Chapter 11 November Fifteenth

November 15th, night, 9:40 PM.

Ma Junxiao, the famous professional player "Devourer of Heavens - Gui Xiao," was successfully rescued by the police.

Well, "rescued"... actually, he was "released."

Shortly after Dongfeng was arrested, the three kidnappers received a "telephone instruction" to release the hostage. Although they hesitated, they complied.

Minutes later, Gui Xiao, after leaving the residential building, was quickly protected by police officers hiding in the shadows.

Later that night, at 10:15 PM, after reuniting with his family, Gui Xiao went to the hospital for a simple checkup. Then, at his own request, he went back to the team's headquarters with Brother Chan to prepare for the competition.

On the other hand, the three "executors" who kidnapped Gui Xiao carried out the "retreat plan" at 10:00 PM, but... they were arrested as soon as they left the building.

Without a hostage, it was easy for the police to subdue them. Only when they were being escorted into the police car did the three realize that the last few instructions didn't seem to have been issued by the "planner" himself.

Unfortunately... they realized it too late.

At the behest of Division Nine, the police listed the three executors as the main suspects, and the case ended there. Deputy Director Zheng and the other undercover agent were also imprisoned shortly after... their records weren't clean to begin with, which was why Dongfeng threatened them. After this incident, the two were dealt with together.

As for Dongfeng... he fell into the hands of Division Nine. Even Feng Bujue didn't know what fate awaited him.

Anyway, Jue Ge didn't follow Bao Qing into Division Nine's headquarters. After confirming that Gui Xiao had been rescued, he had Xiao Tan (tonight, this rich and handsome doctor drove his luxury car to be his friend's driver) drive him back.

Looking at the entire incident today, the only secret that hasn't been revealed is... the identity of the "mastermind," that is, the person who paid Dongfeng to hire him.

Of course, who this person is... isn't important. After Dongfeng enters Division Nine, he will definitely reveal the identity of this employer. Even if he is extremely professional and refuses to say anything... with Chief Gu's ability (a bit of trivia: Gu Chen had three main occupations when he was young: doctor, ghost hunter, and detective), he can figure out the mastermind's identity through deduction alone.

"Has a large amount of assets," "has the ability to participate in huge illegal gambling," "can contact a criminal consultant like Dongfeng"... people who meet these characteristics are not difficult to find. Feng Bujue was also clear about this, so he didn't bother to dig deeper into the mastermind's clue. He just rescued Gui Xiao and then went home, keeping his merits hidden.

…………

November 16th, midnight.

The final semi-final of the Peak Hegemony S2 finally started nearly twenty hours late.

At the request of Gui Xiao and his family, Order didn't announce any information about the kidnapping incident that day.

In the eyes of the audience... everything was normal, just waiting for a wonderful victory or defeat.

However, no one thought that the final result of this competition would be...

…………

"Forfeit?" When Feng Bujue and his teammates saw this announcement in the conference room, they almost simultaneously uttered this sentence in surprise.

Who would have thought that the peak battle between Order and Deities would end hastily with Deities' forfeit.

"No way... there's no reason for this..." Huajian said in confusion after seeing the news.

"Could it be... that today's kidnapping case really has something to do with them?" Xiao Tan looked at Jue Ge and said, "When they found out that Gui Xiao was safe and sound, they felt guilty... and forfeited directly?"

"No... Shi Long is not that kind of person." Feng Bujue replied with an affirmative tone.

Shi Long is the real name of [Shiva]. He used the name of an Indian deity in the game, and in reality... he also has a rather well-known name.

"Although I'm not very familiar with him, I can see that... this guy's character and nature are pretty good." Jue Ge looked up at Xiao Tan, "Speaking of which... he is also a rich second generation."

"Hey, hey... why do you always look at me when you talk about rich second generations..." Xiao Tan couldn't help but complain.

"Okay..." Feng Bujue said, turning to look at the three beauties in the team, "He... is also a rich second generation."

Before he finished speaking, the snacks in the hands of the three people flew out at the same time and quickly smeared Jue Ge's face.

