Chapter 1 "Yo"

"Yo~ Hello everyone." Feng Bujue strolled into the conference room, looking relaxed and at ease. No one could tell... that not long ago, he had participated in a strange gamble related to a mysterious organization and made a well-known entrepreneur, who was often in the news, vanish from the face of the earth.

"I saw you hadn't come back, so I went online first," Ruoyu said after seeing him.

"It's a good thing you made it in time..." Miss An continued, "We were just discussing... in case you were absent today, whether we could communicate with customer service and the game company... to allow us to compete in a 'no spectators' state."

"Hehe... don't worry." Feng Bujue replied with a smile, "Even if I don't make it home in time, I'll find a device to connect to the internet."

"Speaking of which..." Ruoyu then said, "You said you were going out with Ouyang Jian to take care of some business after lunch, and then you didn't show up until now..." She paused and gave Jue-ge a meaningful look, "You two... didn't really go to Corpse Blade to extort them, did you?"

Everyone sitting in this conference room was on their side, so Ruoyu wasn't afraid to bring these things out into the open. When Xiao Tan, Xiao Ling, and Miss An heard the words "extort," they were only briefly surprised, and soon... they accepted the premise and sincerely believed that it wouldn't be strange for Feng Bujue to do something like that.

"Not exactly," Feng Bujue said, "We just went to Corpse Blade's office building and had a chat with their chairman."

"And then..." Ruoyu gestured for Jue-ge to continue.

"I think their company won't have the energy to 'take care of me' for a long time," Feng Bujue replied with a cryptic remark.

"Jue-ge..." Xiao Tan understood Jue-ge best. He narrowed his eyes and said, "Um... you didn't kill or drive them crazy, did you?"

"Hehe..." Feng Bujue smiled, "That's what you think..." He shrugged and shifted his gaze elsewhere, "Even if he really dies or goes crazy in the near future... it has nothing to do with me directly."

"Which means..." Ruoyu continued, "...there's an indirect connection?"

"Heh..." Jue-ge smiled, but still didn't reveal any definite information, "I estimate... there will be news about this in a few days, anyway, I can't explain it clearly in a short time, you should just read it yourselves." With that, he took the opportunity to change the subject, "Okay, hurry up and form the team, there are two minutes (real time) left to prepare to enter the queue."

…………

At the same time, Corpse Blade Studio.

"Let me sort out my thoughts..." In the general manager's office, Corpse Blade's general manager, Manager Liu, was speaking to Captain Wu from the security department across the desk, "At that time... the chairman suddenly called you and asked you to gather all the security guards within three minutes... and run to the top floor to search the entire floor and guard the door of his office, not allowing anyone to enter." He paused for a second, "And about ten minutes later, a lawyer surnamed Ouyang, and... that novelist named 'Feng Bujue', came out of the chairman's office, each holding a briefcase and a tablet computer..."

"Yes," Captain Wu nodded in response.

"And you just let them leave like that?" Manager Liu asked.

"Uh... the chairman ordered us to let them go," Captain Wu replied.

"How did he order you?" Manager Liu frowned and pressed.

"He... called me again," Captain Wu replied, adding half a second later, "Just as those two walked out of the chairman's office door."

"Oh?" Manager Liu looked suspicious and muttered, "Then why didn't he come out of the chairman's office himself to tell you? It's only a few steps away..."

"I don't know..." Captain Wu shook his head.

"Okay..." Manager Liu nodded, "Continue..."

Captain Wu wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and continued, "After that lawyer Ouyang and the novelist surnamed Feng left the top floor, the chairman immediately called me again, asking me to dismiss the team and return to my post." He said while recalling, "Later... after about ten minutes, I saw the chairman and a man in Tang-style clothing walking out of his office together and into the elevator through the surveillance camera."

"Who's that again?" Manager Liu interjected.

"Uh... I don't know," Captain Wu replied somewhat awkwardly, "Of the three people who came out of the chairman's office tonight... only that lawyer Ouyang had an appointment when he came, and he also had a pass issued by us. The other two had no record of entering the building..."

