after the words left his mouth, he realized his voice was a little too loud, causing many unsuspecting passersby to cast strange glances at him.

"Hic..." Dream Astound Zen put down the wine bottle in his hand, hiccupped, and patted Ghost Howl on the shoulder. "It's okay, Little Tun. Even if you don't grow any taller, you can still break 1.7 meters if you get a perm..."

"Who wants a perm! You're the only one in the whole guild who would get one!" Ghost Howl complained. "And... don't just give me a super lame nickname like Little Tun! What do you mean I won't grow any taller! That's a curse!"

"Alright... this is work. Can you guys be a little more serious?" Comprehending Death Through Profound Mysteries seemed embarrassed standing next to them and rubbed his forehead in exasperation.

At this moment, another young man with a bowl cut and a round face next to them added in a relatively calm tone, "That's right... if Ghost Howl didn't keep using public funds to buy useless things... the higher-ups wouldn't have asked us to act together."

This bowl-cut-headed person's ID was... [Raw Fish Slices]. That's right, among Order's four great experts of Drunken, Life, Dream, and Death, one of them actually had an ID of... Raw Fish Slices.

This person's ID couldn't help but remind me of a type of question that often appeared in elementary school language arts. First, list the four words [Drunk Lying Sorrowfully], [Raw Fish Slices], [Dream Astound Zen], and [Comprehending Death Through Profound Mysteries]. The question is, "Please find the one word that is more out of place among the four words above."

The occurrence of this situation was purely coincidental. Like Jianghu's "Blade Sword Laugh" and the Four Kings of the Gods, they had planned to have some connection when they chose their names. But Order's four were brought together after they had already become famous... In other words, the connection between their names was artificially added by others. If [Raw Fish Slices] was taken out of this group and called the Four Great Experts alongside the other three, it might become something like "Not a Single Slice Left."

"Hic~" Dream Astound Zen continued weakly, "Hear that, Xiao Xiao. It's wrong to spend money on useless props."

"You, with a cigarette in your left hand and a bottle of wine in your right, actually have the nerve to say that..." Drunk Lying Sorrowfully chuckled dryly.

Just as these five members of Order were lowering their image in the eyes of the masses in a public place...

Suddenly, another voice rang out from behind them: "Yo~ What a rare sight, to run into you guys here."

The members of Order turned around and saw four players wearing blue, white, and gray uniforms. Each of their uniforms had a light blue ice rose pattern on the right shoulder, with two words above it—Ice Emperor.

And the person who greeted the members of Order was [Name is Hard to Choose], commonly known as Xiao Ming.

"Oh... it's you guys," the four of Drunken Life, Dreamy Death actually recognized them.

"Huh? Who are these people?" Ghost Howl had a confused expression. He had never heard of Ice Emperor's name.

Comprehending Death Through Profound Mysteries said to him, "You should browse the forums occasionally. 'Ice Emperor' is the fastest-rising new studio in Thriller Paradise."

"Oh? Are they that famous?" Ghost Howl asked doubtfully.

"Yes, they are indeed very famous," Raw Fish Slices said. "Standing in front of you right now are the ones known as Ice Emperor's strongest team... Name is Really Hard to Choose, Choosing a Name is Really Hard, Really Hard to Choose a Name... Wait..."

Young Master Atobe's veins bulged on his forehead at that moment. "Who's 'Wait'! There are four people standing here, three of whom have ridiculous nicknames, and I'm the only one who's relatively normal, and you're calling me Wait!"

"Oh! I remember now, it's the 'Hard to Name' trio," Ghost Howl suddenly said with a realization, adding insult to injury. "Yeah, they're pretty famous. So their guild is called Ice Emperor."

As their conversation progressed to this point, Feng Bujue happened to walk by, hearing everything loud and clear. Brother Jue naturally hoped to pass by magnificently as quickly as possible, so as not to get involved with this group of idiots. Therefore, he quickened his pace, muttering in his heart: "You can't see me... you can't see me... you can't see me..."

Who knew... this acceleration of his would attract attention instead. The one who saw him was Dream Astound Zen. Brother Zen was just about to put wine in his mouth when he saw a familiar figure dressed as the Joker in his line of sight, and he spat out the liquid in his mouth. "Cough... cough cough... Feng... Feng Bujue! Hey! Brother Feng, it's me!"

The three words Feng Bujue seemed to have a magical power, causing the nine members of Ice Emperor and Order to focus their attention.

"You've got the wrong person..." Brother Jue covered his face with one hand and turned to leave.

"Don't be like that, Brother Feng. I still want to find you to study that last time," Dream Astound Zen was obviously still hung up on the script where they encountered the GM and the Derivative Scarlet Iron.

"Feng Bujue..." Comprehending Death Through Profound Mysteries muttered the ID. "He was also one of the six in Gotham City... Speaking of which... Shiva was squeezed to third place on the combat power rankings the day after that slaughter game..." He sized up Brother Jue with a suspicious gaze. "Hell Frontline... never heard of that guild before. Doesn't seem to be on any of the rankings either. Am I overthinking it..."