"Okay~ okay~" Jue Ge wiped his face and said again, "He is similar to Jin Fugui... also a rich second generation."

After saying that, he looked at his teammates' reactions... taking Atobe as an example, everyone didn't seem to have any objections.

So, Feng Bujue continued: "As we all know, rich second generations are also divided into grades... for example, your families are probably equivalent to the crown prince of an Arab country; and Jin Fugui's family, including real estate, has assets of over 100 million, but it's far worse than you guys." He paused, "As for Shi Long's family... it's more than ten times richer than Jin Fugui's family. So, also at the age of twenty-something, relying on family funding to start a business... Jin Fugui can only start from a small game studio, while Shi Long starts directly from a large company."

Jue Ge said, picking up the drink on the table and taking a sip: "As a side note... I think in terms of real-world operational capabilities, Jin Fugui will be able to surpass Shi Long in at most two years; obviously, the latter is more suitable to be a professional player, and in terms of operations... Shi Long is basically a hands-off shopkeeper. In the years since the establishment of Deities, the daily affairs of the studio have been taken care of by others. I think... this is also why Deities has always been suppressed by Order; fundamentally speaking, Shi Long is not a businessman, he often looks at problems from the perspective of a player or a team captain, rather than from the perspective of a capitalist or operator. Although in some ways, this approach has its advantages, but in the long run... it is not conducive to the profitability and development of the enterprise."

"Alright, don't get off track." Huajian saw that Jue Ge was getting more and more excited, so she quickly brought the topic back, "Just tell me why you don't think he would plot the kidnapping."

"It's very simple..." Feng Bujue replied, "The motive doesn't hold up."

"Eh? According to the usual logic... isn't he the one with the most motive?" Xiao Tan asked.

"No..." Xiao Ling interjected thoughtfully at this time, "It looks like that, but the opposite is true..."

"That's right." Feng Bujue nodded, "People are paying attention to the 'result' of the game, but they are ignoring the 'meaning' of the game..."

At this point, Huajian's bright eyes turned, and she suddenly realized: "That's right! What Shiva values is not just the 'result of victory,' but more importantly, the 'process of winning.'"

"Exactly." Jue Ge snapped his fingers and continued, "Since the launch of *Thriller Paradise*, the ID [Devourer of Heavens - Gui Xiao] has occupied the title of 'strongest' for many years, whether it is the official rankings, player-initiated rankings, or various media reports... he is recognized as the game's number one player. Originally... the strength of Order's 'Live and Dream' might not be stronger than Deities' 'Four Heavenly Kings,' but because of Gui Xiao, Deities was also suppressed in their most proud 'combat power' aspect." He paused for two seconds and continued, "And to change this situation, there is only one way... to defeat Order's first team with Gui Xiao in the competition and prove the strength of Deities."

"I understand..." Ruoyu, who was next to him, also followed Jue Ge's thinking, and at this time pondered, "For Shiva, this head-on confrontation with Order... may be more important than the final. He is the least willing person for Gui Xiao to be unable to play... because he needs to defeat an Order team with Gui Xiao to justify Deities' name. Conversely speaking... it's meaningless to win a team without Gui Xiao and enter the final."

"That's right..." Huajian also said, "If Order loses today because Gui Xiao couldn't play... people's evaluation of Gui Xiao will not decrease, but will instead become higher..."

"So... Shi Long has no reason to do that thing." Feng Bujue said at this time, "In addition, the motive we just discussed... 'kidnapping the opponent's main player in order to advance to the final' is just a superficial motive that anyone can see; the real motive... as I told you before (at this time, Jue Ge naturally told his teammates about what happened during the day), should be related to peripheral gambling." He spread his hands, "And that... is even more impossible to be related to Shi Long... not to mention that his family is not short of money, and they earn legitimate money... just talking about Shi Long's personality, he is also the type who would never gamble. I have fought with him more than once or twice, his steady fighting style is similar to Blade's [Pojun], and is an absolutely rational type. This kind of person is mentally strong and proud; fluke mentality, or gambler mentality, is seen by them as a bad habit of the weak, and they are not good at tricks and 'taking chances'... they are the kind of people who like to use strength to make the other party lose convincingly."

