DEG - Chapter 12
Chapter 12: Reporting to Nanqiu!
As expected, when she logged on again, there were many more players around.
But they were probably afraid of disrupting the plot... hmm, or more likely, afraid of having their favorability with the Regent lowered, even though they didn't have such a thing right now...
The players were all loitering around the villa district. Some even tried to take on quests in the Slums, hoping that, like I Heal Your Whole Family, they might stumble upon a special quest and get rich overnight.
But the Slums were the Slums, and that night, countless players had their labor exploited for free.
But the Slums were only so big. For one, too many players had come here to explore. For another, many players knew from analyses that there was a gang in this place that wanted to kill Jiang Xun.
Jiang Xun's relationship with the Regent was ambiguous.
So, was the gang behind this just some small-time gang?
Definitely not!!
There must be a major quest!
With this thought in mind, they diligently gathered information related to the gang, and they actually managed to figure out most of it.
As a result, when I Heal Your Whole Family logged on, finished exploring the villa, and obtained the key information that Yan Xi was at odds with another gang leader, triggering a new quest-to investigate the gang's internal structure-
Information about the gang's internal personnel was already flying all over the forums.
I Heal Your Whole Family: ...
The people on the forums not only knew about Jiang Xun's current situation but had also analyzed that this gang actually had three factions.
One faction wanted to recruit and keep Jiang Xun.
Another faction was attempting a 'hero saves the beauty' scheme, hoping the beauty would offer herself up, just to spite their rival.
These two factions were the overt powers, openly and secretly struggling against each other, but there was actually a third power hidden in the background.
They were the ones who truly wanted Jiang Xun's life.
A long, major quest, and they had completed it in less than half an hour!
How should she put it?
I Heal Your Whole Family lit a cigarette.
"We've got some pretty good luck, huh."
The opposite of I Heal Your Whole Family was Breaking Waves Riding Wind.
She felt she was a bit unlucky.
Although there had been a major breakthrough in her quest progress, it was obvious this quest was impossible to complete.
She couldn't even find any other clues besides Jiang Xun.
But she still logged on early today.
Of course, she was also streaming live.
She wandered through the Slums once more, and after still failing to get any reliable information besides Jiang Xun, she gave up and said, "Looks like I should just give up on this quest after all."
She tossed the token the Little Emperor had given her when he issued the quest, deciding to return it.
"It involves the Regent now. This isn't a quest a noob like me can handle."
"Any experts who want to challenge this quest could maybe go get acquainted with the Little Emperor and see if they can get it?"
The stream chat was full of laughter.
【Don't return it yet!! It might be super useful!】
【Like for exposing the dog emperor's grand plan or something?】
【Like getting the streamer's favorability with the Regent docked?】
【Like letting your CP know that your faction is their enemy?】
Breaking Waves Riding Wind: ...
Enough!
She did ship this CP a little!
But that was definitely not the main reason she wanted to give up the quest!
She was about to angrily argue with her viewers when she saw a message.
【Streamer, someone's about to snipe you.】
【Diagonally behind you.】
At almost the exact same moment.
A bullet was heading straight for her heart!
Breaking Waves Riding Wind activated her wind Ability, whipping up a vortex and barely dodging.
A sharp look entered her eyes.
Who was it?
A player or... an NPC.
【Wuhu! A fight's breaking out!】
【Streamer, need reinforcements?】
As it turned out, she didn't really need them.
Because of her former profession, Breaking Waves Riding Wind's hand-to-hand combat skills were excellent.
Coupled with the assistance of the game system, after a bitter struggle, she finally captured this enemy who was several levels higher than her.
"Why did you try to kill me?" Breaking Waves Riding Wind pressed her gun to the attacker's temple.
The man who had attacked her was beaten to the ground, his life force already fading, but his eyes held a fanatical madness.
His voice trembled, but he still spoke viciously to Breaking Waves Riding Wind, "Jiang Xun's head can only be ours!!"
Breaking Waves Riding Wind: ?!
A new lead?
She raised her gun slightly, and after confirming the man was incapacitated, Breaking Waves Riding Wind asked, "We both want to kill Jiang Xun. We should be natural allies. Why did you try to kill me?"
The stream chat began to analyze furiously.
【There's only one possibility. In his eyes, you're competitors.】
【He wants to offer Jiang Xun's head to someone else in exchange for something very important to him.】
The man refused to answer, probably afraid that these omnipresent Descenders would ruin their plans.
But Breaking Waves Riding Wind had seen the analyses from the experts in her stream chat.
"We're competitors?" She stared at the man's expression.
As she spoke, the man's expression began to change.
"Who do you want to offer Jiang Xun's head to?"
Considering this was a major quest, Breaking Waves Riding Wind decided to just make something up about a big shot.
"The Emperor?"
But when he heard those words, the man's face changed drastically, and his pupils constricted.
Breaking Waves Riding Wind knew she had guessed correctly.
"The Little Emperor doesn't even have any real power. What do you hope to gain by siding with him?"
"You can't be doing it for the excitement, like us, can you?"
Although he didn't know how Breaking Waves Riding Wind had guessed who they wanted to side with, the man now became a sealed gourd for the sake of their grand plan, refusing to say a word.
Breaking Waves Riding Wind also seemed to lose interest. Tossing the token in her hand, she couldn't help but say, "Actually, I think this quest is really hard to complete. After all, I'm all alone. I only took it because it seemed interesting and a bit of a challenge."