"So that's your negligence?" Manager Liu asked in a questioning tone.

"Um... I..." Captain Wu couldn't think of an excuse, so he could only reply, "I've already sent people to check the surveillance footage, maybe we can find out how they snuck..."

"Alright, there's no need for that..." Manager Liu interrupted, "At this point, doing those things is meaningless..." He frowned and bit his lip, "If something really happens to the chairman this time... then the police will be alerted sooner or later. When that happens, the police will naturally check the footage, so you just cooperate with their work."

"Yes... yes..." Captain Wu replied.

"So, what happened next?" Manager Liu asked again, "You just watched the chairman being taken away by that man in Tang-style clothing?"

"Uh... he..." Captain Wu stammered, "The chairman... didn't look like he was being taken away."

Manager Liu continued, "Don't tell me he followed that person voluntarily?"

"That's right," Captain Wu nodded, "We saw from the surveillance that the chairman was wearing sunglasses, covering most of his face, and was using one hand to support that person's shoulder, following behind that person... the two of them took the elevator down to the first floor lobby and walked out of the building." He shrugged helplessly, "The security guards in the lobby also recognized the chairman. Because he looked like he was voluntarily following someone else, no one stepped forward to stop him."

"Hmm..." Manager Liu fell into thought, then said after a moment, "In any case... let's suppress this matter for now. The chairman is an adult after all. Since he wasn't forced to leave, there might be some hidden reason... Let's not jump to conclusions or get anxious. Maybe he'll come to the company as usual tomorrow..." He looked at Captain Wu and winked, "I... will try to contact the chairman again. If I really can't reach him, I'll call his home later and give them a rough overview of the situation. Then they can decide how to handle it..." While saying these words, he seemed to have sorted out his thoughts. At the end, he let out a sigh of relief, "Even if we really have to call the police, it's more appropriate for the chairman's family to report it... Don't you think so?"

"Yes, yes, yes~" Captain Wu nodded like a rattle, "Manager Liu is absolutely right..."

For Captain Wu, at this moment, it was great to have someone with a clearer head to do the accounting, deflect responsibility, and make decisions.

"Alright..." Manager Liu picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip, "You go back to work too. Tonight... I have a lot of things to do."

"Okay, Manager Liu, then I'll go first," Captain Wu responded and quickly left the general manager's office.

After Captain Wu closed the door, Manager Liu's expression suddenly turned gloomy. A few seconds later, he took out a very old mobile phone from his pocket and pressed a speed dial key.

"Hello? Yes... it's me," Manager Liu said in a deep voice, "Yes... I've already arranged everything. I can at least buy us more than ten hours... Okay... understood... I'll do everything according to Mr. Kujo's instructions..." He paused, "By the way... about tonight's match... I've already switched the medicine for Team One. The effects of the medicine will dissipate after the match starts, is that okay?"

…………

Midnight, i.e., 0:00 on November 9th.

The third round of the All-Star Melee, the battle of sixty-four advancing to thirty-two, begins...

[Feng Bujue, Level 50]

[Wang Tanzhi, Level 50]

[Si Yu Ruo Li, Level 50]

[Bei Ling Xiao Gu, Level 50]

[Shi Shang Hua Jian, Level 50]

[Please select the game mode for the team to join.]

[You have selected Zenith Championship S2 - All-Star Melee, please confirm.]

[Confirmed, please select the spectator for this battle.]

[Confirmed, your team has entered the queue, waiting for your opponent to be ready.]

[Match found, coordinating neural connections, script generation in progress...]

[Loading begins, please wait.]

"The smoke of war has just settled, and blood is still thick, the All-Star Melee starts again without waiting. All the stars gather in the Four Realms, and their heroic sentiments soar beyond the Ninth Heaven."

[Loading complete, welcome to Zenith Championship S2 - All-Star Melee.]

[This mode provides a script introduction and has a chance to trigger side hidden quests and special worldviews.]

