Above Kowloon Street, everything in sight was a mess, with only the sounds of chaos echoing in the ears; everything around seemed to be disintegrating in the tremors.
As the sound of an explosion rang out, a high-rise building collapsed with a roar, kicking up dust and airwaves.
The fallen building overlapped into a slope of rubble and steel, and mournful cries echoed under the sky.
The marching steel and the burning fires added a withered tone to this gray-based painting.
A dull, rumbling sound stretched on endlessly as the tank's tracks crushed the loose soil.
Rain began to fall from the sky—this was not the simulated environment of Kowloon Street, but the matrix rain effect of the Matrix Cycle Life season.
A heavy atmosphere spread between the streets, and the sparse rain struck the steel, plating it with a flickering outline, like scene modeling during network lag in a game.
A black umbrella was raised, and a young man's long boots stepped through the mud.
Watching this world being destroyed, Nanjiamu felt little sentiment.
He merely lowered his head; on the tank beside him, a petite girl sat high, her crossed legs swaying slightly.
Spikes were distributed across the toes of her Martin boots, and her short skirt was pressed lightly under her fair, slender thighs, her pale red eyes full of playfulness.
"Dark Gold Rose, where else can you run?" Nanjiamu muttered to himself.
"Outlaw, this is your end."
The Pilot Army entering Kowloon Street had already occupied all the areas on the ground, forming a pincer encirclement.
If one looked from a god's-eye view, they would find that the search units were like a giant tree with roots entwined underground, advancing from a scattered fan shape toward the same direction.
"Vice president, they should be using tactical optical camouflage blankets."
"Without any surprises, the camouflage effect will end in thirty seconds."
"Once we re-detect their position, our main search force can immediately surround them," an analyst said, coming to the young man's side.
Nanjiamu nodded and looked at Chun Sanyue, who was swinging her legs with boredom, her fingers twirling the tips of her twin tails.
Noticing the young man's gaze, she smiled and held out her hand.
Nanjiamu tossed several pieces of greenish pomelo candy into her hand.
"I'm actually quite curious. As a disciplinary officer clearly connected to the Hera Network, how can you do these illegal things right under Hera's nose?"
His eyes reflected various data on Chun Sanyue; all the data indicated that she was an ordinary NPC.
Yet he had never seen an NPC so real.
With the support of ultra-virtual reality technology, Nanjiamu was certain that if someone were knocked out and dumped into Oasis with their system panel confiscated, they would never be able to tell they were in a virtual world until they entered their grave.
From their words and actions to every detail of their skin texture, the NPCs were no different from real people.
But that sense of reality, no matter how authentic the virtuality was, still couldn't compare to a living person.
Even with all panels and hyper-perception modules turned off, Nanjiamu could still distinguish whether the person walking toward him was a player or an NPC.
But this girl was different; she was the only NPC so far who made him feel like a human.
He usually attributed this inexplicable feeling to intuition.
It was actually quite interesting; they were participating in a virtual dungeon discussing the philosophical theme of androids versus humans, even though both sides were just data.
No, that wasn't entirely true either.
Nanjiamu shook his head; at least everything in Skyline City existed in reality, and everything here was merely a projection by Oasis based on real-world data.
"Because I'm unique and never need to depend on others, hee-hee."
Chun Sanyue's tone was light as she slowly tore open the candy wrapper and popped it into her mouth.
"The person you're looking for has appeared. I've re-marked them on the map for you."
"If you don't send people quickly, they might run away."
"No, I'm going too," Nanjiamu said suddenly.
"I want to catch her. I will personally end the myth of Dark Gold Rose."
"You're so chuunibyou," Chun Sanyue teased.
"You're not much better. I've never seen anyone give their weapon so many... gaudy names."
"Oh? Do you have a problem with my Steel Demon-Slayer Blade?"
Underground in Kowloon Street, Akabane Tsubaki removed the optical blanket that had lost its effect.
Looking at its original appearance, it seemed like an ordinary nylon blanket; she actually had a novel thought.
If this optical blanket fell to the ground while its effect was active, would it be lost forever?
"More than thirty people are approaching, and that number is increasing rapidly."
Bai Youyou was using her mental perception to understand the positions of nearby enemies.
Now that the cards were on the table, she no longer needed to worry about the mental resonance exposing her location.
"Three grade 5s, five grade 4s, and the rest are all grade 3 players."
"They really spared no expense to deal with us," Xu Xiaoyou remarked, spreading her hands.
"All I did was give him a little kick and ambush some of his elites. Is it really worth such a bitter grudge?"
Everyone looked at her speechlessly.
If Xu Xiaoyou hadn't acted so flamboyantly, using any means necessary to maximize profits, making enemies everywhere, and being so ruthless when tricking people, they wouldn't have been chased and blocked during the qualifiers.
"You seem quite leisurely. Their people will be here any second. Have you thought of a solution?" Angelina asked.
"To prevent this from happening again in later matches, I need to make an example of them."
"The Golden Navigator is a good choice—not too strong, not too weak," Xu Xiaoyou said mysteriously.
"Just watch; the show is about to begin."
A few minutes later, Xu Xiaoyou's group stood before a mesh wall.
Opposite them was the main force of the Golden Navigator, with hundreds of people standing in a dense row.
Nanjiamu stood at the front, looking at Xu Xiaoyou, who seemed to have no way out.
He couldn't describe how satisfied he felt.
"Dark Gold Rose, you have no way out. Given up on running?"
"How about it? Do you feel especially regretful now?"
"Thinking that it would have been better if you hadn't kicked me back then, or if you hadn't brought people to ambush the Golden Navigator?"
"Hahahaha! It's too late to beg for mercy now."
"No matter what you say, I won't let you off. I want you to experience all my pain!"
"I do regret it," Xu Xiaoyou sighed.
Just as Nanjiamu was surprised, the girl's next words made his forehead throb.
"I should have used more force with that kick."
"Unfortunately, talking trash can't change the fact that you're only grade 2 now."
Nanjiamu couldn't help but let out a curse.
Because of that kick from the blonde girl, his grade 5 paladin account level had been wiped overnight.
The heart and soul he had put into most of the season had gone up in smoke; countless skills were forgotten.
Funds, proficiency, achievements, honor, and items were all lost, and he was even directly disqualified from the subsequent league.
Nanjiamu's blood pressure rose, and his chest heaved violently; he almost failed to catch his breath.
After a moment, when his anger reached its peak, he suddenly chuckled twice and then began to laugh while covering his face, his laughter echoing for a long time.
"Why am I wasting so much breath on you?"
"As soon as you die, I'll immediately take my people to Pangard and trample your Light-Chaser Garden."
"No matter the cost! And that statue of yours—I guarantee I'll smash it with my own hands!"
"Press forward! Force her into a combat state!"
"Anyone who launches a Visiting Battle by Overstepping Authority against Dark Gold Rose will be rewarded with twenty thousand federal shields!"
"The one who kills Dark Gold Rose will be rewarded with the rank of legion commander!"
"The one who captures Dark Gold Rose alive will be appointed as commander of the three armies!"
"And you can take your pick of my legacy grade items!"
Rate on N.U.