"And that 'mastermind'..." Huajian followed Jue Ge's words, "Is just a dirty gambler?"

"Heh..." Feng Bujue sneered, "The word 'gambler' is not worthy of that person, and 'dirty' is not accurate, but I understand what you mean." He shrugged, "In any case, Shi Long will never be related to today's kidnapping incident, he probably doesn't know anything about what happened during the day..." Saying that, Jue Ge looked up at the ceiling, with a contemplative look on his face, "Deities suddenly forfeiting... there must be other reasons..."

…………

Sixteenth, 3:20 AM.

After being bombarded by various messages, emails, and phone calls for several hours, the exhausted Shi Long finally returned home.

About three months ago, Shi Long held a wedding with his fiancée, but they had lived together for several years.

Their home is a villa in the city center of S City (there are very few villas in the city center, but there are still some, of course, the price is very... very expensive). The villa is not far from Deities' headquarters, and it takes ten minutes to drive there.

Shi Long's wife works in his company, serving as his assistant; the two go in and out together every day, and are very affectionate.

But tonight, after Shi Long drove his wife home, he let her go back to her room to rest alone.

And Shi Long himself... came to the study, locked the door, and sat behind a desk... lost in thought.

His wife didn't come to disturb him, she understood... at this time, she didn't need to ask anything or say anything.

This is a moment when a man needs to be quiet.

However, I'm afraid he can't get his wish...

Whoosh whoosh whoosh—

After a burst of metal roller friction, a bookshelf wall behind Shi Long moved horizontally for half.

A man came out from inside.

When Shi Long heard the sound, his expression changed drastically and he turned his head suddenly, only to see...

"Feng Bujue?" Shi Long was shocked, "How are you in my house?" He paused for half a second and said again, "How did you get into the panic room?"

"I want to talk to you, but I think you should be very busy tonight." Feng Bujue walked out with a smile, and walked leisurely to the sofa next to the desk and sat down, "And... it's more convenient to say some things face-to-face, so I came directly."

"I'm not asking you why you came..." Shi Long's expression was still not very friendly, of course, this is also human nature... even if it's your good friend, you will be shocked and angry if they sneak into your house without your knowledge, let alone if they are not very close friends, "I'm asking how you got in!"

"Oh... that..." Feng Bujue replied with a lazy expression, "Your home's anti-theft system hasn't been upgraded since you bought this villa, right? Although it's more than enough to prevent ordinary petty thieves, it's like a window paper when you encounter an expert..." Saying that, he took out a piece of paper from his arms, "Here... this is my route map, I was bored when I was waiting for you in the panic room; the method of intrusion has been marked next to it, and I have also attached some of my guidance on this anti-theft system. Take it to the security company's people when you have time and let them help you upgrade the system, I guarantee... after it's done, no one except Ethan Hunt-level agents can get in."

Shi Long looked at Jue Ge with a wooden expression, speechless, and ten thousand alpacas roared past in his heart...

After standing there for a few seconds, Shi Long took the paper, glanced at it, and then carefully folded it and put it in the desk drawer...

"Oh, by the way, I discovered that 'panic room' by accident." After Feng Bujue sent the note, he put his hands behind his head, leaned back on the sofa, and continued in a casual tone, "I originally wanted to wait for you in the study, but during the infiltration process... I found some abnormalities in the structure of the villa through observation, so I looked for it..."

"Brother Feng..." Shi Long didn't have the mood to listen to his nonsense at this time, he interrupted Jue Ge and said, "I... I'm not in the mood to chat with you now. Whether you are a novelist or a hidden international thief... at this moment, I just want to ask you to leave my home." His expression when he said this was very serious, "I won't say harsh words, I'll just say one sentence - 'Please get out, or I'll call the police.'"

"Call the police?" Feng Bujue heard the words and didn't mean to get up from the sofa at all. He showed a meaningful smile and replied, "Heh... you and I both know that the police can't help you solve what you're encountering..."