[Script victory reward: Advance to the fourth round of the playoffs.]

[The script introduction will be played soon, and the match will start immediately after the playback is complete.]

After a series of familiar system prompts, the opening CG began to play.

[Hundred-year-old ancient town, ominous aura descends.]

[Thousand-year-old ancient temple, shadows of blood abound.]

This opening statement was concise and to the point. However, the CG screen showed a very harmonious scene...

[Heyue Town is famous for its beautiful scenery; there is an ancient temple on the mountain west of the town, named "Liuhe Temple," which is a thousand-year-old ancient temple.]

Along with the narration, a small town in Jiangnan, surrounded by mountains and rivers, came into the players' eyes.

[More than a hundred years ago, a group of refugees fled from afar to this place, and the monks in the temple provided rice and porridge, saving their lives. Since then, the refugees have cultivated farmland at the foot of Liuhe Temple Mountain, widened river channels, and built this town.]

[After a hundred years of vicissitudes, Heyue Town has become a world-famous Buddhist holy site, a land of fish and rice.]

[However, in the hundredth year of Heyue Town's construction, a rumor about Liuhe Temple spread like wildfire...]

The narration took a turn at this point, and the CG screen also took a turn in style.

[Legend has it that a Buddhist secret treasure is enshrined in the temple...]

The camera moved quickly, flying over the Liuhe Temple from a bird's-eye view.

[There are nine doors and nine pivots in the temple... a total of ninety-nine and eighty-one restrictions, sealing the secret treasure. And the method of unlocking the restrictions is passed down orally by the abbots and kept strictly confidential.]

As it spoke, the camera locked onto a pagoda in the temple.

[In a certain year, a group of notorious bandits in the Jianghu set their sights on this secret treasure and sneaked into the temple one night...]

The narration ended here, but the CG wasn't over yet...

The camera went black... the next second, pale and ferocious faces, empty dead eyes, and blood-stained bodies flashed across the screen at high speed. The players' ears also heard countless mournful wails and mad laughter.

Just as this terrifying combination of sound and image rushed towards them... the script began.

The moment Feng Bujue regained his ability to move, he clearly felt--cold.

It was a cold that penetrated to the marrow, a cold from the inside out... Even though the surrounding temperature was not very low, he could actually breathe out white mist.

"Has the scenic land of fish and rice become like this..." Jue-ge scanned the surrounding environment at the first moment, and as a result, he saw dilapidated houses, broken stone bridges, muddy roads, withered plants... Of course, the most noteworthy thing was--blood.

Blood stains could be found on the walls, flagstone roads, mud, and even on withered tree trunks and roadside rocks.

The color of those blood stains was dark red, and they were mostly irregular in shape, with a few in the shape of "handprints"; in addition to the strong smell of blood, they also emitted a pungent stench.

[Main quest triggered]

[Kill the four members of "Corpse Blade First Team."]

The system prompt sounded quickly, announcing the official start of the game. But at this time, Jue-ge looked around and didn't see a single person.

It seems... that this script threw the players into various parts of the town from the very beginning, and... this is probably a ghost town.

"Hmm... let me see..." Feng Bujue muttered as soon as he opened his mouth.

While speaking, he also squatted down, randomly wiped a handful of blood stains on the ground, and took it to his eyes to examine it carefully, and smelled it carefully... Just as the audience watching the game thought that Jue-ge was going to put his finger in his mouth to lick it, he shook his hand and stood up again.

"So..." Jue-ge said thoughtfully, "What kind of situation is this..." He glanced around in all directions again, "Did hundreds of people with blood clotting disorders have a melee here?" His eyes changed slightly, and he said in a deep voice, "Or... am I already in some kind of strange 'barrier'..." Two seconds later, he tilted his head indifferently again, and returned to his usual unserious appearance, "If it's the latter... then I have to be careful in this environment where blood can't clot... A few small wounds might be fatal..."

Tu-tu-tu-tu--

Just as Jue-ge uttered those words, suddenly... a burst of gunfire rang out behind him.