Chapter 159 Information Warfare

When the young masters' elite team returned to the tavern, Ye Xiaowu and Broken Water Arrow were indeed gone. Their eyes swept around, and although they didn't remember what the guys who had surrounded them looked like, some people's eyes had already betrayed them. After all, in terms of appearance, two members of the young masters' elite team were far from ordinary.

Without hesitation, Young Master Han casually picked a table and went up to inquire. The other party had obviously only taken the benefits to do things; there was no real connection, and no one had asked them to abide by any agreement. When the five of them went up and asked, they immediately told them everything. As Young Master Han had expected, these people had all been temporarily hired from the street by the priest.

However, these guys didn't reveal everything. In particular, what benefits they had been given was a topic everyone avoided. Even after changing a few tables, they gained nothing on this question.

"That guy seemed genuinely confident, not like he was faking it." After the five of them sat down at a table again, they began to ponder.

"Someone actually knows more about the game's information than I do?" Brother You was a little disheartened. He considered himself a top expert in practical combat, but in terms of knowledge, he had always been full of confidence. This confidence was by no means self-aggrandizement. Even if you randomly pulled a player from the street, as long as they had a little gaming experience, mentioning Brother You's name would never cause them to question him in this regard, at most just mock his hobby.

But today, there was such a person who actually said that what Brother You knew was just the tip of the iceberg compared to him, and said it with such confidence. The damage Brother You suffered was no less than Sword Demon's level drop, a kind of internal injury.

"Judging by how these guys are hiding and unwilling to talk, the benefits they received must be really hard to come by," Sword Demon said. "At least it's definitely not wine or money."

"He made a similar promise to us, wanting us not to side with Qian Li," War Without Wounds said.

"He also repeatedly talked about balance, balance. Although players care about this kind of thing, his attitude and tone..." Yu Tian Shen Ming also said.

Having all seen the world, the five of them looked at each other before saying in unison, "People from the game company?"

"If they are from the game company, it perfectly fits all the above conditions," Sword Demon said, nodding.

Brother You also breathed a long sigh of relief. If the other party was an internal member of the game company, it was no exaggeration to say that what he knew was just the tip of the iceberg. Parallel World was a very cheap game; the official information was pitifully scarce, making players feel like they were discovering the New World every time they found a new piece of equipment, a new quest, or a new skill, and they would publicize it everywhere. The game always maintained a sense of freshness, which was good, but the lack of real future information made players' expectations feel ungrounded, and whether this approach was good or bad had become a point of contention.

"But, if they are from the game company, how could they appear in this form?" Brother You asked strangely.

"That's right, they shouldn't be able to apply for accounts, right? Even if they pulled some strings and got into the game, they should be sneaking around. Why is this guy so arrogant? Does he think we can't tell he's an insider?" Yu Tian Shen Ming said.

"Also, if he's really confident in knowing everything about the game, he's probably not just an ordinary level. I feel like he'd have to be at least a chief planner level," Brother You said.

"But that might not be true, right? If they're diligent, it's possible for internal personnel to pay more attention to collecting information," Brother You immediately deduced his own deduction, probably thinking of his own hobbies.

"If we really have someone like that as an opponent..." Sword Demon only said half of this sentence before everyone looked at each other again.

"Conventional methods won't defeat him. Levels are completely unimportant to him; his most powerful weapon is information," Young Master Han concluded.

"Hey, what about the question I asked earlier? Why would someone like that appear in the game?" Yu Tian Shen Ming said.

"If he sneaked into the game, there's no need to dwell on whether Qian Li is disrupting the balance, and he wouldn't expose his position to the players; if not, then if he really wanted to deal with Qian Li, he could just ban his account, why would he run into the game to organize players to fight him?" Brother You analyzed in detail the impossibility of such a person being in the game.

The others shook their heads together, all feeling that this person's appearance was really a bit bizarre.

"No matter what, let's report this issue to the GM first!" Brother You started sending messages. The GM also had a separate channel, although it was basically just intelligent automated responses, it was the only way for players to report problems to the system in the game. It had been proven that there were staff members paying attention to this channel, and occasionally players could get human interaction. Of course, it would be a shame not to buy a lottery ticket that day.

"Let's just do this for now! When Qian Li comes tonight, maybe he'll know something about this person," Young Master Han said.

Then, everyone couldn't help but condemn Gu Fei's behavior of not doing his job properly and only playing the game for a few hours a day, and habitually disbanded.

Sword Demon was the last to leave the tavern. After leaving the tavern, he resolutely turned around and rushed towards the leveling area. He had been distracted by other things earlier, but now that it was temporarily over, he was immediately filled with the sadness of dropping a level.