"But compared to this little challenge, I think your side is a bit more interesting."
Breaking Waves Riding Wind's words were full of meaning.
"What is it that you do? Would you mind telling me?"
The man's lips trembled.
Seeing his attitude begin to soften, Breaking Waves Riding Wind simply put away her gun.
"Besides, you can cooperate with me to turn in the quest."
"After all, I can meet the Emperor directly."
The man's expression wavered intensely. Breaking Waves Riding Wind knew the experts in her stream chat had analyzed correctly.
Although that emperor had no power, he was still the emperor. It would be very difficult for a small gang from a backwater star system to establish a connection.
Even if this might not be an ordinary gang.
"I have to go back and discuss this." The man tugged at his disheveled clothes and gave Breaking Waves Riding Wind a deep look.
"Then I'll wait for your good news."
Breaking Waves Riding Wind let him go.
But countless players watching the stream followed him.
They continuously reported their progress on the forums.
【The guy went back to his organization.】
【That place doesn't look like a gang hideout, it looks like a research institute.】
【Wait, wait, holy shit, what's in that big glass jar!!! Why is there a person in it!】
Other players had also started streaming. The plot was making Breaking Waves Riding Wind itch with curiosity.
Her intuition told her this was deeply connected to Jiang Xun, so she simply started watching another player's stream on her own stream.
The shaky camera showed that this player was filming secretly.
It was a somewhat old research institute. Many of the essential instruments had been sold off, and more than half of the tanks that should have been filled with test subjects were empty.
Taking advantage of the low-level NPCs inside, she snuck in and stealthily took the experiment logs.
It was a new notebook. For some reason, they weren't using an Optical Brain to record, and for some reason, it started from the middle.
Her job was to turn the pages and record every single one.
But a sharp-eyed viewer noticed.
【Holy shit, these guys aren't good people either. Aren't they conducting human experiments?】
【Wait!! You mean those aren't Healing Pods, and the people in there are all subjects of human experiments??】
【Look at this page. Test Subject 687, constructed from Gene 01- and Gene 03. Predicted Ability awakening: Space plus Annihilation. Experiment result: Failure.】
【Hold on, Annihilation? Isn't that Jiang Xun's Ability?】
【So what's the relationship between Jiang Xun and this base?】
【What's the relationship between this base and the Emperor? My brain is a complete mess.】
While the player was flipping through the experiment logs, the NPCs also fell into a dispute over whether to let the players get involved.
"You know, the only person we can side with now is the Emperor. If that person finds out we have the 01- gene... neither we nor the test subjects will have a good end!"
"The Emperor is being held under such tight security by that person. Without the Descenders, we have no way of getting close."
"Besides, the Descenders have already guessed who we want to pledge allegiance to. Do you think they'll remain ignorant of our experiments?!"
"There's still half a month. If things go well and we win the Emperor's favor, our experiments will get another injection of funding, and our plan..."
"...will definitely succeed!"
Stream chat viewers:
【???】
【Are they okay?】
【That person can't be the Regent, right? What makes them think that dog emperor can arm-wrestle with the Regent...】
【It's probably an information gap. I'm sweating bullets. In an era where even knowledge costs money, how would a researcher from a backwater city understand politics?】
【To be honest, I don't really get why the head of the Luo Family would become a nation's regent... The Luo Family controls the economic lifeline of more than half the galaxy. You could say they're swimming in money, an existence even the emperor has to curry favor with. Why take on the thankless job of being a nation's regent?】
【Hmm... I think it's a personal grudge. I heard the Regent hates the Little Emperor to the bone, the kind of hate where she wants to grind his bones to dust. She hates him so much she doesn't want him to die easily, only to let him live on in agony.】
【! There's gossip like that?!】
Every stream was in an uproar, and the forums were filled with Jiang Xun's and Luo Nanqiu's names.
As the person in charge of public opinion for Star Battle, Luo Nanqiu's assistant naturally reported this news to Luo Nanqiu as well.
Zuo Si was very worried about Luo Nanqiu.
She didn't understand. That name had clearly been suppressed, so why had it now rushed out with such unstoppable force, throwing itself before Luo Nanqiu and brazenly announcing its existence.
Making everyone remember once again-that she was already dead.
A trace of sorrow flashed through Zuo Si's eyes.
Knowing full well that this matter would bring up Jiang Xun's death and cause Luo Nanqiu's already poor mood to sink into depression again, she still dutifully presented the cause and course of events.
But Luo Nanqiu, who was always engrossed in her work, conscientious about every task, and had to understand every detail before proceeding, did not open the summary document this time.
The forum titles and video names, one after another, made her eyes sting.
At the very top was the video posted by I Heal Your Whole Family.
On the cover, Jiang Xun and Luo Nanqiu were in a standoff.
They were familiar yet strangers to each other.
This was a scene she and Jiang Xun would never have.
Luo Nanqiu's index finger twitched, stopping just before it touched the Optical Brain's screen.
Two familiar faces.
She couldn't help but think.
The eighteen-year-old Luo Nanqiu and... Ah Xun's clone.
They really were fated to meet.
The tension in Luo Nanqiu's brow eased slightly.
Seeing this, Zuo Si asked timidly, "How should we handle this matter?"
Comments
Post a Comment