Sword Demon felt that he was really unlucky enough. It was one thing to drop a level, but he had almost dropped two levels twice in a row. The last time was when he was level 30, almost 31, and dropped back to 29; and this time he was level 41, almost 42, and dropped back to 40. This simple and direct method of dropping one level without considering experience points had become a kind of competition of luck. Sword Demon was of course the unluckiest kind, dropping one level like it was two.

"Sigh!" Sword Demon sighed, looked up at the sky. Fallen leaves were often seen in LinYin City. If a random gust of wind couldn't blow up a few leaves, it would be a disservice to this great forest. At this time, there were fallen leaves dancing in the sky, and Sword Demon stared blankly, feeling that these fallen leaves were really too damn in sync with his mood.

Sword Demon sighed again and was about to bury his head and continue walking forward when he suddenly noticed that the fallen leaves fluttering in the sky suddenly curled upwards...

Sword Demon certainly didn't have Gu Fei's skills, but it would be too outrageous to think that he was also a newbie in practical combat experience. He had been playing games for so long. How could someone who always paid attention to improving himself not pay attention to accumulating experience? At this time, the sudden upward movement of the fallen leaves, but there was obviously no change in the wind direction, meant that something was falling!!! It was an attack!!!

Being able to make this deduction was already remarkable, but Sword Demon's reaction was ultimately a bit slow, and a sharp pain had already come from his shoulder. He couldn't bother to look back, suddenly rushed forward a step, turned 45 degrees sideways and rushed towards the nearest wall. When he leaned against the wall, he suddenly turned around, the dagger was already in his hand, and a cold light swept across with the turn.

The person behind him retreated quickly, avoiding Sword Demon's attack. He stuck out his tongue and smiled sinisterly at Sword Demon, "Quick reaction!"

"Who are you?" Sword Demon had already guessed the other party's origin seven or eight times out of ten. He was in an unfamiliar place, and someone suddenly attacked him. It was probably another accomplice of that priest.

"Hehe, haven't we already met once before?" The other party was still smiling.

Sword Demon's heart trembled. He had already guessed who this person was! That thief who suddenly flashed behind him in the forest before. And that speed was definitely a skill. If it was a few days ago, Sword Demon wouldn't have known what it was. But now that he had joined the Assassin Alliance and had the opportunity to choose, he clearly remembered a skill described as "Shake the afterimage and instantly flash behind the opponent," Shadow Footwork.

At the same time, Sword Demon also thought of someone Gu Fei had mentioned who knew this skill.

"Apple Cider Vinegar?" Sword Demon asked.

The other party nodded, and his expression began to turn gloomy, staring at Sword Demon like he was staring at prey.

A guy who had PKed more than 1600 players, his PK experience was needless to say. Against such an opponent, he couldn't be careless at all. Sword Demon's mind was also highly concentrated. Although he knew that he hadn't been away from the tavern for long, and his companions might be nearby, he had no intention of calling for help at all.

Although the opponent had gained a little advantage with a sneak attack, the other party hadn't brought any helpers, and this was just a one-on-one fight. Sword Demon's self-esteem didn't allow him to shout for help when he encountered such a situation. He had always been accustomed to playing the role of the person who was being shouted "Help!" at, not the one shouting "Help!"

"Use Misty Shadow Raid?" The Misty Shadow Raid skill was perfectly parked there, just waiting for Sword Demon to activate it, but just as he had this thought, he found that Apple Cider Vinegar's posture had already changed. He lowered his center of gravity, and like Broken Water Arrow before, he was very, very low, as if he was about to lie on the ground.

"He also knows the flaws of this skill..." Sword Demon saw it. Obviously, that priest who was familiar with the game's information had revealed this information to them. This kind of information might require multiple encounters to be summarized, but now, the other party had effortlessly obtained it. How could people keep saying that the wars of the 21st century were wars of information...

However, compared to that, Broken Water Arrow was obviously better than Apple Cider Vinegar. To this day, he was still confident that he could dodge again when Sword Demon used the skill, while Apple Cider Vinegar, in order to defend against this skill, had already laid on the ground in advance, not caring about his image at all.

But how good was he? Sword Demon couldn't help but smile bitterly. At some point, his back had been tightly pressed against the wall behind him, for no other reason than that he was also not confident that he could dodge Apple Cider Vinegar's "Shadow Footwork."

"I really envy Qian Li and those guys' superior reflexes..." Sword Demon couldn't help but sigh.

"Hey, how can you be distracted when fighting?" Apple Cider Vinegar's voice rang out, very close, right next to his ear. Sword Demon was shocked and was kicked away by Apple Cider Vinegar.

This kick didn't do much damage, but Sword Demon understood that if the other party could kick him, he could naturally stab him. By doing so, it was clear that he no longer cared about him.

"You don't even know the skill cancellation technique?" Apple Cider Vinegar looked at Sword Demon with disdain.

On a distant rooftop, sharp arrows shone in the sunlight.